BritishTelecom was created by the British Telecommunications Act, 1981, which split BritishTelecom from ThePostOffice. Prior to that, since 1912, telecommunications in the UK were a monopoly of the GeneralPostOffice. (With the peculiar exception that in Hull the telecoms were under the control of the local authority. In 1981, this too was split off and became Kingston Communications.)

''If you don't want good comunications, you can go to Hull.''