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I went out to a public telephone box, and gave the number to the operator. It was a ‘trunk call’, later known as a ‘long distance call’. She told me how many coins to put into the machine, and that in the event of someone picking up the phone at the other end, I should press ‘button A’. She knew that I had put the right number of coins in, because the booths were equipped with an electro-mechanical device to tell her that.
The phone rang for a while but there was no reply. So I put down the ’phone, and pressed ‘button B’ which was supposed to return the coins which you had put in, in case of not getting through to the number dialled. Nothing. Not wishing to lose my pennies and shillings, I dialled the operator again. She asked my address, and said that postage stamps to the value of what I had put in would be sent to me. I thanked her. Before leaving the telephone box I pressed button B again, just in case. The result was a little cascade of coins, actually somewhat more than what I had put in.