‘Now, Major, before we start, let’s press Button A, shall we?’ said Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) in The Ladykillers (1955). Buttons A and B on a telephone were once as much a part of everyday life as the BBC Home Service. It was a wonderfully elaborate system. Callers picked up the receiver, inserted 3d and dialled a local number. When the recipient picked up their telephone, the caller pressed Button A. If the recipient didn’t answer, the caller pressed Button B to have the 3d returned. More expensive long-distance calls were made via the operator, who would issue the famous instruction on connection, ‘Press Button A, caller.’ The General Post Office introduced the A/B telephone boxes in 1925, although not everyone was impressed. ‘Women users are really pathetic. They stand inside the boxes and read the instructions again and again,’ wrote a scoundrel journalist in London’s Evening News. Soon the...
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