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Plans by Oxford University’s Bodleian Library to make Shakespeare’s first folio available on the internet would surely have had the approval of the scholarly Humphrey Lancaster, first Duke of Gloucester. On his controversial death in 1447 Humphrey bequeathed his fine collection of books and manuscripts to Oxford University where they helped form the nucleus of…
Read moreVisitors to the American hospitality House at Vinopolis on Bankside in Southwark don’t have to walk far for a reminder of past Olympic triumphs by US athletes. Less than a hammer’s throw from Vinopolis is the historic Anchor tavern. Marked on the Thameside path outside the Anchor is a tribute to one of the greatest…
Read moreThis Sunday 29th July, I’m leading the first of a new series of walks linked to a great restaurant deal with the Paternoster Chop House near St Paul’s Cathedral. The idea is that you get a great price for a Sunday lunch in a good restaurant, and the opportunity to do a walk around…
Read moreWe’ve asked various Footprints Guides to choose their Favourite Activities. This month Rob Smith suggests.. While the weather so far this summer has not been great for walking, its given me the chance to catch up with the BBC’s excellent series of London programmes. On of my favourites has been London on Film – The West End ,…
Read moreIt is good to see Islington’s Peoples Plaque scheme continuing, with the latest one for Edith Garrud unveiled this weekend. Edith was a real kick ass heroine – known as the Jujitsu Suffragette, and star of Britain’s first martial arts film. Edith and her husband were physical training instructors, a fairly unusual job for a…
Read moreThis 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 moreWe’ve a new free exhibition at the British Museum opening today – Shakespeare’s money and medals – this is a small exhibition in room 69a – a taster in a way to the bigger blockbuster British Museum event – Shakespeare: staging the world which starts on 19th July. Come to the exhibition and find out what an Elizabethan playgoer…
Read moreThere is a great new series Shakespeare’s Restless World on Radio 4 by Neil McGregor starting today – the idea is to talk about one object a day over twenty days – giving some of the context to Shakespeare’s life. This is linked with the forthcoming must see exhibition at the British Museum –…
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…
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