LONDON UNDERGROUND

London's World-famous Underground Railway was opened in the 1860s and has grown rapidly over the years. This ever changing labyrinth of tunnels is a crucial factor in telling the essential plot featured in 'Fall & Rise'.

Should anyone go missing within London's Underground it would be possible for them to conjure up images of an entirely different world ranging from Gabriel at Angel to acrobats at Piccadilly Circus. No one would want to explore this world as they would have over 82 miles of tube tunnel to wander through and 100 plus Underground stations to visit. Fresh air would come courtesy of over 130 giant ventilation fans to keep the temperature constantly at 73 degrees Fahrenheit. The missing person would also have more than 300 London Transport police looking for them...

The Underground at night is host to frantic activity, for example, there are electrically-operated shutters, called battery trains going by that pull anything from rails cables and even escalators. There is also a tubeway army of cleaners and maintenance staff working in the small hours making the tunnels and stations clean and fresh ready for the next day. There are also hidden dangers as electricity is pumped throughout the city from deep underground.

The first train line, the Metropolitan, opened on the 9th January 1863 when a great banquet was held in a tunnel to celebrate this grand occasion. Word soon spread of this great achievement and trains were brim full within a matter a weeks. Such was the demand it was agreed new tunnels covering different parts of the city could soon be built. This plan is still in place today with the opening of the North Greenwich station which served the Millennium Dome in the year 2000.

The Underground has also been used as the background for several stories and films before including the British cult classic movie 'Death Line'.

There is also an urban myth which states that there are homeless people living alongside the Underground tunnels.

More Underground information can be found at the London Transport Museum, Lew's Tube and TheTube.com websites.

Order Richard Trench & Ellis Hillman's 'London Under London' today!