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The Wren House International DQ library contained over 500 directories covering most parts of the world including... |
Wren International Directory Enquiries
Wren House IDQ attempted to keep telephone directories for every country outside Europe. This was in the era just before microfiche records came into use in exchanges and electronic word processors were slow and expensive.
Republic of Kiribati - Urban Tarawa 1980-81 - This example, rescued from the DQ on its closure in 1983, consists of a mere 28 type-written pages of which only 8 list private numbers. Most of the book is taken up by government numbers, Police etc., even extension numbers: Typist (Commissioner of Police) Extension 33.
The preface makes interesting reading too. "The telephone system is now so large that our operators cannot remember all names and numbers and are often too busy to look them up for you."
The price of international calls to other than nearby islands was $4.50 a minute.
And some of the pages were for official notices such as...
- "Please do not use bad language to the operator."
- "An operator who is upset is likely to be rude too, and so lose his/her job"
Page last updated 7th March 2012. Checked May 2021.
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