The Daily Constitutional from London Walks®

Streets Ahead

2012-02-16T10:46:00.000Z

Streets Ahead is the occasional column from London Walks' Pen David Tucker…

Seven.

That most riffable of numbers. Seven Wonders of the World; Seven Deadly Sins; The Secret Seven; The Seven Year Itch. Lucky Seven. Seven Blocks of Granite (if youʼre thinking American sports). The seven lamps of the menorah in the Temple. The Seven Dwarfs. George Carlinʼs Seven Dirty Words. The Seven Summits. The Seven Seas. The Seven Continents. The seven days of the week. Godʼs creating the world in seven days. The Seven Ages of Man. The Seven Seals in the Book of Revelations.

And so on.

So how about a “London Seven”?

And Seven Sisters doesnʼt count. Way too easy.

Hereʼs my seven. Chosen for their London Walks-ness. i.e., that jolt of recognition – the piquancy of, “oh, thatʼs fun to know – didnʼt know that.”

1. The Seven Dials. So named because seven streets converge there. Itʼs in the Covent Garden “district”. Because of its mix of old and new, of trendy and declasse, of traces of the past and foreshadowings of the future – and especially because of the “feel” of its streets (its buzz, its honest-to-goodness London brick, teensy tributaries and byways and hidden courtyards) – itʼs London at its most delightful. Thatʼs is. Was was a different story. Seven Dials was the slum of slums. Switch your radar to full-on, home in and lock on to the blip of Adamʼs Seven Dials walk (it only comes up a couple of times a year). And donʼt miss it – itʼs an eye-opener and a delight. LW at its best.

2. The Seven Stars. The old pub in the heart of Legal London. Itʼs as old and crinkly- curious as the institution whose practitioners frequent it. 400 years old, named for the seven provinces of Holland, boasts the oldest “artefact” youʼll ever see (let alone sniff at), the only pub in London that doesnʼt have a loo – whatʼs not to delight in and wonder about The Seven Stars?

3. The seven gates of London: Aldgate, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, Ludgate, Moorgate and Newgate.

4. The seven City of London Bridges: Blackfriars Bridge, the Blackfriars Railway Bridge, the Millennium Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge, London Bridge and Tower Bridge.

5. The seven arches of Westminster Bridge. The point being itʼs the only bridge in London that has seven arches. And, inevitably, theyʼve been dubbed the Monday Arch, the Tuesday Arch, the Wednesday Arch, etc.

6. The seven hills. Yes, I know, everybody bangs on about London being built round two hills (Cornhill and Ludhill) as opposed to Romeʼs seven colline – but in fact “the London basin” has seven hills. (“Iʼll see lead with our two hills, Rome, and then see your seven”.) As the greatest London Walker of them all puts it, “From the City to Westminster and beyond, most of Central London can be seen best from the top of seven hills below which the sluggish Thames crawls into its saline estuary some fifteen miles to the east of Gallions Reach.”

7. The Regentʼs Park ensemble. Named for mad King George IIIʼs seven sons. Namely (so to speak) – and in order of precedence – the Regent himself, York Terrace, Clarence Terrace, Cumberland Terrace, Kent Terrace, Sussex Terrace and Cambridge Terrace.

And those seven – “the dregs of their dull race” as Shelley called them in a didnʼt-pull-his- punches sonnet – are another “riff” in themselves. Stay tuned...

February Is Quiz Month: Q16

2012-02-16T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 16:

Where in London can you find this scene?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

February Is Quiz Month: Q15

2012-02-15T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 15:

Where is this tiger and ship?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

New London Walks in the Summer Programme

2012-02-14T14:27:00.005Z

There are four brand new weekly walks coming in to the Summer 2012 London Walks programme (which kicks off on May 1st and runs through October 31st).

Have just rolled the first one out on the mothership - www.walks.com. Shimmer on over and take a look - you'll see it at the top of the Latest News column. Put it up first because there's a certain consonance (shall we say) with Adam's most recent post. How grizzly do you like your grisly? And on Valentine's Day at that. (And bet you didn't know that about a certain guide's lengthy criminal record!)

The London Reading List No.36: From Hell

2012-02-14T10:46:00.000Z

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

From Hell

Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell

The business of telling the Jack the Ripper tale on a nightly basis is no straightforward task. Other London tales sit still, remain constant. Jack is fluid.

The facts of the story remain the same – and there is no better place to read them than Donald Rumbelow’s definitive book The Complete Jack The Ripper. We’ll cover that well-respected work a little later in this series.

The facts of the tale, however, are constantly buffeted by the winds of conspiracy. With all those theories flying around, with all the perpetual beard-scratching and pontificating on the nature of the killer’s true identity, it is surely only a matter of days before we can pull back the curtain, rip off the madman’s mask and stamp Case Closed on the whole affair once and for all.

Yet each new “theory” seems to take us further from a resolution than ever before. Each “new” idea, each “new suspect” merely adds another distorted looking glass to the already labyrinthine hall of mirrors that the case can become in the hands of a poor, if enthusiastic storyteller.

That’s not to say that the conspiracy theories are without value. They work particularly well in the slab of modern Grand Guinol that is the graphic novel From Hell – the source work for the Johnny Depp film of the same name. It joins our series on the recommendation of a number of Daily Constitutionalists and London Walkers:

KEVP commented right here on The DC:

“I do like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I really think that the Alan Moore book of most interest to London Walkers is his book about Jack the Ripper – entitled "From Hell". It combines the facts of the case together with all the mythology of Jack the Ripper, and places it all within the mystical architecture of the streets of London.”

Indeed KEVP, we agree; it’s a perfect blend of fact and riveting fiction with clear indications from Moore where "The scene depicted here is invention". Yet the drama never flags.

Kate Weikert added her review to our Facebook page:

“Just finished with From Hell a couple of weeks ago. Thought-provoking stuff, not just with the pretty spectacular London geography. I definitely appreciated the epilogue/historiography at the end.”

As a post-script, we also picked up a couple of recommendations for further graphic novel reading on Twitter (@londonwalks): Tim Bird tells us…

“It's Dark In London is a collection of shortish comics coming out in March, which looks really good. Various writers including Alan Moore, Iain Sinclair, Neil Gaiman. It came out a while ago, but is being reprinted by Self Made Hero publishers.”

Thanks Tim, we’ll look out for it.

And finally this from Paul Hunter, also via Twitter. We’d asked for recommendations for great London-set graphic novels and here was Paul’s reply:

“Hi guys. Try 'The Human Test Part I" written by me ;o)”

Thanks Paul!

As usual, we want to hear your suggestions for great London reads. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

February Is Quiz Month: Q14

2012-02-14T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 14:

Where is this plaque?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

In and Around London... Mayfair

2012-02-13T10:46:00.000Z

February Is Quiz Month: Q13

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 13:

Name the London market:

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

February Is Quiz Month: Q12

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 12:

Where is this monument?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Is This The Best Snowman Ever?

2012-02-11T13:07:00.001Z

We found him/her on an outdoor restaurant table in Gabriel's Wharf this morning along the route of the Somewhere Else London walk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad on a bus in Hampstead Garden Suburb!

Piccadilly: The Saturday Street

2012-02-11T10:46:00.001Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Piccadilly
Location: SW1

Formerly known as Portugal Street, Piccadilly was renamed in the 17th Century.

Robert Baker made his fortune on The Strand selling piccadills (also called picadils or pickadils) – stiff collars with scalloped edges and a broad lace or perforated border. His grand mansion to the fashionable west of the metropolis was soon dubbed Piccadill (later Piccadilly) Hall.

February Is Quiz Month: Q11

2012-02-11T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 11:

Fill in the blank on this famous theatre:

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Plaque of the Week No.106: The Kinks

2012-02-10T10:46:00.001Z

You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Friday is our new day for tracking down London plaques (Blue or otherwise) and putting them centre stage on the Daily Constitutional. This week…

106: Ray & Dave Davies and The Kinks

Where: Fortis Green Road, N2

Leafy, suburban North London seems like a sedate location for the birthplace of a rock’n’roll legend. Yet it was here in 1960 that Ray and Dave Davies made their public performance debut. The brothers would go on to form The Kinks and with such hits as You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset and Lola went on to transform the landscape of popular music.

The plaque is inside The Clissold Arms, which has an entire section of the bar dedicated to The Kinks with cuttings, sleeves, records and Kinks ephemera dotting the walls. The Kinks Room was opened in 2010 by Ray Davies himself and original Kinks drummer Mick Avory.

Why is the plaque not outside for all to see? We’re not sure. Perhaps Haringey Borough Council should be lobbied. While we’re about it, and while Her Maj is in a party mood, how about a knighthood for Ray Davies?

The Clissold Arms (great pub – great food too!) 105 Fortis Green N2 9HR (020 8444 4224) – nearest tube East Finchley.

February Is Quiz Month: Q10

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 10:

Can you identify the building by its ceiling?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Pease Pudding & Saveloy! More!

2012-02-09T10:46:00.000Z

Here's Ann with a Dickensian theme ahead of her Foodie walk this weekend…

You cannot missed the fact that 2012 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Dickensian, when applied to food, makes you think of gargantuan feasts of roast beef, washed down with mugs of porter. Or a splendid Christmas dinner, preferably with a turkey, as sent by Scrooge to the Cratchit family.

But what did Dickens eat at home? Some clue comes from the cookery book published by his wife Catherine in 1851 under the pseudonym of Lady Maria Clutterbuck, a best seller in its day, ‘What Shall We have for Dinner?’ lets you choose from 49 recipes, arranged as ‘bills of fare’ – menus to feed from 2 to 20 people. The quantities may be Dickensian – pea soup, salmon, turbot, lobster sauce, cucumbers, mushroom patties, lamb’s sweetbreads, lobster curry, rissoles, saddle of mutton, chicken mayonnaise, broccoli, new potatoes, roast duck, pease pudding, macaroni cheese, Brunswick sausage – a dinner for 20. But there are plenty of comparatively straightforward recipes, such as cheese soufflé, cauliflower cheese and toasted cheese. ‘No man,’ wrote one reviewer, 'could possibly survive the consumption of so much toasted cheese.’ Rather disappointingly, Charles Dickens himself was described by friends as a light eater.

Brunswick sausage was something like present day salami. And pease pudding must be due for a comeback on trendy menus. When I was a child in the north east my mother sometimes bought hefty squares of it from the butcher. It was pretty solid, a golden colour, contained plenty of pepper and salt, and was delicious. Make your own by soaking then boiling dried split peas. Mash them up when soft, add an egg and onion, herbs, or just salt and pepper, and then either tie in a cloth and boil, or bake in the oven.

Dinner for Dickens by SM Rossi-Wilcox includes both Catherine’s recipes and an account of the Dickens family’s domestic arrangements.

And for more foodie titbits, join Ann’s walk this Saturday. Pie Crust to Upper Crust starts from Embankment tube at 10.45am.

February Is Quiz Month: Q9

2012-02-09T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 9:

Name this bridge:

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

London Spy 080212: More! Dickens 200 Special

2012-02-08T17:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes. Please Sir: More Dickens 200

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

DICKENS 200: Dickens & London – CNN

DICKENS 200: Modern Dickens – Washington Post

DICKENS 200: Dickens For the Twitter Generation – Daily Mirror

DICKENS 200: Dickens the Transport Visionary – Los Angeles Times

DICKENS 200: Simon Callow on Dickens – Daily Express

It's A London Thing No.62: The Circumlocution Office

2012-02-08T10:46:00.001Z

It’s a London Thing is our Wednesday series in which we turn the spotlight on a unique aspect of London – perhaps a curious shop, sometimes an eccentric restaurant, a hidden place, book or oddity. The subject matter will be different every week. The running theme, however, will remain constant: you have to come to London to enjoy it. It’s A London Thing.

Charles Dickens: He’s A London Thing. (Happy Birthday, Mr. D)

Parliament: It’s A London Thing.

Put them together and you have one of English satire’s finest hours… Chapter 10 of Little Dorrit – The Circumlocution Office

CHAPTER 10.

Containing the whole Science of Government

The Circumlocution Office was (as everybody knows without being told) the most important Department under Government. No public business of any kind could possibly be done at any time without the acquiescence of the Circumlocution Office. Its finger was in the largest public pie, and in the smallest public tart. It was equally impossible to do the plainest right and to undo the plainest wrong without the express authority of the Circumlocution Office. If another Gunpowder Plot had been discovered half an hour before the lighting of the match, nobody would have been justified in saving the parliament until there had been half a score of boards, half a bushel of minutes, several sacks of official memoranda, and a family-vault full of ungrammatical correspondence, on the part of the Circumlocution Office.

This glorious establishment had been early in the field, when the one sublime principle involving the difficult art of governing a country, was first distinctly revealed to statesmen. It had been foremost to study that bright revelation and to carry its shining influence through the whole of the official proceedings. Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving—HOW NOT TO DO IT.

Through this delicate perception, through the tact with which it invariably seized it, and through the genius with which it always acted on it, the Circumlocution Office had risen to overtop all the public departments; and the public condition had risen to be—what it was.

It is true that How not to do it was the great study and object of all public departments and professional politicians all round the Circumlocution Office. It is true that every new premier and every new government, coming in because they had upheld a certain thing as necessary to be done, were no sooner come in than they applied their utmost faculties to discovering How not to do it. It is true that from the moment when a general election was over, every returned man who had been raving on hustings because it hadn't been done, and who had been asking the friends of the honourable gentleman in the opposite interest on pain of impeachment to tell him why it hadn't been done, and who had been asserting that it must be done, and who had been pledging himself that it should be done, began to devise, How it was not to be done. It is true that the debates of both Houses of Parliament the whole session through, uniformly tended to the protracted deliberation, How not to do it. It is true that the royal speech at the opening of such session virtually said, My lords and gentlemen, you have a considerable stroke of work to do, and you will please to retire to your respective chambers, and discuss, How not to do it. It is true that the royal speech, at the close of such session, virtually said, My lords and gentlemen, you have through several laborious months been considering with great loyalty and patriotism, How not to do it, and you have found out; and with the blessing of Providence upon the harvest (natural, not political), I now dismiss you. All this is true, but the Circumlocution Office went beyond it.

Because the Circumlocution Office went on mechanically, every day, keeping this wonderful, all-sufficient wheel of statesmanship, How not to do it, in motion. Because the Circumlocution Office was down upon any ill-advised public servant who was going to do it, or who appeared to be by any surprising accident in remote danger of doing it, with a minute, and a memorandum, and a letter of instructions that extinguished him. It was this spirit of national efficiency in the Circumlocution Office that had gradually led to its having something to do with everything. Mechanicians, natural philosophers, soldiers, sailors, petitioners, memorialists, people with grievances, people who wanted to prevent grievances, people who wanted to redress grievances, jobbing people, jobbed people, people who couldn't get rewarded for merit, and people who couldn't get punished for demerit, were all indiscriminately tucked up under the foolscap paper of the Circumlocution Office.

Numbers of people were lost in the Circumlocution Office. Unfortunates with wrongs, or with projects for the general welfare (and they had better have had wrongs at first, than have taken that bitter English recipe for certainly getting them), who in slow lapse of time and agony had passed safely through other public departments; who, according to rule, had been bullied in this, over-reached by that, and evaded by the other; got referred at last to the Circumlocution Office, and never reappeared in the light of day. Boards sat upon them, secretaries minuted upon them, commissioners gabbled about them, clerks registered, entered, checked, and ticked them off, and they melted away. In short, all the business of the country went through the Circumlocution Office, except the business that never came out of it; and its name was Legion.

Sometimes, angry spirits attacked the Circumlocution Office. Sometimes, parliamentary questions were asked about it, and even parliamentary motions made or threatened about it by demagogues so low and ignorant as to hold that the real recipe of government was, How to do it. Then would the noble lord, or right honourable gentleman, in whose department it was to defend the Circumlocution Office, put an orange in his pocket, and make a regular field-day of the occasion. Then would he come down to that house with a slap upon the table, and meet the honourable gentleman foot to foot. Then would he be there to tell that honourable gentleman that the Circumlocution Office not only was blameless in this matter, but was commendable in this matter, was extollable to the skies in this matter. Then would he be there to tell that honourable gentleman that, although the Circumlocution Office was invariably right and wholly right, it never was so right as in this matter. Then would he be there to tell that honourable gentleman that it would have been more to his honour, more to his credit, more to his good taste, more to his good sense, more to half the dictionary of commonplaces, if he had left the Circumlocution Office alone, and never approached this matter. Then would he keep one eye upon a coach or crammer from the Circumlocution Office sitting below the bar, and smash the honourable gentleman with the Circumlocution Office account of this matter. And although one of two things always happened; namely, either that the Circumlocution Office had nothing to say and said it, or that it had something to say of which the noble lord, or right honourable gentleman, blundered one half and forgot the other; the Circumlocution Office was always voted immaculate by an accommodating majority.

Such a nursery of statesmen had the Department become in virtue of a long career of this nature, that several solemn lords had attained the reputation of being quite unearthly prodigies of business, solely from having practised, How not to do it, as the head of the Circumlocution Office. As to the minor priests and acolytes of that temple, the result of all this was that they stood divided into two classes, and, down to the junior messenger, either believed in the Circumlocution Office as a heaven-born institution that had an absolute right to do whatever it liked; or took refuge in total infidelity, and considered it a flagrant nuisance.

You can buy Little Dorrit in paperback or for Kindle HERE.

What the Dickens

2012-02-08T08:42:00.003Z

And a quick follow up to David's Streets Ahead post yesterday about Dickens (put up on the day itself, the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth).

David - Wisconsin-bred and born - is in London because of Charles Dickens.*

1) Principle Knock-on Effect One: his children got here because of Charles Dickens!

2) Principle Knock-on Effect Two: the difference he's made to London Walks is because of Charles Dickens.

(And by way of a grace note: he's been tapped to go to Buckingham Palace next week. Because of Charles Dickens.)

*He did his Ph.D. at University College London. On Charles Dickens.

February Is Quiz Month: Q8

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 8:

Where are these windows?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

The London Reading List No’s. 29 – 35: Dickens 200 Special

2012-02-07T10:45:00.000Z

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

A few London Walks guides on their favourite Dickens…

David: Our Mutual Friend – perhaps his admiration for all things Thamesian (see his love letter to our mighty waterway in the London Walks book, London Stories) leads him to this choice.

Adam: Great Expectations. “Orwell wrote in 1940: ‘When Dickens has once described something you see it for the rest of your life.’ I first read Great Expectations more than two decades ago and still ‘see’ almost all of it vividly in my mind’s eye.”

Jean: Great Expectations “A rite of passage narrative, great characters and set in the landscape and time where my great great great grandfather was surgeon on the hulks.”

Alan: The Pickwick Papers. “Although Oscar Wilde's comment on Dickens is closer to my own. 'He must have a heart of stone who could read the death of little Nell without laughing.”
(Well, ‘e would say that, wouldn’t ‘e? He is, after all, the London Walks resident Wildean expert and guide.)

Ed: Barnaby Rudge. “A solecistic and sensationalised but sensational grip on the Gordon Riots.”

Richard: Little Dorrit. "Living in the area that Dickens knew as a boy and where the Marshalsea Prison is located my favourite novel has to be Little Dorrit. Walking home at night, in the little side streets, it is easy to imagine the little girl rushing towards the prison before she gets locked out for the night."

Richard IV: Oliver Twist. “Oliver Twist features the most vivid descriptions of a vanished London and a stunning blend of comedy and tragedy. Young Dickens will go on to write more accomplished novels, but none with more energy and passion.”

Don: Bleak House. "If only for the opening chapter of the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincolns Inn Hall in the fog of the English legal system."

Streets Ahead – Dickens & London

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000Z

Streets Ahead is the occasional column from London Walks' Pen David Tucker… Today's instalment has a Dickens flavour…

Dickens 200: Dickens and London

By David Tucker

In The Uncommercial Traveller Charles Dickens recalls his inauspicious London baptism. It’s his earliest memory of the city, the moment he made its acquaintance. He says, since those were 'the days when there were no railroads in the land, I left it [his boyhood home in Kent] in a stage-coach. Through all the years that have since passed, have I ever lost the smell of the damp straw in which I was packed – like game – and forwarded, carriage paid, to the Cross Keys, Wood-street, Cheapside, London? There were no other inside passengers, and I consumed my sandwiches in solitude and dreariness, and it rained hard all the way, and I thought life sloppier than I had expected to find it.

The Cross Keys, Wood-street. The very inn where Pip touches down when he comes to London for the first time in Great Expectations. The resonances here are many and they’re very ripe indeed. The line ‘packed like game’, for example. It hearkens back to that horrible Christmas dinner in Great Expectations, where the revolting – and revoltingly well fed – Uncle Pumblechook (Dickens is brilliant at names – Pumblechook sounds like a mouthful of mashed potatoes and gravy and crackling and sowbelly) informs Pip that if he were a ‘squealer’, a young pig, he wouldn’t have been ‘enjoying himself with his elders and betters’.

‘You would have been disposed of for so many shillings according to the market price of the article, and Dunstable the butcher would have come up to you as you lay in your straw [hear the echo?], and he would have whipped you under his left arm, and with his right he would have tucked up his frock to get a penknife from out of his waistcoat-pocket, and he would have shed your blood and had your life.’

From the Cross Keys Pip goes by hackney coach to Little Britain, where Mr. Jaggers, the mysterious lawyer - the spider at the centre of the plot web of the novel - has his offices. Little Britain. Right by Smithfield – London’s cattle market. London’s killing-fields. Its avatar of abattoirs. Pip says, ‘it was a shameful place… asmear with filth and fat and foam and blood… which seemed to stick to me.’

“Smithfields is where we go on my Shakespeare's and Dickens' Old City London Walk. We go there to find that London, as much of it as we can. Find it – and reconstruct it. And then read it – both in the city and in the literature.

It’s classic Dickens, when you think about it. That’s what he’s all about. Again and again. “Reading” the city. A youngster – an outsider – trying to make sense of a huge and bewildering and deeply disturbing place.

And let’s close by tethering the fiction to some hard fact. He wrote the novel in 1861. You think London was an easy place to figure out in 1861? How does this grab you?

In 1861 London had 37 King Streets, 27 Queen Streets, 22 Princess Streets, 17 Duke Streets, 35 Charles Streets, 29 John Streets, 15 James Streets, 21 George Streets, 24 New Streets, 16 York Streets, 14 Cross Streets, 16 Union Streets and 10 Gloucester Streets.

Shakespeare's and Dickens' Old City goes every Sunday at 2.00p.m.

London Spy 070212: Dickens 200 Special

2012-02-07T06:15:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes. DICKENS 200 SPECIAL

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

DICKENS 200: King of Inspiration – Chicago Sun Times

DICKENS 200: Dickens: Pop Culture Celebrity – Houston Chronicle

DICKENS 200: Down Under With Dickens – Sydney Morning Herald

DICKENS 200: Dickens My Hero By Simon Callow – The Guardian

DICKENS 200: My Favourite Dickens Character – The Daily Telegraph

February Is Quiz Month: Q7

2012-02-07T06:00:00.001Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 7:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Hampstead in the Snow

2012-02-07T01:54:00.008Z

This the follow-up to that "Looking Ahead" image of Hampstead Heath I put up just before the weekend. The one that showed the artist and her painting of the Heath and the Heath in Spring. I said something like, "this is what's ahead for us" and, as for a "location", "we walk right down the middle of the scene she's painting". Well, here's that same scene a couple of days post that post. This past snowy Sunday.
And there was this. It's Fenton House, the oldest grand house in Hampstead.

And this. (You can see, I was "multi-tasking": guiding and photographing. But all four walkers were also clicking away. Especially the man from Singapore, who was in a state of something like ecstasy. Well, I suppose if you've never seen the stuff before. And what a place to "make your acquaintance with it.)

And miaow. Well, it's Hampstead. What do you expect?

And a last look. (Two days later and it's gone already. But memories, memories.)

In and Around London... The Albert Bridge

2012-02-06T10:46:00.000Z

February Is Quiz Month: Q6

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 6:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Richard III's Garden By Day And By Night

2012-02-05T13:49:00.003Z

London Walks stalwart Richard III shares his snow pictures…

"Last night was incredible because it never got dark. All the street lights were reflected in the snow so when I took this picture from my conservatory I could see the whole of my garden at midnight flooded in a pale neon wash…"

Few London Sights More Beautiful…

2012-02-05T06:58:00.001Z

…than Hampstead in the snow…

The Hampstead Walk goes this morning (Sunday) at 10.00a.m from Hampstead Underground station.

SHARE YOUR PICS OF LONDON IN THE SNOW (BEFORE IT MELTS TOMORROW!) …

We want to see your wintry London pics. Email them to to the usual address

London Spy 050212

2012-02-05T06:00:00.002Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

FOOD: The London Borough Of Jam – Spitalfields Life

MUSEUMS: The New Home For The Design Museum – Evening Standard

TRAVEL: Tips For A Cheaper London Experience – San Francisco Chronicle

MOTORING: Classic Cars In West London – Classic Driver

MUSIC: Acts Announced For The Hackney Weekend – BBC

February Is Quiz Month: Q5

2012-02-05T06:00:00.001Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 5:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

It's Snowing in London

2012-02-05T00:05:00.003Z

Accumulating white, flake by flake
on the ground, the cars,
still quiet snow, light and airy
a film of white, cell by cell
cleaning the world
in white

Saffron Hill: The Saturday Street

2012-02-04T10:46:00.001Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Saffron Hill
Location: Farringdon

Saffron Hill takes its named from the gardens of Ely Place, which once stood nearby. Ely Place was the residence of the bishops of Ely from around 1290. By the 18th Century Saffron Hill was the heart of one of London’s most notorious rookeries and as such was chosen by Charles Dickens as the location for Fagin’s den in Oliver Twist.

February Is Quiz Month: Q4

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 4:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Something to Look Forward To

2012-02-03T20:05:00.004Z

Yes, it's cold. But there's something else "in the air". Light. It's not getting dark now until gone 5 pm. In short, we're pulling out of it. Spring's on its way. Not much more than a 1,000 hours from now. What's a 1,000 hours? That's the thought, the calculation. Here's a picture. The artist on the Heath. We come walking right down the middle of her painting on my (David's) Sunday morning Hampstead walk. (Well, right down the middle of the hillside she's painting.)

Plaque of the Week No.105: Frederick Treves

2012-02-03T10:46:00.000Z

You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Friday is our new day for tracking down London plaques (Blue or otherwise) and putting them centre stage on the Daily Constitutional. This week…

105: Frederick Treves

Where: 6 Wimpole Street, Westminster, W1

A plaque is the least tribute for a man who saved the life of the king.

In 1901 the surgeon Frederick Treves performed an appendectomy on King Edward VII. In the early 20th century appendicitis was not usually the subject of surgical treatment and the condition boasted a high mortality rate. Treves had performed the world’s first appendectomy in 1888.

Treves’s surgical procedure on King Edward VII – an operation that was performed against the king’s initial wishes – not only saved the king’s life (turning potential tragedy into the mere inconvenience of the postponement of his coronation) but saw the operation become standard medical practice.

It is said that the day after the operation, the King was fit enough to sit up in bed and puff on one of his beloved cigars.

Treves is also famed as the man who brought Joseph Merrick – the Elephant Man – to the London Hospital in Whitechapel. Treves wrote at length about Merrick and his condition. In David Lynch’s film The Elephant Man, Treves is played by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

London Spy 030212

2012-02-03T10:16:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

ROYAL LONDON: Greenwich The Newest Royal Borough – BBC

TRAVEL: New Website For Olympic Games Travel Details – getaheadofthegames.com

LOCAL LONDON: Free Royal Street Parties For Wandsworth – Wandsworth Guardian

CULTURE: Photography Competition At The Transport Museum – Evening Standard

EXHIBITIONS: East London On Show At Westfield – Daily Telegraph

February Is Quiz Month: Q3

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 3:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Our Favourite Shops No.5

2012-02-02T10:46:00.000Z

February Is Quiz Month: Q2

2012-02-02T06:00:00.001Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 2:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

2012-02-01T18:40:00.003Z

Hey Adam,

I'll see your iconics and raise you a trifecta: the world's only surviving Georgian operating theatre (it's in the church tower, folks), London's giving birth to the world's first traffic lights, and the first seven star hotel in this country.

Toodlepip,

David

An "Iconic" Free Zone

2012-02-01T13:10:00.003Z

We've decided here at The DC to ban the word "iconic" from our posts. Call it a belated New Year's resolution. We made the decision about 9.30 this morning when we took this picture...

... and we thought: what's NOT iconic about this scene? EVERYTHING is iconic about this scene!

Battersea Power Station and the red phone box; the ubiquitous London plane tree is in icon in its own right; and new icons evry year in the shape here of the massively popular bike hire scheme.

Iconic London? It's ALL iconic to us. Happy Walking.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's A London Thing No.61. The Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets Memorial

2012-02-01T10:46:00.000Z

February Is Quiz Month: Q1

2012-02-01T06:00:00.000Z

London Walks Pub Quiz Walks kick off again in March – by way of a preview, February is Quiz Month on The Daily Constitutional! 28 Questions in 28 Days!

Question 1:

Can you name this London landmark?

Answers on March 1st.

PUB QUIZ WALKS go every Thursday night in March at 7pm – a walking tour & a pub quiz with prizes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PUB QUIZ WALKS SCHEDULE.

CLICK TO WATCH THE PUB QUIZ WALKS FILM

Coade Stone

2012-01-31T21:09:00.006Z

Ok, if you're a veteran London Walker chances are you know about the stuff. Because it plays a cameo role in several London Walks. It's good London fare. Artificial stone, invented in the 18th century. Easy to work in. Weathers very well. Doesn't attract pollution - just give it a wipe with a cloth once a year and it obligingly stays a bone white. Most famous example is the Coaded King of the Beasts - he comes roaring into the Old Westminster walk, for example. (Well, my, David's Old W. walk - can't speak for my colleagues'. LW doesn't do paint-by-numbers, memorise-a-script guiding. If you can call that guiding.)

Flicking the baited hook - as one does in this line of work (if you can call it work) - lo and behold I've caught and reeled in little bit of extra purchase on the stuff. Turns out that its inventor called it Lithodipyra. Didn't know that. Means, yup, artificial stone. Gives it some good solid Latin gravitas.

And this has a certain appeal, too. Mr. Stone Coade thundered, "Several wild adventurers have set up opposition; but, if worthy of remark, how speedy a failure has invariably been attendant on their rude indigested performances."

Ah, yes, the usual "Beware of imitations."

And on that note...

London Spy 310112

2012-01-31T17:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

LOCAL ISSUES: Funding Cut For Award-Winning Kilburn Adventure Playground – Kilburn Times

ARCHITECTURE & PLANNING: The New Exhibition Road – The Guardian

HERITAGE: Mediaeval Barn Saved – BBC

THEATRE: Record-Breaking West End Audiences – The Independent

OLYMPICS: Enjoy London Without A Ticket – The Times Of India

The London Reading List No. 29

2012-01-31T10:46:00.000Z

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

Adam writes… The graphic novel makes its debut on our London Reading List!

When talking to London Walkers out there on our walking tours, I am always pleased to get a recommendation for something new and London-flavoured to read. Over the years the title that has come up more often than any other has been The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
By Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill

It is the fag end of the 19th Century and the Empire is in peril. The new century looms and with it a new world order armed with an alarming array of new fangled machines of evil. Only the most extraordinary characters can save us now…

As a blend of fact and fiction, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would be fun enough. The added dimension of mingling fictional characters of the past with newly minted creations, however, creates a new level of fascination. The interweaving of adventure story and Alternate History adds further piquancy. The project’s crowning glory, however, is that it can blend these already tantalizing elements with a further cocktail all its own – that of words (By Alan Moore) and dazzlingly crafted visuals (courtesy of Kevin O’Neill).

“What makes a graphic novel different from a mere comic?” is the commonly asked question. Simply the richness, depth and multi-leveled approach as detailed above. If all this makes it sound heavy weather, lumpen with clod-hopping cross references and literary namedrops, then perhaps now is the time to point out that it’s also rattling good fun, fast paced and thoroughly exhilarating. The reader need not get a single one of the references either to 19th Century fiction or the history of the fin de siècle period in which the action is set. The narrative itself is enough to awaken the swashbuckler in even the most jaded reader.

Our heroes – the League of the title (including one Extraordinary woman) – are characters from 19th century adventure fiction. Mina Murray (Dracula’s Mina Harker reverted to her maiden name), Alan Quartermain (of King Solomon’s Mines fame), Captain Nemo (from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Doctor Jekyll (and therefore Mr Hyde from the imagination of R.L Stevenson) and Hawley Griffin (AKA Wells’s The Invisible Man).

The members are recruited by Campion Bond (an original character to the novel, but the grandfather of James Bond) of British Intelligence to help save the British Empire from the combined evils of Fu Manchu and Professor Moriarty.

London as a backdrop is lovingly detailed. The League hole-up at The British Museum; Limehouse is home to the evil Fu Manchu’s lair; the doss house that Quartermain and Murray investigate has separate entrances for men and women – exactly like the one that can still be seen on our Jack The Ripper walk.

Such attention to detail elevates this work to a level way above my preconceptions of the graphic novel – and in finally reading it I have learned what millions of graphic novel aficionados have known for years. This is so much more than a comic.

If You Do One OTHER Thing in London This Week…

2012-01-31T06:00:00.001Z

Our weekly slot in which we point you in the direction of other great happenings and events in our great city. A new exhibition, a gig, a museum, a pop-up-shop – the best of London within a few minutes of a London Walks walking tour.

We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago – but we think it's worth repeating! London Walks walkers can get a whopping 20% discount on the admission to the Museum of London’s Dickens & London Exhibition.

For more info on the discount, click HERE.

For more on the exhibition, click HERE.

In and Around London... West Of The Bars

2012-01-30T09:44:00.002Z

Monday is mute on the London Walks Blog (well, almost mute) – because Monday is the day when we post five images captured in and around London by London Walks Guides, London Walkers and Facebook friends. Collated on a theme or an area, if you've got some great shots of our capital and want to join in send your pictures to the usual address.

This week’s shot were captured near the start of the West Of the Bars walk on Saturday 20th January. They are the work of London Walker Tony Makepeace who has a number of albums captured on London Walks at his Flickr page. You can view his pics HERE.

Thanks for shooting – and thanks letting us post them here on our blog Tony!

London Spy 290112

2012-01-29T17:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

SHOWBIZ: Diamonds Are For Never Say Spice Girls? Daily Mirror

ROYALS: Baby On Hold Until After Olympics, Jubilee? Daily Mail

FASHION: Stella McCartney at Selfridges – Vogue

FOOD: Save Gabi’s Deli! – Daily Telegraph

LANDMARKS: Bollards of London Reaches 200! – www.bollardsoflondon.co.uk

Thanks To All London Walkers...

2012-01-29T13:00:00.001Z

...who joined us on the Free Walks this weekend in association with Walk London.

This cheery bunch (above) are pictured at the end of this morning's Subterranean London walk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tenter Ground: The Saturday Street

2012-01-28T10:46:00.000Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Tenter Ground E1
Location: Spitalfields

The name is derived from an area once used for drying newly manufactured cloth. The wet fabric was hooked on to frames called tenters and stretched tight so that it would dry flat. It is from this process that the phrase “to be on tenterhooks”, i.e. the feeling of being suspended in a sense of great tension, is derived.

Tenter Ground is in Spitalfields an area famed for its weaving and cloth making heritage.

London Spy 270112

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

DESIGN: Classic Underground Poster – Going Underground Blog

TRAVEL: Air Fares – Beware The Tax – USA Today

PHILOSOPHY: Atheist Temple For London – The Guardian

MUSEUMS: Commonwealth Institute Revived as New Design Museum – World Architecture News

LONDON LANDMARKS: Rio De Janeiro In North London? – The Daily Mirror

Something For The Weekend…

2012-01-27T16:33:00.001Z

Bombing with Banksy and Co. – Graffiti & Street Art in Shoreditch takes place at 10.45 am on Sunday, January 29th. Meet Pepe outside the Bishopsgate exit of Liverpool StreetTube.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE at www.walks.com

Plaque of the Week No.104: Bentley

2012-01-27T10:46:00.000Z

Our Favourite Shops No.4

2012-01-26T11:00:00.000Z

Every Thursday we bring you The Daily Constitutional guide to the best of London shopping – independent, one man- and one-woman bands, unique boutiques, singular emporia and London institutions.

These are our favourite shops. To nominate your favourite shop for inclusion send us an email with a short description and a brief reason why you think it is the best shop in London.

The Button Queen

What: Buttons, buttons and more buttons

Where: 76 Marylebone Lane W1

Why: What links the following: Domed; Half ball; High ball; Double flats; Madeleine?

Architectural terms? Sports jargon? Cocktails?

None of the above, thanks for asking. They’re all button coverings.

London has one shop specializing in antique and modern buttons – The Button Queen in Marylebone. Establishments such as The Button Queen remind us why Johnson’s oft-abused dictum – “for in London there is all that life can afford” – gets trotted out after every meal and twice before bedtime.

A shop dedicated entirely to buttons. What a delight.

A London institution, the business moved to Marlborough Court just off Carnaby Street in the late 60’s under the auspices of Toni Frith, the original Button Queen. Moves to St Christopher’s Place and latterly Marylebone Lane followed, as did celebrity clientele such as Shirley Bassey and Bob Hope.

Still going strong, you can find The Button Queen at 76 Marylebone Lane W1U 2PR. Call them on 0207 935 1505 or visit their website www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk.

Keep it in mind. And next time the conversation turns to matters of haberdashery, you can say, “I know just the place” with a great deal of satisfaction.

2012-01-26T10:45:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

SHOPPING: Special Offers At the V&A Shop – V&A E-Newsletter

RESTAURANT REVIEW: East At 34 – The Guardian

EXHIBITIONS: Animal art At The Grant Museum – Culture 24

BEER: Help Find A Home For Truman’s Beer! – Truman’s Beer Website

SPORT: Synthetic Pitch For Saracens Rugby? – Daily Telegraph

Après Walk

2012-01-26T01:57:00.006Z

Here's an example of a new feature that's going to be worked into the weave of the "mothership" - www.walks.com - and that should prove more than a little useful for London Walkers. Called Après Walk - or in Tom's case here Après le tour - it's a quick, guide-written "guide" to a few of the local possibilities (refreshment, cultural, etc.) in the neighbourhood where any given London Walk finishes. This is the one Tom's banged out for Après his Tuesday morning Behind Closed Doors walk (which goes at 10.30 am from Covent Garden Tube).

Après le tour

Behind Closed Doors
Nearby Fleet Street is littered with lunch opportunities, including three famous pubs. Ye Old Bank of England, now a pub, was once a branch of the Bank, located close to the law courts allegedly so they could get the Government its money when it won caes. It's close to the fabled site of Sweeney Todd's barber shop and naturally has a good range of pies. Further along is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where Charles Dickens raised a glass or two and Le Coq tavern. El Vino wine bar looks as if it could have come out of Rumpole of the Old Bailey whilst off the beaten track in Carey Street, behind the Courts, is the little Seven Stars which is a 'gastro-pub', 410 years old this year.

For additional cultural experiences, a short distance away is Somerset House, home to the Courtauld Institute, one of the best small galleries in Europe. Its renowned collection includes famous worked by Manet, van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet and Degas. Close by why not also visit the spectacularly restored 19th century Kings College, Chapel?

Happy Birthday Robert Burns

2012-01-25T08:41:00.001Z

For Burns Night – the annual celebration of the birth of Scotland’s national poet…

A bench down Richmond way, on the bank of the River Thames.

“A Scotsman and a Londoner” – five words that also sum up The Daily Constitutional’s Editor perfectly. Happy Burns Night to one and all.

Streets Ahead

2012-01-24T14:46:00.012Z

Streets Ahead is the new occasional column from London Walks' Pen David Tucker…

Here's David - hoeing away (again) at our row…

A great walking tour is an education. (Okay, a mini education.) You see things you won't have seen before.* And you learn things - interesting things. The unknown is suddenly - satisfyingly - "shown". Things - and the way they fit together - snap into focus.

Sometimes it's a literal, physical, "facts on the ground" thing. Getting the vantage point exactly right. Getting you, for example, to the exact spot, the only spot, where you can see - can understand, can grasp - the magnitude of the Londinium fort, the Roman fort. The which is the necessary prelude to the follow-up: the full implications of that "picture".

Sometimes it's purely mental derring do. An example? The extraordinary linguistic connection between London's guilds, the world of academia, and knights in shining armour. Comes up on my Shakespeare's and Dickens' Old City walk.**

And as for a parting shot about a walking tour being a (mini) education, try this for size. Both of the examples - the lingistic and the physical (the "vantage point" example) - are from my (David's) Shakespeare's and Dickens' Old City walk. (Yes, the old Roman fort has a cameo role in that walk.) But what else would you expect given that Shakespeare was the first author to use the word "educate" in its "to provide schooling" sense? "Do you not educate youth at the Charg-house on the top of the Mountaine?" (Loves Labours Lost, v. i. 77)

*Even if you've been there before - and how satisfying is that!

**And, yes, this is just a hint, a whiff. Necessarily so. You want to tuck into this dish properly you'll have to come on the walk. Not being cagey here. It's simply a question of not handing things on a plate (so to speak) to the knock-offs.

Kensington Gore: The Saturday Street

2012-01-21T09:40:00.000Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Kensington Gore
Location: Kensington

Gore is defined loosely as “a narrow strip of land” and was once a royal possession – the modern name may grow from Kyngsgore. In theatrical circles it is a punning name for a trademark brand of fake blood for use on stage and in special effects.

Plaque of the Week No.103: Edward R. Murrow

2012-01-20T10:47:00.004Z

You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Friday is our new day for tracking down London plaques (Blue or otherwise) and putting them centre stage on the Daily Constitutional. This week…

103: Edward R. Murrow

Where: 84 Hallam Street, Westminster

Edward R. Murrow (1908 – 1965), the American broadcast journalist who worked at CBS for his entire career, moved to London in 1937 to head up the network’s European operations.

During the war he reported on air from Blitz-beleaguered London. He is famed in both broadcasting circles and the folklore of World War Two for his famous intro and sign off.

His broadcasts always began with the words “This… is London” – always with a slight, but dramatic pause after the word “This”. There were few places more dramatic than London in 1940.

His sign off is equally famous: “Good night. And good luck.”

Murrow’s ear had been caught with the oft-repeated simple phrase “good luck”, which was appended to many a conversation at the height of The Blitz – a time when Londoners knew not what the night would bring, or indeed if that would ever usher in a morning. Even Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) had used it in a radio broadcast (“good night and good luck to you all”). Murrow incorporated it as an off the cuff ad-lib in 1940 and a catchphrase was born.

Our Favourite Shops No.3

2012-01-19T16:00:00.001Z

Every Thursday we bring you The Daily Constitutional guide to the best of London shopping – independent, one man- and one-woman bands, unique boutiques, singular emporia and London institutions.

These are our favourite shops. To nominate your favourite shop for inclusion send us an email with a short description and a brief reason why you think it is the best shop in London.

3. Marchpane

What: Children’s Bookshop

Where: 16 Cecil Court WC2

Why: Marchpane is no ordinary children’s bookshop. It specializes in secondhand first and collectible editions. What better gift than a first edition of a loved one’s favourite book from childhood? What better way to introduce a child to that favourite book than with a colourful classic edition?

The proprietor also has a wonderful weakness for punk rock, which results in the odd copy of the rare punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue nestling in amongst the Winnie The Pooh’s. Bargains are to be found on the outside table, everything from old copies of Living London magazine to lobby cards from famous movies. And where else can you pose the question, “How much is that Dalek in the window?” Yes, a real Dalek. Sadly, it’s not for sale, but it adds to the unique atmosphere of this great bookshop.

Web: www.marchpane.com

God Save The Cabbage

2012-01-19T08:59:00.002Z

Fascinating Ann is at it again. Her next Foodie Walk goes on Saturday 21st January. Here’s an appetiser…

“January. Time to perhaps regret that extra mince pie, and the second helping of pudding. Time then to celebrate that seasonal vegetable, the January King. The King is a cabbage – and before you dismiss it as fodder for school dinners, remember that the Egyptians thought cabbage was a hangover cure (eat a lot of cabbage before you start drinking).

Cabbage has been around for around 4000 years. It was peasant food in this country in the Middle Ages, and later Battersea became known for its cabbages. A visitor from Venice in the C17 went into raptures about their quality: ‘I think I have already mentioned the size of the cabbages, which sometimes weigh 35 lbs. the pair, to such an enormous size do they grow.’

And, of course, it’s good for you – lots of vitamin C, hardly any calories. Hence the appearance of cabbage soup as a miracle diet. Perhaps the weight loss occurs when you get so sick of your dinner consisting of a bowl of cabbage soup.

So go and buy a January King – and if you don’t want to eat it, just keep it in the kitchen for decoration. A surprising number of artists have done it justice– shades of green just tipped with purple, a firm shiny heart, and frilly outer leaves.

And for your next pub quiz, which country produces the most cabbage? Answer: China, with 36 million tonnes – runner up is India with 5 million tonnes.

And there'll be more fodder for a foodie pub quiz on my Foodies walk on Saturday. Join me at 10.00am on January 21st, Monument Tube, Fish Street Hill exit.”

For a YouTube preview of Ann’s Foodie Walks, click HERE

London Spy 190112

2012-01-19T08:51:00.002Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

THEATRE: The Old Vic In New York – The New York Times

FOODIE LONDON: Chinese New Year Dining – Evening Standard

CULTURE: Get Kids Into Museums Campaign – Culture24

EXHIBITIONS: Captain Scott At The Natural History Museum – Daily Telegraph

TRANSPORT: West End Parking Ban Overturned – BBC

In and Around London... Three Over, One Under, One Gone

2012-01-16T10:46:00.000Z

Monday is mute on the London Walks Blog (well, almost mute) – because Monday is the day when we post five images captured in and around London by London Walks Guides, London Walkers and Facebook friends. Collated on a theme or an area, if you've got some great shots of our capital and want to join in send your pictures to the usual address.

Three Over: Views from London bridges on a gloriously sunny winter day last week.

One Under: An eerily empty Woolwich foot tunnel beneath The Thames.

One Gone: London Walker Michelle Seidel sends us a shot of the old London Bridge now in Arizona (scroll down to picture no.5). Thanks Michelle! See you soon.

Michelle writes: “London Bridge, Lake Havasu AZ. This tiny town has a bridge that was dismantled from England, its own Occupy protest still underway (4 people) and a yoga studio next door to a gun store.”

Goswell Road: The Saturday Street

2012-01-14T10:46:00.000Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Goswell Road, EC1
Location: The Borough of Islington & The City of London

Takes its name from a garden named Goswelle owned by the Earl of Suffolk. Mr Pickwick lodged here in Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers (when it was known as Goswell Street), but the road is most comment worthy as the thoroughfare that scuppers the old chestnut about there being “No roads in The City of London”, i.e. no highways named “road”. In truth Goswell Road cuts through the north eastern corner of The Square Mile.

Font Of All Knowledge…

2012-01-13T19:03:00.001Z

Here’s Ann, on a different blog beat to the one you’re used to reading…

When you’re reading a book, do you ever think about the type face in which it’s printed? The font used for tube stations and on the buses? Or even Times New Roman, the type face being used for this blog. Maybe you listened to ‘Just My Type’ last month, Radio 4’s book of the week, and heard that Steve Jobs was the man responsible for offering such a choice of fonts on computers.

Come to Hammersmith on a typographical adventure and hear about the designer of that London Underground font, and his neighbour who 100 years ago created one of the most beautiful typefaces ever used. Here’s a sample:

And visit the house of a man better known for wallpaper and Socialism than for printing. But William Morris set up his private press in Hammersmith – and you will see one of the actual presses on which Kelmscott Pressbooks were printed.

Join Ann with William Morris and Friends, Saturday January 14, 2 pm, meeting at Stamford Brook tube.

Plaque of the Week No.102: Brian Epstein

2012-01-13T10:46:00.000Z

You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Friday is our new day for tracking down London plaques (Blue or otherwise) and putting them centre stage on the Daily Constitutional. This week…

In the month that sees the anniversary brouhaha start all over again for The Beatles – it was 50 years ago this January that they came to London for the unsuccessful Decca audition – we remember the man without whom…

Brian Epstein was The Beatles' manager and the man who polished them up for fame. The Fifth Beatle? Well that particular parlour game can rage into the small hours – what about George Martin? Neil Aspinall? And on and on…

Upon Epstein’s death in 1967 George Harrison said, “He was one of us.” John Lennon described him as “an intuitive theatrical guy”. Paul McCartney once said that “Brian was very much part of the group”. And there seems little doubt that Epstein’s theatrical nous was invaluable to The Beatles' rise in the staid world of early 1960s show business.

His first office in London was at Seven Dials, in modest Monmouth Street in London’s West End, a hop-skip-and-jump from Denmark Street, London’s Tin Pan Alley. And it is in Monmouth Street where his plaque can be found. It was unveiled by his other long-lasting protégé Cilla Black.

For more legends of rock'n'roll see the Rock'n'Roll London walk every Friday meeting at 2pm Tottenham Court Road Stn (Exit 2)

Our Favourite Shops No.2

2012-01-12T10:46:00.000Z

It's Neat to Know

2012-01-12T00:11:00.003Z

That it's also a vent. The world will have seen it. But not seen it. Because it's just around the corner from the London "branch" of Occupy Wall Street in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. London Walkers see it. And see it. On, for example, Adam's Ghosts of the Old City Walk on Tuesday night (7.30 pm, St. Paul's Tube). On their way to haunted and haunting London.

London Spy 110112

2012-01-11T14:31:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

Music: 100 Club Fails To Make The Charts – NME

Fashion: The Many Looks of the Duchess Of Cambridge – Washington Post

Football: New Manager For Queen’s Park Rangers – Daily Telegraph

Theatre: West End Appeals To Olympians – The Stage

Beer: Brewed In Hackney – The Hackney Citizen

It's A London Thing No.60: Ghost Stations on the Underground

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000Z

If You Do One OTHER Thing in London This Week…

2012-01-10T14:31:00.000Z

The London Reading List No. 28

2012-01-10T10:46:00.000Z

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

Something of a Russian Doll in this week’s installment – a map to lead you to 87 great London bookshops where you can browse for the 27 titles featured previously in our London Reading List.

The London Bookshop Map is a not for profit publishing project funded by donations from participating bookshops. Of the 87 shops listed on the map – a thing of beauty in itself designed by Ray O’Meara and Luke Gold – we can particularly recommend the following three from our own personal experience:

Black Gull Books

Enlivening East Finchley’s High Road with an often seditious countercultural window display. Great stock (a particularly good London section), nice folks.

The Dover Bookshop

The copyright free image bookshop at Seven Dials is a cornucopia of weird and wonderful gifts from paisley patterns to paper dolls. www.doverbooks.co.uk

Marchpane

Rare and first edition childrens’ books in Cecil Court. www.marchpane.com.

We picked up our copy of the map at the Dover bookshop – but we're sure if you ask your local independent bookshop for a copy, they'll be able to oblige.

London Spy 090112

2012-01-09T18:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

London To Get Europe’s Largest Free WiFi Zone – Mashable

Best Destinations For 2012 – Including London, Of Course! – NY Times

Britain, Great In Olympic Year – Reuters

The Best In London Dining – Elle

Behind The Scenes With A West End Maître d' – The Guardian

Jolly Old London

2012-01-09T12:55:00.001Z

Dear Daily Constitutionalists,

How’s your Monday going? Were there many smiling faces on The Tube this morning? If not, we wanted to share with you two tales of Jolly Londoners this weekend who brightened up our day…

A big shout out to the Security Guards at Paternoster Square who waved a welcoming hello, good evening and called out “Happy New Year” to our London Walkers on the Ghosts of the Old City Walk on Saturday night. Thanks guys.

And a big “Hello!” and thanks to the very cheerful Rachel and the other guys on reception at The Museum of London yesterday (Sunday) for a jolly welcome to the wonderful Dickens and London exhibition.

Who said Londoners were a grumpy bunch?

In and Around London... The Dead Centre of East Finchley

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000Z

London Spy 070112

2012-01-07T14:01:00.001Z

Five Headlines.

Five Stories.

Five Minutes.

The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

Great Apps For Airline Passengers – USA Today

Cumberbatch Defends Sherlock Nudity – The Capital Times

Duchess of Cambridge: Fashion Icon – The New York Times Magazine

Roman Brothels In London: The Truth…? – Times Literary Supplement

David Starkey to Curate At Greenwich Museum – The Guardian

LAST MINUTE DOT COME WALKING

2012-01-07T11:06:00.005Z

Bit of breaking news. The Roof Garden (that's "The" Roof Garden, "the largest and most astonishing roof garden in Europe") is open today (Saturday, January 7). So Angela's Old Kensington Village walkers are in for a very special treat indeed. The walk goes at 2 pm from High Street Kensington Tube.

Lombard Street: The Saturday Street

2012-01-07T06:00:00.001Z

The Saturday Street is our weekly series in which we unlock the stories behind the names of London's famous thoroughfares. It's compiled by London Walks guide Karen – listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as The World's Greatest Tour Guide. You can find Karen on Saturdays guiding her Old Westminster and British Museum walks. If you've got a London street query or suggestion, email Karen at the usual address

Lombard Street EC3
Location: The City of London

Named for the Lombard merchants of Northern Italy who settled in this area in the 1100’s. In the 1980s, the decade that saw the rise of acronyms to describe certain demographic groups, “Lombard” was used a derogatory epithet for someone who was rich but ultimately shallow. In other words: Loads Of Money But A Right Dickhead.

Lights!

2012-01-06T13:58:00.001Z

A shot of the old PLA building near Tower Hill. The blue cranes are carrying lights for filming - the building is being used today as a location for the next James Bond film.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Post-Christmas Quiz Part 3

2012-01-06T12:00:00.000Z

Part Three of our traditional post-Christmas quiz as compiled by LW guide Nick– scroll down for Parts One and Two. The theme this year is London Food. Click on the pic below to enlarge. Good luck!

WE’LL POST THE ANSWERS NEXT WEEK

Ann’s next Foodie Walk is on 21st January 10.00 a.m from Monument tube – click HERE for our London Foodie Website.

See Nick’s Greenwich film HERE.

The Pub Quiz Walks season kicks off again in March. Click HERE for more info and HERE to watch our Pub Quiz Walks Film.

Plaque of the Week No.101: The Roundhouse

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000Z

You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Friday is our new day for tracking down London plaques (Blue or otherwise) and putting them centre stage on the Daily Constitutional. This week…

The plaque on The Roundhouse at Chalk Farm reminds us of the original purpose of the building that is now a Grade II* Listed structure. But it is not as a railway shed that this building has become a London legend.

As a theatre in the 1960s it played home to the famously controversial revue Oh! Calcutta! as well as Hamlet – directed by Tony Richardson and starring Nicol Williamson and Marianne Faithfull.

Ms Faithfull’s 60’s beau Mick Jagger performed here with The Rolling Stones. The Doors played a legendary show here in 1968. Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and The Ramones all graced the space with their varied talents.

Currently thriving again as a live venue after years of uncertainly, this beloved London performance space will play home to CircusFest later this year, a feast of contemporary circus. The Roundhouse website is HERE.

For more legends of rock'n'roll see the Rock'n'Roll London walk every Friday meeting at 2pm Tottenham Court Road Stn (Exit 2)

London Spy 050112

2012-01-05T18:00:00.000Z

Five Headlines. Five Stories. Five Minutes. The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen Reviewed – Bloomberg

Expansion For Big Savile Row Big Gun – Fashion United

Hirst At The Tate, Hockney At The Royal Academy – The Guardian

Hitting The West End Theatre – Australian Times

London In Winter by Rick Steves – Canada Post

The Post-Christmas Quiz Part 2

2012-01-05T12:00:00.000Z

Part Two of our traditional post-Christmas quiz as compiled by LW guide Nick– scroll down for Part One. The theme this year is London Food. Click on the pic below to enlarge. Good luck!

WE’LL POST THE ANSWERS NEXT WEEK

Ann’s next Foodie Walk is on 21st January 10.00 a.m from Monument tube – click HERE for our London Foodie Website.

See Nick’s Greenwich film HERE.

The Pub Quiz Walks season kicks off again in March. Click HERE for more info and HERE to watch our Pub Quiz Walks Film.

Our Favourite Shops No.1

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000Z

The Post-Christmas Quiz Part 1

2012-01-04T11:24:00.000Z

Christmas may well be over for another year… but the seething resentment left from the London Walks Christmas Party will last until next Christmas.

And it’s all Nick’s fault with his fiendishly tough Annual Christmas Quiz.

Every year the LW Guides get together for a Christmas bash and to take a tilt at Nick’s London-themed quiz. This year’s theme was food – no surprises that the team headed by our foodie expert Ann won first prize.

And it’s become something of a tradition here at The DC to share the quiz with London Walkers in early January – so here we go, part one of three (click the pic below to enlarge). Good luck!

WE’LL POST THE ANSWERS NEXT WEEK

Ann’s next Foodie Walk is on 21st January 10.00 a.m from Monument tube – click HERE for our London Foodie Website.

See Nick’s Greenwich film HERE.

The Pub Quiz Walks season kicks off again in March. Click HERE for more info and HERE to watch our Pub Quiz Walks Film.

It's A London Thing No.59: The F.A Cup

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000Z

London Spy 030112

2012-01-03T14:20:00.000Z

Five Headlines. Five Stories. Five Minutes. The Daily Constitutional's Round Up Of London In The News.

London’s New Year Fireworks – BBC

Key 2012 Olympic Dates – Daily Mirror

Fashion Hits The Museums in 2012 – The Independent

British Athletes at the 2012 Olympics – The Independent

Looking Forward to the Olympics – BBC

If You Do One OTHER Thing in London This Week…

2012-01-03T14:13:00.003Z

Our weekly slot in which we point you in the direction of other great happenings and events in our great city. A new exhibition, a gig, a museum, a pop-up-shop – the best of London within a few minutes of a London Walks walking tour.

… It's not often that we encourage you to sit in front of the gogglebox, but… watch the BBC documentary The Story of Musicals on BBC4. Featuring contributions from the great and the good of the London stage, including Lord Lloyd Webber, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Sir Tim Rice, Elaine Paige and Willy Russell.

Click HERE for the BBC website.

The London Reading List No. 27

2012-01-03T11:15:00.002Z

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

The Austerity Olympics: When the Games Came to London in 1948

By Janie Hampton

“We Will Not,” boomed the headline on The Daily Telegraph last week, “Host An Austerity Games.”

As I read the headline I found myself thinking: Why ever not? We made a jolly good fist of doing just that in 1948.

Janie Hampton’s wonderful book on the 1948 Olympics tells the tale of London’s second hosting of the Games.

For those of you stifling a yawn at this point, perhaps anticipating lists and times and heights and team sheets and medal tables, well think again. Hampton’s narrative is just that: a narrative, a tale well told, mercifully free from dry match facts and mere sports reporting.

Instead, Hampton treats us to the stories of the people who made the Games: the posh rower who thought his official Olympic blazer to be of such poor quality that it must have been “cut with a spoon”; then the athlete who found her blazer so smart that she wore it to her sister’s wedding. There are tales of the American and Canadian teams sharing their ample rations with the deprived European teams – and of the French captain complaining strenuously about the British food!

Every corner was cut, every penny pinched. Teams were put up not in a swish Olympic Village, but in schools and army barracks. One official even expected the cycling competitors to be able to ride their own bikes to Herne Hill for the races!

The Dutchwoman Fanny Blankers-Koen remains the heroine of the ‘48 Games, winning four gold medals on the track. Despite the fact that she beat British girls into silver position to take three of those golds, the London crowds took her to their hearts. And her journey is here too – from Nazi occupied Holland to the Hunger Winter of ’44 to the winners’ podium at Wembley.

But it is the unsung heroes who make the story such a delight. The overall tale that emerges is humane and moving, nuanced and rich, truly Olympian. Left to a sports reporter, there’s every chance this book would have garnered as many gold medals as the British track and field competitors in 1948 – none at all. In the hands of Janie Hampton, it’s a story as garlanded as the great Fanny Blankers-Koen herself.

Janie Hampton’s website is www.janiehampton.co.uk.

In and Around London... Fitzrovia

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000Z

Monday is mute on the London Walks Blog (well, almost mute) – because Monday is the day when we post five images captured in and around London by London Walks Guides, London Walkers and Facebook friends. Collated on a theme or an area, if you've got some great shots of our capital and want to join in send your pictures to the usual address.

David’s been out and about in Fitzrovia – here are just some of the results. For the full photo essay click HERE.

In the meantime – have a look at the LONDON PHOTO COMPETITION on The Mothership www.walks.com.

The next Fitzrovia Pub Walk goes on Saturday, March 3rd meeting at Goodge Street Tube at 7.15 pm.