The British Phonebox

The full story of one of the most iconic public symbols in Britain

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It has achieved iconic status; it symbolises Britain; but it is now seldom used! The British phonebox or, more correctly, kiosk began life as the silence cabinet in the late 1800s, but started to establish itself firmly as part of the landscape in the 1920s when the first standardised K1 model was introduced. However, it was the K2 design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and then his more numerous K6 design, that established the now familiar and iconic red box on our streets. Today the mobile-phone generation have probably never stepped inside a phonebox, let alone used one. Nevertheless, there they remain as an essential part of what makes Britain, Britain!

This book looks at the history and evolution of the humble British phonebox through all of its major models, including those that were introduced by organisations such as the emergency services, those that have been given a new lease of life as something completely different, and the exciting new designs that are intended to extend the life of the phonebox well into the twenty-first century.