10 Things You Didn’t Know About The London Underground

10. One Of Its Biggest Champions Never Saw It Open

The first underground railroad in London opened in January 1863 and was called the Metropolitan Railway. This is not to be confused with the Metropolitan line on the modern day Tube, but that's a story for another time.

The original Met was the end result of years of campaigning for a subterranean train network in the city. One of the men at the forefront of that campaign was Charles Pearson, a solicitor and one-time MP in London.

He began handing out pamphlets in 1846 promoting his idea of a train system powered by compressed air. Thankfully, people realised this was a mad idea, and the idea transformed into that of a steam-powered railway instead.

Pearson oversaw the project for the better part of a decade, helping to raise money to fund it with yet more pamphlets. Unfortunately, all that writing got to Charles in the end and he died in September 1862.

His beloved Metropolitan Railway was opened mere months after Pearson's passing, meaning that he never saw his grand plan come to fruition. However, few legacies are larger than being the man who gave London its Underground.