The Museum Exhibit That Serves as a Memorial

Inside the London Transport Museum is an unusual, if not unique, memorial.

The waxwork of the bus driver in the museum's  Routemaster bus is based on a real person, Christopher Moyes.

 Chris Moyes was a former bus conductor who became a key player during the privatisation of the bus and rail industries in the 1980's and 1990's. He was the founder of one of the largest transport companies in the country, Go Ahead, who still run trains and buses all over UK.

“He averaged 1,000 miles a week on public transport – preferably his own buses and trains – and even took his enthusiasm home with him, owning, maintaining and driving a collection of vintage buses. Though criticised for phasing out the Routemasters among the 1,000 London buses operated by Go Ahead, he bought one himself "just for the fun and enjoyment of it" but thought it too uncomfortable for the modern passenger."

Chris Moyes died of a brain tumour aged just 57 in 2006.

When the London Transport Museum reopened, after a lengthy refit, in 2007 they decided to commemorate him with this waxwork and portrayed him as the driver of their Routemaster.


Other waxwork figures in the museum are also based on real people connected with London's transport. The museum's current Director, Sam Mullins, sits as a passenger inside a "padded cell" carriage from the 1890 the City and South London Railway, for example.

But I can't think of anyone else who has deliberately and posthumously been commemorated by a waxwork in quite this way.

Quotes come from the Daily Telegraph obituary of Chis Moyes, the full obit. is here.

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.

The Floral Street Ear. It's Different, but it's not a Nose.

Pleased to get this snap of the famous Floral Street Ear on a sunny day. I am still searching for all the (unrelated) Seven Noses of Soho. I won't blog about them (or stop looking) until I find them, it might be bad luck, after all infinite wealth is at stake.

The Floral Street Ear

The Floral Street Ear

The artist is Tim Fishlock, who apparently put similar ears all over London about a decade ago. I would be interested to hear of any other sightings.

Ben Eine's Nursery Rhyme

Not long left for this mural in Mercer Street, Covent Garden.

Ben Eine's "Oranges and Lemons" was unveiled last month on the wall of the London Graphic Centre. It seems a shame that by mid May it will be gone. Art Republic commissioned the work, could they not be persuaded to let it stay on indefinitely? More details about the piece here.

Picasso's London Studio

A somewhat neglected plaque stands in Floral Street, London.

The recent V&A exhibition on Diaghilev has raised awareness. Apparently the resulting backdrop is the largest item in the entire V&A collection and Picasso's largest work on canvas. The BBC have some pics here.

London Pride by Noel Coward