Shame that turned out to be a big fat lie and her name was actually Marie Cordery.ģ4. ![]() Rumour once had it that the first baby to be born on the tube was named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so her initials read, er, t-u-b-e). Three babies have been born on the tube.ģ3. You’ll find the longest escalator at Angel – it’s a 60 metre ride from end to end!ģ2. They tried a spiral escalator at Holloway Road, but abandoned the idea pretty quickly.ģ1. The first escalator was installed at Earl’s Court in 1911.ģ0. Every week, the Underground’s escalators travel the equivalent distance of twice around the world.Ģ9. Less than 10% of tube stations are south of the Thames. As of 2020, only Shepherd’s Bush was renamed.Ģ7. They were Shepherd’s Bush (on the Hammersmith & City line) to Shepherd’s Bush Market, Aldgate East to Brick Lane, Edgware Road (Circle, District, and Hammersmith & City line) to Chapel Street, and Edgware Road (Bakerloo line) to Church Street Market. In 2007, then-Mayor Ken Livingstone proposed the renaming of four Tube stations. Can’t help but think that’s prettier, to be honest!Ģ6. The proposed name for Clapham South was ‘Nightingale Lane’. Arsenal station was known as Gillespie Road until 1932.Ģ5. Plenty of stations have been renamed though! Green Park station used to be called Dover Street – the name was changed in 1933.Ģ4. In 1909, Selfridges campaigned to change the name of ‘Bond Street’ station to ‘Selfridges’. The longest distance is 6.3km, between Chesham and Chalfont and Latimer at the upper end of the Metropolitan line.Ģ2. Yep, it’s London’s most pointless Tube journey.Ģ1. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations is 260 metres (Leicester Square to Covent Garden). Following a trial, it turned out people hated it and they stopped it the next day.Ģ0. London Underground tried to introduce a floral fragrance that was triggered by commuters feet. The Jubilee line was going to be called the Fleet line.ġ9. ![]() The Victoria line was going to be called the Viking line (oh, that we could turn back time and choose that instead!).ġ8. There are approximately 49 abandoned Tube stations – you can read about eleven of them here.ġ7. Down Street is another ‘ghost’ station, which Winston Churchill used as a bunker during WW2.ġ6. There’s technically a station called ‘ British Museum‘ between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn, but it hasn’t been used 1932.ġ5. (And before you say it, that’s not including the actual Overground).ġ4. Nearly 60% of the tube is actually overground. Another famous announcement is at Embankment station, the last place you can hear Oswald Laurence saying ‘Mind The Gap’ – there’s actually an incredibly heartwarming story behind that, which you can read here.ġ3. One announcer was later sacked for uploading a spoof video to Youtube, which supposedly “insulted” the London Underground.ġ2. They couldn’t decide how they wanted ‘Marylebone’ to be pronounced on the announcements.ġ1. The auditions and testing processes for the different voices and scripts were taken very seriously, and it took over 18 months for them to choose.ġ0. One of the voices you may have heard warning you to “please mind the gap” is a ctually from up north, despite the ‘proper’ English accent. At first, the Underground had no windows and the carriages were nicknamed “padded cells”.Ĩ. The Tube travels 43 million miles every year. So dirty that 20 minutes on the Northern line is said to be the equivalent of smoking a cigarette.Ħ. The Northern line is the naughtiest tube line…Ĥ. Aldgate Station is also built above a huge plague pit that holds over 1,000 bodies.ģ. That’s possibly why it’s one of London’s most haunted Tube stations…Ģ. Liverpool Street station is built upon an ancient burial site and in 2015, archaeologists unearthed 3,000 skeletons. Here are some fun, freaky and frankly quite interesting Tube facts that make our beloved London Underground one of the best transport networks around!ġ.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |