Curious corners and facts of London

The area around London and the banks of the Thames have been occupied for thousands of years -- some of the earliest records show Caesar marching into the region in about 45BC and the subsequent establishment of the Londinium city of Roman times. This was succeeded by the dark ages when the Saxons, Danes and Vikings variously occupied, plundered and were driven out of town, and then by William the Conqueror''s defeat of Saxon King Harold at Hastings and his own arrival into London in 1066, which heralded the founding of an even greater city.

As early as 1076, William began the early construction of the Tower of London (see my entry under "A Londoner''s Hometown Top 10" ) and the expansion of the great metropolis has continued ever since (give or take the odd hiccup like several attacks of the Plague or Black Death, the 1066 Great Fire and the WW2 bombing commonly known as the Blitz), flourishing to become the fascinating place it is today.

These days, it''s seems all fast living, crowds and traffic, but around every corner lies a quiet place with a curiosity or snippet of history if you know where to look...

Quick Tips:

London has long served as a literary backdrop, perhaps most famously for Dickens who worked and died in Victorian London, chronicling the people’s hardships, setting rich and poor" in reallife locations which survive today and taking characters into streets and buildings still recognisable.

Whatever you call them -- pubs, hostelries, watering holes, bars, drinking dens -- alcoholic beverages have long been a preoccupation. Visitors quickly get used to the bizarre names which many pubs enjoy - from the self-evident "King''s Head" to the more curious "Horniman" - but it''s not always clear what came to pass within those walls. Some places record who wrote/drank/fought there and how the place got its name; for others, you have to know where to look...

Observant visitors notice blue plaques on some buildings -- put up to commemorate an event or life lived at that address (apparently to draw attention to the gracious architecture though you''re more likely to be interested to see where Christie wrote, Churchill lived and died or Chaplin was born). Keep an eye out for them or, if you''re a fan of someone in particular, track one down.

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to seek London''s curious corners is on foot although, as with all widely spread cities, you may need to resort to the tubes and buses to get around (and in fact the top-deck of a London bus actually gives you a good view of the parts of buildings that you might not ordinarily look at)

I wasn't sure how to classify this as it is both restaurant and London curiosity in one--a pizza joint in the heart of the financial district, the City of London, which was originally a Turkish bath (and it shows)!

As a restaurant, there's little to get excited about--weekday lunchtimes, it's full of suited lawyers and bankers; evenings too (though ties are sometimes loosened) but then there's also live music to make dinner go with a swing. The food is overall average, service a little patchy, and prices not particularly low (though I would put in a recommendation for the garlic mushrooms). The point of going there is the amazing (and rather surreal given its location) decor and exterior.

The remarkable building is in classic late Victorian faux-Islamic style; it opened in about 1871 though the present interior decor dates from 1894 (designed by Harold Elphick). Amazingly, the baths survived WWII bombs to the City (many surrounding buildings were less lucky) and remained open until 1954. At the height of the trend for Turkish baths in London in the late 1900s until the turn of the century, there were some 60 open to the public, with a smaller number operating on a members' only basis. These days, they are more a peculiarity with just a couple still operating today (for the record, Ironmonger Row Baths Ironmonger Row Islington, Ladywell Leisure Centre Lewisham High Street, and York Hall Old Ford Road have single sex Turkish baths and The Porchester Centre Queensway has both single sex and mixed bath sessions; the rather more up-market Royal Automobile Club 89-91 Pall Mall is sadly members' only).

The first thing that strikes you is the exterior of this little Turkish delight--onion dome (which used to be for water storage), complete with crescent and star, and lovely (and nicely illuminated from within) stained glass windows. Inside, the upstairs is what used to be a payment kiosk atground level with the baths below. The best of the baths is lost with no marble in sight, though you the nicely coloured green and blue faience wall tiles and tiled columns remain and a small part of the mosaic floor is exposed (under a perspex covering) near to the bar). It makes for very interesting and curious surroundings to enjoy your pizza...entrance to the baths in their heyday was three shillings sixpence!

Nearest Tube : Liverpool Street

To visit the monument is to see enjoy a London history lesson - the tower commemorates the Great Fire of London, which swept through the area near to London Bridge between 2 and 5 September 1666. On the plus side, it saw the end of many of the rats and foul buildings which had caused and harboured the 1665 Great Plague but, less beneficially, 16 people died and the fire caused havoc amongst the tinder-built and closely constructed housing, making thousands homeless; it consumed some 13,200 houses and 87 churches, among them the old St Paul's Cathedral -- which gives you an idea of how far it spread.

The fire started in a bakery in aptly named Pudding Lane and was for some time attributed a Catholic Plot - a simple-minded French watchmaker named Robert "Lucky" Hubert confessed to being an agent of the Pope and starting the fire -- he was convicted, despite overwhelming evidence that he could not have started the fire, and hanged at Tyburn.

Christopher Wren was put in charge of re-building the city after the fire; from 1667, Parliament raised funds for the redevelopment by taxing coal. Wren (who also designed the current St Paul's and 52 other London churches) conceived the idea of a monument to mark the site where the fire started, and he designed it to consist of a large column topped with a gilded urn of fire. Standing 61m (202ft) tall, the height marks the monument's distance to the site of the baker's shop in Pudding Lane (so that the gilded urn would lay there if the monument was flat to that spot), it was constructed between 1671 and 1677 and, at the time, was the tallest freestanding stone column in the world.

Though these days it's rather hemmed in by surrounding City buildings, you can imagine what a sight it must have been in the sunshine from the river Thames. The climb inside the tower, up a spiral staircase, makes a good workout and you're rewarded by good views of the City and of the river. Even if the Monument is closed (see times below), it's worth heading up to see it as it's a gorgeous 17th century building and a real piece of London's history.

Tel: 020 7626 2717

April-Sept: w/days 9-5:40pm, w/e 2-5pm; Oct-Mar: M-F andSat 9-3:40pm.

In the northern edge of the so-called Square Mile of the City of London is an expanse of open land where workers take a breath of fresh lunchtime air in the relative peace. It's worth a trip because, between the lawns and benches, lie gravestones and monuments to some notables from British history. Bunhill Fields was set aside as a cemetery during the Great Plague of 1665 but was unused at that time, proving to be a more unusual graveyard in that, unlike Anglican churchyards, it had never been built by a church and the ground was therefore unconsecrated. It was therefore used as a "Nonconformist" burial ground (for Christians who were banned from burial in churchyards because they refused to acknowledge and use the Church of England prayer book).

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) and his wife, CATHERINE (1762-1831). Blake wrote some of the best-known poetry in the English language -- famous poems include "The Tyger" ("Tyger, tyger, burning bright . . . ) and "Jerusalem" ("And did those feet, in ancient time . . . ")

JOHN OWEN (1616-83) was a leading Independent (or as we would say today, Congregationalist) minister in his day, a man of exceptional learning and passion for defending the Christian faith. He was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University but, when the monarchy was restored after Puritan Cromwell's defeat, Owen's views meant that he was removed from his deanery at Christ Church, Oxford and, henceforth, his preaching was outside the Church of England.

SUSANNA WESLEY (1669-1742) -- the Wesley family home is across the road, now adjacent to a Museum of Methodism and Wesleyan Chapel (where her son JOHN, the founder of Methodism, is buried).

DANIEL DEFOE (1661-1731) is primarily remembered as a writer -- for castaway tale "Robinson Crusoe" in particular -- but he had a varied career, being at turns soldier, salesman, tile-maker and even government spy. His satirical work "The Shortest Way With Dissenters" was apparently taken over-literally by some dissenters and caused a riot, which led to Defoe's arrest and imprisonment.

The monument to JOHN BUNYAN(16-1688) is extremely elaborate, with an effigy of the writer and bas-reliefs of scenes from his Christian allegory, "The Pilgrim's Progress".

ISAAC WATTS (16-1748) was a most prolific hymn-writer (including "O God, our help in ages past").

There are also various gravestones commemorating faily members of the CROMWELL family (though not Oliver himself -- whose statue you can see outside the Palace of Westminster -- see photo attached to my entry "A Londoner's hometown Top 10" -- "No 1 - Westminster Square").

JOHN MILTON lived in Bunhill Row, on the west side of the cemetery, from 1662 until his death in 1674. Some of his greatest works were written here, including famous epic poem "Paradise Lost".

Many monuments are fenced off but the curator will take you to any that you want to see. No admission charge.

Opening times : Oct-March 7.30-4pm (weekdays); 9.30-4pm (weekends); April-Sept 7.30-7pm (weekdays); 9.30-sunset (weekends)

Tel 020 7247 8548; fax 020 7247 8541; website www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.

A fascinating anachronism in a city of oddities, Ely Place is a throw-back to medieval times when England's bishops sought to remain on their "home ground" -- their successors benefit to this day...

It must be one of London's best-kept secrets and you'd be hard pressed to stumble upon it. But any visitor who loves English history and a throwback to medieval times will be tickled by the fact that through heavy wrought iron gates off busy modern Holborn in the heart of throbbing London lies the former residence of the Bishops of Ely.

Ely is a city of some 15,000 in Cambridgeshire in peaceful, rural eastern England, about 150 miles north east of London, and, intent on keeping themselves and their correspondence private and safe within their own diocese when leaving their bucolic haven to visit London on business, the Bishops procured a small corner of London which is forever Cambridgeshire, and thus free from the jurisdiction of even the Metropolitan Police (save by invitation from the grandly-named Commissioners of Ely Place, the elected governing body). If you pop into the pub called Ye Olde Mitre Tavern, you can see correspondence received at Ely Place, addressed to the hostelry at "Holborn Circus, Cambridgeshire". It's a sort of Cambridgeshire embassy, whose activities are private and whose persons benefit from a form of canonical immunity.

Britain's oldest catholic church, the marvellously gothic St Etheldreda Chapel, puts up on its notice board lists of the elected Commissioners - the church is worth a look in its own right and forms the last vestige of the bishop's palace from the middle ages.

In a city of contrasting images, it's startling but fun to find a fully-fledged, operational piece of history!

The closest tube station is Holborn (on the central/piccadilly lines).

London was home to Charles Dickens, one of England's best known and loved novelists, between 1834 (when he left his birthplace of Portsmouth and began work as a parliamentary reporter) and his death in 1870, although that time was punctuated by trips abroad and around the country, lecturing and on reading tours. In a life spent living, working and observing the people of Victorian London, then the largest, most spectacular city in the world, it is inevitable that sights and sounds from Dickens' own time should be recorded for posterity in his novels and, if you know where to look, some can still be visited today.

Dickens' legal London

The Temple is a gloriously warren-like area of London, originally occupied by the Knights Templar who protected pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land. More recently, it has been occupied by two of the four Inns of Court (areas set aside close to the Royal Courts of Justice, where barristers have their offices), the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. As such an atmospheric place, it is hardly surprising that the Inns features in numerous Dickens' novels. The Temples are no exception - Pip has chambers at the Temple where he is visited by Magwitch (Great Expectations), Sir John Chester has chambers in the Temple (Barnaby Rudge), Stryver, lawyer who defends Charles Darnley, also has chambers there (A Tale of Two Cities).

Gray's Inn, another of the four Inns of Court, was where Dickens himself worked as a solicitor's clerk in 1828. Furnival's Inn was rented out as chambers - Dickens lived there from 1834-1837, wrote most of Pickwick and married Catherine while living here. Though demolished in the late 19th century, his time there is commemorated by a bust of Dickens in Prudential Assurance's courtyard (142 Holborn Bars, EC1). Gray's Inn is a backdrop for scenes in many of his novels - Rosa Bud stays in rooms in the Inn (Edward Drood), Pickwick's solicitor, Mr. Perker (Pickwick Papers), Traddles (David Copperfield), Pip and Herbert (Great Expectations) all have chambers in the area.

The last of the four Inns, Lincoln's Inn Fields, was designed by William Newton in the early 1600s as a compromise between the lawyers of Lincoln's Inn and developers wanting to build in the area - Newton built round the Fields' perimeter provided the central part remained forever open (which it does to this day). Most famously of Dickens' legally-inclined novels, Jarndyce v Jarndyce begins at the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn and lawyer Tulkinghorn has a home in the Fields (Bleak House) - Betsy Trotwood also lives in the Fields (David Copperfield).

Another theme of Dickens' life - and Victorian London - is imprisonment

Little Dorrit, Dickens' last completed ovel, records his own childhood memory and shame of his father's incarceration for debt in 1824 by setting his story in and around the same place, the Marshalsea prison. The Marshalsea's remains can still be visited in south London (Borough High Street, Southwark SE1 marked with a plaque). First established under Elizabeth I (when it was used to imprison political dissenters), by Dickens' time, the original Marshalsea had been closed and a new gaol erected nearby, close to St George's Church, to house debtors. Though it too was closed in the late 19th century and demolished sometime afterwards, the district echoes with Dickensian associations - you can track down Marshalsea Road, Dorrit Street, Quilp Street, and even Lant Street, the site of Dickens' boyhood lodgings.

Fleet Prison was another London debtors' prison, in use until 1842. Pickwick is imprisoned here until such time as damages and costs to Mrs Bardell are paid (which Pickwick claims will be "a good, long time") (Pickwick Papers). Newgate Prison was yet another, notorious London prison, originally built at the new gate in the medieval city walls, and also the site of 19th century public executions. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times (the 1666 Great Fire and Gordon Riots of 1780) and was finally torn down in 1902 (the Central Criminal Court, or "Old Bailey", was built on the site). Oliver Twist visits Fagin in Newgate and witnesses his hanging (Oliver Twist), Hugh, Dennis, and Barnaby are imprisoned at Newgate in cells refitted after the prison was burned in the riots (Barnaby Rudge), Wemmick and Pip visit the prison while Pip is awaiting the Estella's arrival in London (Great Expectations). Dickens described Newgate in "A visit to Newgate" (Sketches by Boz) - "How dreadful its rough heavy walls, and low massive doors, appeared to us - the latter looking as if they were made for the express purpose of letting people in, and never letting them out again".

London Bridge is the site of Nancy's betrayal in Oliver Twist - Nancy, goodtime-girl and sometime girlfriend of villainous Bill Sikes, takes pity on Oliver after she has helped to lure him back into Fagin's wicked clutches and meets with his benefactor, Mr Brownlow, at midnight to return Oliver to safety. Bill follows however and, on realising her betrayal and the likelihood that Oliver might lead the police to his door, follows Nancy home and in a fit of rage murders her. He does not make it to prison but hangs himself by accident on Jacob's Island in the Thames (long since disappeared).

A couple of last sites of pilgrimage for a Dickens fan would be Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey where he was buried on 14 June 1870 alongside other English "greats" such as Chaucer and Darwin; and Doughty Street, Dickens' home from 1837 to 1839, which was purchased by The Dickens Fellowship and opened to the public as the Dickens House Museum in 1925.

The Royal Society of Arts was the first body to act on a suggestion that commemorative plaques be erected at the homes of famous London inhabitants; its first plaque was erected in 1867 at the birthplace in Holles Street, London (since demolished) of Lord Byron, the Romantic poet. By 1901, when the London County Council took over the scheme, 36 plaques had gone up -- when in turn it was handed over to the Greater London Council in 1965, 298 were in place. The GLC extended coverage outside "London" proper, and the current body, English Heritage, took the reins in 1986. So far as London is concerned, there are now about 800 plaques -- the oldest surviving being those to poet John Dryden (Gerrard Street in Chinatown) and to Emperor Napoleon III (King Street St James'), both erected in 1875.

So you'll know what to look out for and what colour means what date: the first plaque was deep blue with white lettering; most of those erected before 1900 are chocolate-brown; 1903-21, the LCC used stone/metal and glazed terracotta and, in 1921, glazed Doulton-ware became standard. A plainer design was adopted in 1937, with the white border added in 1939. Most plaques are a 19"-diameter, circular blue/white design of glazed earthenware (though special designs in other materials are occasionally used). Each identifies the individual commemorated, plus what they did there (usually "lived here") and when they did it, or what specific event happened at that place. Some of the fun comes from the bizarre descriptions given to people or events - my favourite is Luke Howard (1772-1864) - commemorated as "namer of clouds" at 7 Bruce Grove Tottenham N17. But there's something for almost every nation and interest group.

Other favourites (and details of where you can find them - in my own categories) are...

1 POLITICIANS, REVOLUTIONARIES AND ROYALTY

1.1 Mahatma GANDHI (1869-1948) - philosopher and teacher - stayed here in 1931. Kingsley Hall Powis Rd E3

1.2 William WILBERFORCE (1759-1833) - resided here during his campaign against slavery, successfully conducted in Parliament. 111 Broomwood Rd SW11

1.3 CHARLES X (1757-1836) - last Bourbon King of France. 72 South Audley St W1

1.4 Maharlal NEHRU (1889-1964) - first Indian Prime Minister. 60 Elgin Crescent W11

1.5 Karl MARX (1818-83) 28 Dean St W1

1.6 Benjamin FRANKLIN (1706-90) - US statesman and scientist. 36 Craven St WC2

1.7 Bertrand RUSSELL (1872-1970) - philosopher and "campaigner for peace." 34 Russell Chambers Bury Place WC1

1.8 Simon BOLIVAR(1783-1830) - liberator of Latin America. 4 Duke St W1

1.9 Nancy ASTOR (1879-1964) - first woman to sit in Parliament. 4 St James' Sq SW1

1.10 Andres BELLO (1781-1865) - poet, jurist, philologist and Venezuelan patriot. 58 Grafton Way W1

1.11 Prince Peter KROPOTKIN (1842-1921) - "theorist of anarchism". 6 Crescent Rd Bromley

1.12 Sir Winston CHURCHILL KG (1874-1965) - Prime Minister - lived and died here. 28 Hyde Park Gate Kensington Gore SW7

1.13 General Charles de GAULLE - President of the French National Committee, set up Free French Forces HQ here in 1940. 4 Carlton Gardens SW1

2 HEROES

2.1 Violett SZABO GC (1921-45) - secret agent who gave her life for the French Resistance. 18 Burley Road Stockwell SW9

2.2 Horatio Lord NELSON (1758-1805). 147 New Bond St W1

3 MISCELLANY

3.1 Madame Marie TUSSAUD (1761-1850) - "artist in wax." 24 Wellington Rd St John's Wood NW8

3.2 Mary HUGHES (1860-1941) - "friend of all in need." 71 Vallance Rad E2

3.3 Robert BADEN-POWELL (1857-1941) - "Chief Scout of the World." 9 Hyde Park Gate SW7

3.4 Beau BRUMMELL (1778-1840) - "leader of fashion." 4 Chesterfield St Mayfair W1

3.5 William BLIGH (1754-1817) - Commander of the "Bounty." 100 Lambeth Rd SE1

3.6 William LEVER, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925) - "soap-maker and philanthropist." Inverforth House North End Way NW3

4 ARTISTS

4.1 Antonio (Canaletto) CANAL (1697-1768) - Venetian painter. 41 Beak St W1

4.2 Vincent van GOGH (1853-90). 87 Hackford Road SW9

5 EXPLORERS

5.1 T.E. LAWRENCE ("Lawrence of Arabia") (1888-1935). 14 Barton St SW1

5.2 Howard CARTER (1874-1939) - Egyptologist and discoverer of the tomb of Tutankhamun. 19 Collingham Gardens SW5

5.3 Captain Robert Falcon SCOTT (1868-1912) - Antarctic explorer. 56 Oakley St SW3

5.4 Captain James COOK (1728-79) - circumnavigator and explorer. 88 Mile End Rd E1

5.5 Charles DARWIN (1809-82) - naturalist. Biological Sciences Building University College Gower St WC1

6 LOCATIONS

6.1 TELEVISION - world's first regular high definition television service inaugurated here by the BBC 11.1936 Alexandra Palace Wood Green N22

6.2 FLYING BOMB - first Flying Bomb on London fell here 13.6.1944. Railway Bridge Grove Rd Bow E3.

6.3 MILLBANK PRISON - opened 1816/closed 1890. Buttress stood at the head of river steps from which, until 1867, prisoners sentenced to transportation embarked on journeys to Australia. Millbank SW1

7 COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS

7.1 Frederic CHOPIN (1810-49) - left this house in 1848 for the Guildhall to give his last public performance. 4 St James' Place SW1

7.2 Jimi HENDRIX (1942-70) - guitarist and songwriter. 23 Brook St Mayfair

7.3 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-91) - composed first symphony here in 1764. 180 Ebury St SW1

8 WRITERS

8.1 Percy Bysshe SHELLEY (1792-1822) - poet. 15 Poland St W1

8.2 Bram STOKER (1847-1912) - author of "Dracula". 18 St Leonard's Terrace SW3

8.3 Ian FLEMING (1908-64) - creator of James Bond. 22 Ebury St SW1

8.4 John KEATS (1795-1821) - poet. Wentworth Place Keats Grove Hampstead NW3

8.5 Washington IRVING (1783-1859) - American writer. 8 Argyll St W1

8.6 Siegfried SASSOON (1886-1967) - poet. 23 Campden Hill Sq Kensington W8

8.7 Dorothy L SAYERS (1893-1957) - writer of detective stories. 24 Great James St WC1

8.8 Henry JAMES (1843-1916) - American novellist. 34 De Vere Gardens W8

8.9 David Herbert LAWRENCE (1885-1930) - novelist and poet. 1 Byron Villas Vale of Health Hampstead NW3

8.10 Rudyard KIPLING (1865-1936) - poet and story writer. 43 Villiers St WC2

8.11 Oscar O'Flahertie Wills WILDE (1854-1900) - wit and dramatist. 34 Tite St SW3

8.12 A.A. MILNE (1882-1956) - creator of "Winnie the Pooh". 13 Mallord St SW3

8.13 Dylan THOMAS (1914-53) - Welsh poet. 54 Delancey St WC1

8.14 Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE (1859-1930) - creator of Sherlock Holmes. 12 Tennison Rd South Norwood SE25

8.15 Alfred Lord TENNYSON (1809-92) - poet. 9 Upper Belgrave St W1

8.16 Joseph CONRAD (1857-1924) - novelist. 17 Gillingham St SW1

8.17 Dame Agatha CHRISTIE (1890-1976) - detective novelist and playwright. 58 Sheffield Terrace W8

8.18 George ORWELL (1903-50) - novelist and political essayist. 50 Lawford Rd NW5

8.19 H.G. WELLS (1866-1946). 13 Hanover Terrace NW1

8.20 Sir Noel COWARD (1899-1973) actor, playwright and songwriter - born here. 131 Waldegrave Rd Teddington

8.21 Daniel DEFOE (1661-1731) - novelist. 95 Stoke Newington Church St N16

8.22 Samuel PEPYS (1633-1703) - diarist and Secretary of the Admiralty. 12 Buckingham St WC2

8.23 Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) TWAIN (1835-1910) - American writer. 23 Tedworth Sq SW3

8.24 Charles DICKENS (1812-70) - novelist. 48 Doughty St WC1 [see other entry for Dickens above]

9 PERFORMERS

9.1 Paul ROBESON (1898-1976) - singer and actor. The Chestnuts Branch Hill NW3

9.2 Boris KARLOFF (alias for William Henry Pratt) (1887-1969) - actor - born here. 36 Forest Hill Rd East Dulwich SE22

9.3 Sir Alfred HITCHCOCK (1899-1980) - film director. 153 Cromwell Rd SW5

9.4 Vivien LEIGH (1913-67) - actress. 54 Eaton Sq SW1

10 INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS

10.1 Sir Ronald ROSS (1857-1932) - Nobel Laureate; discoverer of the mosquito transmission of malaria. 18 Cavendish Sq W1

10.2 John Logie BAIRD (1888-1946) - first demonstrated TV here in 1926. 22 Frith St W1

10.3 Sir Geoffrey de HAVILLAND (1882-1965) - aircraft designer. 32 Baron's Court Rd W14

10.4 Michael FARADAY (1791-1867) - man of science - apprenticed here. 48 Blandford St W1

10.5 Alan TURING (1912-54) - code-breaker and pioneer of computer science - born here. 2 Warrington Cresent Maida Vale W9

10.6 Sigmund FREUD (1856-1939) - founder of psychoanalysis. 20 Maresfield Gardens NW3

10.7 Aldous HUXLEY (1894-1963) - man of science and letters. 16 Bracknell Gardens Hampstead NW3

10.8 Samuel MORSE (1791-1872) - American painter and inventor of the Morse Code. 141 Cleveland St W1