In amongst the people that start to become part of the furniture at an Irish pub in Munich, you get the customers who come back every so often, and you end up being really glad that they did.

I once met a man who was probably in his late 80’s, wore a rain mac and hat and just wanted someone to chat to. Over the course of his 4 or 5 visits to the pub I became trusted enough to be let in on a top secret – his brand new invention, that he would soon be presenting to the head of one of the biggest telecommunications firms in Munich.

On each visit, he filled me in a little more on the travels he had made in researching his idea, the people he had met and of course his background in animation which had all but nothing to do with this idea but was interesting to hear all the same.

On our last meeting, which was now some time ago, he revealed this idea to me in a whispered breath after a dramatic pause …

‘It will be called … Telecommunications WorldWIDE’.

He explained the connections he was planning to make, and the information he was planning to make available and the more he spoke the more convinced I became that he was actually inventing the internet, but I decided not to be the person to tell him that. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and he was a really lovely man.