The Langham, London
A London hotel that opened on June 10, 1865, and served as BBC offices and studios from 1941 to 1986. In July 1973, newsreader James Alexander Gordon said he threw a boot at a figure in Victorian evening dress in Room 33 and watched the boot go straight through it.
Field Guide Entry
The grand hotel
The Langham opened on June 10, 1865, with the Prince of Wales among the guests, and was London's largest hotel when new. The Illustrated London News described a staff of "about two hundred and fifty persons," a "lift" that went "up and down at intervals," and a building "as nearly fire-proof as art can render it." Historic England lists it at Grade II as a "vast 'grand' hotel of the 1860s hotel boom."
The BBC years
Bombs damaged the building in 1940. Accounts disagree on which wing was hit and on whether the hotel stayed open afterward. From 1941, the BBC used it as offices and studios, and wartime broadcasters, Edward Murrow among them, reported from its roof. The BBC stayed until 1986, and Hilton converted the building back into a hotel between 1987 and 1991.
Room 33
In the 1970s, the BBC put early-morning announcers up overnight at the Langham, and it was an open secret among staff that Room 33 on the third floor was haunted. Radio 2 presenter Ray Moore said he saw a thickset man in a uniform-style coat there at 4:30am in January 1971.
In July 1973, James Alexander Gordon, later the voice of the BBC's Saturday football results, woke to a figure "dressed in what I suppose one could describe best as Victorian evening wear with a cloak and a cravat." Gordon said he could see the basin through it. He threw one of his boots, and "of course it went straight through." His account comes from a 1979 book of performers' ghost stories, quoted by the Fortean Times. The researcher Alan Murdie notes that the BBC sightings cluster in the hours before dawn, which fits the half-awake experiences documented in surveys of apparitions.
Room 333 and the cricketers
The room is now numbered 333. In 2011, the hotel sold a £333 Halloween package, said the ghost "usually only appears during the month of October," and listed up to seven ghosts, among them a doctor said to have harmed his bride on their honeymoon. No source names the doctor or dates that story.
On July 19, 2014, the Daily Mail quoted England bowler Stuart Broad on a night during the Sri Lanka Test at Lord's: "All of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off." He asked to move rooms. Broad said Ben Stokes, who was on the third floor, had trouble sleeping too. The hotel declined to comment.
Visiting Information
The Langham is a working hotel, and its public rooms can be visited without a booking. The Palm Court serves afternoon tea, and the Artesian bar and The Wigmore tavern are in the same building. Oxford Circus station is about 5 minutes away on foot.
Check-in is from 3pm and check-out is by 12pm. The hotel publishes no rates without dates. Its current website makes no mention of ghosts, and whether Room 333 can still be requested is a question for the front desk; in 2011, the hotel took requests subject to availability.
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