Mice on the Tube

It's really hard to take pictures of mice on the London Underground as the little blighters move so quickly. I think this is the best, that I've managed recently, of mice spotted at Oxford Circus.


Apparently, the best places to spot mice running around the tracks of the underground are Waterloo station (northbound on the Bakerloo line) and any platform at Oxford Circus. I'm not at all sure why this is. There certainly seem to be a lot at Oxford Circus. Anthea Turner even had that Tube station as the home for the Tube mice in her children's book series. Yes - that Anthea Turner!

Many years ago when she wasn't showing Vanessa Feltz how to change duvet covers on Celebrity Big Brother, Anthea and her sister Wendy wrote a series of children's books about mice living on the London Underground called "Underneath the Underground".


Underneath the Underground: Further Tales is the 2nd book of a the series. Obviously these aren't the dirty mice, we know and er.... hate, but little cartoon characters who wear nice clothes and have names like Nancy, Neil and Nigel.


The series is dedicated to The Humane Research Trust, a registered charity which raises funds to develop alternative methrods to the use of animals in medical research. So you can buy these books and feel you're doing your bit for charity too!

Apparently, an estimated half a million mice live in the London Underground system so your chances of seeing them should be pretty high.

Coincidentally the same day that I took the mice picture, I saw a guy reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere on the Tube. That's quite common, as it's a great book and should be required reading for Tube commuters.

But I thought it was funny I saw him reading a book which features King Rats on the Underground (one's even on the cover of the book), just after I'd seen some of their mini cousins!

Here's a lovely short animated film about Tube mice from a guest who commented below.


Keep those Tube mice sightings coming in. Thanks.