Often the comments are better than my posts. Here is one from the very early days of this blog.
I checked your website to see if you had written more since my last visit and you have. I particularly liked the telephone one – v reminiscent of my childhood. At one time, when my father was head of the Atomic Energy Authority and Eden was Prime Minister we had a scrambler telephone in rural Essex – very exciting at the time. This replaced Government messengers on green motorcycles with sidecars, who wore goggles and gauntlets – even better as there was something to see (and hear).
Scrambler ‘phones were a feature in the 1960s. Kenneth Rose in his Journals writes:
15 August 1963
Bill Deedes to dine at flat … After he had joined the Cabinet a week or two ago a caravan of Post Office men turned up at his home in Aldington to install his scrambler telephone – the equipment for which cost about £200. They had no idea he was a minister, and asked him: “Are you going to need the equipment long?” Bill replied that their guess was as good as his. Eventually the equipment was installed, accompanied by many contemptuous remarks from the workmen at the existing electrical equipment in the house. Eden, Bill adds, was never happy with the scrambler as he always forgot that its valves needed about two minutes to warm up.
30 November 1963 (letter to parents)
John Wyndham tells me of Harold Macmillan’s last day as Prime Minister. On the day the Queen came to the Edward VII Hospital, Macmillan had a little sleep in the evening, and woke up to find two workmen in his room. They explained that they were from the Post Office, and had been sent to remove the secret ‘scrambler’ telephone which all Cabinet ministers have. Macmillan later commented to John: “Nothing gets rolled up so quickly as a red carpet”.
Do they still exist, or are they called Hot Lines? My guess is that they have gone the way of faxes, Minitel, Betamax, spool-to-spool tape recorders … feel free to add to the list of obsolete technology. One that’s made a come-back is Teasmade, this time as a coffee maker, brand name Barisieur.
