Bob the Brit

Trafalgar Square can be considered one of twin the hearts of London’s West End – along with  Oxford Circus – it occupies several acres at the junction of The Strand, Charing Cross Road, Whitehall, Northumberland Avenue and The Mall.

It was originally part of the Kings Mews, but the square was developed between 1820 and 1845 – originally to be named William IV Square, but named Trafalgar Square to commemorate Admiral Nelson’s famous victory over the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21^st 1805.

The north side of the square is dominated by the National Gallery (Britain’s foremost art gallery/museum) while to the south of the square is a 170ft (52m) column topped by an 18ft (5.5m) statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The base of the column bears large brass plaques (formed from captured French cannon) that depict some of Nelson’s more famous victories: the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Nelson’s death Trafalgar. There are also four large bronze lions sculpted by Edwin Landseer.

National Gallery, Fountain and Olympic Clock

The middle of the square features two large pools with fountains, designed by Edwin Lutyens. These are more than just ornamental; their placement was designed to reduce the ‘public’ area of the square, thus providing less space for riots or mass demonstrations.

Nevertheless Trafalgar Square provides a focal point for many public demonstrations, themselves often the culmination of marches through the relatively wide streets in the Westminster area. Other gatherings in the square are less contentious, it’s usually host to London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations (although the fountains are drained), and has hosted several events commemorating London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympiad.

The square is currently host to the official Olympic ‘countdown clock’.

Trafalgar Square is also host to several other statues on plinths, with one plinth on each corner of the square hosting (clock-wise from the north-east corner) King George IV, Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (in the south-east),and General Sir Charles James Napier in the southwest. The fourth plinth (in the north-west) was originally meant to host a statue of King William IV (indeed, as I mentioned previously, the square was at one time to be called William IV Square) but he was an unpopular monarch and the funds required to build a statue were never raised.

4th Plinth at Trafalgar Square

The ‘fourth plinth’ stood empty until 1998 and since then a series of artworks have occupied it. Currently (October 2012) the plinth is host to a 1/30 scale model of Nelson’s flagship ‘Victory’ – in a bottle.

Another Trafalgar Square tradition is that of the Christmas Tree, this is (as any child that grew up in Britain in the fifties or sixties will tell you) an annual gift from the people of Norway, in recognition of Britain’s support for Norway during the 2^nd World War.

Marble Arch is situated at the westernmost end of Oxford Street, where Oxford Street intersects with Park Lane and Edgware Road.

Designed by John Nash, and constructed in 1828, the arch originally designed stood as the east entrance to the central courtyard of Buckingham Palace (facing The Mall) however in 1855, the arch was moved to its present location.

Perceived wisdom is that the arch was moved from Buckingham Palace because it was too narrow for the State Coach to pass through but, in fact, the gold state coach passed under it during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

However, only members of the royal family and the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, have been allowed to pass through the arch in ceremonial procession.

Marble Arch is situated close to the site of the Tyburn Gallows, one of London’s most famous (infamous?) places of public execution. The first recorded hanging at the ‘Tyburn Tree’ took place in 1196 (William Fitz Osbert or alternatively ‘William with the long beard’ – the convicted leader of an uprising ‘of the poor’) and the last (John Austin – a Highwayman) in 1783.

Convicts en-route from prison to Tyburn were forbidden alcohol and were said to be ‘on the wagon’, but legend has it that the aforementioned wagons would stop en-route to allow the condemned ‘one for the road’.

The Swan Tavern at Lancaster Gate lays claim to be the stopping point for such ‘last orders’, but as most convicts’ journeys to Tyburn would have been due east along Oxford Street from Newgate, it must be said that it would have required a somewhat tortuous route.

As I have written previously, in medieval times London’s South Bank was a centre for cultured (and less cultured) entertainment. The lack of the constraints enforced north of the River Thames by both the Cities of London and Westminster meant that taverns, bear pits, ‘stews’ (legalised brothels) and theatres flourished on the South Bank.

One such theatre was the Globe Theatre, built in 1599 the theatre company known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. What is perhaps most notable about this particular group is that their playwright in residence was one William Shakespeare.

The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 but destroyed by fire in 1613 when a prop cannon misfired during a performance of Henry VIII.  The theatre was rebuilt by June 1614 and finally closed down by the puritans in 1642.

The theatre itself was thought to have been an open air amphiteatre, some three stories high, with an ‘apron’ stage thrusting out into a courtyard area. Spectators could watch the performances from the galleries around the courtyard or from the yard itself. Spectators within the yard were known as ‘groundlings’ who would each pay a penny to watch the plays – equivalent to around £8.50 at today’s prices.

In recent years the Globe was recreated on a site a few hundred yards from the original, funded after a long campaign led by the American actor Sam Wanamaker.  The new Globe theatre opened in 1997, after Wanamaker’s death, and is home to performances of the works of Shakespeare and others each summer.

Groundling tickets these days now cost around five pounds – even cheaper in real terms than the 1620 price.

One source of confusion between Americans and Brits is between Jelly and Jam, and recent EU legislation has only helped add to the confusion.

In very simple terms, what Americans call Jelly – and spread on sandwiches, the stuff that includes pieces of fruit – we Brits call ‘Jam’.

To a Brit, ‘Jelly’ is the translucent stuff that Americans call ‘Jell-O’ and is used in children’s’ desserts and trifles.

And then, of course, there’s Marmalade, which is peculiarly British. It’s usually made with bitter ‘Seville’ oranges and usually served at breakfast.

This particular Marmalade is from Wilkins of Tiptree, about thirty miles to the east of London. Their Victorian factory, surrounded by fruit fields, has an impressive visitor centre and tea rooms, worth a visit if you’re in the area.

To any music loving Brit of a certain age, the phrase ‘Top of the Pops’ has a certain resonance. In the dark years before MTV ‘Top of the Pops’ or TOTP as it’s often abbreviated was THE music programme on British television. And even in the days when there were other music based programmes TOTP was the programme that performers aspired to – if you’d been on TOTP then you’d arrived.

TOTP was first broadcast on New Years Day 1964, introduced by Jimmy Savile one of the country’s first disc jockeys. The show’s format was pretty much defined from day one, featuring music from the pop charts (or hit parade as it was then known) culminating with that week’s number one (best-selling record).

TOTP was broadcast each Thursday evening from 1964 through to 1996, when the BBC started shifting it around the schedules, it finally ended (to a chorus of disapproval from recording artists) in 2006 – Jimmy Saville (then Sir Jimmy Saville) presented the final edition, as he had the first. There are occasional rumours of resurrection, and repeats are often shown on the BBC’s digital channels, but the golden age of TOTP was probably the sixties and seventies.

In the early days, before studio technology was sufficiently advanced to make live performance really convincing, many acts would mime to their singles (or in the seventies to versions recorded specially for the show). This lead to many examples on bands emphasising their miming – the DJ John Peel ‘played’ mandolin on Rod Stewart’s performance of ‘Maggie May’, DJ Dave Lee Travis ‘played’ drums on Mud’s ‘Tiger Feet’ and on one occasion Status Quo used a life sized marionette of their absent bassist Alan Lancaster.

Status Quo performed on TOTP more than eighty times, more than any other band.

Often, when bands were unavailable to perform (in the days before promotional films or videos became commonplace) TOTP would resort to an in-house dance troupe performing to a single. The first dance troupe in the sixties were the ‘Go-Jos’ but the dance troupe from 1968-1976 “Pan’s People” became a household name in their own right.

In late 1975, the band Queen famously realised that they would be unable to perform ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on TOTP because they would be touring. Instead they recorded a promotional video, and can justifiably claim to be the fathers of the MTV generation.

Another British obsession which can be traced to the door of TOTP is the weekly ‘Number One’ race, and particularly the race for the Christmas Number One. In recent years that race became somewhat devalued as TV scheduling meant that the winner of ITV’s ‘X Factor’ was virtually assured until 2009 when a Facebook campaign started by Jon & Tracy Morter usurped the X Factor winner, getting a track by Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas Number One.

Update – Sir Jimmy Saville died on October 29th 2011, two days short of his 85th birthday.