'Filmstar'

Day 56

Latimer Road - Leicester Square - Lewisham

A frisson of  déjà vu (or rather déjà fait) this morning as I set off on pretty much exactly the same route as I did last week - though stopping one station earlier than I did then - and what's more I'll be finishing the day in roughly the same place on the DLR line too.

This is, of course, one of the major drawbacks of my insistence on visiting all these stations in alphabetical, rather than geographical, order. This week I'm starting with Latimer Road, which being just one stop short of last week's Ladbroke Grove is so close as to make no odds, but in between I've been as far afield as Bayswater and the East End. Sigh...

It's amazing the useless information you discover when researching a journey like mine.

I was already aware that Leicester Square (which I'll be saying 'hello' to later today) and Covent Garden are the two closest stations on the network - being just 0.16 miles apart. But for some reason the compiler of the Wikipedia page for Latimer Road station has seen fit to inform us that the travel time from Wood Lane to Latimer Road is a 'slightly-more-than-one-minute' journey.

'That's rather an odd way of putting things', I muse, but on delving a little deeper (which it's always wise to do with Wikipedia articles) I discover that the information backing this claim up comes from this website. Here it becomes clear that the journey is described thus because these two stops have only just missed out on being included in the list of stations less than 60 seconds apart.

Never one to miss out on a chance of expressing my inner geek, I time the journey (from the moment the train starts to pull away, to the moment it comes to a full stop) and discover that it actually takes 58 seconds.

They was robbed!

Of course, if you include the time it takes for the doors to close at one end, and to open again at the other, or the time to get from platform to platform, the journey will be well over the minute. Nevertheless, if nothing else, this proves it's always wise to double-check your facts.

Be all that as it may, I arrive at Latimer Road bright and early.

 

Latimer Road

Or rather, I don't - though I do arrive at Latimer Road station.

The road of the same name is actually some distance to the north, though originally it extended further south into what is now the top end of Freston Road. The reason the road was so wantonly truncated  was the plonking down of a whopping great flyover and roundabout in the middle of it - the A40 Westway, and the roundabout leading from it to the 'West Cross Route' towards Shepherd's Bush.
 

Tower Block Art

 

 

 

 

 

The station is just south of the flyover, and it's in this direction I head. The buildings around me all seem to be blocks of flats of one kind or another, though occasionally with some interesting additions...

There are also a few shops and a pub or two, but nothing very exciting. However, I'm heading for a building that was also, once, a pub and which has made more than one appearance on the silver screen.

The Bramley Arms

As well as several appearances in TV shows such as 'Minder' and 'The Sweeney', the former 'Bramley Arms' (now offices, though still bearing the name above the upper floor windows) is probably most recognisable in the Ealing Comedy 'The Lavender Hill Mob', in which it is the location of a huge pile-up of police cars.
 

Still from 'The Lavender Hill Mob'

Another film (almost the antithesis of such genteel comedy) in which it has appeared is the movie of The Who's album - Quadrophenia. Here it forms the backdrop to the character 'Spider' getting beaten up by a gang of Rockers after his scooter has broken down outside the pub.
 

Still from Quadrophenia

The rest of the area being chiefly made up of flats and offices, I decide that I can safely head on to my next destination, which - in a different way - is also very much connected to the movie industry.

***

I decide, since I'm on the tube anyway, to take a quick detour and, rather than get off at Leicester Square, to stay on the train to the next stop - Covent Garden - and time the journey between the two.

Well, they were quite right - it is a very short journey. The 0.16 miles between them is covered in a mere 39 seconds!

The wait on the opposite platform, for a train to take me back to Leicester Square, annoyingly lasts rather longer...

***

Still, I'm here now. Though like Latimer Road station, Leicester Square station is not actually on the road, after which it is named - though in this case it's a little more understandable, since Leicester Square itself is a self-contained pedestrianised area, with - at its centre - a public park.
 

Leicester Square

 

Once the home of such famous names as William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds, the square dates back as far as 1670 when it was named after the elegant Leicester House - home of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl Of Leicester - which sat on its northern side (roughly where the Angus Steakhouse now stands). The Earl was required to keep the park at the centre of the square as 'Lammas Land', meaning 'commoners' were allowed to graze their livestock on it freely from Lammas Day on the 1st August to the following April.

Leicester Square

The Empire Cinema
(with recumbent figure)

These days the only things grazing  - and indeed, in some cases, sleeping - in the square are tourists and homeless people. But there is still elegance of a sort as it is also the London home of all major film premières. Two major cinemas dominate the square - The Empire on the northern side, and The Odeon to the east, and the red carpet is never rolled up for long around here.
 

The Odeon Cinema
(with recumbent figure)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movies are in the air around here. The wall tiles in the station are bordered by film sprockets, and to the west of the central area of the park is a statue of one of Hollywood's most famous early innovators - Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin

 

 

 

 

 

Shakespeare
'There is no darkness
but ignorance...'

In the very centre of the park is a statue of Shakespeare, featuring a quotation from Twelfth Night: 'There is no darkness but ignorance...'

As well as being probably the most famous Englishman of all time, he is also a reminder of London's other major entertainment industry - the Theatre.
 

If Leicester Square is 'Cinemaland' then surrounding it is 'Theatreland' - the 'West End' of many an actor's dreams. To the north is Shaftesbury Avenue, where the theatres are lined up next to each other like pensioners in a bus queue, and there isn't a direction you can take from here which won't lead you very shortly past a Box Office or Stage Door.
 

To the north-east of the Square is a small street called Leicester Place, where the cinematic and theatrical worlds sit side-by-side as next-door neighbours.
 

Prince Charles Cinema

The Prince Charles Cinema is well-known among movie-goers as a purveyor of the more cult and esoteric films, and has - for example - been for over twenty-five years the regular home of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (both the current 'sing-along-a' version, and previously, a live 'act-along' version featuring performances by the 'Charming Underclothes' group).
 



Spotlight

Next door to the cinema is somewhere familiar to all members of the theatrical profession as the location of many an audition, and the repository of the profession's 'Yellow Pages' - the Spotlight Directory.

Pretty much every actor working (or more often, sadly, not working) in the profession today has their photograph (or 'headshot') in the pages of the directory and online. Established in 1927, there are now over 60,000 performers (including child artists, presenters and stunt artists, as well as actors) on the books.




Back in the main Square, it's clearly still too early (at 11am) for the street-performers who would normally be haranguing the passers-by, so instead I leave the world of art and culture firmly behind me and enter, instead, the world of unashamed tourist exploitation.

I'm speaking of the blinding mass of primary colours that is 'M&Ms World'.
 

M&Ms World

Now, I'm as big a fan (literally) of chocolate as the next man, and many's the packet of M&Ms that has been consumed by me while watching the latest blockbuster film.
 

50 Shades Of Garish...

But I'm perfectly happy to purchase them from any common or garden confectioner's shop - I really don't need to visit what can only described as a 'temple' dedicated to the worship of these little coloured sweets.

As well as the chocolate itself, you can, if you so choose, find yourself a complete outfit, a set of crockery and cutlery, a selection of cuddly toys and other 'souvenirs' in the M&M colour of your choice, and pay for it all from a wallet bearing the faces of one or more of the 'characters' whose inane grins lurch out at you from around every corner.


 

Classy...



The shop extends to several floors  - though on closer examination they each have pretty much the same items of stock on offer.
 

Prolonged exposure may damage your eyesight, as well as your wallet.

 

 

 

A dedicated
'swallower' of fashion?

I'm sure they make an absolute fortune out of the tourists here, and it's a strange fact that the longer I remain in the shop, the more I feel I really need to spend some money. Though I think perhaps I'll pass on the Swarovski crystal and lambskin jacket, at just shy of £2,300.

 

Nevertheless, I do feel the urge to buy a lot of chocolate - perhaps they put something in the air-con, or maybe all these bright colours have some subliminal psychological effect...

 

 

 

 

'Sharing...'? Who are they trying to kid?

I manage to resist the urge, and head back outside into the relative normality of the Square.

M&Ms world is situated in a building which, in a previous incarnation, was known as The Swiss Centre.

This building was demolished in 2008 and a swanky new one built in its place to hold not just the colourful chocolatey treats, but also a five star hotel.

The original Swiss Centre, a slightly bizarre concept, was just what you might expect from its name - a centre for all things Swiss. Basically intended to drum up enthusiasm for Swiss Tourism, it contained shops, a restaurant, a bank and the offices of the Swiss tourist board.
 

Swiss Glockenspiel

Though the building has now gone, the short stretch of paving outside leading to the centre of the Square is still called Swiss Court, and on it is a last reminder of the former occupants.


The glockenspiel that stands here is the same one, now refurbished, that used to sit on the face of the old building and chime on the hour. These days it has a more limited 'performance' schedule, as detailed on the notice below it.



Sadly, I'm 'between shows' when I arrive, so I'll have to leave that treat for another day...




In this age of 'Celebrity', when anyone who has appeared on TV for more than 30 seconds seems to become a household name with a screaming fan-base to rival the Beatles in their heyday, it's easy to forget that former centuries also had their 'stars', though they were fewer in number and - dare I say it - actually did something to earn their celebrity.

Two of these, both from the theatrical world, are celebrated just to the east of Leicester Square, on Charing Cross Road.

Henry Irving

The first, Henry Irving, was probably the most well known of the Victorian actor-managers. Born of relatively lowly stock in 1838, he rose to become the first ever actor to be given a knighthood.




It's also said he provided Bram Stoker, who knew him well, with the inspiration for the original Count Dracula. The story was to have been a play, with Irving in the lead, (though when the novel was published Irving apparently pronounced it 'Dreadful!')




A little further round from the statue of Irving is a theatre bearing the name of another great actor - this time from the 18th Century - David Garrick.

Garrick Theatre

Garrick was the manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for 29 years, and unlike many of his contemporaries was an exponent of a more realistic style of acting than the bombast which was the vogue.

He was a huge admirer of the work of Shakespeare, and was largely influential in bringing him to the attention of a wider audience. Indeed, it's possible that without him, Shakespeare wouldn't be held so widely in such high regard today. Garrick was the first person to organise a celebration in honour of Shakespeare  - a jubilee celebrating 200 years since the playwright's birth (a baton that has been well and truly passed on, given this year's plethora of celebrations for the 400th anniversary of his death).



Agatha Christie

Not quite in the same league as Shakespeare perhaps, but possibly more widely read, is the crime writer Agatha Christie.

She is honoured with a memorial a (reasonably hefty) stone's throw from the theatre which houses her (in)famously long-running play, The Mousetrap, (which must surely now be merely hanging on out of sheer bloody-mindedness).

The memorial features images of her famous detectives Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, on the reverse - but personally I like the little detail of the mousetrap at the top.




Round another corner - and I'm heading back to Leicester Square, though this time along a street just to the north of it - Gerrard Street - and here the influence of surrounding Chinatown is obvious.

Chinatown



Ornate Gate

Every other (if not every) building is a Chinese restaurant, and the reds and golds of the Chinese lanterns give a festive air to the place. At either end are large and ornate gates decorated with (presumably) some deeply significant Chinese wording.

This isn't, of course, the Chinatown of sleazy opium dens and sinister pigtailed villains depicted in early Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle stories - that was over in Limehouse where the Chinese community first grew up around the docklands where many of them worked. I'll be visiting Limehouse in just a few stops, so I'll let you know if I get kidnapped by white-slavers or hooked on opium.

Before then, I have one final station to visit today, so off I pop - out on the DLR to Lewisham.

***
Lewisham is at the end of its own branch of the DLR, and is the most southerly DLR station. It was, until 1889, part of the county of Kent. The borough is the birthplace of such famous former residents as actors Gary Oldman and Jessica Hynes, musicians Ginger Baker and Sid Vicious, and designer Alexander McQueen.



Lewisham
(I don't think dying your hair the same
colour as the station is a legal requirement)

It also seems, at the moment to be one huge construction site - with barely a square foot of pavement or tarmac that isn't being dug up. Indeed it's quite difficult to get anywhere in a straight line, as you have to negotiate a labyrinth of red and white plastic barriers, blocking off any footpath you might want to use.

I'm heading for the area's only real attraction - such as it is - the Lewisham Shopping Centre. Along the way, I observe that I'm surrounded by tower-blocks, which seem to be the favoured form of building around these parts. They manage not to be mere concrete monstrosities, however, and the skyline does have a certain architectural interest.



Tower blocks aplenty

Eventually, however, I manage to find the shopping centre (surmounted by yet another tower-block), though it is of course, much like any other anonymous mall. Just the usual shops - no surprises there.

I do spot several notices advising customers that the centre is 'Breast-feeding Friendly', which - though entirely laudable and forward-thinking - is of very little use to me.

Coming out of the other side of the shopping centre, I go in search of Lewisham's Clock Tower - built in honour of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

I find it on the semi-pedestrianised High Street, but since it is (a) not a very interesting example of the genre, and (b) surrounded by hot-dog and burger stands, I can't get a decent photo of it. So, with a slightly disappointing end to the day, I give up on Lewisham, and make my way home.