Blog

  • Claude Monet Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London

    London has been a smokeless zone for over sixty years. The city used to be famous for its ‘London fogs.’ They were described by the novelist Charles Dickens and even led to the creation of a type of American rainwear called London Fog. Then the Clean Air Acts were passed in the late 1950s and 1960s, largely as a reaction to the ‘great smog’ of 1952 and London Fogs gradually became a thing of the past that will hopefully never be seen again.

  • William Shakespeare – A London Eastender

    It is not known to many people, but William Shakespeare began his theatrical career in the East End of London rather the place most often associated with him – Southwark, the area to the south of London Bridge. Sam Wannamaker, the American actor and director, felt that Shakespeare deserved a monument in London, the city where he made his fame and fortune. Wannamaker decided to rebuild the Globe Theatre in Southwark near the Tate Modern Museum and raised the money from donors to do so.

  • Fourth Plinth In Trafalgar Square – Filling The Most Famous Empty Space In London

    Blue Badge Tourist Guides on a tour of London will probably go through Trafalgar Square in the centre of the city. One of its most striking features is the sculpture on display on the northwest side of the Square. Known simply as ‘The Fourth Plinth,’ it remained empty until 1999. It was consistently rumoured that a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II was planned for this space but she had a very long life and died at the age of 96 in 2022.

  • New Uses for Red Telephone Boxes in London

    Most London Blue Badge Tourist Guides have had clients who want to get a snap of themselves by a red London phone box, often with Big Ben in the background. It is almost a rite of passage for a visitor to London and so the red boxes at the end of Whitehall often have long queues of people waiting outside for the chance to take a picture of themselves. The phone booths are rarely put to their original use – namely, to make phone calls. Now, of course, the mobile phone reigns supreme and most people have a smartphone in their pocket.

  • London’s Tallest Buildings: A Journey Through the City’s Iconic Skyline

    London was built on clay so it was harder to build high than in New York, which stands on rock. For many years the tallest architects could construct a skyscraper was 5 – 600 feet. Then new technology allowed them to build higher and London’s tallest building is currently The Shard next to London Bridge, which is over 1000 feet tall. One Undershaft in The City was built to match The Shard in height and it too will have a viewing tower with an education centre operated by the recently renamed London Museum (formerly Museum of London).

  • Theresa Cornelys and London’s First Night Club

    Also known as Mme de Trenti or Mrs. Smith (1723-1797), Theresa Cornelys was an opera singer, visionary artist, courtesan and mistress of ceremonies who captivated wealthy English society for nearly twenty years. Her scandalous life, both private and public, was a popular topic among European aristocratic circles.

Blog Posts

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Waterloo Bridge, Overcast, 1903, oil on canvas, Ordrupgaard, Denmark. Photo Anders Sune Berg.

Claude Monet Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London

London has been a smokeless zone for over sixty years. The city used to be famous for its ‘London fogs.’ They were described by the novelist Charles Dickens and even led to the creation of a type of American rainwear called London Fog. Then the Clean Air Acts were passed in the late 1950s and 1960s, largely as a reaction to the ‘great smog’ of 1952 and London Fogs gradually became a thing of the past that will hopefully never be seen again.

Read more
William Shakespeare sculpture in Shoreditch. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

William Shakespeare – A London Eastender

It is not known to many people, but William Shakespeare began his theatrical career in the East End of London rather the place most often associated with him – Southwark, the area to the south of London Bridge. Sam Wannamaker, the American actor and director, felt that Shakespeare deserved a monument in London, the city where he made his fame and fortune. Wannamaker decided to rebuild the Globe Theatre in Southwark near the Tate Modern Museum and raised the money from donors to do so.

Read more
Blue Domestic Cockerel aka Rooster on Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Fourth Plinth In Trafalgar Square – Filling The Most Famous Empty Space In London

Blue Badge Tourist Guides on a tour of London will probably go through Trafalgar Square in the centre of the city. One of its most striking features is the sculpture on display on the northwest side of the Square. Known simply as ‘The Fourth Plinth,’ it remained empty until 1999. It was consistently rumoured that a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II was planned for this space but she had a very long life and died at the age of 96 in 2022.

Read more
Blue Badge Tourist Guides near Red Telephone Box in London.

New Uses for Red Telephone Boxes in London

Most London Blue Badge Tourist Guides have had clients who want to get a snap of themselves by a red London phone box, often with Big Ben in the background. It is almost a rite of passage for a visitor to London and so the red boxes at the end of Whitehall often have long queues of people waiting outside for the chance to take a picture of themselves. The phone booths are rarely put to their original use – namely, to make phone calls. Now, of course, the mobile phone reigns supreme and most people have a smartphone in their pocket.

Read more
View of Canary Wharf from Horizon 22. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

London’s Tallest Buildings: A Journey Through the City’s Iconic Skyline

London was built on clay so it was harder to build high than in New York, which stands on rock. For many years the tallest architects could construct a skyscraper was 5 – 600 feet. Then new technology allowed them to build higher and London’s tallest building is currently The Shard next to London Bridge, which is over 1000 feet tall. One Undershaft in The City was built to match The Shard in height and it too will have a viewing tower with an education centre operated by the recently renamed London Museum (formerly Museum of London).

Read more
Portrait of Madame Theresa Cornelys. Photo Credit: © Public Domain via Wikimedia Common.

Theresa Cornelys and London’s First Night Club

Also known as Mme de Trenti or Mrs. Smith (1723-1797), Theresa Cornelys was an opera singer, visionary artist, courtesan and mistress of ceremonies who captivated wealthy English society for nearly twenty years. Her scandalous life, both private and public, was a popular topic among European aristocratic circles.

Read more
Jaguar E-Type. Photo Credit: © Edwin Lerner.

British Luxury Cars: Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Aston Martin

Great Britain may not have a booming car industry these days but it still owns many of the great names of world motoring. These include Rolls Royce, Bentley and Jaguar as well as Aston Martin, made famous as the car of the secret agent James Bond, another British icon.

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Self portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi as Saint Catherine, c 1616 by Artemisia Gentileschi, National Gallery, London Public domain

Happy 200th Birthday to The National Gallery in London

The main impetus for the founding of The National Gallery was the purchase, by the British government, of thirty-eight paintings – including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian – from the collection of John Julius Angerstein, a successful banker and marine insurance broker born in St Petersburg to German parents. When the gallery first opened to the public, in May 1824, it was housed in Angerstein’s former home at 100, Pall Mall.

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View of the Van Gogh House London. Photo Credit: © Van Gogh House London.

From Humble Abode to Creative Hub: Van Gogh House London Reinvents Itself

Did you know that Vincent Van Gogh lived in London before he became an artist and that the house in which he lived is open to the public? Van Gogh’s House is a non-profit contemporary arts organisation based in the South London boarding house where the young Vincent lived in 1873-74.

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The Great Court at the British Museum in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Building a Future, Facing a Past: The British Museum’s Expansion Plans

The British Museum is one of the world’s great museums but has a very inappropriate name. Many of the treasures on display were acquired – sometimes by fair means, sometimes by foul – over the centuries when Britain was a great imperial power and most people thought little of the morality of taking treasures from countries that had been colonised as part of the British empire and displaying them in central London in a building designed by Sir Robert Smirke and his brother Sidney. Many of these countries now want their treasures back and are growing increasingly strident in demands for their return.

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Entrance to 10 Downing Street, home of UK Prime Ministers. Photo Credit: © Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC via Wikimedia Commons.

Unveiling the Mysteries of UK General Elections

Unlike in the United States, where the Constitution was written down by the Founding Fathers nearly 250 years ago and is regarded as sacrosanct by many Americans, the British Constitution has never been formally inscribed but instead has evolved over centuries. The Supreme Court in Parliament Square can only decide if the government has acted within the law as it stands and cannot decide what that law should be. The Court does not have the power to overrule the politicians who sit in the Palace of Westminster opposite. Parliament always has the ultimate authority under the British system.

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The Battle of Britain Memorial on Victoria Embankment in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Five Top Battle of Britain Sites to Visit in London

This summer marks 80 years since the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over southern England. This was a fight for Britain’s survival against a Nazi Germany that had conquered much of western Europe in just a few short months. With the fall of France in June, Britain expected a German invasion, and one was indeed being planned under the codename Operation Sealion. However, for the invasion to be successful the Germans first needed to control the skies over Britain – they needed to destroy the Royal Air Force.

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