Getting the future wrong!

People love reading predictions. They love looking into the future. They want to know what will or won't happen - tomorrow, next week, next year, in the next century.

But predictions are not always right - they can go very, very wrong!
Here are some of my favorite 'predictions that went wrong'.

• In 1859, a man called Edwin Drake wanted to drill for oil. A worker said, "Drill for oil? You mean make a hole in the ground to find oil? You're crazy! It won't work."
• In 1872, the US President Rutherford B. Hayes, looked at Alexander Bell's new telephone and said, "It's a great invention, but who will want to use it?"
• In 1899, a top British Scientist said, "Radio has no future, and x-rays won't work."
• In 1908, a French general said, "Aeroplanes are interesting toys - but they'll never be important for war."
• In 1927, the head of Warner Brothers Film Company said, "Talking? Actors talking in films? Nobody will want that!"
• In 1943, the head of IBM Thomas Watson said, "In the future, perhaps five people will buy a computer."
• In 1949, a writer in a magazine wrote about computers. He said, "In the future, it's possible that computers will only weigh about 1,5 tons."
• In 1962, a man at Decca Records listened to a tape and said, "We don't like it. People won't buy this music." The tape was by a group called The Beatles.
• In October 1987, a BBC weather man said, "Tonight it will be a little windy." That night, a big storm hit the south of England. There were winds at 190 kilometers per hour.