International Tourist Guide Day 2008

. . will be celebrated during
BRITISH TOURISM WEEK 10 -15 March
British Tourism Week web site

Saturday 15th March
Free London walks with a "Great British" theme.

Events in London
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To celebrate British Tourism Week, London’s famed Blue Badge Guides are presenting a series of free public walks in the capital. The theme is ‘Great British’, with tours taking place all around central London. Come and discover the secrets and scandals of kings and queens, statesmen, actors, libertines and ghosts – the men and women who put the ‘great’ in Great Britain.
.
Several morning walks are repeated in the afternoon.

No pre-booking; walks are on a “first come, first served” basis. Please note that guides will decide on maximum numbers”

Morning

‘Great British Food ’ Elizabeth David
A walk about the great British food writer, Elizabeth David, who revolutionised our diet in the 1950’s and 60’s, Ends with a visit to the Ebury Street Farmers Market; how Elizabeth would have approved!
Meet	South Kensington tube station shopping concourse
Time	10.00 am
Duration	120 mins.
Finish	Ebury Street Shopping Village
Blue Badge Guide	Simon Rodway

‘Great British Statesmen’
Explore the backstreets of Westminster. Meet the men and women who governed Great Britain: Cromwell, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eleanor Rathbone, Earl Mountbatten and more.
Meet	Westminster Tube Station by barriers
Time	10.30am & 2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Westminster Tube
Blue Badge Guide	Felicity Whittle

‘Great British Performers of the Stage & Screen’
To ends of their egos and back. Meet the wild personalities of London's Theatreland
Meet	Meet Haymarket (Her Majesty’s Theatre)
Time	10.30 & 14.00
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Covent Garden.
Blue Badge Guide	Richard Williams

‘Great British Music’ - 250 years of the music scene
Exploring this corner of Marylebone, we follow a trail which leads from the `Beggar`s Opera` to Elgar and Paul McCartney - not forgetting the man who sponsored the first season of Promenade Concerts in 1895!
Meet	St. Marylebone Church (opposite the Royal Academy of Music) nearest tube Baker Street
Time	10.30am and 2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Regent`s Park tube
Blue Badge Guide	Gregor Laing.

Great British ‘Bloody’ Stories
Come and ‘meat’ Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Meet	Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street
Time	11am and 2.30pm
Duration	90mins
Finish	St Paul’s Cathedral
Blue Badge Guide	Heather Symes

The City of London - A Great British Achievement
Reaching new heights in spectacular architecture.
Meet	Liverpool Street Station, (Bishopsgate exit)
Time	11.00am & 14.30pm
Duration	90 mins.
Finish	Fenchurch Street
Blue Badge Guide	David Thompson

Great British High Street - Is Shopping a Modern Obsession?
Walk through centuries of shopping – shoes, footmen, scents, silks, Sergeant Pepper….and more.
Meet	Outside Ritz Hotel (Green Park tube Station)
Time	11.00am
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Oxford Circus
Blue Badge Guide	Sarah Tree

Great British Heroes’ ‘Churchill’s Finest Hours’
A walk through the capital’s corridors of power uncovering one of history’s most fascinating figures.
Meet	Outside Ritz Hotel (Green Park tube Station)
Time	11am & 2.30pm
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Parliament Square
Blue Badge Guide	Kevin Molloy

Great British Nursery Rhymes
The story of the City of London told and sung in Nursery Rhymes. From London Bridge to Mother Goose – real events and real people.
Meet	London Bridge Tube ( Duke Street Hill exit)
Time	11am & 2.30pm
Duration	90 mins.
Finish	Bank Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	Margaret Machin

The Great British Bard - the City of Shakespeare’s London
‘Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears’. Walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps, meander through city alleyways - the regular haunts of the Great British Bard.
Meet	St Paul’s Tube Station, exit 2.
Time	11am & 2pm
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Farringdon Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	John Renshaw

‘Great British Theatre’ – Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square
Join your costumed guide, to hear about the theatres, the stars the shows and their songs. No excuse for not joining in, song sheets will be provided.
Meet	Eros statue, Piccadilly Circus
Time	11.00am
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Charing Cross Road
Blue Badge Guide	Joy Levene

‘Great British Heroes and Anti-Heroes in St James’ & Piccadilly
See where British monarchs, statesmen, soldiers, architects, scientists and entrepreneurs rubbed shoulders with courtesans, rakes, libertines and crooks.
Meet	Hyde Park corner Tube (exit for Apsley House)
Time	11am & 2.30pm.
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Piccadilly
Blue Badge Guide	Hugh Macdonald-Buchanan

‘Great British Monarchs’ - A Ramble among the Royal Statues
Hear about the ever changing popularity of Kings & Queens, their history and their monuments.
Meet	Trafalgar Square (by Nelson’s Column)
Time	11.00am and 2.30pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Westminster Abbey
Blue Badge Guide	Howard Medwell

Afternoon

‘Great British Engineering – ‘The Lea & the 2012 Games’
A walk alongside British engineering – Bazalgette’s 1860 masterpiece, the Northern Outfall Sewer and see his ‘Temple to Sewerage’ the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, ending with a view of engineering of the future – the 2012 Olympic Park at Stratford.
Meet	Pudding Lane Mill Station (DLR)
Time	2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Stratford Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	Simon Rodway

‘Great British Villains’ – The Kray Brothers
A story of murder, intimidation and body disposal. Follow in the steps of the notorious Kray Twins who ruled the East End in the 50s & 60s.
Meet	Whitechapel Tube Station
Time	2pm.
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Whitechapel Tube St
Blue Badge Guide	Ian Jelf

Great Britons Who Changed The World
Inside the National Portrait Gallery you will come face to face with Great Britons who changed the world. Find out what made then unique; from their genius to their folly; from their inspiration, to their desperation. Please Note: Strict Maximum 25 people
Meet	National portrait gallery (by the escalators)
Time	2pm
Duration	60 mins
Finish
Blue Badge Guide	Marc Zakian

‘Great British Statesmen’
Explore the backstreets of Westminster. Meet the men and women who governed Great Britain: Cromwell, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eleanor Rathbone, Earl Mountbatten and more.
Meet	Westminster Tube Station by barriers
Time	2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Westminster Tube
Blue Badge Guide	Felicity Whittle

‘Great British Performers of the Stage & Screen’
To ends of their egos and back. Meet the wild personalities of London's Theatreland
Meet	Meet Haymarket (Her Majesty’s Theatre)
Time	2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Covent Garden.
Blue Badge Guide	Richard Williams

‘Great British Music’ - 250 years of the music scene
Exploring this corner of Marylebone, we follow a trail which leads from the `Beggar`s Opera` to Elgar and Paul McCartney - not forgetting the man who sponsored the first season of Promenade Concerts in 1895!
Meet	St. Marylebone Church (opposite the Royal Academy of Music) nearest tube Baker Street
Time	2pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Regent`s Park tube
Blue Badge Guide	Gregor Laing.

‘Great British Theatre’ – Come Into The Garden
Covent Garden has several fine theatres, all with tales to tell. Hear about eccentric agents, a murdered actor, the prince & the actress, and a ghost.
Meet	Wyndhams Theatre, Charing Cross Road
Time	2.30pm
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Covent Garden
Blue Badge Guide	Joy Levene

‘The Great British High Street’ – The stories behind the stores
A walk around Oxford Street. The story of shopping, and how some of London’s stores became world famous. A must for shoppaholics!
Meet	Oxford Circus Tube Station, exit 4
Time	2.30pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Marble Arch Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	Rachel Kolsky

Great British ‘Bloody’ Stories
Come and ‘meat’ Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Meet	Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street
Time	2.30pm
Duration	90mins
Finish	St Paul’s Cathedral
Blue Badge Guide	Heather Symes

The City of London - A Great British Achievement
Reaching new heights in spectacular architecture.
Meet	Liverpool Street Station, (Bishopsgate exit)
Time	2.30pm
Duration	90 mins.
Finish	Fenchurch Street
Blue Badge Guide	David Thompson

Great British Heroes’ ‘Churchill’s Finest Hours’
A walk through the capital’s corridors of power uncovering one of history’s most fascinating figures.
Meet	Outside Ritz Hotel (Green Park tube Station)
Time	2.30pm
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Parliament Square
Blue Badge Guide	Kevin Molloy

Great British Nursery Rhymes
The story of the City of London told and sung in Nursery Rhymes. From London Bridge to Mother Goose – real events and real people.
Meet	London Bridge Tube ( Duke Street Hill exit)
Time	2.30pm
Duration	90 mins.
Finish	Bank Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	Margaret Machin

The Great British Bard - the City of Shakespeare’s London
‘Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears’. Walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps, meander through city alleyways - the regular haunts of the Great British Bard.
Meet	St Paul’s Tube Station, exit 2.
Time	2pm
Duration	120 mins
Finish	Farringdon Tube Station
Blue Badge Guide	John Renshaw

‘Great British Heroes and Anti-Heroes in St James’ & Piccadilly
See where British monarchs, statesmen, soldiers, architects, scientists and entrepreneurs rubbed shoulders with courtesans, rakes, libertines and crooks.
Meet	Hyde Park corner Tube (exit for Apsley House)
Time	2.30pm.
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Piccadilly
Blue Badge Guide	Hugh Macdonald-Buchanan

‘Great British Monarchs’ - A Ramble among the Royal Statues
Hear about the ever changing popularity of Kings & Queens, their history and their monuments.
Meet	Trafalgar Square (by Nelson’s Column)
Time	2.30pm
Duration	90 mins
Finish	Westminster Abbey
Blue Badge Guide	Howard Medwell

Private Tours

Panoramic Tour of London for MPs

13th March. London Blue Badge Tourist Guides showcase the capital to our elected representatives with a guided panoramic coach tour of central London, courtesy of Cavalier Coaches, followed by a reception at VisitLondon's riverside offices. Blue Badge Guide Tony Anderson

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