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WHISKY GALORE!
Jonathan Cohen on where to find good whisky in London
Whisky is one drink that is very For most visitors to the city the
much in fashion in the bars around provenance is not the important
the capital at the moment - but that issue. The question on everyone's
is nothing new. Londoners have lips, is where are the best places to
been drinking the spirit since the taste the amber nectar in London.
middle of the eighteenth century. So And this is where the fun starts.
I have ‘taken one for the team’ in Fortunately, London has a large
researching and exploring London’s array of outlets from local
whisky scene. distilleries to basement bars. If
Historically, London has been a gin drinking the night away is what you
town. Production started in the are looking for, then here are a
1700s and within a few years it couple of my favourite places that
became the scourge of the lower classes. The artist William fit nicely into a succinct group of geographic areas, lending
Hogarth portrayed London in the height of the gin craze with themselves perfectly to a walking tour.
scenes of debauchery, scandal and poverty. (See Alfie Pick of the crop is Milroys of Soho
Talman on Madame Geneva in Guidelines, August 2021.) (right). Head to the back of this famous
In 1782 James Stein Kilbagie of the Kilbagie distillery flooded whisky shop and look out for the fake
the London spirits market with whisky, which the poet Robert bookcase. If you push hard enough it
Burns referred to as ‘the most rascally liquor and, in will open to reveal a set of stairs leading
consequence, only drunk by the most rascally part of the down to The Vault, a brooding
inhabitants’ in his 1785 poem The Jolly Beggars. underground candlelit cocktail bar.
Round the corner is the Soho Whisky
During the late 1800s, Justerini & Brooks Wine and Spirits
Club, above a whisky shop. It is a
Merchants, still trading to this day from St James Street, saw
private members club, but well worth
the potential of blended whisky and became one of the first
joining for the regular tasting sessions.
London merchants to buy stocks of mature malt whisky to
develop and market as a ‘house’ blend. In the early 1930s, Shoreditch and Spitalfields is the perfect home for two of the
J&B Rare was developed, designed specifically to appeal to best whisky joints in town. Bull in a China Shop is one of
the American palate and as a chief rival to another new style them. A high end Asian restaurant with an enviable selection
blended Scotch called Cutty Sark, produced further down the of over 100 whiskies from Japan and around the world. The
road at 3, St James Street at Berry Bros & Rudd, the oldest other is Black Rock, a mecca for whisky aficionados.
wine and spirit merchants in the country. They decided it Thanks to Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown, owners of
should be pale in colour so that in prohibition America its pale Mixellany, and two of the most knowledgeable historians of
colour could convince suspicious eyes that tea – or at any beverages, who have provided me with much of the
rate a weaker dram – was being consumed. Cutty Sark was information for this piece.
a huge success and in the 1970s was the biggest selling
brand in the largest spirits market the world has ever known. Jonathan Cohen (who took both photographs)
BRANCH COUNCIL Also in this issue:
Aaron Hunter - Chair
THE NEW APTG HUB - PAGE 3
Sarah Reynolds - Secretary Martin Brown - Treasurer
Linda Hamer - Site Liaison Ildi Pelikan - Languages A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL: THE
Dani Harte - CPD Gavin Skerritt - Membership DUCHESS OF ARGYLL - PAGES 4/5
Jennifer Hirschl - CPD Alfie Talman - Special Projects STREET ARTIST OSORIO - PAGE 6
Owen Joseph - Fees Felicity Wentzel - Social Events PRO BONO TOURS - PAGE 8
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES
www.guidelondon.org.uk
www.guidelondon.org.uk March 2022
September 2019Union news
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
In my letter this month, I wish to pay tribute to the work of our marketing team and
volunteers. I have not mentioned too many names herein as I do not want to miss anyone,
but you know who you are!
Suppose we can cast a mind back to almost two years ago when the pandemic started to
grip the world. Marketing was already a vital part of the work of the APTG under our brand
Guide London. As you will know, Ursula Petula Barzey, our Digital Marketing Manager,
works hard to put Guide London at the top of Google and generate guide match work leads
for our membership. However, as soon as lockdown began, Ursula teamed up with Nick
Salmond to start our Guide London YouTube channel project.
I witnessed how many hours of work went into setting up the channel. This not only involved presenters but, for
each video, Nick and Ursula contacted guides to solicit content and then organised sessions to set up each
one and to make the content as professional as possible.
When I recorded my video, I remember piling books under my laptop to make sure my head was at the right
height on the screen and working out which slides to cut as I already had too many. During the first lockdown,
Nick was planning three videos a week with many other colleagues, along with Lockdown Learning (jointly with
the Guild) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We had a programme keeping our members connected and educated
all week at a tough time in our profession.
Nick and Ursula were also instrumental in the APTG team that set up virtual tour training, linking this
programme to the YouTube channel to promote virtual tours. One of the great successes of 2021 was the
twenty six videos of the Guide London A to Z project. Nick presented the letter ‘A’ at the end of one of our
members’ open meetings and we were then flooded with guides offering to follow his lead. I was given the
letter ‘H’. These videos were recorded rather than live broadcasts, involving a team of volunteers to review
which sites featured in each letter. As we hope work will return this spring, marketing is still an essential part
of the APTG.
Don’t forget to send your blog ideas to the Guidelines editor; new blogs are critical to the website’s success
and job leads. Last, but certainly not least, we should thank the team of our French language volunteers who
are literally translating the success of our English website into French.
Best wishes,
Aaron Hunter.
WEBSITE LEADS 22% of visitors are from the United States.
The website generated 153 leads in January. 87% of traffic is via search engines like Google.
This is a bounce back from the drop in 52% visit the blog section of the site.
December when the Omicron Variant first came BLOG POSTS
on the scene. The majority of the leads were
GuideMatch - Individual Tours. The site received New blog posts include:
requests for 27 tours, Westminster Abbey and Events to Celebrate the Platinum Jubilee and
the Tower of London the top two requested. Ten Facts about Queen Elizabeth II both by Edwin Lerner
Note: I review all leads individually, and it is encouraging Summer Opening at Buckingham Palace by Tina Engstrom
that some of the leads are from previous clients and others
Winter Solstice At Stonehenge by RIchard Ing
are new, referencing the live broadcasts or virtual tours. The
work done during the last two years to keep Guide London Chinese New Year in London by Dee Zhou-Slany
at the top of the mind is paying off. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Statement and Updates
WEBSITE - AUDIENCE Les Parcs Royaux de Londres en 10 Arrêts by Caroline
Piper translated by Marguerite Strasser & Danny Hockman
50% of website visitors are from the UK. As the majority of
the leads are from abroad, this is a missed opportunity as The French Language Team has said they will submit at
Guide London does not really have a tourism product for least two translated posts per month. 3.41% of visitors to
the domestic market, except for virtual tours which appeal the site go to pages in the French section of Guide London.
to University of the Third Age (U3A) groups. Ursula Petula Barzey
2Union news
WELCOME TO THE HUB CORRECTION
Apologies to new member Richard Polley
Alfie Talman on APTG’S new online resource for getting his email wrong in the last issue.
Recently we launched a There are more It should be: Ricardopolley@yahoo.co.uk
new online resource for features to the Hub
our members. The Hub that we plan to
is an online space you unlock over time. We
THE OXFORD QUIZ BOOK
can visit for all of your can use the calendar The fourth book in a series
membership needs. function to share all started by Mark King has been
Currently, you can view meetings and social written by Alexandra Jackson
Photo Paul Metcalfe
and edit your contact events as well as and published by the History
details as well as view CPDs; the repository Press. Please contact Alexandra
and purchase tickets for can become a space for a signed copy at a preferential
Alfie Talman rate by emailing her at
all of our CPDs events. for sharing key
The site was built by a company documents (such as Public Liability alexandra@alexandrajackson.info.
called VeryConnect, and it is a Information documents and
Membership Management Software minutes); the Newsfeed function TODAYTIX - A USEFUL APP
product. As well as simplifying things can be a space for Branch Guides who enjoy the theatre or
for members, it also provides a Councillors and Committee have clients who wish to see a
secure place to store and manage Members to share real-time updates show might think about adding
our members’ data. on their activities. the TodayTix app to their
By incorporating ticket sales, We hope that you find the APTG smartphones. Rather than lining
events, emails and more into one Hub a useful tool and we will be up at the half price ticket booth in Leicester
system, we can cut out unnecessary emailing all members with details of Square, cheap tickets can be bought online.
duplication in our administration. how to register on it. Go to todaytix.com to download the app.
APTG’S CPD PROGRAMME
Dani Harte introduces some exciting new CPD events
After a long gap I am proud to announce that our Westminster Abbey - in English and in Spanish - and a
incredible CPD (Continuing Professional triple visit to the Tate Modern.
Development) programme is back. We have made And that’s not all. We have pleasure in bringing back
APTG history in launching our new VeryConnect hub Rosie Pollard, whose sell out tour around Battersea
(see above) where you will have access to all the has been requested with huge demand for a repeat.
information you need in regards to CPDs, price,
Language CPDs are back too so for Italian and
meeting location, etc and you will be able to
Spanish guides please support your colleagues and, of
purchase your tickets there too. Everything is in one
course, we hope that they will be beneficial to you as a
place. In your members’ page you will also have
working guide.
access to all the CPDs you have booked now and, as
Dani Harte I really hope to see you all back on the road this
time goes on, those you bought in the past.
summer but, while we anticipate the long awaited boost
If the technical side of our future doesn’t set off the geek in you
to tourism, why not join a tour and be inspired again?
then how about reading about some of the CPDs we have on
offer? Glyn Jones is kicking off our CPD season with murders A special thank you to my CPD team who will be hosting the
in Westminster to whet your appetite for the more obscure. CPDs and came together to choose such an eclectic and
exciting programme.
We have it all from diamond heists, queers, gardens, and
medicine around the universities to a gallery tour of CPD Chair Danielle (Dani) Harte
BRANCH COUNCIL LUNCH
Members of the 2021 Branch Council met at the Oyster Shed in the City of London for lunch
on 2 February. The event is a reward for those who have volunteered their time to APTG.
Pictured from left to right are former Chair Danny Parlour, Guidelines editor Eddie Lerner,
CPD Chair Dani Harte, former secretary and current Chair Aaron Hunter, Languages Rep
Maria Gartner, Owen Joseph (Fees and Membership) and former Treasurer Alfie Talman.
Lottie Thurlow, Nan Mouseley and Amy Wang, who could not attend, were sent a hamper.
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES
www.guidelondon.org.uk 3
March 2022guiding news
A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL
Sarah Wood on Margaret Sweeny the Duchess of Argyll and her infamous divorce
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was a name that permission for them to marry because of his
everyone knew at the time of her divorce in 1963 Muslim faith.
but during her lifetime she had three names: Margaret, still a teenager, was the fixture of the
Margaret Whigham, Margaret Sweeny and, London social scene and was frequently found
when a Duchess, Margaret Campbell. at the Embassy Club on Old Bond Street and the
Margaret Whigham was born in Scotland in 1912 400 Club in Leicester Square. Most evenings
and spent the first 13 years of her life in New saw her dining with one man, pleading tiredness
York. She was a solitary only child, doted on by and getting her chauffeur to drive her home, then
her father George, constantly criticised and going out to the Embassy with someone else and
belittled by her mother Helen who was obsessed on to a further nightclub. She said that 1930-33
with Margaret’s looks, even rationing her reading ‘was packed with gaiety and fun…It was heaven,
Margaret in later years
in case it caused her to need glasses. George undiluted heaven...three parties a night.’
had made his fortune through the manufacture of Celanese, Her close friends included George, Duke of Kent, with whom
an artificial silk which the beautifully dressed Margaret would she was said to have had an affair, society photographer Cecil
never have worn. Beaton and Barbara Cartland, who was later to say of
At the age of ten Margaret made one single friend, the child Margaret: ‘She was very beautiful and every man wanted to
for whom the phrase ‘poor little rich girl’ was coined, Barbara go to bed with her, and she wanted to go to bed with every
Hutton, heiress to the Woolworths fortune who gifted Winfield man. She didn’t have love affairs which lasted a long time. I
House in Regents Park, to the US Ambassador Joseph think men found her rather boring after a time.’
Kennedy. She made many trips to London in her childhood to Margaret’s love life read like a list of Most Eligible Bachelors.
try to cure her stammer, visiting the clinic of speech therapist She was simultaneously engaged to both the Seventh Earl of
Lionel Logue (made famous in The King’s Speech). She was Warwick and Max Aitken, son of newspaper tycoon Lord
also taken to a psychiatrist to deal with her lack of a sense of Beaverbrook, while having promised to marry the American
humour. Trips to the cinema to watch Charlie Chaplin films financier and amateur golfer Charles Sweeny, whom she
were suggested but she was cured of neither condition. chose to marry in the end. Sweeny was a Roman Catholic
At the age of thirteen Margaret returned to live in the UK. Her and, in order to marry him, Margaret took instruction into the
looks, glossy American glamour, confident style and position Catholic faith at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate
as a wealthy heiress took the lacklustre London social scene Conception in Farm Street, Mayfair. Their marriage in 1933
by storm. And she had style. Each day after school her took place at the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge.
chauffeur picked her up in the family Rolls Royce. He also So many people wanted to get a
collected her so she could take in a matinee rather than play glimpse of the glamorous bride in her
hockey, reportedly saying to her fellow pupils ‘bye-bye you Hartnell wedding dress (now in the
poor things, playing in your galoshes and white tunics’. V&A, left) with her handsome American
Fifteen year-old Margaret became pregnant after a holiday husband that the traffic on the
fling on the Isle of Wight leading to her having an illegal Brompton Road ground to a halt. 2,000
abortion. The father was eighteen year-old David Niven and guests and the same number of gate-
it was said that she adored him for the rest of her life. crashers crammed into the church. The
1930 marked her coming out as a debutante when upper event became known as ‘The Great
class girls and wealthy heiresses were presented at court. Whigham Scramble’ and was reported
Her coming out party, which cost £40,000, was held on in great detail in the press.
audaciously on the very first day of the social season, 1 May Margaret Whigham was now Margaret
1930 at 6 Audley Square. She went against convention by Sweeny and such was her fame that P
wearing a forget-me-not blue tulle dress instead of traditional G Wodehouse, when anglicising the
white. The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell, lyrics of the Cole Porter song You’re the
cementing his reputation as the High Society couturier and Top for a West End version of Anything Goes, wrote her into
hers as one of the best dressed young women in the country. musical history with the line: ‘You’re Mussolini, you’re Mrs
She was Deb of the Year and referred to as ‘The Whigham’. Sweeny, you’re Camembert.’
Margaret was presented to Queen Mary and the future In 1934 George Whigham bought the lease of 48 Upper
Edward VIII at Buckingham Palace. Standing behind the Grosvenor Street, Mayfair for Margaret and this was to remain
Queen was socialite, diplomat and son of the Aga Khan, Aly her home until 1978. They became part of the world of
Khan. It appeared to be love at first sight. They were formally American expats in London, one that included Joe Kennedy,
introduced the following day and so started a great but short- Thelma Furness (mistress to the future Edward VIII and sister
lived love affair which ended when Margaret’s father refused of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt) and Wallis Simpson.
4guiding news
After many miscarriages Margaret had two children, Frances The divorce brought such notoriety that nearly all of Margaret’s
and Brian, and during World War II they moved to the steel friends abandoned her. She was estranged from her devoutly
enforced Dorchester Hotel for safety. Both Margaret and Catholic daughter for many years and the money which had
Charlie became involved in the war effort. Margaret joined the not been spent by Ian disappeared in legal costs. Her adoring
American Red Cross and scandalised the US Army by insisting father George married his mistress, the trouser press heiress
on wearing her signature three-strand pearls with her uniform. Jane Corby, soon after his wife Helen died and Margaret
She became Entertainments Officer and attracted such stars became very isolated and notorious, forever ‘the Dirty Duchess’
as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby and Marlene Dietrich. in the eyes of the public.
It was, however, her husband who made the biggest Margaret was ever resourceful however. In the 1970s she
contribution. In 1939 he suggested that American expats create offered tours of her house which were given by her butler and
a volunteer unit to fight alongside the Allies and, in spite of included a glass of champagne for £7.50 per person. They did
opposition from US General Brook who said it would threaten not, however, take off and, when the house had to be sold, she
US neutrality, three American Eagle Squadrons were founded struck a deal to live in the Grosvenor House hotel where she
with decorated war hero Charlie’s uncle Charles Sweeny as also entertained paying guests with a glass of Buck’s Fizz for
their commander. They were to fight alongside the RAF in the £15.95. She wrote a gossip column for the Tatler called
Battle of Britain and in 1942 were amalgamated into the USAF. Stepping Out with Margaret Argyll but this proved to be a short-
lived career, not helped by her inability to spell names correctly.
Eventually her bills were paid by
Memorial to her children who also paid for her
the Eagle final home, the St Georges
Squadron, Nursing Home in Pimlico. Ever
founded by the Grande Dame she refused to
Margaret’s eat lunch at midday and waited
first husband,
in Grosvenor
until 1pm when it was stone cold,
Square reasoning that only servants had
lunch at 12. She still dressed up
every day and declined a private
suite, saying that she enjoyed
Arcadi Monastery people watching. She died in July
At the time of the D-Day landings Charlie met the bandleader 1993 and is buried at Brookwood
Glenn Miller in Portsmouth and mentioned that he needed to go Cemetery next to her first
to Paris. Miller offered him his seat on his Norseman aircraft. He husband Charlie Sweeny, with
Margaret Sweeny’s grave
declined and Miller’s plane took off but vanished without trace. whom she remained friends.
Charlie was the last person to see Glenn Miller alive.
I saw her once in a cinema queue. With her heavy make-up
In 1943 Margaret had an accident that some say changed her and up-curled hair, her look was of another era, for that is what
personality. When visiting her chiropodist on Old Bond Street she was. Margaret shone more brightly than anyone else in the
she fell forty feet down a lift shaft and was only just saved from interwar years, the final years of true Mayfair High Society. Life
being crushed by the lift. She had broken vertebrae, was given changed for everyone with the Second World War but it was in
thirty stitches in her head without anaesthetic, and was told that the 1960s that the cultural revolution left Margaret behind. The
she might never walk again. They were wrong. hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, who had grown up in poverty in
Margaret and Charlie divorced in 1947. She enjoyed life giving Shepherds Bush opened a salon on Bond Street and his bob
dinnerScene from
parties The cooked
(never Crown by her - she famously never boiled hairstyle, made famous by Twiggy and Mary Quant, could not
a kettle or cooked a meal in her life) and spent time in the US, have been more different from Margaret’s fussy coiffure. Just
as ever enjoying a hearty love life. That year she met Ian five years after her divorce Jimi Hendrix was writing Electric
Douglas Campbell, heir to the Duke of Argyll, on a train back Ladyland on the other side of Grosvenor Square.
from Paris. He was still married to his second wife but Ian and Everyone said that Margaret was cold. She was spoilt and, in
Margaret eventually married at Caxton Hall in 1951. many respects, not very likeable, but like Oscar Wilde some
It quickly became a toxic marriage that ended in 1963 with the seventy years before, she refused to quietly go away in the face
most scandalous divorce case of the time. This is the story at of what she saw as an injustice and her husband’s use of what
the heart of the BBC mini-series A Very British Scandal with the we would now call revenge porn. In doing so she was damned
Duchess portrayed by Clare Foy. Central to the evidence that by her private life becoming a cause celebre, not conforming to
damned Margaret were the Polaroid photos, obviously taken what society felt to be decent behaviour. The wealthy area of
with her consent, with an unnamed lover who became known Mayfair was made for the likes of Margaret. It was developed
in the press as ‘the headless man’. Ian stole them from her in the seventeenth century for London’s wealthiest families
Upper Grosvenor Street home then returned later with his where the greatest thing a woman could do was to be desirable
daughter Jeanne, famously pinning Margaret to the bed as he and make a good match. Margaret may not have been entirely
told Jeanne to take the diary from her dressing table. Jeanne, successful but, my word, did she have fun trying!
who was briefly married to writer Norman Mailer, always
regretted her involvement. Sarah Wood (who took or provided the photographs)
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES
www.guidelondon.org.uk 5
March 2022guiding news
STREET ARTIST OSORIO
Chris Van Hayden on the work of his compatriot, the artist Abraham Osorio
If you have been to one of my walks in south west London, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, Spain,
you will be aware of my passion for local heritage. I define Switzerland, Austria and Poland. He is particularly interested
this as the collection of historical knowledge and events, in depicting people on the fringes of society who may not
people and society, institutions, natural landmarks, art and have a voice of their own. Another subject he frequently
anything else which contributes to the character of these tackles is children and he may focus either on their
places. Historical events, anecdotes and stories are always vulnerability and fears or voice their hopes and happiness. A
at the core of my walks, but I also cover contemporary issues look at a few of his murals shows a recognisable style and
and topics. When it comes to street art, I think that this is one his traits include hummingbirds and flowers within his
of the most exciting cultural movements of recent times. compositions and halos idealising his characters. He is
Despite its ephemeral nature it can add to an area’s heritage. always experimenting and searching for new techniques and
As a cosmopolitan capital, London is an attractive destination methods to achieve his ideas, never content with his lot.
for someSubway
of the world’s most Palace
at Crystdal Cattle
famous street artists. trough,
A wander
through Shoreditch, Camden Town and Brixton Spaniard’s
will reveal
works by Banksy, Invader, Jimmy C and other notables.
Perhaps less known is that many of the leading and Ada Portillo
emerging artists are leaving their mark in the quiet suburban (detail)
district of Penge, in the Borough of Bromley. Last month I underneath
was both surprised and excited to learn about Abraham Beckenham
Osorio, a Salvadorean compatriot (my mother is from El Road tram
station
Salvador) who has recently moved to London and has
executed some fantastic murals in Penge (and north
London) which he showed me whilst we discussed his
techniques, inspirations and vision.
Abraham’s oeuvre is
dedicated to depicting His Ada Portillo mural (above) beneath Beckenham Road
people. The first work he tram station, depicting a woman about to remove her
completed in Penge is El glasses, shows a much looser technique, in which he flings
Historiante (The Historian) paint at the wall and allows it to drip. The viewer can
which portrays a dancer appreciate the work at a distance. Zooming in, the eye is
whom he portrayed in drawn to multiple layers and textures which make the work
Panchimalco, El Salvador. much more organic. It took him only one day to complete.
His black and white smiling Street art is frequently unsanctioned and illegally produced
face is contrasted with the on either public or private premises, which can lead to
colourful red wool hat he is prosecutions for criminal damage. Like many forms of art it
wearing. Above is a tin crown has branched out with muralists like Abraham seeking walls
surmounted by a Christian from property owners, whilst graffiti artists prefer executing
cross. His orange tunic their work in the dead of night, away from prying eyes. Yet
The Historian in Penge resembles a clerical even Abraham’s legal murals are vulnerable and hard to
vestment and the pink halo protect. They can be easily erased and damaged by the
which surrounds his head gives him a saintly appearance. elements, vandalism or by the continuous recycling of
Behind him pink orchids contribute to the surreal aspect of suitable walls by fellow artists.
the portrait. It is on the side wall of a house at the end of a
Victorian terrace in a cul-de-sac by the railway line and took
Abraham three days to complete using aerosol cans.
The Salvadorean diaspora in London is fairly small and has
had little cultural impact in comparison to Colombian or
Brazilian communities which have flourished in Elephant and Osorio’s mural at Crossland Primary School
Castle and Stockwell. El Salvador is a small country in Abraham is certainly not phased by the longevity of his
Central America with a chequered history and news of its murals. If anything, ephemerality is the essence of what he
social woes and violence frequently overshadow its beauty. does. How long a work survives can be subject to the artist’s
This gives Abraham’s work another dimension which has standing amongst the street artist community or just down to
added a bit of El Salvador to London. how willing he or she is to retouch the work. Yet I have no
Abraham received no formal training and is a self-taught doubt Abraham’s work is here to stay.
artist. His travels have been a source of inspiration reflected Abraham is on Instagram at: instagram.com/abraham.o1
in his sketchbook and his murals which can be found in Chris Van Hayden (who took the photographs)
6guiding news
GILL TO GO? PLATINUM PROGRAMME
February: The Anniversary
Interior of the The Queen spent her platinum
Roman Catholic anniversary at Sandringham
Westminster
House where her father King
Cathedral with
Eric Gill’s Stations George VI died in 1952.
of the Cross March: Platinum Pudding
A competition to create a new pudding to
celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the
Queen’s accession has been sponsored and
! will be judged by Fortnum and Mason. The
After his statue of Prospero and Ariel at BBC headquarters was winner will be announced in mid-March.
vandalised, it has been suggested that Eric Gill’s Stations of the Cross
12 - 15 May: Windsor Show
should be removed from Westminster Cathedral. Gill died in 1940 but a
1989 biography revealed that he had kept diaries detailing sexual abuse Tickets are on sale for a show in which 500
of women and animals, including his teenage daughters and sisters. horses and 1,000 performers will take part at
the Windsor Horse Show Arena. The troupe will
GAS - THE ABBEY'S IDEAL DIM RELIGIOUS LIGHT be based on the travelling players of the
Westminster City Council are to rip out hundreds of gas mantles in older Elizabethan period and will lead the audience
parts of the capital to replace them with LED lights - in the original lantern from the reign of Elizabeth I to the present day.
casing if possible. 'Gas lighting is difficult to maintain,’ it explains 'and
Most jubilee events will take place over the
doesn't provide sufficient light to illuminate the highway.’ Surveyor of the
extended holiday weekend of 2 to 5 June:
Fabric for Westminster Abbey Ptolemy Dean disagrees. 'Gas lighting
gives a glow and colour that is not provided electronically, even with Beacons Burning
improvements in LED bulbs,' he told The Westminster Abbey Review. Thousands of beacons will be lit in the UK to
The Abbey was one of the earliest public places to install gas light in mark the jubilee with another 54 in the capitals
1813 and in Dean's Yard gas lampposts are being repaired as protective of Commonwealth countries. A principal beacon
railings were lost during the scrap metal drive during World War Two. will be lit at Buckingham Palace on 2 June.
HENRY MOORE ON THE MANTLEPIECE 2 June: Trooping the Colour
John Hastings was a Wiltshire farmer who never locked the doors of his The annual celebration of the Queen’s official
house. Following his death in 2019 one of the trinkets on his mantlepiece birthday will take place on 2 June at Horse
has been identified as a previously unknown sculpture by Henry Moore. Guards Parade. The ceremony will also be held
It came to light when an independent valuer appraising his few on Saturday 28 May in front of Prince William.
possessions listed it as a ‘lead maquette in the manner of Henry Moore’. Tickets are available, as usual, by ballot.
It turned out that Moore had given it to the farmer’s father, Hubert de 3 June: Service of Thanksgiving
Cronin Hastings, publisher and editor of The Architectural Review. A service of thanksgiving will take place at Saint
Images of Moore’s work were used in the magazine throughout the Paul’s Cathedral on 3 June. Members of the
1930s and Hastings received the gift before Moore became famous. The public will be able to apply by ballot for tickets.
new work has been authenticated by the Henry Moore Foundation.
4 June: Epsom Derby
BLANKE’S BLUE PLAQUE The Queen will attend the Epsom Derby horse
The Nubian Jak Community Trust unveiled a race on Saturday 4 June with other members of
commemorative Blue Plaque to John Blanke, the royal family.
trumpeter in the Household of Henry VIII. The plaque 4 June: Platinum Party at the Palace
was installed in the Faculty of Music, Trinity Laban
Some of the world’s greatest entertainers will
Conservatoire of Music and Dance, at the Old Royal
perform at a concert at Buckingham Palace
Naval College in Greenwich, a world heritage site.
which will be broadcast by the BBC.
BLAVATNIK BONUS 5 June: Platinum Jubilee Pageant
Britain’s wealthiest man, the Russian born billionaire Sir Leonard Performers will come together to tell the story
Blavatnik, who is worth £23 billion, has donated funds to Oxford of the Queen’s reign through a pageant on the
University, the Courtauld and Tate Modern and the V & A. He has now Mall. It will include a ‘River of Hope’ made of
given money to the Imperial War Museum so that some of their eleven 200 silk flags that will look like a moving river.
million photographs can be put on display in a 1000 square metre gallery.
5 June Street Parties
TOM’S IN TOWN Ordinary citizens will be able to celebrate the
Tom Cruise has been spotted in London preparing for the filming of jubilee at street parties to be held at the end of
Misson Impossible Eight. He is said to be renting a luxury apartment in the holiday weekend on Sunday 5 June.
the Old War Office Building previously used by Winston Churchill.
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES 7
www.guidelondon.org March 2022PRO BONO TOURS WFTGA CONVENTION
Jennifer Hirschl welcomes refugees Glyn Jones on the meeting in Madrid
I attended the World Federation of Tourist Guides
Associations (WFTGA) hybrid convention with its hub in
Madrid. I was one of four UK delegates, the others
representing the Scottish Tourist Guides Association, the
Northern Ireland Tourist Guides Association and the British
Guild of Tourist Guides. In previous conventions delegates
could meet and discuss issues at breakfast, in a bar, or early
at the General Assembly. However, with the four of us online,
we discussed matters through a WhatsApp group instead.
Recordings of the sessions exist on YouTube and there are
copies of the various reports delivered on the first day.
Please contact me if you would like a copy of the documents.
Jennifer with a group of refugees at Buckingham Palace Video can be accessed via the WFTGA Facebook page.
Over the last several months, I have been providing a series The nineteenth convention was due to take place in 2021
of pro bono tours for West London Welcome, a charity but, due to Covid, the Serbian association had to pull out.
based in Hammersmith that supports asylum seekers and The new Hybrid format worked well, and there was greater
refugees who have come here seeking safe haven from a participation from members who are rarely able to travel to
wide range of countries across the world. I have provided conventions due to prices or the high season for guides.
tours of the City of London and Westminster, and the Day One was a hybrid event where delegates were live in
interest, enthusiasm and appreciation was both palpable Madrid and online around the world. The meeting discussed
and infectious. I have felt fortunate to be in a position to the governance of WFTGA . Other days were for bids to host
provide a warm welcome to those who have risked so much the next meeting, training days and a gala party.
to be here. The groups have included people from Turkey, El
The salient points of the meetings were:
Salvador, Honduras, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen.
1. There were 34 voting countries represented by their
I would like to propose that the APTG provides a series of
delegates online or in Madrid, thus constituting a quorum.
tours to asylum seekers and refugees in order to help give
them a better understanding of London, its history, its 2. BBTG Alison Hypher brought together a report for the UK.
complexity and its diversity. We are uniquely positioned to We also submitted a video summarising the reports.
both educate and welcome visitors to our shores, whatever 3. WFTGA now has a position on the Board of UNWTO.
their reason for being here. 4. Israel’s delegate expressed concern at the poverty some
Walking tours have proved to be very popular and it would of his colleagues are suffering (with some suicides) and
be great if we could also offer tours of sites that have free asked for help on how to get support from government. We
entry and allow groups of up to fifteen or so, such as the outlined the missed support experienced in this country.
National Gallery, the Tate, British Museum (when numbers 5. The host for the 2024 convention will be Syracuse in Italy.
increase) and the Museum of London. My idea is to provide
6. WFTGA reminded us to share news we have with our own
ten to twelve tours a year – about one per month – provided 3 Savile Row
associations, in particular news about International Tourist
by different guides with hopefully a few in foreign languages.
Guide Day 2022. Share photos and text at news@wftga.org.
Essentially, I am asking for ten to twelve volunteers to each
provide one pro bono tour over the course of a year The hybrid meeting worked well for the governance
discussions but not so well for Education and Training or the
If you are interested in participating in such a programme
tours of Madrid. The uncertainty of the travel situation in the
then please get in touch with me at info@london-
UK was a factor in my not attending in person. I regret this
insider.com with any tours you feel you would be happy to
as the purpose behind these conventions is to share
provide on a pro bono basis and in which language.
experiences with guides from around the world.
Jennifer Hirschl Glyn Jones
Thanks to:
Jonathan Cohen, Augusta Harris, Victoria Herriott, Jennifer Hirschl, Glyn Jones,
Chris Van Hayden, Alfie Talman, Sarah Wood and to Liz Rubenstein for proof reading.
We LOVE getting material from members. Guidelines is your monthly magazine and
The Association of
it is the way we communicate with each other through the medium of hard copy. We
Professional Tourist Guides
welcome articles and photos from members but contributions may be held over and
Email:
we reserve the right to edit them. Images should be high resolution – 300 ppi.
APTG@guidelondon.org.uk
Editor: Edwin Lerner Please email copy/images to edwinlerner@gmail.com by 15 March for the next issue.
Printed and produced by Unite (GMP&IT) members.
(JN8627)
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