Mobile Phones

Before mobile phones, few people even had telephones. The following is a 1967 report from P.C.Smith, our last resident local bobby, living at Huntingdon, Main Road, Lacey Green, at the time of The Cold War click Village Policemen for Lacey Green "Bobbies".

HOUSE A BIT BASIC.    As the village bobby I was to accept 24 hour responsibility for Lacey Green, Speen, Loosley Row and Hampden.   There was a notice board outside the gate and a “County Police” sign over the front door.   The house had been built in the 1930’s for £350, and was a bit basic.   There were no electric points upstairs for example.

MOTORCYCLE PATROL. I was to patrol the area by day, leaving my wife to answer the phone and see callers at my small office.   Fortunately a smart black 350cc Triumph motor cycle went with the job, which beat cycling up those Chiltern Hills.

NO RADIO. Unfortunately it was not equipped with a radio.    My only means of communication was by telephone.  This was achieved by a system whereby the bobby would stand next to a public telephone box at hourly prearranged times so he could be contacted if required.

OFFICE EQUIPMENT. My little office contained a desk, filing cabinet, telephone, typewriter, my own personal world war three early warning system and a large box containing an air raid siren.

WW3 AIR RAID SIREN TEST. This was the cold war 1960’s and our nearest neighbour was Strike Command Headquarters, the Soviet Union’s number one nuclear target.  I did a test run with the siren; it took 45 minutes to drag it out into my front garden, read the instructions and assemble it.

41 MINUTES TOO LATE. The estimated time of arrival of a nuclear missile strike was 4 minutes; this left me 41 minutes short of warning the good folk of Lacey Green of a very loud bang.