do you believe in the telectroscope?

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Paul St George writes:

Tim. You ask about funding and about Alexander Stanhope… This is just a quick reply because the final stages of construction are throwing up new and surprisingly time-consuming problems. I wish you could see some of the experiments and tests. In fact, why don’t we meet again?

Do you believe...?

So here’s the April Fool bit: Paul actually reckons he’s going to build and deliver this whole thing – the tunnel, the Telectroscope, everything:

“I’ve made all these connections. Money couldn’t buy what I’ve managed to do. All the right people. Pretty soon I’ll be able to complete this tunnel and install the Telectroscope that my great grandfather invented and people are going to be able to see from London to New York.”

He says it very earnestly to me. So earnestly that I write it down. He makes me wish I could be so earnest and elevated about my own work, not stuck in my own little underground tunnel. Perhaps this project is a way for me to dig my way out, connect to something bigger and brighter...

So what do we think? Will he finish his tunnel by May? Will we get to see London from New York – and vice versa?

Do you believe in the Telectroscope?