First came the link between phosphoinositides and Ca2+ signalling, and then a deluge of other phosphoinositide functions.

The link between phosphoinositide turnover and Ca(2+)-regulated cell processes goes back half a century, but only began to be understood in the 1970s. This article briefly outlines how the roles of these minority membrane lipids in Ca(2+) signalling and then in multifarious other biological processes were recognised during the latter half of the 20th century.