Jago! ...an even better bit of microscopic trivia about Canary Wharf. Yes, named for the Canary Islands, but the Spanish Islas Canarias translates to "Isles of *Dogs*" (yes, the Canaries were named after the dogs that roamed it) and...Canary Wharf...is on the Isle of Dogs, London. Happy coincidence? Maybe, but a fine one nonetheless.
I'm not Indian but I am a linguist so I can help. The Gurmukhi in question isn't actually a language on its own. It's how Indians write in the Punjabi language, while Pakistanis write in Punjabi using the Shahmukhi alphabet, which is more similar to Persian or Arabic script.
An artificial island in an artificial pool... *artificial-ception* I still think Canary Wharf station should've been decorated with dogs. Not only because of the Isle of Dogs, but also as a nod to the fact that the Canary Islands themselves are named after dogs and not birds. The Canary birds are named after the islands, not the other way around. I'm of Canarian descent (my great grandma came to Cuba from there) so I always love bringing up this fact.
The various regiments and corps of the British army wear stable belts which are coloured. Stable belts are wider than normal and made of woven material. Perhaps scope for a video of their own. Suffice to say that the Royal Regiment of Artillery's stable belt is coloured red, blue and yellow.
Wouldn't the colours of the Regiment such as depicted here be the colours of the regimental neckties worn with civilian clothing? I have a Royal Corps of Signals necktie that I bought at Disney World in Florida in 1986.
Royal Canadian Engineer (RCE) here, so I know a bit, albeit with slight changes in Canada for the purpose of local politics. Jago is misunderstanding the word "colours" as used in the military. The "colours" used as he uses it refers to a regimental flag used to differentiate the unit in battle. Each infantry regiment (except rifles) would carry the regimental colours and the king's/queen's colours, the latter being based on the union flag (usually). That being said, there are always aberrations to the rule due to traditions within each unit. Units such as the RE and RA don't use "colours" in the sense as defined above, but use what is called a "camp flag". Exactly as it sounds, used to denote where we are located within an encampment, but were never flown in battle as we were never formed as a single body on a battlefield when the use of regimental colours was common. When referring to "colours" with units that never used "regimental colours", you're referring to the actual official tinctures/hue/shade of the camp flag, as that is used to signify them in other ways. The colours of the RE are based on those of the RA, as we share a history (both dealing with explosives) and the Engineers were originally a corps within the artillery branch. The colours of the camp flags are brick red and royal blue, the artillery adds the bronze of their guns, as their camp flag is brick red and royal blue halved horizontally with a gun depicted over top. Traditionally, the guns of the artillery are treated like the colours of an infantry regiment, as it brought shame to lose them in battle. To add further complication, sub-units can alter the camp flag to differentiate themselves, usually by adding their number/name in an appropriate manner. The stable belt is based off of that. And as a friendly jab to our brother's in the artillery, we share a motto, "ubique". To engineers, it means "everywhere"; to artillery it means "all over the place".
The connecting corridor between the Elizabeth line and Bakerloo at Paddington has geometric designs on the wall inspired by the ironwork above the entrance to the Lawn in the mainline station.
American here who looked it up re artillery while they do not have regimental colours (did the proper spelling) the gun carriage on the artillery badge is YELLOW and that is where it comes from.
@@timelordtardis As long as I can then turn around and say that once I left the US Army I became an activist volunteer in the American LABOR movement. Heck in theory I retired a year ago yet find myself getting requests for info from still serving union officer AND I am now working p/t at job covered by totally different union and can't help looking up answers when the paid staff is a bit slow to respond. Am coming to UK in early September with a jaunt to France then back to UK and home early October. Sadly for me the wife does not think a visit to UNISON HQ is worth our time. The union local I retired from covered a lot of jobs that would UNISON over there, plus building trades, library techs, master of a 274 ft research vessel, medical and surgical techs, grounds crew and even the 10 SGTS and LT's of the campus police force. over 40 languages besides English spoken at home.
Thank you for exposing your lack of intimate detail with regard to so many railway stations. We can all look forward to learning together as you spend many hours researching our collective ignorance. Thanks in advance for your diligence and attention to the detail we are all sadly lacking in our lives.
@@passiveaggressive6175 Perhaps if both you and Armorer 94 were to replay the video and listen to Jago's own commentary at approx. @6:40 you may realise that, as G-BOAC points out above, my original comment was made with tongue firmly in cheek as a form of admiration for all that Jago brings to the internet community in his laconic style of witty observations. But then again, you may not...
I cant help feeling the "map" design at Tottenham Court road - with its resemblance to a circuit board - is also a nod to all the electronics stores in and around the Tottenham Court Road area starting in the 1980s/90s (Lion being the big one with the massive "if you want it we have it" basement), through to Maplin and others still there today. [Although technically Maplin is I guess closer to Goodge St] [Edit: okay the now defunct Maplin - been a while since Ive been int that area - but the gist is still the same!]
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Maplin went into administration and closed in 2018. All that is left now is the website, which is now run by a different company using the brand name.
regarding Liverpool Street, they were probably itching to make a station that looked like the definition of bedlam. their restraint in this matter should be applauded.
Bedlam is something that sounds like a good reference in theory, but when you then built a station that would look like something from Alice In Wonderland or M.C. Escher, you would begin to realise that maybe it wasn't such a great idea... 😆
Bit harsh on Whitechapel Bell Foundry, I thought, Jago. I believe the foundry recommended a certain size clapper for the Big Ben bell, which the powers that be thought was a bit small, so beefed up the spec a bit. (Pretty much double the size required by all accounts). Apparently this resulted in the bell developing a crack. The crack was repaired to prevent it spreading, the bell was slightly rotated, and a smaller clapper installed. As you know, it is still functional to this day, the crack is said to contribute to the bells unique sombre tone.
As a Jewish person, I was fascinated by the old Yiddish poster you found from Whitechapel. I'm not any kind of expert but I do know that Yiddish was a largely spoken language based mainly on German with a bit of Polish, Lithuanian, Russian and other Eastern European languages thrown in for good measure. When it is written down, however, it's done so in Hebrew characters which I have a basic grasp of. The big disadvantage of Hebrew text is that its usually written without vowels which makes it very challenging to read for non-fluent speakers. I've managed to work out that it's advertising "cheap prices" on the East London Railway to Crystal Palace (the names are directly phonetically transposed into the Hebrew characters). Then at the bottom it says, "children [kinder] under 12 half fare.". Other place names mentioned are Shoreditch, Whitechapel and Shadwell. @Jago - if I could see the whole poster in one, I might be able to work out more using online translation and with some help from more learned members of my community. Yiddish has almost died out these days and is only spoken as a first language by certain ultra_orthodox Jewish sects around the world. You may be familiar with "nosh", "bagel" or "beigel" and maybe "schlep" (which means to pull or drag (something or oneself), usually with much effort). Nearly all my great grandparents in London, Leeds and Glasgow would have spoken Yiddish as a mother tongue as first generation immigrants and I know that my paternal grandfather, born in 1896, spoke it fluently. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1986, so we can't get his translation. My dad is alive and well aged 95 but his Yiddish is poor these days. I'd be very grateful if you could DM me the full poster on Instagram - @brian__freeman (double underscore in the middle there) if possible. Thanks.
@@aprilsmith1166 - ah yes of course, forgot about chutzpah. Like English (but for different reasons), Yiddish draws on many languages with different roots and so I think that's why they're both very expressive and rich.
@@kaitlyn__L - yes but most of my grandparents' generation were still alive then. They were generally the second generation and born in the UK but would have spoken Yiddish as children at home. My dad's Yiddish is very sparse and mine is almost non-existent. I consider myself completely British and indeed I am until I get asked about ethnic origin and I generally tick "white other" because I'm not actually Anglo Saxon. That said, my grandfather was probably the same - after all, he fought in the British army in the First World War.
Shortly after moving to Tyneside in 1994 I was surprised to hear Yiddish in the big Tesco in Gateshead (next door to the Get Carter multi-storey car park, since demolished). German is my second language so I can understand a few words of Yiddish. The family i heard probably thought I was a bit odd because I approached them and asked if they were really speaking Yiddish. I told them they'd made a linguist's day 😁
FACT: If you play the sound of an arriving and departing Elizabeth Line train backwards, you clearly hear the words "THE JUBILEE HERALDS THE REIGN OF THE ANTICHRIST".
The symbology here could give Dan Brown another novel. It's like going to these posh houses where nothing is just a pretty thing, every nuance and placement has hidden meaning and depth. And then you get genuine coincidence, pure chance so accidentally loaded with meaning that it simply shouldn't and cannot be, and gives you a headache just thinking about the meaning of life.
As an addendum, to regimental colours, the Royal Engineers (RE) as you say do have blue and red, the RE are known as sappers and dig holes, make bridges, rescue stuff, and defuse live ordnance et al, they also have on a shoulder a dark blue lanyard, a piece of, well, string, which is attached to the firing mechanism of a cannon, so, what are the RE doing with something to do with a cannon, well, a long time ago during the Crimea war, the RE built a railway to get guns n stuff to the front line, then dug gun inplacements, during a battle the Royal Artillery (RA) facing a fierce charge abandoned thier guns, the RE took up positions behind said guns fired them and stopped the enemy charge. For this action the RE were given the RA dark blue lanyard and the RA received a replacement, but it was white.
One more interesting RE detail, as they were good at fixing stuff, the war office gave them the new fangled flying machines to assess for the first World War effort, the RE formed a unit called the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a Corps because the RE were a Corps themselves. The RE below regimental level are as you know divided into squadrons, wait for it, don't anticipate the order! Guess what, the RFC were also divided into squadrons, as were and are the present day RAF. Greetings from a former sapper to another. (ex EOD TAVR)
Jago, you mention Portland Stone, the lovely attractive white stone which many London buildings, particularly the Government buildings in Whitehall were constructed of. You also mention Centrepoint - indeed one of London's first skyscrapers. Putting the 2 topics together, the Centrepoint building was unique in its use of Portland Stone, in that it was constructed from precast segments, constructed of a concrete specially made from crushed Portland stone. The precast segments were made by Portcrete Ltd, on the Isle of Portland, Dorset (the place where Portland Stone was quarried for many London buildings). The precast segments were transported up to London by lorry. There. Another bit of useless information you didn't know you didn't know.
Nothing wrong with being useless, so long as it is interesting, which this is. Centrepoint was built amidst much hype as an office building and then stood empty for nearly ten years, which caused something of a scandal at the time. Nearly ten years ago, it was converted into luxury apartments.
The Cenotaph is a single piece of portland stone. The quarry it came from had been closed for some time and we re-opened to quarry that single piece for the Cenotaph, before being closed again.
Canary wharf has the 'tropical' roof garden (it's been open a good while now) with even more plants from around the world and on my trip just after Liz opening, all the spotlights illuminating them were purple, which was more than a coincidence I'm sure :)
I simultaneously feel sad for the need, and appreciate the addition of the glass walls to protect people from falling (or being pushed) on to the track.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch And it's mostly about the cleaning and air-flow that you rightly bring up. Hence why Custom House and Abbey Wood don't have any platform edge barriers - the actual reasons for them don't apply, and the side effect of avoiding one-unders doesn't justify half barriers and the like.
Hello Jago, you are the only person who can his ignorance of a subject more interesting than someone who know everything about a subject, your prolific output means waking nearly every morning (in NZ) a great way to start the day.. keep them coming please
I have indeed become accustomed to your videos. Good work. Now, I know it's not going away any time soon, but still, there's too many concrete enclaves in London. I prefer to work from home and I'M NOT COMING BACK.
My goodness, Mr H, what a stonkingly spiffing video, absolutely chock full of fascinating facts. And yet again you have taken a subject that didn't interest me one jot (or tittle) and made it amazingly relevant. You really are a very clever fellow. Thanks, Simon T
Thank you for this video. There has been a lot of coverage of the new Elizabeth Line stations emphasising their grandeur and scale but I particularly enjoyed yours because of the focus on their themed, but contrasting, details. Less is more perhaps. Most interesting, bravo!
The new Elizabeth Line station at Woolwich is actually within the grounds of the old Woolwich Arsenal, whereas the old British Rail Woolwich Arsenal station is not .... maybe they should switch their names.
No, I disagree. True, the historical connection is as you say, but the older station has been known as Woolwich Arsenal for years, whereas the Elizabeth Line one is brand new. Any renaming will cost a substantial amount of money.
"The ceiling slats mimic the soundwaves of a bell for the Whitechapel Bell foundry" amongst other similar links. We get it, the EL was designed by nerds!
At Liverpool Street there is one. When you are coming down the escalators you have a striped ceiling referencing pin-stripe suits as it is a business district.
And IIRC the Moorgate exit also has different design references. There's a whole series of videos TFL put out about the architectural motifs at each station, otherwise a lot of them would have passed me by too...
The Gurmukhi script is used to write Punjabi (Panjabi) in India in Pakistan they use a modified Arabic script called by Punjabi speakers "shahmukhi". The existence of Gurmukhi scripts signs tells you there are many Punjabi speakers in the area and many many of them are Sikhs. The Gurmukhi script is used to write the holy book of the Sikhs and was codified by the second Guru for writing the words of the Gurus. Just so you know.
During construction it was Crossrail, then nearing completion the Elizabeth line. Now any public address announcement refers to TFL rail. How the hell is any tourist going to know what is what?!!! Every reference from whatever source needs to standardise on the Elizabeth line.
No need for irate comments, people. Jago puts these videos on RU-vid to be informative, amusing and for our pleasure. Beautiful stations, the architects really did a nice job. Cheers. 😊
Red and Blue is definitely prominent colours for the Royal Artillery, Red and Blue being on their Tactical Recognition Flash patch on their arm and on the camp flag. Not sure where the yellow comes from, the insignia of the royal artillery does feature a cannon, which is usually coloured a yellowy bronze colour. So I guess that could be it.
The yellow may be sulphur; often, mess jackets of the gunners were black (charcoal); blue (saltpetre); and yellow (sulphur) which the enterprising young schoolchild will know as the constituent parts of gunpowder.
Back in the Napoleonic Wars, and probably before that, the Gunners wore yellow twill tape on their uniforms and the officers had gold lace on theirs (being as they were and are *Royal* Artillery), which you can see to this day on the dress blues of the Royal Horses Artillery.
I suspect that the yellow is a divider actually. If you look at the patterns: the Red and Blue is the RA TRF, while the pattern on the Red-Blue-Yellow one is in fact the Royal Engineers TRF with yellow dividing them. The repitition of blue-red in the exact same pattern and thickness as on the Royal Engineers TRF is too specific to be coincidental. I suspect a PR person just got their facts mixed up.
I walked down the entire Newham Walk the other day. There's so much information there, it's definitely worth a video of its own, simply put, you could snapshot one segment, talk about that and the moment in history it references, then go onto the next one. That being said, it might actually be a two-parter.
The "brutalist" ceilings at Barbican really are characteristic of the genre, they are an example of the "waffle slab" ceiling you can see in many places from that era. I first noticed them in Canterbury University.
Another in-depth dissertation of epic proportions on the things about the Underground which I didn't know I didn't know! I don't live in London but occasionally visit as a tourist. I have travelling on the Elizabeth line on my "to do"list & now I have your excellent guide to point out the features of the stations. Thank you.
Actually Liverpool Street station also has a reference to the local area - the striped ceilings are intended to represent pinstripe suits that City bankers used to wear - since Liverpool Street is in the City. Also, the circular lights at Woolwich are believed to look like landmines - a reference to the nearby Royal Arsenal munitions factory.
Thanks for this quick look at the stations and their artwork -- it is good to see that some sense of design in train stations has returned after so many decades of "make it as cheap as possible." A comparison of station architecture and ornamentation between Victorian/Edwardian times and the present would be illuminating. Most of my lifetime it seems like architects never darkened the doors of rail companies.
The Elizabeth Line could start operating from Shenfield to Heathrow Terminal 4 & Terminal 5 and Shenfield to Reading by the end of the year as well to & from Abbey Wood. With 24tph to be increased next year when the whole part of the Elizabeth Line is connected. Meaning that more trains will pass through Central London and Bond Street Elizabeth Line station to open later this year.
The Canaries were named after dogs on the islands (Latin Canis which gives us canine). The birds were then named after the island, not the island after the birds. Oddly the bird is basically called a dog.
@@hb1338 Just gone down a rabbit hole of looking it up and it seems it could be The Canarii people from Africa, Seals mistaken for dogs and a few other options. Mainly though not after the bird!!
That being able to take an underground train from one end of the platform to the other is also true of the Paddington Main Line platform which runs alongside the Hammersmith and City all the way to Royal Oak.
And also of the Elizabeth Line station at Liverpool Street which stretches from Liverpool Street to Moorgate underground stations. This is because the Elizabeth Line platforms are so long and also so deep, so when you add on the angle of the escalators the horizontal distance becomes quite significant (and the walks take some time).
The core section stations all look great, I'm hoping I'll be able to visit a couple (and see what Crossrail is like for myself) when I head down to London with some friends next month.
I think it's really cool that they put many references to local things in the stations! Makes the stations unique to one another, as well as more interesting, and highlights the interesting history and/or local places of interest. Thank you for highlighting this in the video!
Yet another very interesting and informative Vlog Jago i certainly learned a lot from your latest Vlog and it fantastic that all the stations on the Elizabeth Line Core Section have designed the stations around the history of those areas TFL have done us proud I’d say I continue to enjoy watching your Vlogs Jago keep up the good work my friend take care and stay safe
@@Smoketrain I don't. 😁Actually I believe the original bell was recast and that was the bell that cracked. Also, the term Liberty Bell came much, much later. I would direct you to the NPS web site to read about it but RU-vid probably wouldn't allow the link. Having been there to see the actual bell, it's a great visit. It also dispells a lot of the myths about it.
I was in the area of Custom House last weekend and noticed Newham Wall and wanted to know more. It was a shame that I didn't have the time to take a closer look, and so it seems neither has Jago. Would love to see a promised video on it as it doesn't appear to be covered elsewhere.
That's why the sky in the UK is always (mostly) cloudy - they're etched into it! 😁 Wonderful video on a subject most would never realise, thank you, Sir!
I haven't seen them in person yet, but those yellow escalators at Canary Wharf make me feel nauseous every time I see them in a video. I can't imagine they're a particularly pleasant thing to have to deal with on a daily commute. If they were opaque it would be... still not great, and completely at odds with the rest of the station, but ok... but to make them transparent so you're basically looking at the station and your fellow passengers through urine-coloured spectacles seems a bizarre choice. "Yes, let's make everyone look jaundiced. This represents the unease we all feel with the financial system since 2008."
Hmmmm, another great venture into the new Elizabeth Line. Oh the hidden secrets were quietly revealed, and appreciated I assure you. Wouldn't every new railway line have it's share of hidden secrets, not aware of course to the majority of those using or passing by? Those connections of design to surrounding structural monoliths was very interesting. And the signage in foreign tongue that would be of interest, and most helpful to people from abroad who have made England their home. Local relevance is of most importance.