Which dark episode in Britain’s past is marked by a black splodge on the clock tower at Horse Guards Parade? Why was Marble Arch moved two miles across London to its present site? And what makes steam billow from New York’s pavements?
The answers are to be found in a fascinating new series called Searching For Secrets, which asked experts from across the globe to dig up – literally, in some cases – intriguing historical nuggets as a means of telling more expansive stories about some of the world’s great cities.
The series begins on Monday on the Smithsonian Channel with a delve into New York’s hidden history. London, Berlin, Paris, Singapore and San Francisco feature in future episodes, but before that, here’s a taster of some of the historical treats in store…
QUEEN VICTORIA’S MOVING MONUMENT
Experts from across the globe examine the hidden history of the world’s major cities in fascinating new series Searching For Secrets. Pictured: Marble Arch
Having given birth to five children in the first six years of her marriage to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria found herself short of space at Buckingham Palace and in urgent need of either a new home, or a major extension to her existing one.
‘She chose to expand when she found she didn’t have enough space, but there was a problem,’ explains London history expert Katie Wignall in the show. ‘There was something in the way…’
That something was Marble Arch, the grand entrance to Buckingham Palace at the time. Depicting scenes from the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar, two key British victories during the Napoleonic Wars, the magnificent structure made of Carrara marble and completed in 1833 was too valuable and historically important to simply be demolished.
So in 1850, teams of labourers and artisans, under the guidance of architect Thomas Cubitt, moved it lock, stock and barrel almost two miles across London and rebuilt it as the grand entrance to Hyde Park, where it still stands today.
A newer front wing to Buckingham Palace was built where Marble Arch once stood and now, more than a century and a half on, it needs an expert’s eye to spot the royal join.
‘Look closely at the iconic front of the building, complete with the balcony where the Royal Family greet the public – and then gaze away to the right,’ says Katie Wignall.
‘The older building on the right is slightly behind the other one and made of a different stone. This is the clue to understanding that these are two different buildings.’
A STEAMY NEW YORK STORY
Steam heating company founder Steve Mosto, revealed the steam that comes from manhole covers in The Big Apple (pictured) stems from the Great White Hurricane of March 1888
The opening episode on New York explains the steam that billows from manhole covers in The Big Apple. ‘It all stems from the Great White Hurricane of March 1888, a blizzard that covered the city in 3ft of ice and snow and destroyed power lines,’ says steam heating company founder Steve Mosto.
‘The authorities dug miles of trenches so the power lines could be placed underground, away from the threat of storms.’ Inventor Thomas Edison used the trenches to install pipes that pumped steam for heating city buildings.
‘They continue to do so to this day,’ says Steve.
‘Edison’s 100 miles of pipes heat 1,800 buildings in Manhattan, including the Chrysler Building. Every so often it leaks out.’
WHO BLEW UP THE STATUE OF LIBERTY?
The viewing platform was seriously damaged after German agents blew up a depot on nearby Black Tom Island in July 1916. Pictured: Black Tom Island after the explosion that damaged Lady Liberty
Sitting beneath the flame in Lady Liberty’s raised right hand is the upper viewing platform at the Statue of Liberty. But it’s been out of action for more than 100 years because it’s simply too dangerous to use, explains Dr Timothy White of New Jersey City University.
‘German agents, opposed to America’s support of the British during World War One, infiltrated a munitions depot on nearby Black Tom Island and blew it up in July 1916.
‘It caused explosions that registered on the Richter Scale and the shrapnel struck Lady Liberty’s right arm, damaging it in such a serious way that it rendered the viewing platform it supported totally unsafe. Sadly it remains that way to this day.’
ESCAPE FROM THE GALLOWS
A small circular stone, trodden on by thousands of shoppers and office workers every day as they make their way past Marble Arch and onto Oxford Street, marks the site of the Tyburn Tree, the gallows around which up to 100,000 people would gather to witness hangings – and occasionally miraculous reprieves.
Burglar John Smith remained alive for 15 minutes, dangling in the air with a noose around his neck, on Christmas Eve 1705, before word arrived of a judicial reprieve. He was known as Half-hanged Smith for the rest of his life.
The London episode also explains why the city’s taxis owe part of their unique design to Victorian gentlemen and their top hats, and reveals the pungent and potentially dangerous power source beneath the streets that has kept a gas-powered streetlight flickering for more than a century outside the Savoy Hotel.
A BLACK STAIN ON OUR HISTORY
London history expert Katie Wignall, said the black smudge on the clock (pictured) on the Horse Guards building in Whitehall, marks when King Charles I was executed
Easily missable, unless you know what you’re looking for, is a black smudge on the clock on the Horse Guards building in Whitehall. Legend says it marks the time – 2pm on a freezing January day in 1649 – when King Charles I was executed outside nearby Banqueting House.
‘Most of the onlookers were supporters of the monarchy so there were no cheers, only silence and then a terrible groan,’ says Katie Wignall. ‘Legend has it that the mark represents the black stain on the country’s history that the beheading caused.’
Searching For Secrets, Monday, 8pm, Smithsonian Channel, available on Freeview.