PICCADILLY

   

     Despite what most people tell you, this isn’t Eros in Piccadilly Circus. The aluminium statue was actually modelled on Anteros, the Greek god of unrequited love. Eros is the Greek god of sensual love.

     Anteros was removed during WWII. When the statue was returned it faced the opposite way. This was probably an error as no-one has ever explained the reason why.

      The Criterion restaurant at Piccadilly Circus is certainly worth a visit, at the very least to take in the opulent Neo-Byzantine interior, in particular the glistening gold leaf ceiling. We occasionally had afternoon tea there for a treat. But it closed in 2018 and has only just reopened, not to its former gastronomic glory, but as Granaio, a pasta/pizza restaurant.

       The food is fine, reasonably priced for the West End …. and the décor is stunning – a bit like eating a Big Mac in the Sistine Chapel.

       UPDATE (January, 2023): Granaio was short-lived. But there are signs of renovation. Apart from the ceiling, everything seems to have been stripped out again.

       FURTHER UPDATE (March 2025): The Criterion is now reborn as London's fourth Masala Zone restaurant, so should be well worth a visit. I would highly recommend their thalis.

    We thought Air Street might be London’s smallest street. But it turns out it continues the other side of Regent Street. It was in existence by 1659, many years before being cut in half by Regent Street, built in the 1820s.  It was also called Ayr Street, maybe after Thomas Ayres, a local builder and brewer. Impressive as it is, Air Street apparently is “innocent of literary or historic associations”. 

    On the corner of Air Street and Piccadilly, stands Cordings traditional country clothing store.

   Cordings is part owned by Eric Clapton. As a teenager, the budding axeman would marvel at its window displays late at night after missing his last train home. In 2003, when Cordings were having financial difficulties, their most famous customer stepped in. According to their website, Eric is very involved in choosing the tweeds for the new seasons. I wasn’t tempted by the winter sale, as I already have a wardrobe full of shooting waistcoats.

     Roger was gay and great fun. But he hated any sort of camp humour. So he remained absolutely dead-pan throughout the whole edit session. This was obviously a bit unnerving for the production team, including Lloyd and Croft, who chortled the whole way through. I didn’t find it funny either - and not just out of loyalty to my good friend Roger. Anyhow, Are You Being Served? ran for 10 seasons. But Roger and I had more laughs editing War and Peace.

     Next door to Hatchard’s, and 90 years older, is the redoubtable Fortnum and Mason. Being a grocery store it was open during lockdown (including the nice toilets). 

    William Fortnum was Queen Anne’s footman and Hugh Mason his landlord. They started off by selling recycled candles from Buckingham Palace. William and Hugh emerge on the hour from their boxes beside the musical clock above the main entrance.

  Stock was a bit limited during lockdown. But there was still a whole floor dedicated to tea …..

…. plus scotch eggs, invented by Fortnum and Mason in 1738 as a snack for travellers heading west from Piccadilly ….

 

…. OK, I guess.

    There are many fictional references to the Albany; E.W. Hornung's 'gentleman thief' Raffles lived there, as did Jack Worthing from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

     P G Wodehouse’s young blade Pongo Twistleton also resided at the Albany. So how appropriate to see the Jeeves (of Belgravia) Dry Cleaners van outside, presumably to collect some dress shirts for their seven-stage laundering.

 The Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House …..

                        The statue is artist Joshua Reynolds, the Academy’s first president.

    Built in 1818 by George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington, the Burlington Arcade was Britain’s first shopping arcade. Cavendish had inherited the adjacent Burlington House and wanted a place where his wife could shop away from the riff raff. It reputedly was also constructed to prevent passers-by throwing oyster shells and other rubbish over the wall of the earl’s home.

     I can find no record of what Paul was whistling but have some suggestions of my own:

    Blackbird; And Your Bird Can Sing; Free As A Bird; Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown); Blue Jay Way; For The Benefit Of Mr Kite.

Or ….

Eight Jays A Week; Penny Crane; Love Me Dove; I Am The Warbler; Oh! Starling; From Me To Coo; A Hard Jay’s Flight; I Teal Fine; Let Tit Be; Maxwell’s Silver Yellowhammer; While My Guitar Gently Cheeps; And I Plover; All You Need Is Dove; You’re Going To Lose That Gull; Get Quack; Hey Bullfinch; The Fowl On The Hill; Sandpiperback Writer; Sun Kingfisher; You’ve Got To Eider Your Love Away; Albatross The Universe; Mean Mr Bustard; The Long And Winding Road Runner; Goosey In The Sky With Diamonds; The Mallard of John and Yoko; Hey Brood

By Ringo Starling, George Harrierson (I give up on Paul and John)

Producer George Sand Martin

I'll stop now.

Piccadilly Arcade ….

   The statue of Beau Brummell at the far end suggests he frequented the Piccadilly Arcade. But it didn’t open until 1909, sixty-nine years after the notorious dandy had died.

    The Ritz, founded in 1906 by Swiss hotelier César Ritz ….

 

      The Louis XIV style Palm Court at the Ritz is the place for afternoon tea. It helps if you have a Groupon voucher.  And a jacket and tie. 

      They are planning a £300 million refurbishment which involves digging out a five-storey basement.

 Bomber Command memorial:

    ‘The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of victory’                                                        Winston Churchill, September 1940

 

     Flight engineer Goodenough is front right, holding what appears to be his log book - which I still have ….

       ‘Shaky trip’ - typical understatement.                                 

The Wolseley Brasserie (Thursday September 23, 2021) ….

     I somehow doubt our Reuters pensions will stretch to Nusr-Et, Knightsbridge’s newest restaurant. Here the signature tomahawk steak will set you back £630.

Langan’s in Stratton Street used to be our favourite posh eaterie in these parts ….

 

     It was often where we ate for special occasions, like spending pub quiz winnings. But it slid into administration during lockdown. Langan’s was refurbished and reopened under new management on October 30, 2021. I was passing a few days later and a lady receptionist (left) resembling a 1980’s Russian shot putter informed me they were fully booked. 

    From the early reviews it seems I was lucky and saved 37 quid for sausage and mash:

     ‘This once stellar brasserie ain’t what it used to be’ Sunday Times

     ‘They need to get their s­—t together’ The Telegraph

    Langan’s was founded in 1976 by Irish restaurateur Peter Langan and actor Michael Caine. It won a global reputation for its take on the louche high life, attracting guests ranging from Elizabeth Taylor and Jack Nicholson to Mick Jagger and Mohammad Ali. The restaurant gradually lost its lustre from 1988, when Langan died at the age of 47. By then his relationship with Caine had soured. 

Langan called the actor “a mediocrity with halitosis who has a council house mind”. Caine replied: “Peter stumbles around in a cloud of his own vomit and is a complete social embarrassment. You would have a more interesting conversation with a cabbage.” The place was never short of character.

    Our good friend Steve Gordon once took his lovely mum to Langan’s for a treat. Michael Caine himself was actually on a nearby table, lunching with Joan Collins.

   Brasserie Zédel is the sister restaurant to The Wolseley and The Delaunay. It was once part of the Regent Palace Hotel which, with 1,028 bedrooms, was the largest hotel in Europe when it opened in 1915. The hotel closed in 2006 and was largely demolished. 

     Zédel has a reputation for serving traditional French food in opulent surroundings at remarkably good value. A three-course prix fix meal costs (just) less than £20. The restaurant is in Sherwood Street, very close to Piccadilly Circus.

Footnote (1): The address of the original Hard Rock Café is 150 Old Park Lane but its frontage is actually on Piccadilly.  I already used the Hard Rock for my Park Lane lunch choice - couldn’t afford the Dorchester.

Footnote (2): When a European Union version of Monopoly was produced in 1992, Piccadilly was one of three London streets selected, along with Oxford Street and Park Lane.

 Thursday, September 8, 2022

    It’s one of those: 'Where were you when you heard' moments. In this case I was in McDonald’s Leytonstone tucking into a double quarter pounder with cheese when someone on the Chestnut Drive whatsapp group posted: “She’s dead!”. 

    Equally memorable for me was hearing of JFK’s assassination during a slide show of the Holy Land in our village hall. But it wasn’t all bad news; I won third prize in the raffle (a cracked butter dish). 

    I take in Westminster, Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. There don’t seem to be any great outpourings of grief and, apart from the crowds and a huge media presence, things are not much different to usual. You have to spare a thought for journalists trying to find a new angle when everyone in the world has watched The Crown.

Trivia corner:

    The Queen is the only British sovereign to be born in a private house. I will elaborate on this in my forthcoming Mayfair issue.

    The only one of the last fourteen US Presidents Queen Elizabeth never met was Lydon B Johnson.

     Louis XIV of France was the longest-serving monarch. He was just four when he swapped his potty for a throne.

Keng-Yee writes….

    There's another long serving monarch: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. One of the last absolute monarchs.

    After the death of QE II, he is now the longest reigning monarch, having succeeded his father in 1967.

     (In order to surpass the Queen’s longevity of service I think the Sultan of Brunei needs to be alive in around 2042 when he’ll be around 96, the same age as the Queen was when she died).

  Top five verified longest reigning monarchs of sovereign states (Wikipedia):

Louis XIV (France)                                                               72 years, 110 days

Elizabeth II (15 countries)                                                    70 years, 214 days

Rama IX (Thailand)                                                              70 years, 126 days

Johann II (Liechtenstein)                                                      70 years, 91 days

Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II (Kedah, Malaysia)             68 years, 220 days

     At the time Rama IX died in 2016, aged 88, he had reigned longer than Elizabeth II.

    Queen Victoria is 10^th on the list.

      “The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, God save the Queen; when she loses, she votes down the Prime Minister.” Winston Churchill