My mum in Cornwall had a 2 figure number, all calls were by the operator, whom we all knew by name, who lived in what is now "Old Exchange Cottage" in the local village 3 miles away.
Over the years as the old Exchanges and Strougher machines were relaced the number went to three figures, then four figures, then 7 and now it's 11, but she still has the original two figure suffix, so anyone with an old phone book dialling 'St Tudy 12' will still get my Mum.
The story goes that my Grandfather had the first phone near the village of Blisland (they were also the only house with mains electricity so the GPO had pylons to put the wire on) so expected to get 'Blisland 1' but the 1 was reserved for the Post Office, so he got Blisland 2. The number for the house still ends in a 2 today, and the pylons for the phone, electricity and now the Cable TV and Internet still cross the field 70 years later.
Over the years as the old Exchanges and Strougher machines were relaced the number went to three figures, then four figures, then 7 and now it's 11, but she still has the original two figure suffix, so anyone with an old phone book dialling 'St Tudy 12' will still get my Mum.
The story goes that my Grandfather had the first phone near the village of Blisland (they were also the only house with mains electricity so the GPO had pylons to put the wire on) so expected to get 'Blisland 1' but the 1 was reserved for the Post Office, so he got Blisland 2. The number for the house still ends in a 2 today, and the pylons for the phone, electricity and now the Cable TV and Internet still cross the field 70 years later.
