London Off the Beaten Path Tips by kris-t

As you know James Cook (1728 -1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer.
James Cook's 11 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to European knowledge of the area. Several islands such as Easter Island and the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement.

This monument stays on The Mall near by Admiralty Arch

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Oliver Cromwell (1599 - 1658) was an English politician; who, as Lord Protector following the overthrow of the British Monarchy, ruled England, Scotland and Ireland from December 16, 1653, until his death, which is believed to be due either to malaria or poisoning.
In the wake of victory, the monarchy was abolished, and between 1649 and 1653 the country became a republic, long rare in Europe. The republic was known as the Commonwealth of England.
Within two years of Cromwell's death on 1658 parliament restored Charles II as king.
This should have been the end of the story but in 1661 Oliver Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution - on January 30, the same date that Charles I had been executed. He was in fact hung, drawn and quartered. At the end his body was thrown into a pit; his head however was detached from his body and displayed on a pole outside Westminster Abbey until 1685. Since then it changed hands several times before eventually being buried in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960.

you can see this monument right near Parlament building

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The Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective term for British Army units that are composed of Nepalese soldiers. They are famous for their ever-present kukri blade.

One Gurkha battalion - 2nd Gurkha Rifles - was stationed in Tidworth, Wiltshire in 1962. On December 7, the unit was deployed to Brunei on a day's notice at the outbreak of the Brunei Revolt. The forthcoming Indonesian Confrontation saw the formation of the Gurkha Independent Parachute Company on April 1 1963. It ended up as a commando unit and worked with the Special Air Service. The unit was disbanded in 1972.

After that conflict ended, the Gurkhas were transferred to Hong Kong, where they had security duties during the upheavals of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

In 1971 the 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Gurkha Rifles moved to Queen Elizabeth Barracks at Church Crookham, Hampshire, from where they became the first Gurkhas to mount the Queen's Guard. In 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus and the 10th Gurkha Rifles was sent to defend the British sovereign base area of Dhekelia. Later they remained there on peacekeeping duties and sometimes had to literally place themselves between Greeks and Turks.

Gurkhas have one five-month leave in Nepal every three years. Some of them can take their families with them to the UK - this becomes a permanent right once they have reached the rank of Colour Sergeant. Most serve unaccompanied.

London memorial:
"Bravest of the brave,most generous of the generous,never had country more faithful friends than you.
Sir Ralph Turner (former officer in the 3rd Gurkha Rifles)."
Carved on the London memorial to Britain's Gurkha soldier unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on December 3, 1997

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The name Charing Cross, now given to a district of central London in the City of Westminster, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I placed a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile.

It was one of twelve places where Eleanor's coffin rested overnight during the funeral procession from Lincolnshire to her final resting-place at Westminster. At each of these, Edward erected an "Eleanor cross", of which only three now remain. The one which stands at Charing Cross, in front of the railway station, is a re-located Victorian "copy" (designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry) of the original, which was not nearly as large or ornate as the Victorian version.

The original position of the cross was at the top of Whitehall, near Admiralty Arch (immediately south of Trafalgar Square. The spot is now occupied by the statue of King Charles I mounted on a horse. The original Charing Cross is the point from which distances from London (for example as seen on road signs or used in maps) are measured. A plaque there reads:

"On the site now occupied by the statue of King Charles was erected the original Queen Eleanor's Cross a replica of which stands in front of Charing Cross Station. Mileages from London are measured from the site of the original cross"

The name Charing Cross derives from the old English word charing, meaning a bend in the river; thus, the Charing Cross is "the cross by the bend in the river".

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Website: http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=530000&Y=180000&width=500&height=300&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&

The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Palaeolithic to the present day. The museum is located in a 1970s building close to the Barbican Centre, approximately 10 minutes' walk north of St Paul's Cathedral and admission is free. It is operated by the Corporation of London and was opened in the 1970s, utilising collections previously held by the Corporation at the Guildhall and also items from other collections.

The museum comprises a series of chronological galleries containing original artifacts, models, pictures and diagrams.

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Website: http://www.molg.org.uk/english/

Walls of Westminster Abbey it's a sburial place of famous people . One of pices - the memory plate of Captain James Cook and sir Francis Drake

James Cook (October 27, 1728 (O.S.) - February 14, 1779) was an English explorer, navigator, and map maker. He made three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which large areas were accurately charted, and several islands and coastlines recorded for the first time on European maps. His most notable accomplishments were the British discovery and claiming of the east coast of Australia, the European discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, and the first circumnavigation and mapping of Newfoundland and New Zealand.
The esteem in which the Captain was nevertheless held by the natives resulted in his body being retained by their chiefs and elders (possibly for partial human consumption, though this assertion remains contentious) and the flesh cut and roasted from his bones. Indeed some of Cook's remains, disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew.

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Adm, (c.1540 - January 28, 1596) was an English privateer, navigator, naval pioneer and raider, politician, civil engineer, and boating enthusiast of the Elizabethan period. He was the first captain to completely circumnavigate the globe (Magellan did not live to finish his. It was finished by Juan Sebastian Elcano). He was also second in command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
He was buried at sea in a lead coffin near Portobelo in Panama.

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Phone: +44 (0) 20 7222 5152
Website: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/

Westminster School (The Royal College of St. Peter at Westminster) is an ancient English public school, located by Westminster Abbey in Westminster, in central London, and with a history stretching back to the 12th century.

The School is located primarily in the former grounds of the now-defunct monastery at Westminster Abbey, its buildings surrounding the (private) square Little Dean's Yard (known as 'Yard'), off Dean's Yard, where Church House, the headquarters of the Anglican Church, is sited, along with some of the Houses, the Common Room, and College Hall.

Those people were educated at Westminster, and are usually listed with OW (Old Westminster):
- Robert Hooke FRS, SRS (1635 - 1703), British scientist ;
- Edward Gibbon, FRS (1737 - 1794), historian ;
- A. A. Milne (1882 - 1956), author and journalist ;
- Sir Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004), actor, writer and director ;
- Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer and producer ;
- Dido Armstrong (born 1971), British musician under the name "Dido"

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Website: http://www.westminster.org.uk/index.asp

The Museum is housed in the magnificent vaulted undercroft beneath the former monks' dormitory. This is one of the oldest areas of the Abbey, dating back almost to the foundation of the Norman church by King Edward the Confessor in 1065.

The Museum is open daily from 10.30 to 16.00 but may be closed for State and other special events. An illustrated catalogue of the Funeral Effigies and some postcards and books are available at the Museum.

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Phone: 020 7222 5152
Website: www.westminster-abbey.org

Although the Abbey was seized by Henry VIII in 1534 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and closed in 1540, becoming a cathedral until 1550, its royal connections saved it from the destruction wrought on most other English abbeys. The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may arise from this period when money meant for the Abbey, which was dedicated to St Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral. It suffered damage during the turbulent 1640s, when it was attacked by Puritan iconoclasts, but was again protected by its close ties to the state during the Commonwealth period. Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gibbet.

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Phone: +44 (0) 20 7222 5152
Website: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/

College Garden occupies a site that has been under continuous cultivation for more than 900 years. It was here that the Abbey's first Infirmary garden was established in the eleventh century. The Infirmarer, a Senior Monk of the Abbey, had care of the sick and elderly members of the monastic community as well as administering a dispensary for local people. He would have directed the planting and cultivation of the various herbs needed for medicinal purposes in the Infirmary. Some of these herbs, such as fennel and hyssop, are still grown in the garden today.

Westminster Abbey is the crowning and burial place of British monarchs. It has its world famed Poet's Corner with memorials to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, the Bronte's sisters, Tennyson, Longfellow, Wordsworth, Burns, Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Kipling and other leading writers. Only a few however, are actually buried there.
Here too is that touching symbol of a nation's grief, The Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

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Phone: +44 (0) 20 7222 5152
Website: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/