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Peter?

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8.20 at the time now.

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It was on this day, 1995, when almost
every landline phone number changed

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forever, as the UK risked running out of
numbers for new customers.

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Phone Day, as it was
known, meant nearly all

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of our dialling codes
got an extra digit.

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Our reporter, Graham
Satchell, has been looking

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through the archives as to
when the change came in.

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I think we're on a winner here at three,
all right?

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Play it nice and cool, son.

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Nice and cool, you know what I mean?

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It's one to remember.

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All area codes starting O must start 01,
from Phone Day, the 16th of April.

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Without doubt, the best thing about
National Phone Day was the adverts.

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Britain had run out of phone numbers for
new customers.

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So everyone's number had to change.

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If you got it wrong, this was the message.

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BEEPING Please redial, inserting the digit
one after the prefix digit O.

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On the day the numbers
changed, worried BT

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technicians pored over
glitching computer screens.

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Businesses had to spend
almost £3 billion, changing their

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company advertising and
upgrading their phone systems.

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BEEPING Some cities got brand-new dialling
codes.

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Leeds became 0113, Nottingham,
0115, Bristol, 0117.

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Most simply added a
one, so Birmingham went

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from 021 to 0121, now
rhyming slang for do one.

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Liverpool went from 051 to 0151.

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BEEPING The old
dialling codes had become

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much-loved, almost
defining signifiers of a city.

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This Liverpool nightclub resisted the
change.

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The original code of 051, it's such a
beautiful thing.

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It's just so authentic, and just for it to
hold its own in its original, authentic,

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beautiful state of 051, I think just gives
it that real Liverpool Scouse  feel.

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I just don't think we could change it,
to be honest.

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The change to all our phone numbers feels
like ancient history now.

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A bit like red phone boxes, landlines have
become almost obsolete.

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I don't think we have a landline any more.

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Yeah, I think it's just mobiles now,
so, yeah, I don't have one.

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Do you think you've got one at all?

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I'm not sure, I don't think so,
no.

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If we do, I haven't used it in ages,
so, yeah, I'm not sure.

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Do you know your landline number?

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I do.

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Yeah, I know I still have a landline
phone, but I never ever use it.

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Mostly, I have a nice rotary phone,
and it's just really pretty.

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And it's got the little...
Yeah, and she knows how to

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use it, and she thinks
it's, like, basically history.

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My parents mostly use it to call me.

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Everything else is just mobile phones,
but, yeah, apart from my parents,

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probably nobody else calls me on the
landline.

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Everyone, like, nowadays, they have,
like, their own phone, so they don't

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really use, like, the landlines any more,
so...

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But you still have one in the house,
do you?

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Yeah.

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Does it ever ring?

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Not that I heard, but...

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I probably is not connected any more.

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Do you know your landline number?

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We no longer have one, but it was 0208-977
-3658.

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Amazing, isn't it, how you remember the
number?

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Yeah, that was...

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That has not been in use for ten years,
possibly, I think, as long as that.

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Grandma, I failed.

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You failed?

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What do you mean, you failed?

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And yet, it wasn't that
long ago that the only way

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to keep in touch with
Grandma was on the landline.

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Anything else?

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Man's sociology.

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Anology?

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It gets anology and it says it's failed.

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You get anology, you're a scientist!

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The unquestioning support of a
grandparent.

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Thank goodness some things never change.

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Graham's actual BBC news.

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A lot of them can't see.

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So, technology expert Tom Cheesewright
with us.

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Morning, Tom.

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Good morning.

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There's a lot of nostalgia
in there, a lot of fun,

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you know, some of the
scripts, the comedy shows.

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1995, do you remember?

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Was it a big deal for you?

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Do you remember?

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What do you remember about it?

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Yeah, it was a huge deal because your area
code, the thing that stuck in your head,

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the first thing you dial
when you're away from your

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folks, whatever, that you
dial to get home, changed.

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And it changed for everybody.

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And at the same time, lots of people's
phone numbers changed as well.

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We were just running out of numbers.

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We had to create more.

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We had to add in digits.

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So not only did your area
code change, actually, for

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a lot of people, your phone
number changed as well.

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Well, you presumably weren't a technology
expert then.

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I was a bit of a nerd already,
if I'm honest.

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I was sort of born a nerd.

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So did you find it...

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I mean, I think a lot of people were kind
of confused, just a bit sort of like,

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oh, I don't know how this is going to
work.

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Was that the impression at the time?

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I think so.

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I think because it's been so established.

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Bear in mind, we started
using phone numbers, you

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know, back in sort of early
1800s, sorry, late 1800s.

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Like early 1900s, it got sort of
automated.

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So it's a long time these things have been
around.

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People have had their numbers in their
head.

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Imagine if you had to change your mobile
number now, relearn a new mobile number.

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I've had mine for 27 years, I think.

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You know, having to change that number
that's so embedded in your head,

113
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you can see why it confused people and
threw people.

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Did it go down well?

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I mean, I don't think people got too upset
about it in the long run.

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People understood ultimately that it was
necessary.

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And, you know, it's clearly been proven
necessary.

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You know, we needed that many numbers at
the time.

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This is before sort of, you know,
mobiles went huge, before we had to add

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all these other numbers,
before we had the

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number of different
business lines that we had.

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I mean, back then we
were dealing with sort of fax

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numbers and a few sort of
not enough business lines.

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Do you remember your home phone number?

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Yes, absolutely.

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But that said, I don't still
have it, so... Ah, right, OK.

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But and like your friends numbers that you
used to call.

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I mean, if they still lived there,
I could still probably dial my friend's

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parents from when I was about eight,
nine years old.

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A lot of people were reminiscing about
this stuff.

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When people used to answer
the phone years ago, the

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first thing you did was say
your own number, wasn't it?

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Yes.

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You'd say, well, my
recollection is you'd say a bit of

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geography, as in the place
you're in, and then the number.

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We've had Annie who's messaged in,
who says, Annie says, when my aunt and

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uncle moved to Cornwall, their phone
number was Padstow 391.

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She went on to say she's in her 80s,
she's had a phone at home in the early

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50s, she can remember all the phone
numbers over the years.

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So that's the only thing you'd say.

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You'd tell the person phoning who they'd
phoned.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I mean, bear in mind that this started off
geographical.

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So you would be phoning
a local exchange where

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someone would connect
you to that local number.

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And originally there wouldn't be numbers
at all, it would just be connect me to

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this person and they had to know those
people.

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We only added the numbers
when the numbers started to

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increase and when you needed
to connect people quicker.

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Tom, you'll like this one.

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Alan said his phone number was a party
line with a local pub.

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So he said we could listen in and talk
forbidden but interesting.

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He also said their phone had an earth wire
leading outside, which sometimes had got

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water in it, which we sometimes had to
water to get a good connection.

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And don't try that at home, that sounds
all wrong.

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Yeah, no, it totally makes sense,
yeah.

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Do you have a party line?

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The connections degrade, yeah.

159
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And a party line where you're sharing the
line with other addresses.

160
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Yeah, I mean, and this is what
technologies help us to overcome, right?

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You know, we only have so much infrastructure
in the ground, only so many cables.

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When we first started
making phone calls, you were

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physically connected to the
person you were speaking to.

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You know, the wire was
connected from one end to the other,

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almost like a string and two
cans, just on a grand scale.

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We've moved a little bit beyond that now.

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Made it more exciting when the phone rang.

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There was... No, honestly, I
can remember the phone ringing

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in a house and it being quite
an exciting thing to happen.

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Because the phone was ringing.

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Now we just take all these things for
granted.

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Especially if you thought
it was a friend or a special

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friend and you didn't want
your parents to answer.

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Whereas now people don't like talking on
the phone.

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No, very much so.

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Your voice notes, messages, texts and
everything.

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It's like phone calls are unnecessary.

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We will do anything to avoid it quite
often.

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Nice to see you, Tom.

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Thank you very much.

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