I love how people fed up literally formed a "Get the thing done" company.

Years ago London Transport featured famous people from history advertising various stations. Perhaps not surprisingly Henry VIII was chosen for Tower Hill. He was pictured asking for a return to Tower Hill. Next to it someone added "and a single for the wife"

Kind of ironic really, the Tower Of London station is built in a very similar way to it's namesake, The original Tower of London was built out of wood so William The Conquerer could get a castle up quick to assert his authority over the population, and then replaced it with the Keep that still exists today. Sounds like they built the old station for the same reason!

On a visit to the Tower of London, a beefeater told us that a tourist who was puffed out from walking from the tube station, asked why they hadn’t built the Tower closer to the station…

Some TV company needs to make a series out of the Edward Watkin/James Stats Forbs rivalry. There certainly is plenty of drama there!

building something out of spite makes a lot of sense. it's one of the strongest things known to man and generally takes quite a long time to break down entirely

My memory is very unreliable, but it tells me that the new Tower Hill station opened in 1967 without any forewarning (if that is one word) and that passengers arrived at the station one day to find that it had moved (although passengers travelling to and from the west would have noticed its construction). I think that that is what they should have done with Crossrail, just start running trains one day without letting anyone know the date. That would really have made life tough for people with railway related KZfaq channels

Jago, can I just congratulate you on the line "'If you don't knock it off, it's ring-a-ding-ding for you bozos', (or words to that effect)". Masterful writing that makes history come alive!

Great summary of how the Victorian travelling public were subjected to prolonged inconvenience by what was essentially a clash of personalities. The two companies clashed and dithered again in the later 1890's over the electrification of the Circle Line. No wonder our American anti-hero Charles Tyson Yerkes (who eventually sorted them out) testified to a parliamentary enquiry that their behaviour was 'probably a disgrace'.

Forget "Mornington Crescent- the board game". This has all the makings of a Christmas pantomime, with Watkin as the villein, all top hats, green lighting and exploding side-whiskers. An internecine mafia feud, with an incidental public transportation system thrown in for good measure. Brilliant stuff, Jago this is far more illuminating than any history book on the subject could be!

The background makes the story - so no need to apologize. Excellent tale, per usual

As someone from south Essex, I'm sure I'm not the only one for whom Tower Hill was, and often still is, my first experience of the Tube. For that, it will always hold a soft spot in my heart.

C.T. Yerkes, shenanigans on Friday and Watkin Shenanigans on Sunday my weekend has been COMPLETE

Private rail companies caused chaos and replication of resources as far back as the 1870s. We never learn. Excellent overview and histories. Fenchurch St and Tower Gateway still unconnected and riven by 1960s giant roadways designed to alienate the pedestrian🙀ol

The District Railway supposedly refused to sell any tickets to Tower of London only Mark Lane although the period they were both open suggest this was just a gesture. Although both it and the Met were fond of sending people the wrong way round the Circle to use their own services.

"I just find it funny that you have one of the best known transport systems in the world and it was shaped by petty rivalry." *Laughs in BMT/IND/IRT*

I’m in the building to be enlightened by Jago Hazzard !

San Francisco gained a four-track streetcar line when two streetcar companies, one city-owned, and the other not, laid two double-track lines in the middle of Market Street, the famous "Roar of the Four". In Los Angeles, for a time, Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power laid electric power lines down the same streets, until Edison agreed to sell their infrastructure. And in Chicago, the Chicago elevated railway built short branches in many locations to compete with the streetcar company. In the most extreme example, the elevated built a circle through the Chicago Stockyards, while streetcar tracks served the same area. All the duplication was eliminated shortly after both companies were taken over by the City of Chicago.

Now he's just spoiling us. 👍🏻🇬🇧

As a City Guide I found this really useful. Thanks Jago.

I find all of your uploads so fascinating. I have lived most of my life in London and worked for London Underground, as it was called then, but had no idea how all of these different lines and companies run separately and the fierce competition. How it has evolved over the last 100+ years, but still some of the beautiful original architecture still remains, not only in stations still open, but other forgotten ones, that we probably pass by and not realise. You do such an amazing videos, and always with a bit of humour added into them.

This helps me realise why some District line trains terminate at Tower Hill when you'd think it would be more useful for them to carry on to Aldgate - getting from Tower Hill to Aldgate or Liverpool Street could be very annoying with gaps in the service. But Aldgate didn't have a nice empty space where another station had been 80 years previously.

I’m pleased that the KZfaq algorithm has finally correctly identified me as a nerd interested in London and trains and suchlike, and served me up this video from your channel! I believe I’ve got some catching up to do :)

My Sunday made

The subject as instantiated in the present is fair to midling while its context is epic. This reminds me of a lot of Los Angeles. "Why does this... boring... overpass... seem so familiar? Oh! Because of all the movies it's been in where it pretended to be in another city!" I love your work, good Jago. This was another treasure. I need to give you money. You please my eleven-year-old self, who in 1986 purchased a money order in foreign funds so he could order a PVC apron of the Underground map from London Transport. (It has held up -- I got my £19 and shipping's worth.) Your videos are centering (centring?) and leave me ready for a new week ahead.

I love the madness involved in how our trains were built

Ah bit of good old fashioned British spite, ya can't beat it!

We got monkeyshines and jiggery-pokery? Lovely.

With all the going on between the bosses its a miracle we have anything to show for it now.

I suspect Tower Hill is the station I have most used on the network, seeing as since the 1970s it was the station at the end of my local line (what is now c2c). I remember being utterly crowded before the major rebuild and as a kid was always excited as it usually meant we were there to go to a museum, gallery or another Mainline station to visit relatives 😎 I can even see the old style train indicators on the eastbound platform and waiting for the first two trains to pass before finally “Circle Line via Liverpool Street” appeared and we were soon on our way! 😄 In fact, I last used it only last Friday for a school reunion by Blackfriars. A splendid night too at a great pub. Maybe that is what was wrong with Watkin? I am sure I read that he was tea total or something, and they do a great pint of Tribute at The Black Friar. Poor Eddie baby 🤷🏻‍♂️ Cheers mate, great film again 🍀👍🍻

I really enjoyed this video but I found it really hard to follow and kept having to rewind. There are so many different rail companies from that period and they sound so similar. It would be great if you could bring up the names and logos of each company each time you mention them, they're really hard to keep track of and distinguish. Also have maybe animations or diagrams showing the lines so we can follow where train ran, and then stopped running, where rerouted to etc.

I remember using Tower Hill station once when I came down from Leeds for a weekend trip to London as my hotel was nearby and I was hugely underwhelmed with the station from what I was expecting it to be!

I've been in America since I was a kid, but you bring me joy with your videos; I love the History, and I wish I could be back there.

Any time in the future I hear about neoliberal free market proselytes telling how the market will solve every problem on their own without government intervention I will tell them about the London Underground...

0:58 that's the first time in years I've heard that specific variant of 'Mind the Gap'. I thought it had been phased out like most of the other versions, replaced with that godawful version that you can hear at 5:08

Of all the nerdy infrastructure-related channels to which I subscribe, yours is the only on where I look forward to hearing the Patreon thank at the end.

Great video Jago

Excellent use of the term "jiggery pokery".

Spite was a favorite construction material of the ancient Phoenicians.

I am not so much surprised at the level of skulduggery as I am shocked that Charles Tyson Yerkes wasn't involved LOL.

I remember going there almost 10 years ago. The bits of Roman walls nearby made the station memorable!

Just beyond the roundel on the column at 6.23, there is a park, garden and memorial for those lost at sea in WW1 & WW2. We discovered a year or two back that my Grandfather was named on it. being a Trinity House pilot, lost at sea in 1940. Trinity House being to the East of the Tower of London / Tower station. We were delighted to find the memorial, despite the fact many of my family members had worked in the Tower Hill area and had walked past that memorial almost daily for years. We only found out last year the GF died at sea, but was not lost to the sea. He was laid to rest in the CWGC cemetery in Gravesend and had been laid to rest with ceremony, but without a memorial. Luckily CWGC have now addressed this and a memorial is being organized. Ok nothing to do with the tube, but another memory triggered by the splendid series of films. Or as the family put it, you're not watching videos about the bloody underground again ? It's Geoff Marshall and Tim Dunn's fault !

And, at the far Eastern end of the Westbound through platform at Tower Hill it is possible to see part of the foundation of the Roman city wall. I don't know if that was true of the earlier station.

What the interchange between Fenchurch Street & Tower Hill needs is some signage! Any time I've tried it I've walked out of Fenchurch Street & stood there for a minute trying to get my bearings before getting my phone out & opening gurgle maps. I'm quite familiar with London transport, despite being an out-of-towner, so a foreign visitor in London for the first time could spend an hour looking for the Tower

Informative, and amusing ! Thank you, Jago ! Keep 'em coming !!

Another marvellous tale from the tube. Your dry wit makes these videos so entertaining if not actually educational for those of us not necessarily interested in such abstruse matters.

The forgotten Unfinished London episode... jokes aside this was an awesome video in its own right! Good job!

Considering that the Tower itself was built by William the Conqueror as a (Non-)Mobile Oppression Palace, it's fitting that the eventual Tube station named after it should be built out of spite.

I would just like to say my friend that all of your videos are 1st class... Highly recommended to view... Top draw... Once again many many thanks Jago...

Fascinating. I've often wondered why Tower Hill station is situated where it is, and why it is so non-descript.

Always interesting to hear the history of the lines and stations

Thanks Jago Keep Safe 😉👍

The last line of his script just before the outro. (Chef's Kiss)

Your discussions of the background are why I follow your channel.

I may not have been created out of spite, but I do survive and thrive on it. I like this stations backstory, for obvious reasons.

Well explained, really loved it, as usual!

I'm pretty sure "It's a ring-a-ding-ding for you Bozos" was commonplace Victorian slang.

Congratulations on the use of both shenanigans and jiggery pokery in your script. Both great words / expressions. Cheers

I love how you use clips with snow in the summer. You probably started when it was snowing and only just able to finish. The plague really slower you down.

The British aphorisms in this video were outstanding. Champagne stuff.

It was nice hearing the background. People often forget how petty the competition can get between businesses.

As a regular user of Tower Hill station I enjoyed this episode!

One of the few Underground stories that don't involve Yerkes

Now that really was a “tale from the tube” - shenanigans indeed!

A very intersting video, I did visit Tower hill station back in May. :)

Love it, another brilliant episode. If I'm ever on Desert Island Discs I'll ask for your channel as my luxury item.

Now this is the content I come back for every time.

Built out of spite? Sounds like something my sister would do. Years ago, when I was learning to drive, she decided she was going to pass her test before me. She actually went and bought THE car I was going to buy, just so I couldn't have it. Not an identical one. Not a similar one. THE ACTUAL CAR. She drove it about six times, and its been sat rusting ever since. It's now 21 years old. We're scrapping it next week. She still didn't learn to drive. She's reminded of her pettiness every time I drive past her in my sports car while she waits for the bus. I don't hold a grudge; I blast my horn and give her a wave ;)

And now I know a lot more about Mark Lane station, one that I'd never heard about until very recently. And thanks again to the viewer who pointed me in the direction of this video in reply to my recent query about said station 😎👍

Very interesting! My office was moved to America Square a few months ago, so I'm getting to know the area better. My building seems to have been built around the lines to/from Fenchurch St! There's plenty of history around (it must be less than a half a mile from where the Fire of London started) like St Olave's Church, if you are a Pepys fan, and French Ordinary Court, if you are just nerdy!! And such a contrast with all the new iconic buildings in the heart of the City!! Slightly off topic, another thing I've been reading about recently is how or if the Underground line to Aldgate might have played a part in the 'Jack the Ripper' events in 1888. There's a theory that the murderer used the Underground to travel to the Whitechapel/Shoreditch area, rather than living there him/her self. Any thoughts Jago?

Excellent episode Jago

Informative and fun to know all this drama behind!!

The northern platform of Mark Lane is still there, still lit and still visible as you approach Tower Hill from the west

'if you don't knock it off it's ring-a-ding-ding for you bozos'. I must remember this next time the neighbours play music too late at night.

Tara Hill and Pettie Rievaulxry, sound like characters from some spy thriller action novel, maybe agents of SPYTE

I used Tower Hill for many years and found the story fascinating

To be fair, in being a monumental, world-altering edifice shaped largely by petty rivalry and profiteering, the Underground was just holding up a mirror to the Empire itself.

I was going to tell a joke about these stations but it's too Tower-able to tell

Interesting and always fun. Thanks 😊

I love finding old videos that I haven't seen before!

Really interesting story on the station...First time hearing about this after all this time. #TheMoreYouKnow

more petty rivalry tales please

Cracking research as per Jago. Top notch 👍🏻

Always amazing how...troublesome inter-business and interpersonal rivalries can be to the people as a whole. Very interesting story.

Thankyou as ever. Always informative.

Ironic how a station built for trains from the North and west became a useful turnback for trains from the south and west.

IDK where or how you manage to find such mundane facts and turn them into fascinating videos. Job well done. Cheerio from New England.

The KZfaq Channel For Jagotastic History Lessons: Jago Hazzard!!

Wow, I worked at 40 Trinity Square which was right above that old station. I had no idea.

At 1:49, I can't help but notice the different spelling of the now Gloucester Road, as "Gloster" Road (or Rd. as is on the map).

I am Alaskan and I can't tell you how much entertainment I get out of your slang

I do everything out of spite, I love this 😂

If I ever make it to London I'll take a train to Fenchurch Street Station to see. . . Fenchurch Street Station because not only am I a rail fan I'm a Douglas Adams fan.

Does that mean that the 'Tower of London' station holds the record as the shortest lived station on the network?

The art you used for Watkin and Forbes made them look like a pair of Dickensian villains. Quite appropriate really

In your previous video that you did as you said about Tower Hill and Fenchurch Street that the Fleet Line would of gone past. I would imagine that the Fleet Line would of gone from Charing Cross to Thamesmead and London City Airport or Silvertown. Tower Hill would of had a underground pedestrian walkway connecting from Fenchurch Street to Tower Hill that would of made it lot easier to interchange between National Rail and London Underground. Same with what Euston Square would of had a underground walkway to Euston main line station.

Can you imagine what kind of system there might have been if they had been friends?

What an excellent tale. Bravo 👏🏿

Great video!

Interesting, indeed! Love the image framing at 1:10...