The Fountains Abbey in late 2022. PICTURE: Google Maps
This unusually named pub dates from the early 19th century and is known for its connections with Sir Alexander Fleming.
PICTURE: Google Maps
The pub was founded in 1824 and it’s name, according to a former signboard, apparently comes from two sources – “fountains” which relates to nearby springs and wells and “abbey” which relates to Westminster Abbey which formerly possessed the Manor of Paddington (on the land of which the pub is located).
The current signboard, however, has a picture of the medieval ruins of the former Cistercian monastery of Fountains Abbey, located near Ripon in North Yorkshire, so it may be that the name actually relates to that. Or perhaps both explanations can be true.
Sir Alexander was apparently a regular at the pub – in fact, there’s a story that mould spores from this establishment blew through Fleming’s window and lead him to discover penicillin in 1928.
• Tower Bridge marks its 130th birthday this year and to mark the event, the London Metropolitan Archives are hosting a free exhibition charting its history at the City of London’s Heritage Gallery. Designed by Horace Jones, the bridge opened on 30th June, 1894, and the display reflects on the splendour of that royal event as well as examining how and why the bridge was built, the engineering involved and how the bridge played a role in defending London during World War I. The exhibition runs until 19th September at the gallery, located in the Guildhall Art Gallery. Booking tickets is recommended. For more, see https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/tower-bridge-at-the-heritage-gallery.
• Actor Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Dublin-born novelist Iris Murdoch have been honoured with English Heritage Blue Plaques. A leading figure in 20th century theatre, Dame Peggy has been remembered with a plaque on her childhood home in South Croydon. It was in what was then a “leafy market town” that at the age of 13 Peggy first dreamt of performing on the stage while standing outside the local grocers on George Street and to which she returned in 1962 to open a theatre named after her. The plaque honouring Murdoch, meanwhile, has been placed on 29 Cornwall Gardens, part of a Italianate stucco-fronted mid-Victorian terrace in Kensington where she occupied a top floor flat. Murdoch lived in London for more than 25 years and during that time would spend three days a week in the flat. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/
Alexandra Exter, ‘Three Female Figures’, 1909-10Oil on canvas, 63 x 60 cmNational Art Museum of Ukraine
• The most comprehensive UK exhibition to date of modern art in Ukraine opens at the Royal Academy on Saturday.In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s, features some 65 works, many on loan from the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine. Artists represented in the display, which is divided into six sections, include such renowned names as Alexander Archipenko, Sonia Delaunay, Alexandra Exter and Kazymyr Malevych as well as lesser-known artists such as Mykhailo Boichuk, Oleksandr Bohomazov and Vasyl Yermilov. Runs in the The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries until 13th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.royalacademy.org.uk.
• The work of artists who have illustrated Michael Rosen’s many books for children are the subject of a new exhibition at the Heath Robinson Museum.Michael Rosen: The Illustrators explores Rosen’s books and the many artists who illustrated them over his 50 year career including the likes of Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury, Chris Riddell and Korky Paul. Among the works on show are original drawings for titles including We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book and Michael Rosen’s Book of Nonsense! Runs until 22nd September. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/.
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Said to be the oldest of its species in the UK (and a contender for the oldest tree in London), this holm oak (Quercus ilex), also known as a holly leaved oak, is believed to be more than 500-years-old.
The site was the home of senior clergy for much longer – Waldhere, the Bishop of London, first bought the site in 704 AD. And over the years, Fulham Palace and its gardens have evolved significantly with some of the current structures dating from Tudor times.
The Bishops of London left the palace in 1973 and it’s now managed under a trust which was established in 2011.
It’s possible this immense evergreen oak, which is native to the Mediterranean region, was among a number planted in the mid-16th century during the tenure of Bishop Edmund Grindal (about 1553 to 1559).
Bishop Grindal is known to have had a keen interest in the garden and who is credited with introducing the tamarisk tree to England and growing grapes which were sent to Queen Elizabeth I.
It’s also possible the tree was planted during the later tenure of Bishop John Aylmer (1576 to 1594).
The oak, which was coppiced many years ago extending its life, is among the original 41 trees awarded “Great Tree” status in 1988.
• The first major exhibition to focus on the six wives of King Henry VIII opens at the National Portrait Gallery today. The first historical exhibition at the gallery since its reopening, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens features more than 140 works and includes everything from 16th century portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger through to costumes from SIX the Musical. The display will examine representation of the queens in chronological order starting with Katherine of Aragon before moving on to Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Parr and Katherine Howard, and, as well as historic paintings, includes miniatures, drawings and some of the queen’s personal possessions such as letters and books. Highlights include a three-quarter length painted panel of Katherine Parr attributed to ‘Master John’, a portrait of Anne of Cleves by Edgar Degas and contemporary portraits by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Personal possessions on show include Katherine of Aragon’s writing box, Anne Boleyn’s inscribed Book of Hours with her signature deliberately erased, an illustrated Bible commissioned by Thomas Cromwell following the death of Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleve’s expense account book, a miniature portrait believed to be of Katherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger and a prayer book written by Katherine Howard. Admission charge applies. Runs until 8th September. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.
• West End Live takes place in Trafalgar Square this weekend with a line-up of more than 50 acts – from productions ranging from Disney’s Frozen to Mrs Doubtfire set to hit the stage. The unticketed free event, now in its ninth year, will also be streamed on Official London Theatre’s YouTube after the event. Gates will open at approximately 10.15am on Saturday and 11.15am on Sunday. Entry to all areas is managed on a first come, first served basis and queues are expected. Entry cannot be guaranteed. For more, head to the West End LIVE website.
A scene from the NAOMI exhibition. PICTURE: Courtesy of the V&A
• An exhibition exploring the 40 year career of leading British fashion model Naomi Campbell opens at the V&A on Saturday. NAOMI features around 100 looks from global high fashion and draws upon Campbell’s own extensive wardrobe of haute couture and leading ready-to-wear ensembles along with loans from designer archives and objects from V&A collection. Designers represented include everyone from Alexander McQueen, Chanel, and Dolce & Gabbana to Gianni and Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood and Yves Saint Laurent. The display also includes photography by Nick Knight, Steven Meisel and Tim Walker. Runs until 6th April, 2025. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk.
They include a Japanese pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum) which was planted in 1762 after having been brought back to London from China by London nurseryman James Gorden.
There’s also the oldest of the maidenhair trees (Ginkgo biloba) in the garden, one of several grown by Gorden in 1758. Originally planted in the Duke of Argyll’s Garden at Whitton, it was transferred to Kew in 1762 following his death by his nephew Lord Bute, and is thought to be one of the first of its species to be grown in the country.
The Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis), located next to the Orangery, also apparently come from Whitton, brought to Kew in 1762, while the Caucasian elm (Zelkova carpinifolia) was planted in 1760 and is the only survivor of a group of three, the other two lost in storms in 1987 and 1990.
The last of the five trees is a Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) tree, also known as thefalse acacia tree. It was planted in the gardens in 1762 and was also transplanted from the Duke of Argyll’s Garden at Whitton.
WHERE: Kew Gardens (nearest Tube station is Kew Gardens); WHEN: 10am to 7pm (see website for seasonal changes); COST: From £20 for adults; from £18 concessions; from £9 young person (16 to 29 years); from £5 for children (4 to 15 years); see website for ticket categories WEBSITE: www.kew.org.
Established in the 1970s, Mudchute Farm and Park – at 32 acres – is one of the largest urban farms in Europe and is home to more than 100 animals including, as well as these sheep, pigs, goats, cows, ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, and llamas. For more, see www.mudchute.org.
• Members of the public are invited to view a shortlist of ideas for the proposed Memorial to Victims of Transatlantic Slavery to be located in West India Quay. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pledged £500,000 to fund the memorial which will be the first of its kind in the UK. Short-listed works include Alberta Whittle”s Echoes from beneath the deep and in between the canes (a Caribbean-style pavilion alongside a sugarcane field and cowrie shells which are synonymous with the trade in enslaved people); Zak Ové’s Nana Buluku (an 11 metre tall and richly decorated representation of an African Queen, Nana Buluku); Grada Kilomba’sArchaeology of Contemplation (this uses the image of a boat as a metaphor of remembrance, remembering those who were transported as cargo by the British and other nations); Helen Cammock’sRipple (a large-scale, circular stone structure with six discoverable engraved texts in West African wood); Hew Locke’sMemorial for the victims of the transatlantic slave trade (bronze sculptures of boys and girls carrying buildings which were built in London from money earned by the trade in enslaved people); and, Khaleb Brooks – The Wake(a large scale cowrie shell which represents the perseverance, prosperity and beauty rooted in African and African diasporic heritage). An online exhibition of the shortlisted work is available to view on https://www.london.gov.uk/transatlantic-slavery-memorial and the public is invited to give their feedback.
• Winning entries from the Royal Parks’ photographic competition Creating Spaces for Life can be seen online. Take a gander, which features four goslings under the protective wing of a parent, won the competition which invited visitors to photograph the new life emerging in the eight Royal Parks during the springtime. Other entries among the winners included a swan taking flight, a silhouetted coot appearing to walk on water and a common blue butterfly pictured in the spring sunshine. To see the winning images, head to www.royalparks.org.uk/photography-competition-creating-spaces-for-life.
Nations, including the UK, have just marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy at a range of locations in France and England. But did you know London has its own “D-Day tree”?
The tree, a Ginkgo biloba or Maidenhair tree, is located outside number 22 in Grosvenor Square in Mayfair (on the corner with Upper Brooks Street). It was planted in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
As well as the tree itself, the landings are commemorated with plaques around the base which provide the date of the landings and its code-name, Operation Overlord.
The location apparently relates to 20 Grosvenor Square being, for a time, the headquarters of Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force launched on D-Day. There’s a plaque on the building commemorating his tenure.
In fact, the number of Americans working in the square – at locations including the US Embassy – led to it being known colloquially as ‘Eisenhower Platz’).
The tree was planted by the City of Westminster.
Note: There seems to be some conflicting information, not the least on a plaque in Bushy Park about Eisenhower’s connections with Grosvenor Square and Norfolk House in St James’s Square. We’ll be investigating further to clarify.
Members of the Household Division in London rehearse for the King’s Birthday Parade, known as Trooping the Colour. The Colonel’s Review is held one week before and saw some 250 musicians, 20 pipers, 240 military working horses, and almost 1,000 dual role soldiers of the British Army’s Household Division run through their paces on Saturday. Trooping the Colour will take place on 15th June.
Sitting over the main entrance to Waterloo Station is a Victory Arch which commemorates railway personnel who died in World War I and II.
There are several plaques located at the top of the steps under the arch commemorating those who died in the conflicts and among them, particularly notable this week as the world marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, is one commemorating those who died in the Normandy landings.
The plaque was installed on the 50th anniversary of the landings – 6th June, 1994.
The arch was built as part of a station rebuild in the first couple of decades of the 20th century and added to the design following World War I. The new station was completed in 1922.
The now Grade II-listed memorial, the work of sculptor Charles Whiffen, features two sculptural groups located on either side – one dedicated to Bellona and dated 1914 and the other dedicated to Peace and dated 1918.
Set around a glazed arch are the names of countries where key battles were fought in the conflict and at the centre is a clock set within in a sunburst. Sitting above the arch is a depiction of Britannia holding aloft the torch of liberty.
As well as the D-Day plaque under the arch, a Roll of Honour commemorates the 585 London and South Western Railway employees who lost their lives in World War I. There is also a plaque commemorating the 626 men of the Southern Railway who died in World War II.
• Edgar Degas’ Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando (1879) takes centre stage in a new free exhibition at The National Gallery. Part of the free ‘Discover’ series of displays, Discover Degas & Miss La La takes a close look at the painting and reveals new information about the sitter, circus artist Miss La La, or Anna Albertine Olga Brown (1858‒1945). The display features new material, from rare, hitherto untraced drawings of her by Degas and entirely unpublished photographic portraits. In the Sunley Room until 1st September. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
• Daily life at the Old Royal Naval College has been captured in a series of photographic images now on show at the Greenwich institution.A Year in the Life: People and places of the Old Royal Naval College features 12 images snapped by award-winning photographer Hugh Fox over the past 12 months and includes some portraits of staff show alongside short interviews. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own headphones to better experience the audio-visual display in the Ripley Tunnel. Free to attend, the display can be seen until 1st September. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/.
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Standing on a Barbican walkway is the remnant of a tree believed to be at least 500-years-old which fell during a storm January, 1990.
The now hollowed-out stub of the beech tree (Fagus Sylvatica) had previously been located in the woodland known as Burnham Beeches, in Buckinghamshire – a woodland which was purchased by the City of London Corporation in 1880.
But what apparently sets this tree out from the others at Burnham Beeches is that it is believed famed German composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1808-1847) used to sit under its then leafy branches while staying nearby during his several visits to England.
He is said to have done so to gain inspiration for his compositions and among the works he is said to have composed while here is some “incidental music” for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (although it has been suggested this might not actually be the exact tree under which he sat).
The tree and its plaque were installed in 1993 by the Barbican Horticultural Society and unveiled by conductor and composer Carl Davis.
There is now a replacement “Mendelssohn’s Tree” in Burnham Beeches which was planted in 2005.
WHERE: Barbican, off Aldersgate St (nearest Tube station is Barbican); WHEN: Anytime; COST: Free; WEBSITE: N/A.
A ring-tailed lemur who famously once lived in Eltham Palace, Mah-Jongg was the much-indulged pet of rich-listers Stephen and Virginia Courtauld during the interwar period.
A replica of Mah-Jongg climbs his bamboo ladder at Eltham Palace. PICTURE: BEV Norton (licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The couple purchased the lemur through Harrod’s then pet department soon after their marriage in 1923. He was immediately christened Mah-Jongg but commonly referred to as “Jongy”.
As well as residing with them in their Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, residence, the lemur also travelled with the Courtaulds.
This included on their luxurious motor yacht, the Virginia, on which he had a specially designed deck chair to lounge in (although Jongy, who had a reputation for being a bit nippy at times, is said to have disgraced himself at a farewell lunch for the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, of which Stephen was a sponsor, when he bit the expedition’s wireless operator, Percy Lemon, and severed an artery; it took Lemon three months to recover).
When the Courtaulds bought Eltham Palace in 1933, Mah-Jongg’s image was incorporated into the building including in a mural in the billiard room and in wooden bosses carved in his likeness in the Great Hall.
Mah-Jongg also had specially designed living quarters on the first floor with a trapdoor opening to a bamboo ladder that led down to the Flower Room on the ground floor. His cage was decorated with Madagascan rainforests by Gertrude Whinfield.
Mah-Jongg died in 1938. A memorial to him was originally installed at Eltham Palace but is now located at the Courthauld’s last home, a replica French villa called La Rochelle, in what is now Zimbabwe.
He’s also famously seen in Leonard Campbell Taylor’s 1934 portrait of the Courthaulds in the music room of their Grosvenor Square home.
The two gnarled mulberry trees on either side of the fountain. PICTURE: Jim Linwood (licensed under CC BY 2.0)
While there’s been gardens here dating back possibly as far as the middle of the 12th century when the Templars established a preceptory here, these two trees have a more recent historic (and royal) link.
The gnarled black mulberrys (Morus nigra) in the Fountain Court were planted here on 20th June, 1887, to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
There were actually four mulberry trees planted to mark the occasion – which was celebrated with a grand dinner in the nearby Middle Temple Hall – but these two trees are the only survivors, the other two having been removed in the 1970s.
Postcard showing the Empire Stadium. PICTURE: Via Wikipedia/Public Domain
It’s 100 years ago this year that the British Empire Exhibition was held in Wembley Park.
Located on a more than 200 acre site, the exhibition was designed to showcase the diversity and reach of the empire. It ran for two six-month long summer seasons – first opening on 23rd April, 1924, and running until 1st November that year and then reopening on 9th May, 1925, and running until 1st October.
The opening ceremony, which took place on St George’s Day, was attended by King George V and Queen Mary, and the event, in a first for a monarch, was broadcast on BBC radio.
The exhibition, which cost £12 million and attracted some 27 million visitors, featured what was said to be the largest sports arena in the world – Empire Stadium (later known as Wembley Stadium) – as well as four main pavilions dedicated to industry, engineering, the arts and the government, and a series of pavilions for 56 of the empire’s 58 territories as well as some commercial pavilions.
The latter included an Indian pavilion modelled on Jama Masjid in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra, a West African pavilion designed to look like an Arab fort, a Burmese pavilion designed to look like a temple and a Maltese pavilion designed as a fortress with the entrance resembling the famed Mdina Gate.
The Empire Stadium hosted events including military tattoos and Wild West rodeos while other attractions included a lake, a 47 acre fairground, a garden, restaurants and a working replica coal mine.
Star attractions included a replica of King Tutankhamen’s tomb (housed in the fairground), a working model of Niagara Falls and a full-sized sculpture of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) made of butter (both in the Canadian pavilion), a 16 foot diameter ball of wool (Australian pavilion) and dodgem cars (also in the funfair). Queen Mary’s Dollhouse – now housed at Windsor – was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and served as a miniature showcase of the finest goods of the period.
Reinforced concrete was the main building material used in its construction, earning it the title of the first “concrete city”. The streets of the exhibition, meanwhile, were named by Rudyard Kipling.
The Malta Pavilion entrance. PICTURE: Wikipedia/Public Domain
Wembley Park Tube station, which had first opened in 1893, was rebuilt for the event and a new station – Exhibition Station (Wembley) added (it was officially closed in 1969).
While many of the buildings were dismantled after the exhibition, some survived for decades afterwards including, of course, the Empire Stadium which became Wembley Stadium and was the home of English football until replaced in 2003.
• The City of London has unveiled a new blue plaque commemorating the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which is this year marking its 200th anniversary. The plaque is on the Furniture Makers’ Hall in Austin Friars which is where the organisation has its first headquarters from 1824 to 1826. The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of London, Professor Michael Mainelli. The RNLI, which today operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland including four on the River Thames, was founded by Sir William Hillary in the City of London Tavern in Bishopsgate on 4th March, 1824, and early meetings were held at various addresses until it moved into 12 Austin Friars. Meanwhile, ‘Ian Visits’ reports that a new plaque has also been installed at Limehouse Basin to commemorate Lifbåt 416 which was built there by Forrestt & Son’s boatyard in 1868 and sent as a gift to the King of Sweden, Karl XV. The Lifbåt 416, which has been restored, returned to Limehouse Basin this week after attending RNLI commemorations in Poole, Dorset (where it was the oldest lifeboat to take part in a mile-long flotilla).
Hargila army papier-mache headdress close up. PICTURE: Courtesy of Natural History Museum
• The “weird and wonderful” ways birds have adapted to survive are celebrated in a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre, which opens at the South Kensington institution on Friday, has been created in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and features installations and hands-on exhibits which allow visitors to feel how fast a hummingbird’s heart beats when in flight, smell the strange oil one bird uses to protect its eggs and listen to the sound of a dawn chorus of birds in the year 2050. Objects on show include the ‘Wonderchicken’ – the oldest known fossil of a modern bird, a replica of a stork that flew across the world from the African continent with a spear lodged in its neck, and a headdress of the ‘Hargila army’ (pictured), a group of women in the Indian state of Assam who work to protect one of the world’s rarest storks. Admission charge applies. Runs until 5th January. For more, see www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/birds-brilliant-bizarre.html.
• A walk-through photographic exhibition featuring some of the most iconic photos of Princess Diana opens on Saturday.Princess Diana: Accredited Access features 75 life-sized photographs by her official royal photographer, Anwar Hussein, and his two sons – Samir and Zak – which include behind the scenes access. The exhibition at the Dockside Vaults, St Katharine Docks, runs until 2nd September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.princessdianaexhibit.com.
View of Castletown Road in Barons Court. PICTURE: Courtesy of Google Maps
This district in west London doesn’t have anything to do with any particular baron but rather was named Barons Court by the late 19th century developer Sir William Palliser.
It apparently refers to the Court Baron, a form of manorial court which could be held in medieval times by any Lord of the Manor and is perhaps a nod to nearby Earl’s Court. It’s said by some that it may also be a reference to the Baronscourt estate in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, where Sir William possibly had connections.
Many of the street names refer to members of the Palliser family or estates and the district, which lies between West Kensington and Hammersmith, features a Tube station which opened in 1905.
Barons Court did suffer bomb damage during World War II.
Landmarks include the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), housed in what was formerly a ballet school on Talgarth Road, the Queen’s Club tennis club, and the Margravine or Hammersmith Cemetery, which, laid out by architect George Saunders, opened in 1868.
Exploring London 
