This WW2 cruiser, now a tourist attraction, took part in the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst and in the D-Day landings. Her guns are aimed at an M1 service station 12.5 miles away.
This place is named after a cross put here by Edward I in 1290. He erected 12 crosses in all, each marking where his queen’s body rested overnight, en route from Lincoln to burial at Westminster.
Originally a deer park for Henry VIII, so he could hunt while staying at Whitehall Palace, the park was laid out in a formal style by Charles II, when Pepys came here to watch ice skating.
The Bankside Power Station was built as a ‘cathedral of power’ in 1963, but closed in 1981. It reopened as one of Europe’s finest modern art galleries in 2000. The Turbine Hall is 35m high.
175-9 Oxford St, now a retail and office development, was in 1912 the site of the world’s first ever motor museum, and included Britain’s first ever petrol-engined car, the 1894 Bremer.
Take a few minutes, even in winter, to explore the central Rose Garden. Lots of flowers with silly names, and plenty of sculpture.
The acoustics here were once so bad, it was said this was the only venue where a composer could be sure of hearing his work twice. It was corrected in 1969 by putting diffusing discs on the ceiling.
Even if you are not visiting one of the many exhibitions and events organised here throughout the year, come to sit in its beautiful and quiet neoclassical courtyard away from London’s busy streets.
