A Christmas Gift (GPO Ad)

[FABphones]

A Christmas gift suggestion from the GPO.
Newspaper/magazine advert c. 1929.


From the advert text:

..the Hand-microphone - known to the growing number of its friends as "Handy"...

Phone information:
https://www.britishtelephones.com/t162.htm

[david@london]

That's a great old ad.

Amazing that in 1929 the GPO could undertake to supply an extra phone to existing subscribers by Christmas Day, when ordered only 6 days before...and for a one off charge of £1 (£50 in today's £) with no mention of any extra rental charges.

[countryman]

That is highly interesting from the linguistic aspect:
The mobile phone is called "das Handy" in German. The name just appeared ca. 1992 with the first hand-held instruments, it was not introduced as a trademark or the like. It is unclear how this happened. The usual explanation is that Motorola called handheld radios "handy-talkies", what was generalized by radio amateurs. Interesting to see "handy" was used as a noun in English even earlier!
It might be worth adding a link to the German Wikipedia article.

[compubit]

That's a great old ad.

Amazing that in 1929 the GPO could undertake to supply an extra phone to existing subscribers by Christmas Day, when ordered only 6 days before...and for a one off charge of £1 (£50 in today's £) with no mention of any extra rental charges.

Based on the timing of when the ad was placed, could it have been a case of:
- The ad was placed before the London Stock Exchange crashed (and folks were living the high life of the roaring 20s.
- The ad was placed after the crash, and was a way to possibly get work for GPO employees in the few people who could afford a phone after the crash

No idea, but these are 2 possibilities.

Jim

[FABphones]

Based on the timing of when the ad was placed...

Interesting thought. Either way - earlier or later - clever subtle GPO marketing.

The 1929 Stock market would have absorbed the news at the time, the telephone would have played an essential role. A UK-New York telephone call cost £9 for 3 minutes (price was reduced in 1928).

1929 brought with it new automatic exchanges, new design public telephone kiosks and the Teleprinter (the fear of the knock on the door and being handed a succinct 'pay per word' Telegram which could bring joyous greetings, but most often carried urgent and unfortunate news and a deadly hush from all within the room whilst it was read out...).

What a gentle and clever way for the GPO to present their new model handset telephone and acquire some additional funds to ride out the storm (if that were the case).

- Buy the latest design telephone for yourself (keep up with the latest news from family and friends),
- Buy the latest design telephone for someone else (it's a gift, they cannot surely be offended, and if they have suffered losses this modern one piece handset telephone will be a welcome - and paid for - essential part of daily life).

And promised with a 6 day delivery window, just in time for the subscriber to proudly use their new innovative handset telephone to personally offer Christmas Greetings and Thank You's.

Nicely done GPO.