At 20:11, an unknown man with a distinct Irish accent telephoned the "Birmingham Post" newspaper. The call was answered by an operator named Ian Cropper. This caller said: "There is a bomb planted in the Rotunda and there is a bomb in New Street at the tax office. This is Double X", before terminating the call. ("Double X" was an IRA code word given to authenticate any warning call.) A similar warning was also sent to the "Birmingham Evening Mail" newspaper, with the anonymous caller(s) again giving the code word, but again failing to name the public houses in which the bombs had been planted.