Having met with an Excluded friend, we decided to go for a drink and I knew just the perfect place. The Royal Oak is in part over 1,000 years old with parts of it dating back since 1002 AD. There are lots of old alleys and pubs in Winchester so you don’t have to look… Continue reading The Royal Oak Pub – Winchester
Remembering when I sang for the Queen in Westminster Abbey and speaking on on a Boston breakfast radio show
I know lots of people are a little or a lot sad about the Queen whether for her role in the country or simply as an older lady who has overseen us all our lives. It has been a weird few days working in London with a sombre but appreciative atmosphere and memorials cropping up… Continue reading Remembering when I sang for the Queen in Westminster Abbey and speaking on on a Boston breakfast radio show
Winchester West Gate and the Butter Cross
Following on from my Winchester posts onthe old plague memorial and King Arthurs Round Table we come to the Westgate; one of two surviving fortified gateways in Winchester (the other being Kingsgate). For centuries they were incorporated into Winchester City Walls. Though there is the odd small fragment of Roman wall in Winchester, the earliest surviving segments of the gate… Continue reading Winchester West Gate and the Butter Cross
Fall Movie Review
I’ve seen quite a few good films so far this year though perhaps not as many as I would like due to work commitments and indeed release schedules being in tatters after Covid. On Sunday I went to see Fall, partly as I liked the trailer but also because Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in it,… Continue reading Fall Movie Review
Visiting the table of King Arthur and his Knights at the Great Hall in Winchester
Have you ever wanted to visit Camelot? It can be rather tricky given no-one is quite sure where it existed or even if it existed at all. One of the contenders for Camelot is Winchester to whatever degree King Arthur can be said to be an historical figure or a mythical legend, a visit to… Continue reading Visiting the table of King Arthur and his Knights at the Great Hall in Winchester
Runaway babies and attempted murder, another day as a London tour guide
I see a lot of people when I am out and about in London. Famous people, bad people, homeless people, kind people and lots of different and unusual situations which to others are almost once in a lifetime things for good and for bad and yet as anyone on my Facebook pages will know, seem… Continue reading Runaway babies and attempted murder, another day as a London tour guide
The Winchester Plague Memorial Cross
Years ago, I used to write all sorts on here about holidays, weekends away and days out. The truth is, I don’t get to do any of that any more. It’s been almost a decade since I had even a short holiday close to home. Last weekend however, I had two cancellations due to tourists… Continue reading The Winchester Plague Memorial Cross
My Freedom Ceremony at The Stationers Company
It was the day that everyone remembers and one which I had been waiting and preparing for for many months. My Freedom Ceremony at The Stationers Company. The only thing that I didn’t foresee was that it would be the hottest day in the history of London. I have a lovely heavy and quite fine… Continue reading My Freedom Ceremony at The Stationers Company
The Livery Companies of the City of London
Walking around the City of London as I do almost every day when I’m following in the footsteps of Romans, Vikings and various disasters as well as hunting out Secret Gardens, it’s hard to avoid some of the great halls in the Square Mile that belong to livery companies. There are 110 livery companies, comprising London’s… Continue reading The Livery Companies of the City of London
It’s a bugs life!
Do you know what bugs me about the summer. Not counting the incessant heat, everyone else going on holiday and everyone walking around in clothes that might fit Brad Pitt or Pamela Anderson but not so much for the sumo wrestlers amongst us… bugs! I don’t know what it is. I’m always so nice to… Continue reading It’s a bugs life!
Stephen Liddell 