I think anyone would be hard pressed to think of a better candidate to be memorialised in Theatreland than Agatha Christie. Of course, her enduring association with Theatreland is her murder mystery play, The Mousetrap, which has been running here continuously for 65 years (2017), or 60 years and 25,000 performances of the play when this memorial was dedicated in 2012. Continue reading “Agatha Christie Memorial”
It is amazing, in some many ways, to think that in a city the size of London with so many things to see and do that I would actively seek out and write a review on a coat hook. Well I did and here it is! Continue reading “Where Does One Hang Ones Cape?”
My review on the Great Dangaroo Flood introduced my reader to a memorial plaque in Old Compton Street, Soho commemorating a totally fictional flood. This review covers another great London flood which, while sounding equally fanciful, was a real event. I refer to the Great London Beer Flood.
At around 6pm on 17 October 1814 a 15 feet high tsunami of around 1.5million litres of beer unleashed itself from the Horse Shoe Brewery (depicted above in the mid 1800s), owned by Messrs Henry Meux and Co, in the St Giles district of London – the present day site of the Dominion Theatre. Continue reading “The Great London Beer Flood”
While probing the east end of Old Compton Street in search of evidence of the former Little Compton Street I happened to look up and spy a brass plaque, attached about 4 metres from the ground, on Number 7.
Squinting my eyes somewhat I was able to ascertain that the plaque marked the high water mark in the Great Dangaroo Flood, an event that heretofore I had never heard of. The plaque left me somewhat mesmerised and further investigation ensued. Continue reading “The Great Dangaroo Flood”
Two signs in a utility tunnel under Charing Cross Road are the only visible evidence of the existence of the former Little Compton Street. To see the signs you need to look down through the metal grating on the traffic island at the intersection of Old Compton Road and Charing Cross Road. Continue reading “Where Has Little Compton Street Gone?”
London as a city probably has more landmarks and features instantly recognisable world wide than any other city in the world. While some of these are major buildings and monuments some are items of a rather more mundane nature. Everyone knows about London’s red buses, its black taxis and the Tube. Continue reading “London’s Telephone Boxes – A Dying Breed”
If you have seen my introductory London entry and you have any knowledge of the Knights Templar, even if it be via Dan Brown’s novel, the Da Vinci Code, you will have recognised the main picture there as being the symbol of the Knights Templar – a horse carrying two knights. This symbol is situated atop a column outside the Temple Church. Continue reading “Temple Church and the Knights Templar”
This is a relatively recent and perhaps overdue addition to the many memorials of London.
This memorial/cenotaph to the Women of World War II was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 July, 2005 some 60 years after the end of World War II. The memorial, dedicated by Baroness Boothroyd, former Speaker of the House of Commons, commemorates the contribution of some 7 million women to the war effort, both in uniform and on the home front. Perhaps not well known, conscription for women began in 1941 and by 1943 nine out of 10 single women aged between 20 and 30 were working in factories, on the land or in the armed forces. Continue reading “Women of World War II Memorial”
The Wellcome Collection (named after founder Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) an American businessman, collector and philanthropist who ended up a British knight) describes itself as “a free visitor destination for the incurably curious” and “explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future”. I like to think of myself as incurably curious and I think “a destination for the incurably curious” sums the place up splendidly. Continue reading “The Wellcome Collection”
As you enter the Hunterian Museum, in a niche just past the reception desk, you will be confronted with the skeleton of Jonathan Wild one of London’s most notorious criminals.
Wild, hailing from Wolverhampton arrived in London in 1708 and soon (1710) landed himself in jail for a debt offence. While in prison Wild really began his short life of crime and befriended both other petty criminals and his warders who (the warders that is!) awarded him with “the liberty of the gate”, meaning that he was allowed out at night to aid in the arrest of thieves. Off course this award was of mutual benefit to warders and Wild. Continue reading “Thief Taker General – Hunterian Museum”
The Rambling Wombat 