'Hold The Line Please' traces the history of the telephone service in the Midlands from 1879 when Birmingham's first exchange was opened on the corner of New Street and Stephenson Street.

The author (an ex-GPO operator herself) follows the rapid expansion of the telephone service through the first half of the twentieth century to WWII when operators in Birmingham, some as young as 17, heroically kept the service going night and day through the blitz with steel helmets and gas masks at the ready.

(ISBN 1-85858-239-3)

Later chapters deal with training, equipment and the many characters amongst the one thousand operators employed by the GPO at Newhall Street. With a forward by Neil Johannessen.

Available directly from the author for £9.95 (including UK postage & packing):

Sally Southall, Manor Cottage, 250 Station Road, Balsall Common, Coventry, CV7 7EE [address updated Dec 2005]

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