Monday, 16 July 2012

Hanging on the Telephone

Plastic toy telephones were always a big deal [ or should I say dial!] in our house growing up as a kid in the 1960's. There were alsorts of toy phones around. My Mum and Dad had lodgers - dockers from Preston Docks - and one of them, I think called Len, gave me a toy payphone, which accepted money as well I seem to remember. The best toy phones we had were two that were connected by a long cable, which ran from upstairs to downstairs. It was great fun dialling the other phone and if my older brothers answered, hurling abuse at them! Good times! Did anyone else have a toy phone?

3 comments:

  1. It's funny, but I had to wait until I was an adult to get a toy phone - a plastic Flintstones phone to go with my other Flintstones stuff.

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  2. We had an in-house phone at some point (actually a party line system). Not a toy as such, though it came close.

    I -did- however have a working telegraph line to my next-door neighbour when I was fourteen or so, after we'd made one in school as a physics project. Everything home built, the key being half a purse spring making contact on a nail, and the receivers having electromagnetic spools wound by ourselves to pull a flattened thumbtack on grease-proof paper towards a magnetized bolt in the middle of an empty shoe polish tin to make a buzzing sound. Worked a treat and I still remember a little bit of Morse code. :)

    Best
    --
    Paul

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  3. Never had one, but always wanted a toy car steering wheel! Airfix did one but I never found one in the shops.

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