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This week saw the return of an old friend – the stonework from the original 1886 station at London Blackfriars which describes all the destinations you can get to. And very glamorous they are too – Venice, Baden-Baden and St Petersburg (and Bromley and Beckenham too). The station opened as St Pauls in May 1886,…
Read moreThe original Golden Hinde, Francis Drake’s famous Elizabethan flagship, brought an immense fortune in looted silver and other treasures back from her epic voyage circumnavigating the world between 1577 and 1580. This vast haul, worth dozens of millions of pounds at today’s values, enabled voyage backer Queen Elizabeth I to pay off her entire foreign debt…
Read moreIf you can fight your way through the queues for the David Hockney show, I thoroughly recommend a visit to the exhibition Johan Zoffany RA Society Observed at the Royal Academy. Zoffany’s sometimes mischievous portraits of London society are bound to fascinate anyone with an interest in Georgian London. For me however, it is the…
Read morePlans to shoot the final iconic scenes of Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Miserables are beginning to take shape with the arrival of a giant model elephant at Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College (ORNC). The giant pachyderm is being assembled in the ORNC’s Lower Grand Square, which is being disguised as the Place de la Bastille in…
Read moreLuvvies and revolutionaries are preparing to man the barricades at The Old Royal Naval College (ORNC) at Greenwich where scenes from the forthcoming blockbuster film Les Miserables are due to be shot early in April. The ORNC’s Lower Grand Square, which is flanked by the King Charles and Queen Anne Courts, is being mocked up…
Read moreOne of my favourite things about walking London is the little things you find that tell a big story. Take this valve cover marked LHP in Royal Mint Street. Its a remnant of the London Hydraulic Power Company, a network that powered equipment all over London in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hydraulic…
Read moreRenowned British artist Maggi Hambling has been chosen to design a sculpture commemorating novelist Charles Dickens’s connections with the London Borough of Southwark. The sculpture will be installed on the recently created pedestrian piazza outside St George the Martyr church at the junction of Tabard Street and Borough High Street. Hambling, who designed the reclining…
Read moreIn a dramatic moment worthy of a Charles Dickens plot, the winning design for a monument in Southwark to honour the great English novelist will be unveiled on Tuesday 7th February, the 200th anniversary of his birth. The design will be selected by a commitee of representatives from local organisations including Southwark Council and Bankside…
Read moreSunday 22nd January is the 175th anniversary of one of the great architects of London – Sir John Soane. His buildings, in which applied classical styles to the needs of the modern city, are not only important in themselves, but they also are a great boost to the confidence of London. During Soanes lifetime London…
Read moreThe magnificent Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich has acquired yet another alias. It appears in the Maggie Thatcher biopic Iron Lady as the Elysée Palace, official residence of the French president. Meryl Streep, who has just won a Golden Globe best actress award for her portrayal of the former Tory Prime…
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