Using public telephones in the 1940s and 1950s

Few families had phones at home in the early 1940s. So public phones were in frequent use for keeping in touch and making arrangements. Telegrams were used in an emergency or for special greetings.

Finding a public telephone

Public telephones could easily be recognised on the streets because they were in bright red telephone booths. These were known as 'telephone boxes', and there were plenty of them in populated areas.

In bus and train stations, several were located together, usually in more subdued wooden booths.

However, finding a public phone box did not necessarily mean that it was working or that it was unoccupied. There was often a queue, and it was rather off-putting to try to chat while people were waiting outside, possibly even banging on the window, if they thought that a conversation was taking too long.

Another reason for people waiting outside public phone boxes was that they were waiting for a call. Public phone boxes had their own numbers and could be phoned into. So people would arrange to phone one another at an agreed time and then wait outside the phone box until they heard its phone ring.

Also on the streets were phones specifically for the use of police. These were known as 'police boxes' and I haven't seen one for years. They looked just like Dr Who's Tardis. In fact making the Tardis look like a police box made a lot of sense back in the 1960s when Dr Who was first screened, because no-one thought it at all strange to come across one, and yet only the police, with their special key could get inside. (Members of the public could, though, reach the phone through a small door to get straight through to the police in an emergency.) Not all police boxes were like the Tardis. Some were stands with a phone in a key-operated box at the right height.

I never saw any public telephones with the old-style candlestick phones.

Making a phone call from a public phone

In order to make a call from a public phone box, one had to have the right coins. This was not too onerous because coins were in everyday use as there were no credit cards. Nevertheless, it was not at all unusual to be stopped in the street and asked if one had change for a phone call. People always tried to oblige each other in this respect, and I never knew of anyone getting mugged when they got out a purse or delved into their pockets for money.

For local calls, only pennies were needed. I can't remember how many and probably the number increased with inflation. They were of course 'old' pre-decimal pennies. Larger denomination coins were needed for non-local calls which were known as 'trunk calls'. Alternatively, with the agreement of the person receiving the call, charges could be reversed by going through the operator.

Once the handset was lifted, the coins were fed into a holding slot at the top of the box. Then the caller dialled the number that he or she wanted. If someone answered, the caller had to press Button A in order to be heard. If no-one answered, the caller pressed Button B and the coins were returned through a shoot underneath.

    

Phone calls were expensive in real terms, and if chatting it was all too easy to run out of coins. Pips would sound and a few seconds later, the line would go dead unless more money was fed in. If the caller expected a long conversation, he or she could feed in a lot of coins at the outset as pressing Button B at the end of the call returned unused coins. However, the process was fiddly and people didn't like to carry a lot of coins around because pre-decimal coins were so large and heavy.

Making illegal free calls from public phones

In the 1950s when I was a teenager - and possibly in the 1940s too - it was well-known that public telephones could be made to give free calls. I knew fellow-teenagers who did it, and I knew how to do it, but I never dared do it myself. I thought that if I did, a police car would come roaring round the corner, sirens screaming and cart me off to a police station. As far as I know, though, on-one ever was caught.

The procedure was to mimic the clicks that came from regular dialling, ie one click for one, two clicks to two etc. The clicks could either be made by tapping the mouthpiece or the cradle, but they had to be made rapidly at the same speed as dialling, which was easier said than done.

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.

The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's.