The Real Magic Mile: The tunnel networks of London and the Buckingham Palace Line

Rachel Morrisroe has written this brilliant article for Armadillo Books and for you, my lovely readers! It is a brilliant insight into some fascinating history of the world underneath London and the inspiration for a must-read story. My sincere thanks to Rachel and her publishers for making this happen.

The next time you are in London visiting the British Museum, riding the London Eye or strolling along the South Bank, spare a minute to think about what might be going on beneath your feet. There are miles and miles of tube tunnels weaving their way to various destinations. Perhaps you’ll have heard of the Central Line, or the Northern Line but what about the Buckingham Palace Line?

Felix and the Future Agency is set in a clandestine subterranean world called the Magic Mile in the heart of London. The location is inspired by a real-life conspiracy theory that there is a secret, so-called Buckingham Palace Line which exists somewhere within the tunnel networks of the London Underground. Rumour has it that it was built to offer the Royal family an escape route out of the city in case it is ever needed. 

 The entire plot of the book uses history and conspiracy as a springboard into fiction. I have a degree in history, it is a big passion of mine and I so adore finding out factual gems about the past to bring into my writing. When I came across the real-life story of the Premonitions Bureau two years ago, I became utterly obsessed. The Bureau existed for a little over a year in the late 1960’s. It was an experiment in precognition, culminating in the discovery of two so-called ‘seers’ who seemed to possess the uncanny skill of seeing the future. They foresaw plane crashes to the exact number of casualties, the Hither Green rail disaster (naming the Charing Cross as the location just days before the event), the assassination of Robert F Kennedy and more.

I couldn’t stop imagining what might have happened if the Bureau had not come to a close with the untimely death of its founder, John Barker (which the two seers also forewarned him about!) What if the government had seen the potential for of a top-secret government organisation of future-seers. A magical department, where agents have visions through dreams, ghosts and astrology and can use their talents to help prevent major disasters and crimes. I could not think of a better location for this secret organisation than the Buckingham Palace Line. I am fascinated by the mystery that surrounds the tube tunnels, set up as service lines for communications and the postal service during the Second World War. I was captivated by the fact that parts of this underground network are still governed by the Official Secrets Act. I spent many hours considering what on earth could be going on down there. The concept of the Future Agency was born!

Q-Whitehall is the name given to a communications facility that is said to be located somewhere beneath the city. This, I felt would be a perfect location for the Head of the Future Agency’s office. I have imagined that the access point to Q-Whitehall is at Admiralty Citadel on Horse Guard’s Parade, which is a giant concrete box, built during the second world war. If you stroll around the mysterious-looking building, you’ll find barred windows and strange, sealed-off doors and an entrance with security and I could just imagine Zephyr Winterstone making his way through this building into the depths of the magical world of the Future Agency.

So, what’s life like as a Future Agent on the Magic Mile? On the Buckingham Palace Line, agents have their pick of several magical station stops. At Astral Alley, you can practice your dream magic. Why not conjure a catnap or summon a daydream. Just avoid the nightmares!  Agency rules state that they are so dangerous that they may only be summoned with the Marcus Brightcove, the Head of Dream Weaving present. Perhaps you’d like to stop at Séance Street and meet the ghosts for a glass of spirit cider. Try to avoid Astrid Sterne, the Head of Spirit Speaking as she can be a bit grumpy and beware of strolling too close to the Mary Celeste ghost pub moored at Traitor’s Gate or there is a good chance you’ll get ectoplasmed into the Thames.

Maybe astrology will be more your thing? If so, head to Constellation Station and Angelica Holstein, the Head of Astrology can teach you how to summon your own celestaur, a magical star creature conjured from the animal constellations in the night sky. No Future Agent’s journey along the Buckingham Palace Line is complete without a visit to Enchantment Embankment, the Magic Mile’s shopping street. You might like to try one of Davina Moon’s legendary fairy cakes at the Glittering Teapot (you’ll need a net to catch them – they are fairy cakes after all!) Or perhaps you’ll pop into Shooting Star Celestaur Supplies to get some telescope treats for your new celestaur. The world below-ground is a work of fantasy, but all of the above-ground magical shops mentioned in the story are real places. You can pop into Watkins Books or Treadwell’s or the Astrology Shop and buy yourself a magic book or a crystal. 

In Felix and the Future Agency I have tried to create a world that feels so immersive and the magic so familiar that readers will feel that they can reach out and touch it. I’ve loved using historical fact and real places to shape my fiction. There is something about being able to visit the places in the story and knowing that a secret underground world really does exist beneath the city of London which grounds the fantasy so solidly in reality. I hope that makes the magic feel truly real. Parts of London’s secret tunnel network are meant to be scheduled for declassification in 2026 and who knows? Perhaps this work of fiction will come closer to truth than we think.

GET READY TO SIGN THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT! FELIX AND THE FUTURE AGENCY IS OUT NOW, PUBLISHED WITH SIMON & SCHUSTER .