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Old 13th May 2020, 8:14 pm   #13
OscarFoxtrot
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
Default Re: GPO Wall telephones - how was the line cord installed before plug and socket ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
Anecdotally, the GPO engineer would install the phone in the easiest place for him, which was often a drafty hallway rather than a cosy living room. When I was a child the hall was the normal place to see a phone, perhaps we just expected it to be there, and it was almost decadent to expect it in a more convenient place.
If you only had one phone (extensions cost extra) then the hall was the most convenient place where the bell could be heard all over the house (as could whatever was being said).

You weren't expected to spend a long time nattering and running up the bill, but if you were sufficiently affluent you could purchase a telephone table with a velour padded seat and a drawer for the directory.

https://www.thehoarde.com/dealers/j-...rniture-jkb010

For the smaller hall not only has a pull-out seat but also a pull-out memory board for useful numbers.

A slightly more upmarket house I lived in had a Bell Set in the hall, and a Telephone (probably originally a candlestick or 232, since replaced) in the Dining Room next to the Hatch, probably so that the householder could use the phone in the Dining Room or the maidservant could open the hatch and answer the telephone from the kitchen. Still had twin bare drop wires to insulators too
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