"Basil Jet" wrote in message

Every bit of this programme should be of interest to people here.

Incidentally, I see that Rail is reporting that Michael Portillo says
the Beeb have asked him to do another series, though this hasn't yet
been confirmed by the Beeb itself. Viewership was apparently better than
expected (over 2m).

On Feb 7, 3:15*pm, "Basil Jet"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
On Feb 7, 12:30 pm, "
wrote:

I wonder if it's possible to get any tours of St. Pancras hotel.

I dare suggest the builders wouldn't be wildly keen on umpteen
visitors traipsing through their worksite!

You could try saying "I tell you what I want, what I really really want".

Shhh... don't tell anyone the zigga ziggahh magic password...

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Feb 7, 2:07*pm, Paul Terry wrote:

In message , "
writes

I wonder if it's possible to get any tours of St. Pancras hotel.

Probably not now that renovation has started. But it was certainly
possible to take a tour during one of the London Open House weekends a
few years ago. Sadly, I missed it for some reason.

Ditto. Rather annoyed I did now, looking back on it. Oh well.

I had one through CU Railway Club. I have a few pictures of scenes which
were in the Portillo programme now looking rather less shabby, e.g. the
grand staircase.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Recliner wrote:
"Basil Jet" wrote in message

Every bit of this programme should be of interest to people here.

Incidentally, I see that Rail is reporting that Michael Portillo says
the Beeb have asked him to do another series, though this hasn't yet
been confirmed by the Beeb itself. Viewership was apparently better
than expected (over 2m).

I hope they get a new tune to play over the next one. I liked the existing
one the first dozen times they played it.

--
We are the Strasbourg. Referendum is futile.

On 6 Feb, 17:29, martin wrote:

(While Michael Portillo points out that the public 'aren't generally
allowed' to visit Big Ben, you can write to your MP to request a tour.
It's well worth it. Details can be found athttp://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visitingandtours/bigben.cfm)

334 steps - to commemorate Bradman's innings at Leeds in 1930.

On 6 Feb, 16:04, "Basil Jet"
wrote:

Every bit of this programme should be of interest to people here.

You are right sir! How could they get so much into a ½-hr programme?
And Portillo is such a good presenter; he is a great advert for the
Oxbridge Universities, whichever one he went to. He also did a very
moving programme recently where he met some of his family in Spain,
still divided from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

He said he used to have a flat on Whitehall in the Admiralty. I wonder
how he got that? Was he in the Civil Service before becoming an MP?

When he went to the Cock Tavern, Smithfield, he said that until
recently non-bummarees were not allowed in. I thought that outsiders
were always allowed in at any time of day. I kept meaning to go there
at 6am but I never did.

As a complex, KXStP must be mind-boggling; from the far end of the new
glass canopy on the Eurostar platforms, stretching underground right
through and fully connected to KX International, and even encompassing
alternative dimensions at Platform 9¾, it must be almost an 8-hour day
to see everything.

On Feb 8, 11:51*am, Offramp wrote:
[snip]
He said he used to have a flat on Whitehall in the Admiralty. I wonder
how he got that? Was he in the Civil Service before becoming an MP?

Some ministers get flats there - I think he would have had t when he
was SoS for Defence. (John Major lived there as PM when repairs were
being done to No 10 after the IRA mortar attacks.)

"Offramp" wrote in message

On 6 Feb, 16:04, "Basil Jet"
wrote:

Every bit of this programme should be of interest to people here.

You are right sir! How could they get so much into a ½-hr programme?
And Portillo is such a good presenter; he is a great advert for the
Oxbridge Universities, whichever one he went to. He also did a very
moving programme recently where he met some of his family in Spain,
still divided from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

He said he used to have a flat on Whitehall in the Admiralty. I wonder
how he got that? Was he in the Civil Service before becoming an MP?

Wouldn't this have been while he was defence secretary in the mid 1990s?

On 8 Feb, 12:19, "Recliner" wrote:
"Offramp" wrote in message



On 6 Feb, 16:04, "Basil Jet"
wrote:

Every bit of this programme should be of interest to people here.

You are right sir! How could they get so much into a ½-hr programme?
And Portillo is such a good presenter; he is a great advert for the
Oxbridge Universities, whichever one he went to. He also did a very
moving programme recently where he met some of his family in Spain,
still divided from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

He said he used to have a flat on Whitehall in the Admiralty. I wonder
how he got that? Was he in the Civil Service before becoming an MP?

Wouldn't this have been while he was defence secretary in the mid 1990s?

That seems to be it. At 21:37 he says "At one time I used to live in a
flat up there in Admiralty House." For some reason I thought he
mentioned that he was not an MP at the time. I was wrong!