undefined | Better HN

0 pointsrobthebrew1y ago0 comments

I remember London area codes being 01 (or 0441 from USA) followed by 6 digits, so maybe 3 are missing. It would be interesting to see if that landline is still available, but with 1000 possibilities (01ABC831) maybe a google search might be the way to go.

0 comments

wdfx1y ago

This is correct.

In the 90's I recall London area prefix changed from 01 to first 071 (central) and 081 (greater) and then 0171 and 0181. Later still, those codes became 0207 and 0208.

I still notice old shop signs up with the old prefixes.

matthiasl1y ago

Interesting.

Normally, films use deliberately fictious numbers, e.g. in the US it's always xxx555xxxxxx. Wikipedia says the UK uses various area codes for the same thing, including 011x and 01x1. The Pink Floyd number is a bit unusual---it's not made up.

According to a previous analysis, the call was the album's "Chief Engineer James Guthrie who called his own London apartment", with a neighbour answering the phone. Someone probably knows roughly where James Guthrie lived in 1979/1980 and what the area code there was. But I don't.

stordoff1y ago

> Wikipedia says the UK uses various area codes for the same thing, including 011x and 01x1.

Ofcom has set aside blocks of numbers within many different area codes for dramatic use[1]. The note on Wikipedia about 011x and 01x1 is that the reserved numbers in those (real) area codes usually end with 496 0xxx (so, for instance, 0114 496 0000 to 0114 496 0999 are reserved numbers in the Sheffield/0114 area - other 0114 numbers may be allocated to real customers).

[1] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/...

abdullahkhalids1y ago

There are some hits in this old phonebook [1], but one needs to pay to view the records. Maybe some one else can do this.

[1] https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1025/?name=Jam...

1 more reply

Polizeiposaune1y ago

Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)#Fiction..., the officially reserved block under the NANP has shrunk to XXX-555-01XX, but outside of XXX-555-1212 (directory assistance), and toll-free 800-555-XXXX there is little use of the range.

kmoser1y ago

Somebody could contact James Guthrie since he's still alive and probably has his old apartment phone number written down somewhere (if not still memorized).

aardvark1791y ago

Okay. If the call was from within the UK then I think the 0441 code would have been Swansea, but that would have required 3 numbers being cut from the middle.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse