This month marks the 80th anniversary of the automatic telephone system for Brighton, which meant people could dial their calls directly.

Mr G D Rudram from Worthing says although automatic systems had been around much earlier, it was not until 1927 that the Siemens 16 system was installed in Brighton.

Telephones had special dials, pictured above, on which the exchange names appeared alongside numbers - 2 for Brighton, 3 for Hove, 4 for Portslade, 5 for Preston, 6 for Rottingdean and 7 for Southwick. Traces of this arrangement can be found in some numbers today.

This linked numbering system survived until 1950, when the code digit became part of the subscriber's number. Preston numbers became part of Brighton and Portslade part of Hove. This enabled exchanges to be extended and more lines provided.

Since 1950, new exchanges have been installed. The last Siemens 16 apparatus was used at Portslade in 1973.