There are some things in the world that make NO SENSE. Like declaring the location of a prominent observation tower and transmitter an official government secret, and trying people in court for "revealing" its location. That is true through-the-looking-glass crazy stuff. Absolutely surreal.
But this was part of the reality surrounding this landmark London telephone microwave and TV/Radio broadcasting hub from the 1960s to the 1990s, when it was finally 'REVEALED" to the public and declassified. Not that it was revealed when several episodes of Dr Who were set here in the 1960s. Or when generations of tourists took pictures of it and from it. Or when it showed up on maps of London. Duh
From Wikipedia: (
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"The BT Tower is a communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. It has been previously known as the GPO Tower, the Post Office Tower and the Telecom Tower. The main structure is 177 metres (581 ft) high, with a further section of aerial rigging bringing the total height to 191 metres (627 ft). It should not be confused with the BT Centre (the global headquarters of BT). Its Post Office code was YTOW.
History
20th century
The tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO). Its primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country, as part of Britain's microwave network.
It replaced a much shorter steel lattice tower which had been built on the roof of the neighbouring Museum telephone exchange in the late 1940s to provide a television link between London and Birmingham. The taller structure was required to protect the radio links' "line of sight" against some of the tall buildings in London then in the planning stage. These links were routed via other GPO microwave stations at Harrow Weald, Bagshot, Kelvedon Hatch and Fairseat, and to places like the London Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton.
The tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public Building and Works: the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G. R. Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is concrete clad in glass. The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the requirements of the communications aerials: the building will shift no more than 25 centimetres (10 in) in wind speeds of up to 150 km/h (95 mph). Initially the first 16 floors were for technical equipment and power. Above that was a 35-metre section for the microwave aerials, and above that were six floors of suites, kitchens, technical equipment and finally a cantilevered steel lattice tower. To prevent heat build-up the glass cladding was of a special tint. The construction cost was £2.5 million.
Construction began in June 1961, and owing to the building's height and its having a tower crane jib across the top virtually throughout the whole construction period, it gradually became a very prominent landmark that could be seen from almost anywhere in London. In August 1963 there was even a question raised in parliament about the crane. Doctor Reginald Bennett MP asked the Minister of Public Building and Works how, when the crane on the top of the new Post Office tower had fulfilled its purpose, he proposed to remove it. Mr Geoffrey Rippon replied, "This is a matter for the contractors. The problem does not have to be solved for about a year but there appears to be no danger of the crane having to be left in situ."
The tower was topped out on 15 July 1964 and officially opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 8 October 1965. The main contractor was Peter Lind & Co Ltd.
The tower was originally designed to be just 111 metres (364 ft), and its foundations are sunk down through 53 metres of London clay and are formed of a concrete raft 27 metres square, a metre thick, reinforced with six layers of cables on top of which sits a reinforced concrete pyramid.
The tower was officially opened to the public on 16 May 1966 by Tony Benn and Billy Butlin. As well as the communications equipment and office space there were viewing galleries, a souvenir shop and a rotating restaurant on the 34th floor, called the Top of the Tower and operated by Butlins. It made one revolution every 22 minutes. ...
A bomb, responsibility for which was at first blamed on the Provisional IRA, exploded in the roof of the men's toilets at the Top of the Tower restaurant on 31 October 1971. In fact, the bomb had been placed there by members of the Angry Brigade, an anarchist collective. The restaurant was closed to the public for security reasons in 1980, the year in which Butlins' lease eventually expired.
Public access to the building ceased in 1981. The tower is sometimes used for corporate events such as a children's Christmas party in December, Children in Need, and other special events; even though it is closed the tower retains its revolving floor, providing a full panorama over London and the surrounding area.
Secrecy
A flyer distributed in advance of a demonstration on 1 May 1978
Due to its importance to the national communications network, the location of the tower was designated an official secret. In 1978 the journalist Duncan Campbell was tried for collecting information about secret locations, and during the trial the judge ordered that the sites could not be identified by name; the Post Office Tower could only be referred to as 'Location 23'. In February 1993 the MP Kate Hoey drew attention to the supposed secrecy and claimed parliamentary privilege to reveal its location.
It is often said that the tower did not appear on Ordnance Survey maps, despite being a 177-metre (581 ft) tall structure in the middle of central London that was open to the public for about 15 years. However, this is incorrect; the 1:25,000 (published 1971) and 1:10,000 (published 1981) Ordnance Survey maps show the tower. It is also shown in the London A-Z street atlas for 1984.
21st century
The tower is still in use, and is the site of a major UK communications hub. Microwave links have been replaced by subterranean optical fibre links for most mainstream purposes, but the former are still in use at the tower. The second floor of the base of the tower contains the TV Network Switching Centre which carries broadcasting traffic and relays signals between television broadcasters (including the BBC), production companies, advertisers, international satellite services and uplink companies. The outside broadcast control is located above the former revolving restaurant, with the kitchens on floor 35."
Photo credit for flyer: By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, (
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From London Landmarks website: (
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"BT Telecom Tower, London
A famous London landmark from the Cold War days of the 1960s
(Photos and words ©urban75, Nov 2009)
The British Telecom Communication Tower in London's West End was the first purpose-built tower to transmit high frequency radio waves, and it serves as a functional telecommunications centre designed to relay broadcast, Internet and telephone information around the world.
Built to cater for the UK's growing telecommunications requirements, Telecom Tower was designed by a team led by G R Yeats under the direction of Eric Bedford, chief architect of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. The principal building contractors were Peter Lind & Co.
Costing £2 million to construct, the 189m (620ft) cylindrical tall tower is made from 13,000 tonnes of concrete, steel and glass, and at the time of opening was the tallest building in London. It's shape was designed to reduce wind resistance and gave it stability and style.
The tower was to become the crucial artery in Britain's new microwave telecommunications network, which planners fondly imagined might survive a nuclear exchange, and so enable our PM to plaintively ring other world leaders from an enormous bunker in Wiltshire.
You can still see other towers all over the country today, which are now in 'civilian' use (see: Birmingham Snow Hill BT Tower)
They are mostly circular because the designers noted that the only buildings that survived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were round, with the shape allowing the enormous blast wave to surge round them.
The Telecom Tower's impressive height (it remained the tallest building in London until the NatWest Tower in 1981) ensured that it could beam calls over the Chiltern hills that form the north rim of the London basin.
Work on the tower started in 1961, with the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, officially opening the 'Post Office Tower' on October 8th, 1965 with a ceremonial call to the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. (The tower is now known as the 'BT Tower' or 'British Telecom Tower').
Bizarrely, Sir Billy Butlin and Tony Benn joined together on May 19 1966 to open the 'Top of the Tower' restaurant. The tower was an immediate hit with the public, attracting 1.5 million visitors in the first year.
The first 16 floors of the tower are utility platforms dedicated to radio, ventilation, refrigeration and power units.
Above the 16 utility floors is a 35-metre open section stuffed full of microwave antennae, aerials and dishes providing telecommunications transmissions carrying TV, voice and data via microwave radio.
The power units provide an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to the building and its telecommunications facilities, providing cover before the on-site generators take over in the event of a power failure.
Above this telecommunications sector are 6 further floors housing the Presentation and Function Suites, kitchens and more technical facilities. Above that are the lift motors and water tanks and crowning it all is a 40-feet high London Weather Centre radar mast.
. . .
BT decided public access to all areas was no longer viable and the restaurant closed in 1980 (by this time, more than 4.5 million people had visited the BT Tower).
. . .
The building is now Grade II listed.
Curious fact! Despite the BT Tower being one of most recognisable and conspicuous buildings in London, it was classed as an 'official secret' until fairly recently, and taking or possessing photos of the BT/Post Office Tower was technically an offence under the Official Secrets Act!
This rather begs the question: why wasn't Noel Edmonds locked up for broadcasting live Christmas Day programmes there in the seventies?!
In line with its 'secret' status, this 620ft London landmark was also omitted from all Ordnance Survey maps until the mid 1990s (it is now marked on modern maps)
Kate Hoey MP, speaking in Parliament in Feb 1993:
"Hon. Members have given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially secret. An example that has not been mentioned, but which is so trivial that it is worth mentioning, is the absence of the British Telecom tower from Ordnance Survey maps. I hope that I am covered by parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom tower does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street, London." (From Parliament Hansard report)
Location: 60 Cleveland Street, London W1. See map location."