British Telecom engineers in vans dashing around installing new telephone lines and phones. It was usual to see them getting out of their yellow vans and propping up their ladders against telephone poles to connect telephones lines to homes. This is my memory from the mid-seventies through to the early eighties.
Prior to getting our first home telephone in 1977, we’d go to the local phone-box to make calls. The most common smells inside our local phone-box were sweat and urine. The smell wasn’t the only unpleasant thing we’d faced: if we were unlucky our hands would be contaminated with the last caller’s debris on the receiver. The method we used was this: always go into the phone-box in two’s, one of us made the phone call whilst the other used their foot to hold the door ajar to allow a flow of fresh air. It was a relief getting a home telephone installed in 1977 – no more visits to smelly phone-boxes!
The telephone service and the Royal Mail postal service were very well used during these times – they were reliable and time efficient. If you wanted a service of any kind (finding a plumber, organising home insurance, getting holiday brochures, finding an electrician, buying the latest a K-Tel album) it was done on foot, by post or by telephone. Of the three options, the telephone was the fastest and most efficient. Adverts on television and radio would reel-off advertiser’s phone number. I fondly remember a London radio station advert from the 80s for double glazing that used George Formby’s ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ jingle… the telephone number was 961 2000 (nine-six-one-two thousand). After doing a quick internet search, other people have mentioned this exact advert as a fond memory!
What if you wanted to find the phone number of a friend whose telephone number you’d forgotten to write in the address book? What if you needed a particular service that didn’t advertise on television, radio or billboard? Step up the Phone Book and Yellow Pages.
Sometimes you’d hear a thud on the doorstep when one of these books was delivered. Other times, if the delivery person was considerate and placed the book quietly on the doorstep, you could end up tripping over the chunky book when leaving the house. Both books were far too big to get through the letterbox. They were really great for standing on to gain a few extra inches in height whilst hanging a picture on the wall, but that wasn’t their primary purpose…
First, let’s look at the Phone Book: this was packed with regional residential telephone numbers. If you knew someone’s surname and address, as long as they had a telephone, you’d find their number in the Phone Book. I recall that unless you notified British Telecom that you wanted to be ex-directory well in advance of your home telephone being connected, your name and telephone number would instantly be entered into the Phone Book. It’s fair to say that there was a lot of addresses and residential phone numbers in the Phone Book which suggests few people requested ex-directory status. The Phone Book did an exceptional job of connecting people.
Whilst the Phonebook was about connecting people on a more personal basis, the Yellow Pages connected people with businesses. As stated in its title, the pages were yellow. Many of us will remember their famous strapline: Let your fingers to the walking that was accompanied by the logo of fingers walking through the book. The message was simple: why pound the streets looking for a service when you can just flick through the Yellow Pages, find what you need, make a phone call and Hey Presto! Their most memorable television advert, the JR Hartley one, had a lovely heartwarming happy ending – letting your fingers do the walking turns despair into joy (see YouTube video at the end of this post).
Why have I opted for writing a nostalgic post on the Phone Book and Yellow Pages? I’ve realised we’ve received the final editions of both! As much as I love the internet and the various search engines, I’m saddened that both books have now come to their end. I remember my brother using the Phone Book to find the telephone number of our cousins who lived in the same region as us. I have fond memories of letting my fingers do the walking when looking for car insurance during the early 1990s. Being a 70s child, it’s another part of my childhood and growing up about to disappear. Realism kicks in when I ask myself how many times over the last ten years have I used these books? Both books had the time of their lives when there were phone-boxes everywhere and when those engineers in yellow British Telecom vans dashed around installing new telephones lines. All I’ve got left to say is a huge thank you to everyone involved with these fantastic books that helped us connect. I’ll certainly be keeping my final editions in a safe place for the rest of my life.
