NEW FACES NEW FEES We would like to welcome the guides who have APTG’s new fees came into force at the beginning of April: passed their blue badge exams: 278 for a full day in English

£311 for a full day, foreign language Leon Barclay (plus £12 lunch allowance) Kate Davey £170 for a half day in English Patricia Ellis £196 for a half day, foreign language Paola Ferracini Derryanne Hammond A vigorous discussion on fees was held at the April Members’ Open Aaron Hunter Meeting. Members considered Bank Holiday supplements and Angharad Mousley decided to keep them as they are. A proposal to simplify the annual Shaju Nair fees ballot was also passed. It was agreed that, once the Antony Robbins recommended annual fee change has been decided by the next Nicholas Salmond Members' Open Meeting, this will be the middle figure and there will be an option one percent above and one percent below this on Maurizio Seveso the ballot paper. Timothy Smyth Buke Soyusinmez Voting was tooth and nail at one point with part of the ballot paper Jing Wang proposal passed by just 16 votes to 15! Members votes at Georgie Whittaker meetings really do make a difference and all members are Fangfang Wu encouraged to attend and have their say. The fees meeting is on 14 May and we hope to see lots of members there (details below). Contact details of new APTG members on page 3 ... AND NEWLY OPENED IN GREENWICH The Painted Hall in Greenwich has reopened after a restoration process NEXT MEMBERS’ costing £8.5 million. The entrance, with a new cafe and shop, is via King William OPEN MEETING Undercroft, College Way. The next Members’ Open Meeting will be The online group price is £9:50 (ten on Tuesday 14 May, 6:30 pm at the Unite people or more, maximum group size Office, Theobald’s Road, WC1X 8TN twenty five) with free entry for blue There will be no pre-meeting talk and the badge guides. meeting will discuss fees for 2020/21. Multi-media audioguides are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin. The Ranger’s House is also open for Also in this issue: visits with a newly attributed Boticelli CHAIR’S LETTER - PAGE 2 tondo The Madonna with Pomegranates. The art collection in the NEW APTG MEMBERS - PAGE 3 building was acquired by Sir Julius COCKNEY GOTHIC AND TATE BRITAIN Wernher who made a fortune from Sir James Thornhill self-portrait diamonds and gold in South Africa. - PAGES 4 AND 5 The painting reportedly shows Sir They were originally installed in Bath James with his hand out asking for BEHIND THE SCENES - PAGE 7 House, Piccadilly. more money for his labours! - PAGE 8

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES www.guidelondon.org.uk May 2019 Union news LETTER FROM THE CHAIR I am writing this letter from the jump seat of a French coach bound for Paris. The group are happy, we have met our reservation times and our driver is kind enough to pretend to understand what I am trying to say. But Notre Dame burnt down yesterday and the Paris that we are heading for will be very different this time around. Certainly French television is full of little else. I am expecting road diversions, Metro stations shut and a host of other changes.

My job today, and our job everyday, is to make sense of these changes and to explain them to our clients. A guide needs to know both the history and the backstory but also to be able to predict a little of the future. We have seen terrible fires at Windsor and York and something similar will be attempted to restore this historic building. Guides provide the full picture - not just the name and dates. It is what we do and why we deserve our fees. We have faster entry to many sites and where there are queues we know how and when to minimise them. We enjoy privileged access based on building relationships with sites. It is a combination of these skills and knowledge that gives us our commercial advantage in the marketplace.

You will be reading this after Easter, when the three Bank Holidays attract a 50% Fee increase. Some operators protest that the dates change each year. How can they possibly plan and quote that far ahead? APTG is a democratic organisation and so we came together to discuss this increase at the last Members Open Meeting. This was preceded by a stunning presentation by the editor-at-large of the Londonist - the second in a series of free talks to celebrate our thirtieth Anniversary. The discussion was wide ranging and passionate and the vote confirmed that we will retain the 50% fee increase for five Bank Holidays. We need to keep to this as collectively we are far stronger than alone. BBTGs are a premium product. Let us not sell ourselves too cheaply in a race to the bottom.

Lastly, this is the time of year where the new guides emerge, blinking and with uncertain steps like shy woodland creatures. (See opposite page for contact details of those who have joined us in APTG.) Only fifteen have passed this year by being successful in each examination at the first attempt. It’s a reminder just how hard the course is to pass and why London’s BBTG are the best guides. So please take a moment to reflect on your own first season and if you are able to welcome the new guides into the APTG fold with helpful advice, a supportive comment or a job that you want to pass on then please do.

Nick Hancock

GUIDE LONDON REPORT YOUR BRANCH COUNCIL There were a record 28,907 unique visitors to the site in March, the highest Nick Hancock (Chair) number we have achieved and the sixth consecutive month with over 20,000. Ruth Polling (Secretary) 347 leads were generated, the start of the summer bounce. Alfie Talman (Treasurer) 151 leads were via tour pages: Tower of London (28), Classic London (19) Sue Hadley (CPD) Westminster Abbey (17) Royal London (7) Windsor Castle (7) & Oxford (6). Alex Hetherington (Marketing/FEG) Edwin Lerner (Guidelines) Traffic to the Find A Guide page and then to individual guide pages is strong Anne Marie Walker (Membership) and accounted for 17% of views. This resulted in 124 leads emailed direct to Danny Parlour (Site Liaison) guides, another reason for guides to maintain a presence as consumers and Liz Rubenstein (Debt Recovery) trade partners are using this along with GuideMatch and the tour pages. Steve Szymanski (Vice Chair) No new blog posts were added to the website during March. However, Anne Charlotte Thurlow (Social Events) Pollack has about a dozen in the pipeline. We are focusing on new blog posts Katie Wignall (Social Events) related to Westminster Abbey, the Tower and Food & Drink in London. We Isabel Wrench (Languages) hope to complete these blog posts with a view to relaunching the newsletter at end of April/early May. Danny Parlour is responsible for The other major development from March was winding down the relationship Site Liaison with Jaytag and prepping with new agency Pedalo. We gave notice to Jaytag Co-ordination on 1 April that the new agency will be taking over. The initial focus will be to improve the speed and security of the website and we will begin to tackle the multi-language project, setting up the subdirectories then installing the foreign language plug-in. Once we have worked out the process, we will provide a New contact details plan of action to the foreign language team. Then it will be up to that team to Juanita Pressland’s new landline finalize translation of agreed pages before we launch the first language, which telephone number is 020 86329287. I understand will be French. So stay tuned. Her mobile is unchanged: 07711 528452. Ursula Petula Barzey

2 Union news

NEW MEMBERS These new guides are now members of APTG - we welcome them into our Association

KATE DAVEY CRAIG KAO MAURIZIO DANTE SEVESO

Photo

Contact details Contact details: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: 07977 052960 Tel: 07877 137364 Mother tongue: Mandarin Mother tongue: English Contact details: [email protected] PATRICIA ELLIS NAN MOUSLEY Tel: 07501 580513 Mother tongue: Italian

TIMOTHY SMYTH

Contact details [email protected] Contact details: Tel: 07828147077 [email protected] Mother tongue: English Tel: 020 85201013 Mob: 07957 408693 Mother tongue: English DERRY-ANNE HAMMOND SHAJU NAIR Contact details:

[email protected]

Tel: 07720 764019

Mother tongue: English

Contact details: GEORGIE WHITTAKER [email protected] Contact details: Contact details: Tel: 07802 712370 [email protected] [email protected] Mother tongue: English Tel: 01245 465075 Mob: 07535 792542 Tel: 0208 9001755 Mob: 07402 406646 Mother tongue; English Mother tongue: Hindi

AARON HUNTER

NICK SALMOND

Contact details: Contact details: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Letters from members are Tel: 07751 810690 Tel: 020 89644168 Mob: 07949 788048 on page seven this month. Mother tongue: English Mother tongue; English

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES 3 www.guidelondon.org.uk May 2019 CPD reports

VISITING HOURS WELLBEING AND YOGA Dressed in casual and loose-fitting clothing, we Reports of CPD visits assembled for our first session in this two-parter on Mind & Body Techniques. Sue Hadley introduced us to her daughter Jessica Hadley, ‘COCKNEY GOTHIC’ AT masseur, physical trainer and mindfulness coach who began by taking us through some deep TWO TEMPLE PLACE breathing exercises. It is amazing just how effective a slow intake to the count of three and an Two Temple Place is a even slower exhale to the count of eight can be. curiosity, tucked alongside the Garden Court entrance to Then we moved on to posture. How many of us sit Middle Temple and something at the computer for too long, shoulders rounded, of a temple to the wealth and hunched forward towards that luminous screen? taste of one man William We should sit up straight, feet flat on the floor and Waldorf Astor who in 1890 not stay in that position for longer than thirty inherited a stupendous minutes. (As I type this I know that I have already fortune, derived from the not followed these guidelines!) We all stand trade in furs, shipping and around in our professional life so we practised real-estate of his German Two Temple Place standing correctly by imagining that a rope is forebears. After a period living pulling us upwards. This distributes the weight to in Italy and Switzerland he the muscles away from the joints so that they do settled in London - having declared that America was “no fit place for a not take all the weight. It is all about spreading the gentleman” - and he set about ingratiating strenuously ingratiating load to increase the strength and endurance of himself into aristocratic society, an endeavour in which he was hampered the muscles. Being around with clients and by a difficult, socially ill-at-ease temperament. groups, this can only be beneficial advice.

He had houses at Carlton House Terrace, Hever Castle and Cliveden; Then we got physical – rolling our heads, Temple Place was his office, built from scratch on a vacant site stretching our spines by twisting our bodies to the overlooking the river in an astonishing mish-mash of Gothic, sides, shaking and twisting our hands and wrists, Renaissance and Elizabethan styles, “Cockney Gothic” as it was then stretchingOne our calves,who survived: our hips and FDR quad (Bond muscles St called. The sheer verve and attention to detail, as well as the staggering by crossing one knee over the other … all good outlay on the finest materials and craftsmanship, makes the whole thing stuff, we thought, to set us up for our Yoga work. Outside stands London’s largest weather-vane – a replica of session with Sandra Jack. Thank you, Jessica – Columbus’ ship the Santa Maria – and two cherubs supporting the shame that you are moving to Rome because a entrance-lamps, one holding a telephone, the other an electric light. further session would, I am sure, prove beneficial. Inside is a grand staircase of oak and mahogany, with ten solid ebony pillars supporting the gallery; satinwood panelling in the library, hammer- We thought that we were nicely warmed up for our beam roof in the huge main office and floors of inlaid marble, porphyry next hour with Sandra, yoga guru and teacher. and onyx throughout. The carved figures on the staircase and friezes We got on our mats: a nice lie down to recover pay eclectic homage to Astor’s pioneer heroes, real and fictional; the from the previous stretches. One hour later, I was Three Musketeers and everyone from Rip van Winkle to Bismarck. more than aware of just how difficult yoga is and just how I need to practice to get myself much His other main obsession seems to have been security. more supple and pliable. It is a form of exercise He had a lifelong account with the locksmiths Chubb that I for one would very much like to get more and boasted that he could throw a lever and into. As the body ages (and, sadly, mine is no simultaneously lock all the doors in the building! longer like that of a spring chicken) the muscles Despite his paranoia and prickliness he achieved his atrophy. It was very soon obvious to a beginner heart’s desire in 1917 when he became Lord Astor two just how much there is to achieve. Sandra was Gargoyle greeting years before his death. patient and understanding with all of us at These days, Two Temple Place is home to the Bulldog Trust, which whatever level we were – I had never been to a provides business and financial advice to various charitable yoga class in my life! Certainly a form of Mind & organisations, and is open to the public on only three months a year Body to pursue for the future - perhaps there will when it plays host to exhibitions of British art such as the recent Ruskin be another session in the future. Thank you, exhibition. At other times it is hired out for private events. Sandra. And thanks to GuideLondon for including such useful sessions as part of the CPD Our in-house guide gave us an excellent introduction to the house to get programme. the CPD programme off to a lively start June Addison Chris Hoodith

4 CPD reports

REFRESHING TATE BRITAIN with Sarah Ciacci

Sarah Ciacci in full flow

“See his nose and the bags under his eyes? Notice how Sarah is moving us on to William Hogarth, The Painter and realistic this is for 1545! And now contrast A Man in a Black his Pug (1745): spot the S-line and a dog called Trump (!). It Cap with the Portrait of Elizabeth the First. Her face is still was Hogarth who started the idea of public exhibitions of art quite realistic, don’t you think? But there’s an overall stiffness in England. As we reach Stubbs’ Horse Frightened by a Lion to the portrait.” (1763) we are reminded that there were no art schools at the time. Born in Liverpool, Stubbs spent two years dissecting We were off, out of the starting blocks on our Refreshing Tate horses with his wife (I do not think that I will ever forget that Britain CPD led by Sarah Ciacci, who weaved her way fact now) and making detailed drawings before coming down through the galleries getting us up to speed and refreshed on to London to get his Anatomy of the Horse published. no less than thirty three artworks. The next two hours were packed with descriptive vocabulary, comparison, context, Who was the more radical - Constable or Turner? It is the links, quotes, tried and tested questions for engaging an 1800s and Constable’s Flatford Mill and Turner’s The Field audience and thought-provoking comments rounded off with of Waterloo are in front of us. “I used to find Turner the more Sarah’s “If you see what I mean?” And we did. radical but wasn’t it Constable who was the more radical at the time?” Fuseli said his paintings made him reach for his In Arcadithe 1500s Monastery of our reassuringly chronological tour Sarah coat and umbrella! gave us more context to the portrait of Elizabeth: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Fear of being We reach Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885) accused of breaking the Second Commandment might and touch on the aesthetic movement. A question for Sarah explain that stiffness. The Reformation brought great now. So it Is not just British artists at Tate Britain? No. British changes in British art: no religious paintings, a suspicion of art is represented by artists chosen for their contribution to its history, more portraits. history and development, rather than their nationality alone.

On to the 1600s when everything changed with Anthony Van We moved into the 1900s and more questions. Which do you Dyck: Portrait of Sir William Killigrew and Lady Killigrew prefer - the depiction of the woman in Sickert’s Woman (1638). “Note the way the light hits the fabric and face and Washing Her Hair (1906) or the more idealised female figure casts shadows” You can see Van Dyck’s influence in the of the statue? That debate is still going on today. “How do works of Gainsborough, Singer Sargent and Millais. you feel?” as we looked at Bacon’s Three Studies for Figures Scene from The Crown at the Base...a ndof athe Crucifixion real staircase (1944) “Powerful, isn’t it, even if Van Dyck was not the only pioneer. In the 1700s Philip you don’t like it.” Mercier pioneered the conversation piece: The Schultz Family and their Friends on a Terrace (1725). Notice the And so Refreshing Tate Britain drew to a close. Thanks a informal atmosphere, the domestic outdoor setting, taking million Sarah! tea and reading books. There is movement as opposed to earlier static portraits. Jackie Clare

WOMEN’S LONDON TALK with Rachel Kolsky

We had an engaging and entertaining talk by Rachel Rachel is also co-author of another terrific book Jewish Kolsky, author of Women’s London - a Tour Guide to Great London. In her insightful talk she treated us to valuable Lives. This excellent book is packed with fascinating insights into writing a successful book. I recommend you stories of women who have left their mark on our city. It buy the book and liven up your tours by sprinkling your includes self-guided walks, lowdowns on notable women knowledge with some of her stories. Email Rachel at plus fascinating stories and photos of women who shaped [email protected] if you would like to order a the world. Even knowledgeable guides are bound to find discounted copy of her book. lots of ‘I never knew that’ revelations to enrich your tours. Maureen Corcoran

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES 5 www.guidelondon.org.uk May 2019 guiding news

CONCORDE MUSEUM AWARDS VINCENT IN LONDON Aerospace Museum has received two silver awards at the South West Tourism Awards 2019 and was recognised as one of the South West’s leading attractions. It has also been recognised by CNN as one of the Top Twenty aviation museums in the world, along with IWM Duxford, the only other UK museum to make the list. Aerospace Bristol has also been shortlisted for Best Attraction for Group Visits Outside London in the Group Travel Awards.

TULIP TO BLOOM IN THE CITY The proposed Tulip Tower has been granted Van Gogh’s famous signature planning permission by the City of London Coroporation who approved designs by There is a good deal of interest in Vincent Van Gogh at present Cattle trough, Spaniard’s Foster and PartnersSubway atfor Crystdal the new Palace305 metre with a new film At Eternity’s GateYork for University which Willem Campus Dafoe was building by a majority of eighteen to seven. nominatedRoad for an Oscar, a popular exhbition at Tate Britain Van The new tower, to be located in Bury Street, Gogh in Britain and the restoration of the house at 87 Hackford will be the second tallest building in Western Road, Stockwell where he lived in 1873/4. Europe after the Shard and is expected to Proposed In London Van Gogh worked for the art dealers Goupil and was attract 1.2 million visitors a year to its Tulip Tower earning more than his father, a viewing platform, restaurant and sky bar. priest in Holland, at the age of

twenty. He fell in love with his THE MILLION MILE TAXI landlady’s daughter but, after A black taxi in Edinburgh has clocked up one million miles - his rejection by her, he left the equivalent of going to the moon and back twice. The London for Paris and began a vehicle is still using the same engine as it had when it was downward descent. He went to purchased in 2001 for £23,500. The taxi is driven by Albert live in the French town of Arles Smith and his wife Julie but is now being traded in for a more where he was known as ‘le rou eco-friendly version. foux’ (the red-headed madman). He died there, probably by his own hand, at Blue plaque at MINIMUM WAGE RATES ... the age of thirty seven and was Hackford Road The UK has had a minimum wage for twenty years. buried in France next to his Renamed the National Living Wage, it is received by two devoted brother Theo, who survived him by only six months. million workers. Hourly minimum wage rates are now: Remembering his happy days in London and his love of English literature, Theo’s widow sold Van Gogh’s famous painting £8:21 for those over twenty five Sunflowers to the Tate, whch loaned it to the National Gallery, £7:70 for those between twenty one and twenty four from where it has now returned for this popular exhibition. £6:15 for those between eighteen and twenty Information on the restoration of the Hackford Road house can £4:35 for those between sixteen and seventeen be found at vangoghhouse.co.uk A Munnings portrait £3:90 for apprentices. Those receiving the minimum wage are most likely to work A MESSAGE FROM BRAMPTON VILLAGE in hospitality and retail and are sixty per cent female. Both you and your visitors to Bampton are very welcome to our village. We are delighted to see you here and share it ... AND NEW TAX RATES with you. There is lots to see. But - being English - we are, Self-employed blue badge guides should by now have though friendly, very private people. received their tax return from the Inland Revenue. The A few of our inhabitants get upset when visitors peer through following income tax rates apply for the year 2019/2020: their windows and even take photographs of the insides of Personal tax free allowance; £12,5 00 their houses. PLEASE could you explain to visitors that, Twenty per cent on income from £12,5 01 to £5 0,000 although we love having you here and we are proud of our Forty per cent on income from £5 0,001 to £15 0,000 village, we would appreciate it if you would respect the Forty five per cent on income from £15 0,001 upwards. privacy of our homes. We are NOT a film set.

6 CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S EARLY YEARS IN KENNINGTON Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp is an image recognised around insane and was sent to the Cane Hill the world. Chaplin is the quintessential story of rags to riches. Mental Asylum. She had been walking Born into poverty in Kennington, his early life was marked by the around neighbours’ houses giving out drunkenness of his father and his mother’s periods of insanity. In lumps of coal and wishing everyone a the hands of our erudite guide Leonie Chalker we traced his Happy Birthday. story as we wandered through the streets of Charlie’s youth. It was very different from his day, one room tenement flats now By this time Charlie's father was heavily gentrified into million pound houses. alcoholic and living with a woman named Louise. Charles Snr was forced to take the The walk was full of those wonderful ‘I never knew that’ brothers in but Louise was cruel to them moments. Charlie was a prolific composer and wrote hundreds and, on Hannah’s discharge from the of songs and film scores – including Love, This Is My Song asylum, she marched around and took recorded by Petula Clark but sung to us on the day by Leonie. them to their house in Methley Street. The famous tramp

It was a complicated story as Charlie Whilst living here Charlie noticed an old tramp called ‘Rummy’ and his stepbrother Sydney passed Banks who used to hold the coachman’s horses outside his through the workhouse, a stay with step Uncle Spencer Chaplin’s pub in South London and who had a parents, then back with their mother in very distinctive waddle. In later life Charlie always said that this Liverpool. He was born in 1889 to was the inspiration for the Tramp’s walk. Hannah and Charles Chaplin Snr, who had both been performers, a At thirteen Chaplin was part of the Lancashire Lads Clog profession Charles Snr continued until Dancing group and at sixteen was appearing in a West End alcohol got the better of him. In 1891 production of Sherlock Holmes. Whilst part of the Fred Karno’s Charles left Hannah and had no contact troop he was persuaded to travel to America with Karno and his with his sons and did not provide any understudy Stan Jefferson who changed his name to Stan financial support. Hannah was left on Charlie Chaplin plaque Laurel. The rest is history! Glenshaw Mansions her own to provide for herself and her Brixton Road Leonie brought some wonderful moments into the tour and sons and tried to make a living by showed us locations associated with him. Much of Chaplin’s dressmaking and sewing. early life was used as inspiration in his films. In 1894 Hannah Chaplin managed to get an engagement There were two final stories which I found quite moving. Hannah singing at the Canteen Theatre in Aldershot. Sadly Hannah’s would discharge herself from the asylum for the day, travel to voice was not what it used to be and the audience of soldiers the workhouse and take her sons to Kennington Park where they started to jeer and shout. Hannah was taken off and five year would buy a bag of cherries, then crush the paper bag and use old Charlie pushed on stage to sing and dance and entertain the it as a football for a few fleeting hours before they returned to crowd. He was so popular that the audience started to throw the workhouse and she went back to the asylum. money at him. Soon the stage was covered in coins, and as Charlie struggled to continue singing and collect the coins a One evening, when Charlie was walking past the the Stags Pub stage hand rushed on to help him. Charlie thought he was trying opposite the Imperial War Musuem, he noticed his father sitting to steal the coins and a chase developed on the stage. The in the window. Charlie went in, although he had not seen him for 3 audience thought it was hilarious and Charlie realised that a life many years. Charlie Snr was very ill – but his face lit up on in the theatre – and making money – was for him. seeing Charlie and he asked after Hannah and Sydney and then for the first and final time in his life he gave Charlie a kiss. He When he was seven years old Charlie was sent to the Lambeth died a few days later. Workhouse and then to the Central London District School for Paupers. After eighteen months he was briefly reunited with his But then Charlie Chaplin always knew how to tell a good story! mother but sadly had to be readmitted to the workhouse. In 1898 Charlie discovered that Hannah Chaplin had been declared Martin Harvey

Thanks to June Addison, Vicki Bick, Jackie Clare, Maureen Corcoran, Tine Engstrom, Martin Harvey, Gail Jones, Jan Koslover, Chris Hoodith, Richard Smart and all other contributors.

We LOVE getting material from members. Guidelines is your monthly magazine and APTG, 128 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8TN it is the way we communicate with each other through the medium of hard copy. We Switchboard: 020 7611 25 00 welcome articles and photos from members but contributions may be held over and Direct line: 020 7611 25 45 we reserve the right to edit them. Images should be high resolution – 300 ppi. [email protected] Editor: Edwin Lerner Please submit all copy and images for the next edition by email to [email protected] by 15 May for inclusion in the June issue. (JN8627) HB131218 Letters

VICKI BICK GOES ‘BEHIND THE SCENES’ COLIN STREET

I feel it vital to add my tribute to Colin Street. Unlike Many years ago (most of my taIes begin the majority amongst you who know him as a like that) I was invited to Marlborough colleague, my connection goes back to youthful days. House on Trooping Day by the Queen I was attending a lecture for the 2012 accreditation Mother's chauffeur. We were both and at a coffee break I heard a voice that made me members of the North West London MG start. He called me Janette. Nobody does that unless Owners Club and liked to rally together and they are reprimanding me or have a long ago admire the array of our vehicles. We connection. “Are you Janette Koslover?” “Err, yes,” I dressed up a bit for the occasion (although replied whilst trying to place the voice and recall why I hats and MGs do not sit as easy partners) and climbed the stairs knew the face.” I was a teacher at your school”, said to the staff quarters. John's was right at the top and the higher we Colin. “Mr. Street!“ got the gloomier the building became. His flat was like a basic council flat, grey and spartan rather than comfortable. However, Colin’s first teaching job following his training was at the view was great. After a few bevvies we went down to the the Ambrose Fleming School in Enfield where I was at garden to watch the parade head along the Mall towards Horse that time. He was not much older than the sixth form Guards Parade. The wall we were peeking over was quite high so students! He was an English teacher and some of my we improvised and brought chairs to stand on. The sun was bright English Lit lessons were with him. But he was a so we had a few more bevvies until the Royal Family trotted by driving force for drama in the school and set about returning to the Palace. I am sure the Queen Mother gave us a putting on a production of Oliver Twist in which I had special wave - she knew what was going on in her garden. the part of Mrs Sowerberry. I know from what he later Sandwiches were brought out at the last moment so that it was told me that he has kept in touch with a number of the only the MG Club members wilting in the sun. A memorable day! staff, including Mr Miles who played Fagin. As with (Well, I remember most of it.) most stage productions we became a big happy family and we had many laughs. Colin’s enthusiasm I also had a tour operator friend who worked in an office near the was boundless, his passion for his subject obvious to Bag o' Nails Pub behind Buckingham Palace. When I would pop anyone who was his student and therefore inspiring. in to say hello we sometimes took lunch at the pub. Rachel Most of the Blue Badge years of knowing him was introduced me to some of the regulars, a band of rather diddy, when we were colleagues on the Parliament tours jolly men who liked to chat and laugh. Then I got an invitation to a and we often spent coffee breaks reminiscing about party at the Palace. I was thrilled! I read the invitation more school days! I know for many years he was Principal carefully and realised it was not at the “Front End”, or even “the of Harlow College, which is maybe why it developed Middle“ but in the “Tack Room”. Still intrigued and full of its reputation for journalism. anticipation, Rachel and I presented ourselves at the Royal Mews Glenfinnan Viaduct near Fort Williama I owe a debt to Colin. His energy and drive for speech and a footman pointed us to the Tack Room. Not being a horsey and drama helped build my confidence and stood me person I had not expected to end up in such a malodorous place. in good stead for the profession we love. Thank you It was not prepared for show but a working stable, a long room Colin - although ‘Mr Street’ seems more respectful! crammed with leather and livery. At least the floor was clean. Jan Koslover There were about five men there and more came along soon: INSTITUTE PHOTOCARDS stable boys, footmen, members of the household, liveried helpers without their livery. After a while I realised that Rachel and I were Originally sent to The Institute of Tourist Guiding: the only women there but I pressed on asking questions and Your letter headed Introduction of Photocards arrived gathering fascinating inside information. Many of them admitted to with the receipt for my annual subscription. You state their failed ambition to become jockeys but felt they had that all ITG members are "requested" to wear the nevertheless landed on their feet when they had come to work for photo card. However, the Code of Conduct says that the Queen. Time went by and they seemed as keen to talk to us guides will agree to "wear the Institute photo card, as we were to them, plying us with large glasses of white wine. with or without the guide badge, when on duty".

Suddenly Rachel, who was quite a big girl, came bowling over This clause has come as a bombshell. As you know I towards me saying she thought it might be time to make an exit. do not wear the photocard. This means that I am in Something funny was going on. She wasn't quite reeling, but by breach of the Code of Conduct although I am a the time her sister came to the rescue – driving her car right into perfectly respectable BBTG in all other matters. I the Mews – we both felt unwell. We beat a hasty retreat and I was await to see what my admonishment will be. glad to get home. We discovered later that these hearty lads had I wonder what is the point of including clauses in the spiked our “nice white wine” with poteen (illegal Irish potato Code of Conduct that you know some guides, who do liquor). From that time when I saw them driving by on the coaches nothing to undermine the profession and the badge, dressed up in their finery my tourists would wonder why I was will not abide by. Surely the Code is to deal with shaking my fist at them and why they were winking back. serious misdemeanours?

Vicki Bick Gail Jones

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL TOURIST GUIDES 7 www.guidelondon.org.uk May 2019