Retro Telephones

A retro telephone is one of the most desirable accessories for a retro style home. This page looks at telephones in the 50s and 60s.

Phones in use in the 50s and the 60s varied enormously from Bakelite and Art Deco style to the up to the minute trimphone. It was quite common, even in the sixties, for subscribers (as the GPO's customers were originally known) to be using telephones first used in the 30s and to a design dating from the 20s. By the end of 60s though, the design the GPO called the "modern telephone", the one most people recognise today as the definitive telephone, was in increasingly common use - the 700 series. By then customers had a choice between this phone and the new trimphone designed by Martyn Rowlands in 1964.

More on telephones
The Trimphone
700 Series
Social history
Collecting

Early telephones - the 200 series

The earliest telephones still in common use, were known as the 200 series. They were usually in black Bakelite, although other colours were available and are highly prized by collectors today. The 'phones were pyramid shaped with the handset on the top. These 'phones needed an external bell. GPO thinking at the time was that several telephones would be connected in a single house to a central bell. You can see these telephones as domestic 'phones in many films made in the fifties and early sixties. The telephone used in 'Dial M for Murder' is one of these.

The 300 series

Another 'phone in common use in the fifties and sixties was the 300 series, which followed the 200 series in 1936. These were, once again, generally black Bakelite, but red, green and white versions also exist. The 300 series 'phone had an internal bell and was originally designed for business applications. These 'phones can be seen on many 1950s police dramas - 'The Blue Lamp' being no exception. Note the braided cord on this 'phone. Sometimes they were replaced by the GPO by the curly version seen on the red 'phone below. Two versions were common, the 332 (left) and the 312, which had and additional button marked "Call Exchange" for use on party lines.

The Modern Telephone

The 700 series telephone in the full range of colours available in the sixties

The first entirely new telephone of the 50s was the 700 series. In the sixties the GPO referred to this type of 'phone as a "Modern Telephone". It was not really available to customers until the early sixties. The original version shown above was the 706. The modern telephone was available in seven different colours - black, red, two-tone green, topaz yellow, concord blue, ivory and two-tone grey/brown. Customers were very conservative in their choice of colour. In 1974 a third of these telephones were black, a third were ivory and the remainder one of the other colours. The design was given a mild face lift around 1967 when the dial was replaced by a transparent one and the 'ABC' style lettering was dropped as all figure numbering became more common. This version known as the 746 continued into the 70s.

It was quite common to find the 706 issued with an all figure dial, like the black one above. It was normally known then as the 706F - F referred to the figured dial. The version with the lettered dial was the 706L. The 746 could also be supplied with a lettered dial - it was then the 746L. Since all telephones were rented from the GPO it was common for them to be returned and re-issued. The 706 telephone was often given the transparent dial of the 746 to convert it to a 706F. Waste not want not!

In 1969 the GPO did a nationwide survey about customers preferences for new colour schemes for 'phones. They discovered that the older generation was quite happy with the standard range - preferring blue or ivory. Whilst younger people wanted vivid bright colours such as tangerine and metallic gold. The GPO actually did nothing with the results of this survey as no new colours were introduced throughout the whole of the seventies. They may have decided that the results of the survey were not that helpful. Although blue was chosen in the survey as a favourite colour from the existing range it was actually the least popular colour chosen by customers for their phones. I think that the reason might be the difficulty in changing a 'phone once you had one. You had to pay the GPO to remove the old one and reinstall a new one. Most people then chose as neutral a colour as possible to fit in with any decoration scheme - usually ivory.

Red telephone

The Trimphone

The TRIMphone - it stands for Tone Ringer Illuminated Model - was designed by Martyn Rowlands in 1964. It was meant to be a luxury phone available to rent for extra cost. A sleek modern design with the headset positioned N-S instead of E-W. It suited the GPO's modern aspirations at the time.

The trimphone was really the first modern telephone. It was the first GPO telephone not to have a bell - it had an electronic warbler - much imitated by birds - or is it the other way around? The dial was illuminated - it glowed in the dark, thanks to radioactivity. The phone had a long lead so you could move around the room whilst having a conversation, if you wanted to. The trimphone was available in 3 colour schemes - two-tone blue (shown), grey and green or grey and white. It was not really loud and brash like some sixties products - but more subtle and sophisticated - as befitted an upmarket product.

Trimphone 1/722L MOD 1969 with lettered dial

The trimphone was offered on trail for a to a limited number of subscribers in 1965. The phone shown here is the original model 712. Electronically it is very similar to the red phone above. Note the lettered dial. All figure dialling was not universal in 1967 when this phone was first supplied.

Read more about the field trial phones see: Spotlight on the field trial trimphone

The Trimphone was really much more common in the 70s than the 60s. It went through several revisions before the final version, the 2/722 was offered in 1971. The phone at the top of this page was a 1/722L MOD issued in 1969. That means it had a lettered dial. On this particular phone part of the circuit was upgraded in 1972. These phone were quite unreliable in the early years.

Are you on the 'phone?

'Are you on the 'phone?' meant do you have a private telephone? In 1951, 1.5 million households were on the 'phone. By 1966, this figure had risen to 4.2 million. However, by the end of the sixties more than half of households still did not have a telephone. By contrast, in 1961, 75% of households had a television(1). More on television. In other countries things were different. In the USA, by 1966, eight out of every ten families had a telephone and in Sweden, nine out of ten.

So why did people not take to the telephone as readily as they did to the television? Cost was certainly a factor (So how much did it cost?), but it was not the only one. In 1963, the Consumers' Association found that of families with an income of £1800 per annum or more, only two in three had a 'phone.

The GPO and Hull City Council

If you wanted a telephone in the United Kingdom you would have had to rent one from the GPO (General Post Office), who had a monopoly of all telephone services - except in Hull. Hull City Council provided its own telephone service at a cheaper cost than that provided by the GPO.

White heat

The telephone service was improved at a considerable rate during the fifties and sixties. It could rightly claim to be part of Harold Wilson's 'White heat of technology' revolution. The first transatlantic cable was laid in 1956. It was opened for use at 6pm on 25th September that year. This was not the first time subscribers (the GPO's word for customers until 1959) could dial the USA - they could have done so via radio link since 1927. In fact a GPO advertisement claimed in 1939 "The world was at your finger tip by Overseas Telephone" - no doubt you had to be quite rich to take advantage of it though!).

STD

For ordinary subscribers, or customers as they became in 1959, the most important development was Subscriber Trunk Dialling or (STD) introduced for the first time in 1958. A trunk call was a long distance call. In fact it was a call of distance greater than 15 miles.

Before STD if you wanted to make a trunk call you had to dial the operator and ask her to make the call. You would be charged a fixed rate in units of three minutes - in 1966 the cost was 1s to 4s depending on the distance - quite expensive actually - a pint of beer was around 2s then ( more on old money). With STD the customer made the call him/herself. He/she was then charged for the actual amount of time spent. Most calls worked out cheaper with STD. The trouble with STD, though, was that it did not cover the whole country. In 1966 two thirds of the country could dial on STD, but, of course, it was a two-way thing and some areas could not be dialled directly even though STD may have been installed in the caller's district.

Letters and numbers

The other major change came in the sixties - the end of lettered telephone exchanges. All Figure Numbers (AFN) were introduced in the major cities in 1966. Previously, telephone calls were a combination of letters and numbers. Telephones in the sixties had lettered as well as numbered dials. The lettered dial was made famous by Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Dial M for Murder'.

How to use a lettered dial

Where to live by telephone exchange!

The magazine 'Queen' told us in 1965, in a list of what was "with-it" and what was "without-it", that amongst other things, the place to have lunch was the private dining room of Rothchild's; Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were to be preferred to David Frost; Donavan and Sandy Shaw were in and Cliff Richard was out; and a Mini-Moke was better than an Aston Martin DB5 (I'd have the Aston anytime - but they didn't like James Bond!). The list also told us that BELgravia, WEStern, FLAxman and LORds were the top London exchanges and that PRImose, FRObisher, MAYfair and GULliver were not.

So what was it like to use the telephone services in the 1960s?

The Consumers' Association conducted a survey into the telephone service in the UK in 1965. The results were published in the July 1966 issue of 'Which?'. They found that around one in ten calls actually went wrong, that was failed to connect, or did connect, but that the line was so poor as to need re-dialling. It took around 40 seconds for an average STD call to connect. That's an age by today's standards, but at the time it was considered good. Another problem that the report highlighted was an engaged tones on a free lines. Quite often you would dial a number and get the engaged tone - although the person whom you were calling was not using the telephone. This happened because of general congestion on the line. Advice was given on how to tell whether the 'phone you were calling was actually engaged or not - as each digit was dialled, listen for the engaged tone. If you heard it before you had finished dialling, the phone itself was not engaged. 'Wrong numbers' were also possible. That is you dialled the correct number and got the wrong number. The 'Which' report said that these were rare and that customers may have mis-dialled. So "sorry wrong number" did not necessarily mean that it was your fault.

Another relic of the past was the party line. This was not a special service, but a telephone line essentially shared between two subscribers. If the other 'party' was using the phone you could not. You could also listen in on the other 'party's' calls. Subscribers, not surprisingly, got a reduction if they were connected on a party line.

The GPO provided a number of special services to customers in the sixties. These included sending telegrams by telephone and a 'dish of the day' recipe service, which was updated daily!

In 1967 the GPO published, for the first time, a volume called "Telephone Companion". This was issued to new customers and was designed to help them get the most out of the 'phone. Suggestions on what to use the 'phone for included: 'Give her a ring', 'Exchange views on sport' and 'Arranging a bridge evening'. The booklet gave advice on how to speak on the telephone. You were advised to keep the earpiece close to the ear and speak directly into the mouth piece and to pronounce consonants clearly.

How much did it cost?

Actually quite a lot. To have a telephone installed cost £10 in 1966. This was increased to a whopping £20 in 1968. In 1966 there was a line rental of £14 per year. Call charges then depended on when and how far you were dialling. Local calls cost 2d for 6 minutes in peak times and 2d for 12 minutes at evenings and weekends. Trunk calls on STD were charged at 1s for 3 minutes up to 35 miles and varied up to 4s for 3 minutes for the longest distances.

Tips on collecting telephones

A good place to buy old telephones is the National Vintage Communications Fair held twice a year at the NEC (usually April/May and September/October). There are usually a selection of dealers and you can compare prices before making a selection.

Telephones installed by the GPO generally carry a stamp or sticker on the base which gives three letters, two digits, a slash character and a further digit. e.g. 706 TSD67/1. "67/1" is the year and month of installation. That makes them easy to date. "706" is the type of telephone. In this case, the red telephone above it is a 706. Later telephones made in the 70s are 746s.

Most 1960s phones are relatively cheap. You shouldn't have to pay more than around £20 for the 700 series phone shown above. Trimphones are also around this price. The black Bakelite phones are much more expensive. £50 would be bargain - from a dealer expect to pay £80 to £100. Be careful before parting with money on these. There are many phones around with reproduction parts and many foreign copies of more recent manufacture. This is especially true of coloured versions of the 300 and the earlier 200 series phones which can sell for hundreds of pounds. If in doubt buy from a reputable dealer.

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