Last night, Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won the Best Actor BAFTA for his portrayal of President Lincoln. Indeed, 150 years ago this year, Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg (“four score and seven years ago”) address during the American Civil War. Closer to home, 1863 was also quite a year as two iconic English brands were born. The Football Association laid out a set of rules, which were first followed in a match between Barnes and Richmond (0-0 draw) and the very first journey on the London Underground took place between Paddington and Farringdon.
For what is a truly remarkable feat of Victorian engineering, we moan about the Tube a lot. We moan when they are late, on strike or when someone jumps in front of one. We moan when people force their way on before you have a chance to get off. We moan when people don’t move down the carriage to let people on or when the closing doors are squeezed open. But we smile when we read one of those Poems on the Underground or when the driver has a sense of humour. We feel good when the elderly or pregnant are offered a seat or an 80s pop star breaks into song. We also marvel at the Harry Beck designed map that is so pleasing on the eye (personally, I’m more fascinated by the equivalent geographically accurate Tube map).
