Do you want to go for a ride on the chunnel? The British public understandings of the Channel Tunnel meet the Eurotunnel Exhibition Centre

Abstract

As readers of British newspapers know very well, the Channel Tunnel has a long history and a potent mythology. The mere mention of the Tunnel summons associations extending from the technological and ecological to the patriotic and erotic. This paper takes up the historical and contemporary meanings of the Channel Tunnel and situates them in the context of its perceived `social threat'. Drawing on a variety of materials, including newspaper articles, cartoons, plays, fiction and museum displays, the paper deals with four types of ominous fears of the Tunnel: fear of (subterranean) invasion; fear of the end of the island race and splendid isolation; fear of the destruction of the countryside and the country life in the `Garden of England'; and fear of sudden, violent death caused by rabies, fire, flooding or terrorist attack. Laden with concerns about the Tunnel, the author (like members of the British public have done) takes a trip to the Eurotunnel Exhibition Centre in Folkestone, England, to hear Eurotunnel's arguments about the Tunnel. In all, Eurotunnel exhibitors either ignore or recast concerns about the Channel Tunnel, leaving the visitor with the impression that, while the Channel Tunnel was an engineering feat unprecedented in history, a trip through the Tunnel will be a non-event.