They are some love stories that make you believe in the power of true love. And, one such love story is the story of Margaret McCollum, a woman who goes to the Embarkment London Underground station every day to hear the voice of her husband, who died in 2007.
Margaret’s husband, actor Oswald Laurence, was the famous London Underground voice who recorded the 1950 announcement “Mind the GAP, please”. This announcement was recorded to alert the passengers about the space between the wagon and the platform as they get on or off at each station.
Sadly, Laurence passed away in 2003. He was 86 at that time. His death left Margaret very sad. However, this announcement became the best way to remember him. Since then, Margaret goes to the station every day to listen to the love of her life.
This woman would travel in the tube to hear her late husband’s recording telling passengers to “mind the gap”. But sadly, nine years later, the recording phased out until his voice was only used in the Embankment station. “Since he died I sat and waited for the next train to hear his voice,” McCollum told the BBC news network.
She traveled a lot via Embankment but one day she was shocked to realize that Oswald’s voice wasn’t there anymore. On her inquiry, she was told that a new digital system has been installed in a place that doesn’t have her husband’s voice on it.
But, after hearing Margaret’s heart-touching story, the authorities did something really heartwarming. They not only decided to give her a copy of the recording of her husband’s voice but also decided to restore her husband’s voice-over warning to the Embankment station. Isn’t it sweet?
“We were very touched by his story, so the staff located the record, and not only they made a copy of the ad so she could have it but they also recovered it at Embarkment station,” said a spokesman for the company shared with BBC.
Do you know, today the voiceover of all London Underground stations is digitized, except the one where Margaret usually sits to listen to her late husband’s voice. What a heart-touching love story!
