Day 54
King's Cross St. Pancras - King George V - Knightsbridge
Bit of a Royal variety performance today, with no less than two Kings and a Knight in the names of the three stations I'm visiting.
I say three, but as you've no doubt noticed, the first station's name is actually a compound of the two National Rail stations above ground which it jointly serves - King's Cross, and St. Pancras. While, technically two separate stations, these are so close (separated by just one road) that the underground station is able to link them below ground.
Nevertheless, with two major rail terminals, and several other landmarks nearby, there's plenty to occupy me as I start my day - so get ready for a longer than usual post...
***
Nevertheless, with two major rail terminals, and several other landmarks nearby, there's plenty to occupy me as I start my day - so get ready for a longer than usual post...
***
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| King's Cross St. Pancras |
Since it links two major rail stations, one of which also happens to be the London terminus of the Eurostar train to France and Belgium, the tube station is naturally very busy. In fact in 2014 it was the second busiest in London after Oxford Circus, (which seems a little surprising given that it serves no less than six tube lines, compared with just three at Oxford Circus).
Given the number of people using the station, it's perhaps not surprising that in 1987 a severe fire on one of the escalators here caused the deaths of 31 people and injury to a hundred others. What is surprising - especially once the results of the enquiry into the causes of the fire were published - is that more people weren't killed.
There were several factors which contributed to the start, and spread, of the fire - some of them to do with physics, but others (as is ever the case) to do with cost-cutting, complacency and of course, selfishness.
Firstly - despite smoking having been banned on the Underground network since 1985, there were many passengers who felt that this rule simply didn't apply to them, or only applied to smoking on trains and not in the stations. So smokers would regularly light-up on their way up the escalators. One such smoker then casually dropped the match they had used onto the wooden escalator beneath their feet.
The escalator being wooden wouldn't necessarily have been a problem, but for the fact that there was so much accumulated grease and other detritus caught in the various nooks and crannies of the escalator that the match found ready fuel to burn. Unfortunately this was in the cavity beneath the steps of the escalator, so wasn't easily accessible to firefighters.
Even so, it might have been controllable (witnesses describe the initial fire as being the size of a 'cardboard box') had it not been for a couple of other factors working together.
The first was a combination of poor decisions made by London Underground. Not only were they complacent about the risks of fire on the network (since there had never, apparently, been a major fire before) but they had also made one other fatal error. Rather than remove old paint, and replace it with new, they had allowed twenty years' worth of paint to build up on the ceiling over the burning escalator and ticket hall - and it's this which made things a lot worse.
Now, this might get a little technical but bear with me as I try to explain some rather complicated principles of fire dynamics.
You may have heard of the term 'Flash Over' which occurs when an item (say a piece of furniture in a room) contains material that releases gases when burnt. the gases accumulate as they are confined by the walls and ceiling, and eventually heat up to an extent that they self-combust - becoming an instant ball of flame far larger than the initial fire that released them.
In the case of the King's Cross fire, it was the old paint that gave off the gases.
Unfortunately, two more effects then came into play, one called the Coandă effect (you can see a demonstration here) and the other (completely unknown prior to this fire) called the Trench Effect.
The Coandă effect caused the initial flames on the escalator to 'cling' to the floor and walls of the escalator 'trench'. This meant that the fire was insulated and concentrated and therefore got hotter and hotter.
The Trench Effect occurs when this behaviour takes place on an inclined surface (such as an enclosed escalator). The flames clinging to the surface thanks to the Coandă effect heat the material further up the incline (such as the old paint) which release gases and eventually burst into flame in a Flash Over.
The result at King's Cross was a sudden jet of flame shooting out from the top of the escalator into the crowded ticket hall.
As a result of the enquiry into the fire, there are now no more wooden escalators on the Underground, and their metal replacements are fitted with heat-sensors and sprinkler systems. Staff are also better trained to recognise and deal with emergency situations.
Smoking is of course still banned everywhere on the network (though somehow, knowing human nature, I suspect there are still people who choose to ignore this inconvenient fact...)
***
Above ground I begin my investigation of the two rail stations with King's Cross.
Named after the local area, which was in turn named after a monument (apparently unpopular) to King George IV (definitely unpopular), this is the station from which trains head north-east to Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire, Tyneside and ultimately, Scotland.
The 'The Flying Scotsman' (which has had various incarnations, but which is best known from its steam engine days) has connected this station with Edinburgh since 1862 - though the journey these days takes less than half of its original 10½ hours.
The modern station has been extensively refurbished, and the new concourse was opened in 2012. It's all very swish and gleaming white and there are coffee shops and eateries aplenty.
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| King's Cross concourse roof |
In recent years, thanks to the fame of a certain bespectacled boy-wizard called Harry Potter, the station has also become known as the departure point for the 'Hogwarts Express' - which leaves every September from the fictional Platform 9¾.
Never ones to miss a marketing trick, the merchandisers of Warner Bros. have set up shop (literally) at one end of the concourse next to a handy section of brick wall, which now bears the legend 'Platform 9¾' and comes complete with semi-embedded luggage trolley. The queue to have your picture taken passing through the 'magic portal' to the platform is very long, and largely composed of twenty-something student types. The few children I see in the queue seem rather bemused by it all, as if it's their parents who really wanted to be here...
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| Oh grow up... |
Time to move next door I think.
***
St. Pancras (or St. Pancras International as it is now called) is these days most well known as the UK end of the Eurostar journey, but also serves the East Midland line to Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
The station, and the area around it are named after a 14 year old boy saint - a Roman who converted to Christianity and was killed by the Emperor Diocletian sometime around 300 AD. It therefore has nothing whatsoever to do with internal bodily organs.
I'll repeat that:
NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH INTERNAL BODILY ORGANS!!! GOT IT?!?
Despite this, many people still insist on mispronouncing the name as 'St. Pancreas', and it may have been this which in 2014 prompted the station's PR team to commission a report on commonly mispronounced words. (Other contenders were 'EXpresso' for 'Espresso', 'ECKcetera' for 'Etcetera' and, most bizarrely to my mind, 'SherBERR' for Sherbert'.)
The exterior of the station is dominated by the impressive Victorian gothic architecture of the former Midland Grand Hotel - now given a new lease of life as the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, following a major refurbishment.
The original hotel, designed by George Gilbert Scott, was opened in 1873 but closed in 1935. Thereafter it was used as offices for several years until it was deemed structurally unsafe and closed in the 1980s. It remained unused, despite being made safe in the 1990s, until the early 2000s when it was redeveloped and the new hotel opened in 2011.
Celebrity Chef and professional mardy-bum Marcus Wareing runs the 'Gilbert Scott' restaurant in the former limestone pillared 'Coffee Room', and a room in the hotel will set you back a minimum of £299 per night.
The exterior of the station is dominated by the impressive Victorian gothic architecture of the former Midland Grand Hotel - now given a new lease of life as the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, following a major refurbishment.
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| Renaissance Hotel |
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| St. Pancras Entrance |
Celebrity Chef and professional mardy-bum Marcus Wareing runs the 'Gilbert Scott' restaurant in the former limestone pillared 'Coffee Room', and a room in the hotel will set you back a minimum of £299 per night.
Back in the station the Eurostar trains wait behind their security barriers and toughened glass walls, while heavily armed police (a phrase which always sounds a jarring note in this country of village bobbies and Dixon of Dock Green) monitor the hundreds of people milling about on the concourse.
I haven't really been listening to the announcements coming over the tannoy, so the inordinately long queues and frustrated looks on everybody's faces largely go unnoticed. It's only when I get home later that I hear of the three bombs which have detonated in Brussels, killing 32 people. Not surprisingly, the Eurostar services to Belgium have therefore been suspended and once more we in Europe are shocked, saddened but also, I hope, strengthened and brought closer together by another terror attack.
In a few months time this country will be given the choice of whether or not to remain in the European Union. There are those that will use these attacks and others like them to seek to justify a 'pull up the drawbridge' approach to Europe.
My own opinion, for what it's worth, is that neither we as British citizens, nor we as Europeans, nor even we as members of the human race, can ever really be free of terrorism and the motivations for terrorism, until we can forget our petty differences and see ourselves as part of one global community rather than a disparate group of individuals.
It's unlikely this 'Utopia' will be seen in my lifetime, or for several generations to come, and maybe it will take our blowing ourselves up in some global apocalypse for us to realise our idiocy. But if being part of the EU gets us even a few steps closer to having a less selfish world view, then I'm all for it.
***
On the upper level of the concourse, above the shops and cafés, are a couple of sculptures.
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| The Meeting Place |
The first, called 'The Meeting Place' by artist Paul Day, is a 30ft high statue of two people embracing. I can see the (rather bland) thought processes behind the choice of subject, but agree with the comments of Antony Gormley who cited this piece, among others, when he stated that there was 'an awful lot of crap out there'.
It has a base around which runs a frieze depicting various tableaux, including one that seems very familiar to anyone who is also a fan of the graffiti artist 'Banksy'.
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| Look familiar...? |
The frieze was added to the sculpture in 2008, long before Banksy's image of two lovers each distracted by their mobile phones appeared on the wall of a youth club in Bristol, but the similarity is striking, and some might think, suggestive. Can one sue an anonymous artist for copyright infringement...?
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| Sir John Betjeman |
The second sculpture, somewhat shorter at 6ft 7in, is of the former Poet Laureate, John Betjeman who was an admirer of the station's architecture and who was a campaigner against the proposed closing of St Pancras station.
He is depicted staring admiringly up at the roof of the station, and stands on a slate disc on which are written some of his lines of poetry:
And in the shadowless unclouded glare / Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where / A misty sea-line meets the wash of air.
('Cornish Cliffs')
***
I leave the station and head back out past the gothic frontage, heading slightly further west. Here stands the British Library, which is (as the name suggests) the national library of the United Kingdom. Not only does it contain over 150 million items from around the world, some of which are over 3000 years old, but it is also legally required to receive a copy of every single publication produced in the UK - not just books, but magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, sheet music, maps and patents.
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| British Library |
So, presumably, alongside the Magna Carta, Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Beatles Manuscripts and first edition of The Times, there are also shelves containing copies of the Beano, News Of The World, Practical Pig Rearing, or for the more adventurous, some rather less salubrious publications...
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| 'Newton' statue and entrance to the library |
Outside is a pleasant courtyard with seating and a café and yet more sculpture (supposedly Isaac Newton, though not as you'd recognise him).
But I haven't time to sit and relax - there's lots more to see, and I'm still technically on my first station of the day. This is going to be a long post folks!
***
Heading north between St. Pancras and the British Library, up Midland Road and onto Pancras Road, I find the church which gives the St. Pancras area its name.
Although supposedly one of he oldest places of Christian worship in the country, and despite its name, 'St. Pancras Old Church' as it now appears is actually largely a Victorian edifice, having been rebuilt on a number of occasions. Prior to the Victorian building, a Tudor one stood here, and the notice on the front gates has a possible original date of the early 4th Century AD, although 625 AD is the date on an inscribed altar stone that was found here during excavations.
I don't go into the church itself, but I do spend a little time strolling through the peaceful grounds, where among other curiosities is a mausoleum designed by the architect Sir John Soane for himself and his wife.
Another architect, Giles Gilbert Scott (son of the aforementioned George, who designed the station and hotel) was inspired by this mausoleum when he was designing what was to become one of London's most famous icons - the once ubiquitous Red Telephone Box.
***
Just around another corner from the church, across the railway lines to the north of the station, is Camley Street, where I find the Camley Street Natural Park.
This is another of those little corners of London devoted to the preservation and encouragement of wildlife, which I so often seem to find located in the most unlikely of places - next to railway lines, on a former ironworks, in the shadow of a football stadium...
It seems Jeff Goldblum was right; 'Life, uh... finds a way.'
***
And so, finally, I leave the area around the two stations served by King's Cross St. Pancras tube station, and make my way to my next destination - King George V DLR station.
The station is on the Woolwich (Arsenal) branch, between City Airport and the terminus.
And that's pretty much all there is to say about it really. It is, sadly, one of those pockets of East London for which the words 'ghost town' might have been invented. A few run-down shops, a dismal smattering of loafers smoking joints on street corners, a pit-bull taking a dump in the middle of the road... these are the welcoming sights which greet me as I head south from the station to the only real point of interest here - the northern terminus of the Woolwich Ferry.
The ferry connects North Woolwich, where I am today, with Woolwich proper, south of the river. It offers a free service to vehicles crossing the Thames, and began operation in 1889.
I take a photo of the ferry, but in the absence of anything else worth looking at, I head back to the station and on to my final destination today, and the final station in the Ks - Knightsbridge.
Time for somewhere a little more upmarket...
***
And you can't get much higher up the market than Knightsbridge.
The street and area after which the station is named, is synonymous with wealth, being as it is the location of probably the most expensive and well known luxury shop in London - Harrods Department Store.
The most expensive property in London is to be found here, and indeed, in one building - 'One Hyde Park' - you can, if you have a couple of hundred million to spare, buy one of the most expensive apartments in the world and be neighbour to several Arab princes.
I've never really understood the attraction myself.
Sure, you get to live close to the centre of London, with its shops and tourist attractions and nightlife... But you also have to live close to the centre of London with its shoppers and tourists and drunks. And to top it all you live in what is essentially a glorified block of flats - no gardens, no fresh air, and the parking's a nightmare...
Of course, as I mentioned before, you do have Harrods - and I suppose, if you're rich enough to live in One Hyde Park, then the prices of your weekly grocery shop at the famous Food Hall will be peanuts (gold-plated, diamond-encrusted peanuts, naturally).
The motto which is carved on the front of the store is Omnia Omnibus Ubique - which means 'All things, for all people, everywhere'. A splendid sentiment, though the 'all people' catered for should strictly speaking be 'all wealthy people'. (I don't count the everyday folk who go in for the cheapest possible item they can find, solely in order to walk out with a Harrods carrier bag).
To give you an example of the difference between Harrods and your usual department store - instead of the traditional summer outfits, matching kettle and toaster sets, or naff seasonal decorations, the window display here offers you Beluga Caviar, no doubt available within at eye-watering prices.
Established in 1834 by Charles Henry Harrod (already a successful businessman) the original grocery business expanded from a single room to a thriving enterprise taking over several adjacent properties.
Among its customers were such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Noel Coward, Charlie Chaplin and various Royals, and not even the fact of its sale to the Mohamed Al-Fayed empire in 1984, and its subsequent purchase by the Qatari government in 2010 seem to have tarnished its essential 'Britishness' and attraction to tourists.
The rest of Knightsbridge is made up mainly of more shops, as well as various Embassies and high-value properties. To the north is Hyde Park, and to the west are the various well-known museums (such as the Victoria & Albert and Natural History Museums) for which London is famous.
But all of these are closer to other tube stations, and will be better served by a later visit. Today, I think I've seen enough, and after a quick coffee (not from Harrods) I make my way home, another letter of the alphabet crossed off, and within spitting distance of the halfway point of my quest.
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| St. Pancras Old Church |
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| A bit of info... |
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| Soane Mausoleum (photo copyright Brian Harrington Spier) |
Another architect, Giles Gilbert Scott (son of the aforementioned George, who designed the station and hotel) was inspired by this mausoleum when he was designing what was to become one of London's most famous icons - the once ubiquitous Red Telephone Box.
***
Just around another corner from the church, across the railway lines to the north of the station, is Camley Street, where I find the Camley Street Natural Park.
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| Camley Street Natural Park |
This is another of those little corners of London devoted to the preservation and encouragement of wildlife, which I so often seem to find located in the most unlikely of places - next to railway lines, on a former ironworks, in the shadow of a football stadium...
It seems Jeff Goldblum was right; 'Life, uh... finds a way.'
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| 'Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh... well, there it is' |
***
And so, finally, I leave the area around the two stations served by King's Cross St. Pancras tube station, and make my way to my next destination - King George V DLR station.
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| King George V |
And that's pretty much all there is to say about it really. It is, sadly, one of those pockets of East London for which the words 'ghost town' might have been invented. A few run-down shops, a dismal smattering of loafers smoking joints on street corners, a pit-bull taking a dump in the middle of the road... these are the welcoming sights which greet me as I head south from the station to the only real point of interest here - the northern terminus of the Woolwich Ferry.
 |
| Woolwich Ferry |
The ferry connects North Woolwich, where I am today, with Woolwich proper, south of the river. It offers a free service to vehicles crossing the Thames, and began operation in 1889.
I take a photo of the ferry, but in the absence of anything else worth looking at, I head back to the station and on to my final destination today, and the final station in the Ks - Knightsbridge.
Time for somewhere a little more upmarket...
***
And you can't get much higher up the market than Knightsbridge.
 |
| Knightsbridge |
The street and area after which the station is named, is synonymous with wealth, being as it is the location of probably the most expensive and well known luxury shop in London - Harrods Department Store.
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| Knightsbridge - it's a rich man's world... |
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| One Hyde Park |
I've never really understood the attraction myself.
Sure, you get to live close to the centre of London, with its shops and tourist attractions and nightlife... But you also have to live close to the centre of London with its shoppers and tourists and drunks. And to top it all you live in what is essentially a glorified block of flats - no gardens, no fresh air, and the parking's a nightmare...
 |
| Harrods |
Of course, as I mentioned before, you do have Harrods - and I suppose, if you're rich enough to live in One Hyde Park, then the prices of your weekly grocery shop at the famous Food Hall will be peanuts (gold-plated, diamond-encrusted peanuts, naturally).
 |
| Harrods Motto |
To give you an example of the difference between Harrods and your usual department store - instead of the traditional summer outfits, matching kettle and toaster sets, or naff seasonal decorations, the window display here offers you Beluga Caviar, no doubt available within at eye-watering prices.
 |
| Beluga Caviar - for those who like that sort of stuff... |
Among its customers were such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Noel Coward, Charlie Chaplin and various Royals, and not even the fact of its sale to the Mohamed Al-Fayed empire in 1984, and its subsequent purchase by the Qatari government in 2010 seem to have tarnished its essential 'Britishness' and attraction to tourists.
The rest of Knightsbridge is made up mainly of more shops, as well as various Embassies and high-value properties. To the north is Hyde Park, and to the west are the various well-known museums (such as the Victoria & Albert and Natural History Museums) for which London is famous.
But all of these are closer to other tube stations, and will be better served by a later visit. Today, I think I've seen enough, and after a quick coffee (not from Harrods) I make my way home, another letter of the alphabet crossed off, and within spitting distance of the halfway point of my quest.
