Ridiculous fact of the week

The existence of the building now known as the BT Tower, which is six hundred feet high (the main structure is 581 feet high but the aerial rigging above that takes the total height to 627 feet) visible from most of London, and had been open to the public, was once covered by the Official Secrets Act.

The tallest building in the country when completed in 1965 as the Post Office Tower, it is still one of the dozen tallest buildings in the capital. The tower did not appear on Ordnance Survey maps until after its existence was officially recorded in Hansard after it was mentioned in the House of Commons in 1993 by Kate Hoey MP.

More about the BT Tower here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Russians knew where all our 'secret' sites were, they didn't need spies they just looked for blank spaces on OS Maps.
10:43 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
I have heard that said.

Not knowing the inner workings of the Russian intelligence agencies I don't know for certain whether it was true but in a country where the existence of a 600 foot building could be an official secret, even though it had been opened by Tony Benn and Harold Wilson and been open to the public for much of the time it was an official secret, anything is possible.
12:38 am
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