---
title: The Telephone Service is Busy - Very Busy!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-telephone-service-is-busy-very-busy-gpo-1939/
description: A red poster with a scalloped white border and the GPO crown emblem asking the public to avoid sending telegrams after 7 p.m., 'especially by telephone'.
section: Collection
---

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3. The Telephone Service is Busy - Very Busy!

[![The Telephone Service is Busy - Very Busy!, 1939 UK poster: A red poster with a scalloped white border and the GPO crown](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-telephone-service-is-busy-very-busy-gpo-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-telephone-service-is-busy-very-busy-gpo-1939.jpg)

# The Telephone Service is Busy - Very Busy!

A red poster with a scalloped white border and the GPO crown emblem asking the public to avoid sending telegrams after 7 p.m., 'especially by telephone', with a banner 'The Telephone Service is busy - very busy!'. It is chiefly an instruction; the only persuasive device is the official GPO emblem lending the request authority (transfer), with no threat or claim attached.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
[GPO emblem]
Avoid sending,
if you can,
telegrams
after 7 p.m.,
especially
by telephone.
THE TELEPHONE SERVICE IS BUSY-VERY BUSY!

[imprint:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London. 51-3630  P.R.D. 300
```

[← Telephone Line Time is Precious - Keep Your Talks Short](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-telephone-line-time-is-precious-1939/) [The Telephonist: Be brief, a war call may be waiting →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-telephonist-be-brief-war-call-1939/)

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- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)