Although the owners of British paper factories took place each year, the world remembered that particular lunch. At that lunch, manufacturer John Dickenson introduced to his audience his new product, paper tissues. Dickenson was not the one who invented “the alternative to a dirty tablecloth” (as defined by Leonardo da Vinci). Paper tissues were first used by ancient Romans who made them from asbestos and, after wiping their hands and mouths, threw them into fire, to “wash” them. But in the times of one-time-use materials, people have no time to wash, and Dickenson’s paper invention started its triumphant journey around the world. Besides hygiene, the English manufacturer made an important contribution to culture and history: many songs, poems and invention ideas were first written on a paper tissue, the Compaq computer being one of them.