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Strolling London Streets – Part One

You’ve got to love a city in which you trip over history with every step. A simple stroll through London affords many glimpses of the past, beginning on your own doorstep. Case in point, the photo above – that’s Greg and I with Nathan, the world famous doorman at the Rubens Hotel in Buckingham Palace Road. Go down the steps and turn around and you’ll find the plaque below, stating that the Rubens was used by General Sikorski during WWII as his headquarters.

Directly across the street from the Rubens you’ll find this view of the Royal Mews.

Look to your left and you’ll see the Bag O’ Nails pub.

One day, I left the hotel on my own and made my way towards Piccadilly, passing Buck House on the way.

Then I headed down the Mall, where I passed Clarence House, home to Prince Charles and Camilla.

At the corner, I turned left and a quick stroll brought me to St. James’s Palace

Heading north, I entered St. James’s Street and looked in the windows at Lock’s Hatters and various other long standing shops until I found myself, once again, in front of the bow window at White’s Club.

At the corner of Piccadilly, I made a right and walked past the windows at Fortnum and Mason, which this year recreated iconic paintings in 3D renderings, below. You can read all about the process here.

I browsed F and M, and Hatchard’s book shop, and various nearby streets before returning to Piccadilly for tea at Richoux, one of my regular haunts just opposite the Royal Academy. You can visit their website and check out their menu here.

On another day, and another stroll, Greg and I headed to Charing Cross Road, where at No. 103 (below)you can find the vestiges of the Tam O’ Shanter Pub. A public house called the Bull’s Head stood on this site from at least 1759 until 1893. At the time of the opening of Charing Cross Road in 1887 the building was enlarged and repaired to the designs of R. W. Read and its name was changed, firstly in 1894 to the Tam o’Shanter, and again in 1900 to the Palace Tavern. It ceased to be used as a public house in 1960, and is now occupied by a firm of caterers

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Just at the corner with Old Compton Street, you’ll come across Molly Mogg’s (below), one of the smallest pubs in London.

Part Two Coming Soon!

Researching the 30th Regiment by Guest Blogger Carole Divall

Victoria and I met author Carole Divall at Waterloo this past June and Carole was kind enough to agree to do a guest blog for us on her research into the Napoleonic Wars and the 30th Regiment.

When I started researching the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment fifteen years ago, I had no idea where my investigations would take me. Suffice to say, at the time I was merely looking for a means of moving my general interest in the period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars into something more specific. Initially, I merely dabbled as time allowed. What I discovered, however, was a wealth of material: official documents, newspaper reports, journals and letters which brought to life several thousand men who demonstrated all that is good, bad and ugly in the human race. It was then that I decided their experiences should be recorded in a book.

According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “There is properly no history, only biography.” To write a history of a regiment is to write the biographies of the men of that regiment. The more I researched, the less I was satisfied merely with what the 30th did. Instead, I wanted to discover what made the men tick – officers, NCOs and other ranks. And I certainly found everything from the dedicated officer and zealous private to the dishonest NCO and criminal “king’s hard bargains”.

Even my first book, Redcoats Against Napoleon, which focused on the deeds of the 30th between 1789 and 1817 (with an extension to 1829 to cover events in India) adopted a more biographical perspective than the conventional military history approach. I wanted the reader to be able to share the experiences of the men who fought from Toulon (1793) to Waterloo, whether it was suffering the heat and thirst of Egypt, the incessant rains of Portugal, or the desperate stand in the center of Wellington’s line at Waterloo.

My second book, Inside the Regiment, which comes out next February, attempts to open the door on the private life of the 30th, and explore how it functioned on a day-to-day basis. For example, what was it about the command style of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton that made him such an inspiring leader of men? What exactly were the offenses of the king’s hard bargains? Were all the men in the ranks merely “the scum of the earth?” What was it like to be a recruit? How did the officers spend their leisure time? Were the surgeons really as incompetent as history suggests? And what about the women? Did they have a part to play in the life of the regiment?

Like all biographers, I hope I have brought my subject (or, more accurately, subjects) into the limelight. The 30th were only one of a hundred infantry regiments. Although they were unique, they were also representative of all those other units which fought for king and country, for duty, for the chance of plunder – but, most of all, for their regiment.

If you would like to know more about the 30th Regiment, look on my website for details of what the two battalions were doing exactly a hundred years ago.

Dinosaurs…for Christmas?

 The wee ones in my family are eager to mix their latest acquisitions from Santa — the Transformers attacked by dinosaurs, or vice versa.

Imagination carries them a long way, from prehistory to the future.

It’s a world class fight, carried on under the dining room table.

As the humongous conflict went on, I took a moment to browse through some magazines I’d missed during holiday preparations.  And wonder of wonder, in the November 2010 issue of the BBC History magazine, p. 68, was the story of Richard Owen, who inveted the word DINOSAUR.

Owen (1804-92) was one of the founders and directors of London’s fantastic Natural History Museum. A paleontologist by profession, Owen and others discussed various theories of evolution, sometimes agreeing with but more often differing with Charles Darwin (1809-1882), a contemporary. The article describes Owen as “notoriously bad-tempered”.  But the fact remains, he invented the word DINOSAUR, from “Greek words meaning terrible great lizard”. 

The article says that Owen wished to disprove evolution, and replace it with his own hypotheses about change. Of course, his was only one of many voices which contested Darwin, and/or tried to explain how animal developments could be aligned with biblical accounts.

Here is the museum, on the Cromwell Road. It is a wonderful place to visit, and many credit Richard Owen, who advocated for its establishment as a separate institution from the British Museum.

Left is Sue, the dinosaur in Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, one of many great museums ariound the world that owe their missions to London’s example.
Kids love Sue. And dinosaurs in general.

So thanks, Richard Owen, for your word — and for not being able to counteract Darwin and Huxley after all.  I do wonder what you would think of those transformers!

Homeward Bound

I’m using one of those crazy european keyboards in the private airport lounge so excuse the many typing errors you might find in this post., We have the lounge all to ourselves just now, sitting looking out at the planes on the runway, drinking complimentary rum and cokes at 10:40 a.m. in my case, I’m drinking in the hopes that the rum will mitigate my desolation at having to leave home. greg’s drinking in the hopes that it may help his back over the next 11 hours. in any case, we’re already as good as gone from london. And yes, dear Reader, whilst Greg has no idea (the poor sod) I’m already formulating ideas for my return. In fact, I’m thinking that maybe the next time I return, some of you will be with me. And Victoria. How does a Number One London tour to England sound? Sounds a bit of alright to me, but let me know your thoughts on the idea. Right then, off for another snort, a few tears and then to board. Sigh.  P.S. as you see, I’ve already broken one of my resolutions below by not waiting a month to plan my next trip to merry old. I told you I’m no good at this resolution thing.

Our New Year's Un-Resolutions

As you read this, I’ll be winging the wrong way across the pond in an airplane for eleven hours, but Victoria and I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one a very happy and healthy New Year and to share our resolutions with you . . . .

Kristine’s Resolutions – Honest to gawd, I can’t think of a single thing I’m willing to make a resolution about. It appears that I’m a truly horrible person. But really, why bother making resolutions that you know at the outset you’ll never keep? I’m not going to stop smoking. Or drinking. I’ve already given up Haagen-Dazs strawberry and rum raisin ice cream – I am not prepared to give up mani’s, pedi’s, massages or Botox. Or Ralph Lauren. Or red meat.

 Or Grey Goose martini’s with blue cheese olives. Which is completely different from the aforementioned drinking, which referred to rum, which you drink. Rather than maritini’s, which you sip.  I’m not going to stop watching reality shows like Real Housewives (all cities), the Kardashians, Salon Takeover, Hoarders, Pawn Stars, etc. Won’t stop buying Artie-facts. Or books. Hmmmmm . . . Oh, I know! I know! I resolve to try and have more patience with annoying people, to wait at least a month after my last trip to England in order to start planning the next and to regularly buy an extra large bag of pet food at the supermarket to leave in the animal shelter donation box by the exit. Phew! Redemption at the very last moment . . . . for a second there I sounded like the female version of Daniel Cleaver. Or (possibly worse yet) Prinny.         

Victoria’s Resolutions

Of course I have a well-ordered, neat list with carefully-researched waypoints to measure my progress.

NOT!!!!

2011 WILL NOT BE THE YEAR I REFORM.

More’s the pity.

I am working on at least four book projects, not to mention organizing all the 35-mm slides my family took for so many years. And researching genealogy.  And thinking (Note: not doing) about finishing the dozen or so quilt tops I pieced years ago. 

And imprinting the grandchildren with all the things I find necessary for their eventual brilliance!

And…and…and…and…

Well, I do have a few specifics, like a cruise from Lisbon to Dover, stopping at several spots in Spain and France before landing in England and putting in some time in at libraries across the southern section of the country.

And speaking at the 2011 JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, TX in October.  And hoping the Sir Thomas Lawrence exhibition comes to New Haven.  And….and…and…

Well, Kristine and I are obviously not cut out for this discipline deal!  Hope you are — but only if you want to be.  I know that as soon as I establish a specific goal, I try to think of a way to sabotage it. Sigh. There’s such a contrary person under my meek exterior.

Seriously, we wish a year of peace and love and satisfaction to all of us.  That should take care of about everything.  Oh yeah, and prosperity (wish I could keep that closer to the top of the list someday). And lots of books. And people you love. And happiness, which to us are Ed and Greg. And future trips to England. Funny the way things always comes back around to England . . . .