Category: Kristine Hughes

A TOUR GUIDE IN ENGLAND – DAY 1

As some of you already know, I flew over to England at the beginning of May in order to firm up details for the 2017 tours to Great Britain that Number One London will soon be offering (watch this space!). Luckily, my old pal Diane Gaston (Perkins) was able to join me on my travels. I’d warned her ahead of time that I would be on a mission on the trip over; there were people I needed to meet and places I needed to be. We’d be traveling hither and yon across the country via British Rail. We’d be spending at most two nights in a city or town and then moving on. Places to go, people to see. I did warn her. She still said “yes!”
And I warned myself, as I usually do, not to plan anything for my first day in London. No plans, no commitments, just an entire, luxurious day in order to laze around and recover from east to west jetlag. I warned Diane that we weren’t going to plan anything, too. Again, she was on board with that. And then I saw online that Buckingham Palace was once again doing their unscheduled private, champagne evening tours of the Palace. Three nights only, the last night being that of the day we were to land. I called Diane and asked her whether we should forget the no plans thing and get tickets. She said “yes!”
Diane and I met at Heathrow and we drove into central London together. Below is one of the first signs we saw – fitting, no?
Before long we had reached our hotel, the St. James’s Court, below. Once we’d arrived in our room, I asked Diane if she were tired.
“Not really,” she answered. “Are you?”
“No. I’m actually okay. What do you feel like doing?”
“I don’t know. We could always just go out and walk around. Maybe go to Westminster Abbey.”
“Okay,” I agreed as I logged into my Facebook account. 
I read a post by Ian Fletcher, posted just moments before, saying that he was having lunch at The Admiralty in Trafalgar Square. 
“Ian’s in Trafalgar Square,” I told Diane. “Should I ask him to meet us? I mean, he’s only just down the street.”
“Yes!” said Diane. 
“I’ll ask him to meet us at the Palace.”
Some of you may already know that Diane and I are familiar with the Palace, having each been there several times previously and having taken lots of silly selfies there the last time we were together for the 2014 Duke of Wellington Tour. I sent Ian a reply to his Facebook post and asked him if he had time to meet us, setting in motion the following thread:
Kristine Hughes Patrone Walk down the Mall and meet us in front of Palace. Wear your spy trench coat in case we don’t recognize your dog ears.

Ian Fletcher I’ll walk that way for a few minutes. Brown leather jacket, Crockett and Jones bag but no dog ears…

Kristine Hughes Patrone K. We’re both in black. Witches of eastwick. I’m 2 streets away. Leave now?

Ian Fletcher I’m at St James’s Palace. See you by the front gate of Buckingham Palace…

Kristine Hughes Patrone Ok give us a few leaving now

Ian Fletcher No problem. I’m outside. HM has put the kettle on…

Delle Jacobs Damm I’m jealous, Kristine Hughes Patrone.

Author Delle Jacobs knows Ian because she’s been on his tours before. I actually already had plans to meet with Ian later in the week, as his company, Ian Fletcher Battlefield Tours, and Number One London will be joining forces on several of the 2017 tours. In fact, Delle is in the Peninsula with Ian as I write this, tracing Wellington’s path, from Torres Verdes to Oporto to Madrid. 
So off Diane and I trotted, quickly covering the three blocks between our hotel and the Palace, where we found Ian waiting patiently by the iconic gates. Kisses all around and then the crucial question – booze or tea? In the end, we all agreed on tea (!?) and so walked back to our hotel, where we ordered three pots full, along with scones, cream and jam. 
The next few hours passed in a flurry of conversation that covered everything from future tours to Wellington to battlefields to world travels to Jermyn Street, men’s clothing and oysters. The hours flew past until Ian realized he had to be getting home and Diane and I realized that we were due at the Palace by 6 p.m. for our tour. Check, please!
And so Diane and I flew upstairs to our room in order to freshen up before, once again, making our way to the Palace. 
Of course the tour of the Palace was fabulous, it’s always fabulous, but photos weren’t allowed. I did find a few interior shots of the Palace online, see below, but of course they don’t compare to all that Diane and I saw that night. You can find a previous post I wrote about touring the Palace here. 
At the end of our Palace tour, Diane and I returned to our hotel room, below,  and so ended our first day in England. Stay tuned for more posts regarding our journey through England on behalf of Number One London Tours!

A TOUR GUIDE IN ENGLAND: BOOKS KRISTINE SAW ALONG THE WAY

Having just returned from England on Number One London Tour business, I can tell you that great things are in store – stay tuned for complete details of the tours we’ll be offering in Spring/Summer/Fall 2017. In the meantime,  I thought I’d share with you a few of the interesting book titles I saw along the way. Click on the text links for more info on each title.

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT? THE LONDON LIBRARY

The London Library in St, James Square

Aaah, the London Library. The Holy Grail of research libraries as far as most historians are concerned. The oh so hard to get into Valhalla of archives. Such is the mystique that has been built up about the Library, one is certain that access into it’s hallowed halls is as difficult to attain as a ticket to Almack’s had once been. So, when Victoria and I were in London in September over Open Houses Weekend, we put the London Library in St. James’s Square at the top of our list. This would be our chance to finally see the inside of this venerable institution. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that one had to sign up for the Library tour prior to the date, but the very nice lady at the reception desk invited us to take a seat and to wait for the next tour to start. If the anticipated numbers did not show up, we would be more than welcome to join the group.

So we waited. And we eagerly eyed all who entered. Surely, we’d see the likes of world famous historians, household name authors and mayhap an Oxford don or two. Not a bit of it – everyone who entered the Library looked quite ordinary. Many of them looked to be students. When a pair of particularly young seeming male students walked by, Victoria whispered, “How do you think they got in here?”

“Don’t know,” I whispered back. “How did any of these people get in here?”

“The entrance fee is supposed to be really expensive, and besides that, you have to provide references. What sort of references could a pair of seventeen year olds have?”

“I think you’re making it harder than it really is to get in here. I mean, we have references.”

“We do?”

“Yes,” I hissed, “of course we do. We’re both published authors, aren’t we? And we have the blog, which has been up and running on a regular basis for six years now. That should demonstrate a serious academic bent. At the very least it proves that our interest in researching 19th century Britain is more than a passing fancy.”

“I don’t know,” Victoria said, “I think you have to have like three references from people who are already members of the Library.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you’re confusing it with White’s Club.”

The next tour group began to form and, miraculously, Victoria and I both got in. Joy! I must say, we really were given a behind the scenes tour: we were shown through many of the rooms and miles of stacks. We went up floor by floor to the attics and down again to the basement, all the while being surrounded by books we longed to get our hands on. The pictures below will give you some idea of the Library’s holdings.

Upon our return to the States, I went online to seriously investigate exactly what membership in the London Library involved. Unsurprisingly, I soon got distracted – the Library has an online catalogue of its holdings called Catalyst, that will not only search for books and journals in the Library, but will also search for titles and in many cases the content of the Library’s eJournal and database collections, as well. So, again unsurprisingly, I searched for the Duke of Wellington.

And got 6,614 results.

I also found online guides to various collections: The Food and Drink Collection,  A Guide to the French Collections, Guide to the Topography Collections. Many more can be found on the Library’s website. 

At long last, I got around to the membership page – Individual annual memberships are £485 or forty pounds per month. Victoria was correct, you do need a reference, or Referee, but they do not necessarily have to be a Library member:



Referee: Applicants are asked to give the name of a referee, who should be someone to whom you are known personally (but not someone living at the same address) and whose position can be verified if necessary (e.g. a member of a prof
essional body, an academic, teacher, current member of the Library etc.). 

And there are alternatives to an annual membership for those who are just visiting the UK, shown below. Can’t wait to let Victoria know – we actually do know several people in the UK who might vet us and we could always split the membership fees and share the online membership. Now it’s just a question of how long it will take me to get through over six thousand results for the Duke of Wellington. 

Daily and Weekly Tickets

Daily & Weekly Tickets

  • A limited number of temporary tickets are made available for non-members who wish to consult specific material from the Library’s collections which is not available in other publicly accessible national, specialist or public libraries
  • Daily tickets £15.00. Weekly tickets £50.00. (Cash or cheque payment only)
  • Advance booking required
  • Tickets are for reference use of the Library only
  • Applicants will need to produce two identification documents – one including a photo (eg passport, driving licence, travel card, student card, ID card) and one including confirmation of their current address (eg driving licence, recent bank statement or utility bill, official letter). Visitors to the UK are required to produce confirmation of their address while in the UK.
  • Contact Book Enquiries in the first instance to enquire about the materials you wish to consult. Contact Reception thereafter to make a booking








Temporary Overseas Visitors Membership

Temporary Overseas Visitors Membership

  • £243.00 for 4 months
  • Available for visitors from overseas with no permanent address in the United Kingdom. In addition to the subscription fee a deposit of £243.00 is payable on admission, refundable at the expiry of the membership, or earlier, provided that the membership card is surrendered and that all loans have been returned

LOOSE IN LONDON: OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND 74 ST. JAMES'S STREET

74 St. James Street is an amazing building, now part of a international bank which has preserved the colorful interior.  Victoria here, telling you that Kristine and I could hardly believe our eyes after already visiting three lavish mansions during the 2014 Open City London days…in 2016, the Open weekend will be Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18.

74 St. James Street


74 St. James’s Street was the site of the old Conservative Club, now dissolved. Construction started in 1843,  In 1950 it merged with the Bath Club, and was disbanded in 1981. From 1845 until 1959, the club occupied a building at 74 St James’s Street.and although the club moved out a century later, the building went on to be home to McKinsey and Co. in the early 1970s, and now houses the London office of HSBC Private Bank. 

Prior to the Conservative Club’s occupation of the site, there stood on that corner a range of low buildings derived from the country estate of Sir William Pulteney. The original complex had been converted during the 18th century into shops, taverns and pieds-a-terre. The principal establishment on the site was the Thatched House Tavern, located in the upper stories of the shops lining St. James’s Street and set back from the building line so that the roof of the one-story shops formed a balcony overlooking St. James’s for the drinkers and as a vantage point for watching special events, such as the Duke of York’s funeral procession. 


The tavern was much frequented by clubs and societies: the Society of Dilettanti, the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron, to name a few. A narrow lane at right angles to St. James’s, running through the middle of the site, gave access by a side door to the tavern and led on through to a small court (Thatched House Court) behind it. The Court was of small by pretty houses providing London apartments for people of fashion such as Edward Gibbon, who lived there until his death in 1894. 

The new building built on the site by the Conservative Club at a cost of twenty nine thousand pounds was completed in 1845. The proportions of the saloon were injured in 1951 by the removal of the grand staircase, which led out of the middle door 


The approach hardly prepared us for the colorful and amazing craftsmanship of the interior.

The series of portrait medallions honor the great artists and writers of Britain.

Could you get any work done under this ceiling? I 
think I would spend my time admiring the workmanship.

The inevitable mix of modern work areas with Victorian surroundings.


 We stood on the balcony and looked across St. James Street to the famous wine dealer, Berry Brothers and Rudd.

A wider view. To the far right would be St. James Palace.

Thank you, HSBC Bank for preserving this wonderful building in St James Street.
Following our feast for the eyes, we were ready for luncheon! So we went right across the street. coming next! Eating in Pickering Place – yummaaaay.

OPEN CITY DAYS: MARLBOROUGH HOUSE

VISITING MARLBOROUGH HOUSE

Walking from Carlton House Terrace along Pall Mall

Schomberg House
This building housed the 3rd Duke of Schomberg in the late 17th century, a General working for King William of Orange. Later the building was divided into three separate residences; it had a varied history, to say the least. 

Among the luminaries who lived here were Thomas Gainsborough and fellow artist Richard Cosway. 
One of the residences was, for a time, the Temple of Health and Hymen where a Scottish doctor rented out a “celestial bed” said to cure infertility.  Eventually closed by police, it was later a draper’s, and eventually part of the War Office, along with other mansions along Pall Mall.

The decorative features of Schomberg House are made of Coade Stone, a popular material for buildings in the early 19th century. Currently, only the facade exists with modern structures behind it.

Another well-known resident lived nearby.
Approaching Marlborough House from the rear:

Marlborough House was built for the Duke of Marlborough in 1709–11 on the site of the St James’s Palace pheasantry.  Sir Christopher Wren designed the house, though plans were drawn by his son, Christopher Wren the younger. The red Dutch bricks of the walls were ballast returning on vessels which transported soldiers to Holland to fight under the Duke of Marlborough.

Beginning about 1817, members of the royal family resided here,  Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark moved in in the 1860’s, and the society that assembled around this couple became known as the Marlborough House Set.

In 1959 Marlborough House became the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation. Sadly, no photos were allowed inside, but the central hall can be found on the internet.

Marlborough House Hall
Queen Elizabeth presides at a Commonweal
th Meeting 

The Garden facade of this noble house!
On the Wall along Marlborough Road, stands the Memorial to Queen Alexandra, completed in 1932 by Sir Alfred Gilbert.
Coming next, Kristine visits the Pet Cemetery in the Marlborough House Garden.