Freda Bates is a London Blue Badge Guide and a member of WWG 

Freda took us on a virtual walk from Waterloo to The Aldwych, pointing out along the way all sorts of things that one would not notice in the ordinary course of events, because most of us simply don’t look up. For instance, when entering or exiting Waterloo Station, who takes time to stop and stare up at the magnificent frontage, which is a war memorial to those railway workers who perished in the first world war? Who would know that Westminster Bridge is painted Green because that is the colour associated with the House of Commons whilst Lambeth Bridge is painted red, which is the colour of the House of Lords?

At the end of Westminster Bridge is a statue of Boudicca wielding her spear in her chariot with lethal blades projecting from the wheels (which Freda told us were not authentic at the time). The horses are rearing up on their hind legs, but notice that neither Boudicca nor her daughters are holding any reins! The statue was commissioned at the Great Exhibition, but was not erected until 1902. Looking back to the east side of the Thames, one sees the former County Hall, which was sold to the Japanese after Ken Livingstone’s time as Mayor of London and the London Eye, which differs from other such wheels, being cantilevered. Admire also the South Bank Lion, sculpted in white Coade stone, a ceramic form of terracotta invented by Mrs. Coade in the eighteenth century.

Outside Parliament is a statue of Oliver Cromwell by Hamo Thorneycroft, sculptor of King Alfred in Winchester. The recently unveiled statue of Millicent Fawcett, who was a prominent suffragist, is the only woman memorialised in Parliament Square. She is holding a banner with the legend Courage calls to courage everywhere. Proceeding up Whitehall there is, of course, the Cenotaph, and close to it a relatively new monument unveiled by the Queen two days after the 7/7 bombings. It is dedicated to the Women of WWII but bizarrely shows no women – only empty uniforms.

At the end of Whitehall stands Admiralty Arch. Only royalty is allowed to use the central arch. The Mall, which leads from it up to Buckingham Palace, is paved in red stone. The arch was erected by Edward VII in memory of his mother. A quirky sculpted life-sized nose has been placed on the wall of one of the arches. Admiralty Arch is now a luxury hotel. Next we come to Trafalgar Square with Landseer’s lions. These superceded an earlier commission for a group of four representing Courage, Determination, War and Peace, now to be found at Saltaire near Bradford. Oh and apparently Hitler planned to take Nelson’s column to Berlin after he’d won the Second World War!

Proceeding along the Strand we come across a statue of Charles I on horseback, sculpted by Le Sueur, which has been there since 1675.  All measurements of distance from London are taken from this spot.

On the Strand corner is a round police box in the form of a stone lantern which originally contained a telephone automatically connecting with Scotland Yard.  According to Freda it is where the street cleaners now keep their brooms!

Behind the church of Saint Martin in the Fields is a sculpture of Oscar Wilde by Maggie Hambling with the famous quotation we are all lying in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.

Finally we come to the Savoy Hotel built by Richard D’Oyley Carte next to his theatre, of the same name, where the Gilbert & Sullivan operas were presented. It was the first hotel to be lit by electricity and to have en-suite bathrooms and lifts. It is also unique in that it is the only place in the whole country where the taxis drive in and out on the right. This was so that the hotel guests could alight on the same side as the driver – presumably to arrive safely on the pavement and facilitate the giving of a tip.