This disappointingly short brief history of protest tunnelling in the UK sent us down some tunnels of our own. It seems that protest tunnels barely scratch the surface of a country that has an extensive rumoured subterranean network, mostly private, secret or unknown. While the official efforts are slowly coming to light – Who Owns England has some impressive digging into the documents – one wonders how many more William Lyttles there are yet to be found. While the ‘Mole Man’s’ house now has new life as a artist’s residence and studio, there may be more. It was also a good excuse to sift through the ‘tunnels‘ tag on BLDGBLOG (BLDGBLOG! It’s been too long) and this old piece at the much-missed Pruned, ‘Tunnel Digging as a Hobby‘,w hich traces the below ground activities of one Harrison G. Dyar, Jr in Washington. More detail at the Smithsonian Magazine: ‘The Bizarre Tale of the Tunnels, Trysts and Taxa of a Smithsonian Entomologist‘. Dyar is a fine example of the hobbyist tunneller and there are some great images and diagrams of his work. A decade ago we were lamenting the absence of a survey of Lyttle’s travails – tunnel makers are not great record keepers, it seems. Related, The Same Gates, a post about the Chelsea Mystery House of one Dr Phene (check the comments on that last link) at The Library Time Machine, and the near-obsessional paintings done of the gates by the artist Juliet Nora Williams.
Other things. The ötzi peak observation deck by noa* / photographs of NY by Ruth Orkin, ‘A Centennial Celebration’ / At De Monsterkamer, designers blog about paper / Google Song Maker / reverse any video / music by Flocks / soundtracks by ROMY / avant-garde music by the late composer Roland Kayn / Ombra Oscura, ‘a tribute to 70s Italian horror films’. Recommended.
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