It’s been quite a week for openings in London. Last Friday I was walking over Tower Bridge when I happened to glance up and saw a multi-coloured set of Olympic Rings pressed up against the underside of the upper walkway of the bridge. Yesterday those rings were lowered into place to mark a month to the day of the opening of the Olympics.
The ceremony was attended by London 2012 chairman Lord Coe and London mayor Boris Johnson. Together with other London VIP’s, they watched the rings – 25 metres wide and 11.5 metres tall – being lowered into place. The weight of the rings is three tonnes; they cost £259,817 and the price of installation was an estimated £53,000. The Daily Mail has an excellent article on the subject together with some very nice photos.
Today sees the opening of the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park. This memorial has caused quite a lot of controversy, commemorating as it does the crews who took the war to German Cities and, in the process, bombed those cities with the inevitable loss of innocent lives. However, as has been argued, it was seen by many as a necessary evil and, judge wartime events by peacetime standards is, perhaps, a little unfair. Over 55,000 crew members lost their lives on these raids and it seems fitting that they should, at long last, be remembered in London. Amongst those attending will be George “Johnnie” Johnson, one of three surviving members of the Dambusters raid. There is an interesting article about this in the Daily Telegraph.
These are just two of the new things to have appeared in London this week and we will be bringing you regular updates of what’s going on in London over the Olympics period together with updates on our Jack the Ripper Tour. So please be sure to check back soon.