PARANOIA

The November 27, 2008 New York Times (free registration required) features the article "Mile of London Tunnels for Sale, History Included," by Julia Werdigier. The British phone company, the BT Group, is trying to sell a mile-long network of tunnels originally built as bomb shelters during the Blitz in World War II:

Appearing more like the set of a James Bond movie than prime real estate, the complex still has a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies. [...]

Though some may fantasize about buying the space and living a secret life in a cavernous underground world filled with gadgets suitable for the Bat Cave, the reality would most likely be harsher. The air is dry, hot and stale. The constant rattling of London Underground trains rushing through a separate tunnel system a few feet above and the sound of giant ventilation fans make the tunnels a noisy environment. Turning the tunnels into a nightclub or hotel is out of the question because only two elevators link them to the outside world; even a small fire would be difficult to contain. [...]

David Hay, a BT historian, said legend had it that the government wanted to keep the location of the tunnels so secret that it hired foreign workers with no knowledge of the London streets to build them. BT staff members are still under strict orders not to reveal the exact location of the system, though incomplete maps have surfaced on the Internet. [...]

In 1963, the hot line established between Moscow and Washington after the Cuban missile crisis ran through the London tunnels. The buzzing complex soon became known as “underground town,” with its own recreation room complete with dartboards and billiard tables, a movie theater and two dining halls. Workers often spent the night in sleeping rooms. [...]
"In the winter months, if you didn’t come up at lunchtime, you never saw the light of day," John Warrick, a former worker, wrote on the Web site Subterranea Britannica, remembering his days in the tunnels. "Life down there was a little like living in a submarine."

If any PARANOIA fan pays the US$7.4 million to buy this place, get in touch. I'd be happy to run a wowser of an Underplex live-action game down there.

Labels: underplex