Mick's Monopoly challenge

      Spotted near Waterloo .....                                             ..... I wonder if there's a Drive where you can't drive? MAYFAIR (WEST)  ADDED .....  and later updated with lunch at Scott's ..... SOHO  updated after lunch at Poppies .... Recently published ....     ...... of course I had to check it out. It's rather more serious than this blog but useful if you want to delve further into the history of London.   Not so recently (2003) published:    This is a much lighter read than the Boys Smith effort. MAYFAIR (EAST)  ADDED (17/2/23) ELECTRIC COMPANY  updated .... Battersea Power Station now open. QUEEN'S FUNERAL ROUTE  ADDED (25/2/23) GO TO JAIL  updated with Cross Bones Graveyard (26/2/23)  STRAND:  Wild Table of Love added (27/2/23)             ...

Tuesday,September 20, 2022     Despite autumn having officially started on September 1, the weather is still holding up. Never one to miss an excuse to wander aimlessly around our capital, I decide to walk the route of yesterday’s funeral procession. QUEEN ELIZABETH II FUNERAL PROCESSION ROUTE        I’ve previously written about Whitehall, Westminster and Hyde Park Corner (see Whitehall and Park Lane). Here are some extra observations….                                                                                       Reubens made a nice job of painting the ceiling.              The black mark on the Horse Guards clock face (maybe) references the time Charles I was beheaded.   ...

         Number 50 is still owned by the Murray family. It is here where famously Lord Byron’s memoirs were burned shortly after his death in 1824. The decision was made by John Murray II abetted by five of the poet’s friends. They considered the memoirs too salacious for public scrutiny and that the details would damage Byron’s reputation.      Brown's Hotel (5) was founded in 1837 by James Brown and his wife Sarah. The Browns were former valet and maid to Lord and Lady Byron. The hotel was originally eleven Georgian townhouses which were gradually acquired and merged so no two of the 117 rooms are the same. It is considered to be one of London’s oldest hotels has always been the place to go for afternoon tea (something else for my ‘to do’ list).             The hotel was where Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book. The Kipling Suite, with jungle-themed interior, is the hotel’s biggest. I n 1876, Alex...