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Over recent years, the Windrush has come up in the news on a regular basis. It has normally been commenting on the plight of many of the people who travelled on it to Britain in the late 1940s. From this we can guess, unless you already know, that the Windrush was a ship called theContinue reading “The Windrush of Change”

London still has a lot of ancient buildings and monuments which have survived the modernisation of the city. By ancient I mean more than a few hundred years old. However, there are a number of such landmarks that are indeed much older. These include Westminster Abbey, part of the Palace of Westminster and of course,Continue reading “The Old Bridge is Young”

We are all familiar with cash machines that with the right card and a pin code, you can get money out of the machine pretty much all over the world. And although online banking and swiping your card to purchase goods and services becoming more popular, there are many who still find these machines aContinue reading “The First Hole-in-the-Wall Cash Machine”

The title may sound a little trite or even disrespectful, but I can assure you that after some teething problems, the Millennium Dome, now renamed as the O2, is a modern landmark of east London. As the name suggests, it was created as a hub in order to celebrate the new millennium. Besides the bigContinue reading “A Tent by any other Name”

There are many stories that we might read in our local newspapers that tell us that somebody has built an extension or a wall without the correct council planning permission. In the worst circumstances the householder might be asked to take down the unplanned structure. There have even been cases where a whole house hasContinue reading “Your Rent is One Rose”

There were a number of modern London landmarks created to celebrate the new millennium. These included the London Dome, now known as the O2, the London Eye and a certain footbridge over the Thames. It connected the north bank near to St Pauls Cathedral to the south bank close to the Tate Modern art gallery.Continue reading “The Wobbly Bridge of London”

Back in the late 16th century one of the foremost playwrights in the land was Christopher Marlowe. Amongst other works, he penned the theatrical play Dr Faustus about a man who sells his soul to the Devil. However, it is rumoured that he had another occupation, that of a government spy. Apparently, just like manyContinue reading “Who Killed Christopher Marlowe?”

When the Romans invaded Britain about 2,000 years ago, one of their actions was to expand a small settlement on the Thames. It was called Londinium which of course eventually became known as London. Today London has many boroughs which exist within what is termed Greater London. But, back in the time of the RomansContinue reading “The Kingdoms of London”

In the previous about Kensington Gardens, I mentioned the Great Exhibition of 1851 which was held in Hyde Park. And it deserves an article in its own right. Today we can see some similar large edifices around the world designed to hold big exhibitions. Some are spectacular, but the building that was built to houseContinue reading “The Crystal Palace that made Crystal Palace”

Kensington Gardens in London joins on to the west end of Hyde Park. Unless you knew where to look you would have a job finding where one finished and the other one started. Kensington Gardens has always and managed to keep its self somewhat aloof from its eastern neighbour. But, before Kensington Palace arrived onContinue reading “A Park for Nobles Only”