Bygone Days

The Royal Visit - 17th May 1966

	Her Majesty the Queen visited on 17th May 1966 and took tea with the Postmaster General who presented her with a gold replica of a model of the Tower. Scan: Cover of Post Office Magazine July 1966 price 3d [Anthony Wedgewood Benn and the Queen]

The Public Opening

The Tower was opened to the public on 19th May 1966. A ceremony of invited dignitaries in the morning was followed by the public opening in the afternoon.

"The Post Office Tower soars 250 feet above the dome of St. Paul's and is the tallest building in Britain. It is 580 feet high and is surmounted by a 40 foot trellis mast supporting a radar aerial designed to help short range weather forecasting.

It has been built to provide more long distance telephone and television circuits.These are carried on four main microwave radio paths - from London towards Birmingham, Coventry and the North; toward Southampton, Bristol and the West and also for the satellite communication ground station at Goonhilly Downs; toward Dover, Folkestone and the Continent; and toward Norwich and the North-East of England.

Besides its strictly functional use the Tower adds to the itinerary of London's attractions. The public can view the panorama of London from galleries near the top of the Tower. Two lifts, each travelling at 1,000 feet per minute, carry passengers to the three public observation platforms.

In addition there is a public revolving restaurant and cocktail lounge near the summit; the restaurant makes between two and three complete revolutions every hour. Butlin's Holidays Ltd provide the catering at "the top of the tower" restaurant."

11.00 am

• The Postmaster General Rt. Hon. Anthony Wedgwood Benn MP will speak and invite the Mayor of Camden to be the first visitor.
• Sir William E Butlin MBE will respond.
• The Mayor of Camden will reply for the visitors.
• The Director of the London Telecommunications Region of the Post Office, Mr. A.B. Harnden TD will close the ceremony.

About 11.15 am

• Guests will be invited to go to the top of the tower. Refreshments will be served.

An early film shows two ribbons, the first being cut by Tony Benn (MP) and the second by Billy Butlin who had leased the restaurant.

The Tower was finally opened to the public at 3 pm on 19th May 1966.

[Please note that the Tower CLOSED to the public in 1980.]

The Charity Pond

	The Tower has always been associated with collecting money for charity. This was the pond in the reception area.

The Souvenir Shop

At the time the Tower was open to the public, there was a souvenir shop on the ground floor and a wishing well for charity. The upper floors included observation galleries and a refreshment bar.

This public sector had a staff of:

• 2 Supervisors
• 32 Uniformed attendants
• 11 Administrative
• 16 Souvenir shop and ticket desk staff.

The Revolving Restaurant

Undoubtedly, the main attraction, as printed on the fold-out menus, was the 'topofthetower' restaurant...

The 'Top of the Tower' restaurant, leased to Butlins, could seat 120 diners on the 11 feet wide revolving section which formed part of the 34th floor. A complete revolution took 22 minutes.

TOPOFTHETOWER
	"Patrons will notice that the emblem of the TOPOFTHETOWER is a cog-wheel and this is carried on the carpet, serviettes, and also on the jackets worn by the waiters. This emblem signifies the single cog-wheel which actually drives the revolving floor and is worked by as little as a two and a half h.p. motor."

Nicknamed the 'revolting restaurant' by staff who had to make do with their own 'canteen' which served a different class of cuisine.

Following the bomb damage in 1971, the access to the observation galleries was restricted to staff and when the lease on the restaurant expired in 1980, the Tower was closed to the public.

In 1984, the 34th floor was refurbished to become part of the 'Tower Suite' a centre for business excellence- presentations, seminars, functions and charity events, strictly for invited guests only. Later still, in the 1990s, the 'Tower Suite' became known as the "Tower Auditorium".

Posted at the Post Office Tower
	In the days when the Post Office was responsible for both the postal and the telephone service, letters collected from the Tower were franked "Posted at the Post Office Tower".

Films featuring the Tower

Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave - Two girls go stark Mod*! Smashing Time (1967) was a film in which two northern lasses move to Swinging London in the 1960s. The film closes with a sequence at the 'Topofthetower'. Also starred Michael York, Anna Quayle, Irene Handl, Ian Carmichael, Jeremy Lloyd, Toni Palmer and Murray Melvin. [*By 1964, the majority of British youth was split into two factions called Mods and Rockers who each dressed in their own distinctive style.]

Books:

	White Heat (1964-1970) by Dominic Sandbrook A history of Britain in the Swinging Sixties includes the opening of the Post Office Tower. The term 'White Heat' originates from Harold Wilson's speech at the Labour Party Conference in Scarborough on 1st October 1963... "The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry". Wilson spoke of a revolution of science of which the Post Office Tower was later cited as a fine example of such technological developments of the period. Page 758 Reference 5 On the revolving restaurant, see <http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/ate/main/postofficetower/t60.html> a website entirely devoted to the history of the tower.
	Sixties London - Photographs by Dorothy Bohm With texts by Amanda Hopkinson and Ian Jeffrey Contains 17 black & white and 30 colour photos of London in the Sixties. ISBN: 0 85331 699 6

Oddities

The Tower is the only building in the country which is allowed to be evacuated by lift and, for this, Parliamentary legislation had to be passed. The colour of the Tower is due to the tinted anti-sun glass which protects against damage due to solar heating. Follow this link to see a Meccano model of the Tower.   Dr Who In 1966 'The War Machines' story (with William Hartnell) was centred around the Tower. "In London's Post Office Tower, the travellers find Professor Brett and his revolutionary computer, WOTAN-Will Operating Thought ANalogue device..."

Stair Racing

In January 1969 the 2nd annual competition of 'stair racing' was hosted at the Tower. Student union teams from eight universities took turns to be the fastest to run up the 798 steps. The winner, John Pearson from Manchester University, took just 5 minutes, 7 seconds to do the ascent and he was presented with a brass model of the Tower. In the previous year, Edinburgh University achieved a time of 4 minutes, 46 seconds!

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Photos:

"The Post Office Tower London" 32 page booklet priced 'two shillings and sixpence' designed and produced by Holdens Press Bureau Ltd for GPO. Printed by W.S Cowell Ltd, Butter Market, Ipswich.

"The Post Office Tower London" 36 page booklet PH1676 12/70 Designed by Banks and Miles, photography by Mike Peters, printed at the Shenval Press, London and Harlow.