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Welcome to the London History 
Podcast. 

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I'm your host, Hazel Baker from 
londonguidedwalks.co.uk. 

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I'm here guiding you through the
captivating tales that have 

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shaped our great city. 
Today we're taking you back to 

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an extraordinary winter's 
evening on the 30th of December 

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1952, to the heart of the 
capital and to an unforgettable 

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act of quick thinking and 
courage on one of London's most 

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iconic landmarks. 
Joining me today is Londoner 

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Carl Stanley, a listener of 
London History Podcast, who got 

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in touch and ousted if we could 
cover this event. 

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I responded and said of course 
if you cover it with me. 

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And here we are today. 
So join us as we uncover the 

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facts, the first hand accounts 
and the official investigations 

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behind the day Londoners 
witnessed a bus take flight over

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Tower Bridge. 
It's a story that combines 

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everyday heroicism, historic 
engineering and the 

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unpredictable drama of life in 
mid century London. 

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Let's get started. 
So welcome, Karl. 

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Hello. 
Thank you very much for having 

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me. 
Now this is let's just get this 

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sorted to everybody's mind that 
we're talking about the pretty 

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Tower Bridge and not London 
Bridge, which everyone seems to 

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get confused about. 
Yes, yes. 

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The one with the Gothic towers, 
the Gothic Spires, that Tower 

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Bridge, that's the one we're 
talking about. 

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Yes, absolutely. 
All right. 

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So would you like to share with 
everybody what we're talking 

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about today? 
Yeah, absolutely. 

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So I would like to just 
basically share and talk about 

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the story of Albert Gunter and 
his bus, his day job, his 

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commute across Tower Bridge and 
how he jumped Tower Bridge after

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it started opening. 
Sounds like a movie, but this 

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was something in real life 
wasn't. 

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It it was, yeah. 
It does sound very Hollywood. 

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It really does. 
And I think that's what makes it

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all the more fascinating, to be 
honest, that this was actually a

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real event that happened. 
And not even recently. 

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It happened back in 1952 as 
well. 30th of December 1952. 

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So a very cold, dark night 
Tuesday night and he was driving

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the number 76 bus, wasn't he? 
In fact, he was driving the 

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number 78 bus, yeah #78 bus 
doing the Shoreditch to Dulwich 

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route. 
Shoreditch to Dulwich. 

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So what? 
That's not 78 now. 

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What is it now? 
To be honest, I'm not too sure. 

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I don't really frequent the 
buses so I'm not 100% sure. 

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I'm more of a true two person, 
Sir. 

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Oh I love a good bus, especially
sitting at the top and 

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pretending to be the driver. 
Well, you could always do the 

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DLR for that if you want to 
pretend to be the driver. 

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That is true. 
I haven't done the new ones yet 

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either, so that's something to 
take off my list. 

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So he was a bus driver and he 
was driving over Tower Bridge. 

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He was he was indeed. 
If you don't mind, just give a 

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bit of background context to to 
the story. 

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It it was as as we've 
aforementioned, it was the 30th 

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of December 1952. 
And don't forget at this time or

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during this time, it was the 
London had the great smog, the 

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peace hoopers of 1952. 
And it was only just after this 

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event so that the smokes were 
still kind of in the air in the 

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atmosphere. 
They were starting to clear, but

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they hadn't fully cleared. 
So this still made the 

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atmosphere and the environment 
around London very hazy, very 

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foggy, still very murky in at 
times as well. 

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Added to this, this event, when 
it happened, it was the late 

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evening as well. 
So not only did you still have 

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the remnants of the Great Smog, 
but it was also dark, naturally 

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dark, hazy. 
Visibility was very poor. 

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And then just to give an extra 
bit of a layer of context around

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Tower Bridge itself, they were 
operated manually by Watchmen in

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terms of the raising of the 
Bridge of the Bascules. 

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Their their job was to manually 
close the gates to the bridge, 

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to ring a warning bell and to 
change the road signals from 

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green to red for the traffic. 
And visibility was absolutely 

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vital and crucial for this to 
happen. 

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So that's a bit of context 
around the background of the 

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story. 
So I think you can kind of see 

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where this all may lead towards.
Yeah, I think also it's kind of 

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like a a happy story after 
adding that we heard about the 

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the smog events from 1950, two 
12,000 people died, 4000 people 

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in the five days of the main 
smog between and the 9th 

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December. 
And we're talking about the 30th

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of December. 
So just coming out of there and 

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you know, suddenly there's, 
there's a really interesting 

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quite a unique glory and we're 
still talking about it even now.

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We're also talking about really 
dark times for December 30th. 

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For those you are listening in 
summertime in Australia, you 

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know this is the depth of winter
for us. 

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Yeah, absolutely. 
And winter, for us anyway, is 

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can be quite misty, quite hazy 
and foggy as it is. 

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So yes, adding to the fact that 
we're only just coming out at 

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that time of the Great Smog, 
it's just really bad in terms of

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visibility. 
But yes, that was the 

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background. 
That was a bit of context. 

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So anyway, the the driver of 
this bus, Albert Gunter, he was 

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on, I'd say he was just doing 
his daily job. 

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He was on his shortest to 
Dulwich route and he approaches 

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Tower Bridge. 
And as he approaches Tower 

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Bridge, he notices the traffic 
light is green. 

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There are no warning bells 
sounding. 

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It all seems normal basically to
proceed. 

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So in fact, that that is what he
does. 

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He proceeds and only when he's 
going across the bridge does he 

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suddenly realize through his 
shock and amazement that the the

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Bridge Rd. is starting to sort 
of shift and move. 

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And so the actual bascule is 
starting to to rise. 

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At this moment in time. 
Obviously you could imagine the 

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sort of panic that's settling 
in. 

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And as as the bascule is rising 
itself, it's already too late to

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stop. 
You can't just stop on the 

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bridge. 
It's rising. 

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It's also too late to reverse. 
You can't just reverse off the 

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bascule. 
It's too late. 

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It's already rising. 
So Albert Gunter, he only really

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had one real choice, only one 
thing he could do. 

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So he sort of in a very 
Hollywood fashion, in a Very 

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Fast and Furious type of 
fashion, he slams the bus into 

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gear and he absolutely flaws it 
and just goes for it, basically.

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He didn't have very much option.
I think there was 40 passengers 

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on the. 
Bus, yeah, I think around that 

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number, around 40 I think. 
But also just to give a little 

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bit of information about the bus
itself. 

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The bus it was, it was a Regent 
Mark 3 double Decker bus, which 

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was one of the most commonly 
operated buses around London at 

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the time in the 1950s. 
And it weighed around about 7 

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tons. 
And on top of that, add to that 

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its top speed was around about 
40 mph. 

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So to even think about jumping 
the bridge in something like 

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that is just like bonkers 
basically. 

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Absolutely mind boggling. 
But that is what he did as. 

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You said, I mean, he didn't have
the really much option. 

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I mean he was a 46 year old 
driver. 

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He was very experienced. 
You can't go backwards, so the 

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only thing to go is forward. 
You put your foot down and just 

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hope for the. 
Best. 

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Yeah, absolutely. 
That is all you can do. 

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So, yeah. 
So he floored it, he went for it

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and and against all the odds, he
he was somehow successful. 

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He managed to jump the gap. 
He managed to land the bus 

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without crashing it either. 
It was quite a remarkable feat, 

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to be fair. 
Afterwards, they were sort of 

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like injury reports, initial 
injury reports that came out 

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afterwards, but they were a 
little bit vague and hazy. 

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For example, some reports said 
that Albert Gunter himself, the 

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bus driver, he had fractured his
leg, but other reports said no, 

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it was a passenger that had 
broken a collar bone. 

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So we're not entirely sure. 
That seems a little bit vague. 

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But however, what we do know is 
that everyone on board was safe 

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in their life. 
It's amazing really when you 

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think about those old style 
buses that you see in the old 

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black and white movies. 
I mean, nowadays the the tests 

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that the buses have to do and 
all the whole going up on ramps 

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and this that and the other. 
I mean, I think maybe a modern 

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bus would have a better chance 
of bouncing back from that 5 

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foot drop. 
But for an old star bus, 40 

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miles an hour at top speed at 
that gradient as well and just 

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having to to go for it and for 
no serious injuries, I mean, 

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that's a success story, I think.
Oh. 

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Absolutely. 
And it's absolutely remarkable 

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such an achievement as well. 
I mean, as you alluded to, like 

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from modern day times, I mean 
even for a modern day bus to try

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and jump the gap when the bridge
is opening, it's it's quite 

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unthinkable. 
So yeah, in the 1950s with their

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the technology of the buses then
it was unbelievably remarkable. 

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And in fact the the bus itself 
was reported to sustain very 

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little to the damage itself, 
which in itself is quite 

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incredible. 
I see they built things to last 

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then you see. 
Yeah, that's very true. 

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That's very true. 
What about this then? 

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Because, you know, he didn't 
have his own TikTok account and 

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he couldn't like, you know, 
announce it to everybody. 

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So how do we know that? 
Because. 

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You can imagine the is trying to
think this that on the download.

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Yeah, but as you can imagine, 
something back in those times as

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well, something quite remarkable
such as this, the media was 

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straight on it. 
They were all over it. 

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The, the media in those days, 
obviously not social media, but 

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we're on about the press, the 
newspapers. 

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So they were there, they were on
scene, they were trying to get 

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the low down the information and
they, they did manage to 

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interview a couple of people. 
For example, there was 1 

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passenger, Peter Dunn. 
He spoke to the press and he, he

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basically just told them about 
upon landing, there was such a 

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loud crashing sound and crashing
bang. 

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It was actually launched and 
thrown from his seat as well. 

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So he told of that there was 
another passenger. 

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No, no seat belts either, are 
there? 

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So they would have been just 
sitting on one of those bouncy 

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seats and then up, up into the 
ceiling you go. 

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Yeah, absolutely. 
Say no seatbelts or anything 

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like that. 
So they really were thrown from 

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their seat. 
There was a second passenger as 

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well that gave an interview to 
the press. 

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Her name was Mae Walshaw and she
also described being thrown from

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her seat upon the landing, the 
loud impact, etcetera. 

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She also said that she was so 
distraught by the event that she

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would never use a bus again. 
She would never take a bus 

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again, she was that impacted by 
it. 

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However, she was eternally 
grateful for Albert Gunter and 

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his bravery basically, and for 
Albert himself, the main man 

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himself. 
He was also interviewed not by a

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newspaper, it was actually 
interviewed by Time magazine and

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he basically gave a little bit 
of insight as his thoughts and 

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feelings and, and how he he went
for the jump basically. 

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So he said to Time magazine that
in his previous career he was a 

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tank driver in the military. 
So because of this experience, 

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he knew that heavy vehicles 
could jump gaps if needed be. 

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And because of the situation he 
was in, he was in heavy vehicle,

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he had the tank driving 
experience. 

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He thought, what the heck, give 
it a go. 

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So, yeah, so he gave that 
interview and he gave that 

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little bit of insight as well, 
which I feel was quite 

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fascinating to have that sort of
background and context to him as

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well and his feelings about. 
It you see, knowing that you 

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were coming on, I thought I'd do
my own little research. 

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And this, this draws up a really
interesting point because you're

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saying he was a tank driver. 
I didn't come up with that. 

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I found in the Holloway Press an
article of interviewing his 

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wife. 
Rather than him. 

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Yeah, and it says that he served
as an auxiliary fireman during 

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the worst of the London raids. 
And they must, they must have 

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quoted from him because he says 
it was my worst experience yet. 

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But then the wife picks up and 
starts describing exactly what 

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had happened, Right? 
So, so multiple accounts and 

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reports basically there. 
Yeah, yeah. 

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It was a bit of a media 
celebrity then I'd I'd imagine 

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at this point a minor media 
celebrity. 

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Yeah, I mean, this is on the 2nd
of January that this this was 

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published. 
So he must have been telling 

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that story so many times in 
those couple of days. 

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And also, you'd think that 
there'd be some mention of his 

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leg if he had been hurt then. 
Yes, absolutely. 

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And so in terms of the reports, 
there was then and newspaper 

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demand basically for an inquest 
into this incident. 

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So the newspapers were on the 
back, on the back of the 

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authorities basically trying to 
find out how did something like 

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this even occur? 
How did something like this even

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happen? 
So eventually the Corporation of

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London did admit faults and take
responsibility for it. 

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They blamed the on duty Watchmen
at Tower Bridge at the time. 

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He was blamed for misjudgment 
and error and basic and. 

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What was Al? 
What else did they blame him? 

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What did they take the couch? 
Oh, sorry. 

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That he was. 
He was, he was. 

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He was very new. 
He wasn't experienced and he 

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lacked. 
Training Oh, was that, see, I, I

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didn't know that part of it. 
I just knew that he basically 

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took the full brunt of the blame
the poor unfortunate soul. 

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So yeah, he took the full brunt 
of it really, but trying to 

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trying to basically to get some 
perception or insight around it.

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I don't know if if we relate 
back to the beginning, as I said

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it, we were coming out at the 
time of the great smug of London

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and visibility was really poor. 
So I don't know if kind of that 

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played a part into it. 
If the watchman just didn't see 

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the road traffic or was just so 
disorientated that just didn't 

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realise that the traffic signals
hadn't changed or didn't give 

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any warning or anything. 
I don't know if that played a 

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part into it, but I'm only sort 
of assuming there. 

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Yeah, no idea whatsoever. 
I mean, I read the account of 

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how it actually is supposed to 
how manually it was supposed to 

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happen at the time they're 
supposed to look for the 

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traffic. 
Then they make a decision based 

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on their training or lack there 
of whether it's safe foot to 

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lift the bridge. 
Then they press the button, the 

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light turns on and then there's 
also a bell, right. 

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So one would assume that by 
triggering the the light and the

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barricade I think was manual in 
those times from reminded my 

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yeah. 
I think it was. 

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Then it wasn't, and then the 
bell would have been triggered 

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by pressing the button, so maybe
he just didn't see. 

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The bus, yeah, that's the thing 
with the visibility being so 

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poor. 
So yeah, we don't really know. 

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I don't think we'll ever really 
know, but we can only surmise 

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and assume basically. 
But from that, from the inquest 

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to say the, the Corporation of 
London, they took the blame, 

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they blamed it on the poor 
Watchmen. 

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And then as a follow up there 
was some compensation stroke 

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rewards for Albert Gunter 
himself afterwards. 

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So his employer, London 
Transport, they actually 

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00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,800
rewarded him for his quick 
thinking and for his bravery. 

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They gave him 10 lbs and they 
gave him an extra day off work. 

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So that was his reward from his 
employer. 

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The Corporation of London then 
also compensated him and theirs 

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00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:38,920
was a lot more generous to be 
fair. 

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They gave him 35 lbs as a cash 
reward plus a fully paid weeks 

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00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,680
holiday in Dorset. 
So they gave him that and 

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00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,600
furthermore, him, him and his 
family were also invited to the 

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00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:57,000
Lord Mayor's party as well. 
So he was well compensated and 

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00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,840
looked after basically for, for 
his quick thinking and and for 

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00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,800
his bravery. 
But I think the most touching 

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00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,080
part of the whole story really 
is that the part where if we 

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remember Mae Walshaw, the 
distraught passenger who said 

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00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:14,120
that she would never use a bus 
again, well, a year after the 

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00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,600
event, she actually got married 
and she invited Albert Gunter to

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00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,440
her wedding as a thanks for 
everything, basically. 

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00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,600
So I thought that was a really 
nice, touching tribute. 

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00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,200
Oh lovely, that shows that she 
she didn't blame him, it was 

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00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,120
just the situation. 
Absolutely. 

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00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,880
I think that was probably the 
the kindest, nicest part of the 

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00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:34,600
reward, probably for Albert as 
well. 

300
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,840
Yeah, absolutely. 
I mean, when I was having a look

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00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,280
at the the aftermath, you know, 
newspapers have got to find 

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00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,160
something to to print about. 
And I was reading once again the

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00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,520
the Holloway Press. 
Yeah, 9th of January 1953 and 

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00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,720
talks about how the busman who 
jumped the gap at Tower Bridge 

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00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,760
last week, Mr. Albert Gunter of 
Burbelton St. 

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00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,360
Islington, has been invited to 
meet the man behind Islington's 

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00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:04,079
record-breaking Rd. 
Safety campaign, Rd. 

308
00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:08,560
Safety Officer Walter Strachan. 
And then it goes into the 

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00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,319
campaign and then it says Mr. 
Gunter's story was told last 

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00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,920
week on our front page. 
All right, so he did really get 

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00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:16,160
marked. 
Yeah, that was it. 

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00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:17,839
One and done almost. 
That's it. 

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00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:23,440
He's at his 5 minutes of fame. 
Did a look at that once again, 

314
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,880
that article also in the 
Holloway Press about the, the 

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00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,400
children, really about his, his 
13 year old daughter Edna, and 

316
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,040
also his son Alan at the age of 
7. 

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00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,680
And it's right, it's like a 
Christmas morning really. 

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00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,640
They, they wake up the next day 
and they read in the newspaper 

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00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,280
and they find out that it's 
their daddy who's the, the bus 

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00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,760
driver. 
And Edna, the daughter was so 

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00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,560
excited that she went to the 
local newspaper shop and bought 

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00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,880
as many copies of the newspaper 
as possible because she was so 

323
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,080
proud. 
I mean, how lovely is that? 

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00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,280
Yeah, it must have been really 
surreal as well for the 

325
00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:02,520
children. 
Imagine your dad has become this

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00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,480
almost real life superhero. 
And also how do you deal with 

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00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:06,800
that? 
What What do you do? 

328
00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:09,320
Do you ever see your dad in a 
different way, in a different 

329
00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:10,080
light? 
I don't know. 

330
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:11,640
It must be. 
It must have been so surreal. 

331
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,360
And I can only imagine where 
they got to, you know, when they

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00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,080
returned to school, imagine what
all the kids were saying or 

333
00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,640
their friends were saying, even 
the teachers. 

334
00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,760
Yeah. 
It must have been such a weird, 

335
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:23,640
weird, but wonderful time for 
them. 

336
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,640
I. 
Think instead of superheroes. 

337
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:28,760
If the kids have been asked what
they want to be when they grow 

338
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,840
up, the answer would have been. 
Bus driver. 

339
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,760
Absolutely better than any 
Superman or Spider Man out 

340
00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:34,880
there. 
Be a bus driver. 

341
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,360
Oh. 
Really. 

342
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,200
Oh, a fantastic story. 
Like, I can't believe really 

343
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,840
that we're still talking about 
it now and with, you know, with 

344
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,280
all the things that happen in a 
crazy world, but dealing with an

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00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:51,720
emergency so well and becoming a
little bit of a local legend is 

346
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,440
is a great story to talk about 
to London history. 

347
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,720
Yeah, it's, I think it's one of 
those stories as well. 

348
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,560
That's relatively unknown to a 
lot of Londoners, especially 

349
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:02,800
like in modern times. 
I think it's one of those that 

350
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,880
kind of went under the radar 
slightly, which is quite 

351
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:10,400
surprising given the the sort of
say, like the Hollywood nature 

352
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,800
of the incident. 
So it's really nice to sort of 

353
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,560
talk about it, bring it back 
into the modern world, so to 

354
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,000
speak, and just basically spread
the word of it. 

355
00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,600
Oh, absolutely. 
Well, thank you very much Carl 

356
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,920
for for sharing your love and 
enthusiasm of London history. 

357
00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:25,960
Thank you very much for having 
me. 

358
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:26,920
It's been great. 
Thank you. 

359
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,520
What an incredible journey we've
taken today, revisiting one of 

360
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,840
the city's most dramatic and 
heart warming moments from 

361
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:40,400
London history. 
On a cold, smoggy evening in 

362
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:45,240
December 1952, Albert Gunter, 
behind the wheel of his double 

363
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,960
Decker bus, became an unlikely 
London hero when quick thinking 

364
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:54,640
and courage helped a bus packed 
with passengers leap a widening 

365
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,320
gap on Tower Bridge. 
We've uncovered eyewitness 

366
00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,400
accounts the passengers launched
from their seats without 

367
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,280
seatbelts, the astonished press 
interviews and touching 

368
00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:10,400
aftermath, including rewards for
Gunter and the heartfelt tribute

369
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,640
from those whose lives were 
changed. 

370
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,040
We've explored the foggy winter,
the mechanical quirks, the 

371
00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,400
errors and lessons learned, and 
the enduring sense of community 

372
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,760
and gratitude in London, even 
amid chaos. 

373
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,800
Thank you for listening to the 
London History Podcast, where 

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00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,680
the everyday heroes and 
surprising moments of our city 

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00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,320
come to life. 
If you've enjoyed this episode, 

376
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,160
please don't forget to subscribe
for more tales from the streets,

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00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,880
bridges and hearts of London. 
A special thanks to my guest 

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00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,640
Carl Stanley for his curiosity 
and enthusiasm, and to all our 

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00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:50,080
listeners who keep London's 
stories alive, I'm Hazel Baker 

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00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:55,120
from londonguidedwalks.co.uk. 
Until next time, keep exploring,

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00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,440
keep asking questions and above 
all, keep loving London.