So hands up who knew that the BBC still has a secret underground bunker, 10-floors deep into a mountain in the middle of nowhere, built during the Cold War in case there was a nuclear Armageddon?
Buried 10 storeys into the hillside is a fully functioning nuclear bunker, built at great expense in 1966, at the height of the Cold War. So few people knew of its existence that, even when it was being built, visiting trainees were told not to ask why all that concrete was being mixed. Those involved in its construction were obliged to sign the Official Secrets Act, and even now you won’t get a peep out of the BBC press office to acknowledge the reality.
Measuring 175ft long, the bunker – known to high command as Pawn: Protected Area Wood Norton – remains ready for service in the event of an attack on London. It is said to have beds and ping-pong tables and is connected by tunnels dug into the hillside to a mast on top of the hill which is fitted with a super high-frequency satellite dish.
It made sense at the time to have a broadcaster on the air at a time of nuclear attack, but the Russians aren’t coming any more. So now the only question is…why on Earth would the Soviets have thought that silencing the BBC was in their interests?
The BBC are squealing that freezing the telly tax is equivalent to waterboarding – so how about selling this Cold War relic off to raise some money?
Cross-posted on AllSeeingEye
It’s where Osama Bin Ladens been hiding out, you’ve just blown his cover
Must be me but i knew about this facility years ago and I remeber it being mentioned on the BBC and in books ! mind i find it odd and stupid that they still hang on to it as if there was ever a need to use it i.e.war insurection or what ever i would make it my last mission to super glue the bloody locks shut !!
researching the area . Do you know when the tunnels in the hill were cut and who by.
There is a suggestion the Duc d,aumale who owned the woodnorton estate way back in the late 1890s cut tunnels for his estate workers,
I also found a site that suggested tunnels cut 1930s.
Any help appreciated. Thanks
They can’t sell it that bunker is vital !
In the event of a nuclear or biological on the UK this bunker will ensure that the BBC is able to pump out a constant stream of pre-recorded Graham Norton chat shows , global warming documentaries and Strictly Come Dancing to the handful of dazed surviors.
The living will truly envy the dead.
Incidentally they kept the Aspidistra transmitter from WW2 ..
http://www.yourcrowborough.co.uk/history/the-biggest-aspidistra-in-crowborough
running right up to the early 80’s. An ex-colleague of mine who worked for the Beeb used to run monthly tests on it just in case.
Talking of the cold war and the beeboid fellow travelers, I wonder if anyone has had a look at where the Cambridge contempories of the Burgess, Philby lot ended up.
Its probably a fair bet that a number of them were big in the beeb and where the beeboid idealogical fellow travelling began. Communist sleepers in the bbc would have been a real coup for the Soviets and all the evidence points to the fact that they succeeded !
It would make an interesting area of research if anyone has the time.
We already knew that Guy Burgess joined the BBC in 1936 – and was producer of “The Week in Westminster”. He was then seconded to MI5 when the war started.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess
Undoubtedly you’re right. Burgess famously interviewed Philby on the radio about his Spanish Civil War experiences.
I can remember reading the Telegraph’s obit. of an-ex BBC Farming Correspondent a few years back.
He actually had a farming background, and was specifically employed (in 1946) by Lord Reith to “counteract the Left-wing bias in the corporation.”
The “Sword Of Honour” trilogy gives a pretty good (‘fictional’) idea of the ideologies and priorities of our treasured national broadcaster during WW2. Amongst other things……
Since the Falklands War the BBC has made it clear that it is perfectly happy to compromise and undermine our troops during wartime, so what possible use could the bunker now serve ?… unless the BBC just wanted to be sure it could safely broadcast anti-British propaganda in any scenario ?
In those days the BBC was a voice of freedom, the ‘long march’ hadn’t got as far as it has today.
That room is now solely used for testing rent boys, surely you all knew that?
You are Martin and I claim my £10. 😛
Thinking about it, what a great place to put them in peacetime.
What, the rent boys?
Hobbit rent boys.
Incidentally, a bunker in the middle of Worcestershire wouldn’t be much use in the event of the four-minute warning, now would it ? Not much chance to scuttle up the motorway from London (or now Ha! Ha! Ha! SALFORD) is there ?
Obviously this wouldn’t apply to the lucky buggers at BBC Hereford & Worcester.
Cold War’s over, bitches. Sell that shit. That way we don’t have to put up with so much of your ‘waaaaah, they’re taking away our monies’.
I see it clear, the locked out Jeremy Paxman singing Que sera sera, drowned out by the slurping of velvet being tipped, and bumming.
You are Martin martin, and I claim another £10.