Yesterday, I spoke about my liking of the BBC’s Top Gear programme. It’s odd because I would not have pegged myself as the kind of person who would watch it. Regardless, I find the three presenters funny, infuriating and very watchable. Now, I wonder what would happen if Jeremy Clarkson were to become Mayor of London. It is rumoured, you see, that his name has been suggested as a prospective Conservative candidate.
Given that the current Mayor blamed Jeremy for global warming and the possible destruction of life on Earth, [The Times Online], I think it would make an interesting election indeed. Now I have a lot of time for Ken Livingstone, but I can’t help thinking that I would like to see him as the ‘star in a reasonably priced car’. Especially as he, apparently, has no licence and can’t drive.
If you have been wandering around London in the last few weeks, you will have seen the 7 million Londoners, 1 London campaign at bus shelters and poster sites around the Capital. The media space appears to have been provided for free. There are posters and badges available if you want to order them. I really like the positive statements that it’s making. I really hope that it catches on, but I haven’t seen many people or businesses displaying the posters/stickers yet. Go and order yours now.
Yesterday, I mentioned my visit to the South Bank and the picture I took of the Swiss Re Tower from the top of City Hall (previous visits noted here and here). I did a little reading on the tower last night to find that the official name of the building is 30 St Mary Axe (which, I guess, is also the address). It was the original site of the Baltic Exchange (a membership organisation at the heart of the global maritime marketplace). The Baltic Exchange headquarters was destroyed by a terrorist bomb in 1992 (an IRA attack on London), and there was a plan to try and rebuild part of it. When the damage was greater than expected, the plan was changed, and Norman Foster’s company came up with the plan for the stunning building that’s there now. There are some fantastic pictures of 30 St Mary Axe at Flickr.
I really should start a category on London’s South Bank because I mention it a greatdeal and it really is one of the most wonderful areas of London. If you’re a visitor to this great city, you really must spend an afternoon walking the South Bank: start at Waterloo and the London Eye and head towards Tower Bridge (and beyond). When I first arrived here, it was an area that had little to offer; it was dead and quiet, but now it’s vibrant and alive.
Over the past few weeks, PY and I have explored a little more of London on foot, and I really do enjoy the place. On the Monday after New Year, we wandered around the High Holborn and Farringdon areas, near The Guardian’s central London base. It was a quiet Bank Holiday, and yet it was – strangely – alive. We also crossed the bridge to the Tate Gallery, which is probably the only gallery space I can truly say I enjoy. The Turbine Hall, which housed The Weather Project, is currently home to Bruce Nauman’s Raw Materials – which is a soundscape of 22 spoken texts. Some are clearly audible and some not so clear, but as you walk through the hall you get this most amazing sense of sound. It works better if you keep moving (rather than stopping to listen), but you’d be wise to adjust to the sound first. It wasn’t as much of a communal event as The Weather Project, but it was totally unexpected, thrilling and energising. You can get a taste online at the Tate’s site.
Last weekend we went to City Hall, but this time we were able to get inside and head to the top. It’s a building of unexpected contrasts: the building looks wonderful, and they have revitalised the whole area, but the office space inside looks cramped and uncomfortable. Given the climbing spirals of the building, I would have expected the view from the top to be better. Unfortunately, the main viewing area looks the wrong way: great views over the south, but you want to see London’s landmarks. It was late in the day when we arrived, which meant there were no crowds and we were able to find our house on the satellite pictures on the floor of the basement. Sadly, however, I don’t think the lighting scheme is brilliant at all – they could do so much more with it.
While we were there, I rode the snow slide at The Tate (basically a silly slide that you descend almost buried in an inflatable tyre-like object). Silly but cheap and amusing. Then we crossed Tower Bridge (always a stunning experience) to go and have a look at the stunning Swiss Re tower and walk around The City – which is, of course, almost dead on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a rather unnerving contrast to London’s West End, which is full of people on a Saturday.
Yesterday, we went to Marble Arch and had a go on the ice rink that has been placed there for the winter. I haven’t been on skates for years, and I really liked it – although there’s no chance I could go round the rink without holding onto the side at some point. PY was not quite so in love with the experience, which is a great shame, and I am going to have to find ways to convince him to come again. I’ll work on it.
Routemasters are a fantastic icon of London, and I will miss them when they are gone. Yesterday, as I sat explaining their value to a group of visiting Americans, I watched as the crowds on Piccadilly boarded them anywhere on the street. Smart and efficient. Then I watched a bendy-bus block most of Piccadilly Circus. Somebody thinks it’s progress. [Routemaster Bye Bye]
Last September I visited Bush House, the home of the BBC World Service. It was part of the London Open House weekend, an annual event that allows visitors behind the doors of buildings not usually open to the public. This year it’s the weekend of September 18th and 19th. The brochure can be ordered from the official site. If you’re in London that weekend, I would encourage you to find something to visit!
I visited one of my favourite areas of London earlier today, the Thames’ South Bank, where I went to see Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project at The Tate Modern. There’s a half circle of the Sun made up of mono-frequency lamps – the kind which provide the orange glow to our streets at night. Running along the ceiling of the vast turbine hall is a mirror which gives the whole image the look of a whole circle, the sun. You can watch yourself in the mirror on the ceiling, and many people do, indeed, lie on the floor looking up at themselves and the other ant-sized people. The lamps really restrict the amount of colour that you can see, and that makes the whole atmosphere and experience quite eerie indeed. In fact, despite the orange glow, it’s very grey.
I am not a great fan of museums and galleries, but I really do like the Tate Modern and the Turbine Hall in particular. If you don’t know it, it’s a vast gallery space that once housed the turbines of the Bankside power station. It’s huge and always seems to house interesting works – which is what attracts me back on a regular basis to see them.
Yesterday afternoon I took advantage of London Open House Day to visit a building I’d always wanted to explore – Bush House, home of the BBC World Service. The BBC occupied it from 1940 (and should be out by 2008), and it feels as grand as the home of the Empire Service should. Parts of the building are listed, so they can’t do much work to alter the place, and it does feel like you are stuck in a time warp. The tour included a visit to a studio in the basement (on top of the original swimming pool), which was the highlight.
Pictures of the construction of some of the buildings hung on the walls. One showed the central building completed and standing alone at Aldwych Circle. In front of the building were entrances to a subterranean tramway. As I looked at it, I assumed this was some early form of the London Underground as we know it (and, perhaps, it was). But – and by coincidence – I was reading Phil Gyford’s site earlier and came across a link to Subterranea Britannica.
Fascinated, as I am, by the hidden tunnels around London, I was reading some of the entries when I came across references to the Kingsway Tramway Subway – which, it would seem, had an entrance right outside Bush House. The last tram ran in 1952, but apparently you can still see some of the tunnels today. Of course, much of it is now part of the traffic subway (opened in 1964), but it’s another wonderful piece of London’s history which I will hunt out.
This morning, London’s news and talk station, LBC, came back on air. Of course, LBC is not really new, nor has it really been away. The Chrysalis Radio Group have acquired the London speech licences from London News Radio and is continuing to use the LBC name (LBC being the original London commercial news station).
Sadly, despite the name’s heritage of almost thirty years, day one seemed a bit shambolic. The most noticeable and irritating part for me is the constant paper shuffling that goes on when the presenters are on air. I suspect that, back when the news talk version was on AM, this wasn’t very audible. Now, it’s irritating. Then there are presenters whispering to each other but still clearly there. It’s as if there is no off button on the microphones. This evening, there seems to be no off button on the computers that play the commercials, as poor Clive Bull seems to be suffering because the advertisements keep starting, and he seems blissfully unaware that they are about to play.
Still, I am pleased that the rolling news format has moved to AM. Not because it’s on AM but because it means most of my portable radios (which are FM-only) have the more interesting of the two talk stations. These early teething troubles will, hopefully, be rectified and we’ll have a decent commercial talk station for London again (although, IMHO, BBC London seems to have been doing a fine job). I just wonder who is going to listen to the rolling news on AM.
