Category — All of Britain

The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 60 years of married life tomorrow although the ceremony to celebrate this takes place today at Westminster Abbey. The guests will include not only the great and the good but also 10 couples who married on the same day as her – nice touch.

We at myguideBritain send her our best wishes…….just in case she reads our blogs. Somehow I don’t think she’ll have time with all the Tiara changing that will be going on this week between the various celebrations.

I drove through London this week to some meetings. It took me over 2 hours to cover the 25 miles or so across the city to Canary Wharf in the east end. Should have taken my own advice and used public transport!

However I did take a short diversion on the way to see the newly restored St Pancras Station, the new terminal for Eurostar trains that will whisk you away to Paris in the same time it took me to get across London!

What a fantastic building.

I was asked by Juliana one of our experienced Britain guides this week if I knew anything about a particular castle, as she knew it was in the same area of North Wales that I was born and bred. The castle was Penrhyn Castle and she was looking to get a few pictures and details onto our website.

It’s strange how buildings can shape one’s life but my early years were totally dominated by this castle (and the family that lived there). You see, they were the only landowners in our corner of the world – Llandegai near Bangor in North Wales. The Pennant family was also the owner of the slate quarry in Bethesda, that had supplied the world with roof slate since the 18^th century. They had therefore been, for a few centuries, the largest employers in the area where farming and quarrying were the main occupations. They were also owners of vast sugar plantations in Jamaica, a fact the family was never keen to publicise – for understandable reasons.

Last weekend an estimated 1 billion viewers worldwide watched live coverage of the Arsenal versus Manchester United soccer match at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal’s ground in London. This is an incredible number and testimony to the “beautiful game’s” popularity. As is usual with big matches it never really lived up to the pre match hype but still managed to entertain with a 2-2 draw.

We get many requests for tickets from people wanting to see a Premier League soccer match involving some of the “big” sides – notably Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Our answer is always the same – we can’t get tickets to any matches involving these clubs. The only tickets generally available, unless you have a well connected aquaintance, are the ones through the specialist ticket companies that also provide hospitality before, during and after the game for absolutely staggering amounts of money in my opinion ($300 min).

Today we celebrate Guy Fawkes day or “bonfire night” as many know it. We celebrate the failed plot by Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators to blow up Parliament on the night of Nov 5th 1605. It really was a plot to “destabilise” the protestant government of King James by the English Roman Catholics following a savage verbal attack on them by King James in 1604 when it became clear that there would be no state tolerance of Roman Catholicism.  Following the failed plot bonfires were lit by Londoners on the 5^th November to celebrate the fact that their King was safe.  An effigy of Guy Fawkes was more often than not burned on these bonfires and the tradition still carries on today in some communities. Mostly, because of health and safety concerns the large displays are now well organized affairs, with some amazing firework displays.

I watched an interview with JK Rowling on TV this morning where she was talking about life after Harry Potter and discussing her revelation that Dumbledore was gay that had so shocked the audience at a question and answer session she gave over the weekend in Carnegie Hall, New York. Who’s Dumbledore I ask?

She’s just published a new fairytale of which only seven copies have been published. All were lavishly bound and in her own handwriting throughout. Six of these she’s given away as a thank you to individuals that had supported her during the writing of the Harry Potter series, the seventh is to be auctioned off in December in aid of charity. Bids will start at £30,000 ($60,000) and will probably end up in the stratosphere. Start saving, Potter fans.

Well, the weekend’s over and it’s back to South Wales and work but the Dolphins v Giants at Wembley Stadium was awesome I’m glad to report. Wasn‘t a classic I’m told by the experts but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the crowd got behind the Dolphins as they were the home side but to no avail as they were easily beaten by the Giants.

I was with my wife and daughters so I stayed on for a couple of days to catch up on a bit of culture in the British Museum as well as some Shopping in Oxford Street, Bond Street and The King’s Road. A word of caution to husbands or partners venturing unprepared into these areas with their loved ones – your credit card could go into meltdown if you’re not careful! Enough said. I got away with just a slight dent at Jo Malone – a great perfumery just off Bond Street.

At 6ft 6ins and 288lbs Jason Taylor is big man, but this week a 26 foot animatronic version of the Miami Dolphins defensive end has been touring around London because on Sunday, the city is home to the Dolphins as they entertain the New York Giants in the first regular season game on British soil at a sell-out 88,000 capacity Wembley Stadium. I’m lucky enough to have tickets and already looking forward to my first live NFL game. Although the Dolphins are bringing their cheerleaders I suspect that the Giants will have plenty of support in what should be a road game for them. Both teams are treating the game very seriously so apart from a Dolphins private party at the Tower of London on Friday (to which I did not get invited) the players will be kept from view. Shame really as I’m sure the teams would have enjoyed an open top bus tour of London, a visit to the Tate Modern Art Gallery or even an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.