How many London landmarks and tourist attractions can you name that start with the Letter M? Blue Badge Tourist Guide Mark Conroy continues our Guide London A-Z video series and provides insights on the historical events, famous and not-so-famous landmarks in London starting with the Letter M.

London landmarks and tourist attractions that begin with the Letter M

This is the Guide London A-Z. I am Mark Conroy, a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide, looking at the letter M.

Madame Tussaud

M is for Madame Tussaud who worked for the French Royal Family and created death masks for French Revolution victims. Her travelling cabinet of curiosities became one of London’s most popular paid attractions. Madame Tussaud on the Marylebone Road contains over 300 lifelike wax statues. The celebrities range from Megan Markle to Mick Jagger and Margaret Thatcher to Marilyn Monroe, and every figure takes 350 hours to complete, using more than 100,000 real hairs on each head.

Madame Tussaud in London. Photo Credit: © David Ilif.

Museum of London

M is for The Museum of London and a trip through the history of Roman Londinium. It is a fantastic, free attraction filled with hands-on exhibits, including the Great Fire of 1666, a Georgian Pleasure Garden, and a Victorian shopping street. And don’t forget to visit the Museum of London-Docklands, to explore the Port of London and the slave trade.

Partial view of the Georgian Pleasure Garden within Museum of London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Mousetrap

After almost 30,000 performances, The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running theatrical event. This murder mystery opened back in 1952, originally starring a youthful Richard Attenborough, as Detective Trotter. It is still playing to packed houses today at the St Martin’s Theatre. The author, Dame Agatha Christie is the world’s best selling novelist, outsold only by the Bible and William Shakespeare.

Her Mousetrap is a nostalgic trip back to the social manners and etiquette of post-war Britain. The play encountered its own real-life mystery in the 1950s when halfway through a performance at Wormwood Scrubs prison, two inmates escaped. I am sure you will want to stay until the very end of this thriller, perched on the edge of your seat, to guess, whodunnit? And please, keep the secret!

Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Millennium Bridge

M is for The Millenium Bridge a collaboration between Arup, Sir Anthony Caro, and Foster & Partners, linking Saint Paul’s Cathedral with Tate Modern and the South Bank. Famously the bridge collapses, in the film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, destroyed by Deatheaters. Today you can safely walk 320m across the river, on an aluminium deck, right in the middle of the River Thames, to view the City of London in all its glory. But be quick….the Deatheaters will be watching you!

View of Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern looking towards Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Mews Houses

M is for Mews Houses originally 18th and 19thc stables, for horsedrawn carriages belonging to the gentry, with rooms above for the stable boys. Today these rows of pretty terraced houses, sometimes located in gas-lit, cobbled lanes, are highly desirable properties. They are often a pied-à-terre home, for weekday use, while the owners spend weekends in their country retreats. The term mews refers to hunting birds, confined to the King’s Stables, during the moulting or mewing season.

Mews Houses in Notting Hill area in London. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

Mansion House

M is for Mansion House and its official resident, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The mansion is an understated palace of treasures with spectacular banqueting rooms. The ceremonial Lord Mayor represents businesses and residents in the City of London and the office dates back to 1189. Since the 16th century, every November, the newly elected Lord Mayor travels in a gold-plated state coach, pulled by six horses. Previous mayors travelled by barge in a river pageant, hence the word ‘float,’ meaning a parade vehicle.

Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. Photo Credit: © David Ilif.

Mayflower Pub

M is for the Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe, remembering the pilgrims who sailed to the New World in 1620, on a ship decorated with a brightly coloured mayflower. The pub, surrounded by cobbled streets with a romantic candlelit restaurant, is one of the oldest, and most atmospheric public houses on the Thames. The Mayflower pilgrims were each given a daily gallon of beer, but the Mayflower Pub is more likely to offer you a pint of beer alongside wines, spirits and gastronomic delights. Whatever your tipple, cheers and good health!

The Mayflower Pub. Photo Credit: © Ursula Petula Barzey.

My name is Mark Conroy. Check out my profile on our website at guidelondon.org.uk. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and join us as we explore the A – Z of Guide London.