Patrick Moore ( well, he said it was about a friend of his, but I think it was the stargazer himself) told this tale. A chap had had the same telephone number for a while until a new hospital opened nearby. Then he started getting lots of calls demanding to be put through to maternity, ENT, outpatients, etc etc etc He got so fed up with this that he asked the phone company for a new number. They hummed and haahed and dragged their feet, so he tried the following:
Caller - "put me through to maternity".
reply - "no ! "
Caller - "what do you mean- no ?"
Reply - " because you've been naughty ! ".
After only very few of these, the telephone number was soon changed by the phone company.