| On 1st January 1985, the UK's first mobile phone call was made by Ernie Wise from London Docklands to the Vodafone offices here in Newbury. This revolutionary method of communication has changed our lives forever. What would we do without our cellphone?
In the 20 years since that first call, mobile phones have become an integral part of our daily lives. Now almost 90% of Britons own a handset. Many of them using it in preference to a landline.
The early portable phones were huge in comparison to the ones we use today, and cost nearly £2,000 each. Despite this, they became a must have amongst the eighties yuppies and a status symbol amongst the young wealthy business people. At the time, the fledgling Vodafone operated above a curry house in the Broadway.
Ten years prior to this (1975), Newbury became one of the LAST areas of the UK to convert to STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling). | 
