Saturday 15 March 2008

Free walks in London

To celebrate British Tourism Week, London's famed Blue Badge Guides presented a series of free public walks in the capital. The theme was 'Great British', with tours taking place all around central London. Participants discovered the secrets and scandals of kings and queens, statesmen, actors, libertines and ghosts - the men and women who put the 'great' in Great Britain.


'Great British Food' - Elizabeth David	with Clarissa Fell
A walk about the great British food writer, Elizabeth David, who revolutionised our diet in the 1950's and 60's, Ends with a visit to the Ebury Street Farmers Market; how Elizabeth would have approved!
Meet South Kensington tube station shopping concourse:	10.00
Finish: Ebury Street Shopping Village	Duration: 120 mins.

'Great British Statesmen'	with Felicity Whittle
Explore the backstreets of Westminster. Meet the men and women who governed Great Britain: Cromwell, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eleanor Rathbone, Earl Mountbatten and more.
Meet Westminster Tube Station by barriers:	10.30 and 14.00
Finish: Westminster Tube	Duration: 90 mins.

'Great British Performers of the Stage and Screen'	with Richard Williams
To ends of their egos and back. Meet the wild personalities of London's Theatreland
Meet Haymarket (Her Majesty's Theatre):	10.30 and 14.00
Finish: Covent Garden	Duration: 90 mins.

'Great British Music' - 250 years of the music scene	with Gregor Laing
Exploring this corner of Marylebone, we follow a trail which leads from the `Beggar`s Opera` to Elgar and Paul McCartney - not forgetting the man who sponsored the first season of Promenade Concerts in 1895!
Meet St. Marylebone Church (opposite the Royal Academy of Music) nearest tube Baker St:	10.30 and 14.00
Finish: Regent`s Park tube	Duration: 90 mins.

Great British 'Bloody' Stories	with Heather Symes
Come and 'meat' Sweeney Todd - the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Meet Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet St:	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: St Paul's Cathedral	Duration: 90 mins.

'The City of London - A Great British Achievement'	with David Thompson
Reaching new heights in spectacular architecture.
Meet Liverpool Street Station, (Bishopsgate exit):	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: Fenchurch St.	Duration: 90 mins.

'Great British High Street - Is Shopping a Modern Obsession?'	with Sarah Tree
Walk through centuries of shopping - shoes, footmen, scents, silks, Sergeant Pepper ... and more.
Meet Green Park Tube Station, north side:	11.00
Finish: Oxford Circus	Duration: 90 mins.

Great British Heroes - 'Churchill's Finest Hours'	with Kevin Molloy
A walk through the capital's corridors of power uncovering one of history's most fascinating figures.
Meet Green Park Tube Station, south side:	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: Parliament Square	Duration: 120 mins.

'Great British Nursery Rhymes'	with Margaret Machin
The story of the City of London told and sung in Nursery Rhymes. From London Bridge to Mother Goose - real events and real people.
Meet London Bridge Tube (Duke Street Hill exit):	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: Bank Tube Station	Duration: 90 mins.

The Great British Bard - the City of Shakespeare's London	with John Renshaw
'Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears'. Walk in Shakespeare's footsteps, meander through city alleyways - the regular haunts of the Great British Bard.
Meet St Paul's Tube Station:	11.00 and 14.00
Finish: Farringdon Tube Station	Duration: 120 mins.

'Great British Theatre' - Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square	with Joy Levene
Join your costumed guide, to hear about the theatres, the stars the shows and their songs. No excuse for not joining in, song sheets will be provided.
Meet at Eros statue, Piccadilly Circus:	11.00
Finish: Charing Cross Road	Duration: 120 mins.

'Great British Heroes and Anti-Heroes in St James' and Piccadilly'	with Hugh Macdonald-Buchanan
See where British monarchs, statesmen, soldiers, architects, scientists and entrepreneurs rubbed shoulders with courtesans, rakes, libertines and crooks.
Meet Hyde Park corner Tube (exit for Apsley House):	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: Piccadilly	Duration: 90 mins.

'Great British Monarchs' - A Ramble among the Royal Statues	with Howard Medwell
Hear about the ever changing popularity of Kings and Queens, their history and their monuments.
Meet Trafalgar Square (by Nelson's Column):	11.00 and 14.30
Finish: Westminster Abbey	Duration: 90 mins.

Great British Engineering - 'The Lea and the 2012 Games'	with Stan Medland
A walk alongside British engineering - Bazalgette's 1860 masterpiece, the Northern Outfall Sewer and see his 'Temple to Sewerage' the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, ending with a view of engineering of the future - the 2012 Olympic Park at Stratford.
Meet Pudding Lane Mill Station (DLR):	14.00
Finish: Pudding Lane Mill Station (DLR)	Duration: 90 mins.

'Great British Villains' - The Kray Brothers	with Ian Jelf
A story of murder, intimidation and body disposal. Follow in the steps of the notorious Kray Twins who ruled the East End in the 50s and 60s.
Meet Whitechapel Tube Station:	14.00
Finish: Whitechapel Tube Station	Duration: 120 mins.

Great Britons Who Changed The World	with Marc Zakian
Inside the National Portrait Gallery you will come face to face with Great Britons who changed the world. Find out what made then unique; from their genius to their folly; from their inspiration, to their desperation. (Strict Maximum 25 people)
Meet National Portrait Gallery (by the escalators):	14.00
National Portrait Gallery	Duration: 60 mins.

'Great British Theatre' - Come Into The Garden	with Joy Levene
Covent Garden has several fine theatres, all with tales to tell. Hear about eccentric agents, a murdered actor, the prince and the actress, and a ghost.
Meet Wyndhams Theatre, Charing Cross Road:	14.30
Finish: Covent Garden	Duration: 120 mins.

'The Great British High Street' - The stories behind the stores	with Rachel Kolsky
A walk around Oxford Street. The story of shopping, and how some of London's stores became world famous. A must for shoppaholics!
Meet Oxford Circus Tube Station, exit 4:	14.30
Finish: Marble Arch Tube Station	Duration: 90 mins.

Would you like to arrange a walking tour for a group?.