WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.840 The Post Office Tower is at the very centre of Britain's communication system. It receives 00:13.840 --> 00:19.200 and transmits telephone conversations, television programmes and computer data nationally and 00:19.200 --> 00:26.320 globally. And after three decades, it's still doing its job. Designed in the 1960s, it's 00:26.320 --> 00:30.760 going to come into its own in the 21st century. That's to say it's a monument looking to the 00:30.760 --> 00:38.720 future and not to the past. When the Post Office Tower was opened in 1965, it was at 00:38.720 --> 00:42.040 a time of great hope. There'd just been a Labour government, Harold Wilson with his 00:42.040 --> 00:47.320 New Britain Manifesto, the white heat of the technological revolution, the new age of communication 00:47.320 --> 00:52.880 and great respect for scientists, engineers, craftsmen. And when people saw the Post Office 00:52.880 --> 00:57.560 Tower, in particular when they were able to go up it, there was a huge pride in that achievement 00:57.560 --> 01:05.280 and quite rightly so. Seated on a raft of steel cables, there are 13,000 tonnes of reinforced 01:05.280 --> 01:10.980 concrete which make up the central circular shaft and cantilevered floors. Unlike other 01:10.980 --> 01:15.880 modern tall buildings designed to sway in the wind, Eric Bedford, the architect, realised 01:15.880 --> 01:21.280 this tower had to be absolutely rigid to transmit microwave radio signals accurately. And when 01:21.280 --> 01:31.200 it was opened, it was the tallest building in London. 01:31.200 --> 01:34.960 Ever since the tower opened, the visitors for the public galleries have been a regular 01:34.960 --> 01:41.600 sight along the streets around the base, particularly at holiday times. 01:41.600 --> 01:46.760 But now the tower is closed to the public and it's an awful pity. In 1981, the Post 01:46.760 --> 01:51.400 Office Tower became the Telecom Tower as the Post Office was privatised. 01:51.400 --> 01:58.000 Morning, sir. Morning. Can I ask you before you go through to take 01:58.000 --> 02:02.080 any of your telecom tickets, please? Yes. They say they closed it because of the 02:02.080 --> 02:10.160 bomb that went off in 1971, but personally I believe that's just an excuse. 02:10.160 --> 02:14.020 I was Postmaster General when the Post Office Tower, which had been started by the previous 02:14.020 --> 02:19.480 government, was opened and it was a very proud moment. But I don't feel quite the same about 02:19.480 --> 02:23.720 it now. I suppose the difference is, for me at any 02:23.720 --> 02:29.600 rate, coming back, is the nation built this tower and now it doesn't belong to us. And 02:29.600 --> 02:34.560 I'm bound to feel that, you would be surprised if I didn't. But the tower is here as a great 02:34.560 --> 02:40.640 monument to the public enterprise that built it. 02:40.640 --> 02:46.120 On average, 4,500 people a day take the vertical ride to the three observation galleries just 02:46.120 --> 02:50.120 beneath the restaurant. There's priority in the lifts for diners on the way up to the 02:50.120 --> 02:54.080 restaurant. Morning, sir. How are you? All right? 02:54.080 --> 03:00.080 You an old GPO man? Oh, I've been here about 15 years. You opened 03:00.080 --> 03:03.200 the building then, did you? Well, I first came here in 1965 and I was 03:03.200 --> 03:05.520 there when it was opened by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. 03:05.520 --> 03:10.320 Oh, dear, oh, dear. I didn't quite follow. Lost my eight-year-old boy when I first came 03:10.320 --> 03:14.040 and couldn't find him anywhere. And then one of your lads said to me, there's a little 03:14.040 --> 03:17.000 fellow going up and down the lift saying it needs oiling. 03:17.000 --> 03:25.120 How many times have you been up? I hate to think. Quite a lot of them have 03:25.120 --> 03:27.800 gone under Tower of Bruton's thing. Well, you've got to have been to the moon 03:27.800 --> 03:33.800 and back, you know. Oh, well, I'm really looking forward to this, I can't tell you. 03:33.800 --> 03:40.800 Here we are, sir. Well, thanks very much. 03:40.800 --> 03:50.320 Oh, you're welcome. Oh, goodness me. What a sight. Goodness me. 03:50.320 --> 03:54.760 It's a bit cloudy, but still, you do get a view of London you just couldn't get from 03:54.760 --> 04:04.960 anywhere else. What a view, isn't it fantastic? Oh, well, London may have changed in some 04:04.960 --> 04:12.160 respects, but in other respects it hasn't. Certainly the weather hasn't changed, but 04:12.160 --> 04:18.120 rain or shine, from the day it opened, the revolving restaurant excited everyone. But 04:18.120 --> 04:34.920 I wondered whether the machinery still worked. Fantastic, it does. 04:34.920 --> 04:40.400 I used to have people here to a meal. I remember Kirillin, who was one of the vice presidents 04:40.400 --> 04:46.680 of the Soviet Union, an extremely distinguished Soviet scientist. I brought him here. He was 04:46.680 --> 04:53.080 very, very impressed. I loved the place and was very proud to show it off. Because remember, 04:53.080 --> 05:02.760 this was a period when confidence was so high, people really did believe you could do anything. 05:02.760 --> 05:06.520 And what was nice about it was that it was a public restaurant. You sat there, it wasn't 05:06.520 --> 05:11.360 just a place for bigwigs. We could sit here and enjoy the view, and London went by us 05:11.360 --> 05:21.360 every 22 minutes. Really something. When the Queen came in 66, I had a very bright 05:21.360 --> 05:27.080 idea that the revolving restaurant would be a marvellous way of organising state dinners. 05:27.080 --> 05:32.040 State dinners are based on hierarchy. The really important people, all of whom you probably 05:32.040 --> 05:37.560 know, or the very significant people, will be with you all the time, and the interesting 05:37.560 --> 05:43.600 people you never meet at all. So if the guests rotated every 22 minutes, you'd get some variety, 05:43.600 --> 05:47.000 and people would get a moment of discussion with the top table, and then they'd move off 05:47.000 --> 05:52.600 and be able to resume normal conversation. It would be quite an interesting way of running 05:52.600 --> 06:09.600 official banquets, which normally are extremely boring. 06:22.600 --> 06:35.600 And the final hall to the top, 580 feet above London. 06:35.600 --> 06:44.800 Well, this, of course, is the best view of all from the top, the very top of the tower. 06:44.800 --> 06:51.280 You don't have the windows. And you see the whole city, and all the various monuments. 06:51.280 --> 06:56.000 This is St Paul's Cathedral, where they worshipped God, and next to it is the Bank of England, 06:56.000 --> 07:02.040 where they worshipped money. And of course, all buildings symbolise for people what it 07:02.040 --> 07:08.640 is they really worship, and I suppose today society worships communication. Television, 07:08.640 --> 07:16.400 radio, mobile phones, internet. It is communication that symbolises this period of civilisation 07:16.400 --> 07:30.720 combined with the money man.