“Justice and Strength”: the Smithfield Lion
Just across the street from where the new London Museum (nee Museum of London) is emerging in copper-covered glory from the old Poultry Market is […]
statues
Gluttony and grave robbing – Pye Corner in Smithfield
Stroll up Giltspur Street towards Smithfield Market and look up to your left at the building on the corner of Cock Lane. In an arched […]
Prince Albert’s Mega-kitsch Memorial
Of course the damn thing is utterly absurd. Every criticism of high victoriana – over-sentimental, over-decorated, over-elaborate to the point of fussy, over size – […]
The Teenage Queen Victoria
If I say “Queen Victoria” I’m guessing that the picture in your head is of the late-age monarch, ‘we are not amused’-era, dressed in mourning […]
Equestrian Statue of Ferdinand Foch, Grosvenor Gardens
WHAT: Ferdinand Foch WHERE: Lower Grosvenor Gardens (map) BY WHOM: Georges Malissard WHEN: 1930 Within the (slightly grotty) public space of Lower Grosvenor Gardens, facing […]
The Henry Fawcett Memorial, Embankment Gardens
WHAT: Henry Fawcett Memorial WHERE: Victoria Embankment Gardens (map) BY WHOM: Mary Grant WHEN: 1886 There are numerous late Victorian statues and memorials in Embankment […]
The Riddle of the (Embankment) Sphinx
As an adventure in Google, in maps, in diving down rabbit holes, my plan to post up a photo I took of one of the […]
The Statue of General Wolfe, Greenwich Park
WHAT: Statue of James Wolfe WHERE: The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (map) BY WHOM: Robert Tait McKenzie WHEN: 1930 From the statue of James Wolfe, next […]
The South Bank Lion
For the past several months I’ve been taking groups of cruise passengers on a Winston Churchill tour – five days encompassing Chartwell, Bletchley, Blenheim, the […]
No Pasaran! The Jubilee Gardens Memorial
The British and other foreign fighters travelling to Ukraine to resist Putin’s invasion are an echo of 85 years ago, some 35,000 non-Spaniards (2,500 from […]