When you think of London, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? It'll probably be this wonderful bright telephone box! But why is it exactly red? Do these telephones exist only in London? Are they actually available to make a phone call? Find it out in this blog post!
This red telephone box, also known as a telephone kiosk, began its story in 1924, when a competition for the best public telephone was held. The design that won was the one created by a British architect, who is also famous for working on Cambridge University, Oxford, Liverpool Cathedral, etc. Everybody liked his minimalist design and the red colour he chose - it was really easy to spot even on a grey rainy day.
In fact, the red telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is known as K2 (Kiosk No.2)... Then was there a No.1? Yes! The K1 was introduced in 1921 by the United Kingdom Post Office and its design quite differs from the today's telephone box we're used to.
After the K2 there were four more designs submitted by the same architect who tried to improve each following telephone kiosk model.
The K6 was introduced in 1935 and is known as the"Jubilee" Kiosk because it was designed in order to commemorate the Silver Jubilee (25 years of reign) of King George V. It's exactly this telephone kiosk model which became widespread and popular even outside of the UK.
Starting from 1926, the kiosks had a design of the Tudor Crown on its top until 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II decided to replace it with the St Edward's Crown. The K6 boxes then began to appear with that crown symbol.
Since the technology is developing faster and faster, people have started to think of other ways to use the famous red telephone booths. And that's right - why to forget such a popular British icon, even though telephone boxes have been replaced with mobile phones? It's worth finding other ways of its usage. And there are already some examples!
For instance, it's possible to find in Somerset, Cheshire, Cambridge and other English regions such mini-libraries and places of book exchange. What an amazing idea, isn't it?
Another way of using a kiosk was found in 2011 in Argyll, a county in western Scotland, where people thought of putting a defibrillator inside a telephone booth which can help those who have heart problems and are waiting for an ambulance. This has been put into use in other parts of the UK: Cumbria, Yorkshire and Humberside Oxfordshire.
The UK is not the only place where the red telephone booths can be found! There are many places in the US where the kiosks remain in use: Oklahoma, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, etc. Australia and New Zealand can boast of their own red telephone box designs. Other places to find the kiosks include Portugal, Malta and Cyprus.
One of the most famous British icons, the red telephone box seems to be known all over the world! Despite our era of technology and constant usage of cell phones, these red booths remain popular and are being used in other ways. Almost everyone who visits London wants to take picture next to this magical box... I'm definitely one of them :) And you?
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