Happy Birthday London Underground

Many Happy Returns to the Tube. On the 10th January 1863 the world's first ever public underground line opened. The Metropolitan Line had trains running every 10 minutes and carried 40,000 passengers between Paddington and Farringdon that day.

You won't be surprised to hear that even at that early stage things didn't go exactly to plan and it's arrival wasn't having the Victorians singing and dancing in the streets:

"It appears that arrangements have been made for opening this line on the 10th [of January] for public traffic, but as the 1st of October, the 1st of November, the middle of December have been announced from time to time as the probable date of opening, it is presumed that no one will feel disappointed if a further postponement should take place." The Times sceptically reported.

But the actual day of opening The Daily Telegraph wrote:

"Of the general comfort in travelling on the line there can be no question, and the novel introduction of gas into the carriages is calculated to dispel any unpleasant feeling which passengers, especially ladies, might entertain against riding for so long a distance through a tunnel."

Mmm, gas in carriages? I don't look forward to people letting off gas in Tube carriages, but glad that the London Underground were conscious of us gentle ladies travelling around.

Stations with celebrity names (round two)

About 18 months ago, inspired by a quiz I heard on Heart.fm I challenged you all to come up with some celebrities that shared their name with London Underground stations. So it was interesting to see that TfL's iTunes promotion is going down a similar route:


Using the classic station-soundalikes "Whitney Euston" and "MC Hammersmith" and following up with the not so classic "Lily Balham", "Eric Clapham" and "Iggy Poplar" (only popular enough for the website) - the pun-tastic singers' names are gracing posters and the website for the "set-up-Oyster-auto-top-up-and-get-five-free-iTunes" offer.

There were a number of singers when you came up with the suggestions before, but since the summer of 2005 (when Lily Allen was barely more than Keith Allen's daughter) there must be more bands and artists that share their names London's stations. Feel free to suggest away - remember to use as much artistic licence with the names as TfL have.

Classical Music grows on the Tube

Expect to hear more classical music on the London Underground and not just from buskers on harps or wind instruments. A trial of playing classical music in station ticket halls, which began on the District line at Elm Park in 2003, has apparently become so successful that it's being extended to 40 stations with more to be introduced.

"It was part of a number of measures at the time to deal with anti-social behaviour, which included extra CCTV cameras, additional policing and playing classical music," said a spokesperson from London Underground. "We had fairly anecdotal feedback from customers saying how much they liked it. People found the music relaxing and calming. The playing of classical music was part of a package to improve the ambience of stations."

I've only ever heard piped classical music once on the District Line at Gloucester Road about three years ago. When I asked the station assistant about it then, he said it was just a compilation that one of the guys had done from his computer. However, stations are now being supplied by a contractor with 40 hours of programming using MP3 players. Popular composers are Beethoven, Vivaldi and Rachmaninov.

The Financial Times reported that "A survey by Transport for London of more than 700 travellers found they overwhelmingly agreed that hearing classical music made them "feel happy, less stressed and relaxed".

So listen out for the music and let us know if you've already heard some. Plus if you see any hoodies legging it from stations holding their ears, screaming "No more bloody Beethoven", that might give you a clue that the music's made it to your station.

Tube Map gets Psychoanalytical

If you look at the new cover of the pocket London Underground map, you might think that Transport for London are trying to delve into your inner psyche.


The new design which will be gracing our map covers for the next six months is by Cornelia Parker (the English sculptor known for blowing up a shed and arranging the fragments in a large room) and takes the form of a "Rorschach Ink Blot", which psychoanalysts use to map out their patients' emotional states.

You know the drill, "look into this blot and what do you see?"

As well as using the colours of the Underground lines, according to TfL, "Passengers will begin to recognise many other shapes and forms in the artwork and can while away their journeys making these visual associations."

I can clearly see a man in a Samurai mask more than anything else. From this psychoanalysts could deduce that I see travel on the Tube as a constant battle. Although I can imagine a lot of people will see a butterfly, which could be interpreted as having a rather transient approach to travel.

Any other images seen are welcome in the comments and I'll have a bash at interpreting them (although bear in mind I dropped my psychology A level studies after a few months)!

Tube(?) trivia picture

This may or may not have anything to do with the Tube, but a number of people have sent me an email now asking whether I could help solve this picture puzzle.


It certainly looks like it might be part of the Tube map, but wouldn't bet my life on it. If any of you have any ideas, or think you know what it's relating too, it would help the guys doing the quiz.