A great story about telephones

This one just turned up in our email from a village council colleague of my husband's, and I thought it was worth sharing...

Old telephone numbers rarely rose to more than three digits in those days when the telephone was relatively uncommon.

I spent my boyhood in the late forties and early fifties in Skegness. My Mother had re-married and my step Father was a lifelong member of the church choir and knew by heart every hymn in Hymns Ancient and Modern. He used to remember telephone numbers by the first line of the hymn which had the same number as the telephone number.

We would be travelling through the town when he would say "Oh there's old 'Hills of the North rejoice'" for one of his friends who had a telephone number 269 ect. ect.. I am afraid, despite his tuition, I never developed anything like his memory for the numbers in the Ancient and Modern Hymnal but I do recall that there were some that always seemed especially apt:

• The AA were - Hymn 300 - "Be thou my guardian and my guide".
• The optician was - Hymn 161 - "Bright the vision that delighted"

But two I will never forget:

• The local off licence (where step Father was a valued client) - Hymn 156 - "Come thou Holy Spirit come"
• and the town Vicar - Hymn 307 - "Stand up, stand up for Jesus"!!