When the Queen shows up to open a new library or community centre she usually presses the flesh with important people and maybe makes a little speech saying how pleased she is to be there. If it is anything to do with […]
Diary of a Tourist Guide:
Archives for December 2017
MOTHER’S RUIN
Almost every time I go to Scotland I take a group to a distillery and, of course, we have a dram. (http://diaryofatouristguide.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/eating-around-england.html) For the first time ever, however, I visited a gin distillery last week. As this was just a couple of […]
BOILS ON THE BOTTOM
When I do a tour of the British Museum I take the opportunity to mention Karl Marx who did most of his writing there (although the famous Reading Room has now moved to the British Library at St Pancras). It goes something like this with me playing the part of the man in charge: “Ah, […]
CRIME PAYS
At least it did for Agatha Christie who wrote sixty six detective stories, a dozen collections of short stories, several successful plays, six romances and even a collection of children’s poetry resulting in sales of around two billion in over 100 languages. […]
BAGPIPES AND BUSKING
I was leaving one of my favourite art galleries, the Pallant in Chichester, when I heard the sound of bagpipes. They are a Scottish instrument and it is almost impossible to get farther away from Scotland in Britain than Sussex. Down […]
MRS THATCHER’S FINAL RESTING PLACE
With a week in London, I thought I would fill a few gaps in my knowledge and one of these was the grave of Mrs Thatcher – or Lady Thatcher as she became. I knew that she and her husband Denis had links with the Chelsea Hospital […]