SUPER switchboard supervisor Jean Nicholson has hung up her phone after 20 years as the voice of the Evening Press.

Jean reckons she has taken 15 million calls over the two decades.

When she started the Evening Press was based at its old Coney Street offices, and she was using an ancient spaghetti-style switchboard.

It was there she had one of her more embarrassing Evening Press moments.

She recalled: "We were cooking bacon on a portable grill and it burned. I panicked and to try and get rid of the smoke I took it to the open window, but it knocked a plant pot into the street.

"Thankfully it missed the people down below, but it could have killed someone."

Jean took her last call yesterday, and has gone to live with her daughter in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

"I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll find plenty to keep me occupied.

"I'll have to get used to not saying 'Good Morning, York & County Press', when I answer the phone!"

Evening Press Managing Director Daphne Ellis said: "Jean will be sadly missed, but everyone at the Evening Press wishes her well.

"We are sure she will enjoy a long, happy and well-earned retirement."

Updated: 15:15 Thursday, July 25, 2002