Telecom news

• Winter sale on GWR train tickets starts this Friday

  30-12-2025 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Great Western Railway (GWR) is launching its January Sale next Friday (2nd Jan 2026), with 225,000 lower-cost train tickets available, including 150,000 Standard seats and 75,000 First Class seats, offering up to 50% off the most popular Advance fares sold across the GWR network.The January Sale runs for just four days from Friday 2nd to Monday 5th January, for travel between Friday 9th January and Friday 10th April 2026, excluding travel on Sundays and some selected dates.
  Prices will vary depe
  
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• Lewisham asks public for ideas to rescue and reopen the Ladywell Playtower

  02-01-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Lewisham Council is seeking suggestions on how to restore the decaying Ladywell Playtower in south London and reopen it to the public.
  The Ladywell Playtower
  As one of Lewisham’s most significant Grade II listed sites, the Ladywell Playtower opened in 1884 as a swimming pool and public hall, and despite closing in 2004, the Grade II listed building remains a feature of the neighbourhood.
  The building was damaged by fire in 2006, but in 2022, the council agreed a development plan that would
  
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• ‘Jewel in the Strand’ project backed by £4.6m grant for St Mary Le Strand church

  02-01-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The central London church of St Mary Le Strand has received a £4.6 million grant toward the cost of urgent repair and conservation works.
  (c) ianVisits
  As part of the grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, both the 18th-century building and its gardens will be restored and redeveloped, alongside work to transform the Undercroft into a community space and improve accessibility throughout.
  A research project will also uncover three centuries of stories about the people who worshipped
  
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• Where to watch the 2026 total solar eclipse

  02-01-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Later this year, there will be a total solar eclipse, and while it just about misses the UK, the path of totality will be reasonably accessible to many who really fancy seeing one for themselves.From the UK
  The solar eclipse will take place on Wednesday 12th August 2026, and if seen from the UK, it will obscure about 90% of the sun. Which is equivalent to a very cloudy sky, assuming there isn’t cloud in the sky already.
  The eclipse for the UK will start around 6:15pm, reach maximum coverag
  
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• How Nokia went from iPhone victim to $1bn Nvidia deal

  01-01-2026 06:00
  Finnish company that brought the world the 3310 has reinvented itself for the AI revolution
  
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• Great British Rail Sale launches with savings of 50% on off-peak and advance fares

  31-12-2025 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The UK’s train companies are set to kick off the new year with a January sale, offering discounted fares for journeys across the UK.The participating operators in the Great British Rail Sale are:Avanti West Coast
  c2c
  Chiltern Railways
  CrossCountry
  East Midlands Railway
  Great Northern
  Greater Anglia
  Great Western Railway (GWR)
  LNER
  Northern Trains
  Southeastern
  Southern
  South Western Railway (SWR)
  Thameslink
  TransPennine Express
  West Midlands TrainsAll the DfT-regulated train companies are t
  
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• Another year, another pile of words: The stories that made me smile in 2025

  31-12-2025 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Another year done and dusted… so what have I been up to with all those words?It’s been a bit of a mixed bag, if I’m honest. The first half of the year was rather hampered by health gremlins, which put a definite dent in my usual habit of wandering off in random directions and spotting odd, interesting things simply by being out and about.
  That said, there’s always a flip side. It turned out to be a cracking year for exhibitions, and being a bit more housebound than usual
  
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• Trump Mobile delays plan to launch gold-coloured smartphone this year

  31-12-2025 06:00
  Move marks latest setback for project that originally promised to sell a US-made device
  
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• Train firms slapped for “cheapest ticket” claims after regulator ruling

  30-12-2025 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Two train companies and one train ticket seller have been rapped over the knuckles for claims that they offered the cheapest possible tickets.Both Greater Anglia and ScotRail were found to have misleadingly advertised the cheapest tickets possible, because they didn’t sufficiently highlight the availability of split ticketing, which can reduce the headline figure offered on some journeys.
  Split ticketing is where it turns out that, instead of buying one ticket to the destination, it can be
  
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• Museum of musical instruments to be reimagined as part of £30m refurbishment

  30-12-2025 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A museum of musical instruments inside the Royal Academy of Music could become easier to visit after the Academy announced a £30 million refurbishment of its central London campus.
  Museum concept (c) Wright & Wright Architects
  The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in Marylebone is split over two buildings linked by an underground tunnel, and thanks to a £30 million donation from philanthropist Mrs Aud Jebsen, they are planning improvements to the layout and facilities.
  As part of the
  
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• TfL raises ‘existential’ concerns over track access under Great British Railways

  30-12-2025 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Transport for London (TfL) is warning that unclear clauses in the Great British Railways legislation going through Parliament could leave it with long-term uncertainties about its operations.
  Elizabeth line trains on the western branch (c) ianVisits
  In a submission to the Transport Select Committee’s Call for Evidence, TfL writes that it welcomes the proposed Railways Bill as a step towards a simpler and more reliable railway, but raises concerns about how the national railway would affect
  
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• Gunnersbury Park Museum closing for a month of refurbishment work

  29-12-2025 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The new year will start with a temporary museum closure, as the Gunnersbury Park Museum has announced its closure for refurbishment work.
  Gunnersbury Park Museum
  Only for a month, as they say they will spend the time preparing for the park’s centenary, which takes place on 21st May 2026.
  Gunnersbury Park Museum will be closed from 5th January to 3rd February. During this time, the park will remain fully open, and a new park cafe, Pure in the Park, will be opening on 5th January.
  Gunnersbur
  
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• DLR delivers: Cutty Sark station gets new escalators via the tracks

  29-12-2025 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The replacement escalators have arrived at Cutty Sark DLR station, and they were delivered by rail.
  Delivery by DLR (c) Quattro Plant
  The DLR station is currently closed as all the escalators are being replaced after repeated attempts to repair them failed to fix the faults. Because the station was built with very limited space, it had to close during the repairs, as there was no sensible way of redirecting passengers.
  Old escalators at platform level (c) ianVisits
  The cramped space also means i
  
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• Winter sale on West End theatre tickets for plays, pantos and musicals

  29-12-2025 11:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This winter, London theatre-goers can snap up deals in a Winter Theatre Sale, with London Theatre Direct offering up to 50% off on top West End shows and many tickets starting from around £15.Whether you’re after family favourites, blockbuster musicals or thought-provoking dramas, there’s something to suit every taste.
  From pantomimes and holiday specials to long-running West End blockbusters and contemporary plays, discounted tickets are available now online, but availability
  
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• London’s Alleys: Murray Terrace, Hampstead, NW3

  29-12-2025 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This very short, but quite pretty little lane in Hampstead village, and also one of the earliest little passages to be built in the area.It’s unnamed, but appears as a longer road in an 1848 map leading via some shorter passages through to Streatley Place. However, just 50 years later, it’s showing up as having been cut back to its current length, with the land to the west cleared. That’s because the site was needed for the New End Primary School.
  OS Map 1953
  It took a while fo
  
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• HS2 railway shifts from excavation to civil works amid cost and schedule rethink

  29-12-2025 07:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  An end-of-year update from HS2 railway has outlined its progress on Britain’s largest infrastructure project, at a time when it is being fundamentally restructured.
  Colne Valley viaduct (c) ianVisits
  The data show that excavation of all 23 miles of deep-bore tunnels on the section of the railway between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street has now been completed. Around 70 per cent of the project’s earthworks have been delivered, alongside the use of almost 300,000 tonnes of s
  
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• Fancy a slice of Paris? London’s oldest French restaurant is selling its wall art

  26-12-2025 15:55 via ianvisits.co.uk
  London’s oldest family-run French restaurant is selling off some of its French decor, so if you fancy a bit of je ne sais quoi in your home, this is your chance.
  (c) Catherine Southon auctions
  The restaurant, Mon Plaisir on Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, was founded by Jean Viala and his wife in 1943 and bought by their head waiter Monsieur Alain Lhermitte in 1972. In April 2022, Lhermitte retired, and the restaurant was acquired by Fabio Lauro & Family, making them the third family
  
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• The e-scooter isn’t new – London was zooming around on Autopeds a century ago

  24-12-2025 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The e-scooters that clutter up pavements may seem like a new thing, but a hundred years ago, there were already people zooming around London on powered scooters.
  Lady Florence Norman 1916 (street background expanded)
  These were the Autoped, an American import that was once popular enough to regularly appear in the newspapers before vanishing seemingly without a trace.
  Invented in the USA in 1915, they first appeared in London in 1917, despite a ban on imports during WWI, and really took off when
  
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• Mummers, wassail and folklore: Bankside marks Twelfth Night with free riverside revels

  23-12-2025 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Bankside’s annual Twelfth Night revels will return on Sunday 4th January, as the Lions Part troupe of actors perform a mummers play for free.A festival, to mark the end of Christmas and the wassailing of the apple trees to wake them from their slumber, is a staple of English customs, and the Lions Part performs an urban rendition each year.
  If you are fond of “ye olde english traditions”, then you’re bound to love this.
  The revels begin outside Shakespeare’s Globe t
  
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• Old trains, new wheels: Southeastern’s train wheels heads to Crewe for a major refresh

  23-12-2025 11:40 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Nearly 100 Southeastern trains are to get their wheels refurbished after signing a £20 million contract with Alstom.
  General view of Slade Green and sidings with Networker units (c) Network Rail
  Southeastern’s Class 465 Networker fleet first entered passenger service in 1992, and the overhaul enables Southeastern to keep operating them while it waits for a replacement set of more accessible trains in a few years time.
  The maintenance project will see the wheel bogies that sit underne
  
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• From soggy piles to wooden beams: Inside Colindale’s new timber tube station

  23-12-2025 07:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  After a couple of years of building work, London Underground’s first* modern tube station built using timber construction has opened to passengers at Colindale on the Northern line.
  From this
  To this
  The new open-span entrance, topped by a timber roof, replaces a much smaller structure that was built after the original entrance was damaged during the Second World War. As well as subtle references to the area’s aviation heritage through the use of glulam timber, the station’s or
  
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• National Portrait Gallery buys rare photographs of Ada Lovelace for the nation

  22-12-2025 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The only known photographs of mathematician and computing pioneer Ada Lovelace have been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery just before they were expected to be sold to a private buyer.
  (c) Bonhams
  Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, and is chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first person to realise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and is widely re
  
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• London’s Alleys: Ransom Walk, Charlton, SE7

  22-12-2025 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This short passage in Charlton that runs under the mainline railway spends most of its life as a very quiet little passage, and occasionally throngs with huge crowds. That’s because it happens to be one of the routes to Charlton football club stadium, but as a passage, it owes its origins to the thing that gives the stadium its nickname – The Valley.Long before there was a football stadium here, there was a large sand-and-chalk open-air mine excavated for building materials. And to g
  
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• Christmas and New Year rail travel in London: Day-by-day guide to closures and reduced services

  19-12-2025 14:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  It’s Christmas time when the trains all go to sleep, but the maintenance teams get busy repairing the railways. Despite how busy the getaway rush feels, during the Christmas slowdown, there are far fewer travellers, so it’s a less disruptive time to carry out major engineering works.
  Festive travel
  During the Christmas period, over £160m of major investment projects will take place across the network.
  In the run-up to Christmas, trains and stations are expected to be particular
  
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• Winter sale on tickets to Starlight Express

  19-12-2025 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The famous roller skating trains have returned in a revival of the 1980s classic, and there’s a sale on tickets at the moment, with tickets now available from £25.Starlight Express is a dazzling spectacle for the senses, performed entirely on roller skates. At its heart is Rusty, a humble steam engine with dreams of winning the crown — and the affection of a glamorous coach.
  As a child drifts into sleep, wheels begin to spin, toys spring to life, and a touch of magic transforms
  
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• Where does Black Tom toll the Devil’s Knell? Welcome to the King William College quiz

  19-12-2025 12:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  If you want to spend Christmas cursing, then King William College’s famously difficult annual quiz has been released, and you’ll need a large supply of headache pills to cope with the questions.
  King William’s College General Knowledge Paper (GKP)
  King William’s College, based on the Isle of Man, was founded in 1833, using a legacy itself established in 1668, and in 1904 set its first annual general knowledge test, known as the General Knowledge Paper (GKP). Once a privat
  
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• The ancient Trial of the Pyx is moving to Mansion House in 2026

  19-12-2025 10:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  For the first time in its centuries-long history, the ancient Trial of the Pyx will take place next year inside the Lady Mayor of London’s official residence at Mansion House.
  Preparing for the trial at Goldsmiths’ Hall in 2025 (c) ianVisits
  The what?
  The Trial of the Pyx is an annual court case that puts the Royal Mint on trial to validate the quality of the coins it has produced over the past year.
  Why?
  Because the security of the coins of the realm is a serious matter, and althoug
  
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• Santander Cycles to get self-charging e-bikes and new smartphone app

  18-12-2025 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  TfL’s cycle hire scheme is set to upgrade its e-bikes next year so they can be recharged when docked, rather than swapping batteries as currently happens.There are currently 2000 e-bikes in the Santander Cycle fleet, leading to a significant increase in longer hires.
  At the moment, staff visiting the docking stations swap out the batteries when they are low on power, but this risks bikes being unavailable if they are not checked regularly.
  With the docking station recharge, that problem sh
  
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• The Union flag that led Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar may be saved for UK museum

  18-12-2025 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  The Union flag that led Nelson’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar could be bought by a UK museum after an export bar was imposed following its sale at auction.The Union Flag flew from the Royal Sovereign, the ship that led the British charge at the Battle of Trafalgar, and still features burn marks and splinters inflicted during the battle.
  It was recently put up for sale and sold for £450,000.
  This flag is believed to have been made and maintained by sailors aboard the Royal Soverei
  
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• January bargain: Heath Robinson Museum drops £8 ticket for pay-what-you-can Fridays

  18-12-2025 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  If you’ve never visited the Heath Robinson Museum in north London, then maybe January will tempt you with a cheap tickets offer.
  Heath Robinson Museum (c) ianVisits
  Every Friday in January 2026, entry tickets will be “Pay What You Can” instead of their usual £8 entry charge. There’s no need to book online, just turn up at the museum and let them know how much you would like to pay.
  The ticket gives you entry to the entire museum, including the Heath Robinson art gal
  
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