Day tripping around London

Today, I walked here, there, and everywhere on the London Walks Magical Mystery Tour.

We began our tour in the Soho area, where the offices of MPL Communications is currently located. Our tour guide, Richard, said he's run into Paul McCartney a couple times by the office, and showed us the photos to prove it. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky today. He told us it stands for McCartney Productions Limited, not McCartney Paul and Linda, as many people often suggest.

Next, we saw Trident Studios, where many classic rock stars recorded songs. The Beatles most notably used this studio for Hey Jude, and in the 1970s, it was also used by Elton John, Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones, and David Bowie.

Further along was this public washroom, where John Lennon took part in Not Only...But Also skit, where he played the doorman to this "Gentlemen's Club".

OK, I didn't get the pose perfect, but I tried!

This is a poster up in the Soho area. Our tour guide pointed out that the people in the front row appear to be imitating the front of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Next was Carnaby Street, where the independent fashion boutiques drew many rock stars, including the Beatles. John Stephen's shops turned this area into one of the best shopping streets in London during the 1960s. However, once it was recognized as such, it became populated with rock fans, leaving the stars to shop elsewhere.

We stopped at the London Palladium, the venue often credited with the start of Beatlemania. The tour guide described how fans swarmed to the concerts, and it became so popular that the band eventually decided to stop touring because it was no longer about the music.

This is 3 Savile Row, the headquarters for the Beatles' multimedia company, Apple Corps. The tour guide described the business as meant to help other artists so they didn't have to rely on men in suits. If I'm not mistaken, it was also the location of many Beatles interview, including the one where Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Our tour guide said this was meant as a comment on the declining church-going rates, etc, but it was taken out of context when republished in Datebook, an American magazine, sparking lots of anger and controversy.

In Piccadilly Circus sits the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, also known as the London Pavilion, where all four Beatles movies were premiered. The royal family were known to attend the premieres, most notably Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. The guide told the story of the after-party for the premiere of a Hard Day's Night, which was attended by Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. George Harrison was apparently informed that they could not eat while the princess and lord were still present, and therefore he went up to her and said, "Your Highness, we really are hungry and we can't eat until you two go."

Next up was probably the highlight of the tour: Abbey Road.

The gates all around were covered in graffiti, despite that the walls are repainted about six times per year. Many fans pass through the area on a daily basis and take photos crossing the road. One fan left this flower dedicated to John Lennon, with the recent anniversary of his death.

It took a while to get our photos, but lucky for us, it was Boxing Day and thus there were probably fewer cars around than usual. There is a constant live stream of the crossing at www.abbeyroad.com/visit
If you click on Archive, you can watch the last 24 hours. I would be crossing around the 1:35pm mark.

Walking along with my friend Michael, who is staying at our student house for two weeks.

This week, the crossing was listed as a heritage site––an honour usually reserved for buildings such as cathedrals. It's the first listing of its kind, and essentially makes it a bit more difficult for anybody to move the crossing in the future. Most of the articles mentioned that the crossing is not in its original location, having been moved about 3m. However, our guide insisted this was simply a rumour, and showed us other photos taken from the day of the photoshoot that show a manhole on the ground, which still appears to be in the exact same spot.

The studios inside are said to be almost identical to the ones the Beatles used. However, this wasn't intentional. Instead, they decided it worked well the way it was, so why bother changing it?

That brings us to the end of the tour. From there, we continued to walk along nearby roads, making our way back to Oxford Street. On the way, we passed this synagogue––the first one I've seen in London (though I'm sure there are loads more).

We stopped at this Beatles coffeeshop, where I bought a deck of Beatles-themed playing cards. There was a ton of merchandise, including 3D posters, overpriced postcards, and many books, including one written by our tour guide.

We continued down the road to Baker Street, and stopped by the Sherlock Holmes museum.

Here was more merchandise, including pipes, Sherlock Holmes chocolate coins, and beautiful editions of the books. I've never actually read any of the short stories, but I think I'll have to bump that to the top of my reading list!

Then, we braved the big crowds of Boxing Day shoppers, continued our walk along Oxford Street, and headed home.

In all, it was a great day.

Next up: more day tripping in the form of a tour of Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Cotswolds. I know I'm super behind on my posts and I have quite a lot to tell you about. I need a few more hours in the day, but I swear, I will cover it all eventually!