Anyone else remember ‘01’ for London?

[KnewYearKnewMe]

I’m reading The Mandibles, and it talks about a fictional big deal when the US international country code for their phones was ‘downgraded’ from 1 to 2..

It got me wondering if anyone else remembers when London’s phone area code was just 01 all over – and the uproar when they changed it to 071 and 081? I still remember people getting really aggrevated about being lumped into “outer London” with an 081 number when they were sure instead of they should be thr apparently much posher 071!

It all seemed very snobby looking back. Yet people did get very wound up.

for anyone younger – this was back when we actually used landlines and knew people’s phone numbers - Imagine that 😂😂)

Would love to hear if anyone else remembers – or any other examples of people getting terribly snobby about something that seems pretty daft to you .

That was Maureen Lipman, her friend was being very smug because she had an 071 number whereas Maureen Lipman had 081 which she considered inferior. Maureen Lipman's comeback to her was she was pleased not to have an inner city number like 071, 081 areas were much pleasanter! These BT ads were very funny, they introduced an 'ology' to the English language.

I recall about 1971 when our neighbour's husband worked away and she would use our phone to call him, she had to call the operator for a ATD, I think, where they operator connected the call and after she'd finished they called back to tell her the cost of the call and she would pay us!

Anthony! People will always need plates!

DD is doing GCSEs and I had to explain the Beattie adverts to her just so I can say this to her when she gets stressed about revision

One of my grandmas had a party line with a three digit number when I was young (1970s) you had to press the little button between the dial and the receiver to get the connection. I lived in fear of picking the phone up and it already being in use. They switched to a four digit number at some point, then got two more digits to make it six.

Funnily enough I remember every single incarnation of the four (ever increasing) numbers she had even though it’s over 30 years since she died.

Actually three people had already posted...

"Marcus and I have an agreement. He makes the money; I spend it. Well, I've kept my half of the bargain!"

Ooh @JudgeJ - that reminds me - reverse charge calls, that you could do from a phone box!

The Phantom Flan Flinger!

I did a laughing emoji but literally don’t know what this is !!

Yes and her friend was Miriam Margolyes, IIRC.

He was a character on Tiswas who would periodically appear wearing a balaclava and a black cloak, accompanied by DUN-DUN-DUUURRH music and throw custard pies at people.

Yup, I lived in London from 1986 onwards so I had an 01 number then an 0181 number, and in time 0208 and 0203 in different homes. I also remember when my home phone number in Plymouth went from 5 to 6 digits with a 0 inserted after the first digit, and being laughed at by a classmate in year 2 in a new school (we moved from Portsmouth to Plymouth and back again several times) because when the class teacher asked me if I knew my phone number, I said no (we'd moved into the house only at the weekend and this was Monday morning and I was 6!)

I remember 01 numbers (think Countdown and a 'Whitehall' which was Scotland Yard's phone number), and particularly a fuss later on when 071 changed to 0207 ones in inner London.

ah Thank you !!

I was more a Swap Shop kinda gel

(some might say boring square )

Instantly recognised this!

I grew up with a landline & i'm a Londoner but don't remember this.

Yes, I remember 01. Very occasionally, you see a shop front with an 01 still in place.

With the change to 020, I think a lot of people didn’t understand that you were supposed to say 020 7, not 0207, so that you could leave out the 020 if you were within the area.

i can still remember my childhood phone number from 45 years ago. My Mum used to answer the phone by reeling off the number. God knows why.

My dad still does this, but without prefix number that was added on phONEday back in 1995! That’s the same day the 1 was added to the area code too, so Newcastle became 0191, for example. I guess this is when London got their 7 or 8 too.

Thirty years ago. Flipping Nora.

It was how things were done.
Maybe due to manual exchanges initially to show the caller they had got through to where things were wanted? My GF (died 1977) used to do the same.

Apart from to your mates you know doubt have it ingrained in their heads.

If I got sucked into a time machine back to 1986 I have about 15 friends I could call without looking at an address book.

Same. Quite useful if you need a numeric password that you'll remember without having to write it down (you can just note 'Julie' or whoever's number it was).

Multi coloured swap shop??

Yes.

I know.

I have read the whole thread.

Well everywhere got the extra 1.

We had an old rotary phone that must've been in the house before we lived there, it still had 3000 on as the phone number! I remember it as 843000, and answering the phone saying the number! The area code was 0661 then changed to 01661, maybe in the 90s.

I don't have a landline these days so I've no idea what the number is!

I also loved in the area which had that exact dialing code you’re talking about for 5 years and they were the best 5 years of my life ❤️💕💕

Beautiful place ❤️
bit envious ..