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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/11/in-praise-mind-the-gap
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| In praise of … mind the gap | In praise of … mind the gap |
| (7 months later) | |
| It took the widow of the actor whose voice was used to record the original Mind the gap announcement to restore the recording on the northbound platform of the Northern line at Embankment station, but nostalgia for voices of the past is shared by a wider audience. Like the shipping forecast or Sailing By these voices embed themselves into the ritual of daily life. They become mini-institutions, which bigger ones such as Transport for London or the BBC change at their peril. How many of Radio 4's listeners at 00.48 each morning actually know where Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne and Dogger are, never mind whether southeast is veering southwest? That is not the point. The reassurance of listening to the same indecipherable code each night reminds us of our island nation, just as the overly anxious Mind the gap belongs to the lost world of Bakelite. In a world forever catastrophising the future, they anchor us to our past. | It took the widow of the actor whose voice was used to record the original Mind the gap announcement to restore the recording on the northbound platform of the Northern line at Embankment station, but nostalgia for voices of the past is shared by a wider audience. Like the shipping forecast or Sailing By these voices embed themselves into the ritual of daily life. They become mini-institutions, which bigger ones such as Transport for London or the BBC change at their peril. How many of Radio 4's listeners at 00.48 each morning actually know where Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne and Dogger are, never mind whether southeast is veering southwest? That is not the point. The reassurance of listening to the same indecipherable code each night reminds us of our island nation, just as the overly anxious Mind the gap belongs to the lost world of Bakelite. In a world forever catastrophising the future, they anchor us to our past. |
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