The Underground Train

"I took the train to Lancaster Gate and the trouble that I met I am going to relate ..." sings Lord Kitchener on his tale of The Underground Train, one of the first calypso numbers he recorded in the UK. It's funny isn't it how some people have a real thing about the Underground and get totally intimidated, agitated or lost, while others among us seem to be immune to its pressures and terrors. Still I suppose the strangest thing that's happened to me on the tube is being stung by a wasp. I have a favourite Underground joke which I can't resist sharing ... about some guy from up North who came to London and headed for the tube but saw a notice saying dogs must be carried. Took him four hours to find a dog he was able to carry down the escalator ... This Lord Kitchener track appeared on the first of the essential London Is The Place For Me sets put together by the excellent Honest Jons team, which are exquisitely presented with invaluable photos from the Val Wilmer archives. Val herself is a London legend who is criminally under-represented on the 'net. Track down a copy of her memoirs Mama Told Me There'd Be Days Like These ...