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"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Dr Samuel Johnson, writer and wit, is one of the most quoted Englishmen of all time and lived at this house between 1748 and 1759 whilst compiling his famous "Dictionary of the English Language" in the garret. The house was built at the end of the 17th century and is one of 17 different places Johnson lived in in London. After he left, it was used as a hotel, print shop and warehouse. It now contains exhibitions about Johnson's life and works and many original items relating to the man. All five levels are open to the public. A statue of his cat, Hodge, is at the other end of the square and one of his favourite inns, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is round the corner on Fleet Street.
Memorial to Nurse Edith Cavell designed by Sir George Frampton (who waived his fee) in 1915, unveiled by Queen Alexandra in 1920. Edith Cavell was born in Norwich in 1865. She was matron of a hospital in Brussels when the Germans invaded in 1914. Though the invaders offered her and other British nurses safe conduct to neutral Holland, she stayed on, eventually helping some 200 British, French and Belgian soldiers escape to Holland. She was arrested in August 1915 and shot by firing squad on 12th October. She said to her American chaplain, "I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." The British may well have exploited the propaganda value of Edith Cavell's murder, particularly in the at that time neutral USA.
The post code is for nearby St Martin-in-the-Field church. There is another memorial to Edith Cavell in Norwich.
Fortnum and Mason is a luxury department store founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Fortnum was a footman in Queen Anne's household and the business was allegedly established on the profits he made from selling partially used royal candles. "Fortnum's" began life as a quality grocery store and, though it has expanded, it is still primarily known for its fabulous speciality foods and luxury hampers.
There has been an inn on the site of the City’s George & Vulture since the 15th century, but it burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666. Originally called ‘The George’, the vulture bit was added because (allegedly) the rebuilt inn was partly leased to a wine merchant whose sign was a live vulture, tethered above the entrance. These days, it is known as a favourite watering-hole of Charles Dickens, who mentioned it several times in ‘Pickwick Papers’ and whose descendants sometimes meet there. It is not a pub, but a restaurant with varied reviews. This writer has no personal experience of it, but from the outside it looks like a public lavatory.
The George, Borough High Street, is the last remaining galleried coaching inn in London. There were once many such inns in the area, catering for travellers on their way south from the City, or heading north and pausing before crossing London Bridge. They included the famous Tabard, where Chaucer's pilgrims met, which used to stand just south of the George. By Dickens' times, the number of such inns had been reduced to half a dozen. The current George Inn building dates from the 17th century, but there has apparently been an inn on the site since medieval times. And it serves a good pint. The property is owned by the National Trust, leased to a tenant.
Southwark
The Golden Boy at Pye Corner is a carved wooden figure covered in gold on the corner wall of a building at the junction of Giltspur Street with Cock Lane, EC1. As it says below, the statue "was erected to commemorate the staying of the Great Fire which beginning at Pudding Lane was ascribed to the Sin of Gluttony when not attributed to the papists as on the Monument and the Boy was made prodigiously fat to enforce the moral he was originally built into the front of a public-house called the Fortune of War which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910."
One of the Royal Parks. Green Park is extensively used for sunbathing and picnic in good weather. One of its features are the Memorial Gates, dedicated to five million people from the Indian Sub-Continent, Africa and the Caribbean who served or lost their lives in the two World Wars. Keep your ears peeled for Royal Artillery Gun Salutes. It’s also a nice walk between The Mall and Green Park tube station and fun to walk round the roads surrounding Clarence House and St James’s Palace.
Post code is approximate.
One of the Royal Parks. You could lose yourself wandering around Greenwich anyway where, in addition to pay-to-visit attractions like the Cutty Sark, there are free places like the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum to see. Greenwich Park, once part of the grounds of Greenwich Palace (birthplace of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I), overlooks the Thames and is packed with things of interest. There’s a deer park, orchard – and it is home to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian (which you need to pay to visit). Less well known is Elizabeth’s oak, alleged scene of Tudor picnics and what-not, and a Saxon cemetery.
Post code is approximate
Hampstead Heath is a vast park, a slice of ancient countryside, covering 790 acres in north London. It includes woodland and heathland as well as ponds and leisure facilities. Notable features are Parliament Hill, well-known for its views of London and kit-flying, the Hampstead Heath Barrow, or Tumulus, once thought to be the burial place of Queen Boudicca and Kenwood House, an 18th century mansion famous for its art collection and concerts. The heath was once renowned as a lair of highwaymen; today, it is popular with walkers, runners and families.
Hampstead Heath is managed by the City of London Corporation. It is accessible from a variety of places - the address given is a guide only. Click on the link to the City of London website and download a useful map.
Hampstead
A mound, which is known as Boadicea's Burial Mound, between Parliament Hill and Kenwood House, west of Highgate Ponds. No one knows what it is - theories include the remains of a windmill, a folly - or it could be a genuine Neolithic or Iron Age burial. We're giving it the benefit of the doubt.
Post code is approximate. Pedestrian access only.
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