THE PHANTOM TUBE LINE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW.

Meandering through north London, in the area known as the "Northern heights", behind the houses, out of sight, is an area of "natural beauty" called the Parkland Walk.



It’s a place that the locals cherish, because of the “beautiful” wild flowers growing there. You know; stinging nettles, Michaelmas daisies, brambles, cow’s parsley and lots and lots of everyone’s favourite....ivy. The walk even has a group of old hippies protecting it called “The friends of the Parkland Walk”. Because of its wild nature, the walk has attracted various forms of wild life: junkies, alcoholics, muggers and the inevitable foxes.



On the walk is a sculpture of a Spriggon by Marilyn Collins, which inspired horror writer Stephen King to write one of his spooky stories.

The area covered by the walk is favoured by “arty” types, actors, TV people and the like. because it’s a bit isolated and it doesn’t suit commuters very much because it doesn’t have a tube station. You have to catch a bus to a tube station to get anywhere in London.



Alexandra Palace dominates the area. It's only there that visitors can see a panoramic view of London. Most tourists don't though, because it's not on the tube.



The palace has always been a white elephant for Haringey council. It's an historic building, the first TV pictures were beamed from there in 1936. Over time it's been a horse racing track, ski center, ice skating rink. roller skating rink, zoo, car auctions, farmers market and all kinds of flakey projects. The Palace has one obvious use, that of a major London concert venue.



The Rolling Stones played there in 1964 with John Lee Hooker.



An early hippy festival was held there in 1967 starring load of classic 60's bands and artists and starred Pink Floyd.



John Lennon turned up to see Yoko Ono perform.

The MTV Europe awards were held there in 1996. Everyone who attended drove, or was driven there. Because the reason that it is not a major venue is simply that doesn't it have a tube station.

A fact that not even many residents realise is that the Parkland Walk WAS the tube line and the area was adequately covered by tube stations. It was part of the Northern line.



Here’s what the tube map would have looked like.

The line used to be part of the rail network and was taken over by London transport just before WW2. It was the Northern Heights extension of the Northern line branch between Moorgate and Finsbury Park, linking commuters from Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch end to the city and Alexandra Palace to the rest of London

Electrification started, trains started running, maps and tickets were printed, then bombs started dropping and everyone had something else to think about.

Here's where the stations were:


Alexander Palace then


now.


Cranley Gardens station on Muswell hill Rd then....


now it's a block of flats.


Crouch End then.


You have a long wait for a train these days.


Stroud Green station then.


Now it's a community centre.

One of the problems Arsenal supporters have are the queues they have to face after walking to the available tube stations when leaving the Emirates Stadium.



Drayton Park station is literally on the doorstep, but now it's only on a small commuter line.

So Ok, whats this have to do with Jerry Springer? I hear you say.

It's February 1944. The air raid sirens are sounding, another attack by the newly developed German missiles the V1's. People are in a panic, one of them is the heavily pregnant Mrs Springer. She's at Highgate station on the Northern Heights and there she gives birth to little baby Jerry.

So there we have one of the quirks of history. A whole part of north London is not served by the underground system, but we did get the Jerry Springer show.



See, he's British. "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry"