The construction of the Channel Tunnel began in 1988. I was present with cameraman Chris Setchell when a 50 mm (2.0 in) diameter pilot hole allowed the service tunnel to break through without ceremony on 30 October 1990. There was a ceremonial ‘breakthrough’ with news media present on 1 December 1990, but we’d been relegated to the surface for this event.
Amazingly the French and UK service tunnels almost perfectly aligned mid-Channel.