It's a boy!

It was yesterday, at 16.24, when the third in line to the UK throne was born. The baby boy weighed 8lb 6oz (around 3.8 kilograms). 

The good news were shared, in the first place, by the Town Crier.

The Casino Theatre

The Casino Theatre on 31st July 1947.
The Prince Edward Theatre on Old Compton Street.

Thomas Becket

Near this spot, in Cheapside, Thomas Becket was born on the 21st of December, 1118 .

The Gaumont Theatre on Haymarket

On 19th October 1949, the Gaumont Theatre was showing Mighty Joe Young.
Today, this building shelters an RBS bank

Monument, 1900

At the foot of the Monument, c.1900

Cock Lane

In the junction between Snow Hill and Cock Lane, a road where the brothels were legal, we can find a terracota’s shopfront dedicated to John J. Royle. 

Born in Manchester in 1850, in the late Victorian epoch, this engineer became famous because of his many inventions: the egg beater, the timed egg boiler, the smokeless fuel irons... but it was the self-pouring teapot (patent no. 6327 of 1886) for which “J.J” became most well known.

Holborn Viaduct. 1910

Saint Bartholomew-the-Less

This palm is situated in the floor of Saint Bartholomew-the-Less. It's in the heart of London, between St Paul, Barbican and Farringdon. St Bartholomew-the-Less, which have this suffix to distinguish it from St Bartholomew the Great, is located in the Henry VIII Gate entrance to St Bartholomew Hospital.

Sigue con Nosotros (He Stays With Us)

Nowadays it’s difficult to walk around the city without listening Spanish speaking, but where was the Spanish community in London yesterday? 

The great comedian Berto Romero was performing, at 8 o’clock, in The Clapham Grand and no one wanted to miss it. One hour and a half of dancing, singing, music and laughs. Lot of laughs.

The show started with an hilarious video about Berto’s previous life. Risto Mejide and Andreu Buenafuente, of course, are some of the famous people who collaborate in it.

The Golden Boy of Pye Corner

In the junction of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street is the figure of the “Golden Boy of Pye Corner”.

This small statue was originally established into the wall of the Fortune of War, a public house in Smithfield. This tavern was famous because of its tenant, Thomas Andrews, who, in 1761, was condemned of sodomy and sentenced to death. The King George III exculpated him. This decision stimulated the first debate about homosexuality in England. In the 19th century, the tavern was the main centre for the resurrectionists. The doctors at St Bartholomew´s Hospital used to go to The Fortune of War to find death bodies to practice their surgeries. The bar was torn down in 1910. 

Meanwhile, Monument, which was enclosed by Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the start of the Great Fire of London, The Boy remembers where the Fire was extinguished. In the sculpture we can read:

The Fire started in a bakery at Pudding Lane and finished in Pye Corner. The child is fat to enforce the moral suggesting that another great fire would happen any day soon. 

Biblical Tube

Another curious underground map was created by James Eaglesfield one year ago to connect York and London. James was inspired to design this sketch when he was a volunteer on York Mystery Plays 2012. 

In this sacred map, you can discover biblical places, spiritual connections, holy stations and religious references.

Full Version

Questions: 

Can you find Ascension Central, Old Testament Gate, Angel Gabriel, Barabbas-ican, Crucifix-ton, Canada Holy Water, Covent Garden of Eden, Herod Park Corner, Lamb of God North, Cain & Abel, Gad’s Hill, Jonah & The Whale, Lucifer Road or Seven Thunder?

Leadenhall Street, about 1800

Head office of the East India Company,
Leadenhall Street,  London, about 1800

Whitechapel Murders

Tourists maybe don’t know what or where Whitechapel is, but Londoners have knowledge of this district, for sure. Situated in East London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, it is a poor–working class neighbourhood. In its streets you can find a great diversity. Bangladeshis define the 52% of the community total inhabitants. A really particular neighbourhood full of colours, fruit stands, people and life.

But this zone, years ago, it was really famous because of some horrible crimes. Within its boundaries, from 3rd April of 1888 to 13th February of 1891, the Whitechapel murders happened. Eleven unsolved homicides, five of them prostitutes, were attributed to a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

It happened more than one century ago, but the mystery is still present.

Sci-Fi-London

Do you enjoy sci-fi? So, you are lucky because the 12th Annual International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film is coming to London.  

The festival will take place from Tuesday 30th of April to Monday 6th of May in three main venues: BFI Southbank, Stratford Picture House and Stratford Circus. 

The programme includes night films and premieres like Vessel, The Search for Simon, Stress Position, The Man from the Future, Dead Meat Walking, Birdemic II: The Resurrection and sixteen more titles. 

But this independent film festival, created by Louis Savy "because there wasn't one", organizes the annual in-cinema pub quiz and more events like the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Important novelists and comic book writers will talk about the Doctor’s trips and his adventures. 

The Sci-fi festival will plan free attractions like Write the Science Fiction Film with Robert Grant. On Sunday 28th of April the Costume Parade will take place. Zombies, Superheroes, Darth Vader, Mario Bros, Freddy Krueger, Dr Who, The Blob… Choose your favourite character, dress up and join the march. 

A great week is waiting for you. So, don’t miss it.

Trafalgar Square, 1844

William Henry Fox Talbot, Nelson’s Column under construction,
Trafalgar Square, London, April 1844

Walk Around London

Yes. It’s true. London is a huge city. You can take the underground and the overground to arrive quickly to your destiny, if the lines are not closed. But if you really want to know the city, you have to walk through streets, parks, squares... It’s the best way to discover the secrets of London. 

Because of the 150th tube anniversary, PruHealth has created a singular map. It’s an underground plan showing the steps between stations. This could be a good way to have a healthy body this summer.

The Lion King

More than 7 million spectators can't be wrong. 

With The Lion King, performed for the first time in October 1999 in the Lyceum Theatre, magic and fantasy came to London. Not just with old songs, a touching story or the moral, but with masks, puppets, lights and African sounds. 

A beautiful theatre, opened in 1834, and a great red curtain with savannah’s motifs help us to the wake up our curiosity. The lights turn off and, in that second, we can live the most powerful moment in the play. The curtain rises and we hear the amazing Rafiki’s voice, performed by Brown Lindiwe Mkhize. There are giraffes, antelopes, zebras, colours and even a big elephant moved by five actors. That is theatre. That is a musical. That is The Circle of Life. 

Sitting inside the theatre, a wonderful play lights invite you to travel around the African savannah. Orange tones show us the passage of time in just a couple of second. 

More than 200 clothes are required to perform this function. But the masks and puppets deserve a special distinction, inspired in the African culture, and some actor’s elasticity. They are capable of camouflage themselves with their own character. Without any doubt, you will amaze to see a Jaguar, a real master piece. 

The 46 actors do a notable work but I like to stress the remarkable Rafiki’s voice, a great interpretation of Scar, thanks to George Asprey, and the Stephen Matthews and Damian Baldet’s ability to move Zazu and Timon. 

With some jokes, at pure English humour style, the musical follows faithfully the Disney’s film. For that reason, it is a spectacle for all the family. Through the play, you will laugh, will cry and will sing. 15 musicals numbers, thanks to Lebo M, Tim Rice and Sir Elton John, will be mixed with the sound and rhythm’s Continent. The Circle of Life, I Just Can’t Wait to Be the King or Hakuna Matata, one of the funniest parts in the function, are not to be missed. And you will have a lump in your throat with He lives in You, a very emotional moment. 

And it’s true that the most intense scene in the film, Mufasa’s death, is not too dramatic in the play but I appreciated that. I didn’t cry so much and I think was an original way to represent a delicate scene. 

I don’t have anything else to say. The Lion King is waiting for you with 2 hours and 45 minutes of fun, fantasy, dance, love and music. Enjoy it! 

Pillow Fight Day

Last Saturday, April 6th, was the International Pillow Fight Day. More than 100 cities sheltered this amusement. In London thousands of people went to Trafalgar Square, armed with their pillows, to battle. It was a good way to have fun and get rid of stress. 

            

            

The Skateboard Graveyard

Hungerford Bridge connects Charing Cross Station with the south of the River Thames  It’s situated between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge, in the heart of London. 

In a first place, it seems like a normal bridge, except for the great views. But this platform hides a valuable secret in the London subculture: a skateboard cemetery call "Skateboard Graveyard”. 

When young skaters break their boards, they throw them into the platform. In that point, the skate will rest after a long and busy life. Even, they have created a website “to commemorate the «lives» and «deaths» of the skateboards”. The applicant can upload a description and the key dates of their skate. As well, they can have an obituary and know, in just a second, what is the physical situation of their board. 

This cemetery is located at this point not by accident. In the River’s edge, between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge, the Queen Elizabeth Hall is placed. Under these pillars, for more than 40 years, appears the Southbank Skatepark. It’s a circuit with ramps, benches, columns and stairs that allows young skaters to perfect their technique with the roller skate, the bike or the skateboard

Pickles, The Dog Who Won The Jules Rimet Trophy

All the soccer players want to win the FIFA World Cup. This award, from 1930 to 1946, was called Victory. After that, it was renamed to honour the FIFA President Jules Rimet, who in 1929 approved a voting to create this tournament. The Cup was representing Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, and was made of silver, gold plated and marble.  

The first Cup was taken by Uruguay in 1930. Brazil was the last country winning the tournament in 1970. That year, the Canarinhos won for the third time the competition and, thanks to the rules, they retained the real trophy. On 19th December of 1983 the Cup, which was guarded in the Brazilian Football Confederation, was stolen. The thieves were convicted but the trophy is still missing. 

This was not the only theft. It seems that the trophy was cursed. In 1966, the World Cup was celebrated in England. On Sunday 20th of March, four month before the competition, the Cup was stolen in the Westminster Centre Hall during an exhibition. The dumb thief only stole the trophy but not the stamps, with value of £3 millions. 

One week later, far away, in South Norwood, Pickles became a hero. A black and white Collie dog found the trophy, covered by a newspaper, when he was walking with David Corbett, his owner. 

England won the Jules Rimet Trophy and the National Team invited Pickles to join them in the celebration. David obtained £6,000 for compensation. 

No one knows who the thief was but Pickles and David are, even today, suspects. Nevertheless, Pickles became a star and he starred, the same year, the film The Spy With the Cold Nose. One year later Pickles died. 

The Olympic Park Reopens

Could you not come to see the Olympics? Now, although it’s not the same, you can visit the Park where the Games took place. (Tickets: £15 for adults and £7 for children.)

The Park in Progress tours will receive visitors from 29th March until 23rd June, on weekends and during school holidays. For now, 20,000 tickets have been sold.

Visitors will go up into the top, 115-metres-tall, of the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower, designed by artist Anish Kapoor and architect Cecil Balmond. From this observatory they will see the Olympic Stadium, cycle track and Copper Box. Sadly the basketball and hockey's arena and the world’s biggest McDonald’s were demolished. However, the view from the Orbit is the best place to see the transformation.

With the ticket you will see, as well, the two viewing galleries. The exhibition rooms include a group of displays and activities to tell the history, past and future, of the Park.

On 27th July it will be the London 2012 Olympics Games first anniversary. Concerts and more attractions will be waiting for you.

Super Mario Bros in the Tube

The English Harry Beck created the actual London Underground Tube map in 1931 in his break time while he was working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office

Since then, lot of people want to reinvent it the famous map and modernize it. Reddit, user NaturalBeats, designed a new artistic map covering Zone 1. It’s the London Underground in Super Mario 3’s style.

Dragon Boundary Marks

Tourists who are visiting London think that they are seeing one city. But the true is very different. What we believe is London, is actually Greater London. This area, conceived in 1965, is formed by the City of London and 32 boroughs surrounding it. But we can’t confuse this two terms. 

The City of London, with 2.90 km² and a population of 7000, has a city status in its own and is the smallest ceremonial county of England because of the population and expansion. In addition, it is the richest square mile in the world. However, Greater London has 1,572 km2 and more than 8 millions inhabitants. This structure holds two cities: the City of London and the City of Westminster.          

Small Dragon at High Holborn

Small Dragon at High Holborn

It’s easy to know when you are in the City of London and when you are in Westminster but, if you are lost, the dragon boundary marks will help you. These statues, for hundreds of years, have protected the main entrances to the City. The silver dragons have wings and a red tongue and they are holding the City of London’s shield, that it's bearing the red cross of St George and the sword of St Paul.

The fierce dragon in Temple Bar Memorial on Fleet Street, nowadays restored and installed by St Paul's Cathedral, served in 1964 as a model to create the two originals boundary marks, established in Victoria Embankment. There are a couple of replicas in London Bridge and High Holborn and single replicas in Bishopsgate, Aldgate High Street, Aldersgate, Moorgate, Farringdom Street and Blackfriars Bridge.

Ice Skating in Regent's Park

London, in Christmas, is fully decorated. Despite the greys that invade the city the rest of the year, in this season everything is colour, happiness and light. So, if you want to seem like a Londoner, you will have to practise one of their favourite sports: ice skating. 

In December you can find ice skating rinks all over the city. The most incredible rinks, because of the size and views, are situated in Somerset House, Hyde Park, The Tower of London, or The Natural History Museum. However, one of the favourite rinks for the tourists is the Eyeskate, emplaced in front of the London Eye. 

St. James’s Park. 21st January 2013.

The ice rinks, as we know them, are pretty new. In London, in the Victorian era, the tradition was to skate over the frozen lakes and ponds. However, on the 15th of January of 1867 the unthinkable occurred. When hundreds of people were skating in Regent’s Park, the ice began to weaken and cracked. Around 500 Londoners fell down into freezing water, 12 feet deep. The cold temperatures quickly froze the ice again and finally 40 people died. 

This wasn’t the first time that something similar happened. The day before, the ice broke and 21 skaters plunged into the same lake. This time all of them were rescued saved and sound. 

Londoners learned their lesson and, to avoid future tragedies, they reduced to 4 or 5 feet the lakes' depth.

Mind the Gap

When you are travelling in the underground, it doesn’t matter the country where you are, you have to be careful and don’t put your foot into the hole when you are entering in the train car. In New York we can see "mind your step". In Japan, for example, they say "Densha to homu no aida wa hiroku aite orimasu no de, gochuui kudasai", "Atenção ao intervalo entre o cais e o comboio" in Lisbon or "Attention à la marche en descendant du train" in Paris. 

But the most famous warning is the Londoner “mind the gap” or the variant: "Please mind the gap between the train and the platform." 

The phase was created in 1968. The underground workers were worried because they had to alert the passengers all the time. So the managers decided to record a brief notice. 

Some of these warnings were recorded by British artists like Emma Clarke, on Bakerloo, Central and District lines or Tim Bentinck, on Piccadilly line. The original voice in the Northern, for more than forty years, was the actor Oswald Laurence. Last November, Embankment Station, the only place where this recording was still being used, installed a new system. Oswald, who died in 2007, stopped to warn us. 

His wife Margaret McCollum could hear her dead husband’s voice when she was travelling in Tube. She was destroyed when she realized she could never listen to Oswald’s speech any more. Margaret wrote a letter to the Underground’s Director because she wanted to have the advice’s record, as a memory. 

Widow's determination has been the key. Now Margaret has a CD with a copy of the announcement. Besides, all travellers can listen again Laurence's voice in Embankment Station. 

The 39 Steps

If you want to know the most creative part of London you must walk across the West End. This terminology includes mythical places like Charing Cross, Covent Garden, Soho, Leicester Square, Regent Street, the Seven Dials or Holborn. But West End is not only streets and monuments. It’s pure theatre. 

The Criterion Theatre dominates Picadilly Circus for 137 years. Today it is possible to buy, at a really good price, a ticket to enjoy The 39 Steps, a play performed in this auditorium since the 20th of September of 2006. 

Alfred Hitchcock used the John Buchan’s adventures novel to create, in 1935, one of the best Britain movies ever. Years later, the English playwright Patrick Barlow collected from these two classics, added English humour, in the Monty Python style, and wrote a story to be represented by four actors only. 

The play starts with a monologue of our hero, Richard Hannay, performed by Adam Jackson-Smith. The laughs were guaranteed. A new friend, a murder and the plot was served. The main character suffered chases and he must escape away from spies, cops, killers and beautiful women. 

Jennifer Bryden performances the main three female characters. Annabelle Schmidt, the super-spy with German accent; Pamela, the beautiful blonde woman; and Margaret, the Scottish farmer. 

Andy Williams and Stephen Critchlow hold the responsibility in the play. 100 minutes, 135 characters. Spies, farmers, cops, business men, women, hotels owners, mentalists… These artists can do all the personages that you can imagine, obviously in a comical way. They wear hats, clothes and wigs that allow them to change the character with a hilarious velocity. In a concrete moment in the function, they aren’t going to get their accoutrements changed behind the curtain but in front of all the spectators, in the stage. This situation will add, even more, mirth and fun. 

A special refer deserves the Chinese shadows, the toy trains, the waterfall and all the gadgets that the Director, Maria Aitken, uses to achieve theatre inside the theatre. And, evidently, mentions to the master Hitchcock. Vertigo and Psycho appear in the stage to add another touch of humour. 

This adaptation, this new form to do theatre, works. The play has won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2007, the Drama Desk Awards for Unique Theatrical Experience and Outstanding Lighting Design the year later, and is the winner of two Tony Awards. 

This theatrical clownishness is to die for. So, do not miss it!