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Episode details

Radio Shropshire,3 mins

Shropshire's electrical pioneer

Available for over a year

Thomas Parker from Coalbrookdale invented the world's first electric car in 1884. The pioneer was know as the "Edison of Europe" and was decades ahead of his time. Parker moved to Wolverhampton in 1882 and two years later revealed his ingenious "horseless carriage", 140 years before the electric cars we know today. And he didn’t just stop at just cars, he also pioneered the high-voltage grids, electric trams, and underground trains that became the electrical infrastructure of modern Britain. BBC Radio Shropshire's Johnty O'Donnell takes us back to the future in Coalbrookdale.

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