Running City London 2018

Historical background

Kings Cross
// The Kings Cross has seen almost everything. There was a crossing over the river Fleet, the church of Roman missionaries, a market, roads, hot spots, hospitals, industrial area and a railway. A furious army of Boudicca fought the Roman invaders here (presumably). Some said here, on the territory of present-day Kings Cross terminal, Boudicca was buried (actually not), and there is a boarding the Hogwarts Express in the same terminal (and that's the truth). Kings Cross station was built in the middle of XIX century on the same place where a monument to king George IV was, this monument gave a name to the area and the station. The monument was demolished, but the name remained. The terminal was built with two platforms. Progress does not stand still, and a century later, when Donald Bisset overheard the quarrel between Kings Cross and St Pancras, the number of platforms became ten. Now there are twelve of them, but you will not find the platform number 12, because the numbering of platforms at Kings Cross station now starts from zero, to the delight of programmers.

// St Pancras
// St Pancras station, almost the same age as King's Cross, stands nearby to it. Both railway stations played an important role not only for passenger transport but also for freight transport. Carried coal, fish, potatoes and much more. Since its construction, St Pancras has taken also special beer trains at least three per day. It is now surprising to hear that half a century ago it was considered unnecessary, and plans to demolish this beautiful building and its adjacent hotel and to transfer trains to King's Cross and Euston were seriously discussed. Fortunately, thanks to the leak of this information from British Rail, the idea of the of St Pancras demolition became known, and it caused public outrage. St Pancras was recognised as an architectural monument. Since 2007, after a long renovation, it has been receiving international Eurostar trains. A monument to the main activist against the destruction of St Pancras, poet John Betjeman, stands at the railway station.

Historical background

Red telephone box
// Standardisation of telephone communication and country's telephony in Britain was considered at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was especially difficult and expensive telephonise the countryside because of the long distances, and the way out was a system of telephone booths for public access. The First World War stopped this process for a long time, and the first standard K1 phone booth in Britain was created only in 1921. It was an elegant concrete construction with a pyramidal roof and a remarkable door sign ‘Open Always’. Only five remained, and just two on the streets. The following models made by G. G. Scott had a domed roof and were made of iron, with the exception of concrete K3. Plywood K5 was not put into production, no true copy exist even in museums. But the biggest success of sir Scott was the K6 model, everyone's favorite English red telephone booth, one of the British symbols. It was created in 1935 by the 25th anniversary of King George's V reign and had been produced for thirty-three years. Despite the appearance of more modern models and the overall reduction of the street telephone network, there still remain more than ten thousand K6 booths in the streets. Written-off booths are not necessarily thrown away, many of them are turned into art objects, mini-libraries or something else unusual, for example, shower cabins. Paddington bear called Browns from K6 booth. Harry Potter and Arthur Weasley went to the Ministry of Magic via the telephone booth K2. Now you know that too.

Historical background

The Cabmen's Shelters
// In a time when horseless carriages had not been invented, there was a law in Britain, forbidding drivers to leave their cabs on the streets. This deprived them of the opportunity to relax and have a snack between trips. Tired cabmen gathered at pubs where someone could look after cabs for a small fee, and had a rest there, not always keeping sobriety. In 1875, cabmen were decided to be taken care of, and a special charitable Fund was founded, which sponsored the building of 61 ‘Cabmen's Shelters’ in London. ‘Shelters’ nicknamed ‘Green Cabbie Huts’ had a length no bigger than a horse and a cart and stood on the busy roads. Despite the small size, they had a small kitchen, a lounge room for 10-12 people, and sometimes a toilet. There it was inexpensive to get hot food and drinks and read a newspaper. Alcohol, gambling and profanity were strictly prohibited.
With the advent of cars ‘Green Cabbie Huts’ gradually lost actuality, and most of them were demolished. But thirteen of them survived, one of the ‘huts’ had to move from Leicester Square, which was transformed into pedestrian, to Russell Square. It is still possible to buy cheap coffee and snacks to take away there. But to be lowered inside to take a rest, you, as before, have to be a cabman!

Historical background

Closed Tube Stations
// London underground holds the seventh place in the world by the number of stations — there are 270 stations. And if you add to this list 77 stations that no longer exist or have left the subway, London will quickly jump to the third place, this says something about how much the land is dug under the British capital. Why so many stations were closed? About a half of them are closed due to low passenger traffic. The fifth part was unnecessary, because other stations were opened nearby, almost as much — due to various technical reasons and reconstructions. Four stations were closed during the war, but never returned to service. And with one station came just the opposite, it returned from oblivion during the war, and was closed again five years later. Not all of these stations have been demolished, some of them are abandoned, some filled with shops, and thirty stations are still working, but now they work with the common trains. The closed half of the Charing Cross station is most fortunate — movies are often being shoot on it. In addition, somewhere in the parallel imaginary London 62 stations live, which were conceived, but never built; it's the whole city, the amount comparable to the entire network of stations in St Petersburg! It is notable that the most frequent reason for abandoning these stations is that the company failed to raise funds and the construction permission expired. Fourteen stations remained on paper because of it.