On this day in 1994 Britain was joined to Europe by a permanent rail ink when the Chunnel was opened jointly by The Queen and French President Francois Mitterrand. The ceremony was actually two; first, the Queen travelled to Calais via the tunnel, where her train was met nose to nose by one bearing the French President. Once the French side was opened the two travelled to Folkestone to open the English side.
The idea of a tunnel linking France and England was first suggested as long ago as 1802, only to be nixed by what was then a very real fear that the tunnel could have been used by Napoleon to invade England.
*
share on: facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment