This is the kind of community initiative that this blog wants more of….
From the BBC by Phil Harrison, 6 October 2026
Free books for 150 red phone box libraries are being made available to celebrate 100 years of two British legends – Winnie-the-Pooh and the K2 red phone box.
For more details go to the BBC source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm4g1v882250o
I picked up this volume recently:
And this creation is very appealing – caffeine and dial:
I haven’t come across many phone boxes lately so just two locations this time.
I spent a few days in Helsinki and Tallinn and this was the only phone box I came across. Both countries are strongly digitial orientated so that may explain it. This UNESCO island is a sea fort and the phone box was last used in the 1970s (I think).
This is me, with my dog Biscuit, at the Rochester Sweeps Festival a few weeks ago.
Quote from The Standard’s article on Don Arden (12 April 2012), which I have only just come across via a Standard FB post. I guess now it’s local coffee shops that act as the office for a lot of people:
The Monster of Rock – Why Sharon Osbourne’s dad was the most feared man in music
“Born in Manchester in 1926, his real name was Harry Levy and he began his career singing in the local synagogue, from where he progressed quickly to performing on the variety circuits at 14 in wartime Britain. The local phone box was his office. When he got in there, no one dared try to get him out.!”
On our recent trip to Marrakesh we came across this small museum in the Medina. It’s near a nice park and worth a visit. Apopogises for the glare in the photos – there was a lot of glass about.
Not in the museum but in the Medina…
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Posted in Geography
Tagged heritage and history, Morocco, urban
We had a few days in the Yorkshire Dales recently and I was happy to see that the phone box is still very much a part of the landscape.
Here are a few from the Dales in general…
Settle in particular was an excellent find (and referenced in a much earlier post on this blog) – a mini art gallery and the only speaking phone I’m aware of. The voice of George Horner, a Signalman for many years on the Settle-Carlisle Railway, can be heard by dialing the phone. His oral history stories are part of the Bill Mitchell archive and cover a variety of topics such as dealing with snow and tea-making at the signal box. Apologises for the glare on some of the photos.
An update: I found the image below in the Science Museum files. It appears to be an AA telephone handset. Perhaps it was installed inside boxes such as the Aysgarth one shown above?
Reprinted from The Guardian 24 March 2025.
BT had planned to remove the familiar red kiosk in rural Norfolk until 89-year-old Derek Harris intervened.
An 89-year-old man has won his battle to save the last remaining phone box in a village in East Anglia.
Derek Harris learned in January that BT was planning to remove the K6-style box in Sharrington, Norfolk, where he has lived for 50 years. Harris and his fellow campaigners argued it was “an iconic heritage asset” and a vital asset to the community, due to the poor mobile signal in the rural area and North Norfolk having the highest proportion of older residents in England and Wales.
For the full article go to The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/24/no-change-needed-campaigner-saves-his-last-local-phone-box
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/35531871/uk-red-phone-box-graveyard/
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Posted in Media
Tagged curiosity, Egypt, heritage and history, rural, television, UK, USA
Just a memory
I enjoyed this FB post. It’s definately something I’ve aluded to – the idea that phone boxes remain useful as film and tv plot devices but are disappearing in the real world. Thanks to George Takei. Live Long and Prosper.
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Posted in Comment
Tagged cinema, curiosity, heritage and history, television