The London Nightly Photoblog

Welcome back to the London Nightly Photoblog at The Daily Constitutional.

We’ve been walking and blogging all day, and there’s time for just one last look at London before lights out.

Maybe you saw tonight’s pictured location on one of today’s London Walks. Perhaps it’s your shot, sent to us at the usual email address.

Of course some London Walks guides will still be out there, Londoning away into the small hours. For them, we borrow a famous London phrase… Goodnight, and good luck.

Wot? No pork scratchings?

We’re back tomorrow morning, blogging and walking. The blogging will be right here, so bookmark us.

For tomorrow’s walking tours CLICK HERE FORTHE LONDON WALKS CALENDAR 

These Boots Were Made For Walking (Tours) #3

Our series in which the London Walks guides share their thoughts on sensible (and not-so-sensible) shoes…

Andy Rashleigh, the East End’s finest, gives us the lowdown on his chosen walking tour footwear…

Winter and wet – North Face Vibram which I bought in Basingstoke during the snows the winter before last and have seen me through 18 months almost daily walking. They are beginning to split at the seams, the tread is going and I occasionally slip on wet paving slabs, but I'll be sad when I have to say good bye.

Summer and dry – Keen walking sandals WITHOUT socks. Three years old, they have also been with me in the Trossachs, Tuscany and the Jurassic Coast. Once more the seams and tread are on their way out but I'm holding on until the summer sales start.

The Editor adds: Here is a pic of some Keen sandals…

…and here’s another of some socks…

We’ve kept them apart in our pictures and, as Andy so rightly suggests, one should also keep ‘em apart in public. What you do in your own home is another matter and none of our business. But please, gents, not in respectable society. Thanks.

Andy

Andy crewed yachts in the Caribbean, was held at gunpoint in Haiti and delivered cars across the USA. He's a grizzled old actor/playwright with a wealth of experience, knowledge, unbeatable London stories and a deep love of his native city.

You can join him on the following London Walks: Literary Bloomsbury, Westminster at War, The Olympic Walk, London’s Secret Village and The Blitz.

POST UPDATED 17/3/16

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.

Friday Is Rock'n'Roll London Day

Elsewhere in Rock’n’Roll London

The Lyceum Theatre

The Lyceum Theatre today is home to The Lion King – a musical written by old rockers Tim Rice (co-founder of the indispensible Guinness Book of British Hit Singles) and Elton John.

The building’s rich theatrical history throws up an impressive cast list – with Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry topping the bill.

But it also retains a special place in the hearts of rock’n’roll Londoners – as the Lyceum Ballroom such legendary names as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, The Clash, U2 and The Smiths played here. It is of particular importance to fans of Bob Marley.

In 1975 Bob Marley and the Wailers (in a new incarnation, the originals having split in ’74) recorded their Live! album at the Lyceum. The album dates from the period when Marley first became an international star following his breakthrough hit No Woman, No Cry (from the Natty Dread album, 1975)

Kevin McDonald’s documentary on the life and work of the Jamaican legend – titled simply Marley – was released on DVD last week (pictured above). You can buy it at Fopp London, 1 Earlham Street WC2 (along the route of the Rock’n’Roll London Walk)

Join the Rock’n'Roll London Walk on Friday at 2pm, meeting at Tottenham Court Road Station (Exit 3) – to book a Private Walk call 020 7642 3978 or email london@walks.com

The London Nightly Photoblog

Welcome back to the London Nightly Photoblog at The Daily Constitutional.

We’ve been walking and blogging all day, and there’s time for just one last look at London before lights out.

Maybe you saw tonight’s pictured location on one of today’s London Walks. Perhaps it’s your shot, sent to us at the usual email address.

Of course some London Walks guides will still be out there, Londoning away into the small hours. For them, we borrow a famous London phrase… Goodnight, and good luck.

A nice sit down and a cup of tea, Parliament Hill-style

We’re back tomorrow morning, blogging and walking. The blogging will be right here, so bookmark us.

For tomorrow’s walking tours CLICK HERE FORTHE LONDON WALKS CALENDAR 

Streets Ahead

Streets Ahead is the occasional column from London Walks' Pen David Tucker…

What's in a name? Juliet* asks.

Quite a bit actually.

A case in point: the famous London placename, Oxford Street.

The first ever mention of that thoroughfare as Oxford Street was in 1725. Before that it was always Oxford Road or Tyburn Road.

The "quite a bit" that's in that tiny London factoid is that London didn't get out there until well into the 18th century. Before that - well, Oxford Street wasn't Oxford Street because it wasn't in London.

The rule of thumb being: streets are urban, roads are country cousins. No city no streets. No London (out there), no Oxford Street.

Until 1725. The name pitching up then is a form of urban carbon dating - it tells us that London was just "connecting" with that country road in 1725 - or thereabouts.

A placename, a date and a little bit of analysis and hey presto a little bit of London history - a bit of its timeline - snaps into focus.

But hey that's what you'd expect. The Greek root of the word analysis means, after all, "release".

"Analyse" the coming together of the placename Oxford Street and the date 1825 and you're necessarily going to "release" a smidgeon of understanding about London's past.

*Yes, that Juliet. Shakespeare's Juliet.

The London Nightly Photoblog

Welcome back to the Nightly London Photoblog at The Daily Constitutional.

We’ve been walking and blogging all day, and there’s time for just one last look at London before lights out.

Maybe you saw tonight’s pictured location on one of today’s London Walks. Perhaps it’s your shot, sent to us at the usual email address.

Of course some London Walks guides will still be out there, Londoning away into the small hours. For them, we borrow a famous London phrase… Goodnight, and good luck.

Hammersmith Bridge goes nuts

We’re back tomorrow morning, blogging and walking. The blogging will be right here, so bookmark us.

For tomorrow’s walking tours CLICK HERE FORTHE LONDON WALKS CALENDAR 

Wenlock & Mandeville: A Guide For Old Farts

Look me in the eye…

…and tell me that you still hate Wenlock and Mandeville. Here’s what our chums at Manchester Walks think of ‘em (via Twitter)…

I’ve become incredibly fond of the pair over the summer. But I do have to come clean: when I first saw them my reaction was… “Huh?”

“They are clearly,” wrote Creative Review, “of the digital age.”

And perhaps therein lies the rub: I was too old to get it.

My five-year-old daughter merely sighed with disdain when I asked, “Which one’s Wenlock and which one’s Mandeville?” And it is she who helped me to decipher the whole picture. I pass her wisdom on to you, so that you too may grow to love them as I have done.

They were formed, so she tells me, from the metal of a bit of the Olympic Stadium.

[Nice, legendary stuff.]

And their skin is a shiny metal that reflects things around them.

[Very 2012, this: The Shard does just the same.]

Wenlock’s head is more bullet-shaped…

… while Mandeville’s looks more like a kind of cycling helmet…

…while on his wrist he wears a sort of digital watch…

This differs from Wenlock…

… who sports the Olympic rings as bracelets, two on one wrist and three on the other.

Simple.

Simpler yet is the fact that each has their initial stamped on her/his* forehead… which formed the crux of the “Doh!” moment for my daughter.

[* This his/her business: I have been unable to ascertain the sex of the two. If you have any information, do drop us a line at the usual address.]

Does this help? Have I convinced you? Or are you still of the opinion that they look like the result of “a drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek." (With thanks to the Canadian Globe & Mail newspaper.)

I think the sight of families posing by the statues of W&M all over London, many of them pulling Usain Bolt poses, has been one of the highlights of the summer. Silly and jolly, it has cheered me greatly. I’m going to miss them when they’re gone.

Which leads me to my new campaign: Wenlock and Mandeville for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square!

Any takers?

POST UPDATED 6/4/16

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.