Poll results: What’s your favourite Time Out Wonder of London?
Posted 6 months ago 2 responses
We expect you’ve all been on tenterhooks awaiting the results of our recent site poll (on the right there – look) about which of the Time Out Wonders of London is your favourite.
And the winner is…….the Old Royal Naval College, in Greenwich. Ah, Sir Christopher Wren would be rightly proud that a bunch of internet weirdos still have time for fresh air and baroque architecture.
Interestingly enough, the original plan for the college was very different…John Webb’s existing ‘King’s House’ of 1664-69 (now part of the King Charles building) was the focal point of Wren’s grand design. His first plan was for a great three-sided court facing the river, with a grand Chapel in the centre. But on her death bed, Queen Mary forbade it: she said the view from the Queen’s House to the river (created only by demolition of the old Palace) had to be preserved, before choking on a swan sandwich or something. So this masterpiece of the English Baroque came about almost accidentally, with the Queen’s House as the focal point.
It took 55 years to complete, in four phases, so there’s hope for the London Olympics yet, and a few builders we know could learn a lot from the bewigged geezers behind this masterpiece.
St. Pancras Station came second in the poll. Maybe a lot of you voters are pigeons (or a buzzard ) or maybe fast food franchisees, but personally I think the new Eurostar terminal bit is pants. Once you’re inside the waiting area, you feel like you’re trapped in an airless Ikea showroom, and while some people might like that idea, to me it’s as nightmarish as realising you’re wearing your pants back to front just before doing a major presentation. And then waking up in France.
That statue of the couple kissing is alright though, as discussed here
And the least popular ‘Wonder’? The Hoover Building. Shame. I like the Hoover Building. I imagine it must be spotless inside, and when driving past, always hope to see Oompa Loompas testing new methods of suction or something.
So, the people have decided. And the next great philosophical quandary we’ve decided to throw at you is [drum roll]….What’s your favourite London Musical? Sadly, there is no option to choose ‘None of them, musicals are rubbish’, but at least there’s plenty of choice, unlike in the Zimbabwean elections. Now there’s an idea worth pursuing: Robert Mugabe: The Musical.
2 responses
premiumNone of them are actually set in London. I’d vote for Mary Poppins or Me & My Girl, see.
Posted 6 months ago by stella
Whilst at secondary school I was involved in a production of Hip Hip Horatio, a musical about Nelson. It was awful. I remember some of the lyrics, too.
Cor blimey Admiral Nelson
You’re a smashing bloke (Oi!)
All dressed up in your uniform
With a lovely dark blue coat
We would like to give ya
The freedom of the Smoke
So insert the bit I can’t remember
Hold it in your hand
And lets all raise a cuppa
To the freedom of the land
I hope the bit I can’t remember doesn’t refer to his penis. Anyway, my point, if there actually was one, is we do need more musicals about London. But not Hip Hip Horatio.
Posted 6 months ago by Babb
