The mobile phone has connected the modern world, but inventing it took the most beautiful woman in the world Hedy Lemar, Frankenstein's creator, the Titanic tragedy, and the ultimate stroll down 6th Avenue.

The skyscraper – the ultimate symbol of power and wealth around the world. But, incredibly, to invent the skyscraper it took a bird in a cage, the Chicago fire, a chance question from a college student, and the humble horse and wagon.

The aeroplane - it's made our dream of flight a reality, but the moments of genius and invention it took to invent it involved not just birds as inspiration, but a pair of bicycling brothers, a trip to the Moon and back, a pair of frozen eyeballs and two nervous breakdowns.