What was the service offered by BT in the 70's/80's where you could dial a 2 digit number(?) and have.....?

Question

... music played down the phone. Can anyone remember the number?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The people who are remembering the number as 16 or 160 are both correct. It depended upon which part of the country you were in and which exchange served your line.

In London and a handful of other larger cities the equipment in use in the 1960s/70s waited for the first three digits of a number to be dialed before deciding how to route the call, so all "special" short codes had to be three digits long, and Dial-A-Disc was assigned 160.

In many other towns, however, the switching equipment worked in a slightly different way and it was possible to have a two-digit code which would connect directly to a service. Thus in these places it was generally possible reach Dial-A-Disc with just 16.

The same 16/160 numbers were used to announce cricket scores during test matches.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

That's a pretty definitive answer. Many thanks.

Also, I've found this number. If you dial the first 11 digits, wait for the recorded message and the beep, then dial the next 6, you get through to an original recording of Dial a Disc.
023 9298 8085 (wait for the beep) 0352 16

Answer 2

points baby

Answer 3

I think it was 1 6

Answer 4

I believe it was Dial-a-Disc, and you dialled 16.

Answer 5

Dial-a disc !! :D

I thought it was 160 though....(but I could be wrong)

Answer 6

The Dial a Disc service was introduced by the GPO in 1966. I cannot remember the access code but I would suggest it was a three digit number, possibly 161.

Answer 7

It was definitely called dial a disc and the number was 16. I'm old enough to remember it, unfortunately.

Answer 8

It was dial a Disc and it had to be a 3 digit code, as the mechanical system for codes could only deal with 3 digits. I can not remember whether it was 160 or 161, but defiantly be 3 digits.
Also it would have been the Post Office in the 70s