KING'S CROSS STATION & 9 ¾ PLATFORM, THE MAGIC TRIP

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have decided to travel to Hogwarts. They are going to stay there until June, 12 discovering the world of magic.

They have taken their bags and they have gone to King's Cross railway station where Platform 9 ¾ is waiting for them to cross it and arrive to wonderful world of magic and wizards.

 

During the trip, the family has been practising some A2 Cambridge Tests.

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King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London.

It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined they form one of the country's largest transport hubs.

The station was opened in Kings Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway on the northern edge of Central London to accommodate the East Coast Main Line.

It quickly grew to cater for suburban lines and was expanded several times in the 19th century. It came under the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the Big Four grouping in 1923, who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and locomotives such as Mallard.

 

More information: King Cross

 

The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, and it became a major terminus for the high-speed InterCity 125. As of 2018, long-distance trains from King's Cross are run by London North Eastern Railway to Edinburgh Waverley, Leeds and Newcastle; other long-distance operators include Hull Trains and Grand Central. In addition, Great Northern runs suburban commuter trains in and around north London.

In the late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof, and the station became well known for its association with the Harry Potter books and films, particularly the fictional Platform 9¾.

The area of King's Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet, originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825.

The name Battle Bridge is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Celtic British Iceni tribe led by Boudica. According to folklore, King's Cross is the site of Boudica's final battle and some sources say she is buried under one of the platforms. Platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudica's ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, around platforms 8–10.

 

Kings Cross came into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) following the Railways Act 1921. The LNER made improvements to various amenities, including toilets and dressing rooms underneath what is now platform 8.

The lines through the Gas Works tunnels were remodelled between 1922 and 1924 and improved signalling made it easier to manage the increasing number of local trains.

A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was Mallard, which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at 203 km/h, set in 1938.

King's Cross handled large numbers of troops alongside civilian traffic during World War II. Engine shortages meant that up to 2,000 people had to be accommodated on each train.

In the early hours of Sunday 11 May 1941, two 450 kg bombs fell on the, then, platform 10 at the west side of the station, damaging a newspaper train in that platform and destroying the general offices, booking hall and a bar, and bringing down a large section of roof. Twelve people were killed.

On 4 February 1945, a passenger train to Leeds and Bradford stalled in Gasworks Tunnel, ran back and was derailed in the station. Two people were killed and 25 were injured. Services were not fully restored until 23 February.

 

More information: The Culture Trip

King's Cross features in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express.

The train uses a secret Platform ​9 ¾ accessed through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In fact, platforms 9 and 10 are in a separate building from the main station and are separated by two intervening tracks. Instead, the brick roof-support arches between platforms 4 and 5 were redressed by the film crew and used to represent a brick wall that does not exist between the real platforms 9 and 10.

Within King's Cross, a cast-iron Platform ​9 ¾ plaque was erected in 1999, initially in a passageway connecting the main station to the platform 9–11 annexe. Part of a luggage trolley was installed below the sign: the near end of the trolley was visible, but the rest had disappeared into the wall. The location quickly became a popular tourist spot amongst Harry Potter fans.

The sign and a revamped trolley, complete with luggage and bird cage, were relocated in 2012, following the development of the new concourse building, and are now sited next to a Harry Potter merchandise shop. Because of the temporary buildings obscuring the façade of the real King's Cross station until 2012, the Harry Potter films showed St. Pancras in exterior station shots instead.

When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort expanded to Universal Studios Florida, the Wizarding Worlds in both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure were connected with the Hogwarts Express. The Universal Studios Florida station is based on King's Cross station and Platform ​9 ¾, including a quarter-scale replica of the façade of King's Cross as the entrance to the station.

More information: Harry Potter Platform 9 ¾

 

We are in King's Cross, you say?

I think that if you decided not to go back,

you would be able to…

let's say… board a train.

Albus Dumbledore

PETER PAN HELPS THE GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL

Last night, The Morgans and The Grandma met Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, and visited London from the air, flying thanks to his magic and that of his friends like Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys.

It has been an incredible experience full of good moments with a character who helps out daily at the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Peter Pan is one of the most famous characters in modern children's literature. Created by J. M. Barrie, he first appeared in the novel The Little White Bird (1902), but became internationally famous through the play Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904) and the later novel Peter and Wendy (1911). Peter Pan represents eternal childhood, freedom, imagination, and the refusal to enter the adult world. Over time, he has become a major cultural icon recognized across generations.

Peter Pan is portrayed as a mischievous and adventurous boy who can fly and who never grows up. He lives in the magical island of Neverland, a fantastical place inhabited by fairies, pirates, mermaids, and other extraordinary beings. There, Peter leads the Lost Boys, a group of children without families who share his adventurous lifestyle. Among his closest companions is the fairy Tinker Bell, while one of the most important human characters is Wendy Darling, a girl from London whom Peter persuades to travel with him to Neverland along with her brothers John and Michael. Together, they experience many adventures and confront Peter's greatest enemy, the feared pirate Captain Hook.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Peter Pan is his symbolic meaning. Peter embodies the freedom, creativity, and imagination associated with childhood, but he also reflects its selfishness and emotional immaturity. 

Barrie often portrays him as brave, carefree, and charming, yet also arrogant and forgetful. Peter has difficulty forming lasting emotional bonds because he forgets people and experiences very quickly. This lack of memory is connected to his eternal youth: in order to remain a child forever, he must constantly forget what he learns and experiences. As a result, Peter is both enchanting and unsettling, combining innocence with emotional distance.

Barrie never provided a very detailed physical description of Peter Pan, leaving room for later adaptations to shape his appearance. However, Peter is usually depicted wearing clothing made from leaves or other natural materials, emphasizing his connection to nature and the wild. He is often shown carrying a dagger or small sword. His name also recalls the Greek god Pan, a mythical figure associated with nature, music, and untamed freedom. This connection reinforces Peter's role as a character who exists between the human and magical worlds.

The origins of Peter Pan are surprisingly melancholic. In Barrie's earlier stories, Peter was originally a baby who flew away from home to Kensington Gardens, where he lived among fairies and birds. When he later attempted to return to his family, he discovered that the window was closed and that another child had taken his place. Feeling abandoned and forgotten, Peter chose never to return to ordinary human life. This backstory helps explain why he rejects adulthood and prefers to remain forever in the fantasy world of Neverland.

Peter's ability to fly is another essential feature of the character. In some versions of the story, he can fly because he is part bird, while in others he teaches children to fly through happy thoughts combined with fairy dust. Barrie later explained that he introduced fairy dust partly because children who saw the original stage play sometimes attempted dangerous imitations of Peter's flying abilities. The magical explanation became one of the best-known elements of the story.

Over the decades, Peter Pan has appeared in countless theatrical productions, films, television series, and literary reinterpretations. Traditionally, the stage role was often played by women, especially in early twentieth-century productions. The character has also inspired psychological and cultural interpretations. The expression Peter Pan syndrome, popularized by psychologist Dan Kiley in the 1980s, refers to adults who resist responsibility and continue behaving in immature or childlike ways.

Peter Pan's cultural impact extends far beyond literature. Barrie famously donated the rights to the story to Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children's hospital in London that continues to benefit from certain royalties connected to the character in the United Kingdom. Statues of Peter Pan can also be found in several places around the world, especially the well-known sculpture in Kensington Gardens, London.

Ultimately, Peter Pan is far more than a simple children's character. He symbolizes humanity's desire to preserve the freedom and imagination of childhood, while also revealing the emotional cost of refusing to grow up. This combination of adventure, fantasy, nostalgia, and sadness explains why Peter Pan has continued to fascinate readers and audiences for more than a century.

More information: The Guardian

Download Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Don't grow up, it is a trap.

Peter Pan

KING'S CROSS STATION & 9 ¾ PLATFORM, A MAGIC WORLD

After spending some days in Scotland, today, The Winsors and The Grandma have decided to travel to Hogwarts. They are going to stay there discovering the world of magic meanwhile they are preparing their A2 Cambridge Exam.

 

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Tips-A2 Cambridge Exam

 

More info: Test English

 

Play Word Wall

They have taken their bags and they have gone to King's Cross railway station where Platform 9 ¾ is waiting for them to cross it and arrive to wonderful world of magic and wizards.

King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London.

It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined they form one of the country's largest transport hubs.

The station was opened in Kings Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway on the northern edge of Central London to accommodate the East Coast Main Line.

It quickly grew to cater for suburban lines and was expanded several times in the 19th century. It came under the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the Big Four grouping in 1923, who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and locomotives such as Mallard.

The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, and it became a major terminus for the high-speed InterCity 125. As of 2018, long-distance trains from King's Cross are run by London North Eastern Railway to Edinburgh Waverley, Leeds and Newcastle; other long-distance operators include Hull Trains and Grand Central. In addition, Great Northern runs suburban commuter trains in and around north London.

More information: King Cross

In the late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof, and the station became well known for its association with the Harry Potter books and films, particularly the fictional Platform 9¾.

The area of King's Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet, originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825.

The name Battle Bridge is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Celtic British Iceni tribe led by Boudica. According to folklore, King's Cross is the site of Boudica's final battle and some sources say she is buried under one of the platforms. Platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudica's ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, around platforms 8–10.

Kings Cross came into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) following the Railways Act 1921. The LNER made improvements to various amenities, including toilets and dressing rooms underneath what is now platform 8.

The lines through the Gas Works tunnels were remodelled between 1922 and 1924 and improved signalling made it easier to manage the increasing number of local trains.

A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was Mallard, which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at 203 km/h, set in 1938.

King's Cross handled large numbers of troops alongside civilian traffic during World War II. Engine shortages meant that up to 2,000 people had to be accommodated on each train.

In the early hours of Sunday 11 May 1941, two 450 kg bombs fell on the, then, platform 10 at the west side of the station, damaging a newspaper train in that platform and destroying the general offices, booking hall and a bar, and bringing down a large section of roof. Twelve people were killed.

On 4 February 1945, a passenger train to Leeds and Bradford stalled in Gasworks Tunnel, ran back and was derailed in the station. Two people were killed and 25 were injured. Services were not fully restored until 23 February.

King's Cross features in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express.

The train uses a secret Platform ​9 ¾ accessed through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In fact, platforms 9 and 10 are in a separate building from the main station and are separated by two intervening tracks. Instead, the brick roof-support arches between platforms 4 and 5 were redressed by the film crew and used to represent a brick wall that does not exist between the real platforms 9 and 10.

More information: The Culture Trip

Within King's Cross, a cast-iron Platform ​9 ¾ plaque was erected in 1999, initially in a passageway connecting the main station to the platform 9–11 annexe. Part of a luggage trolley was installed below the sign: the near end of the trolley was visible, but the rest had disappeared into the wall. The location quickly became a popular tourist spot amongst Harry Potter fans.

The sign and a revamped trolley, complete with luggage and bird cage, were relocated in 2012, following the development of the new concourse building, and are now sited next to a Harry Potter merchandise shop. Because of the temporary buildings obscuring the façade of the real King's Cross station until 2012, the Harry Potter films showed St. Pancras in exterior station shots instead.

When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort expanded to Universal Studios Florida, the Wizarding Worlds in both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure were connected with the Hogwarts Express. The Universal Studios Florida station is based on King's Cross station and Platform ​9 ¾, including a quarter-scale replica of the façade of King's Cross as the entrance to the station.

More information: Harry Potter Platform 9 ¾

We are in King's Cross, you say?

I think that if you decided not to go back,

you would be able to…

let's say… board a train.

Albus Dumbledore

THE CRYSTAL PALACE IS DESTROYED BY FIRE IN LONDON

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Crystal Palace, the cast iron and plate glass structure, built in Hyde Park, London that was destroyed by fire on a day like today in 1936.

The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 92,000 m2 exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 564 m long, with an interior height of 39 m, and was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral.

The 293,000 panes of glass were manufactured by the Chance Brothers. The 990,000-square-foot building with its 128-foot-high ceiling was completed in thirty-nine weeks. The Crystal Palace boasted the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building. It astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights.

It has been suggested that the name of the building resulted from a piece penned by the playwright Douglas Jerrold, who in July 1850 wrote in the satirical magazine Punch about the forthcoming Great Exhibition, referring to a palace of very crystal.

After the exhibition, the Palace was relocated to an open area of South London known as Penge Place which had been excised from Penge Common. It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas. It stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936.

The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark. This included the Crystal Palace Park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, which was previously a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final between 1895 and 1914. Crystal Palace F.C. were founded at the site and played at the Cup Final venue in their early years. The park still contains Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins's Crystal Palace Dinosaurs which date back to 1854.

On the evening of 30 November 1936, Sir Henry Buckland was walking his dog near the Palace with his daughter Crystal, named after the building, when they noticed a red glow within it. When Buckland went inside, he found two of his employees fighting a small office fire that had started after an explosion in the women's cloakroom. Realising that it was a serious fire, they called the Penge fire brigade. Although 89 fire engines and over 400 firemen arrived, they were unable to extinguish it.

Within hours, the Palace was destroyed: the glow was visible across eight counties. The fire spread quickly in the high winds that night, in part because of the dry old timber flooring, and the huge quantity of flammable materials in the building. Buckland said, In a few hours we have seen the end of the Crystal Palace. Yet it will live in the memories not only of Englishmen, but the whole world. One-hundred thousand people came to Sydenham Hill to watch the blaze, among them Winston Churchill, who said, This is the end of an age. Just as in 1866, when the north transept burnt down, the building was not adequately insured to cover the cost of rebuilding (at least £2 million).

The South Tower and much of the lower level of the Palace had been used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical television experiments, and much of his work was destroyed in the fire. Baird is reported to have suspected the fire was a deliberate act of sabotage against his work on developing television, but the true cause remains unknown.

The last singer to perform there before the fire was the Australian ballad contralto Essie Ackland.

All that was left standing after the fire were the two water towers and a section of the north end of the main nave which was too badly damaged to be saved. The south tower to the right of the Crystal Palace entrance was taken down shortly after the fire, as the damage sustained had undermined its integrity and presented a major risk to houses nearby. Thos. W. Ward Ltd., Sheffield, dismantled the Crystal Palace.

The north tower was demolished with explosives in 1941. No reason was given for its removal -it was rumoured that it was to remove a landmark for German aircraft in the Second World War. In fact Luftwaffe bombers actually navigated their way to central London by tracking the Thames. The Crystal Palace grounds were used as a manufacturing base for aircraft radar screens and other hi-tech equipment of the time. This remained a secret until well after the war.

After the destruction of the Palace, the High Level Branch station fell into disuse and was finally shut in 1954. After the war the site was used for a number of purposes. Between 1927 and 1972, the Crystal Palace motor racing circuit was located in the park, supported by the Greater London Council, but the noise was unpopular with nearby residents, and racing hours were regulated under a high court judgment.

The Crystal Palace transmitting station was built on the former aquarium site in the mid-1950s and still serves as one of London's main television transmission masts.

In northern corner of the park is the Crystal Palace Bowl, a natural amphitheatre where large-scale open-air summer concerts have been held since the 1960s. These have ranged from classical and orchestral music, to rock, pop, blues and reggae. Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Elton John, Eric Clapton, and The Beach Boys played the Bowl during its heyday. The stage was rebuilt in 1997 with an award-winning permanent structure designed by Ian Ritchie. The Bowl has been inactive as a music venue for several years, and the stage has fallen into a state of disrepair, but as of March 2020 London Borough of Bromley Council are working with a local action group to find creative and community-minded business proposals to reactivate the cherished concert platform.

In 2020, the base and foundation of the south tower were given historic status. They are located near the Crystal Palace Museum on Anerley Hill, which is dedicated to the history of the building.

More information: National Archives

It is not the beauty of a building you should look at;
its the construction of the foundation
that will stand the test of time.

 

David Allan Coe

SAINT GEORGE, THE TRADITION BECOMES POPULAR

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have continued celebrating Saint George, and preparing their A2 Cambridge Exam working some aspects like reading, writing and listening.

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Saint George (AD 275–281 to 23 April 303), according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Greek origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who was ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he later became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity and in particular the Crusades.

In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and the Dragon. His memorial, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23.

 

Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron: England, Catalonia, Georgia, Malta, Armenia, Belgium, Egypt, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Montenegro, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Syria and the United States.

George's parents were Christians of Greek background, his father Gerontius was a Roman army official from Cappadocia, and his mother Polychronia was a Christian and a Greek native from Lydda in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. Accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda.

 

More information: Independent

Some evidence links the legend back to very old Egyptian and Phoenician sources in a late antique statue of Horus fighting a dragon. This ties the legendary George, though not necessarily the historical George, to various ancient sources using mythological and linguistic arguments. In Egyptian mythology, the god Setekh murdered his brother Osiris. Horus, the son of Osiris, avenged his father's death by killing Setekh. This iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period.

As a highly celebrated saint in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches, Saint George is connected with a large number of patronages throughout the world, and his iconography can be found on the flags and coats of arms of a number of cities and countries.

Traces of the cult of St George predate the Norman Conquest, in 9th-century liturgy used at Durham Cathedral, in a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon martyrology, and in dedications to Saint George at Fordington, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. He received further impetus when the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land in the 12th century.

 

More information: Parliament UK

At the Battle of Antioch in 1098, St George, St Demetrius and St Maurice were said to have been seen riding alongside the crusaders, and depictions of this event can be seen in a number of churches. King Edward III (reigned 1327–77) was known for promoting the codes of knighthood and in 1348 founded the Order of the Garter. 

During his reign, George came to be recognised as the patron saint of the English monarchy; before this, Saint Edmund had been considered the patron saint of England, although his veneration had waned since the time of the Norman conquest, and his cult was partly eclipsed by that of Edward the Confessor. Edward dedicated the chapel at Windsor Castle to the soldier saint who represented the knightly values of chivalry which he so much admired, and the Garter ceremony takes place there every year.

In the 16th century, Edmund Spenser included St. George, Redcross Knight, as a central figure in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. William Shakespeare firmly placed St George within the national conscience in his play Henry V, in which the English troops are rallied with the cry God for Harry, England and St George, and in Richard III, and King Lear.

 

More information: Coptic Cairo

A late 17th-century ballad also claims St. George as an English patron. The ballad compares other mythic and historical heroes with the merit of St. George and concludes that all are less important than St. George.

Above the Palace of Westminster, there are six shields above each of the four clock faces of Big Ben, twenty-four in total, all depicting the arms of St George, representing the Flag of England, London as the capital city of England, and St. George as the patron saint of England. This symbolism is also repeated in the central lobby of the Houses of Parliament, in an enormous mosaic created by Sir Edward John Poynter in 1869, depicting St George and the Dragon with these arms, entitled St George for England.

Saint George, Sant Jordi in Catalan, is the patron saint of Catalonia. His cross appears in many buildings and local flags, including the one of the Catalan capital, Barcelona. The Catalan tradition usually locates the events of his legend in the town of Montblanc, near Tarragona.

By the 15th century Catalan men used to celebrate Saint George's Day by giving roses to women. Nowadays Saint George is not a public holiday anymore but is a very popular celebration. Women receive roses and books and, since the 20th century, men receive books and roses and the celebration is also used to celebrate Catalan national identity, culture and literature and romantic love. 

One of the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia is the Saint George's Cross (Creu de Sant Jordi).

More information: The Culture Trip

 

  

A people without the knowledge of their past history, 

origin and culture is like a tree without roots. 

Marcus Garvey

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, CENTER OF COMMERCE IN LONDON

The Grandma wants to invest and offer new projects to London and she has gone to participate in some trade seminars offered by the Royal Exchange.

The Royal Exchange in London was founded in the 16th century by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham on the suggestion of his factor Richard Clough to act as a centre of commerce for the City of London. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who still jointly own the freehold. It is trapezoidal in shape and is flanked by Cornhill and Threadneedle Street, which converge at Bank junction in the heart of the City. It lies in the ward of Cornhill.

The building's original design was inspired by a bourse Gresham had seen in Antwerp, the Antwerp bourse, and was Britain's first specialist commercial building.

It has twice been destroyed by fire and subsequently rebuilt. The present building was designed by Sir William Tite in the 1840s. The site was notably occupied by the Lloyd's insurance market for nearly 150 years. Today the Royal Exchange contains a Courtyard Grand Cafe, Threadneedle Cocktail Bar, Sauterelle Restaurant, luxury shops, and offices.

More information: The Royal Exchange

Traditionally, the steps of the Royal Exchange is the place where certain royal proclamations, such as the dissolution of parliament, are read out by either a herald or a crier. Following the death or abdication of a monarch and the confirmation of the next monarch's accession to the throne by the Accession Council, the Royal Exchange Building is one of the locations where a herald proclaims the new monarch's reign to the public.

Richard Clough initially suggested building the exchange in 1562, and oversaw the importing of some of the materials from Antwerp: stone, slate, wainscot and glass, for which he paid thousands of pounds himself.

The Royal Exchange was officially opened on 23 January 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I who awarded the building its royal title and a licence to sell alcohol and valuable goods. Only the exchange of goods took place until the 17th century.

Stockbrokers were not allowed into the Royal Exchange because of their rude manners, hence they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, such as Jonathan's Coffee-House. Gresham's original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. 

A second complex was built on the site, designed by Edward Jarman and opened in 1669, but that also burned down, on 10 January 1838. It had been used by the Lloyd's insurance market, which was forced to move temporarily to South Sea House following the 1838 fire.

The third Royal Exchange building, which still stands today, was designed by Sir William Tite and adheres to the original layout -consisting of a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business. The internal works, designed by Edward I'Anson in 1837, made use of concrete- an early example of this modern construction method. It features pediment sculptures by Richard Westmacott, the younger, and ornamental cast ironwork by Henry Grissell's Regent's Canal Ironworks.

It was opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October 1844 though trading did not commence until 1 January 1845.

In June 1844, just before the reopening of the Royal Exchange, a statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was unveiled outside the building. The bronze used to cast it was sourced from enemy cannons captured during Wellington's continental campaigns.

Paul Julius Reuter established the Reuters news agency at No. 1, Royal Exchange Buildings, opposite and to the east of the Royal Exchange, in 1851. It later moved to Fleet Street.

More information: British History Online

The western end of the building consists of a portico of eight Corinthian columns topped by a pediment containing a tympanum with a sculptured frieze by Richard Westmacott, the younger. The central figure represents Commerce, above an inscription from the Bible: The Earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. The Latin inscription states that the Exchange was founded in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, and restored in the eighth of Queen Victoria.

Two statues stand in niches in the central courtyard. Charles II a copy of 1792 by John Spiller after Grinling Gibbons' statue in the centre of the C17 courtyard, and Queen Elizabeth I by M. L. Watson, 1844. The Charles II statue survived the fire of 1838 that destroyed the previous Exchange. The Elizabeth I statue was commissioned as she was the monarch who had conferred the status Royal on the Exchange.

In 1982 the Royal Exchange was in disrepair -particularly the glass roof was in danger of collapse. The newly-formed London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) was the main tenant, using the courtyard for the trading floor, all done without touching the framework of the original building. Other tenants moved in later and as a result of LIFFE's presence, not only did the City experience growth in trading and greater efficiency in pricing, but also a boost to the area around the Royal Exchange which had hitherto been sleepy at best.

In 2001 the Royal Exchange, interiors and courtyard, was once again extensively remodelled, this time by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson. Reconstruction of the courtyard created new boutiques and restaurants to add to the existing retailers on the perimeter. The Royal Exchange is now a retail centre with shops, cafes and restaurants. The restaurants include Royal Exchange Grand Cafe, Threadneedle Cocktail Bar and Sauterelle Restaurant. Shops include Boodles, Hermès, Georg Jensen and Tiffany & Co. In 2003 the Grand Café and Bar was launched and completed the building.

In Royal Exchange Buildings, a lane by the eastern entrance to the Royal Exchange, stand two statues: one of Paul Julius Reuter who founded his news agency there, and one of George Peabody who founded the Peabody Trust and a business which became J.P. Morgan & Co.

In 2013 the Royal Exchange was sold by the Anglo Irish Private Bank to Oxford Properties, a Canadian property company. It had been announced that the site would be sold with a 104-year lease. Oxford Properties Group, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, bought the retail centre for a reported £86.5 million.

More information: History

 

Enter into the Royal Exchange of London,

a place more respectable than many courts,

in which deputies from all nations assemble

for the advantage of mankind.

Voltaire

THE DAILY MAIL, ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

Today, The Grandma has been reading the Daily Mail, the British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper, that becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in 1944.

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper founded in 1896, and news website published in London. 

As of 2020 it was the highest paid circulation newspaper in the UK.

Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, a Scottish edition was launched in 1947, and an Irish edition in 2006. Content from the paper appears on the MailOnline website, although the website is managed separately and has its own editor.

The paper is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, a great-grandson of one of the original co-founders, is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and General Trust, while day-to-day editorial decisions for the newspaper are usually made by a team led by the editor. Ted Verity succeeded Geordie Greig as editor on 17 November 2021.

A survey in 2014 found the average age of its readers was 58, and it had the lowest demographic for 15- to 44-year-olds among the major British dailies. Uniquely for a British daily newspaper, women make up the majority (52-55%) of its readership.

It had an average daily circulation of 1.13 million copies in February 2020. Between April 2019 and March 2020 it had an average daily readership of approximately 2.18 million, of whom approximately 1.41 million were in the ABC1 demographic and 0.77 million in the C2DE demographic. Its website had more than 218 million unique visitors per month in 2020.

The Daily Mail has won several awards, including receiving the National Newspaper of the Year award from The Press Awards nine times since 1994 (as of 2020). The Society of Editors selected it as the Daily Newspaper of the Year for 2020.

The Daily Mail has been criticised for its unreliability, its printing of sensationalist and inaccurate scare stories about science and medical research, and for instances of plagiarism and copyright infringement.

In February 2017, the English Wikipedia banned the use of the Daily Mail as a reliable source.

The Mail was originally a broadsheet but switched to a compact format on 3 May 1971, the 75th anniversary of its founding. On this date it also absorbed the Daily Sketch, which had been published as a tabloid by the same company. The publisher of the Mail, the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The Daily Mail, devised by Alfred Harmsworth (later Viscount Northcliffe) and his brother Harold (later Viscount Rothermere), was first published on 4 May 1896. 

It was an immediate success.  It cost a halfpenny at a time when other London dailies cost one penny, and was more populist in tone and more concise in its coverage than its rivals. The planned issue was 100,000 copies, but the print run on the first day was 397,215, and additional printing facilities had to be acquired to sustain a circulation that rose to 500,000 in 1899. Lord Salisbury, 19th-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dismissed the Daily Mail as a newspaper produced by office boys for office boys.

By 1902, at the end of the Boer Wars, the circulation was over a million, making it the largest in the world.

In 1900, the Daily Mail began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so (in 1899, the Daily Mail had organised special trains to bring the London-printed papers north). The same production method was adopted in 1909 by the Daily Sketch, in 1927 by the Daily Express and eventually by virtually all the other national newspapers.

Printing of the Scottish Daily Mail was switched from Edinburgh to the Deansgate plant in Manchester in 1968 and, for a while, The People was also printed on the Mail presses in Deansgate. 

In 1987, printing at Deansgate ended, and the northern editions were thereafter printed at other Associated Newspapers plants.

In 1944, the Daily Mail becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Daily Mail has been awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016 and 2019 by the British Press Awards.

More information: Daily Mail

I think journalism is a great way to do public service,
to have an impact on your community.

Bob Schieffer

R V PENGUIN BOOKS LTD, THE LADY CHATTERLEY TRIAL

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Penguin Books, that was found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, in London, on a day like today in 1960.

R v Penguin Books Ltd, also known as The Lady Chatterley Trial, was the public prosecution in the United Kingdom of Penguin Books under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 for the publication of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.

The trial took place over six days, in No 1 court of the Old Bailey, between 20 October and 2 November 1960 with Mervyn Griffith-Jones prosecuting, Gerald Gardiner counsel for the defence and Laurence Byrne presiding. The trial was a test case of the defence of public good provision under section 4 of the Act which was defined as a work in the interests of science, literature, art or learning, or of other objects of general concern.

The jury found for the defendant in a result that ushered in the liberalisation of publishing, and which some saw as the beginning of the permissive society in Britain.

The Obscene Publications Bill was first put before the UK Parliament in 1955 as a private member's bill on the recommendation of the Herbert Committee in response to what was seen as the failure of the existing common law offence of obscene libel.

More information: The New Yorker

The Bill's sponsor Roy Jenkins cited five prosecutions in 1954 which highlighted the uncertainty of the law on obscenity and that the basis of the existing law, R v Hicklin, had the effect of a stringent literary censorship. Consequently, the resultant Act made specific provision for a defence of public good, broadly defined as a work of artistic or scientific merit, intended to exclude literature from the scope of the law while still permitting the prosecution of pornography or such works that would under section 2 of the Act tend to deprave and corrupt persons likely to read it.

The Act also required the court to consider the work as a whole, put a time limit on prosecutions, provided booksellers with a defence of innocent dissemination, gave publishers a right of defence against a destruction order, provided the right of appeal, and limited the penalty of conviction. The Act came into force on 30 August 1959.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sir Theobald Mathew, made submission to the Bill's Commons Select Committee on 27 May 1957 that his office would take into account the existing reputation of the author, the publisher, the printer before deciding on prosecution. Roy Jenkins wrote to The Spectator on 26 August 1960 that the DPP's decision to indict Penguin was a misapplication of the law.

 More information: History Extra

Lawrence's novel had been the subject of three drafts before the final unexpurgated typewritten transcript was submitted to the Florentine printers on 9 March 1928 with the intention of publishing a private limited edition of 1000 copies. Martin Secker refused to publish the work in this form, forcing Lawrence to publish the first edition of the final version himself without copyright protection in July 1928. That August, U.S. customs confiscated imported copies of this edition, as indeed did Scotland Yard. Although The First Lady Chatterley published by the Dial Press in 1944 was declared obscene by a U.S. court (overruled several months later), it took until 21 July 1959 for a U.S. court to rule that the first authorised unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover (published by Grove) was not obscene.

On 16 August 1960, Penguin published the first unexpurgated English edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

On 18 March 1960 the Chief Constable of Peterborough wrote to the DPP seeking advice regarding the imminent publication of the book, though there was no evidence of publication at this time.

More information: The Guardian

On 16 August, Penguin presented 15 copies to D.I. Monahan; legal proceedings were instituted, and a summons was issued on 25 August at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

Lord Teviot moved for the Second Macmillan ministry to ban all such publications on 14 December 1960; peers exchanged 18,770 words but voted down his motion in a spoken vote. Had the vote succeeded, it still would have needed backing from the House of Commons to create any legal changes.

Richard Hoggart in his autobiography wrote of the trial: It has been entered on the agreed if conventional list of literary judgements as the moment at which the confused mesh of British attitudes to class, to literature, to the intellectual life, and to censorship, publicly clashed as rarely before  -to the confusion of more conservative attitudes. On the far side of that watershed and largely as a consequence, the favoured story continues, we had the Permissive Society. All of which is excessive and over-simple, but has some truth.

More information: The Collector

Sexual intercourse began

In nineteen sixty-three

(which was rather late for me)

Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Philip Larkin

KING'S CROSS STATION, CROSSING THE 9 ¾ PLATFORM

Today, The Weasleys and The Grandma have decided to travel to Hogwarts. They are going to stay there until September, 26 discovering the world of magic.

They have taken their bags and they have gone to King's Cross railway station where Platform 9 ¾ is waiting for them to cross it and arrive to wonderful world of magic and wizards.

King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London.

It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined they form one of the country's largest transport hubs.

The station was opened in Kings Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway on the northern edge of Central London to accommodate the East Coast Main Line.

It quickly grew to cater for suburban lines and was expanded several times in the 19th century. It came under the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the Big Four grouping in 1923, who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and locomotives such as Mallard.

 

More information: King Cross

 

The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, and it became a major terminus for the high-speed InterCity 125. As of 2018, long-distance trains from King's Cross are run by London North Eastern Railway to Edinburgh Waverley, Leeds and Newcastle; other long-distance operators include Hull Trains and Grand Central. In addition, Great Northern runs suburban commuter trains in and around north London.

In the late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof, and the station became well known for its association with the Harry Potter books and films, particularly the fictional Platform 9¾.

The area of King's Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet, originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825.

The name Battle Bridge is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Celtic British Iceni tribe led by Boudica. According to folklore, King's Cross is the site of Boudica's final battle and some sources say she is buried under one of the platforms. Platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudica's ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, around platforms 8–10.

 

Kings Cross came into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) following the Railways Act 1921. The LNER made improvements to various amenities, including toilets and dressing rooms underneath what is now platform 8.

The lines through the Gas Works tunnels were remodelled between 1922 and 1924 and improved signalling made it easier to manage the increasing number of local trains.

A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was Mallard, which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at 203 km/h, set in 1938.

King's Cross handled large numbers of troops alongside civilian traffic during World War II. Engine shortages meant that up to 2,000 people had to be accommodated on each train.

In the early hours of Sunday 11 May 1941, two 450 kg bombs fell on the, then, platform 10 at the west side of the station, damaging a newspaper train in that platform and destroying the general offices, booking hall and a bar, and bringing down a large section of roof. Twelve people were killed.

On 4 February 1945, a passenger train to Leeds and Bradford stalled in Gasworks Tunnel, ran back and was derailed in the station. Two people were killed and 25 were injured. Services were not fully restored until 23 February.

 

More information: The Culture Trip

King's Cross features in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express.

The train uses a secret Platform ​9 ¾ accessed through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In fact, platforms 9 and 10 are in a separate building from the main station and are separated by two intervening tracks. Instead, the brick roof-support arches between platforms 4 and 5 were redressed by the film crew and used to represent a brick wall that does not exist between the real platforms 9 and 10.

Within King's Cross, a cast-iron Platform ​9 ¾ plaque was erected in 1999, initially in a passageway connecting the main station to the platform 9–11 annexe. Part of a luggage trolley was installed below the sign: the near end of the trolley was visible, but the rest had disappeared into the wall. The location quickly became a popular tourist spot amongst Harry Potter fans.

The sign and a revamped trolley, complete with luggage and bird cage, were relocated in 2012, following the development of the new concourse building, and are now sited next to a Harry Potter merchandise shop. Because of the temporary buildings obscuring the façade of the real King's Cross station until 2012, the Harry Potter films showed St. Pancras in exterior station shots instead.

When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort expanded to Universal Studios Florida, the Wizarding Worlds in both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure were connected with the Hogwarts Express. The Universal Studios Florida station is based on King's Cross station and Platform ​9 ¾, including a quarter-scale replica of the façade of King's Cross as the entrance to the station.

More information: Harry Potter Platform 9 ¾

We are in King's Cross, you say?

I think that if you decided not to go back,

you would be able to…

let's say… board a train.

Albus Dumbledore