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28/03/2024

Looks like Buckingham Palace have recruited some new staff.

28/08/2023

Is Westminster Abbey vulgar, unrefined & ugly?

Obviously not.

However, that is what Italian writers during the Renaissance thought about churches built in this style - the fan vaulted ceilings, pointed arches & stained glass windows.

They were the first to describe this soaring, graceful architecture as ‘Gothic’ & they were being derogatory. Gothic meant barbaric. The Goths sacked Rome in 410 AD/ CE, (delete as appropriate) & destroyed the classical culture of the Romans.

It seems to me it was these medieval Italian writers who were the heathens…….

22/04/2023

Do you know who owns all the swans in London?

Nobody.

It is often said that all of the swans here belong to the monarch.

They do not.

However, a third of mute swans in London are indeed owned by the monarch.

The other two thirds are divvied up between two City livery companies - the Vintners & the Dyers.

The ceremony of swan upping, which takes place in July gets it all sorted. The first young swan found on the Thames between Sunbury-on-Thames & Abingdon gets a tag, signifying if belongs to the Dyers. The second gets two tags & belongs to the Vintners. The third one is left alone & belongs to the monarch.

It is often said that it is illegal to kill a swan here.

This is indeed true. In fact, it was punishable by death, & that was never repealed!

Even stealing a swan egg is punishable with a fine of up to £5000 or 6 months in jail.

So when you see a mute swan, behave…….

02/01/2023

Guiding from dawn till dusk - admittedly not as much of a challenge in January as it would be in June!

Now that tourist guides are in the quieter time of the year, I was keen to start creating & posting some more Reels & Stories - it has been way too long.

However, Tower Bridge this morning & Windsor Castle this afternoon were looking way too incredible to ignore.

Happy New Year to all, & best of luck sticking to those resolutions.

05/11/2022

Who doesn’t love a good misericord?

These folding ‘mercy seats’ found in a church allowed the clergy some relief during long services. The carvings on the underside are often wonderfully subversive.

Some are scary, some are freaky, some are cheeky, some are naughty & some are downright filthy.

Maybe it is because the part of the body being supported is not particularly spiritual, hence the interestingly eclectic subject matter of the carvings.

The first photo is a wonderful image of a raised cassock.

Is the guy who is receiving a good thrashing from the lady in photo 2 pouring some wine at the same time? If so, that is impressive multi-tasking. According to the French, what we are seeing unfold here is ‘the English disease’ - a national love of flagellation. Mind you, for us Brits, ‘the French disease’ is syphilis, so there you go…….

02/06/2022

Have you ever visited Great Dixter?

A hidden gem in East Sussex, it is looking rather spectacular at this time of the year.

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Hi, I’m Justin - an entertaining & informative London tour guide. I love nothing more than showing people around this great city & beyond.

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19/05/2022

33 days until the summer solstice at Stonehenge.

Have you seen the sunrise on the longest day of the year there?

Contrary to popular belief, the sun does not come up on the summer solstice axis/ ley line/ path of the dragon.

It did 4,500 years ago. However, at the risk of sounding like a killjoy, the Earth’s axis has rotated 4 degrees since then. It now comes up to the right of the axis. As pic 1 shows.

In fact this whole obsession with the summer solstice is 6 months off from the actual celebrations. Midsummer was a bit of a downer. The days start getting shorter from then on. To quote Ned Stark, ‘winter is coming’.

I’m loving the lichen. Pic 2 shows some of this precious stuff on the Heel Stone. The ‘Friar’s Heel’. Freya’s Heyol - the pathway to the temple of fertility.

Pic 3 is the Slaughter Stone. It is said that the redness in the stone is the blood of the sacrificial victims of the Celtic druids. I hate it when the truth gets in the way of a good story. The redness is actually down to the oxidised iron minerals in the rock.

Pic 4 is one of the Station stones. The 4 original stones would have been surveying markers. Where the ropes from all 4 met, would have marked the dead centre of the monument.

Some say aliens built Stonehenge. Sounds fanciful? My grandmother told me she once saw a cigar shaped UFO hovering over Stonehenge. Check out pic 5. The Sarsen stone with the cheeky wink. Maybe they were messing with our heads?!

Book an Inner Circle tour at Stonehenge.

It’s quite the treat.

___________________________________________

Hi, I’m Justin - an entertaining & informative London tour guide. I love nothing more than showing people around this great city & beyond.

Tap here for more info:
👉

25/06/2021

With the obvious exception of poachers, who doesn’t love an elephant?

I’m admittedly a little late to this particular party - a pack of plodding pachyderms heading through London.

Herds of herbivores have already lumbered down The Mall & spent almost 3 weeks in Chelsea.

Now, 70 of the life-sized elephants are strolling through Green Park & are well worth a look.

They can also be seen traipsing around St James’ Park & Berkeley Square, as the last 2 photos show.

The .story is the largest outdoor exhibition of the summer & has been organised by the Elephant Family & The Real Elephant Collective.

These jumbo tuskers will be ambling around town until 23rd July.

___________________________________________

Hi, I’m Justin - an entertaining & informative London tour guide. I love nothing more than showing people around this great city & beyond.

Tap here for more info:
👉

11/02/2021

Fancy swimming in a human aquarium?

Welcome to the Sky Pool in Embassy Gardens - the only swimming pool bridge in the world.

As superlatives go, that is admittedly somewhat niche.

As bridges go, not particularly practical.

Looks enticing though, don’t you agree?

I’ve always wanted to float through the air in Central London & now it will be possible.

I felt rather self conscious doing my star jumps while waiting to get a photo of somebody swimming.

I gave up after 10 minutes.

Long story short, I then found out it hasn’t opened yet.

So you’ll have to wait a little longer for that swim.

Come to think of it, you will also need to be a resident......
...in fact, you will need to be a certain type of resident in a certain value of property.

Oh well, there’s always Tooting Lido.

For those that do not already know, the unusual building in the photos is the American embassy here in the UK.

___________________________________________

Hi, I’m Justin - an entertaining & informative London tour guide. I love nothing more than showing people around this great city & beyond.

At the moment there are no traditional tours taking place.

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Who does not love a bit of colour coding? Whether it is a London building or a priceless work of art, a dose of splattered orange paint thrown over it denotes ‘Just Stop Oil’. The red paint chucked all over the MOD building recently was the preferred colour of the ‘Free Palestine’ crowd. Maybe somebody could create a colour coded chart depicting the different coloured paint these oppressed intersectionalists could throw at their perceived oppressors - the relevant colour corresponding to the particular grievance of the week ? A more constructive & positive colour coding scheme is demonstrated above, compliments of Transport for London. #justinlondon #londontube #tube #londonunderground #harmony #britainsbestguides #bluebadgetouristguide #transportforlondon #tfl Did you know this?

Ahhhh the Great British ha-ha. Maneskin has a song called ‘Bla Bla Bla’ that has the lyrics ‘ha ha ha ha ha ha ha’ multiple times. It would have been perfect as an accompaniment to my ha-ha Reel here. I spent 99 pence downloading ‘Bla Bla Bla’ for my ha-ha vid, & was then informed it was not possible to use in video editing for bla bla bla reasons. #royalcrescent #bath #ha-ha #haha #justinlondon #bluebadgetouristguide #britainsbestguides #statelyhome #statelyhomes #georgianhouse #georgianarchitecture #georgianbath #blablabla

What lies beneath……. Have you heard about the secret coding system used by the more than 50 utility companies in London? All we need now is for all of them to communicate more effectively with each other. Then the gas, water, electric & fibre optic work could be done in one dig. #hiddenlondon #secretlondon #britainsbestguides #bluebadgetouristguide #justinlondon #utilities #discoverlondon #hole

The results are in & the surprise, (well as far as I was concerned) was Sir Thomas Gresham’s lookalike, or unlookalike according to the majority, Tom Hardy. The four paintings & the bust featured are are all located in the @rijksmuseum Amsterdam. My colleague Katie, @look_uplondon summed it up wonderfully - when you first see the portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham, you wonder if it was something created recently using AI. The ultimate compliment to the marvellous Mor.#poll #rijksmuseum #justinlondon #bluebadgetouristguide #touristguide #lookalikes #lookalike #amsterdam #tomhardy #adamdriver #jonahhill #michaelsheen #anthonismor

Cheers to Wetherspoons with its impressive array of beers, willingness to accept cash & cracking prices 🍻 #wetherspoons #wetherspoonscarpets #greatbritishpubs #pub #pubs #boozer #justinlondon #bluebadgetouristguide #pubsofengland #touristguide #scampiandchips @wetherspoons_carpets @wetherspoonsofficial

How many ways are there to walk underneath the River Thames? As the Reel shows, the Greenwich foot tunnel is a terrific way to cross from one side of the river to the other. It’s a miracle it is still there considering it took a direct hit from those nasty Nazis, & almost flooded. What’s your favourite tunnel? #tunnel #tunnels #underground #riverthames #greenwich #greenwichfoottunnel #hiddenlondon #subteranneanlondon #subteranneantunnels #justinlondon #bluebadgetouristguide #britainsbestguides #discoverlondon #explorelondon #whatliesbeneath

Are you more claustrophobic or acrophobic? I’m not sure which of these two medieval structures I would have preferred to have worked on. Both are incredible feats of engineering. What is an impressively tall building that you love? #didyoulnow #randomfact #interestingfact #salisburycathedral #dovercastle #justinlondon #well #britainsbestguides #guidelondon #didyouknowfacts #medievalheritage #medievalworld #medievalarchitecture #pillarsoftheearth