5 Red Telephone Booths, London, England

5 RED TELEPHONE BOOTHS, LONDON, ENGLAND:  Red public telephones in London are ubiquitous.  But as long-time travelers know, their ranks are diminishing due to the explosion of cell-phone use.  The booths in this photo are located on Broad Street.   The origin of these icons was a 1924 design competition.  The basic look was updated over the years, including significant improvements  in 1929 and 1934.  In 1935, to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V, thousands of the red boxes were placed throughout Britain.  It’s hard to imagine them in any other colour but there was widespread opposition to the bright scheme. The 1959 version introduced an even brighter red and it went on to be the standard colour.  The classic British booth has even been exported for use in Malta and Cyprus.  In Washington, DC, a red booth sits outside the British Embassy. Today, stop by virtually any booth in London and you’ll see it festooned with business cards for escort services.   How long will the iconic booths last?  Well, when was the last time you actually used a phone booth to make a call? 

Shot handheld with a Nikon D70s, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm lens at 48mm, f9, 1/320 sec.  Photo by John Ecker     |    pantheon photography