Christopher Wren is undoubtedly London’s greatest architect. He rebuilt London and its great cathedral, Saint Paul’s, after the Great Fire in 1666, which burned down much of the old city. Yet, you will never see a statue, monument, or even a memorial plaque to him anywhere in the capital. Why? Because his epitaph at Saint Paul’s Cathedral says, ‘Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice.’ Translated from the original Latin, this means, ‘Reader if you wish to see his memorial, look around you.’ It is a wonderful epitaph for an architect: just look at what he created for his memorial.

In May 2021, the UK’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer) history and culture opened in King’s Cross. Queer Britain is located at 2 Granary Square in London and joins destinations including Berlin, San Francisco, and Fort Lauderdale in having a permanent queer museum space.

William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066 after his defeat of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings, the last successful invasion of Britain by a foreign power. Since then, every British monarch has been crowned at Westminster Abbey, with two exceptions, who were both named Edward – Edward the Eighth and Edward the Fifth.

In 1799 Thomas Bruce, the Seventh Earl of Elgin, was appointed ambassador by the British government to the Ottoman Court of Turkey, which at that time ruled Greece. Within twenty years of his appointment many of the carvings from the Parthenon, the Temple of the goddess Athena, were transported to London. These used to be referred to as the Elgin Marbles but are now normally called the Parthenon Marbles in honour of where they came from and not who was responsible for bringing them to London. The marbles can be seen in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum, which has been open since 1962.

2023 sees the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. The idea of free health care paid through taxes had been around for some time but did not become a reality until the Labour government under Clement Atlee was voted in as the Second World War was coming to an end in 1945.

Britain used to rely almost exclusively on coal for its electricity generation, mining it in Wales and the north and central part of England, then bringing it, usually by train, to power stations where it could be burned to heat up water that would generate electricity. Then the water was cooled down in cooling towers that can still be seen in many parts of the country.

London’s West End has long been a place of fun and entertainment – theatres, cinemas, and nightclubs. We look to the stages and large cinema screens to admire our modern-day idols and hope to meet them in the flesh. For Black History Month, we look at some familiar places in London’s West End and discover the people who were not just entertainers; but pioneers, performing on stages and working hard to increase the rights of Black citizens.

They came from far and wide to pay their respects to a woman who had come to the throne as a young mother at the age of twenty-five when her father, King George the Sixth, had died suddenly in his sleep at the age of fifty-six in 1952. George had become king in 1936 because his elder brother had abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, an American woman who had been married and divorced twice and was not considered suitable as a royal consort.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second’s long reign as monarch of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth came to an end on the afternoon of 8th September, 2022. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair in London on 21st April 1926 in a house since demolished. She ascended to the throne on 6th February 1952 whilst in Kenya on a tour of African countries. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch, as she had passed the previous record of 63 years and seven months held by Queen Victoria in 2015.

Blue Badge Tourist Guides in London may conduct sport-themed tours – or they may just want to mention some British achievements in the world of sport to their groups and clients as a matter of general interest. While London has successfully hosted the Olympics three times – in 1904, 1948, and 2012, and contains famous venues such as Twickenham for rugby union, Wimbledon for tennis and Lord’s or the Oval for cricket, the England men’s national football team has won nothing since England won the World Cup at Wembley Stadium in 1966 when they last hosted the tournament. England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time, and Geoff Hurst is still the only man to have scored three goals in a World Cup final.

Dinosaurs first appeared on earth nearly 250 million years ago and survived until a mass extinction event around 65 million years ago. This means that they were dominant animals on the planet for over 150 million years – far longer than human beings. Most scientists believe that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a meteor landing on earth.

Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street festival in Europe.  It was started in the 1960s as a way for Caribbean communities, part of the Windrush Generation to bond and celebrate their cultural traditions. Now taking place every August Bank Holiday weekend in the streets of London W11, the Notting Hill Carnival is an amazing array of sounds, colourful sights, and social solidarity.