Monday Miscellanea

Dave Haste
By Dave Haste Last edited 192 months ago
Monday Miscellanea
Canary Wharf escalator

This Week In London’s History

  • Monday17th March 1984: The Boat Race is postponed after the Cambridge boat crashes into a moored barge less than an hour before the race’s scheduled start.
  • Tuesday18th March 1496: Mary Tudor is born at Richmond Palace. She would become ‘queen consort of France’ due to her marriage to Louis XII. Wednesday19th March 2005: As many as 200,000 protesters march through central London on the second anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. Thursday20th March 1974: A gunman attempts to kidnap Princess Anne by ambushing her chauffer-driven car as she returns to Buckingham Palace from a charity event on Pall Mall. Despite shooting several people, the man fails in his kidnap attempt and is arrested. Friday21st March 1962: Driverless tube trains are demonstrated in South Ealing.

    Random London Fact Of The Week

    Some facts about the escalators on the London Underground:

  • It is well known that the longest escalator on the underground (and, in fact, in Western Europe) is at Angel – 197 feet in length. But somewhat less well known is the location of the shortest – at Chancery Lane (just 30 feet long).
  • Bank station has the most escalators of any station on the network – 15 in total (plus two sloped ‘travelators’).
  • There are more than 400 escalators on the entire network. It has been estimated that, in total, they travel enough distance in a single week to circumnavigate the globe. Twice.
  • The tube’s (and, arguably, the world’s) first standard escalator was installed at Earls Court on October 4th 1911.
  • The general public were initially quite fearful of the escalators on the underground. In attempt to reassure passengers of the safety of these new contraptions, a one-legged man known as Bumper Harris was hired to ride on the escalator at Earl’s Court all day long, demonstrating its safety.
  • London’s Weather This Week

    Some of this week might conceivably feel a bit spring-like, but don’t be fooled – it’s going to get jolly cold overnight, and there may well be rain (or even a small possibility of snow!) later in the week. Weird.

    Photo taken from GTPS’s Flickr photostream.

    Last Updated 17 March 2008