[hamid_1]

I was also quite surprised to see the version of the Viscount telephone produced in Poland. I've only come across those made in UK by STC. Some of the other BT 'Inphones' were made internationally, too. I have a bright orange Contempra phone with rotary dial, made in the UK but designed by Northern Telecom in Canada and originally manufactured there. I also have an imported Genie phone made in the USA. Unlike the ones that BT supplied, the American Genie has DTMF 'Touch-Tone' dialling, making it more useful these days.

There were a large number of variants of the Statesman as well as some other phones in the Inphone range like the Viscount and Tribune. I have a few of them, along with a relatively rare DTMF version of the Sceptre phone (model 120MF). I haven't yet come across a switchable LD/MF Statesman phone; that would be interesting to see. I once had a faulty LD Statesman phone that picked up BBC Radio Bristol in its earpiece (I lived in Bristol at the time). No idea what was wrong with it.

I think the 'Inphone' era was an exciting one. There was an explosion of choice. For the first time, customers could buy their own handsets and change them when they wanted. It's no coincidence that the "In" in "Inphone" meant something that was in fashion or trendy. Sadly it ushered in the throwaway society we now live in, but at the time most of the phones were still being made in the UK by great British companies like GEC, STC, who had a long history of making quality products. Some of us are still enjoying them.