Hi Peter G. Shaw, I have watched a few of those programmes and they have been quite informative, but yes the presenters do seem to be excitable and Rob Bell is much better, I used to go to London quite a lot back in the 70's mostly to buy gear for my mobile Disco back then but I did like looking around some of the well known places. My grandmother on my father's side was born in Marylebone but was married in my father's and my home town in Norfolk, but I did go to Marylebone during my family tree research, To look at the area where she was born although the area has been rebuilt which was the first housing reform that Octavia Hill achieved, my great grandfather being a baker work just around the corner on the corner of Marylebone High Street and Moxon Street as it is now called, I also looked at the area where the church was that my great grand parents were married and although the streets were still there, most of the buildings have been replaced. I always like using the Underground and way back in the late 60's saw a model of it as it was then, in the Science Museum, but the first time I went to London and used the Underground was when I was fourteen when on holiday with my younger brother with one of our uncle and aunt and family and our aunt took us on a day trip to London Heathrow Airport. The construction of the Underground I think is pretty amazing considering when it was first started and they didn't have the boring machines they have today. Although I do like to go to London (occasionally now) I certainly wouldn't what to live or work there, but two of my nieces do and they love it.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 25/07/2022 23:21:09

When I was on conscription in the 50s, we always found that, if in London and you got lost, you could always find your way about underground.

I was born in London and lived there until nearly the end of my school years at the end of 1950s.

Not managed to see much of this series but gained some info about my favourite way of getting about in those days, funny how things can just get taken for granted if part of every day life.

The trains were very noisy and made strange clunking and banging noises speeding up or slowing down.

The underground got us to wonderful places like the the science museum where handles could be turned or buttons pressed to make mechanisms work it also took us to hospitals (not so good).

You could look at maps on the train ceiling and follow progress to  know exactly when your step off point was due some of the maps even showed exotic sounding place names (Theydon Bois etc)!

Later in teen years it took me to many shops in places like Tottenham C’t Road to get odd surplus stuff for follow my hobbies.

And into Soho where lots of  “models” lived upstairs and had signs at the door then strange people stood in dimly lit doorways inviting you into clubs. Happy days!

Edited By V8Eng on 26/07/2022 12:06:09

Edited By V8Eng on 26/07/2022 12:06:50

I find the programme watchable. As always it's generally unsatisfying when techies watch telly made for the general public, because we want detail. Most viewers by far want a high-level overview, and find the sort of information that interests me off-the-scale boring.

Complaining about informative TV is confessing to be a nerd, the sort of bloke people avoid in pubs. Never ask an enthusiastic expert about the history of lamps on the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway!

But I can't believe ordinary folk enjoy the exaggerated mannerisms and gurning of so many TV presenters. As a genuine eccentric Sir Patrick Moore just about got way with it, but he set a dangerous precedent. Personality Cults are always bad!

Repair Shop has improved considerably. Used to drive me up the wall by constantly skipping over important details and wallowing in emotion. Later episodes show more technique and I've picked up some useful tricks.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 26/07/2022 12:08:05

If you are interested in the London Underground Rly. and associated bits and bobs, then may I recommend an extensive series of videos on YouTube made by a chap named Jago Hazzard. They are for people who want real information and are ( in my view ) not gimmicky.

I enjoy this series, not too many techy howlers. I spent 3 years in London as a youth and you wouldn't get me back for a gold clock. When I was in London you didn't need a ticket to board the underground, and if you got off at a station with a lift rather than escalators you could run up the stairs and avoid paying. The lift man collected the tickets. Not that I'd do that now of course. On the rare occasions I've been back since I found the passageways in the deep tube stations reminded me of walking down a sewer.

Gentlemen,

I also like the series and enjoy the presenters, I lived with my parents in the Suburbs, Selhurst, until I was thirteen when we moved to the sticks, Bury St Edmunds, because of Dads work. Most of my family lived in or around London so the Underground was the way to get around, my Grandfather had his own taxi in London and he lived in Thornton Heath and he took his then young grandson to the Science Museum, apparently he struggled to get me inside the building and then struggled even more to get me out at the end of the day, all those knobs and switches as said kept me busy. My mum said that from eight years old I was allowed to catch the train from Selhurst station into the city on the Green coloured Southern railway and the Underground then spend the day in and out of the museums and other sights.

When my daughter was old enough my Brother and I took my Daughter and his Son up to London to annually visit the Museums and Hamley's during Xmas, my Grandson will also make the journey with my daughter and I when he is old enough.

In my later working life until I retired I regularly took the train into London from Sandy and then the Underground to where ever I was working that day, mostly in Universities and Research Facilities.

The one thing I really enjoyed as a small boy was riding the Escalators particularly the deep ones, you could spend the whole day on the underground and not be bored, even the artwork today is worth a look.

Martin P

If we are reliving childhood experiences of the London Underground perhaps I could be allowed to reminisce a little myself. I was first taken to London by my late mother at about the age of eight, we travelled down (or up?) to the Big City via Peterborough on the East Lincolnshire line which was still then ten years away from the Beeching Axe. The train was hauled by a Britannia loco (Hereward the Wake?) and I was told by mother to thank the driver for getting us to King's Cross safely. Things like that really did happen in those far off days! I can't recall which delight we visited first but we seemed to cram in a great deal in one day using the Underground, nor can I recall which lines we may have used but I do clearly remember the polished wooden escalators with their big brass up-lighters and the big globes of the filament lamps in square glass shades above the platforms which gave the stations a greenish hue. The train when it rattled in would have been of the red 1938 stock, I think, still with a guard at the rear.

The Science Museum was a particular delight, almost as silent as a library if I recall correctly, and not at all like the 'all-inclusive' playground it has become these days with hoards of unruly school-children running around and catering to the lowest common denominator. The Tube took us to Trafalgar Square where a photograph was taken by one of those touting photographers that used to exist in those days and the photo I still have of mother and myself feeding the pigeons. On to the river and cruise under Tower Bridge, past the stink of Billingsgate, which reminded me of our home town on a hot day and a walk down Whitehall where we caught a glimpse of the then prime minister Harold Macmillan before returning by Tube to King's Cross to take the evening train home.

Happy days, I did take my step-grandson down there in the 1990's and tried to reproduce for him all the fascination and excitement I had experienced as a child but I must admit I couldn't quite manage it. The whole ambience, atmosphere and technology of life has changed too much and you can't just turn the clock back, I think he enjoyed it in any event but I am just so pleased my dear late mother made it happen for me.

Edited By Chris Crew on 27/07/2022 09:15:30

Youtube, London Hidden Hangouts, the series has been going for about 2 years, also features Siddy Holloway, I've watched them all.

Bob

I grew up in London – came to Canada in 1968 when I was 25 – so I was fairly familiar with the underground (which was often generally referred to as "The Tube" but strictly that applies to the Central Line only). The Victoria line passed near where I lived and was still under construction when I left. I was pretty fascinated by it all and have lots of books which I still (re)read from time to time. The tunnelling information is interesting.

I saw a few episodes of the subject program. The program itself was interesting enough, when I could get the episodes over here (my wife got bored though!) but I couldn't stand the male presenter and gave up.

In fact a lot of things (derelict stations, unused branches etc) are visible to the passengers if they take the trouble to shield their eyes and actually look through the windows. One of the books I have tells where a lot of this stuff is.

London Transport (at the time) used to do occasional tours through the underground at 2 or 3 am using open cars and a commentary. Don't suppose that happens any more though – doubt they'd get enough interest from the current generation (besides which, their phones probably wouldn't work!).