Visit London Blog - Enjoy the very best of London
This is a great document of London’s near-history: an interesting promotional video for a tourist trip to London from the 1960s.
Many things have changed, but some things remain the same! Trooping the Colour and Changing the Guard remain must-see attractions, as do the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Piccadilly Circus looks a little different today, though!
Check out more London videos on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/visitlondonvideo
Disney Channel favourite Gregg Sulkin is in town to promote his new film Avalon High. Watch Gregg as he takes a look round his favourite parts of London including the Emirates Stadium (Gregg is an Arsenal fan) and Piccadilly Circus.
We love this festive video from London teacher James Michalos.
Michalos is a singing teacher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Bored of hearing the same Christmas songs each year, he decided to write his own. The power of YouTube and facebook now means he’s one of the Top 10 contenders for the coveted Christmas No.1 slot!
This great little video takes in some top London attractions. See if you can spot Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street, as well as great scenes shot on London buses and the Tube…
We love this Londony music video from Champion Records here at VL Towers.
The couple are so cute, and they seem to have such a great time in this fantastic city. The tune’s nice and catchy too…
As our World in London series continues, we come to our friends in Canada. Writer and comedian Ryan Millar tells us the best place for Canadians to get their caffeine and sugar fix in London:
When I first rode by 56 Haymarket, SW1, I did a double-take. Across four busy lanes of traffic I glimpsed a frosted Tim Hortons logo. I couldn’t resist stopping. There are more than 50 Tim Hortons in London, Ontario, but I wasn’t expecting any in London, England? I had to get a taste.
Doughnuts and coffee have a peculiar magnetism on the Canuck. Almost any journey made by a Canadian – be it a quick pick-up from hockey practice, a family road trip to Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump, or – evidently – a cycle through central London to the Royal Academy of Arts, can be waylaid by Tim’s coffee and doughnuts.
The coffee is earthy and spicy with notes of nostalgia. And the panoply of baked goods is a feast of fruit and sugary deliciousness, perfectly formed to feed a nation. How else to explain that Tim Hortons is, by some accounts, a bigger fast-food retailer in Canada than McDonalds, and a bigger coffee chain than Starbucks?
And it’s now available right in the centre of the swirling metropolis of London, England – just a two minute walk from Leicester Square and half that to Piccadilly Circus. For any Canadian feeling far from home, the comfort of comfort food can be sweet in both the “double sugar” and metaphorical senses.
However, the Haymarket Tim Hortons isn’t a full-blown outlet. No such luck. It is just a small wall display in the Spar supermarket. The doughnut selection isn’t huge (What? No crullers?) and the coffee comes from a self-serve machine on the counter.
But there’s no mistaking it – this is a Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut. And that’s enough for me.
Check out Ryan’s brilliant blog www.roadstorome.blogspot.com for more musings on life in London.
And let us know where else in London you can get an authentic Canadian in the comments below…
This week I attended The 39 Steps Vintage Night in London’s West End.
The 39 Steps is a classic play (and a book, and a famous film directed by Alfred Hitchcock) that’s been running since September 2006 at the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus.
I was attracted to the idea of their special “Vintage Night” because I love dressing up and I’d heard the show was good fun. However, given the Hitchcock connection, I expected they play itself to be a bit serious and moody. In this, I was utterly wrong, The 39 Steps is a fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable, highly entertaining spectacle from go to whoa.
Set in the 1930s, the play begins with leading man Richard Hannay (dashingly played by David Bark-Jones) having just returned from abroad to his “humble” Portland Square abode. He laments he’s tired of life (tired of London too, we presume) but his situation quickly becomes a lot more exciting when he meets a dark and mysterious German woman (Dianne Pilkington) who reveals a plot involving international espionage before she is killed, leaving Hannay as the prime suspect. He goes on the run, catching a train to Scotland (on which he encounters a stylish blonde – also played by Dianne Pilkington) then racketing about the countryside attempting to prove his innocence by exposing the arch criminals at the heart of the spy ring.
There’s a host of minor characters – policemen, newspaper boys, Scottish farmers and hoteliers – all played by two actors (Timothy Speyer and Jeremy Swift) and it’s amazing what they can do with some quick costume changes and ingenious set devices.
In fact the whole thing is extremely slick and clever – using all the old drama school tricks such as the four-chairs-make-a-car routine, flapping coats and bits of mime to denote a windy roof of the train and in-jokes about other Hitchcock movies – all delivered to great effect and with impeccable co
mic timing.
Afterwards we joined the other vintage lovers for a very civilised supper in the Criterion Theatre‘s impressive Victorian foyer. Here we were treated to retro teacups containing iced tea with a shot of gin (G&Tea by Vintage Secret), and delicious cupcakes decorated with recurring motifs from the play – handcuffs, lampposts, a pipe – from The Vintage Patisserie.
The Vintage Night was a nice twist on a traditional trip to the theatre and I was left with a big smile on my face. And I’d recommend this show to anyone who wants to see a jolly good West End play without it being too serious. There’s no need to dress up (although you can, of course!).
Buy your The 39 Steps tickets today.
We love this super-cute video from marliuk called What Colour is London?
It’s an interesting (if slightly off-the-wall) question, particularly when posed to visitors who are perhaps more used to sunnier conditions!
What colour do you think London is? Let us know in the comments below!
Any idea what this picture is?
It’s a close-up of one of the famous illuminated signs at Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End.
The signs are photographed by hundreds of tourists every day, so McDonald’s has decided to add an interactive element to theirs.
Standing in front of the changing display, you can be photographed lifting a giant weight, holding an umbrella or even dreaming of chicken nuggets.
Piccadilly sign facts:
