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-   -   London: Truth and Reconciliation (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181546)

Bedhead May 8, 2010 12:37 PM

London: Truth and Reconciliation
 
PART ONE: CELTIC WARRIORS

I - Boudicca


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Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni. When the Romans tried to conquer her kingdom in Eastern Britain, she destroyed London. Thousands were killed. Eventually, Boudicca's armies were defeated and she poisoned herself to avoid capture.
Today, a statue of the warrior queen stands at the heart of London in Parliament Square. The Victorians loved her (she showed a bit of British fighting spirit) but I've always thought it slightly strange that London should honour someone who burnt down the entire joint in AD 60.

It made me wonder how many other monuments there are to London's prodigal children - people who have been punished, outlawed, exploited or shunned by the capital's authorities, only to be honoured and adored after death.

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In her current state, Boudicca is marooned on a plinth by a busy junction, lost in a permanent state of road rage at the traffic lights around her.

But what if we could free her?


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What if she could could roam through London and, like Jake and Elwood Blues, reform the band.

The band of London's unlikely heros, despised and ignored by a city that, too late, took them to its heart.

It would be a great excuse to see London...


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...in all its glory:


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Bedhead May 8, 2010 12:38 PM

Smithfield: All Meat

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II - William Wallace

Smithfield, originally called Smooth Field, was a meadow just outside the city walls where Londoners would play football and farmers would sell their livestock. The market, established in the tenth century, was turned into a Cathedral of Meat by the Victorians, complete with intricate ironwork and colourful processions of arches. Today, Smithfield is London’s only wholesale food market to continue in its original location.
It wasn’t just animals that were butchered here – people were slaughtered too. In the middle ages, Smithfield was London’s principal site for executions, and when William Wallace (the leader of the Scots against Edward I's invading English army) was finally captured, he was killed here.

Wallace hadn’t just resisted the English, he had committed the far more serious crime of humiliating them. At the battle of Stirling Bridge, he had routed an English force four times larger than his. In return, the English had him dragged naked through the streets of London by a horse, hanged by the neck, taken down when still alive, disembowelled, beheaded and then cut into a further four pieces. His remains were put on display in five different places, including London, Stirling and Aberdeen.

Today, these three cities all contain memorials to William Wallace. His resistance to English rule inspired Scotland to retain its independence, leaving it free to join England as an equal partner in the Kingdom of Great Britain hundreds of years later.

Smithfield's plaque was installed by London Scots in 1956, ensuring that this is one corner of London that will remain forever Scotland.

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Bedhead May 8, 2010 12:38 PM

Highbury: Liebskind and the Gooners

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III Joan of Arc

Few members of Boudicca’s band of unlikely heroes died a more excruciating death than William Wallace, but Joan of Arc is one of them. At the age of nineteen, she was burnt at the stake, ostensibly for heresy, but in reality for committing the same crime as her Scottish counterpart: defeating the English in battle.
It’s still a touchy subject even today. Last year, my wife and I stayed in a charming French B&B run by a couple called Philippe and Philippe. The two Philippes would sit with us out in the garden for breakfast, and talk about the gorgeous weather, their travels to the US and the local attractions.
Then, on the last day, I asked about the region’s history, which is always a dangerous move when you are English, wherever you are. It turns out we’ve bombed, shelled or set fire to just about every major city in the world. I try to placate people by pointing out that we have succeeded in burning down our own capital a few times, but by then it’s usually too late.
Well, this time was no different. “Jeanne D’Arc,” one of the Philippes lamented, “You killed our Jeanne”. Meanwhile, the other Philippe came back into the garden jabbing at the word “invasion” in an English/French dictionary.
Eventually, we managed to patch up the rift history had created between us and the Philippes, just as the British and the French managed to patch up their centuries-long differences in the Entente Cordiale of 1904.
Soon after the Entente, the British fought alongside the French in World War I. After the war the courage of the young, idealistic Jeanne, killed by a cynical establishment, chimed with the bitterness felt by young, idealistic soldiers who had seen their comrades cruelly sacrificed by ageing generals. Joan of Arc was canonised in 1920, and George Bernard Shaw wrote a Nobel Prize winning play about her in 1923.
In the year of Joan of Arc’s canonisation, a new church was dedicated to her in Highbury, London. The present church was completed in 1962 – it’s an interesting, politely modern building with what seems to be Scandinavian influences - which is ironic, given that the majority of London’s churches are built in the gothic, or, as it was originally known, ‘French style’.
However, French influences are still strong in this part of London. Arsène Wenger has been manager of the local football team for the last 14 years, and during that time the Frenchman has become almost as sainted as Joan of Arc by grateful Arsenal fans. During his tenure, Wenger has employed the services of many stylish French footballers who have transformed the club from a bunch of donkeys into the home of some of the most beautiful football in the world.
’Vive la France’, as they say in Highbury.

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Bedhead May 8, 2010 12:39 PM

Hyde Park: An Ostentatious Roundabout

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IV - Napoleon

If you want a list of Napoleon Bonaparte’s victories, just look at a map of Paris. If you want a list of his defeats, look at a map of London: Trafalgar Square, Waterloo Station, Salamanca Place and Nile Street all form a ya-boo-sucks ensemble against l'Empereur.
Hyde Park corner is no exception. At its centre, atop a triumphal arch, stands a statue of the Angel of Peace (a mate of Boudicca’s, by the looks of things) Descending on the Chariot of War.
A few yards away stands Apsley House – ‘Number One London’. It was originally the home of the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon’s nemesis at the Battle of Waterloo. Inside, the House is laden with gifts from grateful nations to the man who removed the threat of the French – including lavish dinner services, paintings and silver plate.
But one artwork seems strangely out of place. In the hallway stands a statue of Napoleon: muscular, naked, larger-than-life (in most respects, anyway – a single fig leaf denies a full analysis). Originally created for Bonaparte to adorn the Louvre, it was eventually sold to Wellington to decorate his new town house.
Most have assumed that Wellington’s purchase was a final humiliation. One French commentator even claimed that the statue was used as a coat stand. However, the scholar Julius Bryant argues differently, saying, ‘When asked to name the greatest general of the age Wellington replied “In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon.” The care he took to display [the] statue... surely confirms that he expected it to command respect and reflection, rather than be seen simply as a war trophy....’


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Big, butch Boney – you can see why Napoleon himself complained that the statue was 'trop athletique.'
Below Apsley House, the lingering respect that the British have for their old adversary can be seen in one of a series of posters by London Transport featuring words of wisdom by historical figures.

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I hope you enjoyed this trip to London. It turns out that this city has numerous prodigal sons and daughters, so I plan to turn this thread into a bit of a soap opera. If you see it returning from the depths of page 2 or 3 of this section, that means more pictures have been added.
[B]Thanks for looking!

Edit - thanks to LSyd, we now also know about Napoleon's horse, Marengo, who now resides in the National Army Museum in Chelsea. The museum has a no photos policy, so I got a crafty Blackberry snap:

flar May 8, 2010 1:27 PM

Great thread, excellent photography!

Sekkle May 8, 2010 1:55 PM

fantastic work! Very enjoyable thread. :cheers:

RobertWalpole May 8, 2010 3:24 PM

Superb!

Centropolis May 8, 2010 5:28 PM

wondrous!

surely, there's really only one other city left for me to see...

ColDayMan May 8, 2010 9:27 PM

Impressive!

the sage May 8, 2010 10:36 PM

Photos and insight! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Dr Awesomesauce May 9, 2010 4:39 AM

Gnarly thread, man. I dig.

geoff189d May 9, 2010 10:38 PM

Great photos. Can you remember where the 1930's looking block of flats with the VOTE LABOUR signs were? Thanks.

Bedhead May 10, 2010 12:18 PM

Thanks for your comments, everyone :cheers:

Geoff, the flats were on Aubert Park, just round the back of the old Highbury ground. They do look really good - makes you wonder how different history would have been if more social housing had been like that.

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Google Mapshttp://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

geoff189d May 10, 2010 9:14 PM

Thanks very much for info and location Bedhead. I'll check them out on Streetview and Birds Eye. They would look just as good in St John's Wood!

Jimby May 10, 2010 10:27 PM

Great thread I enjoyed your imaginative photos, interesting historical info, and comments (especially Phillippe et Phillippe!) on parts of the coolest city on the planet. Even a shot of the Jerusalem Tavern!

LSyd May 11, 2010 2:30 AM

awesome thread. don't forget the skeletal remains of Napoleon's horse are in London too.

no Ceaesar statue over by the Tower?

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Bedhead May 11, 2010 1:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSyd (Post 4834078)
awesome thread. don't forget the skeletal remains of Napoleon's horse are in London too.

no Ceaesar statue over by the Tower?

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Cool - I was hoping people would have suggestions. You know, I hadn't heard of the National Army Museum or the skeletal remains before - I'm going to have to go out again again and update.

I was looking for an excuse to do the Tower/Tower Bridge/St Katherine's Wharf area too, so the Ceaesar statue is definitely going in - it might have to wait for the last instalment, though.

Jimby - thanks for your comments, and for looking so closely at the thread!

Geoff - thanks for stopping by again. If you are interested, there are some more pictures of the balconies here, here and here. Here is a picture of the other side of the flats - not as interesting, but elegant nonetheless.

fern May 11, 2010 8:05 PM

Great stuff, i appreciate the time and effort it must have taken to put this thread together :worship: .The English are a tolerant lot a memorial to an English freedom fighter in the Scottish capital would be destroyed in no time.:shrug:

Chef May 11, 2010 10:58 PM

Fantastic thread, both in terms of the quality of the photos and the way it is put together.

dktshb May 12, 2010 4:45 AM

Very cool photos! I just wish my monitor was a little bigger.


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