The Beatles Last Concert in London
London Best Known Characters: Harry Potter, Cleopatra, Lord Byron
Apr 9, 2008
From ancient Egypt to the Beatles, from Lord Byron to Harry Potter, London has history wherever you look. Here are just five fascinating snippets:
1) Australia House, the Strand
At one time you could take guided tours around the Australian High Commission, in its rather grand home on the Strand, but recent events put a stop to that. No, not security, for once, but Harry Potter. The place where Londoners go to get their Australian visas is also Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – or the Sorcerer's Stone as they called it in America. When word got round, the Commission was besieged by too many keen young visitors all wanting to see the Muggle-Wizarding Currency Exchange – and the tours had to stop.
2) Cleopatra's Needle, the Embankment
Cleopatra's Needle is the oldest object in London, about 4000 years old in fact, but it's got nothing to do with Cleopatra. It was a gift to Britain in 1819 by the Viceroy of Egypt, as thanks for military help from Lord Nelson and Sir Ralph Abercromby. So grateful was the British government for the generous gift that... they refused to pay the cost of transporting it from Alexandria to London. The answer, then as now, was sponsorship. A generous benefactor covered the £10,000 cost, but six people lost their lives when the ship sunk in the Bay of Biscay. The Needle, encased in an iron cylinder, rather amazingly floated.
3) St Martin-in-the-Fields church, Trafalgar Square
You'll have to look hard to see any fields here today, but for centuries the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields was indeed in the fields that separated the City of Westminster from the City of London. It was remote enough to escape the Great Fire of London, but the old church was replaced by the present building in 1721. For the last forty years the church has been home to an active Chinese congregation, mostly from nearby Chinatown. Every Sunday there's a service in Mandarin at 1.15 and another an hour later in Cantonese.
4) 3 Savile Row
If you want to understand the significance of 3 Savile Row, you'll have to cross the road and look up towards the roof. Imagine you can hear the Beatles singing Get Back. That's what happened at lunchtime on 30th January 1969, when the Fab Four played together for the final time, two and a half years after their previous live show. The street filled with office workers, wondering if it was true. People hung out of windows, and climbed onto other rooftops to get a better look. Till the police stopped the show. No wonder they called them the Blue Meanies.
5) 100 Pall Mall
100 Pall Mall brought together a star, a garter, a murder, a poet and a Lord. Here in 1765 was the Star and Garter tavern, where the poet Lord Byron got into an argument over dinner with a Mr Chatworth. He challenged him to a duel, which took place in one of the tavern's upstairs rooms. Byron's sword fatally wounded Mr Chatsworth, and the poet spent three months in the Tower of London, awaiting trial. He was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. However, as a Lord, Byron was able to plead Benefit of Clergy, an ancient law which gave privileges to certain groups of people, and he got off. Some things never change.
Read about more Harry Potter London locations.
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