Tony at the top of the King’s Staircase inside Kensington Palace. This was formerly the grand entrance to the King’s State Apartments. In the background the walls and ceiling are painted with a depiction of the royal court at the time of George I. This was painted by William Kent in 1725-7. The 45 people shown were all real members of the court, although only a few have been identified. As well as King George himself, it includes Yeoman of the Guard in red coats, and two Turkish servants called Mustafa and Mahomet.
Kensington Palace is a royal residence located on the western edge of Kensington Gardens in London. The building has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century. The building was originally a two-storey Jacobean mansion built by Sir George Coppin in 1605 in the then village of Kensington. It became a royal residence soon after William and Mary assumed the throne as joint monarchs in 1689. William was asthmatic, and Whitehall Palace was too close to the River Thames with its fog and floods, so a new residence was found. Today several royals live in the palace, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, and there are also State Rooms which are open to the public.
A large model of a theatre on a table inside Kensington Palace. This belonged to Queen Victoria and is part of a collection dedicated to her childhood.The jewel room inside Kensington Palace. In front is a display case containing an impressive collection of jewellery, including a necklace, earrings, broach and tiara, all containing emeralds, that belonged to Queen Victoria and were commissioned by her husband Prince Albert. The tiara is the most impressive containing 19 emeralds as well as diamonds.Tony sitting on a bench in Kensington Gardens with a view towards Kensington Palace. Kensington Gardens were formerly the private gardens of Kensington Palace, but are now a public park.View of the Royal Albert Hall from Kensington Gardens. The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871. It has a seating capacity of 5,272, and hosts performances from a variety of different musical genres, including classical, rock and pop. The BBC Proms concerts have been held here every summer since 1941. The building was designed by civil engineers Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by Lucas Brothers in an Italianate architectural style. The main part of the building is oval-shaped with a domed roof rising to 41 metres (135 feet). A terracotta mosaic frieze runs 244 metres (800 feet) around the exterior of the building depicting “The Triumph of Arts and Sciences”.Tony and his friend Will outside an entrance to the Royal Albert Hall.Tony in Kensington Gardens, a public park, which was formerly the private gardens of Kensington Palace. In the background is The Long Water, this is part of a large lake, The Serpentine, which continues into Hyde Park which adjoins to the east. The Serpentine was created in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline, wife of King George II. On the far side of The Long Water a stone arch can be seen. This is an artwork created by sculptor Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) in 1980 and given by him to the park.A tactile bronze statue of Peter Pan located in Kensington Gardens. The statue, dating from 1912, depicts J. M. Barrie’s character Peter Pan standing on a conical pedestal covered with climbing squirrels, rabbits and mice. The statue was commissioned by J. M. Barrie and created by Sir George James Frampton (1860 – 1928). The statue is at the place where Peter Pan lands in Barrie’s 1902 book The Little White Bird after flying out of his nursery. The sculpture stands at about 4.3 metres (14 feet) in height and Peter Pan on top is about life-sized for an eight-year-old boy.Tony standing in front of the bronze Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens.
Sunday, 21st January 2024
Tony in front of a statue of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, on the corner of Fitzjohn’s Avenue and Belsize Lane in Hampstead, North London. The bronze statue portrays Freud seated with his head turned to one side, as if in thought, with his hands in his waistcoat pockets. It is on a limestone plinth and the statue itself is slightly larger than life size. The statue is the work of sculptor Oscar Nemon and was unveiled in October 1970 but was moved to its current location in 1998. The location is close to Freud’s former London home which is now a museum.Inside the Freud Museum in Hampstead, North London. The photo is taken in the library, one of the rooms preserved on the ground floor. Two armchairs, a fireplace and shelves filled with books and a collection of antiquities can be seen. The museum is dedicated to Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939), the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud lived here in the last year of his life in 1939. He was Jewish and had been forced to escape his native Austria following its annexation by the Nazis in 1938. Freud’s daughter Anna continued to live here until her death in 1982, then in accordance with her wishes, it was turned into a museum which opened in 1986.Lines of books on shelves inside the library at the Freud Museum. Three antique ethnographic masks are attached to the shelves. The museum houses Freud’s collection of antiquities from various ancient civilisations and regions of the world.A table and chairs again in the library at the Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, London. An Egyptian mask and an Oriental statue can be seen on the table. A framed portrait of Sigmund Freud hangs above the table.A framed black and white photograph of Sigmund Freud shown seated at a desk. Taken inside the Freud Museum.A bust of Sigmund Freud inside the museum. According to the label underneath it was created by Michael Werner in 1980.Tony sitting at a desk inside the Freud Museum. In the background Freud’s famous couch can just vaguely be seen. This psychoanalytic couch was given to Freud by one of his patients, Madame Benvenisti, in 1890.More of Sigmund Freud’s collection of antiquities in a glass display case behind Tony. The two objects in view are probably Central or South American in origin: they are small statues, one probably human and the other animal in form.Another display at the Freud Museum: this one includes Freud family photos and a large illustrated family tree.A display case containing a coat, umbrella and shoes that belonged to Sigmund Freud at the Freud Museum.Tony touching a bronze statue of Paddington Bear on platform 1 at London’s Paddington Railway Station. According to the stories written by Michael Bond, Paddington Bear was first found by Mr. and Mrs. Brown at Paddington Station when he arrived in London from Peru, and hence he is named after the station. The life-sized bronze statue was designed by the sculptor Marcus Cornish and unveiled in February 2000. The statue depicts Paddington wearing a hat, with a label around his neck, and sitting on a suitcase.Tony sitting on a bench at Paddington Railway Station which is decorated with a printed illustration of Paddington Bear. Above there is a green plaque which reads: “Paddington Bear. As described in Michael Bond’s best-selling book, ‘A Bear Called Paddington. Paddington Bear first arrived at Paddington Station in 1958. Scenes from his first big-screen adventure ‘Paddington’, were filmed here at the station in the autumn of 2013.’
Wednesday, 24th January 2024
Looking up at the 25.2 metre-long skeleton of a blue whale in the Natural History Museum in London. This female blue whale skeleton has been on display in the museum’s main Hintze Hall since July 2017. The skeleton has been named Hope as a symbol of humanity’s power to shape a more sustainable future, because blue whales were one of the first species that humans decided to save on a global scale, having previously been hunted to the brink of extinction.In the Natural History Museum’s large Hintze Hall. This is the first gallery visitors encounter on entering the museum. In the background, a large stone staircase provides access to galleries on the museums upper floors. Tony is standing in the foreground, and to the right is Vlada from Latvia, like Tony she is blind and is carrying a white mobility cane.Tony and Vlada by a statue of Sir Charles Darwin in the Natural History Museum. This white-stone seated statue is situated half-way up the main staircase leading from the Hintze Hall. It appears to be roughly life-sized in scale and is displayed on a plinth. The statue was created by Sir Joseph Boehm and was unveiled on 9th June 1885, four years after the museum opened. Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) was an English naturalist and biologist, who is most famous for his major contribution towards the understanding of the natural process of evolution, including through the publication of his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859.Tony and Vlada touching a model of a triceratops brow horn at the Natural History Museum. Triceratops are dinosaurs that lived in the Late Cretaceous period about 68 to 66 million years ago. They were powerful predators weighing 5 to 9 metric tons and were 8 to 9 metres in length. Their huge bony skulls had three large horns.
