The bombs that exploded into Londoners’ lives with death, devastation and grief also catapulted a South African couple into parenthood when their first child was born suddenly – a few days before his birth was expected.
Within two hours of the blasts, dad-to-be Brendan “Red” Byrne was summoned urgently to hospital but, with little public transport available and all taxis occupied, he bought a second-hand bicycle and pedalled furiously along the only route he knew, following the Northern Line stations to Wimbledon and his wife’s bedside.
Brendan was at his office near the Liverpool Street Tube station in the city’s financial district when the bombs rocked London on Thursday morning.