Hello, friends, Happy Christmas!
It’s time again for the Christmas Quiz based on my blogs from 2021. I trust you are all OK in these difficult times and send you my very best wishes for 2022. I am sure that, like me, you hope that it will bring happier times for everyone than the year gone by.
1, Whose dressing gown is this? He wore it when he met Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas in 1955 …
2. Who is this, holding a protective arm over a hind?
3. What conflict does this memorial on Tower Hill commemorate?
4. This elegant column in Paternoster Square also has a practical purpose. What is it?
5. Number 116 Old Street used to be the Margolin Gramophone Company factory. They manufactured a record player that was very famous right through from the 1950s to the early 1970s. What was it called?
6. Coloured lines painted on the roads and pavements carry messages for workers who may have to dig there. What do red lines signify?
7. This studious monk looks down at his missal in Austin Friars. What order of monks had their monastery here before the dissolution?
8. Who is this with their post-execution head stitched back on?
9. What lady wants her time with you when you meet at St Pancras International?
10. This famous Londoner is represented in stained glass at the church of St Michael Paternoster Royal. Someone once said he looked like a Hoxton Hipster. Who is he?
11. This sign, located in the Museum of London rotunda, was once affixed to a famous coaching inn. What was it called?
12. This is the view from the rooftop restaurant of famous City landmark building. Which building is it?
13. This street name commemorates the action of a brave young lady called Alice Ayres. She also has a plaque on the Watts Memorial. What brave act is she remembered for?
14. This magnificent Shakespeare Memorial Window was created in 1954 to replace another destroyed in enemy action. It shows characters from the Bard’s plays. Where is it?
15. This image was taken in the only surviving late 17th century Gothic church in the City of London and is especially notable for its unique plaster vaulting. What church is it?
16. In what great City pageant is this uniform worn?
17. In what ancient market would you find these extraordinary characters?
18. This pump was once described as ‘the pump of death’. Where is it and why did it get that name?
19. This service is taking place in the bombed-out, roofless ruins of a famous church. What is its name?
20. Where can you find this mural showing elephants helping the emperor Claudius invade Britain in AD 43?
Answers to the quiz along with links to previous blogs and sources :
- Noël Coward – see my blog on the recent exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery.
2. St Giles – read all about him here.
3. The Falklands War. Read more about this and other City memorials here.
4. It’s a ventilation shaft for the underground car park. Read about more interesting sculptures here.
5. The Dansette. See my walk along Old Street.
6. Red means ‘danger – electricity’. See what different colours mean in this blog.
7. It was the Augustinians.
8. Charles the First. See his and more faces at the Museum of London.
9. Tracey Emin. Read more about her and John Betjeman at St Pancras station here.
10. Dick Whittington. Read more about City of London stained glass here.
11. The Bull and Mouth.
12. It’s The Gherkin.
13. She bravely rescued three children from a fire but lost her own life in the process. Read more here in my visit to Southwark.
14. The window is in Southwark Cathedral. Read more about my visits to this wonderful place here and here.
15. It’s St Mary Aldermary.
16. This uniform is worn by Pikemen in the Lord Mayor’s Show. See more pictures here.
17. You’ll find them (along with other interesting public art) in Spitalfields Market.
18. At the junction of Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street you’ll find this, the Aldgate pump. It came to be known as the Pump of Death when, in the 1870s, it was discovered that the water was poisoning people. During its passage underground from north London it had passed through and under numerous new graveyards thereby picking up the bacteria, germs and calcium from the decaying bodies.
19. St Mary-le-Bow.
20. On a wall inside the Museum of London.
I hope you enjoyed this year’s Quiz.
My very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year!
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