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Not to be confused with the now awesomely popular iPhone (blatant plug – don’t forget to download our free FaceMaker iPhone app!) the British Telecom InPhone wasn’t so much a particular handset, or even a range of handsets, it was actually primarily a wall socket!
It may seem hard to get excited about a wall socket (hence the over the top advertising campaign – see below) but it was a very forward thinking idea. Prior to this a telephone was connected directly to the wall, meaning it couldn’t be moved around the house (indeed you probably only had a single telephone in the house), and if the phone itself broke for any reason (probably unlikely, but possible) you’d need an engineer to come out and wire up a new telephone for you.
So along came the InPhone system, and suddenly not only could we have multiple spots around the house where we could plug in a phone, we could more affordably have a telephone in every room of the house (if we so wished of course) and change our handsets too.
In the years to follow it also meant that getting your computer online became a simple matter of connecting your modem to the wall socket. Imagine if we had still had to use one of those ridiculous acoustic coupler modems like Matthew Broderick used in WarGames.
Another concept that the InPhone system brought along was the idea of actually buying your own telephone. Previously most people rented the telephone itself off British Telecom as well as paying line rental and call charges. British Telecom were responsible for making many of these phones themselves, including the one in the image accompanying this post. Laughably, this was called the “Slimphone” because of its size. Nowadays it would probably be called a brick.
To let everyone know all about this brilliant new concept in telephony, British Telecom had a series of TV adverts which all shared a very infectious piece of music. If you were around in the Eighties and have forgotten it, I’m sure it will come flooding back when you watch the clip below…
I still miss Buzby….
And while we’re on the subject of BT, does anyone else remember the ‘Bedtime Story’ service they used to run? It used to be a very special treat for me when I stayed with my grandparents! (We didn’t actually have our own phone when I was small….)
We never had a phone either when we were kids, but I do remember going to my Aunties to listen to the bedtime story, and I was also fascinated by the speaking clock for some reason.
There’s a Vangelis track, Pulstar, which features a sample from The Speaking Clock (is it still going?) Millsy stuck it on one Sunday night on GLR and set a phone in going to see who could remember what the time was at the end of the record.
Yes, the Speaking Clock is still going. Number is 123 – apparently 30p a call – or you can call 0871 789 3642 which is a bit cheaper (10p a minute) and still features Pat Simmons, the lady who was the BT Speaking Clock voice from 1963 to 1984.
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