The Library of Secrets, 2007

The Answer Lies at the End of the Line, 2008

How to Dig a Hole and Climb a Mountain, 2009

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The Answer Lies at the End of the Line

What connects picturesque parklands, melodic choral music and beautiful bowling greens?

The answer is Stanmore, a town with a wartime secret. In 1942 Stanmore was the home to an undisclosed outstation that was built to house 57 Turing Bomb machines; the technology used by Britain’s World War Two code breakers at Bletchley Park to decipher the German Enigma code.

Art on the Underground commissioned me to create a project for Stanmore Station (at the end of the Jubilee line). I was inspired by Stanmore’s connection to Bletchley Park and discovered that some code breakers had been recruited for their ability to solve The Daily Telegraph crossword in under 12 minutes. London Underground also has a wartime connection to crosswords. During the Blitz millions sheltered in the Underground stations and London Transport used crossword puzzles on the reverse of information leaflets to help keep people entertained.

Working with groups and organisations I produced a series of crosswords that offer an alternative guide to Stanmore and reveal something of the knowledge, stories and specialisms of those encountered. The puzzles represent the Stanmore Choral Society, staff at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, the Bird Walk of Canons Park, Stanmore Bowls Club, London Underground staff, Bletchley Park veterans and local stories about Stanmore’s infamous Duke of Chandos. I collaborated with setters Geoff Heath (aka “Aeronaut’) and Roy Dean (setter for the Times) and the self-titled Stanmore Puzzlers to compile the crosswords.

The puzzles form the basis of the artwork at Stanmore station. The first challenge was to solve the puzzles in booklets that were distributed across the Jubilee Line. As the project title suggests the answers can only be found at Stanmore station, alongside a series of artworks that unpick the clues to some of the puzzles.

For those prepared to take the challenge the answers really do lie at the end of the line.