Media Mentions


VideoRace Around The Underground

'Race Around The Underground' was a Carlton TV production (now ITV London), part of the 'Metroland' series of programmes that was first broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday 16th October 2003.

Note though, that this was a different TV programme from 'The Tube' series, in which I had appeared in one of the episodes earlier in the year - see below for that. This is also not the programmes that gets repeated on Sky Travel a lot - again, that is the programme below.

This Race Around the Undeground (23 minutes) show, covers our 'Tube4' attempt which took place in May 2003

 

VideoWatch the show

Running time: 23m 3s

 

 

   

VideoWatch the pre-show interview

Running time: 2m 6s

Before the show went out, I got interviewed by London Tonight about it, on a day when I remember I'd just had my hair cut extremely short and look a bit freaky.

But I met up with their reporter down at Great Portland Street tube and did this really short piece with them.

TV Review

Victor Lewis SmithThey day after though, I was the review in the London Evening Standard, on the Victor Lewis-Smith TV review page. He was his usual scathing self, and upset my mum when he called us a bunch of geeks.

Me? I loved it, consider it the coup de grace of all media whore-ness, and framed it and hung it in my bathroom above the toilet.

The online version of it may still appear here - depending if the ThisIsLondon website have redesigned their pages or not yet again.

 


The Tube - 24 Hours

Prior to me getting on screen in Race Around the Underground, there was a TV series simply called 'The Tube' a six part show that was broadcast in January of 2003.

Episode 2 of the show was entitled 24 hours and covers a variety of things that happen on The Tube network in the space of a one day period - one of those was following my progress around the network, is my Tube3 attempt with me & Dave.

So whilst we're not in ALL of show, we're ceratinly in a lot (just over half) of it.

This show was ultimately sold to Sky Travel and still gets repeated years later on SkyTravel about once a months, prompting an email in my inbox about once a months saying "I just saw you on TV after all this time..."

VideoWatch the show

Running time: 23m 6s, Flash Video.

 


Audio
The LUL press office, keen to plug this away for all it was worth setup an interview on the Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London with me, and the executive producer from Mosaic Films, the TV company.


Tube7 Media

When we got the world record which we'd set in May 2005 confirmed four months later, I contacted the Evening Standard who ran the story and from there, lots of other media outlets picked up on us.

As it is, in the end they met up with me & Neil at High St. Ken station to take a very contrived picture, and the reporter spoke to me on the phone to ask a whole bunch of questions including trying to get thr route out of us!

The next day - Wednesday - it appears in the Evening Standard, and then of course it seems that everyone is interested, and it seems that my mobile number is public property as I get called up by all and sundry over the next couple of days.

BBC ImageMainly (because at the time I worked for them!) I was quite thrilled that we got a mention on the BBC News website. When the original journalist got me & Neil mixed up in the caption on the photo, I was able to go into the system and correct it myself!

We got on the news website again a year later, when we did the TubeRelief charity run.

 

Radio Mentions

AudioWe get on most of the London radio stations bulletins throughout the day on Wednesday - it seems that they're all picking it up from the Evening Standard article. I have people emailing me and texting me telling me that they've heard us being mention as the "And finally..." amusing anecdotal story at the end of bulletins throughout the afternoon.

Neil Fox - the evening presenter on air - saw the article in the paper picks up on it, and gets people to call in with their tube related tunes as part of his 'Double Play' feature! In the end they plump for "Going Underground" by The Jam, and "Sound of the Underground" by Girls Aloud.

Foxy comments that "We must be unemployed or something" to spend all that time running around on train, until someone that knew me that was listening texts in to point out that I work for the BBC!

We got in various local papers & publications, but my favourite was when we appeared in On The Move - the internal staff magazine for London Underground workers. They'd used a picture I'd sent to them, but they put my name (Geoff) against a picture of Neil!


Zone 1 only challenge

We also got on TV for the Zone1 challenge in 2004, when a BBC London reporter came and followed some us round as we did the challenge, this piece then appeared on the local news that night.

VideoWatch the clip

Running time: 2m 18s, Flash Video.

 


 


:: TubeChallenge home page

:: Geofftech Homepage