London’s Blue Badge Tourist Guides, members of Guide London/Association of Professional Tourist Guides are acting in the best interests of visitors and locals alike by restricting our work in line with the latest advice from Public Health England. Furthermore, most tourist attractions, including museums and galleries and many pubs and restaurants, are closed. This is because the UK government has advised against all inessential travel as they work to contain COVID-19 and minimise community spread.

I was excited to be visiting Stonehenge on the day of the winter solstice (21st December) and the sun was shining! At around 3.50 pm the midwinter sun set in the southwest and its rays flooded through the centre of the monument on the axis that Neolithic peoples understood 5000 years ago.

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was a name that everyone knew at the time of her divorce in 1963 but during her lifetime she had three names, each one making her a legend, Margaret Whigham, Margaret Sweeny, and when a Duchess, Margaret Campbell.

London saw in 2022 to the traditional sound of the bells of Big Ben at Westminster. Although the annual fireworks display which is a part of the New Year festivities was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Londoners and visitors to the capital were able to see as well as hear Big Ben for the first time in four years since it was covered with scaffolding and silenced as a result of the restoration programme at the Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament.

The wonderful Christmas lights in Central London are coming down, and red lanterns are beginning to appear around Soho and in particular Chinatown. This is part of the celebration for Chinese New Year which is also known as the Spring Festival. This year it falls on the 28th January, the first day of spring in the lunisolar calendar.

Visitors who arrive in London via Heathrow Airport will pass the Hogarth roundabout in Chiswick as they approach the city along the A4 from the west. They may see the house in which William Hogarth (1697 – 1764) lived, which is now a museum. Their Blue Badge Tourist Guide may even tell them that it is believed that Hogarth’s habit of sketching people’s faces on his thumbnail gave us the phrase ‘a thumbnail sketch.’

January is the best month to visit London if you are a bargain hunter.  To start, the shops have sales which usually start a couple of days after Christmas. Plus most ice skating rinks and funfairs are still open during the first week so if you missed out pre Christmas, now is the perfect time to visit as they are less crowded. Most shops and many museums open on New Years Day.

How many London landmarks and tourist attractions can you name that start with the Letter Z? Blue Badge Tourist Guide William Harry Mitchell completes 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 Z.

How many London landmarks and tourist attractions can you name that start with the Letter Y? Blue Badge Tourist Guide Rick Jones 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 Y.

How many London landmarks and tourist attractions can you name that start with the Letter X? Blue Badge Tourist Guide Sarah Wood 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 X.

How many London landmarks and tourist attractions can you name that start with the Letter W? Blue Badge Tourist Guide Gavin Skerritt 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 W.

The first female Yeoman Warder appointed at the Tower of London was Moira Cameron who comes from Scotland and took up the role in 2007. Like all Yeoman Warders, who are often called Beefeaters, she was a former non-commissioned officer who had served in one of Britain’s military forces – the army, navy, air force or royal marines – for a minimum of twenty-two years with an ‘unblemished record’ and had been awarded a good conduct medal. As an often repeated Beefeater joke has it, ‘that just means we never got caught.’