[emeritus]

Not personally (we didn't have a phone then, or any overseas relatives), but in the mid -1950's when we were staying at an uncle's for Christmas, he had booked a call to his sister in New York State, and he and my aunt had had to leave the dinner table to go to the phone in the hall when the operator rang to put the call through. I remember them saying that the 3 minute call had cost £4, and had had to be booked well in advance, especially as it was for Christmas day. I think a working man's basic wage was around £10/week in the London area at the time, if he was lucky.