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Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#21

Post by toyg »

Swenrekcah wrote: post #19
OJFord wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have legislation on vellum going back centuries; it's transcended technology and successfully been copied (I wouldn't say actually 'migrated') to other papers and the gov.uk website. Which is why GP talks about incentive . What technology is your "system/website/app" going to use? Who's incentivised to update it? Who migrates to something else when you abandon it? How much does all this cost compared to non-digita…

Since 2016, UK laws have not been recorded on vellum anymore [0] [0]: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/12149181/Thousand-year...

From the government that destroyed all Windrush records, comes another shocking tale of incompetence with malicious undertones.

Laws are written down to make them as permanently-accessible as possible, which acts as defense against capricious rulers. Anything that makes them less permanent is a small blow to the rights of everyday people.

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#22

Post by tasogare »

coder1001 wrote: post #9

I guess these things get lost overtime if there is no system of documenting what happened and is happening with any building over a long period of time? A nice startup idea would be to create a system/website/app that documents what happens to any building over time including all maintenance and future plans! City councils have something like this but I imagine it is pretty simple and does not capture a lot.

Buildings can stand for centuries or even a millennia whereas a webpage half-life is 2 years...

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#23

Post by OJFord »

Swenrekcah wrote: post #19
OJFord wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have legislation on vellum going back centuries; it's transcended technology and successfully been copied (I wouldn't say actually 'migrated') to other papers and the gov.uk website. Which is why GP talks about incentive . What technology is your "system/website/app" going to use? Who's incentivised to update it? Who migrates to something else when you abandon it? How much does all this cost compared to non-digita…

Since 2016, UK laws have not been recorded on vellum anymore [0] [0]: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/12149181/Thousand-year...

I thought that was rejected, and it was voted against (non-binding motion) though it seems they 'backed down' (2017), and now they are recorded on archival paper, and covered in vellum:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/21/anger-mps-bow-pe...

So, ok, thanks - I take back the 'not actually migrated' part, but I still think it serves as an example of not-technology lasting successfully for a very long time, and the replacement is... a different paper technology!

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#24

Post by foxx-boxx »

The official history says Peter the Great of Russia used that door to eavesdrop the British Parliament while he was invited to the UK. He was wondered and puzzled by hearing democratic Parliament, as we all know, British people are very noisy, when the gather together, they all speak simultaneously.

Russia (like China, India and then Arabs) was occupied by Mongols and had no connection to Europe for centuries.

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#25

Post by cosmodisk »

I can almost imagine Boris Johnson pushing everybody aside whilst approaching the tiny door and screaming: "Let me through,let me through! The gold is all mine,the gold is all mine!" Obviously all this happening while Patel smirking in the shadows knowing too well that the gold was stolen by Cameron ages ago.

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#27

Post by lorenzhs »

There's a great (long) article on the building of the Palace of Westminster at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/01/a-tale-of-decay..., on how new infrastructure has just been added over time, never removing the old stuff because there's no time, and—with plans being lost—how this results in new shafts being found every now and then in the course of fixing leaks etc.

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#28

Post by foldr »

toyg wrote: post #8

I wonder if the “graffiti artist” Tom Porter and the recorded stonemason Thomas Parker, are actually the same person. A cockney accent interacting with an RP ear would make Porter and Parker quite similar. Name misspellings of labourers were likely very common before mass-education was introduced in late XIX century.

>A cockney accent interacting with an RP ear would make Porter and Parker quite similar

Not really? The first vowel and third consonant are different in both dialects. (Note that while the 't' in Porter is subject to t-glottalization, the 'k' in Parker isn't.)

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#29

Post by Drakar1903 »

lorenzhs wrote: post #27

There's a great (long) article on the building of the Palace of Westminster at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/01/a-tale-of-decay... , on how new infrastructure has just been added over time, never removing the old stuff because there's no time, and—with plans being lost—how this results in new shafts being found every now and then in the course of fixing leaks etc.

Good to see both software architects and architecture architects run into same issues with legacy stuff.

Re: Secret doorway in UK Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

#30

Post by asynch8 »

gnud wrote: post #5
StarDucks wrote: post #3

How did they just so happen to have the key to a hidden door that hadn't been opened in 68 years that they didn't even know existed?

The locksmith got the door open. It doesn't say he had the key.

Nope, but the video doesn't mention how they acquired the key either, they just demonstrate how it opens. I'll be honest and say that I didn't read very far into the article either and just skimmed it while listening to the video.
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