Many people scoff at Science Fiction, but the idea of (Skype-like) video phones first arose in 1968, with Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Oddysey - based on an earlier book by Arthur C. Clarke titled 'The Sentinel'.
Down on Earth, it is a little boy's birthday. His scientist Dad is in a spacecraft, destination the Moon. Dad calls Son to wish him happy birthday, using a two way video phone! Considering this was over 40 years ago, it displays amazing forward thinking on the technological front...
Most people at the time were sceptical that video phones would ever become a reality. WRONG! We just had to wait a further 25 years...
AL

Gone but not forgotten...