In the 1970s, Norwegian Tor Sornes invented the hotel key card. He wanted to improve security in hotels after he heard the news that one of his favourite singers, Connie Francis, was attacked in her hotel room.
After making a prototype in his garden shed, Tor then had the challenging task of selling his invention globally.
Tor’s son, Anders, tells Gill Kearsley how persistence paid off for Tor, and the hotel key card was adopted worldwide.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: A later version of a hotel key card. Credit: Getty Images)
