The Lion in the Church

London calling.

London Walks connecting.

This… is London.

This is London Walks.

Streets ahead.

Story time. History time.

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And a very good morning to you. It’s Thursday, October 17th.

More course correction for the London Walks podcast.

As I mentioned in one of these a few weeks ago, I’ve had to cut back. I just couldn’t maintain the pace of putting one out every day. It was like running a marathon but a marathon that didn’t end after 26.2 miles. Just kept on going. The time commitment and investment was too much. Four to five hours a day every day, with never a respite. I was neglecting other London Walks work because of the sweatshop of putting out a daily podcast. Much as I enjoyed it.

So slammed on the brakes, committed to doing one a week. Every Friday. Well, the Friday one’s all right really. But at no little risk of belabouring the obvious, London’s not the Sahara. This isn’t a case of vast trackless stretches of desert before I reach the next Friday oasis.

So the course correction is I’m back to doing more of them – ideally one every day – with the main course – the big podcast – being served up every Friday and doing my best to put out a brief London appetiser the other six days of the week. London’s like a coral reef. Or it’s like the other most beautiful planet in the solar system, Saturn, with its rings. It’s infinitely, endlessly fascinating. So the plan is to flit and sip. Explore the coral reef. A quick stop every day. Or, if you prefer, explore those rings. Put down here and there. A daily London taster, if you will. Or at least as close as I can come to a daily taster.

So to get the show on the road, say hello to the Lion Sermon.

Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it either. But very glad I am to make its acquaintance. And I’ll definitely be moseying along to St Katherine Cree next October to catch to catch the 376th annual Lion Sermon.

Here’s the scoop. Sir John Gayer, Lord Mayor of London and founder of the Levant Company, left a bequest in his will for St Katharine Cree church. His generosity is commemorated by a special service each October. Sir John became separated from his travelling companions on a trip through the desert – he met a hungry lion but prayed for assistance and was left unharmed. The story of Sir John’s deliverance is retold each year, an eminent guest is invited to deliver a sermon, and readings are made by his descendants (who of course would not be here today if the lion had fancied a snack). Today’s visitors are luckier than the lion – a tasty lunch is provided for all who attend.

Well, come next autumn I’ll fill in some more of the details. Give you in particular a rather fuller picture of Sir John’s life. But I’d just add here now that St Katherine Cree is definitely worth a visit any time of the year. It’s the Guild Church for workers in the heart of the City. It’s hoary with age. Dates back to at least 1280 and the present building is coming up to 400 years old. It’s as they say, a rare example of a Jacobean church.

The name itself St Katherine Cree is unusual. And as is so often the case in London, you need to peel back the petals to get the meaning. Cree is a shortened version of Crichurch which in turn was an abbreviated version of Christ Church. Well over four centuries ago John Stow – in his invaluable A Survey of London – was marvelling at the great age of the church. Stow said, “this church seemeth to be very old; since the building whereof the high street hath been so often raised by pavements that now men are fain to descend into the said church by divers steps, seven in number.”

Well, I think we can and will come back here. Make a closer inspection of the felicities of St Katherine Cree. Including that lion’s head. But here endeth the This is London appetiser for October 17th. I’ve got other irons in the fire this morning. And then it’s off to W8 for my Kensington Walk this afternoon. That’ll be followed by a swim. And then back to London Walks GHQ. And this evening out to my favourite Greek restaurant in London. And what I doubly like about it, it’s local. As a guide you’re so aware of this, the London that most visitors experience is central London, visitors’ London. It’s by no means one and the same as Londoners’ London. And with London Walks visitors are uniquely privileged to tap into Londoners’ London should they be so inclined. All they need to do is pick the brains of their London Walks guide. The Greek restaurant we’re going to tonight, better, far better than any of the overpriced ones in central, visitors’ London. But if you’re a visitor you’re not going to find it without a helping hand from, in this case, me or Mary. Ask us on one of our walks. And here’s the other thing about tonight especially. Our dear friend Oriel’s in town. Oriel of Oriel and Peter of Paris Walks. She’ll be joining us for some Greek nosh. So if you’ve got any questions about Paris Walks, bang out a quick email to us today and I’ll put ‘em to Oriel tonight. More white glove service from London Walks. What’s not to like.

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You’ve been listening to This… is London, the London Walks podcast. Emanating from www.walks.com –

home of London Walks,

London’s signature

walking tour company.

London’s local, time-honoured, fiercely independent, family-owned, just-the-right-size

walking tour company.

And as long as we’re at it,

London’s multi-award-winning walking tour company. Indeed, London’s only award-winning walking tour company.

And here’s the secret: London Walks is essentially run as a guides’ cooperative.

That’s the key to everything.

It’s the reason we’re able to attract and keep the best guides in London. You can get schlubbers to do this for £20 a walk. But you cannot get world-class guides – let alone accomplished professionals.

It’s not rocket science:

you get what you pay for.

And just as surely,

you also get what you don’t pay for.

Back in 1968 when we got started

we quickly came to a fork in the road. We had to answer a searching question:

Do we want to make the most money? Or do we want to be the best walking tour company in the world?

You want to make the most money you go the schlubbers route. You want to be the best walking tour company in the world

you do whatever you have to do

to attract and keep

the best guides in London –

you want them guiding for you,

not for somebody else.

Bears repeating:

the way we’re structured –

a guides’ cooperative –

is the key to the whole thing.

It’s the reason for all those awards, it’s the reason people who know go with London Walks, it’s the reason we’ve got a big following,

a lively, loyal, discerning following – quality attracts quality.

It’s the reason we’re able – uniquely – to front our walks with accomplished, in many cases

distinguished professionals:

By way of example, Stewart Purvis, the former Editor

(and subsequently CEO) of Independent Television News.

And Lisa Honan, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat (Lisa was the Governor of St Helena, the island where Napoleon breathed his last and, some say, had his penis amputated –

Napoleon didn’t feel a thing – if thing’s the mot juste – he was dead.)

Stewart and Lisa –

both of them CBEs –

are just a couple of our headline acts.

Or take our Ripper Walk. It’s the creation of the world’s leading expert on Jack the Ripper, Donald Rumbelow, the author of the definitive book on the subject.  Britain’s most distinguished crime historian, Donald is, in the words of The Jack the Ripper A to Z,“internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper.” Donald’s emeritus now but he’s still the guiding light on our Ripper Walk. He curates the walk. He trains up and mentors our Ripper Walk guides. Fields any and all questions they throw at him.

The London Walks Aristocracy of Talent – its All-Star team of guides – includes a former London Mayor. It includes the former Chief Music Critic for the Evening Standard. It includes the Chair of the Association of Professional Tour Guides. And the former chair of the Guild of Guides.

It includes barristers, doctors, geologists, museum curators, a former Museum of London archaeologist, historians,

university professors (one of them a distinguished Cambridge University paleontologist); it includes

criminal defence lawyers,

Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre actors,

a bevy of MVPs, Oscar winners (people who’ve won the big one, the Guide of the Year Award)…

well, you get the idea.

As that travel writer famously put it, “if this were a golf tournament,

every name on the Leader Board would be a London Walks guide.”

And as we put it: London Walks Guides make the new familiar

and the familiar new.

And on that agreeable note…

come then, let us go forward together on some great London Walks.

And that’s by way of saying, Good walking and Good Londoning

one and all. See ya next time.

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