Browsing Archive: March, 2021

Radical Mural Tucked Away in Battersea

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, In : Art 

Hidden away in Battersea is an amazing piece of street art, showcasing not only the delights

of the local Thames river front, but also the area’s radical political history. On a former pub

on Dagnell Street is the wonderful “Battersea in Perspective” mural, done by local artist

Brian Barnes. Centre stage is Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda, with the Thames and

the Albert and Chelsea Bridges either side.


The golden circles in the sky represent the Battersea Shield. This Celtic shield dates...


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Hats off to Bankside Fashion Icon

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, In : Victorian 

Did you know Bankside’s role in the invention of one of Britain’s most iconic fashion items?

The Earl of Leicester had a problem: his gamekeepers hats kept on being knocked off as they went about their work, because in the mid-19th century gamekeepers wore impractical tall hats. He dispatched his younger brother Edward Coke to posh St James’s hat-maker Lock and Co to find a solution.


Lock and Co got in touch with a certain hat-maker’s on Bankside to design a solution.  Bankside has a lo...


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Dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park - a Virtual Tour

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, In : Victorian 
In episode 47 of our London History podcast we discuss the wonderful dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park. I was going to pop along and do a bit of filming but the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs have beaten us to it. They have included dinosaur names and sound effects too - something we just couldn't even compete with. 

Enjoy!

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Buckingham Virtual Tour

Posted by Hazel Baker on Monday, March 15, 2021, In : Royal 

Situated in the heart of the West End of London and surrounded by two royal parks; Green Park and St James's Park, Buckingham Palace is considered to be the most recognizable building in Great Britain. 


It is the official London residence of Queen Elizabeth II who also uses it for important events, meetings and receptions and is a place where over the years the masses gravitate towards. 


It didn't start its life out as a royal palace. It was originally called Buckingham House and started as a ...


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The Text on the Monument

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, March 11, 2021, In : Art 

The Monument was built between 1671-1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666 which ended up destroying four-fifths of the city. It is a column standing on a very large pedestal, some 20 feet high, much of which is covered in dense Latin writing.

This goes unremarked today, partly because so few of us read Latin. Then as now only a minority of people would be able to read it, even if in the 17th century Latin was a more important language and in theory if you were a gentleman it was...


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Why Was Jack the Ripper Never Caught?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

I think there are many reasons why the police did not catch Jack the Ripper, even though at one time they believed that they were only five minutes behind him after the murder of Catherine Eddowes on 30 September 1888, the night of the double event.

One reason was that policing in those days was far removed from the efficient methods of today. Just imagine no fingerprinting until 1906, no crime scene analysis, no DNA, no genetic sequencing, or any of the other tools that the police now have.

On...


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Historic Pubs in Bankside

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, March 5, 2021, In : Local History 
In our latest podcast episode: 46: Beer, The Bard and Historic Buildings in Bankside, I asked London tour guide Stephen King for his recommendations for historic pubs in Bankside.
This is what he said:

"The classic pub for everybody having to visit Bankside has to go to is of course the George Inn which is London's only remaining gallery.

In. So if you go there, you are standing only a fragment of it remains for the very important fragment for the George Inn remains. And if you go there, you ca...


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