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THE LONDON SOUND SURVEY: TEXT ONLY

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SOUND ACTION RECORDINGS: OFFICIALDOM CATEGORY

This page lists all the sound action recordings in the Officialdom main category and provides direct links to its sound files. The other four main categories are:

Economic. Political. Religious. Social.

The Officialdom category organises its recordings into four sub-categories. They are:

Non-verbal signals. Other recorded announcements. Public transport announcements. Queueing systems.

SUB-CATEGORY: NON-VERBAL SIGNALS

Big Ben 11am. Description: Big Ben chimes 11 o'clock on a Saturday morning. Duration: 1:14. Recorded in 2009.

Broadmoor siren test. Description: Test of a siren forming part of the Broadmoor maximum security hospital warning system. Duration: 2:35. Recorded in 2008.

Burglar alarm Brixton. Description: A rusty, dented burglar alarm makes a racket in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. Duration: 1:00. Recorded in 2009.

Canvey Island siren test. Description: Test of a flood warning siren in Canvey Island, Essex. Duration: 1:29. Recorded in 2006.

Coryton refinery siren. Description: An eerie siren at the Coryton oil refinery near Canvey Island sounds at 25-second intervals. Duration: 3:53. Recorded in 2010.

East Tilbury buoy. Description: Wash from a passing motorboat makes the bell toll on a buoy near East Tilbury. Duration: 0:23. Recorded in 2010.

Heathrow alarms. Description: Deep in Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport confusion reigns when fire alarms go off by mistake. Duration: 2:54. Recorded in 2005.

Horseguards Parade clock. Description: The clock at Horseguards Parade, Whitehall, strikes eleven in the morning. Duration: 0:54. Recorded in 2011.

Leicester Square carillon. Description: Leciester Square's old Swiss Centre carillon or glockenspiel clock sounds at 6pm on a Saturday evening. Duration: 1:36. Recorded in 2015.

Mounted police whistle. Description: A mounted policemen blows a whistle as he rides ahead of a military band marching along the Mall. Duration: 1:25. Recorded in 2011.

Noon at the Clockmakers Museum. Description: Two grandfather clocks strike noon in the Clockmakers Museum at the Guildhall. Duration: 0:50. Recorded in 2010.

Noon bell Pinner. Description: The church bell of St John the Baptist, Pinner, strikes noon on a Sunday. Duration: 0:44. Recorded in 2009.

Police training sirens. Description: Police sirens with different tones sound intermittently at a police training establishment. Duration: 1:45. Recorded in 2010.

Rickmansworth steam engine whistle. Description: A steam engine approaches and sounds its whistle as it travels to Rickmansworth. Duration: 0:40. Recorded in 1998.

School bell Nunhead. Description: A primary school's bell sounds at 9am on the dot. Duration: 0:30. Recorded in 2009.

St Martins half hour. Description: The clock of St Martins-in-the-fields strikes the half hour. Duration: 0:24. Recorded in 2009.

St Pauls bells. Description: The bells of St Paul's Cathedral sound at 1:00pm, recorded from the garden adjacent to the south entrance. Duration: 0:33. Recorded in 2010.

SUB-CATEGORY: OTHER RECORDED ANNOUNCEMENTS

British Library lift voice. Description: A recorded voice in a lift tells visitors to the British Library what's on each floor. Duration: 1:46. Recorded in 2009.

SUB-CATEGORY: PUBLIC TRANSPORT ANNOUNCEMENTS

193 steps Covent Garden. Description: Station announcer's voice warns of the 193 steps to climb at Covent Garden tube station. Duration: 0:22. Recorded in 2008.

Bank lift voice. Description: Recorded voice and beeps in a lift at Bank Underground station, City of London. Duration: 0:59. Recorded in 2009.

Bus conductor Strand. Description: One of London's few remaining bus conductors calls out placenames at stops along the Strand. Duration: 0:35. Recorded in 2008.

Embankment Station arrival and Mind The Gap. Description: A tube train arrives at Embankment Station and the iconic 'Mind the Gap' announcement is heard. Duration: 1:44. Recorded in 2010.

For your safety London Bridge. Description: 'Stand behind the yellow line' safety announcement at London Bridge. Duration: 0:14. Recorded in 2008.

May be slippery Charing Cross. Description: 'Inclement weather' safety announcement at Charing Cross railway station. Duration: 0:18. Recorded in 2008.

Mind the gap. Description: 'Mind the gap' announcements at Monument Underground station Duration: 1:12. Recorded in 2009.

Platform announcer Victoria. Description: Member of station staff broadcasts standard platform announcements at Victoria tube. Duration: 0:40. Recorded in 2008.

Service update London Bridge. Description: Station announcer at London Bridge recites a list of weekend tube closures. Duration: 0:32. Recorded in 2008.

Surbiton to Waterloo. Description: All the announcements on a train from Surbiton to Waterloo edited together. Duration: 2:32. Recorded in 2008.

Universal London bus voice. Description: Passing over Waterloo Bridge, the pre-recorded voice that appears on nearly every London bus. Duration: 0:48. Recorded in 2008.

Voice synth Kings Cross. Description: Software-based voice synthesiser makes an announcement at Kings Cross. Duration: 0:25. Recorded in 2008.

SUB-CATEGORY: QUEUEING SYSTEMS

Argos queue. Description: Automated queueing system tells Argos store customers when to collect their goods. Duration: 0:51. Recorded in 2009.

This concludes the list of recordings in the Officialdom category.

SOUND ACTION RECORDINGS CATEGORY LINKS

Economic. Political. Religious. Social.

MAIN SITE SECTION LINKS: TEXT VERSIONS

Home page. Sound actions. Sound maps. Wildlife. About and contact.

MAIN SITE SECTION LINKS: GRAPHICS VERSIONS

Home page. London map. Sound actions. Sound maps. London wildlife. Historical. Blog. About. Say hello.

The London Sound Survey 2015. A Creative Commons Licence applies to all site content except where stated otherwise