LondonLife – The RHS Chelsea Flower Show…
May 22, 2012
Yes, it’s that time of the year again when Chelsea is all abloom! This year the flower show is marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a specially designed flower bed designed by the Parish of St Helier in Jersey, the centrepiece of which is a rotating Jersey Accession Issue Postal stamp (pictured above). During a visit to the Flower Show on Monday (pictured below, this took place prior to the public opening today), Queen Elizabeth II, patron of the show, awarded the first ever Diamond Jubilee Award for the Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion to HM Hyde & Son for their display of lilies. Among the other ways in which the show is marking the Diamond Jubilee is the opening of an exhibition of photographs of the Queen’s past visits to the show. The flower show runs until Saturday (while tickets are sold out, you can check in person daily at the ticket office for returned tickets). For more, see www.rhs.org.uk/Shows-Events/RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show/2012. PICTURES: Andy Paradise (courtesy of RHS).
LondonLife – Wellington Arch reopens…
May 15, 2012
A newly refurbished Wellington Arch reopened last week with a new exhibition dedicated to Stonehenge. Stonehenge: Monumental Journey, which runs until 24th June in the arch’s Quadriga Gallery, show how visitors to the monument have interacted with it over time and look at how it new works will see it reconnected with the landscape around it. Other exhibitions in the Quadriga Gallery later this year include Blackpool: The Wonderland of the World, The Ladies of Kenwood, and Egypt in England. The refurbished arch also now contains a bookshop dedicated to English Heritage publications. For more on the history of Wellington Arch, see our previous entry here.
WHERE: Aspley Way, Hyde Park Corner (nearest Tube station is Hyde Park Corner); WHEN: 10am to 5pm, Wednesday to Sunday (until 28th March, 2013); COST: £4 an adult/£2.40 a child/£3.60 concession/£21.30 family (English Heritage members free); WEBSITE: www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wellington-arch/
LondonLife – Florence Nightingale remembered…
May 8, 2012
The life of Florence Nightingale, ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, depicted here on the Crimean War Memorial at Waterloo Place, is to be commemorated at the annual service in Westminster Abbey tomorrow. The Florence Nightingale commemoration service is held “to celebrate nursing and midwifery and all staff, both qualified and unqualified working in these services”. During the service a lamp, carried this year by Claire Gibbs, will be taken from the Abbey’s Florence Nightingale Chapel (formerly known as the Nurses’ chapel but rededicated in May 2010 – the centenary of Nightingale’s death) and escorted by a procession of nurses – this year it’s students from Liverpool John Moores University – to Reverend Professor Vernon White who will place it upon the High Altar. The address will be given by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey. Nightingale (1820-1910) rose to fame for her pioneering nursing work during the Crimean War and established the first secular nursing school in the world at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. The upcoming International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on her birthday – 12th May. Tickets for this year’s commemoration service are already allocated – to apply for tickets to next year’s, keep an eye on www.florence-nightingale-foundation.org.uk for details.
Canaletto’s image of Greenwich Hospital from the north bank of the Thames (1750-52) is among almost 400 paintings, manuscripts and objects selected to be part of the National Maritime Museum’s new exhibition, Royal River: Power, Pageantry & The Thames.
Curated by historian David Starkey, the exhibition, part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, focuses on the use of the river across five centuries covering events including Anne Boleyn’s coronation procession and Admiral Lord Nelson’s stately funeral through to the evolving Lord Mayor’s pageant and the ‘Great Stink’ of the mid-1800s.
Highlights include the oldest known copy of Handel’s Water Music, the sixteenth century Pearl Sword (which the monarch must touch on entering the City of London), a stuffed swan, treasures from the City’s livery companies, and another Canaletto work – this time his famous view of the river filled with boats getting ready for the Lord Mayor’s Day, seen as an inspiration for this year’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant and on show in the UK for the first time since its completion.
As well as celebrating the Diamond Jubilee, the exhibition also marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the National Maritime Museum by King George VI on 27th April, 1937. The king’s speech from that day and his Admiral of the Fleet uniform also feature in the exhibition.
WHERE: National Maritime Museum Greenwich (nearest DLR station is Cutty Sark); WHEN: Daily 10am to 5pm (opening times may vary during the Paralympic and Olympic Games) until 9th September; COST: £11 adult/£9 concession/family ticket £24.50; WEBSITE: www.rmg.co.uk.
PICTURE: © National Maritime Museum, London
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LondonLife – Flight
April 24, 2012
Says the photographer, Aaron Reiff-Zall: ”It’s the Duke of York column, there are some steps down from Waterloo Place to The Mall. I live in London, so have done a lot of street photography here. As well as being very interested in its history and culture much like yourselves. I stood out in the rain for maybe an hour-and-a-half to craft that shot, I thought the column would make a nice back-drop, and there are always lots of birds milling about at the top. So I knew if I waited, the right person will come along and disturb them to produce the shot I wanted. After a few false alarms, and times when the birds didn’t go the way I wanted, I saw this lady with the umbrella happen by, framed the shot, hoping it would be right, and at the right moment when the birds took to flight, they luckily flew towards me as I wanted, I captured a burst of maybe five frames of film. Developed that and voila!” For more of Aaron Reiff-Zall’s work, see www.flickr.com/photos/aaronrz/.
Taken an interesting photograph of somewhere in London? We’re always looking for interesting images of the city so if you’ve got one you reckon captures a snippet of life in London, please contact us at exploringlondon@gmail.com or via our new Flickr group at www.flickr.com/groups/exploringlondon/
LondonLife – All is revealed at Hampton Court Palace
April 17, 2012
A portrait of King Charles II’s mistress, Barbara Villiers, is put into place ahead of The Wild, The Beautiful and the Damned exhibition which opened at Hampton Court Palace earlier this month. The portrait, which dates from about 1662, was painted by Sir Peter Lely – he also painted a picture King Charles II’s other principal mistress, Nell Gwyn, which is being shown together with the Villiers portrait for the first time. The exhibition, which focuses on the beauty, mistresses and debauchery of the Stuart Court, spans the reigns of the Stuarts from Charles II to Queen Anne and looks at how kings, queens and courtesans “swept away the Puritanical solemnity of the mid-17th century, and attempted to rewrite the moral code of social behaviour”. Runs until 30th September (admission is included in entry ticket; free to Historic Royal Palaces members). There are late openings on the first Monday of each month and note that the exhibition includes adult content. For more, see http://bit.ly/HvyiOE.
PICTURE: Richard Lea-Hair/newsteam.
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As well as being relevant to our recent focus on author Charles Dickens (as well as featuring in his works, some suggest he worked here as a court reporter), the Old Bailey (home of the Central Criminal Court) has been in the news recently for its role in the conviction of the infamous murderer Dr Hawley Crippen. An American, Dr Crippen was tried and found guilty at the court of poisoning his first wife Cora and then of cutting her up (he was found to have hidden the body parts in the cellar of their home in Hilldrop Crescent, Holloway). He was hanged in 1910, having been arrested while fleeing on a ship to Canada with his mistress Ethel Le Neve. Now reportedly come plans to hold a posthumous retrial of the case in front of a judge at the Islington Museum. The event, which will be held later this year, is being organised by Archway-based human rights solicitor Greg Foxsmith and will see John Cooper, QC, defending Dr Crippen. The move comes follows an earlier investigation by US scientists who concluded from DNA evidence that the victim may have in fact been male. For a great read on the case of Dr Crippen – and the important role the new invention of the wireless telegraph played in his capture – have a look at Erik Larsen’s Thunderstruck
Queen Elizabeth II looks over gifts exchanged by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in a display which forms part of the Victoria Revealed exhibition at Kensington Palace.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited palace last week to officially reopen the building following a £12 million, two year renovation project aimed at “transforming the visitor experience”.
The works have involved restoring the palace gardens – which will now be permanently open to the public free-of-charge – and reconnecting the palace with the surrounding parklands of Kensington Gardens partly through the provision of a new entrance. Landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan’s plan – which centres on a statue of Queen Victoria – features new lawns and avenues and a “maze-like path” inspired by 18th century “wilderness walks”.
There is also a new visitor reception area and “orientation hub” as well as a new courtyard terrace and cafe to complement The Orangery, shop and learning centre.
Victoria Revealed, a new permanent exhibition at the palace looks in intimate detail at the life of the Queen who once lived here and features everything from her black silk baby shoes to her wedding dress and the mourning clothing she wore following the death of Prince Albert as well as archive film footage showing the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee of her reign in 1897.
The palace reopens on 26th March.
WHERE: The Broad Walk, Kensington Gardens, Kensington (nearest Tube stations are High Street Kensington or Queensway); WHEN: Daily 10am to 6pm (until 31st October); COST: £14.50 adult/£12 concession/children under 16 free (online booking discounts available, Historic Royal Palaces members free); WEBSITE: www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace.
PICTURES: Courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces/newsteam.co.uk
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LondonLife – Dusk on Euston Road
March 14, 2012
Says the photographer, ‘Sam’: “I was walking north towards Camden, and coming out on Euston Road I saw the light fading to the west and it caught my eye. It’s a busy shot, but I tried to get the lamppost on the left to line up with the building in the background to give it some structure. You can’t really mess up a picture at sunset – the light is so dramatic at that time of day that generally whatever you do it’ll work out!” For more of the photographer’s work, see www.flickr.com/photos/–sam–/
Taken an interesting photograph of somewhere in London? We’re always looking for interesting images of the city so if you’ve got one you reckon captures a snippet of life in London, please contact us at exploringlondon@gmail.com or via our new Flickr group at www.flickr.com/groups/exploringlondon/
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LondonLife – Rocking the Fourth Plinth
March 6, 2012
A 4.1 metre high golden bronze sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse has been unveiled as the latest occupant of Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. A somewhat playful take on the intended use the plinth (it was originally designed to support a bronze equestrian statue of King William IV by Sir Charles Barry but this was never installed), artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s work is officially known as Powerless Structures, Fig. 101. The 3.1 ton sculpture, in which “a child has been elevated to the status of historical hero, though there is not yet a history to commemorate – only a future to hope for”, replaces Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle which was removed in January. For more on the Fourth Plinth programme, see www.facebook.com/fourthplinthlondon or www.fourthplinth.co.uk.
PICTURE: © James O. Jenkins
