Last week, in an effort to get over the jetlag I went to Leicester Square to see a movie. Since I had some time to kill before the movie started, and because Leicester Square itself is pretty ordinary, I went for a wander. I still have only a basic grasp of London geography, so I was most surprised (and somewhat awestruck) to end up at Trafalgar Square! So here’s Nelson’s Column (which novelists of the next air war were always careful to knock over for the symbolism):
And Nelson himself, catching the last glimmers of sunlight:
In the opposite direction is Whitehall, along which generations of Sir Humphrey Applebys have toiled away:
And yes, that’s Big Ben in the distance:
So here I am, at the heart of empire. At some point I’ll have to compare notes with Sydney Melbourne and see what’s changed in the last sixty-seven years.
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18 July 2007 at 9:35 pm
Roger Todd
“…here’s Nelson’s Column (which novelists of the next air war were always careful to knock over for the symbolism)”
Indeed! There’s a lovely illustration by the great David Low in H G Wells’s ‘The Autocracy of Mr Parham’ showing Nelson’s Column toppling under a bomb attack.
Anyhoo, welcome to The Smoke!
19 July 2007 at 7:16 am
Brett Holman
Thanks, yet another book I will have to look up now! :)
19 July 2007 at 9:36 am
Roger Todd
It pops up surprisingly frequently in secondhand bookshops. First editions (sans dust cover) should only cost a fiver or so.
Meanwhile…
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/GrandLunar/SciFi/Parham1.jpg[/IMG]
19 July 2007 at 9:37 am
Roger Todd
Ah, I expect only you as the blog’s owner can post inline images…
Oh well, just copy the URL to see a scan of the illustration.