Shedding light on underground transport
Construction Materials Group: The controversial history of the London Underground 8 December, Belgrave Square, London, UK
 ‘Fraud, suicide, bankruptcy and transportation for life: The controversial history of the London Underground railway’, a lecture by Stephen Halliday of Buckinghamshire Business School, traces the development of underground transport in London. The appalling traffic problems in the city in the 19th century led to the development of underground railways in an uncoordinated and disconnected manner. In 1900 Charles Tyson Yerkes, a colourful American financier, was engaged to sort out the unsatisfactory situation and to begin the construction of much of the deep-level tube system.
Extensions to the underground system starting in the mid-1920s and continuing to 1939 necessitated numerous new stations which were in the vanguard of modern design. Many of these buildings, by architect Charles Holden, are now listed structures.
The London Underground is more than a railway and in the 20th century, under the enlightened management of Frank Pick, the Underground was responsible for commissioning works by artists including Graham Sutherland, Len Deighton and Lucy Attwell to establish a corporate image and unified graphics. The famous diagrammatic system map was designed by Harry Beck. London’s underground network conveys hundreds of thousands of passengers every day and has survived two world wars, fires, tragic accidents and terrorist attacks. By the 2012 Olympic Games, yet more developments will be in place.
Stephen Halliday’s lecture is based on his book Underground to Everywhere (2001), and will illustrate the colourful and often controversial history of the London Underground with contemporary illustrations ranging from the Victorian Age to that of Ken Livingstone.
Wine and mince pies will be served following the meeting.
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