Passionland

Deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, forgotten for the best part of a century, lies a tunnel linking London and New York. It was built on the whim of a Victorian inventor with the aim of linking two great cities and developing the kind of friendship that still exists today. But bad fortune befell the venture - and the tunnel lay idle ever after.

Until today, that is, when the project was rekindled with a modern twist.

Using a giant “electronic telescope” and state-of-the-art technology, England and America were joined once again when the tunnel entrances were reopened beside Tower Bridge in London and Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It meant that New Yorkers and Londoners could wave to each other across the sea and begin the kind of mute dialogue that was only a dream all those years ago for eccentric engineering entrepreneur Alexander Stanhope St George (deceased).

Or at least, that’s the way the story goes.

What is certain is that now you can indeed stand on the South Bank of the UK end of the 21st century “Telectroscope” - and see someone standing 3,460 miles away across the water. And - oh dear - it didn’t take the Brits too long to utilise it for a bit of fun at the expense of their American cousins. The truth is that the Telectroscope - installed by Artichoke, the same people who spectacularly paraded a mechanical elephant through London two years ago - probably employs the latest broadband, camera and satellite technology to close the gap between our two great nations.

The Telectroscope uses 6ft screens and a Jules Verne style telescope that gleams with brass and an array of Victorian dials. Participants peer into one end of the screen - and hey presto - they can see anyone standing at the other side. “Part of the idea is just to allow people to use it in whatever way they want,” said Mr St George, 53, from Bristol, who insists he developed the Telectroscope after discovering his great-grandfather’s dusty notes and diaries in an attic.

“The thought of a tunnel under the Atlantic is fascinating,” he said. “What child has never dug a hole at the beach and wondered how long it would take to go through to the other side of the world? “The Telectroscope is a stage, and the people who use it are the performers. “Their unpredictability is all part of it. It’s encouraging people think about different ways of communicating, to see people living everyday lives thousands of miles away - and, perhaps, to study the way everyone reacts differently to something they’re not quite sure about.”