Around the World on the DLR: From East India to Cyprus

The East India Company had its military training HQ in Addiscombe, just east of Croydon. It was an amusing story that, despite all their conquests in Asia, the trainees would not enter Croydon as they were regarded as posh boys and would get beaten up or worse. The company has long gone but Croydon hasn't changed much 😂.

"but there is an echo of the old trade in the changing trains here will drive you bananas"....🤣🤣🤣

“Your man Christopher Columbus…” Jago the Journalist is always with the times 😂

You can also "cross Europe" on London Overground from Turkey Street to Denmark Hill

Not a station but Russia Dock Woodland is a hidden gem of a park where you could be walking a long a muddy path unaware you were in London until you see Canary Wharf through the trees.

Some DLR Trivia: The large station now called Canary Wharf was originally designed and built as a tiny two-platform station called Canary Quay, CAQ as it was shown on the original DLR control displays at the DLR's Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC) at Poplar. That station never opened for passengers, as the Canary Wharf development, building huge buildings, started shortly after DLR opened in 1987. Since the trains are driverless, though, and the design had a station there, trains stopped there for a while until their software was updated to skip the station without stopping.

This is officially my favourite episode because British Raj discourse that’s not just “Ok so that just happened…”

As a boy, I was taken on a Sunday visit around the docks by my father. What a site for a lad to see all those ships in one place. Your man Hazzard, is my man.

Nothing can beat Mudchute for glamour

If you are doing a DLR tour of the World, you must note that it is in East London, which of course was named after the South African city in the Cape Province. 😇

It's not exactly exotic, but I've always thought Surrey Quays and Surrey Docks were unusual names because it's nowhere near Surrey, but of course, back in the 1800s, Surrey did actually extend as far as the Surrey Docks. What you might not know (and I only just found out via Wikipedia) is that there was a "Grand Surrey Canal" that was supposed to be built all the way from Surrey Docks to Kingston, and would tie in with the Surrey Iron Railway (which you've covered before). Apparently it only got as far as Peckham, and the canal was closed in the 1970s and most of it built over, turned into a road or parkland. Apparently there is a "bridge to nowhere" in Burgess Park that used to go over it. I reckon it would make for a fascinating video, because it looks like there's tons of history to it.

In 1989 I was doing the Aussie working holiday thing in London and DLR had just opened - but it only ran Mon-Fri so it was replaced by bus on weekends. Best London experience was to explore Docklands on the bus and listen to two old dears behind me reminiscing about the Blitz - 'There was a German pilot bailed out, and the place just got bombed the day before. 'e was lucky the police came and got 'im - they'd've lynched 'im if they could!' BTW Elon Musk does have a private army - of bots, crypto bros and incel fanboys.

The DLR station nomenclature is really something.

Watching this on the dlr heading to west india quays is good fun. Also as someone of both indian and jamaican ancestry its fun i can travel to two places named after my ancestral homelands on one line.

No media piece could make East India Company look more like a caricatured villain than it already was.

Canary Wharf being named after the Canary Islands, brings up a lovely fact - the Canary birds, synonymous with the islands, aren't the origin of the name. The birds Canaries are named after the islands. The Canary islands are actually named after the dog breed Presa Canario, Gran Canaria was originally called Dogo Canario.

"London is its history" - Very true, Jago.

The last of these chartered trading companies granted wide-ranging powers as the EIC is the Hudson Bay Company. It's still in operation, though it no longer rules over Hudson Bay, only a few brick-and-mortar locations.

Not only did the East India Company have its own army: it had its own NAVY as well.

I've always liked Bill Bryson's pithy assessment of Columbus: "It would be hard to name any figure in history who has achieved more lasting fame with less competence. He spent large parts of eight years bouncing around Caribbean islands and coastal South America convinced that he was in the heart of the Orient and that Japan and China were at the edge of every sunset. He never worked out that Cuba is an island and never once set foot on, or even suspected the existence of, the landmass to the north that everyone thinks he discovered: the United States."