Photo: going up? Photo: Jon Pratty. © 24 Hour Museum.
We’ve all been warned by a disembodied voice to "mind the gap" at least once in our lives, but visitors to Covent Garden tube station will now be advised by a voice they might just recognise.
From today, travellers making their way through Covent Garden Underground station will be greeted by none other than 24 Hour Museum Chairman Loyd Grossman.
The well-known tv personality and museums champion has recorded a message to offer users of the station’s lifts information about one of the capital’s most famous landmarks and point out the location of London's Transport Museum.
Click here to get a better class of tube announcement
"Covent Garden is one of London's most exciting destinations," explained Loyd. "It's a feast of culture, shopping, food and performance and one of my favourite museums, London's Transport Museum, is at its heart."
Photo: London's Transport Museum aims to conserve and explain the capital's transport heritage. Courtesy London's Transport Museum.
Covent Garden Underground opened on April 11 1907 and is the capital’s most heavily used tube station served only by lifts.
The station is said to be haunted by the ghost of Williams Terriss, a Victorian actor who often visited a bakery that once stood on the site.
But it is also the nearest station to London’s Transport Museum, which is one of the reasons why Loyd recorded the new lift message.
As well as being chairman of the 24 Hour Museum, Loyd has had a lifelong interest in museums and the historic environment.
He is chairman of the Campaign for Museums, the English Heritage Blue Plaques Panel and the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, not to mention an MLA (the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council) board member.
He is also a Trustee and Chair Designate of National Museums Liverpool and the Chair of the judging panel for the 2004 Gulbenkian Prize.
