GPO Dialphones (1) : 706

In the past, the General Post Office had a near monopoly (apart from one town) of the British telephone system. Subscribers to the service had to rent a handset from the GPO who designed and had manufactured a series of telephones.

The General Post Office released it's 706 model telephone in 1959, a modernised version of earlier GPO telephones with inspiration taken from contemporary American designs. The 706, and it's later update the 746, remained in production for decades and can still be used today if retro-fitted with a New Plan BT socket.

The 706 was fitted with an optional regulator which could reduce the sensitivity of the telephone if the line was too close to a telephone exchange or even if the telephone was picking up interference from nearby strong radio transmissions. The 746 had this regulator built into it's circuitry.

One variant of the 706 was the 706L which had a lettered dial. This was useful in the age of letter coded telephone exchanges. I have black and ivory examples of the 706 dialphone in my collection. 

500 is 37

This Silver-Reed 500 typewriter is the 37th to join the collection, i think it is the first green one too! It has a wide carriage which i am not that keen on as it does make storing the typewriter more difficult. However, it is a machine that has no doubt worked hard on a desk somewhere typing out invoices and memos and still works pretty well now. Though it will need a new ribbon.

Churches (267) : St Nicholas, Radford Semele

The parish church of St Nicholas in the Warwickshire village of Radford Semele dates from the 12th century, the tower being added in the 14th. The church was mostly rebuilt in 1889, and again in the 21st century after the fire in 2008 which destroyed everything except the tower and the shell of the nave.

The church is in the Perpendicular style, the west tower having two stages. The nave has a north aisle and a south porch.

Little Kimble arrival

In Buckinghamshire.

Bedfordshire places (5) : Apsley Guise

Aspley Guise is a village on the border in Bedfordshire, on the border with Buckinghamshire, near to Milton Keynes.

Aspley Guise is derived from Aspenlea, meaning aspen clearing, and from the de Guise (de Gyse) family who were lords of the manor in the 14th century. The first recorded settlement in the area dates to the 10th century and the parish was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The area remained mostly agricultural with two windmills in the parish mentioned in the 16th century. The village is situated at a cross roads and has remained small. A market charter was granted in 1267 by Anselm de Gyse though the market has long since been discontinued.

By the 20th century brick making and clay extraction had become major industries though nowadays many inhabitants will work (and commute to) elsewhere. The parish church of St Botolph (a seventh century Anglo-Saxon abbot and scholar) dates from the 13th century, from around 1223. The church was extensively reworked in the early nineteenth century. The church is made from ironstone with ashlar dressings, the tower from limestone rubble.

The church tower dates from the fifteenth century at least and has a clock that dates from then too. The oldest monuments in the church date from the 1400s including a tomb effigy thought to be of Sir William Tyrington who died in 1400.