Working History — C. 1983
Teleprinter
The Kingsway Exchange was built in 1942 as a bomb shelter, but was taken over for wartime operations by MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service). After the war it was converted into a trunk telephone exchange by the General Post Office.
Kingsway continued to be used for clandestine purposes with the Cold War hotline between the White House and the Kremlin being connected through it. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis the facility was placed in 'lock down' and staff lived in it 24 hours a day. In the 1980s the government used part of the structure as a back up for its PINDAR nuclear bunker located beneath the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.
The Cheetah is an electronic teleprinter used to send telex messages. This one was used in the BT security office at Kingsway.
- Category:
- Working History
- Object ID:
- 2011.19/4
- Object name:
- teleprinter
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- ITT Creed Ltd
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- c. 1983
- Material:
metal, plastic
- Measurements/duration:
- H 945 mm, W 670 mm, D 600 mm (including stand)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
BT Connected Earth
- Copyright holder:
BT
- Image credit:
© BT Heritage
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.