Welcome to the London History Podcast.
I'm your host, Hazel Baker from londonguidedwalks.co.uk.
I'm here guiding you through the captivating tales that have
shaped our great city. Today we're taking you back to
an extraordinary winter's evening on the 30th of December
1952, to the heart of the capital and to an unforgettable
act of quick thinking and courage on one of London's most
iconic landmarks. Joining me today is Londoner
Carl Stanley, a listener of London History Podcast, who got
in touch and ousted if 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 first hand accounts and the official investigations
behind the day Londoners witnessed a bus take flight over
Tower Bridge. It's a story that combines
everyday heroicism, historic engineering and the
unpredictable drama of life in mid century London.
Let's get started. So welcome, Karl.
Hello. Thank you very much for having
me. 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. Yes, yes.
The one with the Gothic towers, the Gothic Spires, that Tower
Bridge, that's the one we're talking about.
Yes, absolutely. All right.
So would you like to share with everybody what we're talking
about today? 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. Sounds like a movie, but this
was something in real life wasn't.
It 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. 30th of December 1952.
So a very cold, dark night Tuesday night and he was driving
the number 76 bus, wasn't he? In fact, he was driving the
number 78 bus, yeah #78 bus doing the Shoreditch to Dulwich
route. Shoreditch to Dulwich.
So what? That's not 78 now.
What is it now? To be honest, I'm not too sure.
I don't really frequent the buses so I'm not 100% sure.
I'm more of a true two person, Sir.
Oh I love a good bus, especially sitting at the top and
pretending to be the driver. Well, you could always do the
DLR for that if you want to pretend to be the driver.
That is true. I haven't done the new ones yet
either, so that's something to take off my list.
So he was a bus driver and he was driving over Tower Bridge.
He was he was indeed. If you don't mind, just give a
bit of background context to to the story.
It it was as as we've aforementioned, 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
peace hoopers of 1952. And it was only just after this
event so that the smokes were still kind of in the air in the
atmosphere. They were starting to clear, but
they hadn't fully cleared. So this still made the
atmosphere and the environment around London very hazy, very
foggy, still very murky in 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
Tower Bridge itself, they were operated manually by Watchmen in
terms of the raising of the Bridge of the Bascules.
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. Yeah, I think also it's kind of
like a a happy story after adding that we heard about the
the smog events from 1950, two 12,000 people died, 4000 people
in the five days of the main smog between and the 9th
December. And we're talking about the 30th
of December. So just coming out of there and
you know, suddenly there's, there's a really interesting
quite a unique glory and we're still talking about it even now.
We're also talking about really dark times for December 30th.
For those you are listening in summertime in Australia, you
know this is the depth of winter for us.
Yeah, absolutely. And winter, for us anyway, is
can be quite misty, quite hazy and foggy as it is.
So yes, 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 Gunter, he was
on, I'd say he was just doing his daily job.
He was on his shortest to Dulwich route and he approaches
Tower Bridge. And as he approaches Tower
Bridge, he notices 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 realize through his shock and amazement that the the
Bridge Rd. is starting to sort of shift and move.
And so the actual bascule is starting to to rise.
At this moment in time. Obviously you could imagine the
sort of panic that's settling in.
And as as the bascule 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
bascule. 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 flaws it and just goes for it, basically.
He didn't have very much option. I think there was 40 passengers
on the. Bus, 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 3 double Decker bus, which
was one of the most commonly operated buses around London at
the time in the 1950s. And it weighed around about 7
tons. And on top of that, add to that
its top speed was around about 40 mph.
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 as.
You said, I mean, he didn't have the really 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.
Yeah, absolutely. That is all you can do.
So, yeah. So he floored it, he went for it
and 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, they 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 Gunter himself, the
bus driver, he had fractured his leg, but other reports said no,
it was a passenger that had broken a collar bone.
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
in their life. It's 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 modern
bus would have a better chance of bouncing back from that 5
foot drop. But for an old star 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. Oh.
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 their
the technology of the buses then it was unbelievably remarkable.
And in fact the the bus itself was reported to sustain very
little to the damage itself, which in itself is quite
incredible. I see they built things to last
then you see. Yeah, that's very true.
That's very true. What 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? Because.
You can imagine the is trying to think this that on the download.
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're on about the press, the newspapers.
So they were there, they were on scene, they were trying to get
the low down the information and they, they did manage to
interview a couple of people. For example, there was 1
passenger, Peter Dunn. He spoke to the press and he, he
basically just told them about upon landing, there was such a
loud crashing sound and crashing bang.
It was actually launched and thrown from his seat as well.
So he told of that there was another passenger.
No, no seat belts either, are there?
So they would have been just sitting on one of those bouncy
seats and then up, up into the ceiling you go.
Yeah, absolutely. Say no seatbelts or anything
like that. So they really were thrown from
their seat. There was a second passenger as
well that gave an interview to the press.
Her name was Mae Walshaw and she also described being thrown from
her seat upon the landing, the loud impact, etcetera.
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 Gunter and
his bravery basically, and for Albert himself, the main man
himself. He was also interviewed not by a
newspaper, it was actually interviewed by Time magazine and
he basically gave a little bit of insight as 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 because of this experience,
he knew that heavy vehicles could jump gaps if needed be.
And 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 you see, knowing that you
were coming on, I thought I'd do my own little research.
And this, this draws up a really interesting point because you're
saying he was a tank driver. I didn't come up with that.
I found in the Holloway Press an article of 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 because he says it was my worst experience yet.
But then the wife picks up and starts describing exactly what
had happened, Right? So, so multiple accounts and
reports basically there. Yeah, yeah.
It was a bit of a media celebrity then I'd I'd imagine
at this point a minor media celebrity.
Yeah, I mean, this is on the 2nd of January that this this was
published. So he must have been telling
that story so many times in those couple of days.
And also, you'd think that there'd be some mention of his
leg if he had been hurt then. Yes, absolutely.
And so in terms of the reports, there was then and 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 faults and take responsibility for it.
They blamed the on duty Watchmen at Tower Bridge at the time.
He was blamed for misjudgment and error and basic and.
What was Al? What else did they blame him?
What did they take the couch? Oh, sorry.
That he was. He was, he was.
He was very new. He wasn't experienced and he
lacked. Training Oh, was that, see, 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 the full brunt of it really, but trying to
trying to basically to 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 smug of London
and 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 just didn't
realise that the traffic signals hadn't changed or didn't give
any warning or anything. I don't know if that played a
part into it, but I'm only sort of assuming there.
Yeah, no idea whatsoever. I mean, I read the account of
how it actually is supposed to how 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 there of whether it's safe foot to
lift the bridge. Then they press the button, the
light turns on and then there's also a bell, right.
So one would assume that by triggering the the light and the
barricade I think was manual in those times from reminded my
yeah. I think it was.
Then it wasn't, and then the bell would have been triggered
by pressing the button, so maybe he just didn't see.
The bus, yeah, 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 Watchmen.
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 lbs and they gave him an extra day off work.
So that was his reward from his employer.
The Corporation of London then also compensated him and theirs
was a lot more generous to be fair.
They gave him 35 lbs as a cash reward plus a fully paid weeks
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 that the part where if we
remember Mae Walshaw, 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 Gunter to
her wedding as a thanks for everything, basically.
So I thought that was a really nice, touching tribute.
Oh lovely, that shows that she she didn't blame him, it was
just the situation. Absolutely.
I think that was probably the the kindest, nicest part of the
reward, probably for Albert as well.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I was having a look
at the the aftermath, you know, newspapers have got to find
something to to print about. And I was reading once again the
the Holloway Press. Yeah, 9th of January 1953 and
talks about how the busman who jumped the gap at Tower Bridge
last week, Mr. Albert Gunter of Burbelton St.
Islington, has been invited to meet the man behind Islington's
record-breaking Rd. Safety campaign, Rd.
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. All right, so he did really get
marked. Yeah, that was it.
One and done almost. That's it.
He's at his 5 minutes of fame. Did a look at that once again,
that article also in the Holloway Press about the, the
children, really about his, his 13 year old daughter Edna, and
also his son Alan at the age of 7.
And it's right, it's 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 Edna, the daughter was so
excited that she went to the local newspaper shop and bought
as many copies of the newspaper as possible because she was so
proud. I mean, how lovely is that?
Yeah, it must have been really surreal as well for the
children. Imagine your dad has become this
almost real life superhero. And also how do you deal with
that? What What do you do?
Do you ever see your dad in a different way, in a different
light? I don't know.
It must be. It must have been so surreal.
And I can only imagine where they 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.
I. Think instead of superheroes.
If the kids have been asked what they want to be when they grow
up, the answer would have been. Bus driver.
Absolutely better than any Superman or Spider Man out
there. Be a bus driver.
Oh. Really.
Oh, a fantastic story. Like, 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
is a great story to talk about to London history.
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 the sort of say, like the Hollywood nature
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.
Oh, absolutely. Well, thank you very much Carl
for for sharing your love and enthusiasm of London history.
Thank you very 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 heart warming 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
seatbelts, the astonished press interviews and touching
aftermath, including rewards for Gunter and the heartfelt tribute
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's stories alive, I'm Hazel Baker
from londonguidedwalks.co.uk. Until next time, keep exploring,
keep asking questions and above all, keep loving London.