Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I remember there used to be a liberal sprinkling of red phone boxes around the estate.

Are they still there or does every pupil now have their own mobile phone?

Herrumph! In my day ONE telephone was enough for the entire school - it was in the Headmaster's office but plugged through to Col B out of hours. To use it (not that I or any boy ever did) one picked up the earpiece, held one's mouth to the mouthpiece sticking out of a little wooden box on the wall, and wound a little handle on the box which presumably tickled a lady in the Horsham exchange.

from 1978-84 the two I used were the Leigh Hunt one and the Peele one.

In that really strange way that one's memory works as one becomes older, I remember the Leigh Hunt one's number was 62093 and the Peele one was 62055. Now when it comes to remembering what I had for supper last night, I struggle....

They used to take 2p's... we mastered how to press the little coin bar just enough to shout "call me" without actually pushing the 2p in... "Count the pennies.... "

Also one behind the court room and one by the tuck shop.

I am curious as to whether there is any limit on usage of mobile phones and how they prevent them being used during classes.

I don’t know about current times, but in the 90s each house had their own payphone which accepted incoming calls. These were moved into small rooms in the house during my era to allow pupils to make calls in private.

We could put ten pence in and push the receiver in enough to reject the coin but continue the call. One kid spent lots of time listening to sex lines for free as a result!

I was going to remark how difficult it would have been back in the 80s to really tell your parents about any issues as the whole house could hear everything said since the phones were at the bottom of the big echoey fire escape stairs leading up to the dorms. My sister had to tell me my dad had died with what seemed like the whole world listening.

I guess these days every kid has a laptop so they can Skype for free for as long as you want to anyone round the world at any time of day. I wonder how they manage the bandwidth.

I only recall 3 phone boxes. The ones behind the Courtroom and next to the Tuckshop that have already been mentioned, and one next to the Post Office.

I don't remember their numbers but alarmingly I do remember the registration number of Webb's Hillman Imp was LBP224D.

I don’t remember any phones. On the other hand no family had a phone at home, so it was no loss.

Does the school provide free broadband for the pupils?

The ony one I remember was in the court room corridor. Always dark and musty with a distintive smell of despair and overshadowed by that shark attack picture which didn't help much either..

1d coins, if memory serves.

Jim Rayner wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:02 am I only recall 3 phone boxes. The ones behind the Courtroom and next to the Tuckshop that have already been mentioned, and one next to the Post Office.

These were the only ones I recall, although I believe senior Housemasters had a phone in their study, presumably for "emergencies".
As a policeman, my father managed to wangle a phone at home, but it was a party line with our neighbours.
I can still remember our home number.

Party lines. What a thought.

Not on the subject but in the same vein.
When I was in Bogota in the late 70's, one had to phone the exchange to request an international line, and they would phone back.
One Sunday evening there was some sort of overload and instead of getting the operator, customers lines were crossed so one ended up talking to another frustrated customer. This meant we all hung up and tried again, with similar lack of success ,until some bright spark took it on himself to pretend to be the exchange and took our requests.
I discovered this when I managed to get the operator about an hour later to discover that my "original" request had never been received.

jhopgood wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 1:04 pm

Jim Rayner wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:02 am I only recall 3 phone boxes. The ones behind the Courtroom and next to the Tuckshop that have already been mentioned, and one next to the Post Office.

These were the only ones I recall, although I believe senior Housemasters had a phone in their study, presumably for "emergencies".
As a policeman, my father managed to wangle a phone at home, but it was a party line with our neighbours.
I can still remember our home number.

My father was in the London Fire Brigade so we had a home telephone as a requirement of the job.

I would make occasional calls home from the Court Room telephone box if things got me down too much.

There was a phone box at the back of Leigh Hunt A, with a queue in the evenings of boys clutching 2p and 10p pieces to phone home. It had a few of the glass panes broken (no sharp bits left mind) however, this did not render it entirely safe. One half-term someone in Leigh Hunt B went to France and came back with a load of what we called 'French Bangers' (being then 2nd and 3rd Formers, no Sid James sniggers please), which were Chinese fireworks not available in the UK. Anyway, these were a great source of entertainment. Various uses were found, such as putting them into packs of warm butter and detonating in the Day Room, showering the ceiling with butter, or putting into roast potatoes and throwing into a study, or the small red or green ones were chucked under the loo doors when a cubicle was in use. However, I did hear a report that some unfortunate 2nd Former from Maine A (therefore entirely fair game) was on the phone to home when someone slipped a banger into the phone box through one of the broken panes and then scarpered before the very loud detonation. Looking back, it must have been terrible for the unfortunate boy and more so for his parent on the end of the line.