Symbols & Secrets

A warm welcome to the ninth Christmas quiz.

Happy Christmas and thank you so much for subscribing to my blog!

Here are the questions. They are all based on blogs published during 2025 and the answers are at the end of today’s edition.

1. There is a very impressive building behind Bodie, Doyle and Major George Cowley in the introductory sequence from The Professionals (1977-1983). What was its original purpose?

Obviously a trip down memory lane for fellow boomers! You can view the full opening sequence here.

2. What did the Luftwaffe use this map of London for during the Blitz and where can you see it on display?

3. “Elvis put his hand on my shoulder”. Where is this charming bench?

4. Whose tomb is this in Bunhill Fields? He wrote Pilgrim’s Progress.

5. How old did you have to be to sign up for service in the First World War? These images suggest that rule was ignored.

6. These teeth and the glass eye were found by one of the people who constantly walk the alongside the River Thames looking for artefacts from London’s past. What are these people generally known as?

7. These two artists have their own gallery in Heneage Street, just off Brick Lane. Who are they?

8. This station waiting room was once reserved for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for when they were using the royal train. Where is it?

Remains of the original decoration …

9. This gentleman once stood on a pedestal outside St Giles Cripplegate church until he was knocked to the ground by the blast of a Second World War bomb. Now he lives safely inside, here having a close encounter with a double bass carrying case. Who is he?

10. This Regiment was established by Royal Charter on 25th August 1537. It has occupied the same garden just off City Road since since 1641 and Armoury House nearby, its Headquarters and Mess, was built in 1734.

Here they are heading off to deliver a gun salute to welcome President Macron on a State Visit in July this year. What is the Regiment’s name?

11. You can find this memorial in the Crypt Cafe at St Paul’s Cathedral …

It illustrates the death of Sir William Ponsonby. What were the unfortunate circumstances that resulted in his demise?

12. One of the most extraordinary buildings in Eastcheap is the one at number 33-35 …

The facade incorporates a wild boar pushing through the undergrowth …

What is it there to represent?

13. Who is the artist currently sharing a space with Giacometti in the Barbican Gallery? This is some of her work …

14. In 1733, the artist William Hogarth did not charge for painting this massive mural in the North Wing of St Bartholomew’s Hospital …

Why was he prepared to work for nothing?

15. There is an empty room at the foot of the Monument with a view right up to the top of the column …

What was the room originally intended for?

16. You’ll find this well at the London Canal Museum. What was its original purpose?

17. This frieze, in red terracotta, portrays royal progresses and shows visits to the City of (from left to right) four monarchs; King Edward VI (1547-1553), Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), King Charles II (1660-1685) and Queen Victoria (1837-1901) …

Where is the modern building that now displays it?

18. A tough question. Big congratulations if you get this right.

The last (ever) £5 note celebrated the work of Elizabeth Fry the prison reformer …

The engraving on which the note’s image is based …

The tall chap wearing glasses and standing at the back of the group on the left is buried in Bunhill Fields …

His tomb …

Who was he?

19. An unusual weathervane glimpsed between two modern buildings. It portrays a griddle on which the martyr after whom the church is named was roasted to death …

A closer view …

What was the name of the martyr? And what groups is he the patron saint of?

20. Who was the artist responsible for these beautiful works currently on display at the Guildhall Art Gallery?

The answers:

1. It was originally the headquarters of the Port of London Authority. You can find my blog on the subject here. It’s now the Four Seasons Hotel.

2. It was used to identify bombing targets and it’s on display at the British Library until 18th January 2026. You can find my blog report on the exhibition here.

3. It’s in Abney Park Cemetery. Read more about it and the cemetery itself here.

4. John Bunyan.

5. You were supposed to be 18 but this was often ignored by recruiters. These images come from my blog about Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

6. Mudlarks.

7. Gilbert and George.

8. St Pancras Station.

9. John Milton.

10. The Honourable Artillery Company

11. He died at Waterloo, having advanced too far and becoming isolated when his horse got bogged down in the mud. He surrendered to the French but, suspecting a rescue attempt, they finished him off leaving him naked except for his bloodstained shirt. You can read more about his background along with the gripping story of his final battle on the Waterloo Association website.

12. The animal is a reference to The Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap where Shakespeare set the meetings of Sir John Falstaff and Prince Hal in his Henry IV plays. You can read more about Shakespeare in the City here.

13. It’s Mona Hatoum.

14. In 1733, when William Hogarth heard that the governors of the hospital were considering commissioning the Venetian artist, Jocopo Amigoni, to paint a mural in the newly constructed North Wing, he offered his own services free. Always insecure about his social status, it was a gesture of largesse that made him look good and provided the opportunity for Hogarth to prove that an English artist could excel in the grand historical style. Read more about the mural here.

15. Robert Hooke and Christopher Wren, who collaborated to design the Monument, were serious scientists who saw the column as a fantastic opportunity to advance celestial knowledge and the intention was to install within it a Zenith Telescope. When the two hinged semi-circular iron doors at the top were opened, someone in the underground observation chamber at the base of the column could measure with a micrometer eyepiece the changes in position of an overhead star throughout the year.

The initiative failed for a mundane reason – Fish Street Hill was the main roadway entrance to the phenominally busy London Bridge, the only bridge across the Thames in London until 1750. The vibrations from the traffic upset the delicate instrumentation needed for a Zenith telescope and the idea was abanoned.

I have published two blogs about the monument and you can read them here and here.

16. It’s an ice well. An extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, Carlo Gatti built a large ice warehouse, capable of storing tons of ice in two large ice wells, and this is the building that is now the museum. He began importing ice from Norway from around 1860, shipping the ice from that country up the Thames then transferring it to canal barges at the Regent’s Canal Dock and then via the canal to here. Starting with a single ice well in 1857, he built a second ice well around 1862, and became the largest ice importer in London. He is credited with being the first to make ice cream available to the general public.

17. It’s on Number 1 Poultry. It occupies the apex where the eastern ends of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street meet at Mansion House Street, the western approach to Bank junction. The building, designed by James Stirling, was constructed after the architect’s death.

18. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet Buxton of Belfield and Runton, was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, passionate abolitionist and social reformer. He married Hannah Gurney, whose sister became Elizabeth Fry, and was a great friend of her brother Joseph John Gurney and the extended Gurney family.

19. The church is St Lawrence Jewry. He was martyred in San Lorenzo on 10 August 258 AD in a particularly gruesome fashion, being roasted to death on a gridiron. At one point, the legend tells us, he remarked ‘you can turn me over now, this side is done’. Appropriately, he is the patron saint of cooks, chefs and comedians. The church contains some fine 20th century stained glass which you can read more about in this blog.

20. Evelyn De Morgan. Hurry if you want to see the exhibition, it closes on 4th January 2026.

Happy New Year! Thank you again for subscribing!

I’m off for a drink in the suitably decorated Martini Bar …

I might even pop into the lovely St Giles Cripplegate and sing a few carols …

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https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent