My London

I was born and brought up in London, and I've lived here for most of my life. Everyone knows London. Pictures of Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace are ubiquitous, they're so familiar that even people who've never been to the UK can recognise them in a flash.

What I'd like to do here is to present a few less familiar scenes from central London -- mostly the City, as I personally think that's a much more interesting part of town than the West End. These are just things that I see every day at work, or while walking around the city. Buildings, statues and images that move me, for one reason or another. This page, by the way, is a work in perpetual progress.

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This first picture simply shows two well-known landmarks from the City: the Lloyds Building and the Natwest Tower (now properly known as Tower 42). I like this composition however because it shows them in juxtaposition, and it's a shot that is rarely seen, as normally a building would stand between them and Eastcheap from where the picture was taken. At the time of the picture it was a construction site so I took the opportunity to get a picture of both buildings together.

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The following are a series of photographs of some sculptures at the entrance to a magnificent office building called Minster Court which can be found between Eastcheap and Fenchurch Street. There are a number of organisations based in the office block but the major occupier is the London Underwriting Centre, a major part of London's insurance business. The sculptures are one-and-a-half times life size and are of three horses, cast in bronze.

The sculptor's name is Althea Wynne, and although I haven't been able to find out if they were modelled on any specific real horses, I'm reliably informed that the sculptures are nicknamed Sterling, Dollar and Yen, an obvious allusion to the City's status as one of the world's most important currency trading markets.

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This next picture is the exterior of the Church of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East. Now little more than a shell after suffering badly from bombing in World War II, it's a picturesque building, overgrown with climbing plants, and popular with local City workers on sunny lunchtimes.

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In springtime, the squares of Bloomsbury always look gorgeous as the flowers appear. Here are a few pictures from Tavistock Square Gardens. The first couple simply show a wonderful display of tulips.

This one is the Hiroshima cherry tree captured in full blossom.

The last one here shows Fredda Brilliant's Gandhi statue surrounded by tulips.

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Tobacco Dock, Wapping

Something of an oddity, this one. Redeveloped as part of the massive investment in London's old docks areas during the 1980s, £70 million was spent on turning the smallish Tobacco Dock into a split-level complex of shops, bars and restaurants. However it never really took off and by the mid-90s many of the traders were leaving and by the turn of the millennium it was as good as deserted. However it's still well-kept and looked after, and open to the public Monday to Saturday.

During the week there is a steady stream of workers from the nearby News International offices and the ever-present building sites, but on a Saturday it is truly deserted. Despite the fact that many of the shops have been empty for years, the fact that the place is clean, tidy, and free of grafitti and vandalism makes it seem like they only left a week or two ago. It can be a very odd feeling walking around here on a Saturday, as if you've wandered into a shopping mall the day after all humans vanished from the planet!

 

At the north entrance to Tobacco Dock, close to the road now known simply as The Highway, stand two bronze statues: one is of a bear reared up on its hind legs, the other is off a young boy standing in front of a tiger. The plaques accompanying these statues read as follows:

Over a hundred years ago on what was then called Ratcliffe Highway near to this spot stood Jamrach's Emporium. This unique shop sold not only the most varied collection of curiosities but also traded in wild animals such as alligators, tigers, elephants, monkeys and birds. Jamrach's was known to seafarers throughout the world who, when their ship docked in London, would bring artefacts from distant lands in the knowledge that Mr Jamrach would be a willing purchaser. The animals were housed in iron cages and were well looked after until they were bought by zoological institutes and naturalist collectors.

In the early years of the nineteenth century a full grown Bengal tiger, having just arrived at Jamrach's Emporium, burst open his wooden transit box and quietly trotted down the road. Everybody scattered except an eight year old boy, who, having never seen such a large cat, went up to it with the intent of stroking his nose. A tap of the great soft paw stunned the boy and, picking him up by his hacket, the tiger walked down a side alley. Mr Jamrach, having discovered the empty box, came running up and, thrusting his bare hands into the tiger's throat, forced the beast to let his captive go. The little boy was unscathed and the subdued tiger was led back to his cage.