That way inclined (10 March 2026)

Marcus commemorates the 150th anniversary of the first ever phone call.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Marcus Lush Night's podcast from Newstalks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Greetings, welcome, good evening. My name is Marcus Hittle. Twelve o'clock.
I hope it's good.

Speaker 4 (00:16):
We you are.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
If it's not good, I hope it gets better by
the time I go home, which would be sometimes, but
which will be sometime between three minutes to twelve and
five past twelve, depending on how the kitchen looks. Anyway,
I hope you're good. I hope things are good. We
you are. I'll tell you what what's that?

Speaker 5 (00:33):
Now?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm going to tell you something interesting. I had a
stubborn stain. Now I've gotta be careful about the stained
territory because there was a woman ready called Shannon Lush
who was very good with stains. I had an oil
skin vest and it was a green oil skin faded beautifully. Anyway,

(00:54):
I was transporting it in the back of my car
and some petrol a petrol can. I'm gonna say Jerry can,
but that's probably out of favor. A petrol can, but
was plastic, so that wasn't a Jerry can. It was
a non Jerry plastic spilt, so petrel came out onto

(01:19):
the beautifully aged green sleeveless woolfskin lined oilskin vest and
ruined it. And you know what it's like when you
stained something as your own fault, no matter every time
a war I look about that, that's your stain, lush
that you've done that. Anyway, what did I use? I
sprayed it lightly with citrus spray. You know that's citrus cleaner.

(01:41):
Is that still a thing? I think it's called dissolve it. Boy,
it's good, unbelievable and the stain has gone like you
would not believe anyway, So there we go. I guess
you could make it yourself not a stain, but I
guess it's just orange peel squeezed, is it? Anyway? I

(02:03):
was very excited about that. So that's my exciting thing
for the day, because not often stain removal goes right.
More often than not, stain removal goes very very bad.
You either destroy the item or it doesn't work anyway,
So that's top of mind for me. Anyway, that's not

(02:24):
the topic for tonight. I am curious about that. There
used to go door to do all those desolve it people,
I think. Anyway, now here's what we need to talk
about tonight. Ah. By the way, I will be keep
you up and date, update up, up to date with
news as it happens around the world. There's been some

(02:44):
very big explosions in Tehran, so I'll be across all
of that as I always will be. That is, and
if you've got information news, bring that to me too.
What I want to talk about today is something that
is quite important because a great discovery was made one
hundred and fifty years ago today, but it probably affected

(03:08):
my job more than any other discovery. And we've never
honored this day before, and I think we should today.
So it's one hundred and fifty years not since the
first radio broadcast. By the way, speaking of radio broadcasts,
there are radio broadcasts coming out of Iran that are

(03:31):
just broadcasting long strings of numbers. Yeah, and those long
strings of numbers are triggering sleeper sales all around the
world that have a pad that has the cipher and
they write down those numbers and it spells out words.
How old schools that no black breeze, no sleeper phones

(03:54):
are doing it with radio and code crackers. I find
that fascinating. I don't know if anyone's heard the broadcast.
I kind of went looking for it, and then I
realized probably it would be broadcast in the language that
wasn't English, so I probably wouldn't have known if I
came across it. But yeah, it's been broadcast a mysterious

(04:19):
code and if you had a code cracker, you'd hear it.
So the guy that's the broadcaster I was broadcasting in Farsi,
he goes tavosa tavosia, which is attention, attention, and then
a string of numbers. So it's on short wave and
they're broadcasting those frequently, and you've got a one time pad,

(04:42):
and you use the one time pad to write the
numbers down and you cross reference them and that's your
call to action. Extraordinary, isn't it? When was radio invented
nineteen thirty So that's not what's celebrating today, but that's
of interest because that's the second most important invention for
my job as radio But what was So, yeah, that's

(05:02):
interesting if you have heard those broadcasts, if you're a
short wave person. Eighteen ninety five radio was invented. But
we're not talking about eighteen ninety five. We're going way
back to eighteen seventy six, and it was the day
that the very first telephone call was made. So to
old technology one hundred and fifty years old. And tonight

(05:25):
we are talking about the telephone, and we are talking
about some of the more interesting, extraordinary or life changing
telephone conversations you have had. Yeah, whether it be winning
cash call with Leyton, or had it been a news
from across the world during the war. I don't know
what war or anything like that. I was trying to
think that I drove to work what my most exciting

(05:48):
phone call would be. But there's a lot of scope
for a conversation. You might have been someone that did
prank phone calls as a child. You might have been
someone that received obscene phone calls. Of course they've disappeared now,
haven't they. Once upon a time, a lot of people
have a whistle by the phone for when they'd get
an obscene phone call. But I think the people that

(06:09):
used to do the obscene phone calls now have the Internet.
And I've never really been I've never really fully understood
the modus operandi of an obscen phone call, how that
all worked. I couldn't quite work out what the payoff was.
But I don't need anyone to explain that to me.
Interestingly enough, Interestingly enough, when phone calls were first made,

(06:34):
no one knew what to say. Yeah, but it's a
new word. It's a new word, and the word hello
was not a big deal in the eighteen hundreds. It
was used to attract attention, like you'd go, Hello, what
do you think you're doing? Or to express surprise, like hello,

(06:54):
what have we here? It didn't become high until the
telephone arrived. So it was Thomas Edison who put hello
into common usage. Huge people used his phone to say
Hello when answered Alexander Graham Bell the arrival thought the
better word was a hoy, which is a naudical greeting,

(07:15):
which is what Burns and the Simpsons says, I think
he says a hoy hoy anyway, So yeah, the word
hello was pretty much popularized with Vita when the first
phone came a thing, and there was a book about
the phone to how to use the phone, and it
recommends you say a hoy or hello to start, and

(07:36):
it recommended when you finished, you say that is all.
So maybe tonight we might practice saying a hoy. And
that is all fascinating because I've never ever talked about
the phone, so I want to hear about you text
or emails. Exciting phone calls, bad phone calls, life changing
phone calls, your most memorable phone calls. I don't know

(07:58):
what i'd ring and say. I'm still thinking about it.
But what a remarkable bit of tech. And it's still
good technology, isn't it for something that's been around one
hundred We're not sick of well, we loved them. Were
always calling people. Although these days you call people all
around the world without a second guess, Once upon a
time you time your phone calls overseas to make them

(08:20):
as short as possible. Because of the expense, It was
common in people's houses for them to have egg time
as to time how long the phone call was to
make it short. So, yes, interesting phone calls, bad phone calls,
life changing phone calls, anything about phone calls. Tonight we
will celebrate one fifty years of the phone. The other
thing that I remember about find I can talk about

(08:40):
phones all night, might have to. I remember when we
first got cell phones. I'm thinking about nineteen ninety six.
How much the bills were. I think my phone bills
were about six hundred dollars a month. It seems wrong.
There will be in a draw somewhere. They are extraordinarily expensive,
and I guess there had to be. As you paid
for Ericson to build the cell phone network around the country,

(09:02):
and every cell phone was itemized, every cell phone call
was itemized. I suppose it'll be a great deal of
use to historians, be like the Samuel Peep's Diary through
our phone logs. The discussion tonight is the phone. If
you want to get the whole ball rolling, oh, eight
hundred eighty ten eighty interesting phone calls, bad phone calls,
exciting phone calls, anything phone call related. That's the spirit

(09:25):
for tonight. You might have, once upon a time had
an interesting phone number. It might have been two digits
in the early days. You might have been on a
party line. You might still be on a party line.
I love the expression party line. So that's the plan.
Tonight's stan. What do we say a hoy? And that
is all if we can get that done. But think

(09:45):
about it. Think about some of the most the most
extraordinary phone calls you've had. Might be about birth, might
be about death, might be about beloved spouses or family
members safe in war, that's the planned stan Oh eight
hundred eighty ten eighty A. HOI, by the way, it's
not looking good for the bread. If you're suffering with bread,

(10:08):
you're not alone. Goodman Field has had a mayor and
bread and bun production was affected by unspecified issues. Is
it a takeover? Vogels out of stock? Goodness me, you
have to get some zesti japarter anyway, eighteen past eight
if you want to be part of the show, Oh,
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. That is all. And

(10:32):
if you remind me, I've just been googling the phone
number for dialar prayer that was big in the day,
and I'm seeing it still there. You get a live prayer,
Oh eight hundred and fifty eighty eight. I don't know
if it spelled anything, the New Zealand Christian prayer line, goodness,
because that was always fun. You'd call a recorded I
think you do that if you're pretending to call someone
and you want to hear voices twenty three if you're

(10:53):
like a hostage situation. Twenty three past eight nickets Marcus
good evening.

Speaker 6 (10:58):
Yeah, I just remembering up, yeah, I just remembering banks
of the sixties and seventies when because everybody had wind up,
wind up? What's his back in the day, didn't I
used to dal tim. I'm talking about the ukhto but
they used to dal tim one two three to find
out what the time was, so you could say, it's
watch every day.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
And did you say did you say Tim?

Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah, it used to be Tim. It was because each
number had a series of letters that it was tied to,
didn't it. I think one was a B C or something,
and one two three I think was tie tim T.

Speaker 7 (11:29):
I M.

Speaker 6 (11:29):
I don't know what it was I had here, but
I was also thinking the other just funny enough. It
was only a couple of months ago, and I remember
thinking about in the album We Got we all had
phone boxes just out every street corner of a phone
box on it. And I remember thinking, just recently, you
know everyone's you know, you go into a hospital, you
go in the shop anywhere like that, you squirt your

(11:50):
hands with a plumbing anti septic and you give your
hands a white And I used to think of the
filth I was would have been on these phone boxes.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Good, it'd be good filth, it would it would build
up your resistance. I think I mean, think of the
think of the filth on the coins.

Speaker 6 (12:07):
Used to used to have the machines, and you pop
the thing in impressed the algathas for the coin to
drop down, wouldn't it It would go on like a
little machinery thing.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Oh yeah, I think yeah. And that's why the millennials
are subsessed about plunged so because they they're not touching
a lot of stuff like we touched. It's a good point. Faulty,
it's Marcus. Oh hello, faulty, it's Marcus. Good evening, Yeah.

Speaker 8 (12:33):
You going, Marcus? How are you doing?

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Good? Faulty?

Speaker 6 (12:36):
Thank you?

Speaker 8 (12:38):
Phones note in sixty five, I think it was our
phone number was four eight W. You were talking about
three digits.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Wow, you were four eight W.

Speaker 7 (12:50):
Yes.

Speaker 8 (12:52):
Not only that, Marcus, me and my dad put in
their own phone line for eleven miles to be able
to hook into the phone line.

Speaker 9 (13:00):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
And it was only this this is good already.

Speaker 8 (13:07):
And Carnouka poles that were used to take the bark
off and put an insulator on top of a new
sensing wire for the for the phone line.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Could you tell me where you could you tell me
where you were? Faulty New Hukker and you and you
went eleven miles did you.

Speaker 8 (13:24):
Say, yeah, well that was where our farm was. But
there was no there wasn't any phone line or anything.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
There would have been a phone line alongside the railway track,
would they were not necessarily?

Speaker 8 (13:36):
No, no were We were eleven miles inland from of road.
We were at a dead end road and the what no,
no where? Our nearest neighbor of Marcus was six miles
from memory? And how long?

Speaker 3 (13:50):
How once you did that eleven miles with the fencing
wire and the carnuca poles, right, how long did that last?

Speaker 8 (13:58):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (13:59):
We did?

Speaker 11 (13:59):
There?

Speaker 8 (14:00):
I was what seven years old, helping my dad and
the farm was sold in nineteen eighty two or something
in that phone phone line was still working. Wow, not
only that market, you'll be interested. Our first phone on
the wall was one of the old wooden ones from

(14:21):
the war and they had two tall ever ready hat.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
Treat I can I can visualize those?

Speaker 8 (14:30):
Okay now? Also, we had what was then a field phone,
what they used to use as a field phone in
the war, and that was when our phone line went out.
We used to go down and down down the road
and hooker wire up onto our phone line for the

(14:51):
earth in the ground and ring back to mom at
home if we get here. We knew that the fault
wasn't between where we were, so with them we've moved
down further.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
You did you have to do work on the phone
line eleven miles much? Or was it pretty good? Or
you get one? Would you?

Speaker 12 (15:07):
Well?

Speaker 8 (15:08):
Before you put it up, you've got to clear a
track through scrub and rubbish and across creeks and all
the rest of it. So you made sure there wasn't
anything that could come down.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Really, do you remember getting your first Do you remember
getting your first phone call? On forty eight W.

Speaker 8 (15:26):
I remember that being a party line and when when
you had looked up the receiver had say working or
not because there's other people talking on the phone working. Yeah,
just thank you was the reply it. So you'd hang
up and then try ringing through again later and that

(15:48):
put you straight through to the exchange at the post
office in New Hunger and then that plug you into
wherever you want to go. And also cell phones. I
got my first cell phone nineteen ninety five, as you said,
nineteen ninety five, and it was the motor roll of
brick and I I can remember dropping off the first
story floor on the concrete and the buddy's being bounced

(16:11):
up and there was nothing wrong with it, just carried
on faulty.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
We were a trade e builder. Yeah, builders must have
loved the Wally phones like that. There you go, you
ring up. It felt like, yeah, the boss remain.

Speaker 8 (16:24):
I made a list and I've covered the list out
to cover. So that's about all I've got to say.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
And then you go. That is all well as I
can think of. That is all, thank you, falter. It's
all about the phones. Well, a good start so far. Wow,
beyond the Wilders streams dollar prayer and they're putting the
phone line in. Someone says via text, I don't care
for vogels now. Is the size ridiculously small and the
taste is not the same. I am a newly diagnosed diabeticate.

(16:53):
This now so fresh and light, lovely taste lasts well,
toasts well Plowman's Bakery, Southern seed fort lower carb. I
don't think you should beg the vogels just because you're
offered everlofe head on midnight. It's all about the phones,
phones and phone quirks. Someone has said that the phone

(17:15):
forty eight W that Faulty would have had would have
been short long long forty eight. The suffix letter designates
the ring pattern and Morse code. So if you look
up the Morse code alphabet, yeah, then that would be

(17:38):
W and it would be short short long. Have I
got that right? Never learned Morse code? Do I regret it?
Not for a heartbeat? Short long, long, short long long
for that. But we are talking about phones and all
the variations. I'll tell you what, remember if you'd push.

(18:01):
One of the other quirks about phones is that if
you answered the phone and it was silent, like bring, bring, bring, bring, Bring, Bring,
I'm at home, like bring, bring, bring, bring, bring, bring. Hello.
Now this is me doing the voice and there's nothing
out there. You can't hear anything. You go, this is

(18:21):
me again.

Speaker 13 (18:22):
You go.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
If in a phone box, if in a phone box,
push buttone. That was to indicate people that to push buttone,
to commit the money and then start talking. Remember that, Well,
you might've been someone overseas. I had a code with
your parents that when you were overseas, you'd call from
overseas but not talk, just to show them you're still alive.
Because it was free as long as you didn't talk
A lots to talk about. It's a broad topic, Marcus.

(18:47):
I used to work at the Mango. We could telephone exchange.
Our number was thirty eight. Grandma was twenty nine. We
plugged into parment store at midnight so they could take
care of emergencies. My auntie had a party line. She
always answered the phone are you there? Used to make
me laugh. Had another auntie and their phone number was
seven zero seven zero. I still remember it, Marcus. Bad

(19:08):
phone calls. I had a call from a random guy
apologizing saying had been sleeping with my partner while I
was at work. Long story short. I headed home, packed
her things and called a taxi. I haven't seen her
for eight years now. Wow, that is a powerful call, Marcus.
I was teaching an mit and office staff came to
tell me my daughter had phoned to say she was

(19:29):
in labor. I quickly said to my class, gotta go,
ran down to my car and drove to see my
new granddaughter, who was twenty eight today. Not exactly phones,
but I do remember when Mum picked up the phone
and heard my modems squealing a mode in which I
wasn't allowed handed over. She says, so I promptly handed
over my second disc drive, which worked as a decoy

(19:50):
until next time. All very good. We used to tap
the phones in the phone boxes and Silverstream New World
still has Vogels Vogels Watch twenty five to nine. Sam,
This is Marcus, Marcus, this is Sam. Hello.

Speaker 13 (20:08):
Hello's so good?

Speaker 14 (20:09):
Eating like it's just regarding pots. I've been looking at
a new type of boats come out.

Speaker 12 (20:16):
It's been out for a while, but.

Speaker 14 (20:17):
I think it's the final force. It is equivalent to
a Kindled reader. It's called eating, but it's an entire
smart folks. So's the object yes, or the objectives is
to give people to reduce time on their phone. It's
just not as appealing or not as satisfy.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
So what does it not do?

Speaker 7 (20:40):
Well?

Speaker 14 (20:41):
It does everything your phone does, but the screen is
just dull, like a like a Kindle, and so the
colors aren't so bright. So when you're watching YouTube or something,
it's just not as appealing.

Speaker 15 (20:53):
We just will do it.

Speaker 14 (20:54):
It's a black and white, or there's an option like
a pestel, almost like a light pestel. It looks like
these two choices, and the color one looks maybe but
better because you can distinguish between different apps and whatnot,
and it makes all of everything your regular phone does,
but it breaks the addictions like light taps as I sometimes.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Could you spell it for me?

Speaker 14 (21:21):
It's called a I'm not associated with it. It's just
I think it's from Hong Kong. It's called a Big
Me b I g MP. I believe that's the brand.
And I think the bottom is called a high Break pro.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Oh yeah, copy down. I've googled that up, Big Me
High Break Yeah.

Speaker 14 (21:40):
Yeah, yeah, And it looks I'm just not sure that
if the quality if the if the quality is quite good,
I'll get one.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
But it's it's monochromatic. It's black and white, isn't it.

Speaker 14 (21:52):
No, the color has light like a lighter, like a
light shade or like a light hue of color. So
it's still there, but just not as bright as a
regular phone. You don't get eyes strained, and it's just
as it's acted as well as the art class adented.
You're pulling off the Doomstrong.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Still four and thirty nine US dollars, so it's still
got a fair price to it.

Speaker 16 (22:18):
Yeah, it's.

Speaker 14 (22:20):
That you've kind of well my case realized how much
time you've been on your phone, it wouldn't take long
to take it back?

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Exactly? Would that ali rate? Thank you? That be it?
Is that my word? Why do I say that?

Speaker 17 (22:31):
Be it?

Speaker 3 (22:32):
I can't remember now pulling its Marcus good evening other.

Speaker 18 (22:36):
Marcus forty eight, W had a certain ring? You said, right?
Is it the telessonist in the phone exchange? Who does
the tap tap tap for the different combinations long, long,
short or whatever? Because there must have been hundreds of combinations.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
I don't know. I wasn't. I think it's just you
just got to know your Morse code alphabet.

Speaker 18 (23:02):
But how does the phone how how does that? How
does it make the different noises? Whereabouts does that happen?

Speaker 3 (23:13):
I see your point? Yeah, it must be the person
in the I don't know, maybe someone that we've didn't told.
So you want to know if a faulty called his
neighbor who made that specific spring collection.

Speaker 18 (23:26):
Was there a telephonist on the exchange that goes tap
tap long, tap tap physically or was some other means?
That's really interesting?

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Are you of that vintage? Do you not know the answer?
That's yeah, okay? But but did you live in did
you live in the day of wacky rings.

Speaker 18 (23:45):
No, I am seventy two now, yes, probably, yes, because
I think you.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Could also reverse charges. Do you remember that.

Speaker 18 (23:56):
No, I was probably not allowed to use the phone
at that stage.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
I'm not sure, are your brethren?

Speaker 18 (24:03):
No? No, No, probably if I was allowed to use
the phone. I like knowing how things work, and even
when I was young, I wanted to know how things work.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
So I think if you're in a phone box and
you had no money, you could go directory and reverse charges,
and that they'd say you'd ring at your house and
you'd answer Pauline and they'd say, would you accept a
reverse call from Marcus? You go, oh yeah, put that through.
It must be important, and then you'd pay for me
calling you from a phone box.

Speaker 18 (24:36):
Yes, yes, I remember that.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, okay, we'll talk more about that.
Reversing charges in the phone box. Dalar prayer. I think
you can steal dial a prayer, the classic one three seven,
call doll this number, hang up and your phone would ring,
classic nineties prank on mum and dad. Or if you're
upstairs and there's a babysitter and you're upstairs hiding, I'm

(24:59):
upstairs That was all about the phone too, wasn't it.
It's all about the phones. Marg You can change color
on your iPhone as well, just as settings in color
search color and you can change whatever color you want. Marcus.
You would call collect and the operator to ask your
parents if that accept the call. The call, not the.

Speaker 19 (25:17):
Call, and not the call.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
The call is something different. The call is when you're
born with the it's another's night. Talk back that if
you're born with the amniotic sack, and just tell it
to a sailor, because the person with the call will
not drown. Always remember that, Marcus. I feel like I'm
the only one, but I've stocked up on animal flesh

(25:40):
and lots of tin food and stuff. Looked electric bike
today ten k budget. I hope things work out, by
the way. I think we're going to get cheap meat
because the meat that the Middle Eastern countries can't buy
is coming back. It's got Arab writing on it, but
we can buy it. Twenty to nine. It's all about
phones and the vagaries. Ben, this is Marcus. Welcome, good evening.

Speaker 16 (26:00):
Good that Marcus, how are you mate?

Speaker 19 (26:01):
Good?

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Thank you?

Speaker 20 (26:02):
Ben?

Speaker 5 (26:02):
Good good Marcus.

Speaker 16 (26:04):
I remember the reverse, But the call actually reminded me.
In my first year in university in the nineties, I
stayed in the hostel and I actually got kicked out
four months into the term wow for a couple of reasons,
but the main one was the transfer charge call. Do
you remember those.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
We're talking early nineties.

Speaker 16 (26:29):
Three nineties sort of, this would have been ninety five.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Is this on a cell phone or a no a landline?

Speaker 16 (26:36):
And they had the transfer charge? So what I used
to do in my hostel we had a couple of
payphones on different floors, but every floor had its own
sort of local line, if you will, landline, and I'd
call from the payphone and I'll dial the transfer charge call,
and I'd say what number do you want to transfer

(26:57):
the charge? To give them the number of the phone
next year, and then they would call that number and
say Ben wants to make a call to such and such.
Were you pay for the call? So you pick up
that phone, say yes, I'll pay for that call, and
then you go back to the call on your payphone
and you could talk for hours. Eventually I got caught out,
but I don't know if you ever.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Tried that, So who would you be talking? I'm going
to have to need that one more time, so you would,
because you confuse me when you said there was a
phone upstairs as well.

Speaker 16 (27:29):
Right, So we were in a sort of high rise hostel. Yes,
I think there were nine floors and total. I was
on the seventh floor. Yes, and on every floor you'd
have a normal phone that you could make local calls,
but on certain floors there would also be a payphone.
So I grew up overseas, so I had a lot

(27:50):
of friends overseas, and international calls were quite expensive, so
the only way I could catch up with them or
afford to was to do the transfer chide. So what
ended up happening. I would talk for hours my friends overseas,
and the hostel would get a bill at the end
of the month for all of my calls, which which

(28:11):
eventually caught up with me.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Do you know how much the book the bill was.

Speaker 16 (28:15):
I don't, but to be honest, Marcus, I took full advantage,
and you know, naive days and I would have said
it was several thousand dollars. I got tracked down because
the warden was was very clever. He called one of
the numbers. He must have known it was me or
I had an Inklin. He called and said, I'm a

(28:36):
maid of Bends. I'm coming over to the UK next month.
He said I could stay with you, so.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Good call Ben, Thank you great. This is Marcus welcome.

Speaker 21 (28:50):
Hello Marcus, how are you good?

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Ray.

Speaker 21 (28:53):
We were farmers back in the day, and we didn't
farm a long way away. We went way in the outbit.
But we had three things. Well, you could call locally
for free, like that guy was just saying. But then
you could do a collect call to somebody else. When
I went to university, i'd ring home and say collect call,

(29:15):
and the operator there was always an operator when you
wanted to make it, so a toll call you had
to talk to an operator and you'd say the phone number.
I was a RAW sixty three nine, and you'd say
I want to make a collect call to a Raw
six three nine, and they'd ring my mom and dad
and they'd say, yep, we accept the call, or to

(29:36):
be funny, sometimes they go no, we're not talking. And
then there was a person to person call, and that
means you were paid for it. But every phone call
out of the area had to be paid for, and
like that guy was saying, he was calling overseas. There
would have been huge money back in the day.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
And he was transferring charges to the other phone and
he was saying yes that he yeah, I understand it now,
So there's collect or transfer or reverse charges here. That's
quite right, yeah.

Speaker 21 (30:05):
Or a person and cool and they just mean you
were pained. But you still had to go through the operator.
Everything we went through the operator. And the other thing
we used to get was everything was power what do
you call it? Phone lines? The little copper wires, not
like the big power wise, but possums would climb up
the poles and die on the poles and your phone
to go out?

Speaker 3 (30:25):
What how would you rectify that and.

Speaker 21 (30:27):
Hit the possum off with a long sticky?

Speaker 22 (30:29):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (30:30):
And where did you say?

Speaker 12 (30:31):
Is it a h?

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Are you a Where's how's that spelled? Oh? Are you
a a?

Speaker 21 (30:37):
You are a Taranaki in the North Island?

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 21 (30:42):
But things?

Speaker 3 (30:43):
How far are on the coast?

Speaker 23 (30:46):
Is it?

Speaker 24 (30:48):
Yees?

Speaker 2 (30:48):
South?

Speaker 21 (30:48):
Taranickis sort of thing? Well south of the mountains, direct
line south of the mountain?

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Copy that. Okay, You're not a place I'd heard of before?
Things for that yep.

Speaker 21 (30:56):
One more thing. My brother and brother in law they
lived well Inland, like way off the beaten track, and
they used to have a party line where they were
talking about the fourth and that was when you picked
up the phone. Then there could be someone else on
there and you see them working.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yep, that sort of thing, or some some some sometimes
should partake in the conversation or just listening. There'd be
people that be listening and a bit like talk back,
but just for what Yeah, the bad thing to do,
but people would do that.

Speaker 21 (31:25):
It was called a party line, that's right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, no, I'm not familiar with that con We always
had a party line. We had a party line until
about nineteen eighty I would imagine with just one other family,
which was all fine until the husband died and there
was about three days so you couldn't actually use the
phone because everyone was calling up with I guess it's
just the spirit of the party line. Once in a
while you've got to just you know, go with the flow. Hello, Hello, Ellen,

(31:54):
and it's Marcus. Good evening, Good evening.

Speaker 25 (31:57):
I guess you had a caller, just a little one
wanting to know cong shorts to tell someone on the
on the mine. My parents had a country store and
that also had the post office and telephone exchange to
it as well. So it worked as if someone in
Napier wanted to call someone in our little bit, they

(32:20):
bring up the Napor Exchange and say I want seven
S in our area, and they would bring our phone.
They would bring the exchange added onto the phone, and
I'd say, want to go through to seven S. And
there might be six people on the seven line, and
S was three shorts, so on the side like an

(32:44):
ord session better, So there it goes. That's a short.

Speaker 5 (32:50):
To be the land.

Speaker 25 (32:51):
That's a short, and that would ring on all thays.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Okay, So the person calling would do the crank and
do the long long short or whatever.

Speaker 25 (33:01):
No, the first and calling would go through the Nature Exchange,
and the Nator Exchange would call Dad, go to Marry
and he would do that through and then plant there's
these plugs hanging in the thing, and take the Naty
plug and put that in a hole and then put
the other plug in the seven is whole. Then I
start talking.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Okay, thank you, Allen. I might need to revisit that,
but I appreciate that saving away from nine.

Speaker 19 (33:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Darren Marcus welcome, Oh.

Speaker 10 (33:27):
Marcus, how are you good?

Speaker 26 (33:28):
Thank you, Darren, But I was actually.

Speaker 10 (33:31):
Going to talk to you about the cleaning product. And
I'll get onto the Fankls greatest Fankl every end of
my life. Yeah, was I couldn't find my mom and
my dad ort sister after the youth quakes and classes. Wow,
and you know, eventhing we dare it crashed And then

(33:54):
now I've got the three fangles back.

Speaker 9 (33:56):
It's just were you?

Speaker 3 (33:58):
We were you when christ yourself? Ye okay, I'm just
trying to get to the line. So and they how
long since the quake did they call you?

Speaker 10 (34:09):
Probably fall in fifteen years.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Shades with a landliner on the wally phone?

Speaker 10 (34:16):
Oh nothing, which nothing?

Speaker 3 (34:18):
But when they called you?

Speaker 8 (34:19):
How did they call you my cell phone?

Speaker 23 (34:21):
Wow?

Speaker 10 (34:23):
That was just crazy about just what's happening?

Speaker 7 (34:26):
What's hit?

Speaker 10 (34:28):
It was just horrible, all three voices and it was
just me.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
It was Had you been trying to call them?

Speaker 10 (34:35):
I mean, yeah, of course, I'm I'm.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Just trying to work out so every so you kept
calling them and there was just no response.

Speaker 10 (34:42):
I couldn't soon as you picked up your phone and
you've got on a number, no phone call, everything got everything,
got everything got whatever?

Speaker 3 (34:52):
What was the sound was it.

Speaker 10 (34:55):
Was, actually yeah, it was. But then the radio. But
I I was a fisherman, so I had a radio.
So I put aname radio because there's no and so
we can listen to a radio lot of you guys
and then hear what's going on the shares. Don't think
your phone, don't do that. And it was just amazing. Man,

(35:18):
It's just that wasn't amazing. It was horrible, but we
got away with it.

Speaker 7 (35:22):
Well.

Speaker 10 (35:25):
It was just a harmle scene in it. To see
your mother and your sister a lot, you know, pretty.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Moving, dari mine. And that's what I want to focus
on the quirks of the but also to your most
powerful calls. Wow, this was almost there with Darren. Do
remember that one overloaded? It's like when you're ringing a
radio competition for the eighth caller. Do do do do
do do do do do? Here until twelve, it is

(35:53):
the anniversary of I phone, the first phone call one
fifty years ago today. A lot to your most significant
phone calls are interesting quirks of the phone call. Phone, phone, phone, phone, phone, Mina,
it's Marcus, good evening.

Speaker 27 (36:10):
Hello, Marcus. How are you all very good?

Speaker 28 (36:12):
Mina?

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yourself?

Speaker 27 (36:14):
Yes, very well, well, we arrived in New Zealand in
September nineteen seventy three and we lived in Darfield and
our telephone number was Darfield two oh, and our relations
on the other side of the world thought we were
pulling the legs anyway. As we got to know people,

(36:40):
they said, all and your furniture and stuff hasn't arrived.
Why don't you come to us for Christmas lunch? And
we said, all very kind of you, but we can't
because we'll be having phone calls from England. And the
lady said to us, well, just ring the exchange and

(37:02):
tell them that when that call comes through, to pull
them through to so and so's farm and you can
still come to lunch.

Speaker 20 (37:11):
Wow.

Speaker 27 (37:13):
Well we just felt we ourselves laughin because we've never
heard of anything. So so eventually my mother came on
the phone. She said, where on earth are you? She said,
We've been put through all different places. I said, you've

(37:35):
come to the wooded world of Darfield.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Wow, that's great.

Speaker 27 (37:42):
Well, it's a good memory.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
It all worked out. They got They found where you
head to Christmas and you didn't have to stay at home.

Speaker 27 (37:49):
That's right, and you're having a very very busy evening,
and it's very interesting listening to the stories.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
Love you, hell to you, Mina. I'd like someone to
explain the old how the phone numbers worked. Also to
a little bit dB, it's Marcus good evening.

Speaker 15 (38:09):
So one of the quirks of the old operator assisted
toll network is that there was levels of urgency that
you could convey to the toll operator if you needed
to get put through faster. So most people knew that
if you ran tolls, you could say this is an

(38:31):
urgent toll call, and you were charged extra but your
call was expedited. But there were and this is my
memory is not as good as it used to be,
I think there were five levels above that. So in
chain control we could do a flash call, which is

(38:52):
the next one above urgent. In flying, and this is
back in the eighties, if you had to report a
down to aircraft, you could make a lightning call wow.
And then there was one more above that I believe,
and that was cosmic, which has nothing to do with
any anything that normal people would get into, so you

(39:14):
would prefix it when you talk to the operator. I
need to make a flash toll call to like I
was in Willington to Napier.

Speaker 7 (39:22):
Now.

Speaker 15 (39:23):
One of our Trackatola said that it took him longer
to explain to the operator what a flash call was
than if you'd just asked for the NAPA phone number. Yeah,
because they slowly fell out of out of use as
subscriber dialond came in and then you know, just automatic

(39:45):
is SD. So yeah, no, that was that was quite
an interesting one.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
So it was what would they be doing that they
could speed up? What would the actual speeding up process be.

Speaker 15 (39:57):
You That means they would pull a plug on a
line that was already in use.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
I understand, and.

Speaker 15 (40:04):
So yes, and because you know there's all plug and
play in those days, but in the more literal sense
that we have these days. So operators on the old
plug boards would daisy train people waiting for a phone

(40:27):
number by just putting the plug into the socket that
the current call was coming out of it, just so
that there was a call waiting to the operator. The
person on the line didn't know that, but the operator
had always had the ability to cut the line at
over the line and speak, and so if they got
these one of these higher urgencies ones, they would say,

(40:48):
there is an urgent call coming in. You need to
get off the line was the next call up. They
would literally pull the plug and plug you in. Is
what I understand. What was happening in the exchange.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
It's quite exciting time. And obviously did you work as
in the telephoning change.

Speaker 15 (41:06):
No, no, But I had a lot to do with
them because when I left school I tried to become
an exchange technician. I turned me down, but I took
my mate on. So I've got to wander through a
few fear exchanges, which was right up my alley. Because
I was always a bit of a noodler, but in
chain control, of course, I had to know how to

(41:28):
get through the toll system. It wasn't unusual for me
to get a call from North Auckland and I'm in Wellington.
This is like we're talking the late eighties, so tolls
were still there and I'd say I did one one
runder system and say I need to talk to the
fire brigade at Walkworth and they go, but you're in Wellington.

(41:49):
I'd have to explain. Thank you for explaining that to me,
but that's not where the fire.

Speaker 29 (41:52):
Is or whatever.

Speaker 15 (41:55):
But that died, you know, relatively quickly, but certainly when
I was first in control. That wasn't an unusual we accident.
You are somewhere else. I get that, But I control
the whole country.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
Well okay, all that's thrue, very good. So I think
what am I supposed to set the end? I've forgotten anyway?

Speaker 7 (42:22):
That is all?

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Is it what I say at the end? I have
to look a look at my list. Had an end
of phone call in the original days at the phone
that is all. That is all, dB, thank you for that.
Rossett's Marcus, good evening and welcome hi Ross Yeah there, Marcus.

Speaker 12 (42:37):
Yeah, just calling about their experience as farm kits in
the sixties in behind Mangawaka in the North Island. We
had the phone. It was a party line, which meant
there were other parties on the line. You picked up
the phone and said working, and if someone was on

(42:59):
the line, they said yes, working tanks and you'd hang
up and then you would while someone else with cranks
of the phone if you wanted them that were on
the party line. Otherwise you died a long one to
the people working in the post office and asked for

(43:21):
whatever place on some other party line. So we would
double three a Mangaweka. I think, and we would listen
to our particular call that was sort of ring long
short long or something like that, and that's what would
ring on our phone for us to pick up. And
if you picked it up and someone was talking, you
would just hang up. And if you were talking and

(43:44):
someone picked it up, you could hear the little click
and you would say are you there, and you'd hear them.
So there was all sorts of sort of managed protocol
and mismanagement of these party lines out.

Speaker 29 (43:57):
In the country.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
So someone could be ringing someone else, but your own
phone would ring in the middle of the night, even
though it wasn't your number and your tone is that right?
That would be annoying.

Speaker 12 (44:07):
Sometimes, as I remember, yeah, that might happen, or so
you'd say, no, that's not us. Yeah, So on the
party line didn't usually happen at night that I can remember,
or maybe there was something that didn't happen that I
can't remember it, but it was Yeah, it was very
much a cooperative experience down one line of phone.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
I guess people would consider it.

Speaker 12 (44:32):
Yeah, well it's best they can be until you get
people who liked the phone and it's the only another
friend that's down the line, as my mother invariably did,
and she she liked the phone because it was their
only link with others. But I suggest that those rural
areas in the country had the same system.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Nice to talk Ross, thank you for that. Two lines free,
sixteen past nine, eighteen past nine nine. Richard Marcus Cleeding Marcus.

Speaker 30 (45:06):
We used to live intitud round about the nineteen sixty two.
This was we had one of those phones that hooked
up on the wall and had to crank the handle,
and we used to have a sign for our phone call,
which was DART, which I think is Morse code for Z.

(45:27):
And you used to hear all other people's codes and
you just say, no, that's not ours, and then when
it was yours, you'd pick it up. And of course
it was a party line. Like the last caller said,
you always got someone saying working, or if you were
talking and someone else picked it up and you heard
the click, you'd say working. But one time this phone call,

(45:48):
when you got a continuous ring and then a pause,
and then a continuous ring and then a pause, it
was an indication that people who heard that should answer
the phone. And this was the police, and they said
that there was such and such a vehicle had been seen, uh,
breaking and entering into a particular place up the road.

(46:10):
And then we're all on the party line. Everyone had
picked up the phone and we're talking, and then someone said, oh, yes,
I saw that car. It's just gone down the oval road.
And then the next thing you heard was, oh, yes,
it's just gone around the corner. And so the police,
by the party line were able to track and later
on we heard from the local grocer that the police

(46:33):
had caught the people because they had followed the party
line people saying, oh, he's turned down here and I
just saw that car go here. So that was my
funny phone call from back in the days.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Brilliant. Yeah, Richard, I've never had I'm loving this quick echo.
What what what sort of synap have you got now?

Speaker 30 (46:53):
Oh no, I'm just in the car parked and yeah,
it's likely just the echo in the car.

Speaker 26 (46:59):
So I love it.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
I've had others. Marcus, Marcus, yep.

Speaker 7 (47:09):
Yep, bri the end.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Oh boy, all special effects there, weren't it, Sharon, Yes, Marcus.

Speaker 24 (47:18):
Hi Marcus. My call was about a friend of mine
when we were a lot younger. We're traveling and what
she used to do was she would ring from wherever
we were, so whether it was Sidney or Melbourne or
London or whatever, and used to make a collect call
home and say it, Susie here, would you accept a

(47:39):
collect call from London? And appearance would say no, And
that would just let them know that she was wherever
she was at that time and there was no costs.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
I'm sure. And was there a designated time they would
do that?

Speaker 24 (47:53):
It was about I think I couldn't remember. I was
just trying to remember whether we did it at three,
every three or five days, just so that they knew
that if they didn't get that call, then they would
know that there was something wrong.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
And what would they do I wonder.

Speaker 20 (48:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 24 (48:10):
We never had to do it, I guess, but I
guess they'd have to go and report you're missing or something. Yeah,
it was a really because it was so expensive. You
couldn't make the.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
So expensive so expensive yep, brilliant. Okay, Sharon, thank you.
Listen to that last guy talking about I don't know
how the police were because I don't know how the
police in New Zealand communicated from their police cars, because
I know what happened in England and you'll know this people.

(48:41):
And I apologize if I'm sound like the explaining guy.
But what they have in Doctor Who, which is the Tardis?
Which I don't like Doctor Who, but I know that
it's important from a cultural point of view. But the
tardis is a police phone? Yeah did you know that?

(49:05):
And I think what the police phone? So the police
if they wanted to call head office to work out
what their mission for today was, they would stop and
go to one of those blue phone boxes and ring.
It was a telephone kiosk that could be used by
the police. What did we have I've always wondered about that.
I had a wondering mind here til twelve. My name

(49:28):
is Marcus good Evening eight hundred and eighty ten eighty
and nine to nine two to text million texts. I exaggerate,
but it'd be more than a thousand or thereabouts, Marcus.
In the seventies in the UK in the eighties, you
could dial a number and it would make your phone ring.
To test it. When I learned this from a friend,

(49:48):
off from prank my family and make the phone ring,
making them rush to answer. You could do that. New
Zealand used to be quite a skill to tap a phone.
Back in the day, you dial the zero or your
dial the nine. You dial to zero, Marcus. I did
not realize that my mother spoke with a French accent
until I ran for the first time Marcus. In the seventies,

(50:09):
I worked for a sewing machine for a sewing factory
which was a satellite factory for Lane at Walker, Rudkin
and christ Church. My boss would come in and say
get head office on the line, which was a toll call.
I'd phone the exchange and ask for a price required
call that phone the number in christ Church connect me.
I'd transfer the call to my boss. Once the call
was finished the exchange, we'd call back and tell me
how much the call costs. I'd noted in a notebook,

(50:31):
and the account came through each month, I'd reconcile the
bill against the notebook. Grew up on the boundary of
DC Seeds and Eden City Council in Central Otago. Central
was a toll call, so we never rang half our neighbors.
We used to go to a public pay phone in
London midnight every Sunday, and except a call from New
Zealand friends Good times twenty five past nine, Nick, this

(50:56):
is Marcus. Good evening. Hi Nick.

Speaker 26 (50:59):
Hey, Marcus, brilliant show was always great topic. It's awesome
hearing these people. I always and I'm thirty five now
think about that. I always heard about the party lines,
but actually how they work, And yeah, I heard about
the how would be the way that all the farm
wives got the town gossip and stuff like that. I

(51:23):
was calling up to say, oh, when I was in
just before lockdown, I went to Iceland and and everyone
there still got a landline, and you've got to be
in the phone book, to the point that even we're
having a few drinks for our Icelandic friends and there's
like Bjork she's she's in there then, or Prime Minister

(51:45):
whatever it is, and he's in there. All these just
you know, every like you can ring up anyone. And
apparently I was like, why are they in there? Don't
they get prank calls? And our friends are saying, no,
there's no one here does that. If you if you
call them up, they'll be like, you know, why are
you calling?

Speaker 15 (52:01):
What do you want to talk about?

Speaker 26 (52:02):
And yeah, they're kind of bit yet your own game there,
you know.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Attempting to do some or they just not give you.
You're just not get any feedback, would you exactly.

Speaker 26 (52:13):
I was like, well, yeah, they even you know, we're
having a couple of merleys, and they put the phone
on the table and they go, here you go called York,
called the Prime Minister, and well no not if're gonna
because you kind of want that. Reactions like why are
you cool with it? And they're like, yeah, what's up?
What do you want to talk about?

Speaker 3 (52:32):
It takes it, It takes it away, doesn't it.

Speaker 8 (52:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 26 (52:35):
Yeah, but there's something that I've always found interesting that
bring back landlines. If it wasn't for you know, the
people trying to get your money at tea time. Oh
I'm almost tempted to get a pager go back there.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
I talked to the kids. I want to get the kids' pages,
and they could not have been less interested. But thank
you for that. Keep your calls coming through. Oh hoy,
oh eight hundred and eighty eight and nine, it's all
about phones. It's one hundred of the anniversary of the
world's first phone call. Could he be Tony, this is Marcus, welcome.

Speaker 22 (53:11):
My grandfather. When there was really at Huheru, it's inland
from carfire. He had a powerful radio receiver and he
arranged with the local telephone operator at six o'clock to
feed the BBC News direct from London as it were,

(53:32):
through short wave and was put on the telephone line.
She controlled what was happening in case somebody had to
put an urgent call through, but basically anybody to pick
up their phone at that time and listen to the
BBC news.

Speaker 6 (53:47):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
How would they do that to multiple phones? I don't
know how that would.

Speaker 22 (53:50):
Work because it's a party line and he would see
he connect the radio to his line and it would
just see everybody on the line you see. Wow, So
long as they picked up their receivers.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
And how how how often would he do it?

Speaker 6 (54:08):
Just once?

Speaker 3 (54:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 22 (54:10):
I remember they said it was at six o'clock the
BBC News. It might have been daily, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
And so I he had broadcasted everyone that shared the
party line with him.

Speaker 22 (54:21):
No, the output from his radio, which was picking up
the BBC directs and short wave was said into the
phone line from his place.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Oh it's amazing, Tony, I appreciate it.

Speaker 22 (54:33):
Yeah, everybody else could pick up there and listen to it.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
Very good.

Speaker 5 (54:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
Tony. I appreciate that, Craig. It's Marcus, welcome, Anton has
a game. Good, Thank you, Craig.

Speaker 17 (54:44):
I worked for quite a few number of years with Telecom,
and some of the stories it happened to me over
the years are quite funny. But yeah, I remember right
back when I was a kid, when Marcus used to
work with Telecom. I used to get the big one
point five indrois of batteries that the head with the
screw tops were in the old wind up phone systems lines.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
The cylindrical ones.

Speaker 17 (55:06):
Yeah, little round ones. I think they were ever Ready
or energy you ever ready? You had little screw tops
of them. Yeah, So I had days and my dad
used to colleck phone cards back in the old days.
But what I used to like, because we could telecom,
you knew all the short codes and things for the things.
You'd like dial one through seven and put the phone
down it would ring straight away.

Speaker 18 (55:25):
You go.

Speaker 17 (55:25):
I went going down the friend's place once you just
moved into flooded and what the phone number was. So
I just picked it up and went nineteen fifty seven,
and it tells you what your phone number is. It's
allways little, yeah, it's all these old.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Codes they still exist.

Speaker 17 (55:39):
Probably not, yeah, they still exausted. We've got a landline,
gotall still work. But the funniest one ever had was
I was with the junior overre and Raglan. We were
replacing the old copper phone lines that were on the
poles yet like two wires going to the houses and
we're replacing all those and he was I said, we'll
wait till after lunch. Wire pulled out of the cable out,
but he decided to go ahead, grabbed the endicable and

(56:00):
pulling it along through the paddocks and the other end
came off the very far pole and landed straight on
top of the hot wire and electric thing boider.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
He jump, I could see what was about to happen there.

Speaker 26 (56:14):
Yeah, yeahh so good times.

Speaker 17 (56:15):
Me we lean all the different things. I used to
know all the phone numbers for all the telephone boxes
in the era. And I had one of my friends
put into his guard and one of the old telecom
boxes down by his guard and Chad, so he used
to used to ring the house and tell us wife,
I'm coming infanty and all that sort of stuff. So
good times. But yeah, it's haid a lot of that
sussle gone now, isn't it? But yeah, like if the

(56:38):
erin's got landlines, those codes still work and all that
for the nineteen fifty seven which gave you your number
plus the area code on nineteen fifty six or just
your number, so we used to quinely quite useful that,
but yeah, good times.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
Does it read if you ring nineteen fifty seven? Does
it read? Does it? Is there an automated voice that
tells you another.

Speaker 17 (56:55):
Automatid voice automotive voice that will give you back court
like being when you use nineteen fifty seven and ninety
and fifty six, it'll give you your phone number plus
the area codes, unless she is an automated voice that
call back talks back and tells you what executly, what
the number is you going from?

Speaker 3 (57:10):
I didn't know that. There's a whole lot.

Speaker 17 (57:12):
Of them, so it was really here. And especially when
you go to someone's friend's place and you're having us
like get me for a party, and you go, oh,
I'll just run home. Let know where I am, and
then your mum goes, what's the number, and you go,
hang on.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I don't think I knew that.
How that one worked, but I appreciate that. Craig twenty
two from ten one hundred and fiftyth anniversary of the
first phone call. It's while we're celebrating that, Shelley, it's Marcus.
Good evening, Hi Marcus.

Speaker 31 (57:37):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Are you good? Shelly?

Speaker 31 (57:39):
It's good.

Speaker 7 (57:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 31 (57:41):
A quick story about the old party line. We bet
when we were kids, we weren't really allowed to use
the phone much because of the party line. And it
was just before school was about that, and I was
being nosey and picked the phone up on the wrong
rings to listening to a girl from around the corner

(58:03):
I had to walk past get to school, saying she
was going to give me a hiding.

Speaker 32 (58:13):
I really didn't want to go to school.

Speaker 28 (58:16):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Who was she saying it to.

Speaker 32 (58:19):
I'm honestly not sure. I remember my mum grabbing the
phone off me and they got a right telling off. Yeah,
or something like that from what I remember. And I'm
actually got a clip around there for being nosy as
you did.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
When we had kids under control, I suppose.

Speaker 8 (58:39):
But I like the.

Speaker 31 (58:41):
One of the men talking about the cargoing the thing
on the party line.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
Yeah, yeah, that would be the way to find that
would be the way to solve any It'd be like
the Facebook community pages of today. But just get on
there and talk to everyone in the group.

Speaker 31 (58:54):
That's why do we need Facebook. It's even it goes
even faster.

Speaker 25 (58:58):
I reckon it might be.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
Right big down the nine ie Facebook page. Ifnyone's seen
that thing in the pool, expect that to go viral.
Janesi's Marcus, good.

Speaker 33 (59:07):
Evening, Hello, Marcus. I used to work in the country
telephone exchange down the Hrricke planes. There was only three
of us worked on this exchange, and we worked a
six hour shift and then from eleven o'clock till five
o'clock in the morning, there was nobody on duty. But
we used to plug the night before we left. We

(59:27):
would plug into the postmaster's house and so he would
be able to connect to out of the country, out
of the area and contacted somebody if really anybody that
needed any medical help or anything. So that was in
the nineteen late fifties.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Wow, Okay, it's a while back, isn't it.

Speaker 33 (59:50):
Yes, yep, yeah, so no it it.

Speaker 7 (59:53):
Was a good job.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
So could you explain to me if you had a
if everyone had the different ring, who would do the ring.
Would the person calling do it? Or with a person
in the in the exchange, so you would do it?
How would you do it? Would you crank the handle?

Speaker 33 (01:00:10):
There was a little knob on the on the desktop,
and you would put the plug into the number that
they wanted, and then we would do what or whatever
number they wanted. We all we had to use the
nose nose of the road whatever it is code yeah,
Morse code here, yes, so we would they would so.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
The person that was dialing out, they just they just
pick up the phone. They'd just tune at once the
handle on the talk to you, was that right?

Speaker 33 (01:00:40):
And the exchange a little shutter it down on their number,
and then we would plug it, put it in one
plug there and go and put the other plug and
ask them what number please, and they would say what number,
and we put the plug into the other number there,
and they would use the Mosse code to let the
people know they were being called.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Would you listen to many calls?

Speaker 34 (01:01:03):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
Could you listen to some now?

Speaker 18 (01:01:06):
And then.

Speaker 33 (01:01:09):
Marcus good Eia.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Jennis, thank you?

Speaker 7 (01:01:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
We w you what of course?

Speaker 28 (01:01:15):
Hi?

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Pete good Pete.

Speaker 23 (01:01:19):
Oh good.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I used to listen to my brothers and sisters on
the phone. Sometimes my parents, you know, you pick up
that second phone and you would just have to listen
to the phone call, we know, for a couple of
seconds and try and pretend that you know, hopefully that
they wouldn't know that you're picking up the phone on
the other end in the other room. Just one thing
I was going to say is that I remember once
my mum was telling me that she had a friend
who worked in the telephone exchange up in Phung Array

(01:01:41):
and she got fired for saying cyota on the phone.

Speaker 23 (01:01:44):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
It was a famous case, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
Yeah, yeah, well this and I always remember that because
my mom was saying it was one of her best
friends and I and now you think about it, it's like
commonplace that people just say cyota on the phone when
you rang up like a utility company or a bank
or whatever. But back then, yeah, it's like we've our
kind of mindset and etiquettes changed as far as that
goes as well. It's kind of freaking know when you

(01:02:07):
think about it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Yeah, of course he's a dame now, Dame Nada Glover.
Shit with the woman's name that did it was nineteen
eighty four, which doesn't seem that long ago. No, you're right,
it was more like eighteen ninety four. But yeah, that's
for interesting that point.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Now it's just common state. But that's
one thing that's kind of changed. I suppose the history
of New Zealand was just about our normal greeting, you know,
MOULDI greeting that's unique to New Zealand. You know you
watch yeah, and it's pretty cool. But yeah, and also
I one time, I remember in the eighties when I
was a teenager, I got it to a red phone
box during up my parents see if they let them

(01:02:43):
know that I made it? Okay, I like a road trip.
I was traveling from Aukland down to the Bay of
Plenty and they told me that my friend had passed
away the night before. He was in a car crash.

Speaker 16 (01:02:52):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
I was just like, I was just like, whoa, It
just hit me it was in one of those red
kind of phone boxes that he died in a car accident, and.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
So did I kind of how did you know? How
did they know to get you? Called them though? Did you?

Speaker 27 (01:03:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
The up just because I was traveling and I thought
I'll just let the name I'm okay, And that was
kind of a shocker because everything now you just get
texted or you see about it on Facebook before you
even read about it on the news, or before someone
contact is on Facebook through friends and that. So, but
back then you really had to because you didn't have

(01:03:26):
that connection with the phone all the time. You just
you know, sometimes it was good news, sometimes of bad news.
And I remember that that was back in eighty eighty five.
It's still it's still as if it was yesterday as well.
You know, it just it just hits me still, those
two memories there.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
I wonder if you get now you probably get a
you probably get a call of someone who died, though
not a text. Would you be changed, hasn't it?

Speaker 20 (01:03:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Even Facebook. I had a loved one that passed away
last week and it was on Facebook before I even
got notified by the family on my phone.

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
It's really funny how it's not funny. It's really unmoving
how you pick up that people have done on Facebook
because you just see vague messages like oh no, I
can't believe that's happened. It takes you a while before
you've got to work out Yeah, yeah, it's weird the
vague ways we now find out that people that we
know really closely have died totally.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
And back then, though, the phone, the relationship you had
with your phone back then was like kind of a privilege.
Really you really had to you know, you really had
to seek out a telephone box or to keep in
touch with your parents, you know, like you didn't have
anything portable or mobile contact them, you know. And this
was back in the eighties. This was like early eighties,
like must have been eighty three, eighty eighty two. Yeah,

(01:04:41):
good guys. But I remember also won a lot of records,
ringing out radio Haraki and BFM. Remember winning the Marching
Girls VP on BFM once.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Marching What was what was the Marching Girls song?

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Well, oh they had a few of I think they
were a nussy band.

Speaker 16 (01:04:57):
But I won it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
I thought, oh, this is a great album. And I
won avalon by Roxy Music song what a great song?
And was it album?

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
Was it a Celtic's house? Should go under pick it up?

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Yeah, Celtics house.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
That's one kind of a famous a famous radio station location,
but also a very famous gas station that one as well.
The Celtics very famous.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
So yeah, memory, very good memory.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
Yeah, well, pivoting beyond phones. But you forget what the
Marching Girls wasn't just trying to look at I've googled
Marching Girls songs, but it's done the other thing. Oh
true love. Yeah for me, the Scavengers. That's right, fourteen
to fourteen to ten. Here the end, Hi, Sean, It's Marcus. Hello, welcome.

Speaker 34 (01:05:46):
So I guess three little Autumn manual exchange stories that
would give you the impression that we had a bitter
system of communication sixty years ago and we have now.
I was working in a little country exchange and I

(01:06:08):
won't say the name, but it was a local one
south of Uckland and the post office strike and a
person that brought the ammunition into Carla cover Bay wanted
to ring his wife and Melbourne and there was just
no show because you just couldn't get out of Auckland,

(01:06:30):
or couldn't raise Auckland as a switching station anyway. Half
an hour later a call comes in from Sydney. Couldn't
raise the person that was required at my little exchange,
so as to would you die me in Melbourne number?
She did, and they put the joker in contact with
his wife in the middle of a post office strike.

(01:06:52):
Another one, a publican died in early hours of the morning,
and he was putting in a lot of calls, and
instead of going through the rigmarole, I woke up fairly
quickly and he was getting to ring about thirty thirty
five numbers, and I said, what you can do for

(01:07:13):
me is we'll take all the numbers down, and while
you're talking to one, I'll ring the other one. And
then we got rid of the whole lot of them
in about thirty minutes. And then the best one of
the lot two o'clock in the morning, a light comes up,
and that's what it's supposed to do. But this particular

(01:07:35):
light was in three country post offices, and the two
of them were in country stores, so it could have
been a cat or a rat, but anyway, I was
a bit worried. I eventually found the only cop available,
there's only one on duty in those days at that
other night, and he agreed with me. It was checking out.

Speaker 17 (01:07:59):
He went out and.

Speaker 34 (01:08:02):
Caught two burghers in the dreary post office, and they
jumped in and they nearly drowned him in a creek.
And then it's a regularly out of his great coat
got away and he had taken the car number, and anyway,
that got picked up eventually and did time. And when

(01:08:22):
I eventually three months later, that cop got a Queen's
Service Medal for bravery. And and we were after that,
a letter came through for me from the Director General
of Post Officers congratulating me or complimenting me on my initiative. Initiative.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
Oh, that's three really excellent stories, Sean, thank you for that.
It's marvelous. Hello, Steve, it's Marcus. Good evening.

Speaker 29 (01:08:50):
Yeah, you know, Marcus. Say that guy that was just
talking about the old phone booths reminded me back in
the eighties when you had no money to make a call,
you could tap. You could tap the phones to make
a call for free, and the sort of practice that
you become calling a master at it. And you could
use the phone phone box anytime to call anybody for free.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
And you dial the zero.

Speaker 29 (01:09:12):
No, so no, no. What you do is you had
to add everything up to ten. So if you wanted
an eight, you tap it twice. I lived I lived
down in Hasting, so maybe eight seven you tap it twice,
and you tap it three times and then the rest
of the numbers adding it up to ten. So for
a zero, you'd have to tap it ten times.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
No, you Steve, Yeah, you dial the zero, You dial
the zero.

Speaker 29 (01:09:36):
Okay, maybe I had no zeros in the that was
the question.

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
That was the quirk with it. I can never quite
work out why, and people have verified that to me
when we have talked, you would you would dial the
zero for summary. I can't quite work out why.

Speaker 29 (01:09:52):
I'm singing back to all the mates parents old phone
numbers and my own phone numbers. There I'm thinking, none
of got a zero to me?

Speaker 31 (01:09:58):
Is that?

Speaker 29 (01:09:58):
Okay?

Speaker 16 (01:09:58):
There you go.

Speaker 29 (01:09:59):
That's interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
The other the other thing, to the the other thing.
If the phone box wasn't working, what you do is
you would have to put your hand up the coin
return and someone would stick paper up there to gam
up the money. And that was another hack that people
would do.

Speaker 29 (01:10:19):
Oh and then you put the paper out, all the
coins would for you.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
Yeah that's right, all the coins with people to push
the button or whatever it was.

Speaker 29 (01:10:25):
Oh, but like those tricky things ahead on the if
Possi machines a few years ago, they would capture your cart.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Oh that's right, they did too, didn't they. Yeah, I
missed the phone boxes. I think there was something quite special.

Speaker 29 (01:10:37):
Yeah, it's actually I saw one the other I'm just
trying to remember where I was. I saw one the
other day and I thought, that is the first time
I've seen a phone box. Oh, deary flat and Auckland.

Speaker 5 (01:10:46):
Yeah, there's still a phone box.

Speaker 29 (01:10:47):
There's still a phone box, and a little criky. I
can remember the last time I saw a phone box.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
They always stunt because people used them as people urinated
in them.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
But they were pleasant smelling places, were they?

Speaker 23 (01:11:00):
Nah?

Speaker 29 (01:11:00):
No, if you had a clean smelling one, it was
actually not a bad place to take a young girl
for a patch. If you're that wing line.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Good on you, Steve, keeping it real. Thank you. There
we go, yew that way inclined oh eight hundred eighty,
ten eighty and nineteen ninety oh. Texts evening, Marcus, you
just listen to KBW song dictor phone cheers, love your
laughter tonight Kong from Nelson Pine Lake Shift. Craig's call

(01:11:31):
remind me. Until recently our rest home had an old
school automatic phone trendsfer exchange for business. The team could
send calls around. It was playing up and we got
an old telecom dune round dude, Steve Allen from one.
It was like riding a bike from Stadias typing all
these random numbers of the phone to problems solve and
get all these answers coming back. The numbers work on

(01:11:51):
a mobile as well, one nine five six one nine
five seven. But yes, if you want to talk, that's
what we're on about tonight. Oh eight hundred eighty ten
eighty Trish, this is Marcus. Good evening.

Speaker 35 (01:12:05):
OHI Marcus. I've been listening to this tonight, the talk back,
and it's just been so good. And I just wanted
to tell you that I worked on a telephone exchange
and the exciting thing for me was that my now
husband was in the Wahine storm and he ran his
parents on our telephone exchange and I probably took his

(01:12:26):
call and put him through. So that was something that
we've been connected through for us all the years of
our relationship together.

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
So so who was he was on the He was on.

Speaker 35 (01:12:37):
The Wahmi and he on whom storm, and he was
a student and I was working in a telephone exchange.
We didn't know each other, and he telephoned his parents
and the exchange that I worked in was the one
that put him through to his family and where he

(01:12:59):
lived in Bankspinsla, to tell him that he was okay.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
Sorry, but had he called? Did he call from the
ship or one he was rescued?

Speaker 35 (01:13:07):
No, he called from Wellington.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
Yeah makes sense, Okase, I try to work out if
there was a way to keep you and so you
put him through and you had been that person before
you even met him.

Speaker 30 (01:13:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
Yeah, so you your first conversation was him in the exchange.

Speaker 35 (01:13:23):
Probably yes, to say you know number please, who can
I help you with? And pop them through to his parents. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
And that was probably a busy day, was it on
the exchange that day?

Speaker 35 (01:13:32):
Incredibly busy day?

Speaker 4 (01:13:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
And you remember it? You remember it?

Speaker 5 (01:13:36):
I do?

Speaker 35 (01:13:37):
Yeah, I do. Every time I hear about it, I
remember it vividly.

Speaker 21 (01:13:40):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
So you were across that the ship had sunk and
a storm was happening, you would have been across that
quite quickly.

Speaker 35 (01:13:46):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we're our telephoned at like it
was chaotics in the South Island turn that was yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
Lovely story, Trish.

Speaker 20 (01:13:52):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
Wow, it's all about phones and your most significant phone calls.
Jenny's emailed, Hi, Marcus, I got a couple of heavy
breathers as a teenager on the family landline. My friend's
dad was a policeman. He told me to press Star
fifty seven and they belonged as a public nuisance. No
more calls after that. Every old school thing to do

(01:14:17):
these days, Marcus. I don't know if the strictly qualifies
the telephone, but the conservation conversation I had me thinking
about the citizen band cbe on the farm. It was
good for communicating with the house went out and paddocks
on the shed. Mum always used to give us a
heads up when dinner was almost ready. Did anyone still
use this? Don't know, farmers would still use citizen Citizen band?

(01:14:38):
Would they?

Speaker 20 (01:14:38):
Hi?

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
Jennets Marcus, good evening.

Speaker 19 (01:14:40):
Oh you just read my email?

Speaker 3 (01:14:43):
Oh was it you?

Speaker 36 (01:14:43):
Oh Jenny Well, good nuns.

Speaker 19 (01:14:47):
Well, I can totally relate to the other callers about
tapping the fines and all that kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
Do you think you knew who the heavy breather was?

Speaker 22 (01:14:57):
Oh?

Speaker 19 (01:14:58):
Yeah, yeah, because yeah, because my sister and I shared
a room and my sister was four years older than me,
and we kind of like we're just talking about this
creepy guy that was hanging around the neighborhood and he's
always call where my mum and dad were at work.
My sister was older than me, old enough to Babysit's

(01:15:19):
just and yeah, and then I told dad about it, and.

Speaker 35 (01:15:24):
He said, well, what do you want.

Speaker 19 (01:15:26):
Me to do about it? I don't know where he lives.
And then and then I said something like that he
knows where we live because we're in the phone book.
And then yeah, and then I just yeah, I thought, right,
I'm going to take matters into my own hands here.
My best friend's dad's a policeman. Surely he can help.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
And he did, right, And what was the other story?

Speaker 19 (01:15:48):
Oh, just when you're like a teenager and and you've
got two phones in the house and your stupid, like
older brother picks the phone up when you're talking to
a boy you like and he goes, oh, is that
your boyfriend gen or something like that. So embarrassing, and

(01:16:10):
then I'm like, mom, Jake's picking up the phone.

Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
Telling because there's no privacy because the phones were in
public areas, weren't they. I mean they're in the hall
or something. You're standing there trying to.

Speaker 19 (01:16:21):
Be quiet, Yeah, no, And then your mom and dad
had just got egle eyes on you, and then they're like,
who's this boy you're talking to? Do I know his parents?

Speaker 3 (01:16:30):
It was weird too, to think you have to It
was weird to think you have to bring up and
ask for someone so someone else would answer, You have
to ask for that person, and that was that was daunting.

Speaker 19 (01:16:40):
Oh yeah, so anxiety provoking because it's like, oh, well,
we're going to the a MP show on Saturday, would
you like to come? Nothing sinister?

Speaker 35 (01:16:51):
And Mom's like.

Speaker 19 (01:16:54):
Yeah, and they.

Speaker 37 (01:16:54):
They'd be like, who's this boy?

Speaker 20 (01:16:56):
Year So I've never heard.

Speaker 19 (01:16:57):
Of him before? And I'm like, of course, yeah, EV's Do.

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
You remember your home phone number?

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 19 (01:17:03):
Zero three five for seven three one fives that Nelson.
We didn't, but we didn't have a zero three was
five ur seven three sex one five.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
That was that.

Speaker 19 (01:17:18):
But we never really had to call home.

Speaker 3 (01:17:21):
But really you'd call from phone boxes. Would you do
that tapping thing?

Speaker 24 (01:17:26):
Oh?

Speaker 19 (01:17:26):
My brother did. I was mortified because he stole money
from the phone box once and I was an accessory
to the crime and we just come out of this
church and he'd stole from the collection plate because he
was really smart, like he had magnets and all sorts
of stuff. He's in the electrician.

Speaker 28 (01:17:45):
Now, well he just yeah, common face.

Speaker 19 (01:17:56):
I didn't want to be part of that, and then
I had to like, I didn't tell it. He said,
don't tell anyone. And I'm like, I've always wondered why
you had so much pocket money.

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):
Wow, I.

Speaker 19 (01:18:07):
Always wondered why you were always getting two dollar mixtures
and I was only getting like aniseed wheels and liquor straps.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
Real nice to talk, Gin, keep it going, twelve past ten.
Your call's important, phone calls, anything phone related. It's one hundred.
For the other restory of the first phone call ever,
it was a choice between saying a hoy or hello.
One school of thought was a hoy. One school of
thought was hello. It wasn't word you used before that.
So that's what we are on about tonight. Eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty nine to nine two text. I've

(01:18:42):
tapped a public phone many a time in my teen
years to ring home and friends. Memorable phone call sitting
by a campfire and Ozzy singing Dave Dobbins beside you
while playing guitar. Felt this overwarm overwhelming sadness come through
my body. Fifteen minutes later, my phone rang and Dad

(01:19:03):
said I need to get on the phone. I needed
to get on a plane to come home. My brother
was killed in a car crash. Wow. Marcus is a
seventeen year old in nineteen eighty nine, I went against
mum's orders not to jump in my best friend's car
and spend New Year's New Years at Funga Matar. It
was the year of the riots. I thought I'd better
call home. Had to queue up for the public phone

(01:19:26):
box to make a collect call home to Mum to
let her know I was okay. She answered the phone
and the telephone guys said, B is making collect call
from Fungi Matar with except the charges. Without hesitation, she
antured know and slam down the phone. Marcus. The old
telephone box in the seventies was a place of refuge

(01:19:47):
for us kids when our family situation was less than ideal.
Very grateful for it, and not once I noticed that
it smelt bad, always quiet, safe, warm due to numbers
and dry. Super grateful. Funny how you remember some things.
As for me and my siblings, it had nothing to
do with contacting anyone's shares. What an extraord with text chairs.
Thank you for that, Leslie. It's Marcus. Good evening, Good.

Speaker 11 (01:20:11):
Evening, Marcus.

Speaker 7 (01:20:12):
I left.

Speaker 11 (01:20:14):
I met my husband sixty five years ago and while
I was on the next exchange, and he is still
alive and I'm eighty five going on eighty six now. Yes,
and I had my story published in the Australian magazine

(01:20:37):
That's Life thirty years ago and they paid me for it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:42):
So what's the actual story.

Speaker 11 (01:20:45):
Well, it was a Saturday night and I was on
duty in the exchange and my husband was.

Speaker 25 (01:20:52):
Ringing from a phone box.

Speaker 11 (01:20:54):
And he had his mate with him who was quite
inebriate broken up with his wife, and he wanted to
contact her and she was living in lawn Fall and
he was in Taronga.

Speaker 10 (01:21:09):
Details of her.

Speaker 11 (01:21:10):
Name and I contacted Marensville Exchange. They got her on
the phone and we connected them both up together and
they got back together again too. And after that finished talking,
my husband phoned me back from the box and asked

(01:21:32):
me out for coffee.

Speaker 25 (01:21:33):
Wow, because I'd been.

Speaker 11 (01:21:35):
So helpful and we've been together ever since. Wow, yeah, wow,
where did you?

Speaker 3 (01:21:44):
Where did you have the coffee? Leslie?

Speaker 11 (01:21:47):
The down Under coffee lounge and Taronga. That's where everybody
used to meet in those days.

Speaker 3 (01:21:56):
Yes, and it was it was it obvious from the
very first meeting that you would be together.

Speaker 11 (01:22:02):
No, it just sort of grew, you know. He to
cavin escort me home on the night shifts, and we
just had a lot in common. And he played a
lot of rugby and crackers and a real fun sports guy.
And I was impressed with that. Yes, it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
It's a great story. Now, the inebriated man and the woman.
Did they stay together?

Speaker 11 (01:22:31):
They got together again?

Speaker 3 (01:22:33):
Yes, and they stayed together they did.

Speaker 11 (01:22:35):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:22:36):
Oh it's good all round, isn't it?

Speaker 11 (01:22:38):
It was?

Speaker 3 (01:22:39):
Yes, very good, very good story, Leslie, Thank you for that.
Seventeen past ten. It's all about the phones and the
extraordinary phone calls on me. There's also other thoughts that
there was all those sort of the there was all
those chet phone lines in the when were they were
they the middle nineties?

Speaker 7 (01:22:56):
Do you remember?

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
Those are pretty sketchy like, oh what were they called?
Like star signs and stuff, But they're actually just you
talk to real people, oh eight hundred gossip or something.
Do you remember those? I don't quite know what the
point of them was. I think the brief was quite changing. Anyhow,

(01:23:18):
it's what we are talking about. Eight hundred eighty eighty
and nine nine two text more lines will be becoming
available for our trying to get through. We are celebrating telephones. Hello, Andrew,
it's Marcus. Welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
Oh yes, sir Marcus. I'm a first time caller, but
I listened to you all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:23:38):
Oh nice to hear. Thanks for making the effort. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:41):
Yeah, and well I just heard that number, so I
called it. And anyway, I just wanted to put my
bit an. I used to be work for the public
service garage. I used to be a public service guarrage
chauffeur and part of our job was to take the
ladies home from Airdale Street all the telephone of brothers. Yes,

(01:24:02):
and I remember it was a Friday night and all
the girls were crying, and I said, what's wrong? What's
wrong with all your girls? And then said that because
that's when erebus plane crashed. Their supervisory supervisor was on
the plane, the poor things, so they're all in tears.

Speaker 5 (01:24:20):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:24:21):
Yeah, you're funny. You should mention that because I'm just
trying to remember the details. But last November, we did.
Last November we did speak about that, and we did,
we did. We did talk to one of those telephone
operators that had been with answered one a trick at
trip will be given it for birthday or something, Yes,

(01:24:42):
and they're all just, yeah, I do remember that. I
do remember that story really vividly. So tell me something
about the women that worked at area. They didn't get
Taxis it was your job to is it? Because that's
how important it was considered. Is that right?

Speaker 37 (01:24:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:57):
We worked for the government. Actually I was a public
service Garret schofa for the public for the government. And
part of our job we had old h Q Holden's
Inn or they were new then, and we used to
pick them up in the evening and take them home,
you know where they lived, and a lot of them
you could remember where they lived if you'd done the

(01:25:18):
job a few times. Yeah, so you sort of took
them home in order, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
Yeah, what time was the shift? Four till twelve? They
finished at midnight?

Speaker 22 (01:25:26):
Did they?

Speaker 7 (01:25:26):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:25:27):
Yeah, I still all sorts of jobs from what I
can remember. Yet it was in the evening.

Speaker 8 (01:25:33):
Yeah, yeah, So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:25:36):
Where is that building still? I don't know where the
building isn't here at Ell Street? Yeah it's still there?

Speaker 23 (01:25:39):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (01:25:40):
No Airedale Street? You know Ardell Street to stop Simon Street.

Speaker 3 (01:25:44):
Yep, yep, copy. Yeah, I am familiar with that and
thank you. I'll keep moving. Brian ats Marcus.

Speaker 20 (01:25:49):
Good evening, Yeah, good evening, Marcus.

Speaker 17 (01:25:51):
How are good?

Speaker 3 (01:25:52):
Thanks Brian?

Speaker 20 (01:25:54):
Well, two things CB CB radio. We used to have
twenty six megs, but that was a frequency for ordinary CB,
but the international around Australia, all of them, the rest
of the world had twenty seven megs.

Speaker 7 (01:26:17):
A lot of us were pirates.

Speaker 20 (01:26:19):
I was fifteen and that's why I got introduced there
to CB. UHF is another frequency, and that's what most
of the farmers have. They've got repeaters on there. A

(01:26:39):
lot of them have got their own private repeater to
get down the rest of the North North Island, you
know around save Whitro areas in the middle Ere they
got their own repeaters on their farms.

Speaker 3 (01:26:52):
Is it still common, Brian for farmers to have c
B Yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:26:57):
Yeah, it's it's okay. You get them on some of
the high country stuff. They got the UHF, which was
better getting out to their their own repeater. Repeater was
a okay, and if they got it on their four
wheel drive or something like that, anything happens. They've got emergencies,

(01:27:20):
so it's still pretty a lot of use. Twenty seven
MEGS is now the your main main frequency when you
we talk international or something like that. CB it's twenty
crible five twenty seven triple five on the other side,

(01:27:41):
and you might talk to England, Scotland, Italy, France, Australia.
New Zealand's known as a forty one division. Australia's forty
three division. Italy is one division two divisions.

Speaker 3 (01:27:59):
What's forty two of forty two?

Speaker 7 (01:28:02):
Forty two?

Speaker 20 (01:28:04):
You've got me scratching now, now you've got me scratching,
and yet I've been I'm in the late eighties and I'm.

Speaker 26 (01:28:11):
Sorry, cheapest, very very active.

Speaker 3 (01:28:15):
Oh god, worried. Yeah, you'd be pretty you'd be a
part of a broad minded guy too, would you, Brian.

Speaker 20 (01:28:21):
Oh, you've got to be You've got to be brilliant.

Speaker 3 (01:28:25):
Thanks to that twenty six past ten, come on, call
us join the party. On nine hundred and forty forty
forty That was all those on nine hundred numbers from
the nineties that you've done. I don't know who was
running those of what was going on. They're always advertising
late at night. Marcus. My friend Britt is a big fan,
is currently live listening to you. Can you do a
quick shout out to Brett Hi, Brett, I run collect

(01:28:47):
from a country lane phone box them of nowhere near
abbiswith and wales back to the in laws to ask
his daughter's hand in marriage. Still happily married twenty eight
years this year. Back in the day, living in London
in the nineties, website blast but keeping in touch with
home with rain your wallet. That's when we mastered the
art of tapping the phone booths. It was a key
we classic bit of local ingenuity, a quick, cheeky trick

(01:29:10):
to bypass the phone slot and call free to friends
and families. It became part of our monthly routine. It
was just so in quite easy to do. The best
part every pound we saved on long distance calls was
another pound to readirect towards our social fund for pub
part to our local the Captain Cook and acton Cherie
Marcus didn't the Manhattan Club in Mount Roskill have the

(01:29:31):
phones at every table so it could ring and ask
to be joined for drinks or a dance lull from Dino. Yes,
the Manhattan was a very famous club. I never actually
recall having been there, but there would be phones and
you could call different tables. Yeah, someone might remember it.
I don't know what you'd call and say, but yes,

(01:29:57):
it was a place, and it was a thing like
a Dominion road. Yeah, so there we go. That was
a thing you could call and you could talk. Good evening, Steve.
This is Marcus welcome. Hello, Hi Steve.

Speaker 23 (01:30:11):
Are you just spoke to me? Oh we're wrong yep,
all right, I'll just say him already off, Hi Marcus. Yeah,
just ringing. Regarding scam callers my parents number of years ago.
Now we're getting a hell of a lot of scam callers,

(01:30:34):
you know, and what it came down to is obviously
wanting money. Anyway. I happened to be around the house
one night and Thine went about nine o'clock and just
about guarantee it was going to be a scam caller,
so I answered it. I said, well, I'll have this

(01:30:55):
guy on about players game, and I told them, ill,
just a moment I go and get me. The's a
card and you don't give you details and all that.
So I start doing that and then just let him know,
let him on to him yeap with a few choice words,

(01:31:22):
which he didn't appreciate it all and realized straight away.
And the abuse straight away that I got from him
was unbelievable. You this and that, and I won't repeat
all the words, but boy did he go off because
he knew that I was winding him up. That the

(01:31:46):
amount of abuse that he gave me was just incredible.
But the good thing about it was a schemicals and
that they all seem to stop. So I mean, like
they must get you know, parents are elderly, so you
know they had their number and we're targeting. It went

(01:32:07):
on for a long time, going to say getting them.

Speaker 3 (01:32:10):
I think it all gets circulated on the dark web,
but I think, yeah, maybe that's what's happened. They're off
the list. I would go to headlines. But nice to
talk to you. Thank you for that hair till twelve oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty very good people's calls all
about the one hundred and fifty anniversary of the world's
first phone call. Some of your more significant phone calls

(01:32:31):
you got some of those stories that'd be great to
hear from you about or anything else, as long as
it's phone related. Of course, by calling it will be
phone related because you will be on the phone, but
be in touch call, text or email. Marcus at News Talks,
he'd be dot co dot nz is the email. It's
not all quiet in the Middle East, but new news

(01:32:55):
there is not so much new news anymore. In fact,
the Australian Daily Mail is leading with a story about
ray Gun's new side hustle. She's the breakdancer from the
Olympic Games and she is now doing personalized videos for people.
Pretty lame. There has been massive air strikes hit Tehran
with unusually lard large explosions. Yep, so get in touch

(01:33:20):
if you want to talk. Yeah, that's what we're on about.
Eight one hundred and eighty ten, eight twenty had away
from eleven twenty six to eleven all the lines are free.
Your most significant, interesting, humorous phone call. What have you got?
It's all about phone slight. We've gone well so far.

(01:33:41):
It will be one topic night. Let's keep it going.
Marcus not really ready to phones. But I learned recently
that the theme music to the Frank spent to TV
comedy series was the words some mothers do have them
in morse code. Thank you for that. What a frustrating
show that was loved in its day, but notn't really

(01:34:04):
frustrating and tedious with the buffoon that was him anyhow,
significant phone calls, that's the plan, Marcus. Here in christ Church,
payphones in the CBD took twenty cent coins back in
the late nineties. One day we saw a security guard
use his credit card to open up the dispenser to

(01:34:26):
receive twenty cent coins to ring a mother of a
teen who was leadless drunk. After that, many kids began
using their laminated bus passes to pinch twenty cent coins.
Very good. Oh, come on, callers join, Come on, callers,
join the party. Someone said it was called hot gossip.
The phone number, Marcus was Christmas Day, City family having

(01:34:50):
a dinner. I phone rang, I answer It was a
cheek kids answered City Morgue. There was an awkward silence.
Someone was calling my dad to say his brother had died. Wow,
bear part of it, people, if you want to talk,
it's all about reverse charges or call waiting or engaged

(01:35:11):
or it was the other thing. The engaged signal. You
never get engaged anymore, do you? Was frustrating and trying
to ring something was engaged? What was engaged signal? Do
do do?

Speaker 28 (01:35:22):
Do?

Speaker 18 (01:35:23):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:35:23):
What was engaged signal? Do do? Do? Do do? I
think the call was bring ring ring room do do do?
So it's like a car reversing Httle twelve. Hello, Darren,
this is Marcus. Good evening.

Speaker 13 (01:35:40):
You think Marcus listening to the show a little bit
of it?

Speaker 23 (01:35:46):
Good?

Speaker 7 (01:35:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:35:49):
Yeah. I can't remember the execute years, but I think
we're not about sixty seven.

Speaker 21 (01:35:55):
Or eight or nine.

Speaker 13 (01:35:56):
I'm in the fifties now. I used to be a
boy cup, which was the bunch of lands for scouts, Yes,
yep so, and you used to have a sixth a leader,
which eventually was me. I didn't have many badges, but
eventually meet and you had a second leader, and then

(01:36:17):
you had four others in your team. And in order
for me to get a badge, waited to turn up
on the night with my team so that they all
had a pair for a pencil, a piece of paper
to threat, two seed coins, the two seat coins being
to make a phone call in an emergency and in

(01:36:39):
a paper to take notes.

Speaker 19 (01:36:41):
Down.

Speaker 13 (01:36:43):
So I gave them all ways sixtenths of coins and
a pan of paper, make sure I got one to hetch.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
And then did they do something with those coins? Or
was that just to be prepared thing?

Speaker 13 (01:36:56):
I was to be prepared, so at all times you
had to get that to the words. You had to
be prepared. So if you ever needed to make a
phone call for someone for whatever reason, you could go
to the pay phone. What you're three to two c
points and make vocal take notes just you know, it's
the little kids.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
Oh, it's a good memory there, Darren. I like that.
Thank you for that. Christ Church City New Year's Eve
welcoming in nineteen eighty five, celebrating with friends and rivers
by the avel On River, carrying and open results envelope
from my final year of three year study found the
courage to open as thought I might have failed, and
saw pass written on it. Was so exhilarated I rang
my parents even though it was midnight to tell them

(01:37:36):
what an awesome memory. I can't remember how I rang them.
Must have found a payphone. Hello, Kevin, it's Marcus.

Speaker 2 (01:37:42):
Good evening, Hi Marcus. A couple of things. Yeah, when
we were a teenager used to go and tap the
phones because it was easy because all you had to
do was whatever your phone number was, you just added
the amount of numbers to get to ten, and then
that's what you've actually tapped. And it used to be
a lot of fun picking different people and the Manhattan.

(01:38:05):
I met my white here forty two years ago, lung
her on the table, I asked her for a dance,
thought i'd stop, walked her back to a seat and
bought a bit of drink for her and then said
dr quite easy to marry you. And forty years we
were together. She passed away about six months ago. But
when you said about Manhattan, it used to be our low,

(01:38:27):
our thing to go to and dominion raid on a
Saturday night with the boys bringing the different girls, did.

Speaker 3 (01:38:33):
You say you called? Was she at a different table
and you called her?

Speaker 5 (01:38:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:38:37):
How would you know? How would was there numbers on
the table?

Speaker 7 (01:38:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
I think there was, if I remember, and if if
night you should have rang in one of the girls
to be a group of girls at the table and
there wasn't at here one And then you'd say, oh
can I talk.

Speaker 5 (01:38:56):
To the girl in the red dress?

Speaker 2 (01:38:58):
And then you talk to them and then say do
you want to have a dance? And then they'd say
where are you and you'd put wade your hand and
that's all right.

Speaker 3 (01:39:08):
So they hadn't done who was calling them yet they did.
I see. That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:39:13):
Yeah, sometimes you don't go to a table and you
couldn't see them there and then say I'm such and such,
I just find you and none of them would don
claim who was the one that you were talking to.
But in my case with my wife, I saw her
and then I sort of stood up and made my
hand and yeah and a dad's Then yeah was rest

(01:39:34):
was history.

Speaker 3 (01:39:35):
We'll go from there, Kevin, nice story, Thank you. Sue's Marcus.
Good evening.

Speaker 38 (01:39:39):
Hello, Marcaus. That's sound cooler. I've been lying in bed
listening to you on the And I was a toll
operator in the sixties and it's the best job I
ever had. And it was a country exchange just out
of christ Church, and we used to help people so much,
and you know, people didn't realize that the things we

(01:40:04):
used to do. There was a little hospital in the
town I lived in. Most area was all farming, and
quite often nighttime, the sister would be there on her
own in a maternity hospital, and she wouldn't have time
to get to the doctor or call the doctors. So
she just rang up and say, would you ring the
doctor and tell her tell him that missus so and

(01:40:26):
those two fingers away and then hang up. So you'd
ring the doctor's residence and tell him, and that was it.
And we used to do so many things for people
that it was amazing. And I remember one day it
was a Sunday and a lot of the lines that
we had were party lines, so you know, there might

(01:40:49):
be six or seven people on one line, and you
didn't actually know the people their faces or personally, but
you knew their voice. And I remember one afternoon this
lady rang up and she said, quick get the doctors
as a boy been shot in the stomach. And then
she just hung up. And so I phoned the doctors

(01:41:14):
and he wasn't home. His wife said on I had
doctors at Burnham, but I'll try and get a hold
of him if you put me through, and then you
ring the ambulance and Christus and tell them to go
out there. And of course the ambulance people didn't really
want to take any notice of me, but I finally

(01:41:34):
convinced them, and then they asked whether where they had
to go, and it was all country road, shingle roads,
et cetera, et cetera. So I got them to hold
on the line, and then I found phone these numbers
back that were on the party line that this call
had come from, and got some of the farmers and

(01:41:55):
they said they'd all stand at different corners to direct
the ambulance. And that's what happened, and the boy survived.

Speaker 3 (01:42:04):
Story.

Speaker 38 (01:42:05):
You know, there was so many things that we used
to do that it was such a service And if
I had my time over again, I would sooner have
that sort of help than what you've got.

Speaker 7 (01:42:19):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:42:21):
Would you talk often to the people that called you?
Or was that frowned upon because if you became too familiar,
then they could call you all the time.

Speaker 38 (01:42:30):
Oh no, they didn't. You got some very polite people,
and you got some very snotty people. And the most
polite people were the hardest up people that were in
the area. They were very polite. But some of the
people that were quite rich, they were really wrapped and

(01:42:54):
you know, obnoxious sort of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:42:56):
And I guess you knew who were you knew what
was going on, you knew who was calling that they
shouldn't be calling, and all sorts of stuff.

Speaker 38 (01:43:02):
I suppose, Oh, yes, there.

Speaker 3 (01:43:05):
Was a community for sertain.

Speaker 38 (01:43:11):
Things where a husband would come home and you knew
where his wife was, where she shouldn't have been, and
he would just be calling people, making a conversation and
then having to asking it is his wife there? You know, no, no,
and then he'd hang up and he ringing someone else
and you wouldn't know where she was, but you know,

(01:43:32):
you couldn't say anything.

Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
But you love. But you also lived in that community
and everyone knew you that you worked at the exchange, Yes,
so everyone would know that you'd be that you knew
pretty much what was going on in the town.

Speaker 38 (01:43:42):
I would think, well, it did have a reputation that
some of the gossip came from there, but it didn't it.
And this is what used to annoy me, because we
did such a lot for people that you know, it

(01:44:03):
wasn't appreciated.

Speaker 7 (01:44:05):
Can you understandsolutely?

Speaker 4 (01:44:07):
Hm?

Speaker 18 (01:44:07):
Hm?

Speaker 38 (01:44:08):
And you know quite often farmers wives would call us
from christ Church and it'd be harvest time or something
and they'd say, look, I'm going to be laid home.
Can you ring hobby about half hour six and tell
them to put the meat in the oven and things
like that.

Speaker 18 (01:44:30):
You would do that.

Speaker 7 (01:44:31):
It was incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:44:32):
That was part of your job.

Speaker 38 (01:44:35):
No, we just did it, okay. I mean if someone
asked you for help, that you helped them. And it
was amazing. You know, you could really write a good book.

Speaker 3 (01:44:48):
I'm sure you could.

Speaker 38 (01:44:49):
About the things you could do. And I remember a
funny thing. It was a well known person's father actually
that did this. But when you had to call christ
Church in those days, you had to have a make
a top call. So in the exchange there was two
boards that you hadn't know that you made the toll

(01:45:12):
calls from there, and you had a clock with a
card and it had the time on it and the
second hand, and the first lot of charges was three minutes,
and if it was three minutes fifteen seconds, that was
classed as a three minute call, but if it was

(01:45:34):
three minutes sixteen seconds, that was charged as a four
minute call. And this particular Chap his wife used to
call her parents in christ Church every Friday night and
then they would she would call back to see how
much the call was. And she was only allowed to

(01:45:54):
have a three minute call, and when I had her on,
I quite often let he used to let her talk
for a week while I clock card off, so that
she still had the three minute call. I forgot about it,
and she had a three minute, sixteen second call, which
made it four minutes. And her husband ran back and

(01:46:17):
complained about it.

Speaker 7 (01:46:18):
Wow.

Speaker 38 (01:46:18):
And it was a Friday night, so the office, the
main office for the post office still open, and he
drove probably or sixteen or so kilometers into the small
town to see the postmaster because he was overcharged for
this call was four minutes. And anyway, what had happened

(01:46:41):
was he had an egg timer, and when she started talking,
he would turn the egg timer over and when sand
ran out, he would tell her to hang up. And
obviously it was a bit faulty, so the postmaster said

(01:47:03):
to him, we have to buy a new egg timer exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:47:07):
Now, did you know Morse code to throw all the
different rings?

Speaker 8 (01:47:09):
Is it something you?

Speaker 4 (01:47:10):
Yes?

Speaker 15 (01:47:11):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:47:11):
Do you still know it?

Speaker 38 (01:47:13):
Some of them? And then later on did I did teleprinting?
And I don't know whether you've seen the little tapes
that they have with the old teleprinter. Yes, and it's
got all the little holes in it. Yes, well that's
the same as the Morse code.

Speaker 3 (01:47:32):
Were you quick at that?

Speaker 7 (01:47:34):
No?

Speaker 38 (01:47:34):
I didn't particularly like that, but yeah, but no, I
just I'm just absolutely delighted to hear all the people
talking about the exchange, because we had a lot of fun,
but we also had sad times too, you know, sometimes
it was very sad times. But I thought of another thing.

(01:47:56):
You've got time.

Speaker 3 (01:47:57):
Absolutely.

Speaker 38 (01:48:00):
You know, they were the days where the pubs closed
at six o'clock, and of course, you know most country pubs,
they would have people still there, you know, to whatever time.
And one of the boys one night, Oh, they used
to have what was at the Flying Squad coming out

(01:48:22):
from christ Juch and they'd usually stop at Springston, Lincoln
and so on. And what would happen was if the
first pub they arrived at the first pub.

Speaker 3 (01:48:33):
Sorry, so I just realized that I just told I've
just got commercials. I just realized I talked too long.
We just told your horses. So so you should talk
about the Flying Squad at six o'clock closing.

Speaker 38 (01:48:43):
Oh yeah, And anyway, I remember one night one of
the boys he wanted to get a half g filled up.
That would I worked one boy that I worked with.
In any way, he knew that there was a whole
lot of people at the local pub and he phoned
them up and I think it was you had to
ring three rings on the back door or something on

(01:49:03):
the bell so that they knew were there. In any way,
the guy said, no, not serving anybody tonight. So this
book that he was bit annoyed. So he waited for
a wee one and then he phoned the pub and said, right,
the flying Squad's on its way. So got on his

(01:49:28):
bike commit at the corner to what in all these
cars for flying around taking off from the So we
did do some fun things.

Speaker 3 (01:49:39):
Good story, So thanks for that. Keep your calls coming through, people, Marcus.
Till twelve, more lines will be becoming available. It's one
hundred and fifty years since the first phone call ever
and we're celebrating that with a night about phones. I
will get to you tonight too to hold your horses,
and more lines will become available. Sorry, I forgot about
the commercials, but the calls have been for e very

(01:49:59):
interesting six away from eleven o'clock. You met. This is Marcus. Welcome.

Speaker 4 (01:50:06):
Yeah he's being Marcus. Yeah, slightly newer phone that my
stories are based around. It was satellite phones. It was
my first experience with the satellite phone. When back after
two thousand and three America's Cup, I got a job
with the British team and the owner took me, invited
me to crew as a young fellas of just a

(01:50:28):
young nipper on his new offshore ocean racing next seat,
and of course it had all the bells and whistles,
including satellite phone. I've been away from home probably. It
was my first first big trip overseas. I call it
my version of an oe selling and testing and offshore
yacht racing. And we ended up an Antigua and the

(01:50:53):
main sort of souper yacht harbor there is called Filmer Harbor,
and it's like the old English fort that he really
used to sail off and fight the pirates from and
that sort of thing. And on the top of the
hill called Shirley Heights and it's renowned for its sunset
bar and super super cheap rum punch and the little

(01:51:17):
crew we won one of the big regatta races there,
so we kind of had a bit of a I'm
allowed to say bender.

Speaker 3 (01:51:24):
On the Yeah, yeah, what you have to do? I
had to do this. I have to get you to
wake till after the news because I don't want to
get you to do your last in the call on
twenty seconds to hold your horses and we'll come back
to you and we'll start that from the top. There's
one line there free seven mets. So we're at what
island and the.

Speaker 4 (01:51:42):
Carabine on to Antiga.

Speaker 3 (01:51:45):
That's right, and you are you're drinking. You got a
satellite phone.

Speaker 4 (01:51:50):
Yeah, because it's a huge huge Regetta Antiga race week
and and so and we're brand new, big mess of yours.
It's based on the old Stonelager too, and we had
epic regatta and it was like the big party night
up at she he Heights. The old English bought cheap
rum punch and stuff. And on the way home, well,

(01:52:13):
most of the donor and the captain and most of
the crew were all staying staying ashore for the night,
but I was staying on the boat back down and
flmouth hub decks down at the marina. On the way
back there was like, well there's an old character around
the harbor there that everyone knows and he used to
have a donkey or a couple of donkeys. So there
was kind of like the Falmouth Harbor uber. You could

(01:52:36):
ride a donkey back to the back to the marina
where the yachts were. And the first time I'd done this, said,
got back to the boat, got on board, smelt like
wet donkey.

Speaker 3 (01:52:48):
Did you get did you get the donkey back? Did you?

Speaker 4 (01:52:52):
Yeah? So he would just come and he just he
just knew where all that where. Everyone shots, You're all
staying on ever on you. It was like the local
character donkeys. Most of them would Thelmouth Harbor if.

Speaker 3 (01:53:04):
A L M O U T A yeah, I'll go
get up on go okay harbor yep, okay, yep. So
you got back to the ship on the donkey rode out.
You had a boat. You had a boat, did you?

Speaker 4 (01:53:15):
So this was the America's cup owner. It was his
private like ocean race yachts. Yeah, head like I said,
had all the bells and whistles, which back in those
days included a sat phone. And so I got back
to the boat. I was no one else was there.
I'm all excited and pumped, had the best day, best
night ever, and cracking up that I've just ridden a

(01:53:37):
donkey halfway across the bay and had to bring my
mates back home in New Zeman. And this was before
cell phones and all that sort of who and so
I thought, ah, I use the set phone. But really
I knew they were expensive, but I didn't really quite.
I said, I, no one will notice this a few minutes,

(01:53:58):
just to tell everyone about my cool night and riding
donkeys and that we won and all that sort of stuff.
Missing home or bugger it, make that call, managed to
connect to the satellite, managed to finally call call my mates,
and part way through the conversation I obviously passed out.

(01:54:19):
And what happens with those these old sad phones is
you have to even if the other person hangs up,
it's the phone still connected to the satellite. Yeah, and
so the clock keeps sticking. Turns out it's back. Then
it was twelve dollars US a minute.

Speaker 23 (01:54:36):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:54:37):
And yeah, I don't know what the bill was, but
it was big enough for the owner to have actually
found it hilarious. Captain was per.

Speaker 22 (01:54:51):
He was.

Speaker 4 (01:54:53):
The cabdain was super like proper passed off, so I
know it was what it must have. It was running
till we ever, and turned up at the boat the
next like hours hours. Yeah, the great owner, guy Peter Harrison,
he was amazing. He found it funny. I'd never heard
what the bill was.

Speaker 2 (01:55:14):
But.

Speaker 3 (01:55:15):
Thousands of dollars wouldn't that?

Speaker 21 (01:55:17):
Oh easy? You wis?

Speaker 7 (01:55:19):
Where was it?

Speaker 3 (01:55:21):
Where was the donkey ride from?

Speaker 4 (01:55:24):
So there's a nightclub there called Abra, and so so
the bro would hang out around the nightclub late at
night with it with a couple of these donkeys, and
you'd give them, you give them ten bucks, you whatever
cash you still had left in your pocket.

Speaker 3 (01:55:42):
I found, I found, I found. Okay, I want to
reach out and yeah, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:55:49):
So on the other side of the harbor, it's called
tat Marina. Remember rightly, that was where the boat was
tied up.

Speaker 3 (01:55:56):
So how did you get across there?

Speaker 33 (01:55:59):
Were you?

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
Were you a sailor? Is it how you'd managed to
get on the shot to go that way?

Speaker 4 (01:56:04):
Yes? So I got like a they call a nipper,
basically a junior gopher job for the British America's Cup
team in two thousand and three. Yeah, basically general Dog's body.
They were wanted to run a junior program trying to
get back into the Cup, and through that the owner
and his mates, I got along really well with them.

(01:56:26):
So I got offered Dick ends role on his new
your private yacht that he was building over in Is
and it kind of just went from there. So yeah,
so I ended I was hanging out with season vets
of drinking rum punch. They were.

Speaker 3 (01:56:46):
Calls I love a donkey, be a nice way and
in the night at the bank brun the back of
a donkey.

Speaker 4 (01:56:52):
Yeah, I'm sure if you even just google film with
Harbor donkey. I can't remember the name of the guy,
but he died only a couple of years ago. There
was a massive outpouring of grief.

Speaker 3 (01:57:04):
The donkey died, Is that right?

Speaker 5 (01:57:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:57:08):
Yeah, So everyone that has anything to do with souper
yachts that's been to the Caribbean knows about the Belmouth
Harbor donkeys. And so you'd ride it back to the
yacht and then the donkeys would take themselves back to
the nightclub.

Speaker 3 (01:57:23):
You just go on your own yeah, yeah, donkey would return.

Speaker 4 (01:57:28):
Yeah, and then the next person, and if you want to,
there's a place called Pigeon Beach on the inside where's
like a lot of the after parties after and the
donkeys would just go backward and forwards.

Speaker 3 (01:57:40):
How many donkeys did he have?

Speaker 4 (01:57:42):
He had two when I was there the last time
my friends were there, I was chatting to them about it,
and he was down to one. I think it's a peak.
He might have had five or six, so he was
probably doing all right.

Speaker 18 (01:57:56):
Ten bucks.

Speaker 4 (01:57:57):
It was a trip he grows them. It wouldn't be
enough to pay for my phone call, but he was
done right anyway, I better go. I'm great. You's got
to go drive a ship now.

Speaker 3 (01:58:09):
Okay, what sort of ship? Where are you calling from?

Speaker 14 (01:58:13):
Now?

Speaker 4 (01:58:15):
Tow wrong? I've just got to bring a tanker in
your pilot.

Speaker 21 (01:58:20):
Yes, yes, brilliant.

Speaker 3 (01:58:22):
Okay, ah, we know what pilots are for these people? Yeah,
of course, probably what ship is prigging? We probably go
look at that on I can't find the I can't
find the guy with the donkey, sir. There's a donkey sanctuary. Now,
it's probably where the donkeys are. Brett's Marcus.

Speaker 23 (01:58:44):
Good evening, Hi Marcus.

Speaker 9 (01:58:49):
So I'm going to tell you something that happened about
three or four days ago.

Speaker 22 (01:58:53):
Great.

Speaker 9 (01:58:54):
So, you know how you get private calls sometimes and
you don't really want to answer them. Yep, So this instance,
I actually did and the guy answered and he said,
you know, he said that I had actually his and
runner's car, and he was like an English guy or whatever,

(01:59:17):
and he actually knew my name because he said, hello.

Speaker 26 (01:59:21):
Is this spread?

Speaker 9 (01:59:23):
And I reckon it was like and I reckon it
was an AI frank caller sonning.

Speaker 3 (01:59:29):
A And had you hit his car?

Speaker 13 (01:59:32):
No?

Speaker 9 (01:59:33):
I hadn't, but anyways, might leave it there.

Speaker 3 (01:59:38):
Sounds it off with that call, Britt. I'd hate to
say this waited all that time. How many Marcus welcome.

Speaker 7 (01:59:43):
Hey Marcus. Yeah, this is something that happened about four
decades ago. But my my celebrity crush was Joni Mitchell,
of course, and I I just loved her music and
I decided I'd like to meet her, right so, and
I was doing quite a bit of meditation at the time,

(02:00:05):
and I read this book called The History and Power
of Mind, and it said, if you want to meet
the Guru or meet your beloved, you put a picture
on your altar when you're meditating, and you meditate on
the eye of the guru. Right so I copied this
picture of off of one of her albums and I
put it on the alter meditation altar, and I and

(02:00:26):
I did that right, and I just you know, it
wasn't I wasn't possessed with it. It was just something
that I did as part of my you call my savana.
And one day it happened. It was like a door
open and I ran into I was in the West
Hollywood and I ran into in this restaurant and we

(02:00:49):
had a little cordial conversation and she was with one
of the guys from Weather Report, Don Elias. But I
kept running into her. In a month, I ran into
her about three or four times, and I thought, oh
my God. And the last time I saw, she tripped
over my foot and almost fell into the door at

(02:01:10):
this restaurant, and it was a bit embarrassing, but I decide, well,
maybe I'm freaking her out. I don't know. So I
actually left town and I went back north, and I
think a month or two later, I went up into
Canada and somebody said she had a house on the
west coast of British Columbia. And I picked up this
girl hitchhiking and she took me there. She took me

(02:01:32):
to Junior Mitchell's house on the west coast, and I
made friends with the groundskeeper there and I started doing
some odd She was never there, and I don't know
if you ever remember her album she did call Four
of the Roses. But it's beautiful, you know, woods and
hills and all this kind of stuff, right, And one

(02:01:54):
day the groundskeeper asked me if I would help him
dig a trench across the driveway to put in some
security lights for this beautiful little what do you call it,
like a gingerbread house, It was a stonehouse. And in
the house. After I did this for him, he took
me on a tour of her house and there was
a piano, baby grand piano with a bear skin rug there,

(02:02:18):
and so that was all nice. And the next day
I decided, because every time I went to Canada, I
had a place to stay with my van at Joni
Mitchell's place, she knew she was never there, right, And
one day I went out and playing my guitar out
in the rocks and one of these one of these
photo shop, you know, picturesque backings that she had done

(02:02:40):
some photo work there. And on my way back to
the van, I noticed that he left all the shutters
to the house open, and I just peeked in in
the window to have another look at the at the
piano with the bear skin rug and her phone was
sitting there by the window. I never wrote it down,
but I memorized her phone number and I left Canada.

(02:03:04):
I went back in Colorado for the ski season, and
on my birthday, I thought, what do you want for
your birthday? I think I want to ring up Jonny
Mitchell and singer a song, right, and it was about
I think it was about ten, a little after ten
o'clock in the morning, and so I ring this number
and she answered the phone and I didn't even expect

(02:03:27):
her to be there, and she says, who is this.
I said, oh, well, it's a friend. She says, I'm sorry,
but my friends don't ring me up at this time
of day and wake me up. And she slammed the
phone down, and I was just shattered. You know, I
don't even imagine how embarrassing, and you know it was.

(02:03:50):
You know what I'm saying, It's almost took my breath
away even thinking of back on it now. But it
basically it cured my celebrity crush in an instant, you know,
in a heartbeat. And what I found out later was
she was on her honeymoon. She had just married this guy,

(02:04:10):
Larry Klein, and I don't think she ever had told
people about her anything. So I ended up bringing up
Joni Mitchell on the telephone from Colorado.

Speaker 3 (02:04:20):
I think, if do you think if you'd rung it
a bit of time it would have gone better?

Speaker 7 (02:04:23):
I think it would have.

Speaker 3 (02:04:25):
It would have What song were you going to sing?

Speaker 7 (02:04:28):
It was a song that I had written. I had
written for it was inspired by her. And I can't
even remember the song anymore? Now, have you?

Speaker 3 (02:04:37):
Have you not got it committed to paper?

Speaker 7 (02:04:39):
No? No, it was it was. It was one in
my head. It was one in my head. But I
did do another song about sort of that whole.

Speaker 3 (02:04:52):
I mean, it's been fifty years. It does sound slightly
stalkersh Yeah.

Speaker 7 (02:04:57):
Well I look back and I think, well, it was
it stock rish, but I was. I was doing it
on more of on a psychic psychic level.

Speaker 3 (02:05:06):
I think that's what a stalker person would say any justification.
But yeah, okay, well.

Speaker 7 (02:05:11):
Anyway, that's that's how I did. It was was via
this particular meditation technique, and it just said, yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:05:20):
Do you still remember her phone number?

Speaker 7 (02:05:22):
No? No, I left it. I left it. After that,
I decided I didn't want to put her or me
through anything like that again.

Speaker 3 (02:05:31):
But in the marriage, and I presume the marriage didn't
last or did it.

Speaker 7 (02:05:35):
No, it didn't didn't. Well, she was she was uh,
you know, way young, she said, he was way younger
than her. And I think it sort of fell apart
after a while. But never mind.

Speaker 3 (02:05:50):
You saw her perform live, I presume.

Speaker 7 (02:05:52):
Yes, Yeah, I've seen her several.

Speaker 3 (02:05:55):
Times, many times.

Speaker 7 (02:05:57):
Brilliant, brilliant. She's still performing, yeah, I know, and she's
still got it.

Speaker 3 (02:06:02):
She's still got a absolute when she performs that she
had a stroke, casey, but where she performs now, she
it looks like it's very important and of very special
time for her tooth thing. It's quite moving to see
her perform now. He indeed, indeed, I like the story Harmony,
like how ten gentle it was. I thought you're ever
going to get through to the phone, but certainly it
was very much about a phone call. Brilliant if you

(02:06:26):
want to talk eight hundred and eighty ten eighty nine
two nine two to text. Loved the donkey, loved the
Joni Mitchell story. And if you've got phone call conversations,
this is the show. So the legend that has moved
has sent me an article about the man with his donkey.
The community of English howevers and morning following the passing

(02:06:46):
of Paget Jacko West, a beloved and one on figure
not in the special close to community, but also throughout
the wider yachting world. Jacko's warmth character and during presence
touched the lives of many who came to know and
love Antigua, and a vibrant spirit has absence will be
deeply felt by all. His body was discovered earlier on
Monday twenty seconds ten believing residents of visits alike in shock.

(02:07:10):
Jacko's presence in English harbor mark by his charm people
secret charais at laughing impacted on the community. Green concluded
the tribute, expressing both sorrow and gratitude. Wow, his donkey
was indeed as close as friend and confidently he didn't
go anywhere without it. Jacko would give you his only
mango a sugar apple and never expect anything in return.
From a distance, he would shout at your name whenever
he sees you or that was his modus operating for

(02:07:32):
hailing up his friends. It's a lovely painting of him
and him on top of his donkey. Well, lo, what
a bizarre old island Antigua looks like and tiny? Of course,
I mean most of us remember it from the Commonwealth Games,
don't we is that we remember it from? I don't
know much about Antigua, but yeah, I surprised how small
it is looking at it. It looks like it's about

(02:07:52):
the size of Wahiki, not much bigger Antigua and Barbuda. Marcus,
It's true. Back in the day small town exchange, we
had a guy with a nickname called running Bear. The
pubs was like that, ladies, said Marcus. That woman who
called out being an exchange operator was an operator in
the Lincoln Exchange. She mentioned the doctor go to Burnham.

(02:08:12):
I lived in Burnham and that was where the doctor
for the civilians in the camp came from. Kaddyama. What
a cool phone call he had listened to her. Night's
so good to listen, Marcus. Three way calling the bit
was the best for finding out things you secretly wanted
to know from somebody didn't know you had someone on
the other line listening. Someone says, remember when you could
call someone in a different seat on an airline. I
don't remember that. Marcus. As a child in tuitarpri our

(02:08:36):
phone number was sixteen, very easy to remember. Then living
in Wynton, were on a party line that had three
people along. We were s There was also an m.
It was a tremendous gossip. Was never off her phone. Well,
why wouldn't you be cask a wine party line? Boom
linnell linell. If I got your name right, it's Marcus. Welcome, Yes,

(02:08:57):
you sure have, Yeah, welcome, Lennelle. Hi, it's Marcus here,
good evening you Hi.

Speaker 37 (02:09:03):
I was just thinking about that song, that re McIntire song.
I've always known the year that the phones were made,
because there's a reason MacIntire song and the lyrics are
like back in eighteen seventy six and old boy called
Bell invented a contraption we know so well.

Speaker 3 (02:09:21):
Well, I've never heard that as I've never heard that song.

Speaker 37 (02:09:25):
It's really funny because it goes on to go, it
goes oh oh god, is it for times? Back in
eighteen seventy six and old boy called Bell invented a
contraption that we know so well. By the nineteen eighties,
it was in everybody's home. It's a crazy little thing
called the telephone, and then and then the chorus it goes,
so tell me why haven I heard from you? And

(02:09:48):
it's just about this woman who's missed because she hasn't
heard from someone, and she's going on about how the
phone was created invented, and there's other lyrics, and it
goes like the bear and a flat flood, a landslide
of mud, and a fire that burnt down the wire.
The sounds are so loud in the black funnel cloud

(02:10:11):
and natural disaster I know nothing about. And then she goes,
so tell me, why haven't I heard from you? It
makes me.

Speaker 3 (02:10:20):
How do people know? Riber macintize, she's like got super fans? A. Yeah,
it's not a radio song you'd heard, is it?

Speaker 4 (02:10:31):
No?

Speaker 37 (02:10:31):
It was a country song maybe back in I don't know,
the nineties or something. It was an old yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:10:39):
Nineteen ninety four. Why when I heard from you? That's right?

Speaker 37 (02:10:42):
Yeah yeah. But she was quite famous for it because
it's a really challenging fast or the smalls of Things?

Speaker 3 (02:10:49):
Is one of is it one of whom? Is it
one of her more more well known songs?

Speaker 37 (02:10:54):
I think so yeah, I think so yeah. But I'm
always quite proud of myself because I've always liked that
song of you know, eighteen seventy six of Known on
that telephone.

Speaker 3 (02:11:06):
Yeah, no, that makes that ties in perfectly with us.
So thank you for that, and I will listen to
that tonight. I appreciate that. Bruce. It's Marcus.

Speaker 5 (02:11:13):
Good evening, Marcus. I'd like to tell you about the
manualct telephone exchange in Pew Pew.

Speaker 3 (02:11:20):
Oh goodness, Okay.

Speaker 5 (02:11:22):
I'm going back fifty something years because when I first came,
I'm a stock agent and I'd always have all party lines,
but you know, at night you'd have quite a few
phone calls to make the different farmers, and you just
tell the girls that I want to ring im. I
give am made of ten numbers and they would actually

(02:11:45):
let me know when the numbers become available, and they.

Speaker 3 (02:11:47):
Put me through free handy.

Speaker 5 (02:11:50):
Yeah, and all you had to do was give them
a bottle of wine and a box of chop. That's
at Christmas.

Speaker 3 (02:11:57):
I thought there must be some and that will that
be for the year that's been or is that to
sort you out for the year coming up as well?

Speaker 5 (02:12:04):
Oh, I don't know. It's all cell phones now talking.

Speaker 3 (02:12:07):
And it sounds like you get the wine and chocolate
should be good for the next year also, yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:12:12):
Yeah. But the strange thing is we've got a little
museum here and few uh and and that the old
manual telephone exchange has actually shifted from where it was
and behind the post office down the main street on
State Highway three, and the telephone exchange is still there,
and the kids can go down there and ring from
one building to another on the old You pull the

(02:12:34):
plug out and put it in and all that.

Speaker 3 (02:12:36):
You can do it. You can push it to your corse. Yeah,
I think I'll see one of those.

Speaker 5 (02:12:40):
It was all back in those days. It was all
party lines. Yeah, yeah, anyway, that's why.

Speaker 3 (02:12:46):
Did they have party lines? Because it wasn't enough phone lines?

Speaker 7 (02:12:49):
Is that why it was?

Speaker 5 (02:12:49):
We're like, we're in the rural area, and you know
then there's a farmy and a farmy and a farm there.

Speaker 3 (02:12:56):
So I guess one could you only have one call
go down? I suppose I have one call go down
a wife?

Speaker 5 (02:13:02):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's how it worked.

Speaker 3 (02:13:04):
Yeah, but how it happened the big I have never
thought about how that all works anyway. Hurdle twelve, what
do you got people?

Speaker 13 (02:13:11):
Eight?

Speaker 3 (02:13:11):
Hundred and eighty ten eighty've been some great calls in
the Donkey Fair. But listen tonight. My mother was supervisor
in the Gore Exchange during the war. She had to
stand down other operators when she got the calls that
their husband, brother, uncles had been killed. She had had

(02:13:31):
to break the news to them. Small town was horrific, Genie. Wow, Wow, Marcus.
The new phones having to charge all the time, the
downside even Oh no, it's no punctuation, Marcus. For the
toll of the Harbor Bridge, did it run twenty four
to seven? Yes, Marcus. The boat is the Trananger from Graymouth.

(02:13:52):
There's a small fleet of ling boats working out of
Bluff at the moment I end up down you our
show over our one chairs from a sea slave. Thank
you that year nice looking ship, Trananger, kind of a
new Yeah, I have seen some different boats coming. I
wonder what they were doing. Thank you for that number.
Redding in thirty eight. For many years, my mother had
a pen friend in Alberta, Canada. One year before Christmas,

(02:14:14):
Mum tried calling a pen friend. The operator got the
number wrong at first attempt, and the call went to
an old people's home. They were really tough to be
talking to someone in New Zealand. In a former retail job,
I used to get crank called splictly on a front
and Saturday. I took great pleasure in forming the caller
their number shows up on the main phone. It'd be
a quick clunk. We put a whole night on wrong numbers.

(02:14:35):
Did anyone ever marry their wrong number? Great thing is
a wrong number. By the way, Tomorrow is the ninth
anniversary of the BBC The BBC interview with the North
Korean expert that's talking on Zoom. Oh boy, I've just

(02:14:56):
gone back and watched it, and he's talking and the
young child comes through and skips and sort of sings
and walks up and he miles and then the younger
brother comes through on one of those sort of walking
frames and it's funny. I don't want that kid's powering himself.
He's a very mobile. And then and then the wife

(02:15:19):
sort of screams through. Go and watch it again, but
it's it's funny. That's probably the most viral moment there's
ever been. I would think if you just google BBC Dad,
that one's there. Flipper the mother crawled to shut the door.

(02:15:42):
Go and watch it now, BBC Dad does it. It's
very funny. It probably is the funniest thing that's ever
been I think, ah yeah, I've got tears of laughter
with it. That's nine years tomorrow on. It's very it's

(02:16:02):
only forty four A lot happens in forty four seconds.
So much that happens unbelieveable. You go and watch it.
It's very, very funny. BBC Dad.

Speaker 36 (02:16:13):
It's very funny. But the poor dad's because you see it.
You can see all the shock on the dad's face
as he sort of realizing that and this so scream
he tries to push the daughter away door looks just lovely.
I guess the' were you interviewing the kids to borrow?
The kids will be probably thirteen and ten or something.

Speaker 3 (02:16:35):
Anyway, very very funny, and there's books fully. Ah hey,
that's it for me. Thanks everyone that called for more
from Marcus Slash Nights. Listen live to news Talks there'd
be from eight pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on
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