Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
WHITEHALL STATUES AND THE CENOTAPH
The
statues
dotted along Whitehall recall the days of the empire. Kings and military
leaders predominate, starting outside Horse Guards with the
2nd Duke of
Cambridge
(1819-1904), whose horse was shot from under him in the Crimean War. As commander-in-
chief of the British Army, he was so resistant to military reform that he had to be forcibly
retired. Next stands the
8th Duke of Devonshire
(1833-1908), who failed to rescue
General Gordon from the Siege of Khartoum in 1884-85. Appropriately enough,
Lord Haig
(1861-1928), who was responsible for sending thousands to their deaths in World War I, faces
the Cenotaph, his horse famously poised ready for urination. Before you get to the Cenotaph,
there's a striking memorial to the
Women of World War II
, featuring seventeen uniforms
hanging on a large bronze plinth.
At the end of Whitehall, in the middle of the road, stands Edwin Lutyens'
Cenotaph
, built in
1919 in wood and plaster to commemorate the Armistice, and rebuilt in Portland stone the
following year. The stark monument, which eschews Christian imagery, is inscribed simply with
the words “The Glorious Dead” - the lost of World War I, who, it was once calculated, would
take three and a half days to pass by the Cenotaph marching four abreast. The memorial
remains the focus of the
Remembrance Sunday
ceremony held on the Sunday nearest
November 11. Between the wars, however, a much more powerful, two-minute silence was
observed throughout the entire British Empire every year on November 11 at 11am, the exact
time of the armistice at the end of World War I.
Winston Churchill directed operations and held cabinet meetings for the duration
of World War II. By the end of the war, the six-acre site included a hospital, canteen
and shooting range, as well as sleeping quarters; tunnels fan out from the complex to
outlying government ministries, and also, it is rumoured, to Buckingham Palace itself,
allowing the Royal Family a quick getaway to exile in Canada (via Charing Cross
station) in the event of a Nazi invasion.
The rooms remain much as they were when they were abandoned on VJ Day,
August 15, 1945, and make for an atmospheric underground trot through wartime
London. To bring the place to life, pick up an audioguide, which includes various
eyewitness accounts by folks who worked here. The best rooms are Winnie's very
modest emergency bedroom (though he himself rarely stayed here, preferring to watch
the air raids from the roof of the building, or rest his head at the
Savoy Hotel
), and the
Map Room, left exactly as it was on VJ Day, with its rank of multicoloured telephones,
copious ashtrays and floor-to-ceiling maps covering every theatre of war.
Churchill Museum
When you get to Churchill's secret telephone hotline direct to the American president,
signs direct you to the self-contained Churchill Museum, which begins with his finest
moment, when he took over as PM and Britain stood alone against the Nazis. You can
hear snippets of Churchill's speeches and check out his trademark bowler, spotted bow
tie and half-chewed Havana, not to mention his wonderful burgundy zip-up “romper
suit”. Fortunately for the curators, Churchill had an extremely eventful life and was
great for a soundbite, so there are plenty of interesting anecdotes to keep you engaged.
Houses of Parliament
Parliament Square •
T
020 7219 4272,
W
parliament.uk •
!
Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, better known as the
Houses of Parliament
, is among
London's best-known icons. The city's finest Victorian edifice and a symbol of a
nation once confident of its place at the centre of the world, it's best viewed from the
south side of the river, where the likes of Monet and Turner once set up their easels.
The building's most famous feature is its ornate, gilded clock tower popularly known
as
Big Ben
, at its most impressive when lit up at night. Strictly speaking, it's the
