The Churchill Series - Sept. 18, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Today I'd like to respond to a reader comment from last week. In doing that, perhaps I'll help make your next visit to London more memorable.

The commenter responded to a post concerning The Other Club, the social and dining club which Churchill co-founded in 1911; and held membership in until his death. The club met fortnightly in the Pinafore Room of London's Savoy Hotel when Parliament was in session.

The commenter said it was always special to be in the Pinafore Room and think of its Churchillian history.

The commenter got me thinking of a short “Churchill” tour you could all take from the Savoy.

Standing at the main entrance to the hotel you are at the end of a very short dead-end street that exits on to the Strand.

As you walk toward The Strand, you’ll notice on your left the entrance to a theatre (as they spell it there). Fittingly enough it’s The Savoy, once “the home” of the D’Oyle Carte Opera Company, producer of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas of which Churchill was so fond. He often sang G&S songs in his bath. And, of course, he attended many productions at the Savoy.

Since Churchill’s time, the Savoy Theatre has been gutted and rehabbed inside. But the outside structure and the basic interior layout remain essentially the same as in his lifetime.

When you come out onto The Strand, turn left in the direction of Trafalgar Square, which is an easy five-minute walk down The Strand.

Stay on the left side of The Strand as you approach Trafalgar and you’re taking the same walk Churchill often took to head back, say, to the Admiralty or the Charing Cross station where he’d catch a train to Seven Oaks, the station near Chartwell.

You’ll come to Charing Cross in just a few minutes. If at that point you look across to your right, you’ll see Saint Martin-in-the-Fields. Its crypt now serves as a gift shop and café. During WWII, it served as a bomb shelter.

Continue past Charing Cross another few blocks down The Strand and you’ll find yourself on the Southeast side of Trafalgar Square. You can look to the North side and see the National Gallery. Churchill sometimes took his children there.

Directly across from you on the West side of the square is The Admiralty. Through Admiralty Arch you can look up the roadway and see Buckingham Palace. It was from The Admiralty in the early evening hours of May 10, 1940 that Churchill, alone except for his bodyguard Inspector Thompson, rode to the Palace in response to the King’s summons.

(Continued tomorrow)