London Underground's Strangest Tales
Page 13
The real exteriors of Temple and Westminster both make appearances in the film although the interior scenes were actually shot in a disused section of Charing Cross Station, which at least means the Underground was absolutely, definitely in the film this time.
The showpiece scene in which a train spectacularly falls through the ceiling of a Tube tunnel however was deemed far too dangerous to stage on the network itself and the producers headed back to Pinewood to recreate the big smash.
Which should hopefully provide reassurance for nervous tourists who struggle to separate fact and fiction and were worried that sort of thing happened on the network on a regular basis.
“The Tube train crash was one of the film’s most complicated scenes,” explained special effects supervisor Chris Corbould. “We couldn’t use real Tube trains because they would be far too heavy, so we had to build our own in our workshop.
“Our carriages weigh about seven tons, whereas a real London Undergound train would be somewhere in the region of 20 tons. It took 25 guys, mostly engineers, about six months to make them. They had to be strong because we didn’t want them to look fake once they crashed into the set.
“It’s a spectacular shot and it worked perfectly. We could have done it again if we’d had to but it would have meant re-building a big part of the set, which would have taken a month or so. Fortunately, we didn’t need to.”
Skyfall was of course a big hit at the box office and buoyed by good reviews, the Underground went onto unsuccessfully audition for a part in Star Trek 2, proving how easy it is to become type cast in the movie business.
EVIL ESCALATOR THWARTS ‘TIRED’ BUSINESSMAN
2012
If legend – not to mention pages 50 and 51 of this very book – are to be believed, London Underground employed a one-legged stooge to ride up and down the network’s first escalators in 1911, hoping public suspicion of the new-fangled contraptions would be allayed by the sight of their hired help effortlessly ascending and descending.
Tricky things escalators, you see. There are all sorts of potential pitfalls for the unsuspecting passenger, especially if they have perhaps indulged a little too lustily of the demon drink.
Proof positive was on hand in 2012 when an unfortunate Japanese businessman approached one such escalator at Tottenham Court Road Station and attempted to descend to the platform below, only to be thwarted by both machine and his own stupidity.
The problem was the chap in question decided to use an up rather than down escalator and every step he took in the vain hope of getting to a train proved completely futile as he was rapidly sent back to where he’d started.
Unluckily for the suited and booted businessman, his misjudgement and hilarious attempts to walk down the escalator were all captured on a camera by a fellow commuter, who was only too happy to talk to any media outlet that happened to be passing.
‘I was making my way home after dinner when we quite literally bumped into this chap on the escalators between the Northern and Central lines at Tottenham Court Road station,’ said Sam Napper, the man behind the camera. ‘At first I thought he was playing silly buggers with a few of his mates but when we saw his dogged stagger and realised he was alone, I knew we were about to witness something truly brilliant.
‘I had no idea where he came from but I had to hand it to him, the man knew where he was going. One by one, concerned commuters tried to steer him in the right direction, to no avail.’
The confused chap certainly looked like he might have had one too many drinks at the office party and for two whole minutes he fought the evil escalator. His ultimate victory was not falling over despite repeatedly inviting gravity to do its worse but he never did reach the platform and was eventually cajoled into turning around and forgetting about the whole sorry saga.
Modern life of course is never that simple and Mr Napper ‘kindly’ ensured the anonymous ambler would never be allowed to forget as incriminating footage of his subterranean silliness found its way onto the internet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amazing & Extraordinary London Underground Facts, Stephen Halliday, David & Charles Limited, 2009
One Stop Short of Barking, Uncovering The London Underground, Mecca Ibrahim, New Holland Publishers, 2004
The Little Book of The London Underground, David Long, The History Press, 2009
What’s In A Name? Cyril M. Harris, Capital History, 2001
Underground London, Stephen Smith, Abacus, 2004
A History Of London, Stephen Inwood, Macmillian, 1998
London Oddities, J E Hart, London Transport, 1974
Secret London, Andrew Duncan, New Holland, 2003
Guinness Book Of Rail Facts and Feats, John Marshall, Guinness Superlatives, 1971
The Penguin Guide To London, F. R. Banks, Penguin Books, 1973
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the writing of this book I found the following websites to be a ceaseless source of information, ideas and humour:
www.goingunderground.net
www.london-tubemap.com
www.londonreconnections.com
www.tubeplanner.com
www.abandonedstations.org.uk
www.randomlylondon.com
www.nickcooper.org.uk
Not forgetting …
www.diamondgeezer.blogspot.com
www.ianvisits.co.uk
Also …
www.districtdave.co.uk
www.metro.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
And of course …
www.tfl.gov.uk
Many thanks must also go to Malcolm Croft and everyone at Portico Books.