It’s a London Thing is our Wednesday series in which we turn the spotlight on a unique aspect of London – perhaps a curious shop, sometimes an eccentric restaurant, a hidden place, book or oddity. The subject matter will be different every week. The running theme, however, will remain constant: you have to come to London to enjoy it. It’s A London Thing.
A copy of
Time Out. Ditto a copy of
The Evening Standard. Indispensible both.*
A book. Any book. Don’t get stuck on the Tube without one. As I type this, I’m glancing around this carriage, this hurtling library. In my section alone the books I see are
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – appropriately a book about books and paper;
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, an apposite tale to read underground in London;
Microsoft Word for the Over 50s (see, it’s never too late to learn new things); and a Dan Brown. There’s always a Dan Brown.
A ticket to
Billy Elliot** – best British musical since
Blood Brothers and up there with
Oliver as the greatest, IMHO – is also a very good piece of London paper to have.
A tube map. Beautiful to look at, simple to follow: the perfect mix of style and substance, ornament and practicality. Sure, you’ve got an electronic device and it’s got GPS and a search facility and a “Save Favourite Journeys” widget and it plays
When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano while you wait for it to load. But by the time you’ve switched on, logged in and typed, I have, at a glance, already found the quickest way from Cockfosters to Mudchute. The map is now back in my pocket and I’ve settled down to read
The Evening Standard over my neighbour’s shoulder (is this still considered rude now that the Standard is a free paper?).
If the battle between electronic tube maps vs. paper maps was a Western gunfight, then I’m Gary Cooper and I’m now striding away to get the girl. You are eating dust, my friend.
Anyway, if you are visiting London, then the small paper tube map is the perfect souvenir to take home and keep. Press it between the pages of a book and let it surprise you one day in the future. With its pen circlings and notes in your own fair hand (the words "Billy Elliot" scrawled beside Victoria station) it will remind you that you have to come back and see us in London.
Same goes for your paper copy of the A–Z, the greatest London book of ‘em all. I’ve kept the first copy I ever bought. It’s in black and white on newsprint-ish paper and it has my peregrinations in search of rented accomodation and employment marked in red biro. It’s not quite written in Latin with “Here Be Dragons” emblazoned across anything outside the Londinium City wall, but it has a lot of gaps at what is now known as Canary Wharf, the only Dome was St Paul’s and it certainly doesn’t have Andrew Borde Street. It’s my Domesday Book, my Magna Carta, it marks the moment I became a Londoner. And I wouldn’t part with it for all the royalties from
The Da Vinci Code.
Then there’s the
Famous White Leaflet. It’s portable. It’s interactive (i.e. you can unfold it AND read it). It’s a great umbrella when it rains – you can always pick up a new one at St Martin-in-the-Fields or Mr Simms sweet shop at Ludgate Hill. It’s the means by which you will identify your
London Walks guide (s/he will be brandishing it outside the designated tube station). And the new season leaflet, Summer 2011, is in production right now.
The Famous White Leaflet. It’s a London Thing.
POST UPDATED 2/3/16
* When this post first appeared both Time Out & The Evening Standard were both still paid-for publications, both are now freesheets
** Billy Eliott closes on 9th April 2016
A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
Monday is mute on the London Walks Blog (well, almost mute) – because Monday is the day when we post five images captured in and around London by London Walks Guides, London Walkers and Facebook friends. Collated on a theme or an area, if you've got some great shots of our capital and want to join in send your pictures to the usual address.
St Giles Church by Henry Flitcroft
Left to right: 19th, 21st and 20th century St Giles
The St Giles Alms House
Tin Pan Alley (see Friday's Rock'n'Roll London Walk)
Still looking modern 45 years on.
