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Occupy London Tours: City Tour Script

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Occupy London Tours: City Tour Script Occupy London Tours: City Tour Script 1. St Paul’s (both) 2. Temple Bar (Paul) 3. St Paul’s Cross (Dan) 4. St Mary Le Bow (Dan) 5. Royal Exchange (Paul) 6. Lloyds (Paul) 7. Bank of England (Paul) 8. City of London Corporation (Dan) 9. University of Chicago (Paul) 10. TheCityUK (Dan) 11. Deutsche Bank (Dan) 12. City/Tower Hamlets border (both) + Extra Fact sheet Remember: ● chalk ● stock cube ● Bible ● masking tape ● quotes ● hats ● umbrellas ● mics ● pipe/cigar 1/26 1. Steps of St Paul’s (D & P) [D] ● Welcome to the Occupy London Tour of the City of London – England’s smallest city. ● My name’s Daniel, a​nd I’m Paul –​ and we’re your tour guides today. ● Occupy London Tours is a n​on­profit group run by v​olunteers,​ aiming to d​emystify t​he world of finance with three tours that show London’s major role in creating it and shaping what it looks like today. ● Disclaimer ­​ As you might notice along the way, w​ e’re not professional tour guides,​ so all our tours are f​ree a​nd we d​on’t accept donations.​The tour lasts just over two hours and ends up by Liverpool St station. ● Feel free to take pictures or film a​ny bits of the tours you like, and to t​weet i​f you like ­ on Twitter we’re @​ OccupyTours.​And if you can’t hear at any point during the tour, just hold up the f​ist of struggle!​ ● If you have any q​uestions,​ or feel we’ve left something important out by all means butt in, but if it’s probably better to catch us between stops as there’s a lot to cram in! ● We’re looking for new guides so we can do more tours. If you feel inspired by the end of the tour and think you might like to try your hand as a tour guide come and speak to us after the tour, when we’ll be heading to the pub! [P] ● So here we are at our first stop – and what better place to start than the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, home to the Occupy London camp in 2011 and 2012, when people from across the country and even further came together to protest against the economic destruction that was harming ordinary people, but had been caused by the few at the top, many of whom work in the buildings that surround around us here. ● And while the Cathedral authorities decided that the camp had to go, perhaps the words of St Paul himself might have helped them decide where their sympathies should lie – this is from St Paul’s First Letter to Timothy, chapter 6, verses 7­10 of the New Testament: [D] 7F​ or we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ​8A​ nd having food and raiment let us be therewith content. ​9B​ ut they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10F​ or the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. [P] ● And on today’s tour we’re going to be hearing all about the love of money ­ and the problems it has caused. It’s the story of financial capitalism, from the Middle Ages to the present day, and there’s no better place to tell it than where we’re standing right now ­ the Square Mile of the City of London. Because the story of the Square Mile is as much a story about financial wizardry as 2/26 it is about the replacement of popular democracy with a tightly knit network of extremely powerful and unaccountable institutions. Some of you may have noticed in the media this week that the Church of England has called for a ‘new kind of politics’ in the wake of austerity atrocities and repeated financial scandals. But they haven’t always been so attentive to St Paul’s words as we know. As our friends at that radical rag the F​inancial Times wrote last summer, ‘For a man of God, [Archbishop Justin] Welby is remarkably knowledgeable about Mammon...The archbishop is at pains not to demonise the industry. Biblical quotations damning moneychangers are not for him. “You’d be an idiot to stand in judgment on the banks,” he explains.’ ● For the next two hours, we will show you round the film set of ‘Capitalism: the movie’ – and leave you to decide whether it’s a Disney story or a disaster film…(and perhaps round up a few idiots along the way!) ● But before we move off, here’s a Medieval map of the City for you to hand around between stops ­ you’ll notice many of the sites you see today were there in those times as well. 2. Temple Bar [P] ● So here we are standing at Temple Bar, originally a grand entrance to the Square Mile, and now the entrance to Paternoster Square, home of the London Stock Exchange, founded in 1801 and moved here in 2004. ● The Stock Exchange was the Occupy movement’s original target, but the decision was out of their hands. Paternoster square was the property of the Mitsubishi corporation, who got a court order banning the protest. ● And, lovely people that they are, the owners have left us a reminder from that day, the 14th of October 2011: this is the court’s decision to ban protesters from the site; but it also serves as a sign that the land is private ­ like more and more land in the Square Mile, but also the whole of Canary Wharf, London’s second banking hub. ● But back to this structure: Temple bar stands as a monument to the power of the city. This rather magnificent Portland stone structure was built by Christopher Wren in 1672 and moved to this spot in 2004, after spending over 100 years in a wood somewhere near Enfield. It came to rest in that wood as a gatehouse and party venue, installed by a young barmaid of ill repute, who had married into the wealthy Meax dynasty, and was desperate for a veneer of respectability. ● [H​ ere she is, painted by Whistler.]​ ● When Dickens wrote ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ he told of the heads of criminals being displayed on pikes above Temple Bar. And from Lady Meax’s experience to today, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ is a fitting way to think about the Square Mile’s place in London. ● Before it was moved to that wood in Enfield, Temple Bar it was originally built at Fleet Street and marked the entrance to the ‘City of London’ from the City of Westminster to its west. But while the City of Westminster ­ like the rest of England and later Britain ­ was ruled by the monarchy, the City of London was the domain of the City of London Corporation, a local 3/26 government body with laws, and even has a police force separate from those that lie outside its borders to this day. ● And it was the City of London, and only the city, that William the Conqueror failed to … conquer ... in 1067. ● Even now in a ceremony to recognise that independence, when the Queen arrives at the edge city, she stops at the point where this arch used to stand and waits for the Lord Mayor ­ the head of the City of London ­ to welcome her into his realm by giving her the City’s pearl encrusted Sword of State as a token of loyalty. ● Before we move onto our next stop it’s worth hearing what one of Britain’s most celebrated prime ministers, Clement Attlee, had to say about the City: [D] “Over and over again we have seen that there is in this country another power than that which has its seat at Westminster. The City of London, a convenient term for a collection of financial interests, is able to assert itself against the Government of the country. Those who control money can pursue a policy at home and abroad contrary to that which has been decided by the people.” [P] ● And as we’re going to see it’s a place whose power hasn’t been seriously challenged since Atlee spoke those words over half a century ago. 3. St Paul’s Cross [D] ● Now it’s time to use our imaginations as we’re going to do a bit of time travel... Picture us standing here in the 13​th ​century. ● Down many of these streets you would’ve been able to see out into the countryside. ● Behind you on Cheapside would’ve been a sprawling market area, which has left its mark in the form of the side streets there today ­ so when we walk down it look out for Friday St, where the fishmongers traded, as well as Milk St, Bread St and Wood St. ● And behind me would’ve been St Paul’s cathedral ­ not the one we see today, but its predecessor, a towering medieval church with a spire stretching 149m into the sky – taller than the current building – and at the time the tallest building anywhere in the world, ever. Here’s what it looked like: ● [​S​ ketch of Medieval St Paul’s] ● Unfortunately like most of London at the time it was made of wood, and so burned down in the Great Fire of London.
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