The London Transport Museum is hosting a talk covering the 1943 Bethnal Green Tube station disaster in which 173 people died from asphyxiation as a result of being crushed while entering the station during its use as an air raid shelter.
At the time, news of the disaster was suppressed. Although reports appeared in newspapers, the location and the extent of the disaster were withheld as the government wanted to prevent loss of public morale.
On March 8th novelist Jessica Francis Kane and museum curator David Bownes will discuss the fact and fiction surrounding the events, with Bownes presenting an historical overview of Tube sheltering in London.
Kane will discuss how she researched her new novel The Report which covers the disaster give readings from the book.
The night is being hosted as part of the museum’s Under Attack: London, Coventry and Dresden exhibition which explores the struggle of three cities to keep moving during the Second World War.
‘Fatal Crush – The tale of the Bethnal Green Tube station’ takes place at 18.30 on Tuesday 8 March 2011 at the Cubic Theatre, London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB. It lasts approximately one hour and tickets cost £8.00 adults; £6.00 senior citizens; £4.00 students and can be reserved in advance by telephone on 020 7565 7298.
Copies of the The Report can be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk
