http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...dons-Tower-Bridge.html
The amazing telescope that lets you see New York from London's Tower Bridge
By Paul Harris
Last updated at 10:49 AM on 23rd May 2008
Comments (0) Add to My Stories
Deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, forgotten for the best part of a century, lies a tunnel linking London and New York.
It was built on the whim of a Victorian inventor with the aim of linking two great cities and developing the kind of friendship that still exists today.
Enlarge
London waving: Looking down the Telectroscope at Tower Bridge end
But bad fortune befell the venture - and the tunnel lay idle ever after.
Until today, that is, when the project was rekindled with a modern twist.
Using a giant "electronic telescope" and state-of-the-art technology, England and America were joined once again when the tunnel entrances were reopened beside Tower Bridge in London and Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
It meant that New Yorkers and Londoners could wave to each other across the sea and begin the kind of mute dialogue that was only a dream all those years ago for eccentric engineering entrepreneur Alexander Stanhope St George (deceased).
Or at least, that's the way the story goes.
What is certain is that now you can indeed stand on the South Bank of the UK end of the 21st century "Telectroscope" - and see someone standing 3,460 miles away across the water.
Enlarge
It's raining in New York: Taking in the view on Brooklyn bridge
And - oh dear - it didn't take us Brits too long to utilise it for a bit of fun at the expense of our American cousins.
First there was the chap unbuttoning his shirt for an interested party on the other side.
Then came the group whose hand-held banner urged an assembly of curious New York cops to hop on one leg (which, incidentally, they declined).
Goodness only knows what everyone will get up to when darkness falls. But artist and creator Paul St George is delighted that this reworking of his great-grandfather's project is helping to spread a little happiness.
It takes some while to grasp the concept of the Telectroscope, unless you're happy enough to accept as gospel the story behind its creation.
According to the publicity material being handed out yesterday, the original tunnel was pioneered by an orang-utan running its entire length in a safety test before disappearing with the wife of the New York City mayor. Perhaps you get the picture now.
The truth is that the Telectroscope - installed by Artichoke, the same people who spectacularly paraded a mechanical elephant through London two years ago - probably employs the latest broadband, camera and satellite technology to close the gap between our two great nations.
Anyone you asked today, however, simply put it down to magic.
The Telectroscope uses 6ft screens and a Jules Verne style telescope that gleams with brass and an array of Victorian dials. Participants peer into one end of the screen - and hey presto - they can see anyone standing at the other side.
Much of the first few hours of this morning were taken up by bemused-looking Americans gazing cautiously at the antics of the London transatlantic gazers before realising that it wasn't a set-up, that they weren't being filmed for a candid camera TV stunt, and that it wasn't a terrorist threat.
Facebook
Twitter