In the 1986 film ‘Highlander’ the character Conor MacLeod (played by Christopher Lambert) has a bizarre conversation with Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (played by Sean Connery).

Ramirez: Haggis? What is haggis?

Connor MacLeod: Sheep’s stomach, stuffed with meat and barley.

Ramirez: And what do you do with it?

Connor MacLeod: You eat it.

Ramirez: How revolting!

This is one of those occasions when discretion over the contents of food is probably the safer option, few of us would ever eat a pork sausage if we stopped to consider that the only part of the pig isn’t processed for food is the oink!

Haggis is a Scottish ‘delicacy’ described by the Scottish poet Robert Burns as ‘great chieftain of the pudding race’. It is, as Conor MacLeod observes, traditionally made using the heart and lungs of either a pig or a lamb, minced and mixed with oatmeal, onion and spices and then stuffed into a sheep’s stomach. Although these days most are wrapped in more modern materials like some form of plastic.

While the ingredients of Haggis sound alarming, the final result, which is an effective way of utilising meat products that would otherwise be wasted. It’s often spicy and peppery and forms an important part of the ‘Full Scottish Breakfast’.

Haggis is widely available these days in supermarkets around Britain, and even by mail order, but if you can’t find readymade Haggis, or want the authentic Haggis experience, the basic recipe follows.

First you’ll need to find a butcher who can supply sheep’s heart, lungs, stomach and liver. The sheep’s stomach can be tricky, but beef bung (intestine) is more widely available and often used instead of sheep’s stomach.

Ingredients:

Set of sheep’s heart, lungs and liver (cleaned by a butcher)
One beef bung or sheep’s stomach.
3 cups finely chopped suet
One cup medium ground oatmeal
Two medium onions, finely chopped
One cup beef stock
Salt and pepper
One teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon mace

Method:

Trim off any excess fat and sinew from the intestine and, if present, discard the windpipe. Place in a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour or possibly longer to ensure that they are tender. Drain and cool.

Some chefs toast the oatmeal in an oven until it is thoroughly dried out (but not browned or burnt!)

Finely chop the meat and combine in a large bowl with the suet, oatmeal, finely chopped onions, beef stock, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mace. Make sure the ingredients are mixed well. Stuff the meat and spices mixture into the intestine until it’s just over half full. Then press to expel any air and tie the open ends tightly with string. Make sure that you leave room for the mixture to expand or else it may burst while cooking. If that looks likely then prick the haggis with a sharp needle to reduce the pressure.

Place in a pot and cover with water; bring to the boil then immediately reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered, for about three hours.

Maybe it’s easier to buy one ready made!

Traditionally the haggis is served with ‘Neeps and Tatties’ – that is turnips and mashed potatoes; and if you want to really make your haggis special, pour a large measure of scotch whisky into the haggis after it’s been cut open.

Blue Peter is a typically British institution, it’s a children’s television programme that has been running continuously since October 1958.

The format has remained pretty consistent through its fifty year history, two or three respectable young presenters demonstrate how to make things, care for pets and learn about  the world.

The programme was first broadcast in October 1958, introduced by Christopher Trace and Leila Williams. Miss Williams (a former Miss Great Britain) left the programme in 1962 and was replaced by Valerie Singleton who stayed with the programme until 1975, although she ceased to be one of the regular presenters in 1972.

It was the sixties that are often considered to be Blue Peter’s golden years.

The team of Peter Purves, Valerie Singleton and John Noakes proved to be both popular and informative, and shook off competition from ITV’s unashamed Blue Peter clone ‘Magpie’ (1968 to 1980).

There have been 34 presenters of Blue Peter at the time of writing, and many have gone on to presenting more mainstream television.

Blue Peter Pets

It was also in the sixties that the ‘Blue Peter pets’ were first introduced, with the acquisition of a puppy and a competition to name it. ‘Petra’, as the puppy was named, became a surrogate pet for millions of children, and after her death a statue was made of her and placed in the ‘Blue Peter Garden’ in the grounds of the BBC’s Television Centre. I say a statue of Petra, actually some years after the dog’s death in 1977 it was revealed that the original puppy had died a couple of days after the first broadcast and had been replaced.

Other ‘Blue Peter pets’ include ‘Shep’ a mischievous and excitable Border Collie that accompanied John Noakes, Shep’s excitability leading John Noakes to coining a popular catch-phrase “Get Down Shep!”.

Over the years Blue Peter has had nine dogs, nine cats, five tortoises and two parrots.

Blue Peter Badges

One of the first features of Blue Peter were ‘Blue Peter Badges’ – given as reward for various activities and achievements. Various grades of badge were available, from a white shield featuring the Blue Peter logo (designed, incidentally by Tony Hart) up to a gold badge for an outstanding achievement – dragging a pensioner for a burning building or similar.

 One I made Earlier

The phrase “Here’s one I made earlier.” was attributed to the presenter ‘Christopher Trace, and for may of my generation evokes Blue Peter’s regular features of making interesting and useful’ articles from household rubbish, including yoghurt pots, coat hangers and toilet roll tubes, connected with ’sticky tape’ or ‘Sticky backed plastic’ – brand names are never mentioned on the BBC. 

Probably the best remembered of these were the ‘advent crown’ – first made in the early sixties from four wire coat hangers and lots of tinsel

and ‘Tracey Island’ a homemade version of the best selling ‘Thunderbirds’ tie-in.

 Scandals

The replacement of the puppy ‘Petra’ was the first of several ’scandals’ that Blue Peter has endured in its fifty year history. In 1998 the presenter ‘Richard Bacon’ resigned after being exposed by a tabloid newspaper taking cocaine; in 2007 the programme was involved in controversy regarding fake competition winners and the naming of the cat ‘Socks’ – which was supposed to have been by a phone poll, but the public vote was over-ruled by the Blue Peter production team.  

That Blue Peter has survived with so few scandals is probably tribute to Biddy Baxter who edited the programme from 1965 to 1988, it was she, more than anybody who ensured the direction, morality and ethics of the show.

In my article on Mayors and Lord Mayors  I briefly mentioned the Lord Mayors Show.

The show was first held in 1215, when King John grated the City of London permission to elect its own mayor, but also insisted that the Lord Mayor should travel to the City of Westminster to swear loyalty to the crown. This tradition has continued uninterrupted by the Black Death, the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, it has only been cancelled once – on the occasion of the death of the Duke of Wellington.

The Lord Mayors Show was the first event ever to be broadcast live on television, a tradition that continues to this day.  

The show takes place on the second Saturday in November each year; the date and route of the parade was fixed in the 1950’s as in the past the route would travel through the new Lord Mayor’s electoral ward, which meant that each year’s parade would take a different route, causing much confusion and disruption in the City.

The procession is preceded by a flypast by the Royal Air Force, then leaves the Lord Mayor’s official residence (the Mansion House) at 11 a.m.. The procession heads west along Cheapside towards St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Courts of Justice (also known as the Old Bailey) then down to Victoria Embankment before heading back to Mansion House, the last floats arriving back at around 4 p.m.

Around half a million people pile into the City of London to watch the pomp and pageantry, and around 6,000 people will take part in the three mile long procession, alongside 140 floats, carriages – including the richly gilded State Coach – marching bands, floats and other vehicles.

The parade is then followed by a fair in Paternoster Square near St. Paul’s Cathedral and a firework display on the River Thames, starting at about 5pm.

And for the record, the Mansion House is almost opposite the Bank of England, at the heart of the City, close to ‘Bank’ underground station, several hundred yards away from the underground station that bears the name ‘Mansion House’.

In 2008, when Barack Obama was elected President, an American friend commented to me that he’d seen fireworks on a news feed from Britain and was surprised that we Brits took the US Election so seriously.  

Well the tradition fireworks in the UK in early November date back much farther than the election of Obama!

‘Guy Fawkes Night’ or ‘Firework Night’ is celebrated on November 5th in the United Kingdom and some countries of the Commonwealth. It commemorates the unsuccessful ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of 1605 when a group of wealthy Catholics attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the state opening by  King James I. (He was King James VI of Scotland and became King James 1 of England following the death of Queen Elizabeth 1 – who died childless.)

The Catholic plotters had hoped for greater tolerance of Catholicism under James 1st, but were disappointed and decided to assassinate both the King and much of the Protestant aristocracy, and use the destruction of Parliament as an opportunity to start a rebellion and found a Catholic State in England under James’ daughter Princess Elizabeth..

The acknowledged leader of the plot was Robert Catesby, with other plotters including Thomas Winter, Christopher Wright, Robert Keyes, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Ambrose Rokewood, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham and Catesby’s servant Thomas Bates . The plot is remembered, however, for the explosives expert the plotters employed – one Guido Fawkes, who had gained his experience with explosives by fighting for the Spanish against the Dutch in the Spanish Netherlands.

The plot took place over several years, with delays to the opening of Parliament allowing for revisions to the plot; originally the plotters planned to tunnel under the Houses of Parliament from a nearby house, but when Thomas Percy leased a vault (or undercroft) under the palace in early 1605 they used this to store the explosives.

Some 36 barrels of explosive had been stored by the end of May 1605, and the conspirators moved far from London to the Midlands, from where they planned to start the rebellion. The conspiracy had grown, in part because the plotters needed further investment to fund the proposed rebellion, and it is thought that one of the newcomers warned the King and Parliament. Guido (or Guy) Fawkes was caught leaving the explosive filled undercroft and promptly arrested. He was taken to the Tower of London and confessed the names of the other plotters under torture.

Several rhymes exist commemorating the plot – the most common being :

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

the rhyme continues :

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s mercy he was catched
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holla boys, holla boys, let the bells ring.
Holla boys, holla boys, God save the King!

When I was a child (not so very long ago) children would make effigies of Guy Fawkes and stand on the streets collecting money for fireworks with the cry “Penny for the Guy” but this has almost died out, not least because recent legislation prevents children from buying fireworks.

These days most people attend public firework displays, featuring a large bonfire, often with a ‘guy’ on the top. Refreshments often served include treacle toffee (known as bonfire toffee), jacket potatoes and gingerbread (also known as ‘parkin’).

The plot is referenced in the graphic novel (and subsequent movie) ‘V for Vendetta’ where the main protagonist wears a Guy Fawkes mask, and succeeds in blowing Parliament up.

The River Thames has over 200 river crossings, comprising bridges, railway tunnels, service tunnels and one foot tunnel.

This isn’t really surprising as the Thames runs for over two hundred miles and threads through central London, but it’s the bridges and tunnels of central London that we will focus on.

Dartford Crossing

With one exception, the Dartford Crossing lies to the east of London and forms part of the M25 orbital motorway. The Dartford Crossing comprises two road tunnels (completed 1963 and 1980) and the ‘Queen Elizabeth II Bridge”  – the tallest of London’s bridges (completed 1991).

The bridge carries the M25 traffic north-south while two tunnel bores carry traffic south-north; there are toll charges for both the bridge and the tunnels, but these are reduced after 10pm each evening.

Around 150,000 vehicles use the Dartford crossing each day.

Tower Bridge

The easternmost, and most recognisable of London’s bridges is Tower Bridge, opened in 1894 with two towers, an elevated walkway that can be hired for private functions and the road deck that can be raised to allow shipping through. The bridge is still raised around a thousand times a year.

The area west of Tower Bridge as far as London Bridge was known as ‘the pool of London’ and the refurbished wharves on the south side of the river in this stretch are some indication of the extent of trade that was conducted here until the mid twentieth century.

London Bridge

London Bridge is the oldest of London’s bridges, and one of the newest. There has been a bridge at this site (or thereabouts) since around 55AD during the roman occupation of Britain; the current bridge was completed in 1973, its predecessor famously being transported to Lake Havasu City in Arizona.  

Medieval bridges on this site included houses and shops, and the narrow water flows caused the Thames to flow more slowly, this (along with unusually cold weather) is thought to have contributed to the Thames freezing over. The Thames actually froze on 26 occasions and famously in 1683 and 1814 when the ice was thick enough to hold ‘frost fairs’ on the frozen river.

The next river crossing is Cannon Street railway bridge,which carries rail passengers from Cannon Street to South London and Kent. The bridge was first opened in 1866. The next road/pedestrian crossing is Southwark Bridge.

Southwark Bridge

The present Southwark Bridge was completed in 1921, but its predecessor, completed in 1819 became famous through frequent references by Charles Dickens. The 1819 bridge was constructed from cast iron and as such was known as the ‘iron bridge’.

There is a frieze in a pedestrian subway on the south side of the bridge depicting the Frost Fairs mentioned previously.  

Millennium Bridge

As its name suggests, the ‘Millennium Bridge’ was constructed to celebrate the new millennium, it was opened in the year 2000 and quickly became known as ‘the wobbly bridge’. The large numbers of pedestrians caused a feedback/resonance and the bridge had to be closed for additional dampeners to be fitted. The resulting bridge is perhaps slightly less dramatic that the original design, but it’s very popular with tourists, providing a footbridge link between St Paul’s Cathedral and the City of London with the South Bank and the Tate Modern art gallery.

The Millennium Bridge features in the 2009 Harry Potter film – ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’.

The next crossing is Blackfriars Railway Bridge which carries railway traffic, closely followed by Blackfrairs Bridge.

Blackfriars Bridge

The current Blackfriars Bridge was completed in 1869 replacing an earlier (1769) structure. The name is taken from the Dominican Friars who moved their priory into the area on the nerth bank, close to Ludgate Hill in 1276.

Blackfriars Bridge is perhaps best known for being the place (again on the northern bank) where the body of the Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanged in 1982.

In a later article I will cover the next bridges west, from Hungerford Bridge to Albert Bridge.