Happy 150th Birthday to the London Underground!  The first journey taken on the Tube was on the 9th January 1963 on the Metropolitan Line, a distance of 3.5 miles between Paddington and Farringdon stations on a steam train!

To mark this event, the Royal Mail has released a London Underground stamp set featuring lithographs, illustrations and photographs of the development of the transport network from 1863 to the present day and the Royal Mint have issued a commemorative £2 coin bearing the “roundel” logo which first appeared on Underground station platforms in 1908 and featuring an edge inscription heralding the famous advice: MIND THE GAP.

Three little factoids (my new favourite word) for you are:

• The nickname “the Tube” comes from the circular tube-like tunnels through which the trains travel.
• The busiest station is Waterloo with 82 million passengers a year, and
• It is the 3rd largest metro system in the world after  the Beijing Subway and the Shanghai Metro.

That said, whilst I appreciate that the Underground is a very good way to get around, avoiding traffic jams, road closures etc., it is actually my least favourite mode of transport – if God had wanted us to travel underground, he would have made us all moles!