Providing up to 5 million passenger journeys a day, the London Underground is integral to the city's infrastructure. It's impossible to imagine how the city would function without it.
But why would something built for purpose become a source of admiration and entertainment? A Transport for London style guide provides powerful evidence: "Every Underground station should include at least one moment of delight and surprise, to improve customers' journeys and the working environment for staff."
A-ha!
Let's meet some Tube superfans.
Jen tells a story about Underground trainspotters and highlights the Tube in pop culture, while Mares looks at people who attempt the citywide Tube Challenge.
We'll think about the nature of challenge, the history of tube spotting and racing challenges, and some of the unique and engaging personalities for whom the Tube (and Overground) truly is a constant delight and surprise.
See our SHOW NOTES for photos, links, sources, and more.

At Yesterday’s London Times, we are all about inquiry, questions and stories, particularly stories that are new to us or that we just want to know on a deeper level. We seek out people, places, and facets of history that are lesser known, quirkier, or even downright strange. We also like to shine a spotlight on those who really do - or have done - amazing things, but perhaps have been forgotten over time, or lost in the shuffle of a typical news cycle or history text. We especially love discovering stories about people who contribute to the collective good of humanity in some way. 

Early on in our  partnership, we (Jen and Mares) immediately recognized our common love and admiration for the London Underground, or Tube, for the Tube is something more than just the transportation system beneath our feet. It supplies life to the city of London, and with up to 5 million passenger journeys on any given day, it is the veins and arteries that allow all of the movement that keeps the city going and makes it such a special place.

Join us throughout the following year as we randomly choose destinations across the city to “visit”. We will virtually hop on the Tube and bring the city to your ears as we search for adventures around the stations of the iconic Underground map.  We will ask ourselves:

• Who lives here now? 
• Who has lived here in the past? 
• What are the stories that live within the streets of this area?
•  What do the people -  or perhaps the ghosts of former inhabitants - of this area want to teach us?
• What are some places to visit, what might I eat? 
• What is quirky or unique about this part of London? What can I learn from this area? 

The journey begins today. Where do you think the Tube will take us today?

As you listen, we invite you to follow along in our show notes to enhance your experience with us. 

A little romance?

What began as a fluff piece about an eccentric romance novelist turned into a snapshot of a century through the eyes of someone who lived it to the fullest.

Meet Barbara Cartland: extravagant, exaggerated, and … pink. As author of 723 books, she remains the most prolific romance novelist of all time. If you’ve ever seen her, you won’t likely forget her, dripping in jewels, layered in make up, clad in fuchsia, and riding in her classic white Rolls Royce.  

We’ll follow Barbara through the Great War, to 1920’s London with the Bright Young Things, to writing, motherhood, political involvement, and World War II.  And she’s just getting started, hitting the peak of her career in the 1980s, in her eighties. 

Along the way, we’ll rub elbows, (well, maybe more than elbows) with movers and shakers of many decades.  For example, have you ever heard of Lord Beaverbrook? Also, you won’t believe who joins the family in the 1970s!

We wrap up with a game you can join in at home.  It’s called Oh, Barbara.

While we have little in common with Barbara, and share few of her opinions, we have to respect someone who called her own shots and refused to be sidelined as an octogenarian. 
See our SHOW NOTES for photos, some quite rare, sources, and such.