Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Laid out on the burial ground of the old lepers' hospital by Henry VIII, Green Park was left
more or less flowerless - hence its name (officially “The Green Park”) - and, apart from the
springtime swaths of daffodils and crocuses, it remains mostly meadow, shaded by graceful
London plane trees. In its time, however, it was a popular place for duels (banned from
neighbouring St James's Park), ballooning and fireworks displays. One such display was
immortalized by Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks , performed here on April 27, 1749
to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended the eight-year War of the Austrian
Succession - over ten thousand fireworks were let off, setting fire to the custom-built
Temple of Peace and causing three fatalities. The music was a great success, however.
Along the east side of the park runs the wide path of Queen's Walk , laid out for Queen
Caroline, wife of George II, who had a little pavilion built nearby.
< Back to St James's
The gentlemen's clubs
The gentlemen's clubs of St James's remain the final bastions of the male chauvinism
and public-school snobbery for which England is famous. Their origins lie in the coffee-
and chocolate-houses of the eighteenth century, though the majority were founded in the
post-Napoleonic peace of the early nineteenth century by those who yearned for the of-
ficers' mess; drinking, whoring and gambling were the major features of early club life.
The oldest clubs - like White's, Brooks's and Boodle's - still boast a list of members
that includes royals, politicians and the military top brass. The Reform Club, on Pall
Mall, from which Phileas Fogg set off in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days ,
is one of the more “progressive” - it was one of the first to admit women as members.
SHOPS
BATES
73 Jermyn St Green Park.Daily 9.30am-6pm. MAP
A venerable “gentleman's hatter”, hidden within Hilditch & Key the shirtmakers, selling
everything from boaters and panamas to tweed caps and felt hats - look out for Binks,
the stuffed cat, who first entered the shop in 1921.
GEORGE F. TRUMPER
1 Duke of York St Piccadilly Circus.Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-5pm. MAP
Founded in 1875, this impeccably discreet “gentlemen's perfumer” is the barber of
choice, with a shaving school that will teach you how to execute the perfect wet shave.
PAXTON & WHITFIELD
93 Jermyn St Piccadilly Circus.Mon-Sat 9.30am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm. MAP
 
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