Episode 146: Jumping Tower Bridge

Host: Hazel Baker

Hazel is an active Londoner, a keen theatre-goer and qualified  CIGA London tour guide.

She has won awards for tour guiding and is proud to be involved with some great organisations. She is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and am an honorary member of The Leaders Council.

Channel 5’s Walking Wartime Britain(Episode 3) and Yesterday Channel’s The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Het Rampjaar 1672, Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland and Arte.fr Invitation au Voyage, À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément.

 

Transcript:

Podcast Episode 146: Jumping Tower Bridge

Welcome to the London History Podcast, the show where we dive into the curious, delightful and sometimes ridiculous moments when Londoners, simply by being first, became targets for mockery, outrage, and even street-side assaults. And most marvellously of all, how these moments shaped the entire city’s future.

[00:00:12] Hazel: Welcome to the London History Podcast. I’m your host, Hazel Baker from London guided walk.co uk. I’m here guiding you through the captivating tales that have shaped our great city.

Today we are taking you back to an extraordinary winters evening on the 30th of December, 1952, to the heart of the Capitol to an unforgettable act of quick thinking and courage on one of London’s most iconic landmarks. Joining me today is London at Carl Stanley, a listener of London History Podcast who got in touch and our stiff we could cover this event.

I responded and said, of course, if you cover it with me and here we are today. So join us as we uncover the facts, the firsthand accounts, and the official investigations behind the day. Londoners witnessed a bus take flight over Tower Bridge. It’s a story that combines everyday heroism, historic engineering, and the unpredictable drama of life in mid-century London.

Let’s get started. 

So welcome, Carl.

[00:01:23] Carl: you very much for having me.

[00:01:25] Hazel: Now this is, let’s just get this sorted to everybody’s mind that we’re talking about the pretty Tower Bridge and not London Bridge, which everyone seems to get confused about.

[00:01:35] Carl: yes. The one with the gothic towers, the gothic spires. That tower

[00:01:39] Hazel: Yes,

[00:01:39] Carl: one we’re talking

[00:01:40] Hazel: the the pretty one.

[00:01:41] Carl: absolutely.

[00:01:43] Hazel: All right, so would you like to share with everybody what we are talking about today

[00:01:48] Carl: Yeah, absolutely. So I would like to just basically share and talk about the story of Albert Gunter and his bus, his day job, his commute across Tower Bridge and how he jumped Tower Bridge after it started opening.

[00:02:02] Hazel: sounds like a movie, but this was something in real life, wasn’t it?

[00:02:06] Carl: It was, yeah, it does sound very Hollywood. It really does, and I think that’s what makes it all the more fascinating, to be honest that this was actually a real event that happened, and not even recently. It happened back in 1952 as well.

[00:02:18] Hazel: On the 30th of December, 1952, so a very cold, dark night, Tuesday night

and he was driving a number 76 bus, wasn’t he?

[00:02:27] Carl: In fact, he was driving the number 78 bus yeah. He was

[00:02:30] Hazel: Oh.

[00:02:30] Carl: number 78 bus doing the Shoreditch to Dulwich routes.

[00:02:36] Hazel: To D. So what? That’s not 78 now. What is it now?

[00:02:40] Carl: to be honest, I’m not too sure. I don’t really frequent the buses, so I’m not a hundred percent sure. I’m more of a true, true person, so.

[00:02:46] Hazel: Oh, I love a good bus, especially sitting at the top and pretending to be the driver.

[00:02:51] Carl: Well, you could always do the DLR for that if you wanna pretend to be the driver.

[00:02:55] Hazel: That is true. I haven’t done the new ones yet either, so that’s something to tick off my list. So he was a bus driver and he was driving over Tower Bridge.

[00:03:06] Carl: He was, he was indeed. And if you don’t mind, just to give a bit of background context to, to the story. it, it was as, as we’ve AFA mentioned, it was the 30th of December, 1952. And don’t forget at this time or during this time, it was the London had the great smog the Pea Soupers of 1952 and it was only. Just after this event, so the, the smogs were still kind of in the air, in the atmosphere. They were starting to clear, but they hadn’t fully cleared. this still made the atmosphere and the environment around London, very hazy, very foggy, still very murky in time at times as well. Added to this, this event.

When it happened, it was the late evening as well. So not only did you still have the remnants of the great smog, but it was also dark, naturally dark hazy visibility was very poor. And then just to give an extra bit of a layer of context around how a bridge itself they were operated manually by Watchmen in terms of the raising of the bridge of the Basques. Their, their job was to manually close the gates to the bridge to ring a warning bell, and to change the road signals from green to red for the traffic and visibility was absolutely vital and crucial for this to happen. So that’s a bit of context around the background of the story, so I think you can kind of see where this all may lead towards.

[00:04:30] Hazel: Yeah, I think also it is kind of like a, a happy story after everything that happened. So nobody hasn’t heard about the, the smog events from 1952, 12,000 people died about 4,000 people. In the five days of the main smog between fifth and the ninth December we’re the coming. You know, suddenly there’s, there’s a really interesting, quite a unique story and we’re still talking about it even now.

And we’re also talking about really dark times. So December 30th, for those who are listening in summertime in Australia, you know, this is the depth of winter for us.

[00:05:09] Carl: Yeah, absolutely. And winter for us anyway, is can be quite misty. Quite hazy and foggy as it is. So yeah, so adding to the fact that we’re only just coming out at that time of the great smog, it’s just really bad in terms of visibility. But yes, that was the background. That was a bit of context. So anyway, the, the driver of this bus Albert Gunther, he was on, I say he was just doing his daily job.

He was on his shortage to dulwich route. he approaches Tower Bridge. And as he approaches Tower Bridge he noticed the traffic light is green. There are no warning bells sounding. It all seems normal basically to proceed. So in fact, that that is what he does, he proceeds and only when he’s going across the bridge does he suddenly. realised it was shock and amazement that the, the bridge road is starting to sort of shift and move and the actual bascu is starting to to rise, at this moment in time. Obviously, you could imagine the sort of. Panic that settling in and as, as the bascue is rising itself it’s already too late to stop.

You can’t just stop on the bridge. It’s rising. It’s also too late to reverse. You can’t just reverse off the bascu. It’s too late. It’s already rising. So Albert Gunter, he only really had one real choice, only one thing he could do. So he sort of, in a very Hollywood fashion, in a very fast and furious type of fashion, he slams the bus into gear and he absolutely floors it.

And just goes for it basically.

[00:06:38] Hazel: Me didn’t have very much option. I think there was 40 passengers on the bus.

[00:06:44] Carl: Yeah, I think around that number, around 40, I think. But also just to give a little bit of information about the bus itself. The bus, it was it was a Regent Mark three double decker bus, which was one of the most commonly operated buses around London at the time, in the 1950s. it weighed around about seven tons. And on top of that, add to that. Its top speed was around about 40 miles per hour. So to even think about jumping the bridge in something like that is just like bonkers, basically. Absolutely mind boggling. But that is what he did.

[00:07:20] Hazel: As you said mean he didn’t have very much option. I mean, he was a 46-year-old driver. He was very experienced. You can’t go backwards, so the only thing to go is forward. You put your foot down and just hope for the best.

[00:07:34] Carl: absolutely. That is all you can do. so yeah, so he floored it. He went for it, And against all the odds, he, he was somehow successful. He managed to jump the gap. He managed to land the bus without crashing it either. It was quite a remarkable feat to be fair. Afterwards there were sort of like injury reports, initial injury reports that came out afterwards, but they were a little bit. Vague and hazy. For example, some reports said that Albert Gunther himself, the bus driver, he had fractured his leg, but other reports said no.

It was a, a passenger that had broken a collarbone. So we’re not entirely sure. That seems a little bit vague, but however, what we do know is that everyone on board was safe and alive.

[00:08:14] Hazel: It was amazing really, when you think about those old style buses that you see in the old black and white movies, I mean. Nowadays, the, the tests that the buses have to do and all the whole going up on ramps and this, that, and the other. I mean, I think maybe a more modern bus would have a better chance of bouncing back from that five foot drop.

But for an old style bus, 40 miles an hour at top speed at that gradient as well, and just having to, to go for it and for no serious injuries. I mean, that’s a success story I think.

[00:08:49] Carl: Oh ab absolutely. And it’s absolutely remarkable. Such an achievement as well. I mean as you alluded to, like from modern day times, I mean, even for a modern day bus to try and jump the gap when the bridge is opening, it’s, it’s quite unthinkable. So yeah, in the 1950s with the, the technology of the buses then it, it was unbelievably remarkable.

And in fact, the, the bus itself was reported to sustain very little, to no damage itself, which in itself is quite incredible.

[00:09:15] Hazel: I see they built things to last then you see

[00:09:19] Carl: that’s very true. That’s very true. Oh.

[00:09:22] Hazel: about this then because, you know, he didn’t have his own TikTok account and he couldn’t like, you know, announce it to everybody. So how do we know that? You can imagine the authorities trying to keep this on the down low.

[00:09:34] Carl: Yeah. But as you can imagine something back in those times as well, something quite remarkable such as this, the media was straight on it. They were all over it. The, the media in those days, obviously not social media, but we were on about the press, the newspapers. So they were there, they were on scene, they were trying to get the lowdown, the information, and they, they did manage to interview a couple of people.

 For example, there was one passenger, Peter Dunn. He spoke to the press and he basically just told them about, upon landing there was such a loud crashing sound, crashing bang, and it was actually launched and thrown from his seat as well. he told of that was another passenger.

[00:10:10] Hazel: no, no think belts. Either. Either. So they would’ve been just sitting on one of those bouncy seats and then up. Up into the ceiling you go.

[00:10:19] Carl: Yeah, ab absolutely say no seat belts or anything like that. So they really were thrown from their seats. There was a second passenger as well that gave an interview to the press. Her name was May Shore she also. Described being thrown from her seat upon the landing, the loud impact, et cetera. She also said that she was so distraught by the event that she would never use a bus again. She would never take a bus again. She was that impacted by it. However, she was eternally grateful for Albert Gunther and his bravery basically. And for Albert himself, the main man himself, he was also interviewed not by a newspaper.

He was actually interviewed by Time Magazine. And he basically gave a little bit of insight as to his thoughts and feelings and, and how he, he went for the jump basically. So he said to Time Magazine that in his previous career, he was a tank driver in the military. So ’cause of this experience, he knew that heavy vehicles could jump gaps if needed be. because of the situation he was in, he was in heavy vehicle, he had the tank driving experience. He thought, what the heck? Give it a go. so yeah, so he gave that interview and he gave that little bit of insight as well, which I feel was quite fascinating to have that sort of background and context to him as well and his feelings about it.

[00:11:36] Hazel: You see, knowing that you were coming on, I thought I’d do my own little research. And this, this draws up a a really interesting point because you are saying he was a tank driver. I didn’t come up with that. I found in the Holloway press an article interviewing his wife rather than him. Yeah. And it says that he served as an auxiliary fireman during the worst of the London raids.

And they must, they must have quoted from him ’cause he says it was my worst experience yet. But then the wife picks up and start, starts ha describing exactly what happened. So,

[00:12:11] Carl: So multiple accounts and reports basically there.

[00:12:15] Hazel: yes,

[00:12:15] Carl: yeah, he was a bit of a media celebrity. Then I’d I’d imagine at this point a minor media celebrity.

[00:12:20] Hazel: Yeah, I mean this is on the 2nd of January that this, this was published. So he must have been telling that story for so many times in those couple of days. And also you’d think that there’d be some mention of his leg

[00:12:33] Carl: Y

[00:12:34] Hazel: if he had been hurt then.

[00:12:36] Carl: absolutely. And in terms of the reports there was then a newspaper demand basically for an inquest into this incident. So the newspapers were on the back, on the back of the authorities, basically trying to find out how did something like this even occur? How did something like this even happen? So eventually the corporation of London. Did admit fault and take responsibility for it. They blamed to the on-duty watchman at Tower Bridge at the time. He was blamed for misjudgment and error and basic,

[00:13:10] Hazel: What was else? What else did they blame him? What did they take account for

[00:13:15] Carl: oh, sorry.

[00:13:15] Hazel: that he was, he, no, he was, he was he was very new. He wasn’t experienced and he lacked training.

[00:13:22] Carl: Oh, was that, see, I did, I, I didn’t know that part of it. I just knew that he basically took the full brunt of the blame, the poor, unfortunate soul. So yeah, he took, he took the full brunt of it really. But to, trying to basically. Get some perception or insight around it. I don’t know if, if we relate back to the beginning as I said it, we were coming out at the time of the great smog of London visibility was really poor.

So I don’t know if kind of that played a part. Into it if the watchman just didn’t see the road traffic or was just so disorientated that they just didn’t realise that the traffic signals hadn’t changed or didn’t give any warning or anything like, I dunno if that played a part into it, but I’m only sort of assuming there.

[00:14:07] Hazel: Yeah, no idea whatsoever. I mean, I read the account of how it actually is supposed to, how it manually it was supposed to happen at the time. They’re supposed to look for the traffic. Then they make a decision based on their training or lack thereof of whether it’s safe for to lift the bridge.

Then they press the button, the light turns on, and then there’s also a bell.

[00:14:33] Carl: Right.

[00:14:34] Hazel: So one would assume that by triggering the, the light and the barricade, I think was manual in those times from reminded my old memories.

[00:14:43] Carl: think it was.

[00:14:45] Hazel: Then it wasn’t, and then, then the bell would’ve been triggered by pressing the button.

So maybe he just didn’t see the bus.

[00:14:53] Carl: that’s the thing with the visibility being so poor. So yeah, we don’t really know. I don’t think we’ll ever really know, but we can only surmise and assume basically. but from that, from the inquest to say the, the corporation of London, they took the blame. They blamed it on the poor watchman. And then as a follow up. There was some compensation, stroke rewards for Albert Gunter himself afterwards. so his employer London Transport. They actually rewarded him for his quick thinking and for his bravery. They gave him 10 pounds and they gave him an extra day off work. So that was his reward from his employer. corporation of London then also compensated him and theirs was a lot more generous.

To be fair, they gave him 35 pounds as a cash reward plus a fully paid week’s holiday. in Dorset. So they gave him that. And furthermore, him, him and his family were also invited to the Lord Mayor’s party as well. So he was well compensated and looked after basically for, for his quick thinking and, and for his bravery. But I think the most touching part of the whole story really is the part where, if we remember May Wolshore. The distraught passenger who said that she would never use a bus again. Well, a year after the event, she actually got married and she invited Albert Gunther to her wedding as a thanks for everything, basically.

So I thought that was a really nice touching tribute.

[00:16:24] Hazel: Oh, lovely. That shows that she, she didn’t blame him. It was just a situation.

[00:16:28] Carl: and I think that was probably the, kindest, nicest part of the reward, probably for Albert as well.

[00:16:35] Hazel: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I was having a look at the, the aftermath, you know, newspapers have gotta find something to, to print about and I was reading once again the, the Holloway Press 9th of January, 1953, and talks about how the Busman who jumped the gap at Tower Bridge last week.

Mr. Albert Gunter of the Theberton Street Islington has been invited to meet the man behind Islington’s record breaking road safety campaign. Road Safety officer Walter Strachan, and then it goes into the campaign and then it says Mr. Gunter’s story was told last week on our front page.

[00:17:13] Carl: All right, so you didn’t really get much. Yeah, that was it. One and done almost. That’s it. He’s had his five minutes of fame.

[00:17:21] Hazel: A little look at that. Once again, that article also in the Holloway press about the, the, the, the children really about his, his 13-year-old daughter Edna, and also his son Alan, at the age of seven. And it writes like a Christmas morning really. They, they wake up the next day and they read in the newspaper and they find out that it’s.

Their daddy, who’s the, the bus driver. And sh Edna, the daughter, was so excited that she went to the local newspaper shop and bought as many copies of the newspaper as possible. ’cause she was so proud. I mean, how lovely is that?

[00:17:58] Carl: it must have been really surreal as well for the children. Imagine your dad has become this almost real life superhero. And so how do you deal with that? What, what do you do? Did you ever see your dad in a different way, in a different light? I dunno. It must be, it must have been so surreal, and I can only imagine when he got to, you know, when they returned to school, imagine what all the kids were saying or their friends were saying.

Even the teachers. Yeah. It must have been such a weird, weird but wonderful time for them.

[00:18:24] Hazel: I think instead of superheroes, if the kids have been asked what they want to be when they grow up, the answer would’ve been bus driver.

[00:18:31] Carl: better than any Superman or Spider-Man out there. Be a bus driver.

[00:18:35] Hazel: Totally. Oh, a fantastic story. I, I can’t believe really that we’re still talking about it now and with you know, with all the things that happen in a crazy world, but dealing with an emergency so well and becoming a little bit of a local legend is a, is a great story to talk about London history.

[00:18:54] Carl: Yeah, it’s I think it’s one of those stories as well that’s relatively unknown to a lot of Londoners, especially like in modern times. I think it’s one of those that kind of went under the radar slightly, which is quite surprising given the sort of, I say like the Hollywood. Nature of, of the incident. So it’s really nice to sort of talk about it, bring it back into the modern world, so to speak, and just basically spread the word of it.

[00:19:19] Hazel: Absolutely. Well,

[00:19:20] Carl: you

[00:19:20] Hazel: you very much, Carl for for sharing your love and enthusiasm of London history.

much for having me. It’s been great. Thank you.

What an incredible journey we’ve taken today revisiting one of the city’s most dramatic and heartwarming moments from London history. On a cold smoggy evening in December, 1952, Albert Gunter behind the wheel of his double decker bus became an unlikely London hero. When quick thinking and courage helped a bus packed with passengers leap, a widening gap on Tower Bridge, we’ve uncovered eyewitness accounts. The passengers launched from their seats without seat belts. The astonished press interviews and touching aftermath, including rewards for Gunter and the heartfelt tributes from those whose lives were changed. We’ve explored the foggy winter, the mechanical quirks, the errors and lessons learned, and the enduring sense of community and gratitude in London, even amid chaos.

Thank you for listening to the London History Podcast, where the everyday heroes and surprising moments of our city come to life. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please don’t forget to subscribe for more tales from the streets, bridges and Hearts of London a special thanks to my guest, Carl Stanley, for his curiosity and enthusiasm, and to all our listeners who keep London Stories alive. I’m Hazel Baker from londonguidedwalks.co.uk. Until next time, keep exploring, keep asking questions, and above all, keep loving London.