@cstross @sinabhfuil On buying any new electrical product, the first thing to do when getting it home was to decide which old electrical product you could afford to steal the plug from because there were never spare plugs at home.

It was mad when you think of it. How did it take so long for such a simple and important thing to be mandatory?

@baoigheallain @cstross @sinabhfuil

Before the UK standardised on the 13 Amp fused plug (to BS 1363) there were a ridiculous number of variations stretching back to the dawn of the Electric Age. Round pin plugs (still used in the theatre and film industry, I think, (though only in the 15 Amp size) because you _don't_ want a blown fuse 30 feet up in the air, and a load of "proprietary" types, some of which (Wylex) were used across entire housing estates.

See: https://plugsocketmuseum.nl/British-plugSocket_history.html

3:O)>