A series of articles describing a weekend break in a somewhat freezing, though occasionally sunny London 4-6 December 1995. Our first real sight-seeing trip to the nation's capital city.
Each article can be seen by clicking/tapping on the eight photographs below. A link on each page (or the [back] button) will bring you back to this index page.
Wednesday 6 December 1995. Our final day in London and we awake to the sound of sleet hammering on the window. The TV news showed pictures of snowbound cars and we were thankful that we were to travel back to Blackpool by train later in the day!
Our 24-hour tour bus tickets are good until lunchtime so we hop on and ride down to Piccadilly where we jump off and walk a little way down the famous street. This is Fortnum and Mason, the famous purveyors of food to Royalty and Nobility. The original Fortnum had been a footman to King George III.
Piccadilly Arcade has bowed windows that are very narrow, this being a very difficult technique in glass-making for their day. If damaged I imagine they would be hideously expensive today also...
The Ritz, favourite for a spot of tea at the Ritz, you know! We were on a budget so we opted for a spot of tea at Manky Joe's...
At the far end of Piccadilly as you approach Park Lane, this is Green Park. It is so called because at one time deer were kept in an enclosure made of the upper park and at the time it was almost treeless. The deer cropped the grass so closely that the park was a great sward of green. We were trying to walk to Harrods, but the subway was closed and with a walk of half a mile in the wrong direction in order to cross the very busy road, we succumbed to the cold and got back on the bus! When we got to Harrods I was immediately pounced on by an officious little man in a top hat who pointed accusingly at the camera around my neck and snarled "You can't take photographs in here!" The lens cap was on and I wasn't showing any signs of wanting to eagerly snap away, so why so aggressive? I expect many of their customers, who would think nothing of spending hundreds of pounds on their dog's dinner, would be put off by hordes of flashbulbs going off, but sheesh it's just a shop... It must be shit being rich and having to keep thinking of ways to be obnoxious to people...
The gates to Downing Street. This short street is where the Prime Minister of England lives (at No. 10) and the Chancellor at No. 11. The gates were erected in 1990, to deny access to the public and terrorists. The IRA showed how effective they were a year later, when they lobbed mortar bombs from a parked van.
Once more from the bus and this is the Savoy Hotel. This short street is the only one in England where traffic drives on the right hand side of the road. This is to allow taxicab drivers to reach through their windows and open their passengers' door without having to leave their vehicle.
It looks beautiful and peaceful in films of Royal weddings and such occasions, yet Wren's Masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral sits facing Fleet Street, one of the busiest roads in the City. The view of a royal couple on the steps may be romantic, but they have an appallingly dirty and depressing view of a city street as they come out! This is our last photograph of the three days in London, though not the last one that I took. I took several photos inside St Paul's but the film was still in the camera at the end of the month when we were burgled just two days before Christmas. The camera, our NICAM VHS recorder (yes, I know - what the hell's that???) and a good deal of Fran's jewellery all went to make Christmas better for some unspeakable low-life scroat. Still, it gave us a reason to go again to retake some of those photos!
Tuesday 5 December 1995. After coming out of the London Tower we went across the way and into a small shopping centre, at the back of which was a dark ride called the Tower Pageant. In this, a small circular car provides a moving platform round tableaux showing scenes from different periods in London's long history. The Romans were shown building their wooden docks, and once through the ride, an actual section of the 2000 year-old timbers is on view.
Then we hopped on another bus - though not an open air one this time and headed back towards Trafalgar Square. There were still open-topped buses going about but it was snowing, it was around minus eight degrees centigrade according to the signs and whilst we had thick coats on there's a limit to how stupid even I am...
We had just passed under the Cannon Street bridge and enjoyed a very loud and echoing siren from this fire engine that was in a bit of a rush. It reminded me that we had just passed the site of Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire of London started in 1666.
And so we came back to Trafalgar Square. We spent much of the day getting off the bus, having something to warm ourselves up - soup, apple pie and custard, and then getting back on a bus to repeat the process...
This was very new at the time - Planet Hollywood, a restaurant opened by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. A film crew were walking backwards, filming a young girl speaking a commentary for a documentary. The cameraman kept backing into prams, tourists and bollards. In fact I'm sure I heard him exclaim "Bollards!" more than once...
And having gone up and around the corner we arrive back at Trafalgar Square! Nelson's Column commemorates England's Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, hero of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1806 against the French and Spanish combined fleet. He was struck by a sniper's bullet at the hour of his success on the deck of his flagship HMS Victory. The bullet is actually on display in Windsor Castle, or it used to be - we saw it there once. The column is tall enough for the statue to be able to see the sea. The Christmas Tree is an annual gift from Norway in gratitude for its liberation in World War Two.
St Martins-in-the-Fields. I described some of the church's history in the article on London's Great Squares so here I'll just limit myself to saying the church hosts many lunchtime concerts and does much work with the city's homeless population.
St James's Palace, the main royal residence at one time until Queen Victoria formally moved the Royal Household to Buckingham Palace, was built by Henry VIII. A nice (and true) story is of the visitor who went through the wrong door and fell down a staircase, knocking himself unconscious as he burst through another door at the bottom. When he came to, he found a stern little man bending over, applying sticking plaster to his head. It was none other than King George II and the man had fallen into the King's Sanctum! At the time of our visit the palace was the residence of Prince Charles who was at home that day as witness the two guards on duty. Only one would be on duty during his absence.
The Ritz - here, having tea would have cost around 30 pounds in 1995 and would consist of sandwiches, cakes and as much tea as you could drink. We'll come back to the Ritz later, and you can have a peep inside if you promise to behave...
The bus makes its way across the Thames giving a view across the water to the Houses of Parliament. By now the light is starting to fade.
After a brief dalliance over the river, we make our way back across Westminster Bridge and under the St Stephen's clock tower of "Big Ben".
By the time the bus had travelled back east to the Tower of London it became impossible to take photographs from the moving bus. We got off the bus to take some photographs of the floodlit building and bridge.
It was freezing cold and snowing hard - as can be seen in this flashlit shot of one of the cannons on the embankment. All those little white spots are snowflakes picked out by the flash!
Tuesday 5 December 1995. Having come down the river and left the boat at the Tower of London, we buy tickets and enter through the castle walls.
This is what people think of when the Tower of London is mentioned, though the White Tower is only one of the many buildings within the castle wall. It was built from around 1078 by William the Conqueror as a symbol of his power and sovereignty after his taking of the Crown following the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Always fearful of rebellion, he dashed out of Westminster Abbey during his Coronation, mistaking the cheers outside for the sounds of an uprising.
The Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Warders, or Beefeaters. They wear the black uniform with red highlights unless the Monarch is at the Tower in which case they wear red uniforms with black highlighting. The uniforms are thought to be the oldest design still in use. We will return to the White Tower later, but for now we find ourselves between the inner and outer walls of the castle.
Water Lane in the Outer Ward. Due to the narrow lane between the high walls, it is a place of shadows under the outer wall and brighter only on the other side of the lane. The Bell Tower is on the left with the arrow loop. Wakefield Tower juts out to the left just in front of the archway. Also just before the archway but on the right hand side the outer wall is pierced by Traitor's Gate.
Which is where I found a vantage point to take this photo of a Yeoman Warder leading a tour. Tower Wharf on the river was started by King Edward I and was added to by Richard II in the later 14th Century to its current proportions. It allowed access through Traitor's Gate by boat only. Up the steps visible on the lower right of the photo, prisoners, including Princess, later Queen, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, walked from their boat into the Tower and imprisonment.
The Yeomen of the Guard were created by King Henry VII after the Battle of Bosworth. That term is no longer correct as they were split into two corps when Henry VIII moved his residence from the Tower. The Ordinary (or permanent) Yeomen being bodyguard to the king and the Extraordinary (originally paid roughly 1/4 of the wages of the Ordinary). The guards who remained at the Tower became known as Yeoman Warders, a term more aptly describing their duties.
The Bloody Tower is the one under which you pass into the Tower of London, the gatehouse. It housed higher status prisoners such as royalty or those who had previously been royal favourites. Anne Boleyn is said to be one of the ghosts who supposedly haunt the Bloody Tower, as the song goes: with her head tucked underneath her arm...!
The room shown above is set out as it might have been when occupied by Sir Walter Raleigh with his chair and writing desk. Queen Elizabeth I had great affection for him and must have felt betrayed when he started an affair with one of her Maids of Honour, Elizabeth (Bessie) Throckmorton. As a Maid of Honour, Bessie was not free to have any relationship without the specific permission of the Queen and Raleigh found himself imprisoned here in the Tower. He was released when one of his ships brought back a great treasure that had been captured from a Spanish ship.
He married Bess and retired to Dorset. After the death of the Queen he was framed in a plot against King James I and was again imprisoned in the Tower, convinced he would be executed. He spent years imprisoned here, writing five volumes of a History of the World. In the preface he thanks the "ungentle and uncourteous readers" who had had him thrown into the Tower, "For had it been otherwise, I should hardly have had the leisure, to have made myself a foole in print."
Yet in 1616 he was freed once more. Undertaking yet another expedition against the Spanish, this time their influence at Court was to cost him a third spell in the Tower. And on this occasion it ended with his beheading in 1618. Having asked to see the axe, he said "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases." His head was embalmed and sent to Bessie as was custom. The poor woman apparently carried it with her at all times until her death at the age of 82 some 29 years later.
People assume that the Tower was the scene of lots of executions, but it isn't really so. Most executions were carried out outside of the castle on Tower Hill to the north, where crowds could gather to watch. Only six people were executed on the scaffold, three of them Queens of England. Queen Anne Boleyn was the first of them, her head struck off by a skilled French swordsman so fast that as her head was picked up and displayed to the witnesses, her eyes still swivelled and her lips were still moving in prayer. Queen Catherine Howard was the second, a young girl a fraction of the age of her husband Henry VIII and this time she had most definitely been guilty of adultery. The third was the tragic Lady Jane Grey, queen for only nine days and a pawn of her ambitious family. She was executed by Queen Mary I, first daughter of Henry VIII. Blindfolded and groping about her for the block she asked "Where is it? What shall I do?". She was guided to the place and then a few seconds later her head was struck off. She was 16 years old.
The other three executions were those of Lady Rochford, the Lady-in-Waiting who had made all the arrangements necessary to allow Queen Catherine's lover to visit her during Henry VIII's Progress through England; The Earl of Essex, executed by Elizabeth I, but granted a private execution due to her previously having held him a great favourite; and finally Countess Margaret Pole of Salisbury. She was the niece of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, the daughter of their middle brother, George, Duke of Clarence. He had been found guilty of treason against Edward and given the choice of how he would be executed. He joked that he would be drowned in a vat of best wine - and was... Margaret Pole was one of the few Plantagenets to survive after the Wars of The Roses ended at Bosworth. She was cousin to King Henry VII's queen, Elizabeth of York. She was Lady-in-Waiting to Catherine of Aragon both as wife of Prince Arthur and later as wife to Arthur's brother King Henry VIII. Later she was to become governess to Princess Mary, later Queen Mary I. A Catholic, her sons worked to bring back the old faith and she was arrested by Henry VIII as part of a conspiracy in 1539.
She was held in the Tower for over two years. On the morning of 27 May, 1541, she was told she would die within the hour. Her response was that no specific crime had been laid upon her. However she was dragged out to the block, yet refused to lay her head upon it. Physically restrained and forced down yet struggling fiercely, the headsman (later recorded to be a "blundering youth"), missed her neck and inflicted a hideous wound to her shoulder. It took him a further ten blows to kill her. The Calendar of State Papers records that he "hacked her head and shoulders to pieces".
The Jewel House occupies the ground floor of the Waterloo Barracks and was very recent at the time of our visit having been opened by the Queen in the March of 1994. It contains the crowns, sceptres and orbs and Coronation paraphernalia plus a number of ceremonial items such as gold plate and a magnificent gold punch bowl.
Moving platforms take the visitor past the main items of the Crown Jewels but as it was so quiet at the time, we were able to go past several times to get a good look!
Whilst inside the Yeomen Warders' main duties are to inform and help visitors, the building is secured by the Tower Guard - comprised of whichever regiment is on duty at the time. They stand on sentry duty outside, marching up and down a short distance as necessary to keep warm and awake - or to move away from the banal comments of visitors!
The White Tower, seen from one of the souvenir shops. These sold the usual books on the English Monarchy, castles and history together with jewellery, prints, and history-based games and videos.
The entrance to the White Tower leads to a complete Norman chapel, the oldest complete Norman place of worship in the country. They tell you here that, ten feet beneath the steps to the Norman chapel, workmen in 1674 found the burial place of the murdered princes, Edward V and his little brother, Richard, Duke of York, murdered by their ambitious uncle, who became Richard III. For two centuries their whereabouts remained a mystery until during alterations to the Tower in the reign of Charles II the bones of the princes were found and by order of the King, removed to Westminster Abbey.
The mystery, however remains that. The bones were buried by Charles II in Westminster Cathedral but remain unproven to be the two princes. They were briefly examined for evidence of how they died, but not for anything else - even their gender! They could be two scullery maids...
In 1491 a man known as Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard, the younger of the two princes. He was formally recognised by the princes' aunt, the sister of Edward IV and gained support from the Kings of France and Scotland. He was captured in 1497 and lived at King Henry's court until 1499 when, after an escape attempt, he was dragged on a hurdle to Tyburn and hanged. The fact that he lived and attended court with high status for 18 months is rather curious though if we are to believe he was simply an imposter... Modern thought tends to believe that Richard III was not the guilty party anyway, but that their deaths - if they were indeed murdered - were down to followers of Henry Tudor, later King Henry VII, or his mother, Margaret Beaufort.
We walked through the White Tower and then left the Tower of London, walking along Tower Wharf, to view this infamous entrance. We saw the steps on the other side of this gate earlier. Traitor's Gate was the entrance to the Tower from the river. In Queen Mary's time her sister the future Queen Elizabeth I was brought into the Tower, terrified and anxious as to what would be her fate. Mary was taking England back to Catholicism and had already had the head of Lady Jane Grey as we have seen. She knew that Elizabeth could equally be used by Protestant supporters as a figure head. Then an apparent pregnancy seemed to secure Mary's line and Elizabeth was released. Only later was it found to be a false pregnancy, now thought to perhaps have been an ovarian cyst.
In the next article the bus tour takes us around London taking in lots of sights. We will return to the Tower during darkness and then onto a West End show.
Tuesday 5 December 1995. We had climbed down the steps to Westminster Embankment and got onto one of the boats heading east towards The Tower of London. This was an included trip on our 24-hour tour bus pass.
Our boat had a very mixed bag of passengers: Japanese, Dutch, Spanish and just the two of us representing England!
The first photo today shows the memorial to Royal Air Force, Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps personnel of all ranks who gave their lives in service during the First World War. Raised in 1923, further inscriptions are dedicated to World War II. The memorial to The Battle of Britain is situated nearby.
Cleopatra's Needle has only tenuous links to Queen Cleopatra. It was already over 1000 years old when she came to rule and even she is getting on a bit by now... It was presented to Britain by Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt and the Sudan in 1819 to commemorate the victories at the Battle of Alexandria and the Battle of the Nile. The British government of the time said "Thanks awfully old chap - er, could you deliver... we couldn't possibly collect..."
The response was, "Well we would but our ship's run out of wind...". The obelisk stayed where it was for 60 years until a philanthropist donated 10,000 pounds, a very considerable fortune, to bring it to England. It was floated on a pontoon with a crew of six, to be towed by ship. All went well until they reached the Bay of Biscay which threw a storm at them. The pontoon was in great danger and the ship, the Olga, sent six men in a boat to rescue the crew of the pontoon. Sadly the boat capsized and all her six men were lost. The Olga managed to get alongside the pontoon saving the pontoon crew but the pontoon itself became detached and was then lost to the ship.
It was found drifting by Spanish trawlers and was rescued by the Scottish steamer Fitzmaurice, which towed it to Spain to be repaired. What do they say of those canny Scots? The master of the Fitzmaurice claimed £5000 salvage and settled for £2000. The pontoon was then towed by a paddle tug, arriving in the Thames estuary in 1878.
The tenuous link to Queen Cleo is that the obelisk had been moved along with its twin, now in New York, from Heliopolis to Alexandria to the temple she had built for either Mark Anthony or Julius Caesar (she was a bit fickle) in 12 BC. It was toppled a bit later and resting in the ground is what preserved the hieroglyphics in the excellent state they are in now.
Blackfriars Bridge. The original black friars were the Dominican Order of monks who had a priory nearby. They wore black robes, hence the name. "Friars" is a corruption of the french word "frères", meaning "brothers". Henry VIII's divorce hearing from Catherine of Aragon was held in the priory.
The bridge opened in 1869, the successor to a once toll bridge that had stood, but only just, for a mere 100 years. In 1982 the Italian banker, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from the bridge with pockets full of bricks and a small fortune in money. The Mafia were suspected, though a trial in Rome folded through lack of evidence.
A bit further along the river we came to the clearest view of St Paul's Cathedral. This view is spoiled somewhat for river users now because of the Millennium Pedestrian Footbridge which runs from this spot over the river to the Globe Theatre. At the time of our visit, the reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre was still ongoing. The theatre opened two years later in 1997.
One of the iconic images of today's London, Tower Bridge seen as we approach from upriver. The boat, in order to dock at the Tower of London, actually goes under the bridge to turn and then comes back under to moor at the dock before the Tower of London.
And thus our river trip comes to an end as we reach the Tower of London. If it's a bit awe inspiring now, then think of how it would appear to those early Londoners in the 11th century. It was a symbol of Norman power. William I declaring that he was, indeed, a Conqueror. We'll have a closer look at it in the next entry.
Tuesday 5 December 1995. It was no warmer than it had been the the night before. If anything the temperature was dropping as we got off a bus at Trafalgar Square and walked down Whitehall towards Westminster.
We walked down past lots of government buildings. This is the Foreign Office opposite the Cenotaph just visible at the left. More properly it is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Not a massively attractive building and in fact it was never considered such. The Victorians held a competition for its architectural design ( along with a War Office and grounds) but the selection committee knew little about architecture. In fact, perhaps realising this they co-opted two architects, but not well known ones and they disagreed with the committee (hardly surprisingly). The design chosen was not that of the outright winner but the one who came second in more than one category - this (so it was argued) outranked the two architects who came first in only one category. George Gilbert Scott had designed a Gothic building, but before he got to build it, Palmerston was voted in as Prime Minister and wanted a Classical not Gothic building. Whilst Scott had won the competition and couldn't be dismissed, Palmerston insisted he produce a new Classical design, perhaps hoping Scott would quit of his own accord. He didn't. He produced a new design in a style he was unfamiliar with and it got built and virtually no-one has liked it since...
King Charles Street with the archway connecting the Foreign Office (right) with the Treasury on the left. The Treasury has since been faced with stone to match the other buildings of Whitehall.
By the time we got down to the end of Whitehall the sun came out briefly, allowing this brighter view of the Methodist Central Hall. Dating from 1911, it was built to commemorate the centenary of John Wesley's death. Apart from being a Methodist church, it has conference facilities, meeting rooms and an art gallery.
It was from here that the football world cup was stolen from display in 1966, the cup though not the thief, being recovered in time for England to win the competition a few months later.
Just a couple of minutes later and the sky was once more dull... We decided to go into Westminster Abbey. You can go in for free, but if you want to see the tombs of kings and queens you pay to go deeper into the abbey. In 1995 we paid £3 each. Photography wasn't allowed, but most of the sights are easily found on Google anyway... now...
This is my sketch of the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor. King of England from 1042 to 1066 he rebuilt, in the year of his receiving the crown, on the site of a previous church that had been built where tradition told of an appearance by St Peter in a vision to a fisherman. The vast majority of what we see - perhaps everything of what we see - dates from Henry III's rebuilding which commenced in 1245. However traces of Edward's church survive in the lower parts of the Norman undercroft of the Great School, which includes a door that is said to have been a part of the original Saxon building.
King Henry III raised this shrine and had the saint's body placed in it. He placed it there himself in fact - he, his brother and two sons carried the coffin themselves. Niches in the sides of the shrine allowed pilgrims to get as close as possible to the saint's relics. Too close by far after a few hundred years. The tomb fell into disrepair and in the Middle Ages the saint's bones could be seen, some being stolen. Records show that someone offered for sale a knife with a handle allegedly made from one of the saint's bones, although it is not known if this really was the case. The coffin was damaged during an accident when scaffolding was being dismantled after the coronation of James II and a gold chain and crucifix were removed and given to James. However they were stolen during his flight from England in 1688.
Lots of royal burials are to be found in the area of Edward's Sanctuary. To one side lie Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, with her half-sister, "Bloody" Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon at her side. In the similar chapel on the opposite side of the Confessor's shrine lies Mary, Queen of Scots.
We visited the cafe before leaving the Abbey and had found Poets Corner and memorials to musicians and Prime Ministers. It should be noted, that the existence of a memorial does not necessarily mean that the person is buried in the Abbey. There are, however 17 kings and ruling queens (as opposed to queens of a ruling king) buried in the Abbey. Well worth a visit and paying to go into the inner areas. I would love to go back and do it again in fact.
It was bitterly cold as we came out and walked down past the Houses of Parliament, the Palace of Westminster and passed under the shadow of St Stephen's Tower commonly, but wrongly, known as Big Ben. Big Ben is actually the bell that strikes the hour.
On the opposite side of the road on the edge of Westminster Bridge is the statue of Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe who occupied the northern half of today's East Anglia during the early Roman occupation of Britain. Boudicca is the spelling used by Tacitus in his records. It is thought Boadicea was a spelling mistake from a Middle Ages translation. However it was the spelling used in a popular poem by William Cowper in 1782 and became the dominant spelling from the 19th century. Her husband was a client king of the Romans and had borrowed heavily to fund his lifestyle. On his death the loan became due for repayment and he had tried to pass on his reign which was not part of his bargain with Rome. Boudicca was publicly flogged and her daughters raped before her eyes. Designed to break the spirit of the Iceni, this treatment simply bolstered their resolve behind their Queen. With the main Roman army off druid hunting in Anglesey, she swept down the country, sacking Colchester, London and St Albans. She took no prisoners or slaves. Anyone she found was killed, carrying out far worse barbarism than had been visited on herself or her daughters. London has an identifiable layer of earth from that period that speaks of destruction by fire. It is estimated that around 80,000 people died during the destruction of the three towns. She was eventually defeated by the Romans, though it is not clear whether she was killed, committed suicide or otherwise.
We ventured onto Westminster Bridge to take some photos of the Houses of Parliament. It started to snow at this point and the temperature was desperately cold. I good naturedly asked a traffic warden what sort of weather this was to inflict on visitors. "Ow, it's laaarvely, innit?" she replied...
We waited until Big Ben struck the eleventh hour and then decided we had to find somewhere both warm and with a seat! London is extremely hard on the feet - as it seems to hit the bottom of them an awful lot of times! We booked tickets for a boat trip down to the Tower of London.
