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Garden of Remembrance Desecrated in Piccadilly

Written on February 15, 2012 by Peter Berthoud in Gardens, Memorials, Sculpture

Yesterday I was really saddened to see that Southwood Garden in Central London, has just been brutally redeveloped.

The tiny Second World War Memorial Garden lies to the West of St James’s Church, sandwiched between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly. Last year it was a lush, green, charming space, a little overgrown but all the more magical because of that.

Excuse the clichés but for once they are merited; this was once a genuine “hidden gem” and a real “oasis of peace”.

This is a view from last year:

Today it looks like this:

Once Alfred Hardiman’s statue of Peace was surrounded by mature shrubs, in a “chapel” of leaves:

Today, stripped of her surrounding foliage, she has lost her aura of tranquillity and her ability to inspire contemplation.

She stands before us now as a mere garden ornament.

Shrubs and bushes have been pruned down to the earth, or removed entirely, and the blandest of planting schemes has replaced them.

The magic of the space has been utterly destroyed.

There also used to be lots of unique, hand-painted, little marker signs, scattered throughout the garden, here was the grave marker of “Mackerel” the Rectory Cat for example:

Other signs marked the remains of a (long abandoned) project to grow within the garden every plant mentioned in the Bible:

There was also a sign encouraging people to add a stone to a small prayer Cairn:

Many of these signs were nestled together in one section of the garden.

All of these have been swept away and replaced with hideous picnic benches contained within vile surrounding walls:

Now I’ll happily admit that I am a pretty unsentimental, cynical, atheistic type, but even I am angry and can see that what has been done is just plain wrong and constitutes an act of horticultural, aesthetic and moral vandalism. The destruction seems even more inexplicably insensitive when one considers the purpose of the garden.

The Southwood Garden is a memorial garden, dedicated to “The bravery of ordinary Londoners shown during the Second World War“. It was created as such by Viscount Southwood (whose own ashes lie within the garden) and was opened by Queen Mary in 1946.

Was it really necessary to slash and burn such a special place? If replanting was needed, couldn’t this have been done more gradually? If hard-landscaping work was genuinely required, couldn’t the little markers have been given some consideration, some respect?

Does this look like a distinctive memorial garden to you; or more like a bland, boring lawn, stuck behind some Piccadilly office blocks?

I would be really interested to know why the normally altruistic, effective and truly decent St James’s Church authorities have done this but I could find nobody to ask at the church yesterday.

They do run a market; do they want to rent out more stalls? They do have a High Street coffee concession; do they want/”need” more outside seating for “Flat Latte” drinkers? Hauser & Wirth, the gallery, have a deal with the church to display art works in the garden; do they “need” more exhibition space? Is it all about cash, or is there another even more bizarre reason?

No doubt we will all learn “Why?” eventually.

But the damage has been done now and cannot be undone for a long time. For the next twenty years or so we will just need to wait patiently whilst the garden regenerates and matures. If I am fortunate enough to survive into my late 60′s, then I hope that I can go back to the Southwood Garden (circa 2032) and enjoy it once again.

There are a few more sad, “before” and “after”, photos of the garden on my Flickr Photostream.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout Westminster, see tabs for details

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An Unusual Christmas Day in London Updated

Written on December 3, 2011 by Peter Berthoud in Architecture, Entertainment, Gardens, Photography, Street Art

For several years my Christmas Days have been devoted to walking around Central London and this year will be no different. Except that this year I will be working. My family generally get up and do the presents/stockings etc. at around 5am, the aim is to be out of the house by about 5.30am and we don’t return home until the early evening. We might cover 10-12 miles on foot during a typical Christmas Day.

I realise that for some people this might not seem very Christmassy but it suits us down to the ground because I think Christmas Day is by far the most magical day to explore the city. The so familiar, iconic sights, are experienced anew, as if seen through fresh eyes, when the streets are truly empty.

Piccadilly Circus

The idea for these early morning walks was inspired by the film 28 Days Later. In that classic Danny Boyle film London is virtually deserted. I wanted, like the character Jim, to be able to walk across Westminster Bridge and be the only person on it. I wanted to explore the eerily empty streets and luckily so did my children! The only day of the year when such an experience is possible is Christmas Day and if you want to guarantee exclusive temporary use of the bridge you need to do so before dawn.

Oxford Street

The pre-dawn Christmas starts have enabled us to be the only people in Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. We have sauntered down the middle of Regent and Oxford Streets without seeing a soul. We have been alone in Covent Garden, Fitzrovia and Soho. Squirrels and birds in St James’s Park, look genuinely confused by the fact that there no other humans around to offer a peanut or some bread.

St James's Park

By around dawn it becomes possible to find the odd place for a coffee. By lunchtime several pubs are open and we tend to pop in for an aperitif. After lunch we stroll around again, the possibilities for interesting walks are infinite. The pavements are a little busier by now but the road traffic is still minimal. There are no wheely suitcases to be seen. Nobody is really going anywhere, there is nothing to buy and nothing else to do. The atmosphere is jovial all day, strangers greet and wish each other a “Happy Christmas”. By dusk the streets start to empty again and the Christmas lights come to the fore. And so we head back to the Sky+ and some decent wine.

It might not suit everyone to spend Christmas day walking around London. I am lucky, I live centrally so the lack of public transport makes no difference to me. But if you like me are somewhat obsessed with Central London in all its glory I do suggest that you try one year to see it on Christmas Day.

This year I will be walking again but for the first time in the company of visitors and London enthusiasts. A good mate of mine and an excellent guide, Colin Davey and I have teemed up to offer three unique Christmas Day walks:

Update 28th December 2011

Colin and I ran three tours during the day, the first, London at Dawn began at 6am, then another after breakfast and finally one after lunch.

Each was different but all were hugely enjoyable. We would like to thank all the wonderful local Londoners and visitors from Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Uruguay who joined us. During the day we walked with true London experts, a professional historian, students, local workers, visitors and the indefatigable EdLondonDog.

The distances some people had walked to join us were staggering. One family had walked down from Swiss Cottage, other people came from Tower Bridge, Vauxhall, Chalk Farm and Holloway. A charming group of Canadians had only flown into Heathrow just a few hours before joining us and did the whole walk sustained by nothing more than their airline food!

All these hardy, good-humoured, interested and interesting walking companions really made the day special. It was so thoroughly enjoyable that, despite being hardly able to walk for two days afterwards, we will certainly be running more walks next Christmas!

Some of the people who joined us have been kind enough to write about the day.

Mike Paterson of London Historians (the Capital’s premier club for Londoners who’d like to learn more about their city’s history) wrote about the 6am pre-dawn walk on the London Historians Blog. Mike and Fiona were also kind enough to make enough bacon butties not ony for the entire group but also for some very grateful rough-sleepers who we encountered.

Also on the intrepid 6am walk was Matt of Londonist (The site that encompasses all you need to know to get the most out of life in London). With the assistance of Heather, acting as human tripod, he also got some great shots of a deserted Central London and wrote about the walk here.

Later in the day we were joined by Jane of Jane’s London. Jane has an exceptional eye for little details in the London street-scape which she documents with beautiful photos on her blog. Some of the many photos she took on the morning feature in this blog post and many more can be found at her Flickr photostream.

Prior to the walk we were supported by so many people who tweeted, shared and liked details of the day. Thank you to all those Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Special thanks too to Londonist, Time Out and Ian Visits for listing the walks and to Tom of Tired of London, Tired of Life for the honour of choosing us to be his “One thing to do a day in London” for the 25th. The Time Out Blog also ran a feature on the walks and we are very grateful for that as well.

After each walk we had a break with our guests. For the very early walk we had a picnic of sweets, cognac and single malt whiskey in Trafalgar Square. At lunchtime we enjoyed great hospitality at the Bear & Staff near Leicester Square and we rounded the day off with delicious cocktails at The Hampshire Hotel.

So thanks again to everyone who made the day a success and such good fun. Here’s to more of the same in 2012.

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Rave Review – But £650 a Ticket?

Written on October 7, 2011 by Peter Berthoud in Curiosities, Entertainment

Glancing through London of Today - An Illustrated Handbook for 1891 by Charles Eyre Pascoe I found a rave review of Mr Maskelyne’s Original Magical Sketches, then playing at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.

This is an illustration of one of the illusions.

"Mr Maskelyne cuts off Mr Cook's Head" Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London 1891 Artist EG Beach 1890

And here is Mr Pascoe’s review:

The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly

Mr. J. N. Maskelyne not unfitly names this time-honoured Institution of West End London “England’s Home of Mystery,” albeit there is little to mystify about Mr. Maskelyne himself. He is the most frank and communicative of modern illusionists, and frankly tells you that his excellent entertainment is mere clever invention, designed to amuse but not to trick. His spiritualistic exposés were the talk of London a few years back. As the public denouncer of the slippery spiritualist brethren and their Idiotic frauds, he gained the thanks of the community.

All the tricks of the professional media were in turn very skilfully presented at the Egyptian Hall by Mr. Maskelyne; and his quiet humour and genial sincerity in turning a good strong light on the mysterious motions of “spirits” in the air, under the table, locked in cabinets, bound with ropes, or otherwise embarrassed, long delighted the town.

He still entertains it every evening at 8 o’clock, and on six afternoons of the week at 3, by a little first-rate juggling, very cleverly mantipulated; an amusing and sensational sketch, in which his partner’s head is apparently removed from his body; an excellent display of sleight of hand by a lady and gentleman; and a capital spiritualistic skit with very startling effects.

This Egyptian hail School of Mystery is one of the most interesting to study in. Mr. Maskelyne has the inventive faculty strongly developed, not merely in regard of his professional work, but outside of it. A man of his stamp is always entertaining and instructive; and if our readers only gain half the information from him that we have, their holiday—shillings will be productive of very generous interest.

Elsewhere in the handbook Mr Maskelyne paid for an advertisement and I am sure he did so with “genial sincerity” regardless, unaware even, of the nature of Mr Pascoe’s review. I am equally sure that Mr Pascoe was utterly objective and had written his review well before the advertisement was placed.

Maskelyne Egyptian Hall Advertisement 1891

I was particularly struck by Mr Maskelyne’s pricing strategy.

Tickets ranged from 5 shillings for an Armchair seat (Fauteuils) to 1 shilling for a seat in the Balcony. There were generous discounts for children, they went in for half-price, excepting the balcony. But babies attracted a curious levy. A ticket for a baby cost a full 10 Guineas! After a little maths (with some help from the National Archives) I make this approximately £650 a ticket in today’s money. A staggeringly effective disincentive I am sure.

To read other contemporary accounts of wonders to be seen at The Egyptian Hall you can look at the excellent Victorian London. To see a photo of the hall at 170 Piccadilly, just as Maskelyne would have known it, go to the equally interesting Victorian Web. To convert currency across eras, visit The National Archives.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of Westminster Tour Guide who runs unique walking tours throughout London, see tabs for details.

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Christ the Gardener Spotted in Piccadilly

Written on June 8, 2011 by Peter Berthoud in Gardens, Sculpture

Sitting having coffee in the Southwood Garden of St James’s in Piccadilly I was amazed to spot this “new” sculpture.

It is “Christ the Gardener” by Nigel Ellis and dates, I think, from 1987. The reason I was amazed is that I must have sat in that churchyard dozens of times over the years, I even went there for almost every lunch-break when I worked on Piccadilly in 1987, maybe I was there the day the head was unveiled!

London constantly throws up such surprises, even in in the most familiar of locations. Judging by my Google search,

it doesn’t appear that many other people have noticed it either! If you would like to see it for yourself, it is on the western wall of the church, facing over the once Biblically themed gardens. There is a scrap of a biography of Nigel Ellis here.