Cenotaph is derived from two Greek words ‘kenos’ meaning empty and ‘taphos’ meaning tomb. This is not the only Cenotaph in the world, the word is used to describe all memorials, not necessarily war-related, which commemorate a person or group of people buried elsewhere. It is however, the most famous Cenotaph worldwide, and a focus for national military events, especially in November.

Today’s Whitehall Cenotaph was erected in 1920 and dedicated to the ‘Glorious Dead’ on the 11th November that year. Lutyen’s design was an exact replica of a Cenotaph he had built on the same spot in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade, with one significant difference. Lutyen’s original Cenotaph was a hastily constructed memorial of wood and plaster, today’s permanent memorial is made of Portland Stone.

The Cenotaph’s simple inscription ‘The Glorious Dead’ was chosen by author Rudyard Kipling, who lost his son on the Western Front. The simple design was purely Lutyen’s, although he originally wanted stone flags on either side of the memorial, rather than the cloth ones which stand today.

The monument is Grade I listed and although it’s brought centre stage every November, it provides a focal point for Britain to remember its war dead throughout the year.

As it’s now November, we’ll start with literature, as it was this street which provided Charles Dickens with his inspiration for the door knocker haunting at the beginning of A Christmas Carol. The hideous door knocker which transfigures into the face of his long-dead partner Jacob Marley originally hung at number 8 Craven Street. Not literally, obviously the one at number eight wasn’t haunted and didn’t try to save the souls of those who knocked on it, but it was by all accounts, pretty scary; certainly ugly and memorable enough to secure its place in the canon of British literature.

Unfortunately number 8 Craven Street, and its horrendous door knocker, were destroyed when the street was re-routed in the early twentieth century.

The knocker may well have been known to Benjamin Franklin and William Hewson though, who shared a house at number 16, along with Hewson’s wife and mother-in-law (poor bloke!). Regular readers of this blog will have heard us rave about the Franklin House museum before – it’s a fascinating place, both reconstructed home of a US Founding Father and slightly eerie basement museum displaying the human bones which were found in the garden, left over from Hewson’s private medical school.

While he was in the UK, Franklin worked as a printer at the church of St Bartholomew the Great in Spitalfields and dabbled in scientific experiments, designing the world’s first lightening conductor, which was tested on St Brides Church in Fleet Street after much argument with the king.

Also nearby is the unique Ship and Shovell pub, named after a previous Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Cloudesley Shovell . A popular naval hero in the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries, he rose through the ranks to command the British fleet, and become MP for Rochester! It’s a popular haunt with local workers, although they very rarely get bored going there, as it’s really two pubs in one, a ‘branch’ either side of Craven Passage, the tiny, historic alleyway which connects The Strand and Villiers Street.

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None of the below snippets feature in the hunt, but just think – if this is what we left out, how good must what’s in there be….?

St Paul’s Cathedral: Always a progressive cathedral, St Paul’s used to appoint a Boy Bishop every December. This young lad would be chosen from among the choirboys and be allowed to run the entire cathedral for a month.

However, he was not allowed to interfere with one of the longest viewing corridors in London, which protects the view of St Paul’s Cathedral from King Henry’s Mound in Richmond Park. That’s a whopping ten miles away!

Westminster Abbey: Pretty much every King and Queen of England ever has had their coronation in Westminster Abbey, except for poor Henry III. He was only nine at the time and the French had taken control of London. This was rectified four years later, when it was decided his original coronation was not in-line with church dogma and should be re-done – this time at Westminster Abbey.

Even though Henry III went on to expand the Abbey, space there remained at a premium and in 1637, playwright Ben Jonson was buried standing up in Poet’s Corner to save space.

Downing Street: For security reasons, there is no outside door handle at 10 Downing Street. You can only get in if someone already inside lets you in.

Trafalgar Square: Every year Norway donates a Christmas tree to stand in Trafalgar Square. It’s in recognition of the help British armed forces gave their country during the Second World War. The statue of Charles I that stands nearby is there all year round, looking directly, and constantly, at the spot in Whitehall where he was beheaded.

Houses of Parliament: Like all Royal Palaces, the Palace of Westminster should provide a state funeral for anyone who dies within its walls; but they don’t like doing this, so if you do die there, chances are you’ll be carried outside and claims made you were found on the doorstep.

This probably wasn’t a concern for the first modern Olympics tennis champion, an MP on holiday from Westminster. He was entered as a joke by a friend and went on to win both the singles and doubles titles.

London Eye: The London Eye rotates twice as fast as a tortoise sprints and is over 100 times heavier than Big Ben.

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Whitehall Palace: Before Buckingham Palace, Whitehall was the main resident of the monarch in London. It first became a royal residence when Henry VIII confiscated it off the disgraced Cardinal Wolsey. At its height it was the largest palace in Europe with over 1,500 rooms. The palace was the scene of Charles I’s execution, and his son’s more natural death by stroke. Almost completely destroyed by fire in 1698, today only the Inigo Jones-designed Banqueting House, scene of the UK’s only regicide, remains.

Palace of Placentia: This royal palace was situated in Greenwich, on the site where the Royal Naval College now stands. Taken over by the crown in 1447, it became one of the chief royal residences and was the birthplace of Henry VIII, and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. The palace’s decline began during the Civil War, when it became a prison camp, and later a biscuit factory. Charles II tried, and failed, to bring the palace back to life and it was eventually demolished. All that remains today is Inigo Jones’s The Queen’s House. Seems that if you want any part of a palace to survive – get Jonesy to build it!

Palace of Westminster: Today more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament, the current Palace is its third incarnation. The first was the monarch’s main London residence until it burnt down in 1512. Following this the monarchy moved to the nearby Whitehall Palace, which also later burnt down. The equally careless Parliament took over at Westminster and managed to burn down the second palace in 1834. This led to the building of a third palace, which still stands today. As bad things happen in threes, hopefully this one is safe from fire after the disasters of previous incarnations and Whitehall!

Buckingham Palace: This one still survives and is the current home of the monarch. It’s in this list because of a great story about William IV, who detested the building so much he tried conning Parliament to get out of living there! When the second Palace of Westminster burnt down, Buckingham Palace was just being redesigned for the monarchy to live there full-time. Seeing his way out, William offered the palace to Parliament. Turns out Parliament didn’t rate it much either, and preferred Charles Barry’s new-build Gothic masterpiece. In the event, William died before the palace was finished, and his niece Victoria became the first monarch to live there full time.

Eltham Palace: Eltham became a royal residence under Edward II and remained so for around 200 years, before slipping into decay. In the 1920s it was purchased by the Coultards, who built an art-deco house above the ruins of the once-great palace, but managed to retain the amazing Tudor banqueting hall which once welcomed Henry VIII. The contrast is breathtaking and creates a palace which is a perfect time capsule of two very different periods.
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Known as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, many people are confused as to whether the notorious Todd and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett actually existed. They didn’t, or at least there is no biographical evidence to suggest they did, or that they committed the heinous crimes for which they are now famous.

You see, Sweeney Todd used to seat his victims in the barber’s chair and prepare them for a shave. He would then slit their throats and kick a lever which upturned the chair, dumping his dying customer through a trapdoor and into the cellar beneath. Some versions of the story have these events in the opposite order, but really it doesn’t matter – the end result was the same.

The corpses were then carried under a secret tunnel to Mrs. Lovett, a pie maker who turned them into the secret ingredient of her famous pies.

Only this never actually happened, because, as mentioned above, they never existed. I mean really, if London had found two cannibal killers in its midst, the case would have been as notorious as Jack the Ripper, not the subject of a Sondheim Musical. So where did he come from?

Todd first appeared as the central character of a Victorian serialisation called ‘A String of Pearls’ in 1846-47. Misleadingly sub-titled ‘A Romance’ and published in the innocuous sounding People’s Periodical and Family Library, the story was in fact a Penny Dreadful, a curious form of lurid Victorian literature which dwelt on the macabre and fantastical.

This particular serial was so well-received that a play of it was performed shortly after it finished. Several other productions followed, until Sondheim hit the pinnacle with his musical Sweeney Todd in 1979; this then became the popular 2007 Tim Burton film, ensuring Todd never strayed too far from the public consciousness. London tour guides have also played their part, telling his story as fact to all and sundry.

Although Todd himself isn’t real, his premises sort of are. A String of Pearls gives his address as next to St Dunstan’s church on Fleet Street and Mrs. Lovett’s premises on Bell Yard. Both the church and Bell Yard can still be seen today, which means that the secret tunnel described in the serial, must have run directly under the then-Bank of England!

Today these premises are a pub – so if you fancy a pint on the site of one of London’s first urban legends, you know where to go!

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However, regardless of how friendly they were, they had still invaded the country and conquered. Unsurprisingly, they were therefore detested by the native tribes who soon got round to revolution, led by the famous Queen of the Iceni, Boudica. She led a rebellion so fierce that the city of Londinium was burnt to the ground, leaving a layer of ash an inch thick which still lies beneath modern London.

Despite Boudica’s best attempts, there are still some very clear, and quite frankly amazing Roman sites scattered across London. Possibly the most impressive is the Guildhall Amphitheatre. Rediscovered in 1998, the line of the amphitheatre is clearly traceable in the remnants, as the lightly curving entrance path sweeps round to give you a hint of the scale this amphitheatre once worked on. The full size is also marked on the Guildhall piazza, built directly above.

The amphitheatre’s basement location, cut off from modern London, gives you the opportunity to lose yourself in the atmosphere of the remains, enveloping you in Roman London until you can almost hear the clash of sword upon sword as gladiators fight to the death.

Slightly less impressive, but more surprisingly preserved is a remnant of the Roman Forum in a Leadenhall Market hairdressers. Hidden in the corner of the lower ground floor, past the barber’s chairs and hairdryer stands, sits an innocuous piece of stone behind bulletproof glass. It’s a far cry from the days when it used to hold up the Romans’ most important area. This unassuming, squat tower once supported the structures where politics were discussed, the gods worshipped and justice done. It would probably have some hair-raising stories to tell this barber shop’s clients, if it could talk!

This blog could go on for ages, but we’ll limit ourselves to just one more unusual Roman site. The foundations of the Temple of Mithras now rest on Poultry and are tucked away among building works, accessible but barely visible from the road. Excavated in 1954, this cult temple would originally have been underground and home to a complex series of initiations and rituals for worshippers, known as the Mithraic mysteries. These mysteries still remain today, with very little archaeological evidence to tell us how or why this religion was practised.

If you fancy escaping modern-day London, even just for five minutes – you needn’t go far. Just track down one of these timewarps, where our Roman history peeps through the contemporary surface of the city, and you’ll find a whole other world.

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But what of those Londoners who were only notorious or good? Those who left their mark on London, but today go largely unremarked or unremembered. There are hundreds of candidates for this blog, and we may explore others in time, but for now – here’s our should-be-more-famous five!

Lucy Wanmer – Known as ‘The Little Woman of Peckham’, Lucy was only 81cm (32 inches) tall in a time when dwarfism was seen as freakish, the subject of circus side-shows. Although she did work as an ‘attraction’ around 1801, she also started a highly successful school in Peckham. Despite many of her pupils being taller than her, Lucy gave no quarter and achieved a reputation as an excellent teacher and disciplinarian. She died in 1821, at a ripe old age of 71.

Chevalier D’Eon – The Chevalier D’Eon was a French spy and diplomat, who acted as interim ambassador to Britain in the 1760s while simultaneously spying for Louis XV of France. What makes the Chevalier even more remarkable is that his true gender was unknown throughout his life. He lived as both man and woman across his career and consequently sex was the subject of much speculation in London, with a betting pool run on the Stock Exchange. It was only after death that the Chevalier, who lived and died as a woman in London, was found to be anatomically male.

The Boy Jones – An apothecary’s assistant, Edward Jones had no other aim than to achieve notoriety. He went about this by successfully breaking and entering into Buckingham Palace on several separate occasions between 1838 and 1841, at one time stopping for a snack in the Royal Apartments! A favourite joke of the day was that the teenager must be somehow related to famous architect In-I-Go Jones.

Dan Leno – ‘The funniest man on earth’ was one of the most popular Victorian vaudeville performers, with a specialism in playing pantomime dames. Leno was an astounding comic actor, he was popular, talented and in demand, becoming the first music hall performer to give a Royal Command Performance, before Edward VII. Sadly, he had a mental breakdown and died shortly after. Even in death he commanded massive audiences, with a huge public turn-out at his funeral.

John Williams – The chief suspect in one of London’s most notorious murder cases committed suicide before being bought to trial. Serious doubt remains over his guilt for the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway Murders, which terrified London and forced a massive change in policing, long before Jack the Ripper appeared. In 1886 William’s corpse was exhumed from its burial place beneath an unhallowed crossroads and his skull put on display in nearby pub ‘The Crown and Dolphin’ as a souvenir.

Charles John Huffam Dickens, aka Boz, was born in Portsmouth but later gravitated towards London, despite calling it a ‘vile place’. He spent much of his working life here, and all his novels feature London in some way, shape or form. Consequently, there are many unusual buildings in London that claim affinity with Dickens, from a gaudy coffee shop just off Covent Garden, to the townhouse which was the scene of his biggest family tragedy.

We’ll begin with this townhouse, the most important Dickens’ site in London. Situated in Doughty Street and now the Dickens’ House Museum, it was his first home after his marriage and the place where he completed some of his most popular early novels, including the Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. Sadly, it was also here that Dickens lost his beloved sister-in-law Mary, who died in his arms in one of the bedrooms. Her death was later fictionalized as the over-sentimental demise of Little Nell in the Old Curiosity Shop.

Curiously, the real shop is nearby on Lincoln’s Inn Fields. A quaint, cottage-like building, today it proclaims its Dickensian credentials proudly, but when it acted as is muse, it was most likely a slightly sinister, attractive antiques and bric-a-brac shop. The name was added later to capitalise on the book’s popularity and today it sells bespoke shoes.

The Covent Garden coffee shop is housed in the building that was once Dickens’ residence and offices when he edited the magazine All the Year Round, under the pseudonym Boz. If you’d like to follow in Dickens’ footsteps but fancy something a little stronger, the author was known to drink at a number of lovely historic pubs.

The George and Eagle, between Lombard Street and Leadenhall Market was a favourite haunt, and the inspiration for Mr Pickwick’s tavern of choice in the Pickwick Papers. Legend has it that when Dickens’ first found the tavern, he threw his hat in the air with glee at having discovered such a perfect setting for his book.

Another favourite was Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, off Fleet Street, long a haunt of writers including Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith. This pub has changed little since Dickens’ day and still uses sawdust to soak up spills and keep its antique floor clean!

So if you are wondering what the Dickens to do with yourself this weekend, why not follow in the footsteps of one of England’s greatest novelists?

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These amazing creatures inhabit the green open space of Crystal Palace Park, they are Grade I listed and were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world when they were unveiled in 1854. Dinosaur studies were in their infancy at this time and very little was known about these thunderous lizards which had inhabited the world long before us.

Their opening even predated Darwin’s The Origin of the Species by 6 years, meaning that the majority of people viewing these creatures would have seen them as God’s creation, rather than part of an evolutionary cycle.

Given the lack of information, it’s not really surprising that these statues have since been proved to be completely and utterly inaccurate! The most famous mistake can be seen on the iguanadon statues. One of the iguanadons achieved celebrity status in the Victorian era after they hosting a New Year’s Eve banquet for twenty. They are shown as creatures on all fours (we now believe the iguanadon to have been bipedal) but most importantly, they have a spiked nose, not spiked thumbs.

Archaeologists had only found one of the thumb spikes and didn’t know where it went, so they stuck it on the nose – like a rhinoceros.

Another statue, the mosasaurus, was built half submerged in the lake. Although an aquatic dinosaur, the location is more to hide the fact that artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins had no idea what the lower half was supposed to look like! Only mosasaurus skulls had been discovered in this period and so Hawkins was forced to employ some sleight of hand!

Restored in the early years of this century the Crystal Palace dinosaurs are eccentric, beautiful and a unique glimpse into the past. Not just the extinct periods Hawkins believed he was representing, but into the Victorian era as well, and the massive leaps and bounds forward we have made since that time.

The current building is also thatch – the first thatch building to be allowed in London since the Great Fire of London in 1666 – however, it’s hoped that the modern fire alarm system and new stage technologies will prevent a repeat. If those precautions weren’t enough, the entire cast took part in a ‘soaking ceremony’ this morning. All members of the production, whether cast or crew were asked to bring a vessel to fill with water and throw around the building to prevent fire spreading.

It’s an interesting modern twist on theatreland superstitions, most of which arise from unlucky events. Another famous superstition is that one may not knit in the wings. This is supposed to arise from the unfortunate death of a lead actor, exiting the stage he gave one last dramatic line, startling the seamstress knitting in the wings, she jumped and stabbed him through the heart.

However, while superstition may have led to the dousing ceremony – it hasn’t led to the removal of cannon fire in the show. The performances, starting tonight and running until the end of August, have retained the fateful cannon in Act 1 Scene 4, so if the skies over the Thames are illuminated tonight, then you know where the problem is.