I texted a random phone number as a joke in 1998 and met my wife
I texted a random phone number as a joke in 1998 and met my wife
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When Donovan Shears turned 18 years old, he was given his first mobile phone. It was a big deal back then, but being a teenager, he decided he’d kick things off with a joke. It was 1998, and it was the fashion to try texting random mobile numbers saying ‘hello.’.
But what he didn’t expect was a reply from a woman who would eventually become his wife. On the other end of the line was Kirsty, who rightfully replied with a simple ‘hi, who’s this?’. ‘I started sending out random text messages, showing off to my friends saying, “I can page other phones”,’ Donovan, now 45 and living in Coventry, reflects.
‘I picked the first four digits the same as mine which was 07775, then the last three digits randomly – it was probably about five or six different numbers – and then didn’t think anything of it. ‘I just a message saying “hello.” I remember one of the messages I sent was to a number ending in 365.’.
At the time, Kirsty was living more than 100 miles away in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and she’d only just bought the phone. Assuming the message was from somebody she’d given her number to, she asked who it was. Love reading juicy stories like this? Need some tips for how to spice things up in the bedroom?.
![[COLLECT - Donovan and Kirsty Shears earlier in their relationship. Release date ??? January 29, 2025. A cheeky DJ texted a message to a random number as a joke in 1998 and ended up meeting his future wife. Donovan Shears was given his first mobile phone on his 18th birthday so as a joke he sent out text messages saying ???hello??? to made up numbers. He was stunned when he received a message back from a woman called Kirsty who simply said ???hi??? and they started exchanging text messages. They eventually arranged to meet for a date in Donovan???s home city of Coventry, and quickly fell for each other. The couple got married in 2002 and went on to have two children, nine-year-old son Stirling and six-year-old daughter Alora.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237763143-2849.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Sign up to The Hook-Up and we'll slide into your inbox every week with all the latest sex and dating stories from Metro. We can't wait for you to join us!. ‘It came back “Don” and we just started chatting from there,’ Kirsty shares. When their phone bills started to exceed £250 each month, they decided they should call instead – which is when the feelings started to develop.
