Destination: England
Poll Claims to Uncover Europe’s Smartest, Sexiest Travelers
by Valerie Conners | 10.23.08 | 10:00 AM ET
Fear not, that all those Brits behaving badly are forgoing culture for pints. A recent poll of European travelers from lastminute.com shows that Britons actually beat their foreign counterparts in a test of world cities, flags, landmarks and cultural icons. As one lastminute.com employee noted, “Britain’s heritage is steeped with great explorers, pioneering journeys and the spirit of adventure.” And, let’s not forget:
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Yahoo! BuzzGordon Ramsay, Hotelier
by Eva Holland | 10.14.08 | 11:43 AM ET
The notoriously foul-mouthed celebrity chef unveiled his first hotel last week in London. We can only hope that expletive-laden reality spin-off shows will follow soon.
British Opposition Calls For High-Speed Rail Corridor
by Eva Holland | 10.01.08 | 11:30 AM ET
Britain’s opposition Conservative Party has announced a proposal for a £20 billion, TGV-style high-speed rail system, the Guardian reports. According to the announcement, a planned third runway at Heathrow would be abandoned in favor of a high-speed line connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
The Best (Almost) Fictional British Pubs
by Michael Yessis | 09.30.08 | 2:41 PM ET
Among David Barnett’s picks for great fictional pubs: George Orwell’s The Moon Under Water and Anthony Burgess’ Korova Milk Bar, from A Clockwork Orange. Though they’re products of the authors’ imaginations, it looks like they’re so good they’ve both spawned real-world pubs. In his Guardian piece, Barnett mentions a series of British pubs named The Moon Under Water. I found another in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Save the British Pub Sign
by Michael Yessis | 09.30.08 | 10:57 AM ET
Hand-painted markers outside British pubs date to Roman times. Now they’re threatened, mostly by corporate consolidation of pubs. “Only the 30 independent pub chains and breweries in Britain are still ordering individually painted signs,” writes Vanessa Thorpe.
It’s a shame.
The signs, preservationists rightly argue, are full of artistic value and symbolism. See for yourself at Flickr’s cluster of British pub signs.
Why So Many ‘Bristol’ Hotels Around the World?
by Julia Ross | 09.29.08 | 11:23 AM ET
According to the Wall Street Journal, there are nearly 200 hotels worldwide named “Bristol,” popping up in such non-English locales as Oslo, Warsaw, Paris and San Francisco. Just how did the name become so ubiquitous? No one seems to know for sure, but the working theory points to an 18th-century Earl who had lavish tastes in travel.
The Long Descent: Airline Fees Cross The Pond
by Eva Holland | 09.26.08 | 12:50 PM ET
It had to happen eventually. Taking a page out of the major North American airlines’ playbook, British Airways has announced that the airline is considering additional fees for “ancillary services.” According to the Telegraph, those fees could include “extra leg room, priority boarding, a glass of water, alcoholic drinks, use of lounges, luggage, and snacks and meals.” Hang in there, Britain. It could always be worse.
Photo by bribriTO via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Billy Bragg’s Big Busk: Singing About London
by Michael Yessis | 09.23.08 | 12:21 PM ET
The singer will be leading a come one, come all sing- and strum-along this Saturday at the Southbank Centre in London. The crowd will be singing Bragg’s favorite London songs. He’s got a lot of great ones to choose from, as evidenced by this Wikipedia page of London songs and Time Out’s 50 best London songs.
If I could make it, I’d like “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks to make the cut:
Dozens Evacuated in Channel Tunnel Fire
by Jim Benning | 09.11.08 | 12:36 PM ET
In what must have been a harrowing experience, more than 30 people were evacuated from a freight train today when a fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel between England and France. Officials suspect the fire started when a truck on the train overturned, CNN reports. The evacuees, some reportedly suffering from smoke inhalation, were taken into a service tunnel. Fortunately, no passenger trains were in the tunnel at the time. Tunnel train service has been temporarily suspended.
U.N. Reports Seven British World Heritage Sites ‘In Danger’
by Valerie Conners | 09.08.08 | 4:30 PM ET
We’ve long known that Stonehenge, like many culturally relevant sites, has experienced the dangers of vandals and tourists. Now Unesco has given the United Kingdom a formal slap on the wrist for failing to protect seven of its world heritage sites—including Stonehenge—from building developments and other dangers.
Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: London Black Cabs Now Made Overseas
by Eva Holland | 09.04.08 | 4:23 PM ET
These days, London Taxi International has been unable to keep up with demand for its iconic black cabs. So the manufacturer is looking to expand beyond its small Coventry plant, and is headed overseas to—you guessed it—China. A new factory outside Shanghai is slated to produce 6,000 taxis per year, doubling the Coventry output. Rather than being shipped back to England, though, most of the Chinese-made vehicles will be exported to Singapore, Dubai, and other cities that, as the Globe and Mail puts it, “covet the image associated with” London’s famous black cabs.
Who Needs the London Eye? Photo Series Offers Aerial London Views
by Valerie Conners | 09.03.08 | 11:18 AM ET
No need to pay exorbitant fees to hop aboard the London Eye for stunning views of London-town. As the eyes of the world finally looked past Beijing to take a glance at London—site of the 2012 Summer Olympics—Boston.com published a series of gasp-worthy photos offering a bird’s-eye view of London at night taken by photographer Jason Hawkes.
Brits Go on Holiday, Europe Cowers in Fear
by Elyse Franko | 08.25.08 | 4:53 PM ET
So we’ve posted about the British couple getting arrested after having sex on a Dubai beach. And about the nine British women who were arrested for taking part in an oral sex competition in Greece. Now the New York Times offers a comprehensive look at the bad behavior of Brits abroad.
From the Times of London Archives: Thomas Cook’s Lost Dispatch
by Eva Holland | 08.22.08 | 11:16 AM ET
The latest in an ongoing series of “travel classics” from the Times of London’s seemingly bottomless vaults? Thomas Cook‘s six dispatches from a ‘round-the-world trip in the early 1870s. One of the just-published pieces, written from the Red Sea, never appeared in print before. Why? As we learn now from an editor, in those pre-email days, “[I]t did not reach London until the Parliamentary Season, when it was impossible to find room in the paper.” Better late than never, right?
Has the British Pub Jumped the Shark?
by Julia Ross | 08.15.08 | 12:51 PM ET
Sadly, yes, according to this rather depressing essay in the Telegraph. Britain’s smoking ban and drinks promotions run amok “have transformed the average British pub from a haven of smoked glass, polished brass and mahogany into blaring dumps filled from one end to the other with quiz machines, karaoke stages, and drunken teenagers,” laments Andrew O’Hagan.