The Tunnel Under the Channel

Chapter 7: About the Author

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About This Book

The author surveys the long history of proposals to connect England and France by a fixed underground link, opening with a description of the Channel's surprising shallowness and the hazardous ferry crossing. He recounts nineteenth- and twentieth-century engineering plans—bridges, immersed tubes, and rail tunnels—along with detailed geological, hydrographic, and design studies. The narrative traces promoters' enthusiasm, political debates, and evolving technical assessments, and explains why practical feasibility repeatedly collided with cultural, economic, and political resistance in Britain. The book combines technical explanation, social history, and reportage to show how engineering plans intersected with national identity and policymaking.

About the Author

Thomas Whiteside was born in England in 1918 at Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the Scottish border. After working as a newspaperman in Canada, he came to this country in 1940. He is a United States citizen. After wartime service with the Office of War Information, he worked as a reporter for The New Republic, and for some years he has been a writer for The New Yorker. Mr. Whiteside is married to a French-born wife and has three children. They live in Greenwich Village. He is the author of The Relaxed Sell, published in 1954.

Transcriber's Notes.

1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

2. A number of the illustrations in the original are double page spreads. In this digital edition they have been reduced to a single page width.