More about the Bradford police boxes. Were they red, or were they blue? Frank Holt favours the latter.

"When I was quite young I remember there was one at the bottom of Clayton Road, Lidget Green. It was definitely blue. It stood outside a gents' toilet next door to a sweet shop where I used to spend the few pennies I had.

"I went to investigate the little door in the box, which was spring-loaded. The square space behind the door had a round, black disc in the middle from which a woman's voice came. I let go of the door, which slammed shut. I ran away and hid in fear, for quite some while thinking this woman who was hiding inside the box was coming to get me. I didn't want to be carted off to prison. Funny old days!

"Just around the corner was the Second West pub and opposite, at the end of Club Street, was a weird little shop. If you didn't duck when you went in, you banged your head.

"After the war they installed a cigarette machine outside which you operated with one of the new 12-sided 3d pieces. The cigarettes were called Bar One'. You got two of them and two matches. I tried one, was violently sick, and didn't touch another cigarette for about 20 years."