Guglielmo Marconi 1874-1937. The coast at Weston-Super-Mare has historic associations with wireless telegraphy. In 1897 Marconi, co-operating with Sir William Preece and other Post Office engineers, sent the first wireless signals across water from Lavernock on the Welsh side of the Bristol Channel to Flat Holm and Brean Down on this side. The first ultra-short-wave telephone, as an extension of the land-line system, linked Cardiff and Weston in 1932. Marconi's work laid the foundation for the development of radio communication and of broadcasting throughout the world.