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Great thinkers will enliven Tube trips

THE next train is for Heathrow Airport, via Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus - and spiritual enlightenment.

London commuters in Britain are being offered the words of great thinkers including Shakespeare, Gandhi and Einstein to enliven their sometimes dull journeys on the city's Tube.

Subway drivers have been given a book of profound sayings, which they are being encouraged to dispense over the intercom, subway operator Transport for London said yesterday.

The project is the idea of artist Jeremy Deller, who said he was motivated by annoyance at the recorded announcements that bombard Tube passengers, such as "Mind the gap" and "Stand clear of the closing doors."

"I often wish announcements were more personal and reflected the realities and absurdities of living and working in a big city," Deller said. "I think the traveling public enjoys some humor and unexpected insight during their journey."

The sayings include proverbs from around the world - including Swedish maxim "The afternoon knows what the morning never expected" - and phrases by the likes of William Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats and Victor Hugo.

The transport department said that there was no end date for the project but it has asked passengers who hear the announcements to send in their reactions by e-mail.





 

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