Romantic Pigeon Exudes Love in Holborn

A lovestruck pigeon has left this statement outside Aviation House in Kingsway.

 

Using the only medium of expression available (poo, droppings, guano, excrement, call it what you will) the bird, with a deft flick of the tail feathers, has left us Londoners a moving affirmation of love; a love that transcends the divisions that exist between our respective species.

Quite why the doorstep of 125 Kingsway was chosen by the pigeon will probably remain a mystery. Occupants currently include Ofsted, the Medical Research Council and the Food Standards Agency; perhaps someone from one of these organisations can shed some light on the matter or perhaps not?

I will now be scouring the streets of London for more evidence of the expressive powers of pigeons. If you have already found anything similar, a smiley face, a CND symbol, a fleur-de-lis, Pi, a short message, any example of pigeon pavement art (who now knows just what they are capable of) do please drop me a line.

Elephants in London - Quiz Results

The deadline for entries to London's most prestigious elephant based photo quiz has now passed. Overnight a hand-picked team has checked and re-checked all the answers provided. And the winner, with the greatest tally of correctly located elephants is ....



The Georgian Group!



So now they are pre-eminent not only as the Nation's guardians of Georgian buildings, monuments and landscapes but they are also London's leading pachyderm spotters! If you don't know about the work of this excellent organisation there is a link to their website here.


Congratulations! Your prize, a copy of Jan Bondeson's Animal Freaks, will be hand-delivered to you in Fitzroy Square in the next few days!


For everybody else who entered, thank you and commiserations.  To put you out of your misery here are the locations of all 21 elephants.


I have collected many other London elephants and will publish them here on a regular basis.

1 Africa House, Kingsway

2 Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre

3 India House, Aldwych

4 Oriental Club, Stratford Place

5, South Africa House, Trafalgar Square

6 Camden High Street

7 Animals At War Memorial, Park Lane

8 Liberty, Gt. Marlborough St.

9 Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens

10 Holland Street Chelsea

11 Allington House, Victoria St

12 South Lambeth Road Vauxhall

13 Baby Tembo LSE, Clare Market

14 Entrance to St Katherine's Docks

15, Adelphi, John Adam St

16 Fenchurch Street, City

17, Cutlers' Hall, Warwick Lane, City

18 Selfridges Duke St. Entrance

19 Chapel, Lincoln's Inn

20 Outer Circle, Regent's Park, Nr. Zoo

21, Burlington Arcade Piccadilly

Public Art for Private Consumption

I was in Regent's Place the other day, that large British Land development on the Euston Road.

I took out my camera and took this little scrap of footage.

It is Julian Opie's "Ruth Walking in Jeans" one of a number of pieces of contemporary art commissioned for the development including an Anthony Gormley and a Gary Webb.

14 seconds after I started I was very politely asked by a security guard to stop filming, as apparently no photography is allowed on-site. "Security Reasons" were the weighty words invoked to justify his request. Are "Security Reasons" now the new "Health and Safety", both phrases being often used to justify the unjustifiable and the laughable?

How on earth can a shot of an Anthony Gormley or a Julian Opie put anybody at risk?


I may be naive but surely if the security of British Land's tenants really is being put at risk by people taking photos of the public art that they have chosen to display on their walls, then why on earth did they decide to strew such highly visible objects throughout their development? Was it simply to smooth the planning process?

And is the work being done at Regent's Square peculiarly important, high-profile or vulnerable to attack? More so even than Parliament, Buckingham Palace,MI5 and MI6 (none of whom object to photos being taken of their buildings)?

Have the photos they have on their own website here had special security clearance?  

Of course Regent's Place is not the only new development in London to have a no photography policy. I have also been asked to stop snapping public art in Sheldon Square, Paddington, again for "Security Reasons".

I abhor this trend. If developers are given planning permission, partly on the basis of commissioning new public art and enhancing community facilities, then the people who use these facilities should be able to take photos of the art. I wonder if the planners are aware of, or care that, some developers become so camera shy when they have completed their projects?

London's Venerable Facilities for Gentlemen

I posted on issues associated with Pimlico's new high-tech pissoir the other day. In that post I mentioned two far older examples of pissoirs that still exist on the streets of London and I was asked for photos, so here we go. This first one is at the junction of Regency Place and Horseferry Road.

And for those of you excluded from visiting, by dint of distance, gender or bashfulness, here too is the interior.

 

Self-flushing is not an issue here, as it was in Pimlico. The little basin empties directly into the trough and effects a very gentle (i.e.completely ineffective) flush. The overly snug facility is free, open 24 hours a day and looks like it has been providing a vital service for well over a century.

Sadly this second example is closed.

It stands in Star Yard, just off Carey Street behind the Royal Courts of Justice. Of course G.E Street's gothic 1882 masterpiece grabs most of the attention in this part of town but this little structure, of a similar vintage, deserves a look too. It is locked now and hasn't been in service for years but I did manage this glimpse of an inside view through the ventilation grille.

It seems sad that the current generation of (male) lawyers are being deprived of an atmospheric opportunity to stand in the footsteps of their  forbears. Perhaps the Inns of Court and the Law Society could liaise with Camden Council to instigate a refurbishment?

Grinling Gibbons - A Memorable Name

If I was ever asked to choose a book for Desert Island Discs it would be the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and if I ever win the lottery it will be a very early purchase. For now I rely almost daily on the online version to clarify and illuminate. A genuinely authoritative source of immense scale.

There is so much nonsense written about Grinling Gibbons on the net. A quick scan of the DNB and many myths can be cleared up in moments.

The distinctive name "Grinling" has been written as "Grinlin, Grinlen, Grinilin, Greenlin, Grindlin, Grinsted, Gringling, Gringlin, Grialin, Griblin, Grymlin, Grimling, Grimblin, and Grumblin".

Where did the name come from? Well his father's name was James Gibbons and his mother's was Elizabeth Grinling. In a sentence or two David Esterly's DNB article nails down the answer "It is a metronymic, memorializing his mother's maiden name."

This plaque commemorates Grinling Gibbons' home in Bow Street. "The house collapsed in January 1702 and was rebuilt as a substantial brick structure, which Gibbons then insured for the sizable sum of £700" The house no longer stands but nearby inside St Paul's Covent Garden there is another memorial.

Above this is the little example of lime-wood rendered exquisite, as referred to in the panel.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think the work of Grinling Gibbons is almost impossible to photograph properly. But I will plod on with one of the aims of my blog to document all examples of his London work and any other associations. See labels for other related Gibbons posts.

Do Dogs, Do Do-ing, Do Symbols?

Groucho Marx once said "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.".

I hope that, from a dog's perspective, this Camden paving slab is legible.