Tuesday 25 October 2011

Listen very carefully - I will say this only once...

Sarah Toa has said that my last post has inspired her to produce this one, and that one has inspired me - in turn - to produce this one.

The South Coast of England was a site which hosted many whacky and wild ideas during WW2, these listening devices are amongst the most sculptural of the lot.


Dotted around the southern coast of England, you will find these astronomical looking devices made from cast concrete, and they are nothing but giant ears to eavesdrop on the coast of mainland France, around 30 miles away across the sea.


If you stand in the right position in front of this edifice, for instance, you will hear the purr of a 2CV car as it winds it's way along the opposite coast of Brittany, and may well hear the conversation of it's passengers - if they have the windows open.

They still work today.

'ello 'ello!

5 comments:

  1. My grandmother ( who survived the may blitz in Liverpool in the war) always said the Germans were evil..especially as they dropped "insanitary" bombs on the city

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  2. Wow again.... I've never seen these before!

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  3. I think I need that apparatus in the first picture. Far more trendy than a hearing aid. Maybe in shocking pink. Pardon?

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