Eros – evacuated during the war – was returned to his rightful place at Piccadilly Circus on June 28, 1947. This Today in London History podcast tells the tale of the “Winged Boy’s” return.
London calling.
London Walks connecting.
London Walks here with your daily London fix.
Story time. History time.
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June 28, 1947. Happy day for London.
The day “the winged boy came home.”
He’d been gone for eight years.
The “winged boy” was of course the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus. London’s best-loved statue. And along with Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square, its most famous statue.
The winged boy’s story was the story of so many London youngsters – wartime evacuation.
He’d been moved in October, 1939 – just weeks after the start of the war. They’d brought him back to London on July 17, 1946 – but not brought him back properly. He’d been kept in storage at County Hall and then had to undergo a thorough cleaning and refurbishing. At last though – after eight long years – the day had come. Today, June 28, 1947 – the winged boy was restored to his rightful place in the heart of London.
A happy, happy day for London and Londoners – even though it poured down rain. Hundreds of the lad’s fellow Londoners turned out to welcome him home. It was a sight for sore eyes: the rain-soaked crowds, the movie cameras, the VIPs, the loud-speakers and the mounted police. And at the centre of it all, the winged boy going back up to his rightful place, his point of vantage on the top of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in the centre of Piccadilly Circus.
The speakers welcoming him home included the President of the Royal Academy and Lord Nathan, the leader of the London County Council, and Lady Nathan, the Chair of the LCC. Lady Nathan put it best: she said London was not complete without “the winged boy”.
I think most moving of all, though, wasn’t the transients, the just-passing-throughs. The most moving of all were the flower-sellers, Mrs. Polly Beecham and Mrs. Emma Baker, each of whom could lay claim to more than 50 years of flower-selling at Eros’ feet.
For me, one of the joys of these podcasts is getting to meet – after a fashion – Londoners like Polly Beecham and Emma Baker. Finding out a little bit about them – welcoming them here – introducing them to you – it’s sort of like putting fresh flowers on a grave. It’s an act of respect and love. So let’s meet them. Emma’s a widow. She was born in 1874 in Shoreditch. She’s a cockney, East End cockney by birth. King’s Cross cockney as a grownup. She lives at 10 Sidmouth Street. Educated guess here. She’s living in one room. Moved there after her husband died.
Didn’t have far to move. Sidmouth Street was where Emma Baker hung her bonnet. In 1911 she and her husband and their six children had lived in two rooms at 7 Sidmouth Street. It’s a nine-room house. In 1911, six families, 29 people were living at 7 Sidmouth Street. Three of the families were in two rooms; the other three were in one room.
As for Polly Beecham, she’s 75. She’s from Tooting. She’s been selling flowers at Piccadilly Circus for 60 years. She gives the felt bonnet she’s wearing a tug with worn, brown hands. She says, ‘people don’t buy flowers like they used to. Even the bus conductors had tuppenny buttonholes in the old days. Marie Lloyd used to buy whole bunches of roses from me. Still, the Americans were good boys during the war – they didn’t mind paying three shillings for a gardenia. It’s the one-way traffic that has spoiled things for me. It goes round and round and it’s only the people that knows me that comes across. But – retire? Good Lord, no.” And 75-year-old Polly Beecham from Tooting – she’s a showpiece herself – continues twining a rose into a buttonhole, a little bit happier that the winged boy is back at the Circus to keep her company.
Ok, so we’ve done the soft-focus, “feel good” part of this podcast – got the “winged boy” home and back in his rightful place. And we’ve fitted it up with a couple of buttonholes – namely Polly Beecham and Emma Baker.
To close, I think maybe something a little sterner – a hard edge – might be in order.
Something along these lines: War’s are not over when they’re over. It’s not an egg-timer. It doesn’t fit into the confines of two dates on a calendar. In the case of World War Two September 1st 1939 and September 2nd 1945. September 2nd, 1945 was not a line drawn under the war. Just in this instance, the war wasn’t over for “the winged boy” – he didn’t get home – until nearly two years later. Or more seriously – a lot more seriously – Britain didn’t get its war loans to the United States fully paid off until December 31, 2006. That final payment – made just sixteen years ago – was £45.5 million pounds – about 83 million dollars. There are people barely in their 30s today who, at their first job, were working to pay off that debt. Another example, that Strand on the Green walk I do very occasionally. Strand on the Green itself – it’s known as London’s last remaining true village – doesn’t have a Tube Stop. So I meet people at Turnham Green Underground Station and we stroll through a very pleasant part of west London – it’s visually very appealing, there are lots of points of interest (one of them is off-the-charts spectacular – to get down to Strand on the Green. Just before we get there there’s a street that’s architecturally maimed. A row of really handsome Victorian houses and then suddenly houses that are poor in comparison. Cheaply built, cheap cement roof tiles as opposed to high-quality slate tiles, just not very nice to look at and almost certainly depressing, wanting on the inside as well as the exterior. The explanation of course is the war. It’s 2022 and architecturally, domestically World War II is still going on there on that street in Chiswick, just before you get to Strand on the Green. And if you’re wondering, what the Luftwaffe was trying to hit was Kew Bridge. “Trying to hit” soft-pedals it. They did hit Kew Bridge. At the end of the walk we go onto the bridge for that panoramic view back at Strand on the Green and the Thames flowing by it but if you look closely – it’s not hard to see once you open your eyes – the middle of the bridge is pock-marked with ugly shrapnel damage. It’s very darkening, very sobering – you look at you can’t help but think, ‘if those bomb splinters did that to Portland and Purbeck stone, what would it have done to flesh, to a human body.
Anyway, yes, they hit Kew Bridge. But other bombs missed it and took out a stretch of lovely Victorian houses on that maimed street.
So, yes, war’s aren’t over when they’re over. Maybe they’re never over – at least for centuries. If we’re lucky we’re non-combatants, even 80 years later. Not so lucky – well, no question but it was never over. You lost a loved one in the war it didn’t end on September 2nd, 1945. It never ended. It was always there.
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Now, Today in London – the recommendation. Am I going to recommend a visit to the Imperial War Museum? No, not today. Enough of that already. We don’t need more of it. What’s needed is some music in a beautiful place. So I’m recommending an Evensong service at Westminster Abbey. They’re usually at 5 pm. A perfect fit with our Thursday at 2 pm Old Westminster Walk.
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You’ve been listening to the Today in London History 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 can’t 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 blockbuster 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 what you have to do to attract and keep elite, all-star guides. 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 we’ve got a lively, loyal, discerning following – quality attracts quality – it’s the reason we’re able – uniquely – to front our walks with accomplished professionals: barristers, doctors, geologists, museum curators, archaeologists, historians, criminal defence lawyers, Royal Shakespeare Company actors, Guide of the Year Award winners… 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. Good luck and good Londoning. See ya tomorrow.
London calling.
London Walks connecting.
London Walks here with your daily London fix.
Story time. History time.
You’ve been listening to the Today in London History 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 can’t 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 blockbuster 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 what you have to do to attract and keep elite, all-star guides. 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 we’ve got a lively, loyal, discerning following – quality attracts quality – it’s the reason we’re able – uniquely – to front our walks with accomplished professionals:
barristers, doctors, geologists, museum curators, archaeologists, historians, criminal defence lawyers, Royal Shakespeare Company actors, Guide of the Year Award winners… 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. Good luck and good Londoning. See ya tomorrow.