GPO Subscriber Trunk Dialling - dialling codes and call charges - London : 1964
1964 and the revolution in being able to dial any number from your phone without the involvement of an operator was now well underway in the UK. True, many local calls had been able to be made in such a way from the 1930s but this was by no means universal, and long distance or "trunk" calls still had to be placed via the operator in many cases. This 1964 London supplement to the directory contains a growing list of places you could now call directly using "Subscriber Trunk Dialling" or STD for short.
It is interesting as it is one of the earliest publications to show the now familiar city codes for the UK (such as 061 for Manchester, etc) that could be used although it still shows the 'first three letters' of the exchange name prior to the shift to all number codes that was about to be introduced. For other exchanges it shows a mix of letters and numbers such as "0RO 6" for Rochdale. The back cover shows a useful official explanation as to the system.
There are other services about to start such as International Subscriber Dialling to a few continental cities and to help - a service where you could dial, for example, AVE 0411, to hear a demonstration of typical dialling tones in Belgium.
One thing it does remind you - and that is how expensive even direct dialled trunk calls were, even off-peak, and I'm sure many recall the almost religious fervour calls were rationed and monitored in many households! Anyhow, I like the layout and typography of these publications - even down to the reversed out "Important" box with the printer's fist! It is also a reminder that at this date the General Post Office was responsible for telecommunications before being split off and privatised.
GPO Subscriber Trunk Dialling - dialling codes and call charges - London : 1964
1964 and the revolution in being able to dial any number from your phone without the involvement of an operator was now well underway in the UK. True, many local calls had been able to be made in such a way from the 1930s but this was by no means universal, and long distance or "trunk" calls still had to be placed via the operator in many cases. This 1964 London supplement to the directory contains a growing list of places you could now call directly using "Subscriber Trunk Dialling" or STD for short.
It is interesting as it is one of the earliest publications to show the now familiar city codes for the UK (such as 061 for Manchester, etc) that could be used although it still shows the 'first three letters' of the exchange name prior to the shift to all number codes that was about to be introduced. For other exchanges it shows a mix of letters and numbers such as "0RO 6" for Rochdale. The back cover shows a useful official explanation as to the system.
There are other services about to start such as International Subscriber Dialling to a few continental cities and to help - a service where you could dial, for example, AVE 0411, to hear a demonstration of typical dialling tones in Belgium.
One thing it does remind you - and that is how expensive even direct dialled trunk calls were, even off-peak, and I'm sure many recall the almost religious fervour calls were rationed and monitored in many households! Anyhow, I like the layout and typography of these publications - even down to the reversed out "Important" box with the printer's fist! It is also a reminder that at this date the General Post Office was responsible for telecommunications before being split off and privatised.