The Post Office Tower is at the very centre of Britain's communication system. It receives
and transmits telephone conversations, television programmes and computer data nationally and
globally. And after three decades, it's still doing its job. Designed in the 1960s, it's
going to come into its own in the 21st century. That's to say it's a monument looking to the
future and not to the past. When the Post Office Tower was opened in 1965, it was at
a time of great hope. There'd just been a Labour government, Harold Wilson with his
New Britain Manifesto, the white heat of the technological revolution, the new age of communication
and great respect for scientists, engineers, craftsmen. And when people saw the Post Office
Tower, in particular when they were able to go up it, there was a huge pride in that achievement
and quite rightly so. Seated on a raft of steel cables, there are 13,000 tonnes of reinforced
concrete which make up the central circular shaft and cantilevered floors. Unlike other
modern tall buildings designed to sway in the wind, Eric Bedford, the architect, realised
this tower had to be absolutely rigid to transmit microwave radio signals accurately. And when
it was opened, it was the tallest building in London.
Ever since the tower opened, the visitors for the public galleries have been a regular
sight along the streets around the base, particularly at holiday times.
But now the tower is closed to the public and it's an awful pity. In 1981, the Post
Office Tower became the Telecom Tower as the Post Office was privatised.
Morning, sir. Morning. Can I ask you before you go through to take
any of your telecom tickets, please? Yes. They say they closed it because of the
bomb that went off in 1971, but personally I believe that's just an excuse.
I was Postmaster General when the Post Office Tower, which had been started by the previous
government, was opened and it was a very proud moment. But I don't feel quite the same about
it now. I suppose the difference is, for me at any
rate, coming back, is the nation built this tower and now it doesn't belong to us. And
I'm bound to feel that, you would be surprised if I didn't. But the tower is here as a great
monument to the public enterprise that built it.
On average, 4,500 people a day take the vertical ride to the three observation galleries just
beneath the restaurant. There's priority in the lifts for diners on the way up to the
restaurant. Morning, sir. How are you? All right?
You an old GPO man? Oh, I've been here about 15 years. You opened
the building then, did you? Well, I first came here in 1965 and I was
there when it was opened by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Oh, dear, oh, dear. I didn't quite follow. Lost my eight-year-old boy when I first came
and couldn't find him anywhere. And then one of your lads said to me, there's a little
fellow going up and down the lift saying it needs oiling.
How many times have you been up? I hate to think. Quite a lot of them have
gone under Tower of Bruton's thing. Well, you've got to have been to the moon
and back, you know. Oh, well, I'm really looking forward to this, I can't tell you.
Here we are, sir. Well, thanks very much.
Oh, you're welcome. Oh, goodness me. What a sight. Goodness me.
It's a bit cloudy, but still, you do get a view of London you just couldn't get from
anywhere else. What a view, isn't it fantastic? Oh, well, London may have changed in some
respects, but in other respects it hasn't. Certainly the weather hasn't changed, but
rain or shine, from the day it opened, the revolving restaurant excited everyone. But
I wondered whether the machinery still worked. Fantastic, it does.
I used to have people here to a meal. I remember Kirillin, who was one of the vice presidents
of the Soviet Union, an extremely distinguished Soviet scientist. I brought him here. He was
very, very impressed. I loved the place and was very proud to show it off. Because remember,
this was a period when confidence was so high, people really did believe you could do anything.
And what was nice about it was that it was a public restaurant. You sat there, it wasn't
just a place for bigwigs. We could sit here and enjoy the view, and London went by us
every 22 minutes. Really something. When the Queen came in 66, I had a very bright
idea that the revolving restaurant would be a marvellous way of organising state dinners.
State dinners are based on hierarchy. The really important people, all of whom you probably
know, or the very significant people, will be with you all the time, and the interesting
people you never meet at all. So if the guests rotated every 22 minutes, you'd get some variety,
and people would get a moment of discussion with the top table, and then they'd move off
and be able to resume normal conversation. It would be quite an interesting way of running
official banquets, which normally are extremely boring.
And the final hall to the top, 580 feet above London.
Well, this, of course, is the best view of all from the top, the very top of the tower.
You don't have the windows. And you see the whole city, and all the various monuments.
This is St Paul's Cathedral, where they worshipped God, and next to it is the Bank of England,
where they worshipped money. And of course, all buildings symbolise for people what it
is they really worship, and I suppose today society worships communication. Television,
radio, mobile phones, internet. It is communication that symbolises this period of civilisation
combined with the money man.