This week's picture feature looks at telephone boxes, specifically the public pay-phones owned by British Telecom, formerly part of the Post Office. The classic red phone box originated in 1926 with the design by Giles Gilbert Scott of Kiosk Number Two (K2). K1, the first standard British phone box, had appeared in 1920 and, unlike the cast-iron K2, was made of concrete. For over 80 years, the red kiosks have been a reassuringly familiar feature of our landscape, much like red pillar boxes and, at least in London, red buses. Now, of course, all that is changing. Mobile phones have hugely reduced the usage of pay-phones and British Telecom has only kept its network because it was under a legal obligation to do so. Now the European Union proposes abolishing this legal requirement and the days of the remaining red kiosks look numbered. That is a great shame - they are a community service and they look great. And if the mobiles are eventually proved to have been frying our brains, we'll miss those lovely old red boxes for more than just their looks.

Four classic red kiosks lined up in Cambridge in October 2003 (image 2456-20)

Copyright © David Gray 2000-2007.  All rights reserved.