Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
In case you're not already aware of this ...
BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes) Map Man: Beck "Modern explorer Nicholas Crane deciphers Harry Beck's revolutionary Underground Map of London, and explains why it changed the face of underground mapping, and travel, forever. It's an icon of London, a design classic printed on everything from tee shirts to baseball caps, but the Underground Map started with one man working in his bedroom. Harry Beck was an electrical engineer. In 1931 he had a fit of genius when he realised that his circuit diagrams were a perfect model for a new map of the underground network. Nicholas Crane travels across London on the tube to discover how he did it. Why did he exclude everything at street level? What dictated his choice of colour for each line? Is it the world's favourite subway guide?" -- Richard J. (to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address) |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
Richard J. wrote:
In case you're not already aware of this ... BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes) Map Man: Beck "Modern explorer Nicholas Crane deciphers Harry Beck's revolutionary Underground Map of London, and explains why it changed the face of underground mapping, and travel, forever. ....and a perfect time to recommend Ken Garland's book, "Mr Beck's Underground Map". A fine and fascinating tome |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
Richard J. wrote:
In case you're not already aware of this ... BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes) Map Man: Beck "Modern explorer Nicholas Crane deciphers Harry Beck's revolutionary Underground Map of London, and explains why it changed the face of underground mapping, and travel, forever. It's an icon of London, a design classic printed on everything from tee shirts to baseball caps, but the Underground Map started with one man working in his bedroom. Harry Beck was an electrical engineer. In 1931 he had a fit of genius when he realised that his circuit diagrams were a perfect model for a new map of the underground network. Nicholas Crane travels across London on the tube to discover how he did it. Why did he exclude everything at street level? What dictated his choice of colour for each line? Is it the world's favourite subway guide?" Watching now :-) -- Robert Gordon http://m33p.be |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
"Richard J." wrote in message
. .. Map Man: Beck Thanks! -- John Rowland - Spamtrapped Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood. That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line - It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
In message , Richard J.
writes In case you're not already aware of this ... BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes) Map Man: Beck Seemed like a generally good program. Couple of things seemed a bit daft though. Firstly having the 'colour consultant' spouting on about how Beck was a genius for his choice of colours whereas I suspect that he used yellow for the Circle line because it was the only major colour he had left. Also they rather overdramatised Aldwych station, but I guess they need that sort of thing to keep the interest of the general public. -- Spyke Address is valid, but messages are treated as junk. The opinions I express do not necessarily reflect those of the educational institution from which I post. |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
In article ,
Spyke wrote: Seemed like a generally good program. Couple of things seemed a bit daft though. Firstly having the 'colour consultant' spouting on about how Beck was a genius for his choice of colours whereas I suspect that he used yellow for the Circle line because it was the only major colour he had left. Did I see an *old* map (with Aldwych on) that also had dashed Crossrail and Chelsea-Hackney lines marked on? Dave -- Email: MSN Messenger: |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
David Marshall wrote:
In article , Spyke wrote: Seemed like a generally good program. Couple of things seemed a bit daft though. Firstly having the 'colour consultant' spouting on about how Beck was a genius for his choice of colours whereas I suspect that he used yellow for the Circle line because it was the only major colour he had left. Also, he didn't choose the colours on the 1933 original. They were the same as on the existing geographic maps of the network. Did I see an *old* map (with Aldwych on) that also had dashed Crossrail and Chelsea-Hackney lines marked on? Yes! There's one in Ken Garland's book* based on the 1994 diagram, but including all the then known projected extensions and new lines, including Crossrail as then planned (Amersham/Ealing to Stratford), Chelsea-Hackney (Wimbledon to Hainault), ELL to Highbury & Islington and East Dulwich, Met from Croxley to Watford Junction. It was produced for internal LU use. *Mr Beck's Underground Map by Ken Garland (Capital Transport, £12.95, ISBN 1854141686) -- Richard J. (to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address) |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
In message , Richard J.
writes Also, he didn't choose the colours on the 1933 original. They were the same as on the existing geographic maps of the network. Not entirely. Stingemore, who designed the Underground's maps in the years immediately before Beck, used orange for the Central Line, red for the Bakerloo, brown for the Met and a sort of greyish aquamarine for the Piccadilly. Only the Northern (black) and District (green) were the same as Beck. Shades also varied quite a lot. Beck chose stronger tones and insisted on much better colour control in the print process. -- Paul Terry |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
"Paul Terry" wrote in message ... In message , Richard J. writes Also, he didn't choose the colours on the 1933 original. They were the same as on the existing geographic maps of the network. Not entirely. Stingemore, who designed the Underground's maps in the years immediately before Beck, used orange for the Central Line, red for the Bakerloo, brown for the Met and a sort of greyish aquamarine for the Piccadilly. Only the Northern (black) and District (green) were the same as Beck. Shades also varied quite a lot. Beck chose stronger tones and insisted on much better colour control in the print process. -- Paul Terry Beck's 1933, as shown on the TfL site at http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/history/beckmap1.jpg has those colours for Central and Bakerloo as well |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
In message , Henry writes
Beck's 1933, as shown on the TfL site at http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/history/beckmap1.jpg has those colours for Central and Bakerloo as well Yes, just about every aspect of Beck's design evolved slowly over a number of years - it didn't all appear in finished form in 1933. -- Paul Terry |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
Richard J. wrote to uk.transport.london on Thu, 30 Sep 2004:
In case you're not already aware of this ... BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes) Map Man: Beck Grrr - turned it on about 5 minutes into it, watched for about 3 minutes, and next thing I knew it was 11.00 pm, and apparently I missed a "fascinating" Horizon, too..... Grrr.... I *was* tired last night! -- "Mrs Redboots" http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/ Website updated 26 September 2004 |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:52:11 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote: David Marshall wrote: In article , Spyke wrote: snip Did I see an *old* map (with Aldwych on) that also had dashed Crossrail and Chelsea-Hackney lines marked on? Yes! There's one in Ken Garland's book* based on the 1994 diagram, but including all the then known projected extensions and new lines, including Crossrail as then planned (Amersham/Ealing to Stratford), Chelsea-Hackney (Wimbledon to Hainault), ELL to Highbury & Islington and East Dulwich, Met from Croxley to Watford Junction. It was produced for internal LU use. Curiously, that diagram is missing the station formerly known as Aldersgate... *Mr Beck's Underground Map by Ken Garland (Capital Transport, £12.95, ISBN 1854141686) Rupert (trainspotting is one thing, but train station spotting? Nurse...) |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
"Richard J." wrote in message . ..
David Marshall wrote: Did I see an *old* map (with Aldwych on) that also had dashed Crossrail and Chelsea-Hackney lines marked on? Yes! There's one in Ken Garland's book* based on the 1994 diagram, but including all the then known projected extensions and new lines, including Crossrail as then planned (Amersham/Ealing to Stratford), Chelsea-Hackney (Wimbledon to Hainault), ELL to Highbury & Islington and East Dulwich, Met from Croxley to Watford Junction. It was produced for internal LU use. I've only just picked up on this thread, but watched Map Man and found it a fascinating programme. Interesting to note that, on Harry Beck's last draft map for LT, including the still-to-be-finished Victoria Line (the map was rejected in favour of Paul Garbutt's design), he shows the Great Northern & City branch to Moorgate as having Finsbury Park as its northern terminus - in reality it was cut back to Drayton Park in 1964 to ease problems during construction of the Victoria Line (the latter using at least one of the GN&C platform tunnels, I believe)! David E. Belcher |
Harry Beck: BBC2 this evening at 7.30
David E. Belcher wrote:
I've only just picked up on this thread, but watched Map Man and found it a fascinating programme. Interesting to note that, on Harry Beck's last draft map for LT, including the still-to-be- finished Victoria Line (the map was rejected in favour of Paul Garbutt's design), Garbutt's map had already been published in May 1964. Beck based his last design on Garbutt's map (which he would have regarded, as do LUL nowadays, as based on his own original design). he shows the Great Northern & City branch to Moorgate as having Finsbury Park as its northern terminus as did Garbutt's May 1964 map - in reality it was cut back to Drayton Park in 1964 to ease problems during construction of the Victoria Line (the latter using at least one of the GN&C platform tunnels, I believe)! The closure of Finsbury Park to Drayton Park was in October 1964, due as you say to use of the GN&C platform tunnels in the reconstruction of Finsbury Park. -- Richard J. (to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address) |
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