Top London icon

in reality, all of this has been a total load of old bollocks

top icon

London Underground roundel
3
30%
K2 red phone booth
0
No votes
1959 Routemaster red London bus
4
40%
classic black Fairway taxi cab
0
No votes
other
3
30%
Footy's footprint
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 10

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GoogaMooga
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Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 01:13

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...

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The Modernist
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Re: Top London icon

Postby The Modernist » 08 Oct 2018, 01:28

The red telephone boxes weren't unique to London, they were found all over the uk.

I'd go for this:

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GoogaMooga
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Re: Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 01:34

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).
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Snarfyguy
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Snarfyguy » 08 Oct 2018, 02:47

Is Big Ben no longer there?
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Re: Top London icon

Postby trans-chigley express » 08 Oct 2018, 03:02

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.

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trans-chigley express
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Re: Top London icon

Postby trans-chigley express » 08 Oct 2018, 03:04

Snarfyguy wrote:Is Big Ben no longer there?


Covered in scaffolding last time I saw it so, temporarily at least, no :)

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GoogaMooga
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Re: Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 04:23

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

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GoogaMooga
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Re: Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 04:25

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

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Jimbly
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Jimbly » 08 Oct 2018, 08:05

Believe it or not, we had red buses outside of London.
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GoogaMooga
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Re: Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 08:16

I remember them being green in Brighton.
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Deebank » 08 Oct 2018, 08:30

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.
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GoogaMooga
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Re: Top London icon

Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Oct 2018, 08:35

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

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Re: Top London icon

Postby Darkness_Fish » 08 Oct 2018, 09:07

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.
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Goat Boy » 08 Oct 2018, 09:46

Surely the answer is G?
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Deebank » 08 Oct 2018, 09:49

Increasingly the braying hoorays in the wine bars of The Strand and Fleet Street?
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Re: Top London icon

Postby yomptepi » 08 Oct 2018, 10:02

Pansy Puff wrote:
Goat Boy wrote:Surely the answer is G?

:lol:
We have a winner, here!


If you think a provincial Welsh lad is representative of London, then of course G.

Tower Bridge for me.

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Darkness_Fish
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Re: Top London icon

Postby Darkness_Fish » 08 Oct 2018, 10:58

Snarfyguy wrote:Is Big Ben no longer there?

It is, but it's currently quite shy and hiding from photographers.

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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.

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Re: Top London icon

Postby Goat Boy » 08 Oct 2018, 11:08

yomptepi wrote:
Pansy Puff wrote:
Goat Boy wrote:Surely the answer is G?

:lol:
We have a winner, here!


If you think a provincial Welsh lad is representative of London, then of course G.

Tower Bridge for me.

Image


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

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Re: Top London icon

Postby Samoan » 08 Oct 2018, 11:25

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.

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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.

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Re: Top London icon

Postby Hugh » 08 Oct 2018, 15:23

Is it pedantic to point out that Big Ben is the bell and not the tower?


Thought so.


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