‘Mind the gap’ returns after widow’s inquiry

LONDON – A widow’s wish to hear her late husband’s voice again has prompted London’s subway system to restore a 40-year-old recording of the subway’s famous “mind the gap” announcement.

The Underground, also known as the Tube, tracked down the voice recording by Oswald Laurence after his widow, Margaret McCollum, approached its staff and told them what it meant to her.

McCollum, 65, said Sunday she used to frequently visit Embankment station or plan her journeys around the stop to listen to Laurence’s voice, even before his death in 2007. She was taken aback in November when she noticed it had been replaced.

“For many, many years it was on the Embankment station northbound platform. That’s a station I used a lot,” the retired doctor said.

Laurence was a drama school graduate when he auditioned for the Tube recording, she said. He went on to become a theater actor, and then worked for a tour and cruise company.

“After he died, I would stay on the platform, I would just sit and listen to it again,” she added. “It was a huge comfort. It was very special.”

When McCollum approached a Tube worker, she was told the station had a new broadcast system and it could not use the old recording anymore.

But Nigel Holness, director of London Underground, said its staff has been so moved by McCollum’s story that they dug up the recording and gave the widow a copy. Tube staff is also working to restore Laurence’s announcement at the station, he added.