I have never built up a network of relationships with private tour operators who offer what I call posh jobs: work with people who stay in smart hotels in Mayfair and have personal tours with private chauffeurs, ones which end […]
Diary of a Tourist Guide:
Archives for October 2018
THE ENGLISH IDIOT
So who is the most recognisable Englishman around the world? Prince Charles or his sons William and Harry? David Beckham maybe? James Bond perhaps – although no-one knows what he actually looks like as he was portrayed most famously by a Scotsman (Sean Connery) and, more recently, by an Irishman (Pearce Brosnan) and a Welshman (Timothy Dalton) as well […]
OIL SEED RAPE, AKA CANOLA
“So what is that yellow stuff growing in the fields, Eddie?” It is a common question at the beginning of the season when much of the countryside is covered in it. In what, exactly? The common name for the crop is Oil Seed Rape which, as I say, […]
THE FORGOTTEN KING HENRY
There have been eight kings of England called Henry and the least well known of them may have been the first to hold that name. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror […]
EMERGENCY!
“Stop the coach! Dial 911 – he’s stopped breathing!” This is what all tourist guides and tour managers dread hearing. “He” was one of the passengers on a sixteen day tour who had caught a particularly virulent bug that was going around the group. No matter how clean you keep the […]
DICK TURPIN – AKA JOHN PALMER
The British love a romantic outlaw – at least until they are the victims of one – and they lap up legends about his exploits. Robin Hood is probably the most famous example because he robbed the rich and – supposedly – gave to the poor and a […]
THE PIANO MAN
This post is sent from the Scottish Highlands, where I am from the last time this year but concerns an usual memorial I saw in the outskirts of London recently. EL Recently I stopped off in Perivale Park, just off the A40 near the Hoover Building, which I wrote […]