Little Corners of America in London.Every year, over three million Americans hop across the pond to explore London. That makes the USA our biggest group of overseas visitors. So I thought it was about time I tipped my hat to our most loyal guests and dedicated a blog just for you fine folks. If you happen to be in London over Thanksgiving, we might struggle to furnish you with pumpkin pie or a turkey the size of a small car, but you’ll be happy to learn that London has plenty of little corners that will chase away any homesick blues. Step onto American soil If you visit the National Gallery, keep an eye out for a bronze statue of George Washington standing proudly on the grass outside. It was a gift from the people of Virginia back in the 1920’s. Rumour has it that after the Revolutionary War, Washington vowed never to set foot on British soil again – so to honour this promise, the statue stands on a pile of American soil shipped over from Virginia.  Visit the home of Benjamin Franklin Sticking with the Founding Fathers theme, just a short stroll from Trafalgar Square you’ll find Benjamin Franklin House - the world’s only surviving home of the great man himself. In 1757, the soon-to-be Founding Father arrived in London as a representative of the Assembly of Pennsylvania and rented rooms at 36 Craven Street. It was effectively an eighteenth century Air BnB – except Franklin stayed for 16 years. If you pay the museum a visit you’ll step back in time and learn how this Pennsylvania envoy became a London local.  Sip a cocktail in the longest surviving American bar in town The Stafford Hotel claims to be one of the finest luxury hotels in Mayfair, one of London’s most prestigious neighbourhoods. It offers a quintessentially British experience, so you might be surprised to learn that it’s got an American connection. During WWII, the American military were based nearby and The Stafford became their informal club. Today the USA connection lingers in the form of the American Bar – one of the longest surviving American bars in London. Its dress code is quite smart though – so no sneakers allowed! If you do visit, raise a glass to Nancy Wake. She was an intelligence agent and the most highly decorated British servicewoman during World War II. She was also the Gestapo's most-wanted person - codenamed 'The White Mouse'. She lived her final years at The Stafford and could often be found in the hotel's American Bar, enjoying a gin and tonic. The hotel created a special cocktail, "The White Mouse," in her honour.  A little bit of Texas in St James’s Keeping with the booze theme – or “liquor”, as you Yanks like to say – if you wander over to Berry Bros & Rudd, one of London's oldest wine merchants, you’ll see a plaque dedicated to the Republic of Texas. Back in 1836, when Texas briefly declared itself a republic, it set up a legation (not quite an embassy) here. Between 1842 and 1845, a few rooms at Berry Bros. doubled as the Texan outpost - so for three years, a part of a London wine shop was technically a bit of Texas. The wine shop has 2.5 acres of wine cellars underneath St James’s Street and I’ve been lucky enough to be given a tour of the shop and its cellars by one of the Berry family. The shop features a number of times in my Fun London Fact’s book “Why is Downing Street Painted Black? – and 364 Other Fun London Facts” and a whole chapter dedicated to American connections in London. (Blatant plug over)  So, if you’re planning on crossing the pond for a London adventure and fancy joining one of my weekend walks (note, they’re not every weekend!) or want to book a private tour – I’d love to show you round our wonderful capital city!
0 Comments
At the London Transport Museum. Beginning on Fri 21st November, the brilliant London Transport Museum has a brand new temporary exhibition, celebrating the centenary of the art deco style and the golden age of poster design on the London underground and public transport in and around London in the 1920s and 30s. I’m a big fan of art deco design, so jumped at the chance to get a sneak peak of ‘Art deco: the golden age of poster design’ in the London Transport Museum’s Global Poster Gallery. The term ‘Art Deco’ wasn’t actually coined until the 1960s, but at the time, was simply called ‘Moderne’ or ‘Style Moderne’ characterised by sleek lines, geometric patterns, sweeping curves, abstract shapes and a stylised form which was famously embraced by London Transport’s Chief Executive Frank Pick, to not only mastermind publicity posters (the main form of mass media at the time), but many of the design elements we’re still very familiar with today, including the famous London Underground roundel. The exhibition also looks at how the design influenced many of London’s art deco stations, designed by Charles Holden.   Frank Pick As you might expect, there’s a wonderful array of posters on display (over 100), enticing Londoners of a hundred years ago to visit the theatre or London Zoo, to take a train to Southend or get out in to the country, as well as to attend sporting events like the tennis at Wimbledon. What really struck me about the exhibition is how blurred the line was between art and advertising, with pretty much all of the posters, signed by the artist or graphic designer that created it. Each poster stands alone as a great piece of art or graphic design, something that would not be out of place hanging on a wall in someone’s home; not something that could be said of most of the adverts I see on the tube today. If you’re planning a visit to the London Transport Museum, admission to the exhibition is included in the ticket price, and although adult tickets are £25 each, kids (up to the age of 18) go free. The museum is open daily from 10am – 6pm.      If you happen to be mooching around Charing Cross Road on the evening of Thursday 27th November, then stop by Foyles bookshop and come and say hello. I’ve been invited to join a whole host of esteemed writers for Foyles Christmas book signing shindig. Yes there’ll be complementary mulled wine. Yes, there’ll free mince pies (if I remember to bring them!). And yes, you’re absolutely encouraged to wander around all six floors of Foyles' flagship shop whilst pretending you’re in a Richard Curtis Christmas film.  There’ll even be live music. I’m hoping for carols – but will happily accept anything with sleigh bells. My imposter syndrome will be working overtime as I’ll be joining a long list of famous faces and writers including the likes of Rev. Richard Coles, Jonathan Freeland, India Knight, William Boyd, Alex Horne, Robert Elms and Charlie Mackesy (you’ll need tickets to catch him) – all there to meet their fans and sign their books. I’d like to give a special mention to art historian, Katy Hessel who will be there promoting her inspiring book, 'How to Live an Artful Life'. A cracking Christmas present for anyone who enjoys art, joy, or simply owning attractive coffee-table reads. Talking of books, Foyles gets a cheeky mention in mine, ‘Why is Downing Street Painted Black? And 364 Other Fun London Facts’. Turn to page 298 to discover why co-owner William Foyle wrote to Hitler and why they laid copies of 'Mein Kampf' on the roof of their central London shop in the 1940s. (Yes, really). I hope to see some of you at Foyles Christmas Evening! Bring your copy of my book along and I’ll happily sign it. You can also buy a copy on the day.   In January 2023, I began posting, on various social media channels a fun London fact each day, and continued for a whole year. These short, informal videos became quite popular, garnering on Instagram alone 170,000 followers in one year and now forms the basis of my recently published book; Why is Downing Street Painted Plack – and 364 other fun London facts. I’m still posting fun London facts (No. 512 at the time of writing), but have expanded in to exploring different areas of London; ‘then and now’ comparisons of London from my collection of historic London postcards which date back to the Victorian period and ‘London in Lyrics’, a series that delves in to how London has both informed and inspired songs throughout the ages from Elizabethan ballads to more recent offerings by the likes of Professor Green. Over the last couple of years, many people have told me that my videos have inspired them to go out and explore this great capital of ours, but on many occasions they have been unable to relocate the video that first inspired them. People have frequently written to me asking for help in finding a video they watched last year or the year before that was 'something to do with this, that or the other'. They weren’t categorised or easy to find. All that has changed, as I’ve teamed up with Let’s Discover, who have uploaded pretty much all of my videos on to a handy interactive map, meaning that over 450 London based videos I’ve made are now searchable on a map, by location from Croydon in the south east, to Richmond and beyond in the west, to Walthamstow in the east, Hampstead in the north and hundreds and hundreds of videos around the City of London and Westminster.  Access to Bowl of Chalk’s interactive Let’s Discover map is £15 a year (just £1.25 a month) with a 7-day free trial and is available for both Apple and Android devices. Also, as I continue to make videos about London’s history, people and places they will automatically be added to the map, so it will constantly evolve and become more comprehensive. So now, you can carry all of my videos and history content with you on your phone and access it whenever you’re out and about, on your lunch break or exploring in London ...using your own location.    With Halloween safely behind us for another year (he says, loosening his belt), I imagine the shelves at Hoxton Street Monster Supplies are looking a little bare. This, my friends, is no ordinary shop. Hoxton Street Monster Supplies is THE most magical place. If you’ve never visited – it’s worth a peek. But be prepared to receive service with a snarl. The Monster Store is “London’s oldest supplier of goods for the living, dead and undead across the UK”, with shelves brimming full of everything a monster needs from jars of Thickest Human Snot (that’s lemon curd to you and me) and bars of Impacted Earwax (aka fudge – delicious by the way!) to bottles of London Smog Soap.  But here’s the twist… At the back of this delightfully spooky emporium lies a secret door – and behind it, something even more extraordinary. Push it open and you’ll find yourself in the Ministry of Stories, the brainchild of author Nick Hornby, Ben Payne, and the lovely Lucy MacNab, who’s joined me on many of my London walks over the years and first introduced me to this Hoxton gem. The Ministry runs free writing programmes and small-group mentoring, all devised and delivered by professional writers. They go into east London schools and also run after-school writing labs inside the Ministry itself - a place where ideas, and imaginations, are truly set free.  The whole operation runs on magic and generosity - more than 200 volunteers and funding from the shop’s monster-sized profits, plus donations from the living (and possibly the undead). So next time you find yourself in east London, drop by Hoxton Street Monster Supplies. Buy a jar of snot or a bar of earwax. You’ll leave with a smile, and you’ll be helping the next generation of storytellers find their roar.    Today is the 5th November, a day in the UK associated with an event that almost happened in 1605 when a group of Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the Royal Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament. The plan was to kill the Protestant King James I and a large number of other protestant big-wigs who would have been present at the State Opening of Parliament that day. The conspirators wanted to install King James’s catholic daughter Elizabeth on the throne - an audacious plan that they very nearly pulled off. All 13 conspirators hailed from the Midlands (where I’m from) and the North, and although the main instigator was a man called Robert Catesby, the ‘poster boy’ has always been one of the newest recruits to the gang, Guy Fawkes. I want to introduce you to four locations in London that are associated with the Gun Powder Plot, which at the time was known as ‘the Powder Treason’.  Houses of Parliament - Westminster Westminster In 1605 the Royal Palace of Westminster (the building that houses the UK Parliament) was a sprawling mass of buildings which had grown from an 11th century palace into a small village. A fire in 1834 eradicated most of the buildings that the conspirators would have been familiar with, but a couple of bits remain, most notably the 11th century Great Hall (where our late Queen. Elizabeth II lay in State) and nearby, the 14th century Jewel Tower. Our poster boy, Guy Fawkes, was discovered in a cellar beneath Parliament with 36 barrels of gun powder. Somewhat incriminating. The plot was foiled, and all those involved either killed or rounded up to face trial. Before the State Opening of Parliament each year, the Yeomen of the Guard (AKA Beefeaters) ceremonially search the Palace of Westminster for explosives - by lamplight (a fun fact which I included in my recent fun fact trivia book, Why is Downing Street Painted Black? – and 364 other fun London facts. We love a bit of tradition and ceremony in the UK!  The Great Hall - Westminster Palace The Royal Palace of Westminster played a further part in events relating to the ‘Powder Treason’. The eight remaining conspirators who weren’t immediately killed when caught, were tried in the Palaces’ Great Hall and four of them Guy Fawkes, Thomas Winter, Ambrose Rookwood and Robert Keyes, were executed in 1606 in Old Palace Yard. Hoxton Street These days Hoxton in east London feels a world away from Westminster, and back in 1605 it was …two worlds away. It was a quiet country idyll. In October 1605, a catholic called William Parker, known in certain circles as 4th Baron Monteagle or Lord Monteagle was staying in a house on Hoxton Street when he received an anonymous letter. The letter basically warned him not to attend the State opening of Parliament because it was all going to kick off. Part of it reads: “I would aduyse you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift youer attendance at this parliament, for God and man hath concurred to punishe the wickedness of this tyme, and thinke not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety.” Now, the way in which William Parker received the letter; the way in which it was read out to an audience; and the way in which it was handed to King James I’s head of what we would now call ‘the secret service’, Robert Cecil, is all very suspicious and to be debated. But what we can deduce is that William Parker was the brother-in-law of one of the conspirators, Francis Tresham who in turn was related to Robert Catesby (the gang’s ringleader). It is generally believed that it was Tresham who sent the letter to his brother-in-law imploring him to stay away from Westminster on the day it was due to be blown up. Today, a plaque marks the spot on Hoxton Street where what has become known as ‘the Monteagle Letter’ was received.  The Gunpowder Plot plaque - Hoxton The Tower of London It was at the mighty Tower of London that the eight surviving conspirators were brought, interrogated and tortured. Probably the most famous surviving piece of history from this period is Guy Fawkes' signature, before and after he had his fingers pulled from their sockets. However, if you visit the Tower today, you can still see two signatures of less famous gun powder plotters etched into the very fabric of the building. Whilst waiting to be executed, Ambrose Rookwood carved his name in to the wall of Martin Tower and Sir Everard Digby’s signature can still be seen on a wall in Broad Arrow Tower.  The Tower of London St Paul’s churchyard I’ve already mentioned that four conspirators were executed at Westminster, but the men were split up - and it might surprise you to learn that the churchyard at St Paul’s Cathedral was another famous execution site. It was here on the 30th January 1606 that Digby, Robert Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates met their grisly ends.  Old St Paul's cathedral Today we celebrate the “nearly” events of 1605 with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes (and often contemporary politicians) but what are we celebrating? The fact that a plot to kill the King, James I was foiled or that 13 Catholics were executed for something that didn’t happen?
Maybe it doesn’t matter. Either way the Gunpowder Plot remains one of London’s most fascinating stories - and the places where it played out still survive, in one form or another, today. |
Bowl Of ChalkBowl Of Chalk based shenanigans. Archives
December 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
