If you happen to find yourself at Embankment station on the London Underground, pay particular attention to the tannoy: the station’s “Mind the Gap” announcement is pronounced in rich, theatrical tones, a voice you won’t hear elsewhere on the network.
The reason for that is touching – a story of love and loss that went viral recently when it was retold in a Twitter thread by John Bull, AKA @garius, erstwhile contributor to this site and editor of the London Reconnections blog that covers transport in impressively entertaining detail, and is well worth following if you’re a fan of the kind of stories we tell at Guardian Cities.
Bull writes: “Just before Christmas 2012, staff at Embankment Tube station were approached by a woman who was very upset. She kept asking them where the voice had gone. They weren’t sure what she meant. The Voice? The voice, she said. The man who says ‘Mind the Gap’.”
Staff reassured her that the announcement had simply been updated with a new digital system and new voices.
“That voice,” she explained, “was my husband.”
Just before Christmas 2012, staff at Embankment Tube station were approached by a woman who was very upset.
She kept asking them where the voice had gone. They weren’t sure what she meant.
The Voice?
The voice, she said. The man who says ‘Mind the Gap’
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Don’t worry, the staff at Embankment said. The announcement still happens, but they’ve all been updated. New digital system. New voices. More variety.
The staff asked her if she was okay.
“That voice,” she explained, “was my husband.”
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Sure enough, the voice belonged to Oswald Laurence, a Rada graduate and theatre actor who died in 2007. The recording dates back more than 45 years – and at one point could be heard along the length of the northbound Northern line before eventually being phased out – except at Embankment.
In her grief, his devastated widow, Margaret McCollum, took comfort in travelling via the station and listening to her beloved husband’s voice.
Oswald’s death had left a hole in Margaret’s heart. But one thing had helped. Every day, on her way to work, she got to hear his voice.
Sometimes, when it hurt too much, she explained, she’d just sit on the platform at Embankment and listen to the announcements for a bit longer.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
For five years, this had become her routine. She knew he wasn’t really there but his voice – the memory of him – was.
To everyone else, it had just been another announcement. To HER it had been the ghost of the man she still loved.
And now even that had gone.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
Distressed by the fact she could no longer listen to Oswald’s voice, she asked Transport for London if she could get a copy of the recording. Staff managed to track it down and worked to restore the announcement at Embankment station.
Archives were searched, old tapes found and restored. More people had worked to digitize them. Others had waded through the code of the announcement system to alter it while still more had sorted out the paperwork and got exemptions.
And together they made Oswald talk again.
— John Bull (@garius) December 11, 2019
“And that is why today, even in 2019, if you go down to Embankment station in London, and sit on the northbound platform on Northern Line, you will here a COMPLETELY different voice say Mind the Gap to ANYWHERE else on the Underground. It’s Oswald,” says Bull.
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