Cutty Sark

The world’s last remaining tea clipper was launched  from Dumbarton in Scotland in 1869.  At the time, the technical sophistication of the Cutty Sark made her a symbol of British Maritime power as she sailed the South China seas with cargos ranging from whisky to gunpowder.  Bringing tea from China and wool from Australia, her sleek shape and narrow hull enabled her to achieve a speed of 20mph and cover nearly 300 miles a day, unheard of at the time. She was thought of as the ‘Poster Girl’ of her time, being likened to Concorde or theSpace Shuttle in current times.

A photograph of the Cutty Sark taken by Captain Woodget, courtesy of The Merchant Navy Association
The photograph was taken in the open sea with a camera supported on a plank of wood fixed between two of the ship's boats.

Today, this spectacular national treasure was visited by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to officially relaunch the Cutty Sark after a £50 million restoration project. The project suffered a devastating fire in 2007, but fortunately large parts of the ship had been taken off-site for restoration work so much of the original vessel still remains. In a few places where the originals were too badly damaged such as the top deck, the conservation teams resorted to creating a special composite material which looks just like the original deck.

Photo:  Getty Images

Prince Philip played a key role in getting the Cutty Sark brought back to Greenwich in the 1950s and has taken a keen interest in the restoration project. The work has been funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund along with large donations from benefactors, contributions from a very wide variety of members of the public,  along with pocket money donations from children who are delighted to see this major part of history being preserved.

Photo;  Getty Images

The ship is now ‘floating’ in its dry dock with a state of the art visitor centre all around the vessel creating a new Thames landmark on this World Heritage Site.

The 32nd London Marathon

Former Olympic medallists, John Disley and the late Chris Brasher, were the co-founders of the London Marathon.  Having been exhilarated by the experience of the New York Marathon, they started on a long journey of discussions to discover whether it could be possible to stage a similar race in London.

Finally, 7,747 people ran the first London Marathon on 29 March 1981.  With a three year sponsorship  deal from Gillette worth £75,000, the race was a great success with thousands of people lining the streets and full TV coverage on the BBC. 

Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters

The popularity of the event has continued to increase over the years with a record number of 36,550 people finishing in 2010. It attracts a huge variety of runners from around the world, many choosing to wear fancy dress, some in bizarre and restricting costumes and more than three quarters competing for charitable causes.  But it still remains a serious athletic event, one of the five in the World Marathon Majors.

As one of the biggest running events in the world, the London Marathon holds the Guiness World Record as the largest annual fund raising event in the world;  since 1981 it has raised over £450m for charity.

The race starts in Greenwich Park, follows a route east to Woolwich, then turns west towards Greenwich, past the Cutty Sark and across the River Thames at Tower Bridge.  Canary Wharf is the next point then round the Isle of Dogs, before heading west again towards the Embankment, through Birdcage Walk and past Buckingham Palace before reaching the finishing line in The Mall


The ladies and men's elite winners ran the 26.2 miles in just over two hours and Price Harry was out on the finishing line to present their medals.  The race has a staggered start with the elite athletes and wheelchair competitors leaving before the main group of over 37,000 runners.

Photo:  Getty Images

Well done to all those people who took on the 26.2 mile challenge in the world's largest fund raising event.

Photo: Getty Images

Inspire a Generation!

100 days to go until the opening ceremony and Chairman of the Games Seb Coe was at Kew Gardens this morning to unveil a giant set of Olympic rings, made up of over 20,000 flowers visible to planes landing on the Heathrow flight path.

Photo: LOCOG

The venue for sailing events in Weymouth, Dorset has built a giant sandcastle featuring the Olympic rings to celebrate and the Coldstream, Scots and Welsh Guards were in perfect formation on Horseguards Parade, marking the 100 days to go. 

Photo: LOCOG

A further announcement that more than 60 big screens will be erected around the country to give everyone across the United Kingdom a chance to watch the London 2012 events, free of charge, will be warmly welcomed.  The excitement of the opening day of the Games will be experienced by cities across the country, with a flypast from the Red Arrows aerobatic display team performing their Big Battle formation

Photo: MOD

British Embassies around the world have arranged events to mark the 100 days to go, with 100 metre races in Berlin, at the 1984 Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo and in the Palace Square in St. Petersburg.  

With 3 weeks until the torch is lit in Greece, 4 weeks until it arrives in the UK and 10,000 temporary toilets to set up, the final countdown is on!   The buzz of excitement is building across London as we prepare to welcome the world.

The University Boat Race

The first race took place in 1829 following a challenge between two old school friends, Charles Merrivale and Charles Wordsworth and later became an annual event, which has been rowed every year except during the two World Wars.

In 1845 the venue moved from Henley to the four and half mile course from Putney to Mortlake in South West London.  Here the two crews of nine extremely fit young men and women of dark blues from Oxford and light blues from Cambridge, take part in a unique sporting event, watched by thousands on the riverbank and millions on TV around the world.  The actual date and time changes from year to year depending on the tides, but it is normally around the same time as Easter. 

This years boat race has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.  The two boats usually flash pass in a couple of seconds and once the cheering is over, the enjoyment of boat race day for onlookers by the riverbank is in the hosts of parties which are held in pubs, restaurants and homes along the course of the Thames.  The river is then left to calm from the massive following traffic of boats associated with the race before the rest of the races are held.

However this year, just as we could see the two boats emerging round the corner masses of loud sirens filled  the air, blue lights began flashing and helicopters swept overhead.

Some people in the group had been listening to the commentary on their phones and were able to keep us up to date with the antics of a stupid, smirking, anti-elitist protester who had swum in-between the boats and very narrowly escaped being whacked around the head with the force of one of the oars.  He was removed, arrested and the race was re-started. Unfortunately, moments later the Oxford crew clashed with Cambridge resulting in one of their oars snapping half way down.  They carried on, the oarsman continuing with his stump, but obviously at a disadvantage, so Cambridge soon pulled away and won the race.

It was a very subdued win as Alex Woods, one of the Oxford crew, collapsed with exhaustion as the effects of having waited about in the cold wind before the restart sent his body into metabolic chaos.  Being at the end of the boat, it was at least five minutes before anyone noticed he was unconscious and not just relaxing. Once alerted, the rescue boats were soon on the job, swiftly getting him off to hospital and I’m pleased to say he is reported to have made a full recovery. 

Madame Tussauds welcomes a new royal couple

Photo:Daniel Deme/ WENN.com

Madame Tussauds is the most famous waxwork museum in the world, where  you can stand next to a perfect life-size replica of historical characters, celebrities, statesmen, royalty and notorious criminals.

Marie Tussaud grew up in Paris in the 18th century and became an assistant to Dr. Philippe Curtis, a famous wax modeller who was ordered to make death masks for many of the victims of the French revolution. Madame Tussaud had the gruesome task of making the death masks for King Louis 16th and Queen Marie Antoinette, which are still on display.  Madame Tussaud opened her attraction in London over 180 years ago, featuring a figure of King William IV.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have now taken their place in Madame Tussauds in a pose and setting taken from the day of their engagement announcement. The now world famous blue Issa dress was specially recreated by the fashion label for the  exhibit, and the replica sapphire and diamond engagement ring, which once belonged to Prince William's mother the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is proudly on show. 

The waxworks have cost approximately £150,000 each and have been created by a team of more than 30 experts over four months.  However, all this hard work is sure to be popular with the public which has regularly contacted the waxworks museum to request the Royal couple be featured and the museum is expecting the queues to be even longer at the Baker Street attraction.

There has been a big grin from one end of the Thames to the other this week and at the weekend, I don't think I have ever seen London quite so busy except on State occasions.
People have been enjoying the remarkably high temperatures and clear blue skies in the parks, squares, streets and on the river.  We have been hotter than most of the Mediterranean resorts.

A matinee  trip to the theatre to see The King's Speech on Saturday felt like a bit of bad planning, however it was a welcome relief to step off the hot pavements of Leicester Square into the air conditioned auditorium of the Wyndham Theatre.  What an odd thing to be saying in March!


I haven't been to this theatre before and what a lovely surprise.  It is very small and pretty with a gold and aqua blue colour scheme and delicate paintings across the boxes.  Founded in 1899 by the actor/director Charles Wyndham. The theatre has been venue for many shows which have become household names such as The Boyfriend in 1920 and Godspell in 1972 and was the place where Madonna made her West End debut in 'Up for Grabs' in 2002.


Much as I enjoyed the film last year, I think the intimacy of a stage play makes for a more emotional story of King George VI's stammer and gives much more of a focus to the touching friendship between Bertie and his speech therapist, Logue.  The audience is treated to plenty of well timed laughs and the projections of the original film footage depicts the sense of occasion perfectly. This is a show destined for a very good run in London's West End in my opinion.


The evening was perfectly rounded off with a glass of wine whilst watching the sun set over the hazy London rooftops.

The Olympic Torch Relay

The route of the Olympic torch relay has been announced, along with the names of all the 8,000 torch bearers, who will carry the torch through their towns and cities as it makes a tour of the UK.

Torchbearers have been selected from a vast response to a call for nominations of inspirational and deserving people.  Along with celebrities and sports stars, there will be a lady from Harrow who will be 100 years old by the time she carries the torch, and she still holds a keep fit class for more mature people twice a week! There will be so many people who have shown courage and determination through illness and difficulties, along with charity workers and many other deserving people, all of whom are full of pride and excitement.

The flame will touch down at Heathrow and begin its countrywide journey on 19 May from Land’s End in Cornwall arriving at The Royal Observatory at Greenwich on July 21^st at around 7.30am, day 64 of the relay.  The next few days will see London boroughs welcome the torch as it passes down high streets, across parks, through music festivals and past London landmarks.

The torch will be guarded day and night by 36 Metropolitan Police officers who have been specially training for the event .

The last two days of the route have not yet been announced, but it is believed there will be a river procession from Hampton Court to the Olympic stadium.  We will be there with pictures and all the news on the day for you!