1st August 1939
The telephone line between Jersey and the mainland is inaugurated
Jersey was connected to the mainland by a very circuitous route at the beginning of August 1939 when the Postmaster-General, Major GC Tryon, placed a call from a London post office to the Lieutenant-Governor and Bailiff in Jersey.
The Times explained that, before reaching the co-axial cable that had been laid across the seabed, the call first had to travel from the capital to Compass Cove, near Dartmouth, but the achievement was sufficient to gain national press coverage, and generate excitement about what it might lead to.
Although the cable was at the time carrying just one call, when fully exploited it would allow 12 simultaneous Jersey to mainland calls, four between Guernsey and the mainland, and five between Jersey and Guernsey.
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Other events that occured in August
The wreckage of the Cloud of Iona is found
- Jersey Airways’ plane, The Cloud of Iona, disappeared between Guernsey and Jersey on the night of 31 July 1936.
- Read more…
Plane is washed into the sea during Jersey take-off
- Passengers on a plane heading for London were saved by bathers when the aircraft was caught by the rising tide at West Park Beach.
- Read more…
Parliament debates Jersey’s treatment of prisoners of war
- A Conservative MP in London was concerned that Jersey might have been treating German PoWs too leniently during the First World War.
- Read more…
Nude sunbathers sentenced to eight days’ hard labour
- Two girls were fined £3 and sentenced to eight days' hard labour after they stripped off on a Jersey beach.
- Read more…
