Admire One Great George Street

The building which will next year act as the non-accredited media centre for the Olympic Games has an interesting history. Originally constructed between 1910 and 1913 for the Institution of Civil Engineers - who still remain in the building today - its position at the heart of Westminster life has led it to bear witness to a number of interesting events.


Most famously, it was at One Great George Street that the charter which established UNESCO was signed in 1945, but it was also here that Labour held manifesto launches in the lead up to its election win in 1997. The building also acted as a venue for the presentation of the Butler Report into the intelligence used to justify the Iraq War gave its findings in 2004 and, thanks to the Film London Partnership, it has also had a career as a film star, with crews from productions such as Ghandi, In The Loop and Bridget Jones - Edge of Reason using it as a location for shoots.

But the building is also important as part of the day to day churn of the Westminster news cycle. As a press conference venue, for example, it was here that Michael Schumacher and Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman MP came together for a Rally for Safer Roads in 2007, which probably held the headlines for about thirty seconds, and it is downstairs at the Brasserie One restaurant that journalists meet top politicians and their spinners for lunchtime briefings to grease the wheels of the media machine.

For more on One Great George Street, see http://www.onegreatgeorgestreet.com/

_{^Picture © Copyright Stephen Craven and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence^}

Visit the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial

Located on the corner of Whitehall Court and Whitehall Place, in Westminster, the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial was unveiled by the Queen in June 2000. The sculpture was designed by Vivien Mallock, based on a miniature by George Henry Paulin.


It depicts the crew of a Comet tank, used during the Second World War. A plaque explains that each crew consisted of five men - a commander, a loader, a gunner, a driver and a hull machine gun loader.

Your author was introduced to the memorial by John Kennedy, author of the informative London Bollards blog, and is very grateful for this. For more information, see http://www.royaltankregiment.com/en-GB/rtrmemorialstatue.aspx

Browse Indian and Islamic art at Simon Ray

Based among the private galleries of St James, Simon Ray has been dealing in Indian and Islamic Art for twenty years.


Apparently specialising in the fine and decorative court arts of the Indian and Islamic empires, Simon Ray takes a particular interest in items from Safavid Persia, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India and the Kingdoms of the Deccan and Rajasthan.

Alongside items like delicately decorated Persian tiles and Indian miniatures, a range of ceramics, stonework, sculpture and even textiles are available. For more information, see http://www.simonray.com

Listen to some Brass on the Grass

Until the end of August, Westminster Abbey is hosting weekly concerts on its College Garden, and the second in the series is today.


Visitors are invited to bring a picnic and a blanket and enjoy free music from some of the best brass bands in the country on Wednesdays from 12.30pm until 2pm.

Today's concert features the Band of the Surrey Yeomanry, and anyone interested is invited to bring a picnic and a blanket for a free concert, with any donations going to band funds. This sort of thing is one of your author's favourites.

For more, see click here

_{^Picture © ms.Tea used under Creative Commons^}

Visit the Buxton Memorial Fountain

Often forgotten in an area full of memorials, The Buxton Memorial Fountain stands in Victoria Gardens, just South of the Houses of Parliament. It was constructed in 1834 to celebrate the emancipation of slaves in the British Colonies.


Designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, the fountain was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, son of anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Fowell Buxton, and originally stood in Parliament Square.

When, in 1949, the Government put forward a scheme to redesign Parliament Square, the fountain had to be moved, and following a campaign by the Anti-Slavery Society, it was moved to the Gardens in 1957.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buxton_Memorial_Fountain

Window-shop at the Pullman Gallery

Established by Simon Khachadourian, and opened in 1998, the Pullman Gallery in St James' specialises in late 19th and early 20th Century objects, at prices that are well beyond the sorts of prices that ordinary people like us can afford.


Nevertheless, there are some interesting art deco objects on display, and so your author would suggest this is the sort of shop where window-shopping is appropriate. They can't stop us looking in the windows, can they?

The Pullman Gallery prides itself on having a good selection of Art Deco cocktail shakers, but also stocks all manner of fairly pointless frivolities like bar and smoking accessories, small-scale sculpture, automobile bronzes, scale racing car models, vintage posters and car mascots.

For more information, see http://www.pullmangallery.com

Attend the SouthWestFest

News reaches your author that a festival kicked off yesterday in a place called 'South Westminster'. Though it seems pedantic to suggest any more accurate terms to describe where it is being held, the first clue is that it is being organised out of the Pimlico Resource Centre.


Today, there's a Festival Gala Day - held partly in Pimlico's St George's Square and partly in the Pimlico Academy - as well as a Carnival procession around the streets of Pimlico, and last night saw the staging of a Pimlico Proms.

The Festival lasts for two weeks, ending with the St Saviour Pimlico Summer Fair, on Saturday 9th July, and a production of Shakespeare's 'A Winter's Tale' back in St George’s Square, at the heart of Pimlico.

It all begs a question about where this festival is actually being held. Your author knows of another place in Westminster beginning with a 'P', but is having trouble placing 'South Westminster' in the A to Z.

Still, for more on the festival, see http://www.southwestfest.org.uk/

Watch Wimbledon in Cardinal Place

It's rare that your author simply reproduces a press release he has been sent, but he was in dire need of an early night last night, so let us examine the new screen which has been erected for the summer in Cardinal Place, Victoria.


The owners of Cardinal Place, Land Securities, are celebrating summer with free live screenings of Wimbledon until Sunday 3rd July, followed by films until Thursday 7th July, complete with deckchairs and strawberries.

So if the weather turns out good, and you can't make it to SW19, this could be an alternative. For more, see http://www.greatbritishsummer11.com

Learn about the Supreme Court

In the basement of the Supreme Court on Parliament Square, is an exhibition open to the public, with information about the work of The Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.


The Court is housed in the Middlesex Guildhall building, a Grade II* listed building which was converted for the Court at a cost of £59 million, and opened for business in October 2009. You can also watch court hearings upstairs, but more on that another time.

For more information, see http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/visiting/exhibition-whats-on.html

Buy drugs at D.R. Harris

D.R. Harris is one of London's oldest pharmacies, and has been serving St James’s Street for over 220 years.


Founded in 1790, the shop holds two Royal Warrants, serving both the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

It is rare, in that it still manufactures many of its own products by hand, stocking its own aftershaves, Colognes, shaving foams and accessories, and even offering to re-bristle brushes.

D.R. Harris is open Monday to Saturday. For more information, see http://www.drharris.co.uk/

Go shopping in the Piccadilly Arcade

Designed by Scottish architect, George Tharle Jell, and opened in 1910, the neo regency Piccadily Arcade links Piccadilly and Jermyn Street in Central London.


It is home to sixteen interesting specialist stores, including classic tailors Benson & Clegg, military medal experts The Armory of St James's, and Russian Art importer Iconastas.

Most of the shops open Monday to Saturday, but are closed on Sundays. For more, see http://www.piccadilly-arcade.com/.

Find the site of the Texas Legation

Whilst London does have a much more prominent building pretending to be a Texan overseas mission, a tiny sign on Pickering Place marks the place of a real Texas Legation.


The sign marks the site of the base from which representatives of an independent Republic of Texas liaised with the British Government from 1842 until the state joined the United States on 28th December 1845.

The plaque was installed by the Anglo-Texan Society. For more information, see http://terry-uniqueplaces.blogspot.com/2010/02/embassy-of-texas-in-london.html

Visit the Tryon Gallery

Your author spent yesterday afternoon browsing a handful of West London's private art galleries, and was particularly impressed by the exhibition by Johnny Morant currently being shown at the Tron Gallery.


Though Morant is the same age as your author, he possesses infinitely more talent. A London-based artist, celebrated for his interesting representations of light and space using oil paints. His paintings are rather London-centric - including scenes from the South Bank Book Market, the Market Coffee House, and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, amongst others - and perhaps that was why they appealed, but they certainly possessed an intrinsic beauty.

The Tryon Gallery has been trading since 1959, and can be found in 7 Bury Street, SW1. It usually shows six to eight feature exhibitions a year, and Mr Morant's continues until 17th June. For more, visit www.tryon.co.uk

Buy wine at Berry Bros and Rudd

Established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne at 3 St James's Street, Berry Bros and Rudd have been trading wine from the same location opposite St James's Palace for more than three centuries.


Still owned and run by the Berry and Rudd families whose name it bears, past customers include Lord Byron, William Pitt, George III and the Aga Khan, and today the store sells wine to both the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and wines and spirits are available for sale from £5 up to £5,000.

The shop is open daily, except Sundays and Bank Holidays, and you can read more about the history of the company, and the wines available, at http://www.bbr.com/

_{^Picture © Ewan-M used under Creative Commons^}

Find the Cádiz Memorial

In the South Eastern Corner of Horseguards Parade, the Cádiz Memorial commemorates the success of forces led by Wellington in defeating French forces near the Spanish city of Salamanca, and lifting the siege of Cádiz in 1812.


Consisting of a large French mortar 'cast for the destruction of that great port, and abandoned by the beseigers on their retreat', mounted on the back of a winged iron dragon. It was given by the Spanish to the Prince Regent, and mounted on a base constructed at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich in 1814.

For more on the memorials of Horse Guards, see http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Horseguards.html

Admire Westminster Cathedral

When most people think of a Cathedral in Westminster, they go straight for Westminster Abbey, but there's another one. This one is for those nice Catholics, and it's free to have a look inside.


Built on a site acquired by the Catholic Church in 1884, it was designed to reflect the Byzantine style of early Christianity by Victorian architect John Francis Bentley. The first stone was laid in 1895, and work completed eight years later. It was formally consecrated in 1910 and as such celebrated a centenary last year.

Much of the art inside was added later, and as Bentley died before the Cathedral was opened it was up to future artists and architects to ensure these fitted with the rest of the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church in England and the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

For more information, see http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/

_{^Picture © Catholic Westminster used under Creative Commons^}

Visit the Bali Bombing Memorial

One of London's lesser-known memorials is dedicated to the 202 victims - 28 of whom were British - of the Bali Bombings in 2002.


Unveiled by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in October 2006, the memorial consists of a marble globe with 202 carved doves, and sits at the bottom of the steps between HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Westminster, watched over by a statue of Clive of India.

For more details, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6044472.stm

Spy the Admiralty Citadel

It's right at the heart of London, just a stone's throw from Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and the Mall, but many people have probably never heard of or spotted the Admiralty Citadel. Marked above ground by a squat windowless World War II fortress covered in Virginia creeper which has died back a bit, possibly because it is currently winter, it is oddly well camouflaged for such a prominent location.


Constructed in 1940-1941, apparently as a bomb-proof operations centre for the Admiralty, complete with gun emplacements, the Citadel has foundations 30 feet deep and a concrete roof 20 feet thick. It is known for its ugliness, described by Churchill as a "vast monstrosity which weighs upon the Horse Guards Parade", and its appearance has even been the subject of a debate in the House of Commons.

Sadly, it isn't open to the public as it is still used as a working building by the Ministry of Defence, but it is interesting to cast your eye over as you walk around the area. For more information click here.

See Rivelino's Nuestros Silencios

Yesterday, a new art exhibit was opened in Victoria Tower Gardens, just south of the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster. Designed by Mexican artist Rivelino, Nuestros Silencios consists of a circle of ten bronze five metre-tall sculptures, which represent the need for freedom of expression.


The sculptures were created in celebration of the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, and have already been shown in Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels and Berlin and have now arrived in London for about a month.

The sculptures will be in the Gardens until 16th February, when they move to Paris. For more information, see here, or here

Watch the Peter Pan Cup

Whilst you're relaxing at home on Christmas Day, wondering whether to get out of bed, down in Hyde Park the members of the Serpentine Swimming Club are preparing for a different sort of treat. Every year since 1864 they have come together for a 100 yard Christmas day swim now known as the 'Peter Pan Cup', in reference to Peter Pan creator JM Barrie, who was a patron of the race.


The race is only open to members, on a handicap system, as it is thought that for anyone who has not spent the time getting used to swimming in waters usually around 4 degrees centigrade the shock could prove fatal. Unfortunately, this means your author will not be allowed to take part, which really should be considered a blessing.

The race takes place at 9am. For more information, see http://www.serpentineswimmingclub.com/christmas_day_race.htm

_{^Picture © ran hou used with permission^}