Completed in 2010, the Strata building in Elephant & Castle has three massive wind turbines, which were supposed to generate 8% of the building's energy and were a key part of it receiving planning permission. They were turned off almost immediately due to complaints from residents about the noise and vibrations and haven't moved since. #londonwalkingtours #londonguide #walkingtour #tourguide #funfact #funfacts #trivia #architecture #london #elephant #elephantandcastle #strata #stratabuilding #southwark #southwarkcouncil #residentialbuilding #carbuncle #greenwashing #turbine #windturbine #se1 #southlondon #whiteelephant

Cleopatra's Needle (which has nothing to do with Cleopatra) was a gift from Egypt that was erected on Embankment in 1878. Weirdly, it seems those Victorians decided to put a time capsule beneath it (no idea when it's supposed to be opened) with Victoriana including 12 portraits of attractive women of the day, a copy of a railway guide, a razor, a picture of Queen Victoria, bible and loads of other stuff. #londonwalkingtours #londontours #londonguide #walkingtour #funfacts #funfact #trivia #history #london #londonhistory #cleopatrasneedle #egypt #egypt #ancientegypt #obelisk #victoriana #bombdamage #1917 #embankment #timecapsule #queenvictoria #michaelportillo #bradshawsguide #tourguide #victoriaembankment #cleopatra #victorianengland

Southwark cathedral at the south end of London Bridge only got cathedral status in 1905. For the preceeding 900 years or so it had been called the 'Collegiate Church of St Saviour and Mary Overie'. The 'Overie' bit was a shortening of 'Over the river'. The City is on the north side of the Thames, so for them, it was the church over the river. #londonwalkingtours #londonguide #walkingtour #tourguide #london #church #history #londonhistory #londonchurch #stsaviours #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #bankside #southwark #southwarkcathedral #edmund #bankside #londonbridge #boroughmarket #borough #stmarys #thames #riverthames #overtheriver #river

St Ermin's Hotel in Westminster opened in 1899 and in the run up to WW2 became a meeting place for spies and officers to have meetings, swap information and conduct job interviews. When war broke out, a number of entire floors were commandeered by MI6 and SOE (Special Operations Executive) where the seeds for the SAS were sown. After the war, the hotel continued to be a favourite haunt of spies, probably most famously double agent Guy Burgess. Today, the hotel display a number of artefacts relating to their secret service past and my favourite is a silk scarf, printed with a secret code, the type once sown in to the clothes of airmen dropped in to occipied France. #londonwalkingtours #londonguide #walkingtour #tourguide #funfact #funfacts #trivia #london #hotel #londonhotel #sterminshotel #sas #secretservice #winstonchurchill #spy #spies #intelligence #mi6 #ww2 #espionage #sabotage #guyburgess #topsecret #soe #westminster