Top London icon
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Top London icon
Only one of my four options is still widely seen in London: the London Underground roundel.
The K2 red phone booth, the 1959 Routemaster red London bus, and the classic black Fairway taxi, they have all but disappeared...
The K2 red phone booth, the 1959 Routemaster red London bus, and the classic black Fairway taxi, they have all but disappeared...
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- The Modernist
- 2018 BCB Cup Champ!
- Posts: 13843
- Joined: 13 Apr 2014, 20:42
Re: Top London icon
The red telephone boxes weren't unique to London, they were found all over the uk.
I'd go for this:
I'd go for this:
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Re: Top London icon
The Modernist wrote:The red telephone boxes weren't unique to London, they were found all over the uk.
But still very much associated with London, wouldn't you say? Tom Jones had one shipped over to his house in L.A., stands by the poolside (actually, he has moved to London now).
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- Snarfyguy
- Dominated by the Obscure
- Posts: 53502
- Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:04
- Location: New York
Re: Top London icon
Is Big Ben no longer there?
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.
- trans-chigley express
- Posts: 19238
- Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 01:50
- Location: Asia's WC
Re: Top London icon
GoogaMooga wrote:The Modernist wrote:The red telephone boxes weren't unique to London, they were found all over the uk.
But still very much associated with London, wouldn't you say?
No. A British icon for sure, but never specific to London. Certainly not by UK residents.
From the poll I'd go for the bus, it's what springs to mind immediately for so many people I know when they think of London. That Big Ben and Tower Bridge.
- trans-chigley express
- Posts: 19238
- Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 01:50
- Location: Asia's WC
Re: Top London icon
Snarfyguy wrote:Is Big Ben no longer there?
Covered in scaffolding last time I saw it so, temporarily at least, no
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Re: Top London icon
trans-chigley express wrote:GoogaMooga wrote:The Modernist wrote:The red telephone boxes weren't unique to London, they were found all over the uk.
But still very much associated with London, wouldn't you say?
No. A British icon for sure, but never specific to London. Certainly not by UK residents.
From the poll I'd go for the bus, it's what springs to mind immediately for so many people I know when they think of London. That Big Ben and Tower Bridge.
But the red phone booth, like the Bobby's helmet, is a universal icon known to people all over the world, many of whom may not know much about the UK outside of London. You go to souvenir shops in London and I think you'll see representations of both on sale.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Re: Top London icon
I voted bus, too - there's a whole subgenre of 1960s cinema known as "Red London Bus".
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- Jimbly
- Posts: 21957
- Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 23:17
- Location: ????
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Re: Top London icon
I remember them being green in Brighton.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- Deebank
- Resonator
- Posts: 24733
- Joined: 10 Oct 2003, 13:47
- Location: Ina beautiful place out in the country
Re: Top London icon
GoogaMooga wrote:I remember them being green in Brighton.
More often blue or red and yellow(ish) in Brighton.
I think the buses that went into the hinterlands (Southdown) were green though.
Having said all that they probably all been bought out by the evil Stagecoach by now.
I've been talking about writing a book - 25 years of TEFL - for a few years now. I've got it in me.
Paid anghofio fod dy galon yn y chwyldro
Paid anghofio fod dy galon yn y chwyldro
- GoogaMooga
- custodian of oldies
- Posts: 30324
- Joined: 28 Sep 2010, 05:23
- Location: Denmark
Re: Top London icon
Deebank wrote:GoogaMooga wrote:I remember them being green in Brighton.
More often blue or red and yellow(ish) in Brighton.
I think the buses that went into the hinterlands (Southdown) were green though.
Having said all that they probably all been bought out by the evil Stagecoach by now.
You are right, green to Rottingdean, Ovingdean, and Woodingdean.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
- Darkness_Fish
- Posts: 7793
- Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58
Re: Top London icon
I don't think of buses, taxis, or phone boxes as being particularly emblematic of London. I'd vote for Australian bar staff, aggressive begging outside of Euston station, and the specific feeling of depression caused by the miles of horrible tiles in the underground.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.
- Goat Boy
- Bogarting the joint
- Posts: 32974
- Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
- Location: In the perfumed garden
Re: Top London icon
Surely the answer is G?
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
- Deebank
- Resonator
- Posts: 24733
- Joined: 10 Oct 2003, 13:47
- Location: Ina beautiful place out in the country
Re: Top London icon
Increasingly the braying hoorays in the wine bars of The Strand and Fleet Street?
I've been talking about writing a book - 25 years of TEFL - for a few years now. I've got it in me.
Paid anghofio fod dy galon yn y chwyldro
Paid anghofio fod dy galon yn y chwyldro
- yomptepi
- BCB thumbscrew of Justice
- Posts: 36415
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 17:57
- Location: well
Re: Top London icon
Pansy Puff wrote:Goat Boy wrote:Surely the answer is G?
We have a winner, here!
If you think a provincial Welsh lad is representative of London, then of course G.
Tower Bridge for me.
You don't like me...do you?
- Darkness_Fish
- Posts: 7793
- Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58
Re: Top London icon
Snarfyguy wrote:Is Big Ben no longer there?
It is, but it's currently quite shy and hiding from photographers.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.
- Goat Boy
- Bogarting the joint
- Posts: 32974
- Joined: 20 Mar 2007, 12:11
- Location: In the perfumed garden
Re: Top London icon
yomptepi wrote:Pansy Puff wrote:Goat Boy wrote:Surely the answer is G?
We have a winner, here!
If you think a provincial Welsh lad is representative of London, then of course G.
Tower Bridge for me.
Is G actually Welsh then?
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
- Samoan
- Posts: 11949
- Joined: 28 May 2008, 10:22
- Location: The Glad Tidings Mission Hall
Re: Top London icon
I've always intensely disliked the Post Office Tower and I'm not really a fan of Tower Bridge - there's something a bit Toy Town and cheesy about it and I think the mid blue paint is wrong: I'd like to see it in colours similar to that of Hammersmith Bridge, a green palette with touches of gold.
I'm going with the contemporary choice of The Shard (I adore it) until Big Ben is back on display. The location of The Shard is a big part of it, shooting up from amongst late 18th and 19th century architecture and it's proximity to the Thames.
I'm going with the contemporary choice of The Shard (I adore it) until Big Ben is back on display. The location of The Shard is a big part of it, shooting up from amongst late 18th and 19th century architecture and it's proximity to the Thames.
Nonsense to the aggressiveness, I've seen more aggression on the my little pony message board......I mean I was told.
-
- Posts: 16158
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:43
Re: Top London icon
Is it pedantic to point out that Big Ben is the bell and not the tower?
Thought so.
Thought so.