POST OFFICE TOWER
The royal visit and public opening...
The Royal Visit
The Postmaster General, Anthony Wedgwood Benn, said that the Post Office Tower symbolised 20th-century Britain. Lean, practical and futuristic, it epitomised the technical and architectural skills of the second industrial revolution.




Scan: Cover of Post Office Magazine July 1966 3d [Anthony Wedgwood Benn and the Queen]
| EXIT | The Royal Visit | The Public Opening |

The Royal Visit: 17th May 1966

After being met in the VIP lounge, the Queen toured the Tower and had tea in the revolving restaurant with the Postmaster General, Sir Billy Butlin and his son Mr Robert Butlin. Mr Anthony Wedgwood Benn presented the Queen with a gold replica model of the Tower.

The Queen also met some of the key personnel associated with the Tower:-
  • Assistant Postmaster General, Mr J. Slater, BEM, MP.
  • Engineer-in-Chief, Mr D.A. Barron, CBE.
  • Director, LTR, Mr A.B. Harnden.
  • Engineer-in-charge of the Tower, Mr W.L. Newman.
  • Officer-in-charge of the Trunk Test Room, Mr G. Burrows.
  • Chief Supervisor at Museum Exchange, Mrs D.F. Westmacott.
The Royal Visit
Mrs D.F. Westmacott, Chief Supervisor at the Tower's Museum exchange, was among those presented to the Queen when Her Majesty paid a private visit to the Tower two days before its official opening.


Also pictured are Mr W.L.N. Newman Tower Engineer (left), Mr A.B. Harnden, LTR Director, and the Postmaster General (right).




"The Post Office Magazine" July 1966 price 3d.
   
The Public Opening

The Tower was opened to the public on 19th May 1966. A ceremony of invited dignitaries in the morning was followed by the public opening in the afternoon.

London's Top People: Derek Dewey-Leader goes to the Post Office Tower to meet the staff who meet the public
London's Top People London's Top People
In the first three weeks more than 50,000 people visited the Tower, 5,500 of them on Whit Monday. In the first week visitors put £160-worth of sixpences in the seven telescopes on the observation platforms for a close-up look at famous landmarks.



"The Post Office Magazine" July 1966 price 3d.
     

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