Before mobile phones made everything so easy, the public telephone box was an important focus for community life. People of all types and classes would form an orderly queue outside its red iron door, clutching their pennies and waiting patiently for their turn to be linked up to the great wide world. For a shy people like the British it was an opportunity to meet and exchange news and gossip with neighbours and to get some fresh air. And what's more, once you were inside that box everything you said was private. Everybody uses mobiles nowadays, but talking loudly in public places with unseen faces, about personal feelings or secret dealings...well it's not something our true Brit feels comfortable about! Now there's a new generation of phone boxes which can link you up to the Internet, receive e-mails, take payment by phone card or credit card. Impressive, perhaps, but where is the romance?

You can see the visitors arriving at British airports, their wide eyes and flushed faces expressing the mingled wonder and apprehension they feel. They've made it! They're actually here, in this fairy tale land of knights and wizards, princes and pop idols, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, computers, human rights, pork scratchings, evolution, lawn tennis, parliament and punk. Some of the new arrivals look a bit disorientated and confused, which is only natural as everything here is so different and, well, so much better! But life here can take a bit of getting used to: driving on the left, being ruled by a Queen, pouring gravy or custard over everything and of course getting around in English the whole time! One thing the visitor soon discovers: although Brits come in many different shapes and sizes we are united by one very important characteristic: we are all waiting for the weather to 'buck up'.

How do you do? Pleased to meet you. If you are a visitor to our country I expect by now you have realized why we call it Great Britain: our long and glorious history; the unspoilt beauty of our landscape; the rich variety of our weather, not to mention our unrivalled achievements in cricket and football. Then there are our cherished traditions: afternoon tea at four, roast beef on Sunday, and warm beer until 11pm. And there's us, with our old-world courtesy and tolerance. Oh, and our sense of humour. I mustn't forget that. We do like a good laugh!

Not all public telephones are in street kiosks. Many are in booths in railway stations, airports and other public places. This elegant 1930s suite was at Charing Cross station, London.

A much photographed set of preserved K2s, off Bow Street in London WC2. The group developed over time: the two on the right are dated 1926; the centre unit is 1930; the remaining two are 1931 and 1934 respectively.

The payphone service was in trouble. The widespread unreliability of call boxes through vandalism and failure to repair damage speedily was a major public concern and an acute embarrassment to the newly privatised British Telecom. In 1985 it announced a major programme to rectify the situation. Payphones were to be transformed, and one aspect of this was to be the widespread use of a new 'KX' range of housings.

British Telecom was enthusiastic about its new designs, describing them as attractive, functional and modern. For the company, the use of stainless steel and anodised aluminium meant the end of routine painting. Regular cleaning would be all that was needed to maintain their appearance. They were also expected to be more resistant to vandalism and theft and so easier to keep in operation.

The 1970s were a period of relative stability. Compared with the previous forty years, the number of new kiosks installed was small. Some new sites were opened, for which the K8 was used, and when kiosks needed moving or where vandalism became a serious problem the existing unit would usually be replaced with the current model. Around 4000 K8s were supplied.

The K8 was more resistant to attack than its predecessor, but the degree of improvement was not enough to justify replacement of all the threatened K6s. In many instances thePost Office took a dramatic approach and ripped out the original glazing frames before the vandals did, replacing them with K8-style single-pane windows, the portion up to knee height being filled with sheet steel. The toughened glass that had been used for many years was replaced by unbreakable polycarbonate.

It was soon pointed out that, contrary to what the new crown implied (and letter boxes announced in the cipher E II R), Her Majesty was not the second Queen Elizabeth of Scotland and that the new Post Office crest did not apply north of the border. The solution was introduced in 1955. Henceforth, K6 fascias were to be cast with slots, into which either the Queen's Crown of Scotland or the St Edward's Crown would be inserted before the roof was fitted, depending on where the box was destined to be used.

Between 1950 and 1955 about 25,000 new K6s were erected, an even greater rate than before 1939. The pace slowed thereafter, but they were still being installed at the rate of about a thousand a year in the mid 1960s.

In 1946, as the K6 again began to appear in significant numbers, and as town and country planning legislation began to proliferate, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England asked the Royal Fine Arts Commission to reconsider the insistence on the universal use of red.

This time the Commission relented. In areas of special beauty, dark grey or black could be used so long as the glazing bars were picked out in red. The dispute was not over yet, however. Questions were asked in Parliament and, within a year, the Postmaster General agreed to look at the issue yet again. Six kiosks were painted in different colours and placed on view for inspection. One was painted red, the others Deep Brunswick Green, Light Brunswick Green, black, Light Battleship Grey and Dark Battleship Grey. The five boxes which were not red had the glazing bars of their doors and of one other side picked out in red so that they could be viewed with or without the feature. The conclusion was that red should remain the standard colour for normal rural and urban sites, but that Dark Battleship Grey with red glazing bars could be used in places of exceptional natural beauty.

In 1935 King George V was to celebrate his Jubilee so, to mark the event, the Post Office commissioned a new 'Jubilee Kiosk' from Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It would be in cast iron, it would be red, and it was to be for use everywhere. Designated the K6, it arrived on the streets in 1936.

Hitherto, whatever the design of kiosk, many communities had found it very difficult to persuade the Post Office to let them have one at all. In very many cases, particularly in rural areas, the Post Office would install a kiosk only if the local council agreed to cover all the Post Office's losses in providing and operating it. But now, along with the announcement of the Jubilee Kiosk, came a 'Jubilee Concession', by which henceforth call offices would be provided in every town and village with a post office, regardless of financial considerations. This concession led to over 8000 new kiosks being supplied.