Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on September 20, 2002 at 08:34:24 from 194.112.52.112 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Calling Long Distance posted by John Wilson on September 19, 2002 at 10:24:34:
Thank you for explaining that. Now that I think about it, I remember, as a child in the early 1960's, my father telephoning my mother, for three minutes precisely, from the Middle East. I fancy he called from a telegraph office in Beirut. She knew the call was coming because we were all lined up in the (cold, draughty) hall, where the suburban middle classes kept their telephones in those days to speak to him. That must have been what it was.
A few years later, as a teenager, I recall being deeply shocked by the sight of an American girl sitting down to chat on the telephone; telephoning was "meant to be uncomfortable" and was done standing up!
Of course Commander Walker could not have telephoned from Berlin; my mistake.