Those who remember the 1990s will no doubt have recollections of movie star Bob Hoskins as the face of BT's iconic advertising campaign.

His gritty, authentic persona was a perfect contrast to the often-slick world of advertising, and his delivery of the simple yet powerful tagline, "It's good to talk", resonated deeply with audiences.

Ten years after his death and people who saw it will likely never forget him saying the iconic line.(Image: Echo)

His catchphrase might just have come in handy at the Royal South Hants (RSH) Hospital in 1959 where the first bedside telephone was being inaugurated

The words “Hello, Mum’’ made a small piece of history when hospital patient, Richard Parrish, lying in his hospital bed, was able to hold a telephone conversation with his mother, Olive.

On a crisp autumn morning around 65 years ago, a young man named Richard lay in his hospital bed in Garton Ward, anxiously reaching for the innovative telephone trolley nearby. With a sense of excitement, he inserted four shiny copper coins (2p) and dialled home, becoming the first patient to do so on October 20.

Between them, the Students’ Union at the University of Southampton, and the hospital’s League of Friends, had given the RSH the town’s first “telephone on a trolley’’ and paid for 77 special power points to be fitted in all the wards.

Funding for purchasing the equipment was acquired through a university fundraiser known as Rag Day, in addition to various activities coordinated by the League of Friends.

Reginald Shearing, the league’s chairman, said Southampton people’s appreciation, through donations, of the work carried out by the hospital was the “driving force’’ behind the gift of the telephone trolley.

(Image: Echo)

Officially accepting the equipment, Alderman Mrs V. King, chairman of the Southampton Group Hospital Management Committee said she was convinced the telephone would be a much-used patient amenity.

“A lot of us have been amazed at the uncommon ideas, such as the telephone trolley, that have sprung up recently in the minds of the hospital’s League of Friends,’’ said Mrs King.

After the conclusion of the presentation, the telephone was brought into Garton Ward, where the first person to make a call was Richard. He had been hospitalised for eight weeks due to a work-related broken leg.

Richard dialled his mother, Olive Parrish, who lived at Warren Crescent in Southampton.

As the Daily Echo said at the time; “Hello Mum,’’ he said, and history was made.