London Underground

The London Underground (or simply the Underground or the Tube) is a public rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. The network is considered the oldest rapid transit system, incorporating the world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 and is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines; and the first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2014/15 carried 1.305 billion passengers, making the Underground the world's 11th busiest metro system.

London

London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile (2.9 km²) medieval boundaries and in 2011 had a resident population of 7,375, making it the smallest city in England. Since at least the 19th century, the term London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms Greater London, a region of England governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The conurbation also covers two English counties: the small district of the City of London and the county of Greater London. The latter constitutes the vast majority of London, though historically it was split between Middlesex (a now abolished county), Essex, Surrey, Kent and Hertfordshire.

Victoria line

The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground route running from Brixton in the south in Zone 2 to Walthamstow Central in the north-east in Zone 3 of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map. It is one of two underground lines to run entirely below ground, the other being the Waterloo & City line. Constructed in the 1960s, it was the first entirely new tube line in London for fifty years, and was designed to relieve congestion on other lines, in particular the Piccadilly line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line. The line has always been operated using automatic train operation, but all trains carry drivers.

The Victoria line is used by 200 million passengers each year, making it the sixth most heavily used line on the network in absolute figures, but in terms of the average number of journeys per mile it is by far the most intensively used line.

History

Planning and construction

A tube railway running from Victoria to Walthamstow was first proposed by a Working Party set up by the British Transport Commission in 1948, though that largely followed a 1946 plan for a Croydon to Finsbury Park line. The main purpose was to relieve congestion in the central area. The necessary Private Bill was introduced into Parliament in 1955. It described a line from Victoria to Walthamstow (Wood Street). There was also a proposal, though not included in the Bill, for a subsequent extension from Victoria to Fulham Broadway station on the District line.

National Geographic

National Geographic or NatGeo may refer to:

See also

I Didn't Know That

I Didn't Know That is a documentary television show hosted by British industrial scientists Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips. Since 2006, 30 episodes and a "DIY Green" special have been made. A new series is not expected as the National Geographic Channel has made other science programmes (including Planet Mechanics and What Would Happen If...?). In some episodes, the hosts nearly kill themselves in order to prove certain theories or to finish a dangerous experiment. In a certain episode section "Fact of Fiction", the show hosts seem to promote dowsing as an actual science.

Episode 24

Celebrates the 100th anniversary of the bra. Richard and Jonny discover that 80% of women wear the wrong size bra. In particular, this is because chest diameter and maximum breast diameter rather than the volume is measured. An English engineer doctor, Tyra, has developed a bra design with crossed straps in the back. That uses the weight of one breast to lift the other, using counterbalance. Standard designs constrict chest movement during breathing. One of the tools used in the development has been a projective differential shape body analyzer for 40 000 GBP.