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Issue 132 – April 2018
IS ANYBODY THERE?
By Stephen Guy
THE invention of the telephone transformed people’s lives but, like every innovation, it was slow developing in practical terms. From the earliest phones in the 1870s, it took about a century before the vast majority had access to the devices. For decades telephones were mostly used for business with a limited number in the home. Most people used call boxes for the rare occasions they needed to phone. Today more people have mobile phones than landlines. Increasing numbers use their mobiles for access to the internet with its wealth of services. At the dawn of telecommunications the system was rudimentary the first Liverpool exchange opened in 1879. Liverpool’s first domestic telephones linked two adjacent residences – Calderstones mansion house (pictured) and Verdala Towers on Allerton Road.
An interview with Jim Broadbent
page 7
Strange Tales by Anton Valdemart This was long before the average person knew the existence of telephones, never mind seen one. Early telephone users rarely had to put up with nuisance calls or ominous silences greeted by: “Is anybody there?” There were also no party lines which sometimes meant you couldn’t use the phone because
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your neighbour was on the blower. Calderstones and Verdala Towers were occupied by members of the ship owning MacIver family. Charles MacIver senior, a founder of Cunard, lived at Calderstones while his son Charles junior lived at Verdala Towers. The story goes that one night a disgruntled crew member from one of the MacIver ships arrived at Verdala Towers. The man aired his grievances to Charles junior: he offered little sympathy to the employee who then stormed off. The crew member headed for Calderstones to take the issue up with Charles’ father. Charles junior, being an astute judge of human nature, suspected this would happen.
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City Centre : Allerton : Garston
He picked up his newfangled telephone to Calderstones and warned his father to expect a visitor and outlined the circumstances. No sooner had Charles senior put the phone down than the employee arrived with a new version of his tale of woe. At the end of the tirade Charles senior told him: “This does not resemble the tale you told at Verdala Towers ten minutes ago.” The employee, who knew nothing of telephones, is said to have fled into the night convinced the two men were either in league with the devil or experts in telepathy. n Learn more about the history of Liverpool at the Museum of Liverpool, Pier Head, open 10am to 5pm every day, admission free.
page 8
LIFE ‘n’ STYLE with Jade Ainsworth
pages 12 & 13
What’s On
page 18
Services LINK
pages 20 and 21
Car review – Hyundai Ioniq
page 23
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