Mick's Monopoly challenge

  SEPTEMBER 2024 UPDATE       I've added some more  Zabou  murals, and I'm also checking out the  London Mural Festival  for street artworks popping up in the capital throughout September.        And I have tidied up a few loose ends with an overnight stay in The Greenwood Inn , London's only Wetherspoons Hotel, and a  visit  to the newly-opened Wetherspoons at Waterloo Station .....      The fifteen and latest artwork to appear on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is by Teresa Margolles. Entitled Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) it comprises plaster casts of the faces of 726 trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming Mexicans on a Mesoamerican Tzompantli (skull rack).       At the risk of sounding like an uncompassionate old curmudgeon, I much prefer those earlier works like the gold rocking horse, blue cockerel and big thumb  - which wer...

  OLYMPIC MINUTES     Having trained for it my whole life, I can now sit in front of the TV for 16 days watching the 2024 Summer Olympics.      I've been to five Olympics - three summer and two winter. I was there on  four occasions as a TV producer/journalist and once as a volunteer (loading TV producers and journalists into buses).      Here are some things the less dedicated may  have missed (but probably not). It's also an opportunity to show off my French (grade 6 O level, second attempt): Opening ceremony: "It seemed like a good idea at the time".      We've all made that mistake so I feel a bit sorry for them. Although they did get the Olympic flag upside down. And no-one recognised Nadia Comaneci because the host broadcaster didn't provide commentators with a detailed running order. And perhaps putting the Refugees team in a small boat wasn't the best idea. Boxing:  The Refugee team won their first-ever ...

STREET ART  IN WHITECHAPEL       You can see much of London's best street art by wandering aimlessly around the Brick Lane area - known locally as Banglatown with its proliferation of Bangladeshi and Indian restaurants. But, to get the best experience, I would recommend taking a walking tour with Alternative London . Our excellent guide Josh, himself a street artist, took us on a two-hour stroll around Shoreditch and Whitechapel, with a lavishly illustrated explanation of the culture and history of graffiti and street art.       Graffiti  is illegal in London but local government attitudes vary. Here in Whitechapel it can be done in broad daylight without fear of arrest .....      And there is certainly no problem if a curry house gives their permission for you to decorate their establishment ..... ..... the large mural on the left was painted by Jaykaes with the blessing of the owner of Preem Indian Restaurant . Jaykaes adds a...