Usually when you pull into Charing Cross station on the tube, the driver tells you to alight here for British Rail services, Trafalgar Square and various tourist hot spots. 

They rarely mention that you might like to alight there for South Africa House, but today – the morning after Nelson Mandela’s death – our announcement was a little bit different.

“Alight here for the Northern line, and British Rail. Alight here for Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and South Africa House, if you’re wanting to pay your respects to a hero of democracy and statesmanship.”