Introduction of STD in England

I doubt that many of you will be reading TelecomTV news so I give you this information on the introduction of STD into Great Britain. The writer, who most likely is English, seems unaware of the difference between US STD's and English STD.

But then any country who drinks their beer at room temperature, which isn't too bad since room temperature in most English pubs I have visited was around 40 degrees F, drive on the wrong side of the road and invented "round abouts," needs to be watched with a measured and careful stare.

(Don't go postal on me dear cousins, I am in fact a huge fan of all things English except your demonstrated desire to turn your country into a Islamic theocracy.)

So, to the first. Back on December 5, 1958 the inaugural British phone call to be made without the intervention of an operator sat there in an exchange and physically competing the switching and connection was made when Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated STD - Subscriber Trunk Dialing.

It happened in the main exchange of the venerable West Country city of Bristol when the Queen made an STD call directly to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Scotland. At a distance of somewhere over the 300 mile mark, the call covered that greatest distance that was then available with the new technology.

The call began with the sovereign saying, "Hello, This is the Queen speaking from Bristol. Good Afternoon, my Lord Provost." The thoroughly stilted and artificial conversation lasted for two minutes and five seconds and yes, the Queen actually did do the dialing all on her own and without a body double.