...why indeed, young Lily; for on a day like today where the sun unexpectedly shone on a glorious Bank Holiday Monday, London looks and feels majestic. How do I know? Why, because today my blogettes, I had a wee crack at task number 15, namely to be a tourist in my home town – and what a joy it turned out to be. Armed with my newly acquired copy of ‘Walks of London’ I chalked off the first two chapters, which randomly covered ‘Soho’s colourful past’ and ‘Movie Murder Scenes of London’. Granted, these aren’t the two topics which would spring to mind for most, but then again the book was £4.99 in the bargain book sale at work.
So, what did I learn? Well, lots and lots of stuff; far too much to describe here, but particular highlights included:
· The backdrop to that Oscar-winning classic, ‘Emmanuelle in Soho’ (I may have made the Oscar-winning bit up)
· Drinking coffee at Tommy Steele’s favourite cafe (I’m really not making this up – think the book may have been over-priced)
· Having a swift half in the ‘Golden Lion’ where 60s mass murdered Dennis Nielsen picked up his prey (niiice!)
However, all of these exciting finds paled into insignificance compared to two wonderful revelations. Before I reveal these, I should explain to those not in the know, that I am a bit of a Carry On afficianado – no surprise to those who have experienced my somewhat juvenile and smutty sense of humour. Indeed, I am such a fan that I, somehow; managed to get away with producing a Marxist critique of ‘Carry on up the Khyber’ as part of my degree (a startling admission right up there with using ‘I Tina: the autobiography of Tina Turner’ as the basis of my essay on Black-American Writing...well it was a much-easier read than Alice Walker or Toni Morrison). As well as seemingly genuinely nice people, the likes of Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Terry Scott led such colourful and interesting lives compared to those of the talentless and charmless celebs we have to read about today - I’d take Joan Sims over Cheryl Cole any day, wouldn’t you? In short (if only, I hear you cry), my excitement runneth over at my two BIG findings; namely:
1. Discovering that private members club, The Groucho, was smashed up on more than one occasion by Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw during their apparently legendary all night sessions. I’ll repeat that last bit again – Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw on all-night sessions. OMG, how amazing would it have been to have been part of their group? I’m not sure words have yet been invented to describe how cool it would have been to go drinking with Sid James. Incidentally, did you know he was South African and trained as a hairdresser? You didn’t? Good, something to amuse your friends with.
2. Finding, purely by chance (ie not mentioned in the book), the house where Kenneth Williams lived (photo attached). If you’re ever looking for a cracking read, I can thoroughly recommend Kenneth Williams’ diaries. It must be nearly twenty years since I read these, but I can still remember the last four words of the book which today remain five of the most powerful and emotional words I have ever read.
There were soooo many other interesting facts and pieces of information and folklore which made this afternoon so enriching. I am now hooked and cannot wait to explore more of London – but you can help! If you have any tips, places of interest or sights you think I should see, please send them my way. In the meantime, BIG thanks to The G for sending this task my way.
All in all, today was a very good day indeed. And along the way, I decided that further to yesterday’s little quandary, I should marry Liza Tarbuck – it was the chance of spending my weekends playing golf with Jimmy and Kenny Lynch which swung it.
A pleasure honey. How about we do the tourist bit when I come visit in July?
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