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I spent a luxurious early morning at the Royal Academy.
The brand new exhibition by sculptor Phyllida Barlow was a joy and outside the sun was beaming too, thank you Gulf Stream!
As I was leaving, this telephone box, looking like a guardsman, caught my eye and I was reminded of it's story...

Almost a century ago, the Post Office held a competition to choose a new telephone box to replace the dull original model, the K1.
Prototypes were sent into the Royal Academy for judging and a design by the architect G.Gilbert Scott (arch. of Waterloo Bridge, Battersea and Bankside Power Stations) was selected as winner. The K2 box mass-produced in cast-iron and glass was born and quickly became a popular sight across the country - ultimately achieving the status of national icon.

Amazingly the original K2 prototype, made of wood, sits not in a museum, but just inside the westerly gate of Burlington House and the Royal Academy.
Looking immaculate and fully functioning, the K2 prototype stands as a stately public memorial to the development of our connected world.