Getty ImagesA time capsule buried by Diana, Princess of Wales at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) in 1991 has been opened, revealing a Kylie Minogue CD, a solar-powered calculator and a passport.
The lead-encased wooden box was sealed to mark the laying of the foundation stone of the hospital’s Variety Club Building, which opened in 1994.
The items in the capsule were selected by two children who won a Blue Peter competition and were intended to represent life in the 1990s. Other objects included a pocket TV, a snowflake hologram and a photo of Princess Diana.
The time capsule was meant to be unearthed in “hundreds of years” but was dug up to make way for the construction of a children’s cancer centre.
Princess Diana became president of Gosh in 1989 and visited the children’s hospital several times before her death in 1997.
She helped the two children select the items to be placed in the time capsule.
The CD of Kylie Minogue’s Rhythm of Love album, which was released in 1990 and features the songs ‘Better the Devil You Know’, ‘What Do I Have to Do’, and ‘Shocked’ was one of the 10 items included.
The CD was chosen by David Watson, then aged 11, from Paignton, Devon. He also selected a sheet of recycled paper and a passport.
Sylvia Foulkes, then aged 9, from Norwich, chose a collection of British coins, a container with five tree seeds, and the snowflake hologram.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for ChildrenThe box also included a copy of the Times newspaper from the date of the capsule’s burial.
Headlines on its front page include: “Cooked meats bring out Soviet voters in droves” – alongside a photo of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev – and “US rejects Iraqi warplanes plea as rebels close in”.
Images released by archivists show some damage to the objects, but they are largely intact.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for ChildrenStaff who were either born in 1991 or were already working at the hospital in 1991 helped to remove it.
The burial of the time capsule was similar to a ceremony in 1872 during which the then Princess of Wales, Alexandra, laid a foundation stone at the hospital, also sealing a time capsule.
That time capsule, which contained a photo of Queen Victoria, has not been found.
The new children’s cancer centre at Gosh will be a “national resource of the treatment of childhood cancers”, according to a statement.
Its design will help clinical teams develop “kinder, more effective treatments” for children staying at the hospital.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children