A DOUBLE DECKER HISTORY LESSON

Loading onto the Queen Mary (Cunard)

If you are history buffs, as we are, you'll enjoy this item written by Michael Gallagher, public relations executive and historian for Cunard Line and part of an ongoing series of key moments in the Cunard Line's history.

"After purchasing Queen Mary, the City of Long Beach wanted to build an 'Olde London' village alongside their new acquisition. As well as buying the great Queen herself, the City purchased two London Double Decker buses to be used in the village. The easiest way to get them to Long Beach would be on Queen Mary. Before her final departure from Southampton in October 1967, the buses were loaded onto the aft decks of the ship.

"It would prove to be a very good revenue stream for Cunard as tickets (a dollar a time) were sold to passengers to sit on the bus as Queen Mary rounded the notorious Cape Horn.

"The 'Olde London' idea never quite came to fruition and neither did the plan to have live electric eels swimming in specially-made handrails on staircases in the Jacques Cousteau's Museum of the Sea which was built in the gutted machinery spaces!

"A London Double Decker Bus was used at ceremonies to mark the Float Out of Queen Mary 2 in March 2003. The bus ferried guests to and from the airport and then took them on an excursion into the dry-dock to see Queen Mary 2. An on board Conductor processed tickets giving the destination as 'QM2'. It was perhaps then we realized just how big she is...."

Credit: Cunard