The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

Website: http://www.museumofbrands.com
Location: 2 Colville Mews, off Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill.
Today I visited the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. This small museum is hidden away on a back-street mews in Notting Hill. I arrived by bike and was glad I'll looked up the directions earlier and that there were lots of signs pointing out which cobbled alley to go down.

The cheery ticket vendor asked how I found out about the museum and, when I replied "From Wikipedia", she looked astonished. She gave me my cheap £3.50 student ticket and off I went. The whole museum is an extensive collection of packaging, posters, toys, games, souvenirs and other "everyday items" that provide a window on life in the past.
First stop was the Victorians. At first I wasn't too impressed because, although there was an enormous amount of stuff on display, it was hard to find any information tags explaining what it was. Slowly I began to find the information pieces dotted throughout the display, camouflaged against the brightly coloured items. There were souvenirs from Queen Victoria's jubilee, toys etc.

The next room was the Edwardians (1901-1910). This time saw the introduction of the Gillette safety razor, milk chocolate and the postage stamp booklet. Piece by piece throughout the museum I was able to track the development and introduction of these kind of things that now make up modern day living...

The next stretch of the museum was done by decade from the 1910s to the 2000s. By far the most interesting and amusing items were the postcards from different periods. These cheap postcards became very popular in the 1900s (when they were allowed to have a picture on the front). The numerous examples on display indicated the fashions of the time and the domestic issues.

A few examples:

The "Harem skirt" in the 1910s:
Food rationing in World War I with high prices of eggs:
In the 1920s wireless became popular:
The BBC was set up in 1922 and radio became immensely popular in the 1920s. Things which feel like they've been around forever were being set up and founded at every step through the museum.

It was funny to see adverts from the 1930s for Monopoly - "The Rage of America":In World War II there were lots of war-related pieces. There were jigsaws of battle scenes and military leaders, board games about moving around in the blackout, ash-trays with Hitler drawn on (so you could stub your cigarette out on him). The postcards kept their topical take on things:
The coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952 led to a lot of souvenir plates etc. Many families apparently bought their first TV set to watch the coronation ceremony.

The space race started in the 1950s and the children's games often had a space-related theme. There were board games taking you around the solar system, games about satellites, aliens as well as Dan Dare:
I'd heard of Dan Dare because my Dad used to play with Dan Dare guns and games.

There was an explosion of breakfast cereals in the 1950s and 60s - even Noddy got involved:
(I think "Ricicles are twicicles as nicicles" counts as my favourite advertising slogan in the whole museum). As TV became more and more popular (apparently driven by the popularity of Coronation Street), the TV stars appeared in more and more advertisments. "So and so says..." was on all the posters - selling products from sausages to chocolate bars.

The 1960s saw the introduction of yoghurt into the British diet. The 1960s and 70s also saw TV-tie-in board games too:
I realised sadly that no-one plays board games anymore (apart from a few stock favourites like Monopoly and Scrabble). It seems there was a wealth of entertainment for bored evenings that people in the past enjoyed. Now people just watch films and play computer games. I would bet they've lost their ability to imagine. For example the 1950s board game that took you around the solar system requires you to imagine going to each place and fighting the aliens there. Now on a computer game you can actually do it! Is that better or worse?

Anyway, once it got into the 1980s I began to recognise toys that I'd played with... remember Roland Rat anyone? It suddenly got a lot less interesting when you were looking at things from your own lifetime. I finished up in the partially complete 2000s section.

The final part of the museum was a section on "Brands" and then on "Advertising". Unfortunatly these were either large collections of products by one brand with no extra information OR a very detailed corporate information section about a company that was major sponsor for the museum. I skipped these because I felt I was just being advertised at...

Finally the circuit of the museum finished at the ticket desk with a little cafe and a TV showing "a history of television advertising". I watched a few amusing adverts - the best ones were advertising cigarettes.

Concluding observation: The information pieces often had the annoying habit of saying things unrelated to the items in the case. They'd say something really interesting and you'd look at everything in the case to see an example of it but... there was nothing there that illustrated the interesting point.

Summary: Took a while to get going but a very interesting, accessible trip. The things on display gave a real feel for what life was like back then...

Fancy hotels

Today I did something a bit unusual. I set myself the task of sneaking into a number of "fancy hotels" in London. To accomplish this I made a list of hotels to visit, dressed up in my smartest suit, charged my camera and set out.














1. Claridges
Website: http://www.claridges.co.uk

First stop was Claridges. I'd walked past this hotel a few times and it certainly looks very posh - the doormen wear top hats etc etc. I arrived at the street, looked across at the hotel, took a deep breath and walked towards the doors.

The doormen were welcoming a taxi. Would they stop me? I reached the revolving door, pushed it and was inside. So far so good... but... don't stop. Any real guest wouldn't hang around the lobby - they'd go straight up to their room. So I kept walking, taking a quick glance around at the marble lobby, the reception desk, the concierges in smart uniforms. I kept walking past it all hoping I'd find some stairs or some lifts. There! A flight of stairs was ahead and I confidently walked up it.

I stopped at the first landing. There was no one around - just the sound of some distant maids cleaning rooms. I did it! I was inside! So... erm... What next? I wandered the corridors looking for anything to do. I saw a few maids - one of which said "Good morning Sir". Ha.

I climbed to the top floor - always on the move in an attempt to avoid suspicion. I saw a few other guests - including one woman in a dressing gown who'd been woken by a maid entering her room!

Erm... What to do... I finally descended to the lobby once more, stopping briefly for a sit down on a sumptuous sofa to survey the scene:Finally, after 10 minutes snooping, I left by a side exit.


















2. Connaughts
Website: http://www.the-connaught.co.uk

A short walk away was Connaughts - a 5-star hotel I hadn't heard about until this morning. It was a much quieter affair - there were none of the distractions that the Claridges doormen had. The street was empty except for the one doorman and me. Yep, I'd have to just... "Good afternoon Sir," said the doorman. "Afternoon," I replied with a nod. Then I was in. Here the lobby was a lot smaller - the reception desk on the left was busy and the information desk on the right was busy so I breezed between the two, up the stairs and past some rich looking Americans.

This was a much more swanky than Claridges - the staircases were lined with portraits and hunting paintings:
As I walked through the corridors - passing newspapers, linen trolleys and "Do Not Disturb" signs - I began to wonder why I was doing this. Obviously it was to see what these fancy hotels are like. I carefully tried to take it all in. The carpets were plush and the walls were decorated with different types of wood. I sat on a sofa and thought through what to do. I decided that perhaps the Connaught wasn't all that great to a visitor like me so I should push on to the Dorchester - now that's a hotel I could really get stuck into.

I left by the main entrance, was wished a pleasant afternoon by the inside doorman and saw a mildly puzzled look on the outside doorman - I'd been in and out of the hotel in about 10 minutes.


















3. The Dorchester
Website: http://www.thedorchester.com

The Dorchester is where movie stars stay. It's where royalty have parties. It's on Park Lane and it's where I was going next. This one was fun.

Walking along the side of the building I saw a sign that said "CCTV in use for your safety" - gulp! Arriving at the front it looked so famous, posh and imposing that I almost chickened-out.

I took a deep breath, walked proudly past some autograph hunters (I guess someone famous must have been staying there), past a doorman and swirled through the revolving door and into the lobby. A quick glance round to figure out where to go... Onwards! I walked forwards into a seating area dotted with elderly guests. There was a bar on my right and what looked like a restaurant straight on. Is it a dead end? Where are the stairs and the lifts!?

Aha! There's some stairs on the left... I confidently strolled towards the stairs labelled "Park Suite" and began to feel uneasy. Where would they lead? They ended after one flight and opened onto a landing leading to two meeting rooms. It was a dead end. Hmmm... What to do? Going straight back down to the lobby might arouse suspicion. Are there any cameras looking at me? No.

After a lengthy pause I returned downstairs to the lobby, slowly walked across it, spotted some lifts and called one. I went up to the 6th floor and wandered the corridors. Again there wasn't anything new - just newspapers and cleaning maids - but the stair cases allowed some good views of the nearby buildings:

There was a staircase at the back of the hotel that I followed down, aiming to get back to the ground floor and approach the lobby through the hotel...

I arrived at the ground floor and exited into a different, completely empty lobby. I explored the direction I needed to go and, passing through two antechambers, found an enormous ballroom. It was empty except for me and I just strolled around it waiting to get caught. I looked at a few of the exit doors but from the sounds I could hear these led into the kitchens.

There was no through-route here back to the front so I got back to the stairs and decided to try the Lower Ground floor. Here I came across a store room full of old broken chairs and then, trying another route, a store room for food with an open cupboard filled with SunPat peanut butter.

Oh dear. I finally retraced my steps and used the 2nd floor to come back towards the lobby. Here I descended to the Mezzanine level, took a quick side step to use some executive toilet, and then back down to the lobby. I sat on one of the plush chairs and examined my watch as if I was waiting for someone. Finally, although the concierges didn't think I looked suspicious, I left. Outside, free once again, I walked past the expensive international cars and on towards the Hilton.


















4. The Hilton Hyde Park
Website: http://www.hilton.co.uk/hydepark

I was now getting expert at sneaking into these hotels so I breezed straight into the Hilton. This was the tallest hotel on my list (it has 28 floors) so I was especially interested in seeing some good views. The lobby was filled with over-dressed women wearing extravagant hats - they were there for a wedding party.

I got in the lift with about 4 other people, pressed floor 25 and stood back. The doors closed, and two women in the lift started fretting about which floor to go to. They asked me what my room number was! I said "Err... erm... 2514". It was the closest I'd got to being discovered.

It turns out that I couldn't find the stairs on floor 25. As I waited for the lift to go up to floor 28 I saw there were stairs but they were hidden away out of sight. I got the lift anyway and went up to the Windows Bar and Restaurant.

It turns out that there was a marriage party (for Pirthipal and Amrita) being hosted at the hotel and the bride and groom were having photos taken up in the bar - great views of London all round. To justify my stay in the bar I bought an expensive lemonade. The views around were impressive - you could even see in to the back gardens of Buckingham Palace.After my lemonade I explored a little bit back down near the lobby - including an huge, empty, unlocked events room - and saw the marriage party decorations. Then I left.

5. The Ritz
Website: http://www.theritzlondon.com

I'd saved the Ritz for last because I knew it would be the most difficult hotel to waltz into. I was right. Earlier in the morning I'd studied a picture of the lobby so knew where the stairs were. I entered through the revolving doors, avoiding looking at the imposing bouncer ahead of me and strolled casually to the left towards the stairs.

"Excuse me Sir," he called out. I sheepishly looked around. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Earlier in the day I'd decided I couldn't stand lying about having a room and then being found out. I'd decided to stick to the truth...

"I was just going to have a look around..." I told him.

He was obviously very experienced with this kind of thing. Without missing a beat he replied: "That's fine here in the lobby but up the stairs is for guests only and through these doors formal dress is required - jacket, shirt and tie. If you speak to reception they'll be very happy to give you any information you require."

For appearances only I backtracked into the reception office but then left, defeated, out to the street.

Summary: Surprisingly exhilarating considering I wasn't breaking the law...

IMAX Waterloo

Website: http://www.bfi.org.uk/imax

Today ABJ and I visited the BFI IMAX near Waterloo station. Situated at the centre of a huge roundabout this IMAX boasts the largest screen in the UK. To access it there are pedestrian tunnels running under the road and I've often walked past it on my way elsewhere. Overhanging vines give it a futuristic look as if civilisation has crumbled and the planet is being reclaimed by Nature:
We were there for the 4.45pm showing of Kung Fu Panda. I think there might be only one screen but... what a screen. As we sat munching our popcorn and slurping our sprite the spotlights whizzed around and focussed on a cinema usher standing nervously in the far right corner. He gave us a timid welcome and introduction. He delivered "Welcome to the BFI IMAX - the biggest screen in the UK!" with all the enthusiasm of a limpet.
The introduction finished and the usher nervously waited for the spotlight to turn off. When it did we were then treated to a thorough automated introduction to just how big the screen was, just how crystal clear the image was, just how amazing the sound system was etc etc. This was all delivered by a booming American voice.

At last the film began and... well... what can I say? An animated kids film about kung fu fighting animals... It was not exactly Tolstoy but it did have a few though-provoking lessons from the wise old master Oogway:

1. There are no accidents.
2. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift - that's why they call it the present.
3. Let go of the illusion of control...

Summary: The ticket prices were in proportion to the screen size.

HMS Belfast

Website: http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk

Today I visited HMS Belfast. This is a Royal Navy ship which has been moored near Tower Bridge since the 1970s. It saw active service in World War II and the Korean War and is now a floating museum about its naval history. I'm not much of a military buff but thought I'd give it a visit.

When I arrived I found the ship was so big it couldn't fit in one photo. Clearly a montage was required:
I bought a student ticket (£7.20), got a free English language audio-guide and set off along the jetty out to the moored ship. At the end of the jetty a uniformed Navy officer took my ticket and, calling me "Sir", gave me a map and a brief, official-sounding orientation. Then I was on my own.

I tried to figure out if there was a "tour start point" but the map was no help so I tried the audio guide. Holding the over-sized phone to my ear I felt like a genuine tourist. Although the guide was interesting (for example the ship's bell was also used as a christening font for the sailor's babies) and included excerpts from veterans who served on the ship it went a bit too slow for my liking so I slung it around my neck and set off without its aid.
My first stop was Gun Turret Y at the stern (i.e. back) of the ship. Here the awesome guns were on display. These were used to fire huge 6 inch shells out at the enemy and were manned by a crew which, when there was action, worked, slept and ate in the turret. A father and son were in the turret with me and I benefited from the father's explanation of how the guns worked.Next stop was inside the ship where a TV display explained all about torpedoes. The Belfast used to carry 6 torpedoes and there was a huge one on display. I watched a French tourist pose for a "ride the torpedo photo"...

I tried to follow the arrows around the ship but it turned out a new tour route was being trialled. This meant there were conflicting old and new arrows pointing in contradictory directions. I did my best and went down to the Boiler Room and the Engine Room. The complex and immense machinery was amazing. The boilers produced super-heated steam to power the turbine engines which powered the ship's propellers. It took 4 hours to get up enough steam for the ship to start off! These rooms were fun because you were allowed to climb up and down ladders and steep steps. There were narrow walkways suspended between pipes and dials. It was a cross between a museum and an agility course.

I got turned around with the ladders between decks and the confusing arrows and the occasional signs sometimes declaring "You are now below the water line". Rather than try to reconstruct my route around the ship I'll give you the highlights. The best one was the insight into the little things you don't think about but are essential to the running of such a massive ship. The Belfast had a bakery, a butchers, an immense galley to cook for everyone, a clothes store, a small shop selling sweets, a dentist, a sick bay, a post room, a music broadcasting room (to play music to entertain the men), a chapel etc etc. The galley ovens were enormous. One huge, deep "copper" was filled with hundreds of fake potatoes to give you a rough idea:Everywhere there were models of people acting out the relevant task: people having teeth pulled, baking, butchering, even a model of someone having an operation. I learnt that there were cats on board to catch mice and rats and that the soap and tobacco were stored separately from everything else (or else they'd taint the food). A reindeer given to the ship as a present by the Russians in WWII was so scared by the gunfire that they had to "put it out of its misery" a few days later. I believe it ended up as reindeer pie...

The ship turned out to be so huge that I began to tire of climbing between decks and reading the information boards. I saw the shell stores where the explosives were kept and learnt about how they were hauled up mechanically to the gun turrets above. I took a short break to have a snack in the Walrus Cafe before my final assault. The tour lead to the mess area were sailors used to sleep in hammocks and play cards. I saw the punishment cell where sailors were locked up by the captain for misdemeanors including falling asleep on watch. A quick look at the bow (i.e. front) and the impressively huge guns. They are capable of firing shells 14 miles away! Currently the guns are aimed at a service station on the M1...It was starting to rain now so I did a quick look through some parts I'd missed. These included a mechanical computer that calculated where to fire the guns in order to hit the targets:
It sounded very complicated - wind speed, wind pressure, how many shells had been fired by the guns, the targets speed and direction were all taken into account. I was also surprised to see that the ship was steered by an old-fashioned steering wheel:
(For some unexplained reason the sailors on the Belfast wore full head-covering white balaclavas...)

Summary: A surprisingly fun day out with lots to see. It's good fun to climb around the ship and pretend you're on a seafaring adventure.

Wimbledon Tennis Championships

Website: http://www.wimbledon.org

A week ago last Thursday I went with ABJ to see the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2008. This world-famous tennis tournament takes place every summer for a few weeks and during all my time in London I'd never visited it.

Part of the reason for this is that the advanced sale tickets sell out many months earlier and to get in on the day involves queuing for hours. A large number of tickets are available to buy on the day but the good ones sell out quick. The really committed tennis fans camp out in tents for the night before to be able to get tickets for "Centre Court" where the tennis pros play.

Unsure what to expect ABJ and I arrived at Southfields tube station at about 4pm. Following the flow of people we were shocked to see a queue about 50 yards long. "Oh no! That's really long!" we thought. We followed directions to the back of the queue and saw it was actually 100 yards long. "Oh dear!"... No wait... We stood stock-still, our wide eyes following the queue along. It wrapped around the edge of a huge field used as a car park, round the corner, down the other edge and around another corner. The part we could now see was at least 500 yards long! It turns out that the full queue - including the part we couldn't even see from the car park - was over a mile long!We trekked across the vast car park, positioned ourselves at the end of the queue and discussed what to do. While we discussed we were handed a queue card noting our numbered position in the queue. My number was 11594. We were told we almost definitely get in but would have to queue for 2 and 1/2 hours. We decided that "we'd come that far" so might as well stay. ABJ went to Southfields to bring back food and by the time she returned I'd been given a "Guide to queueing at Wimbledon" and a "I've been in the queue to see the 2008 Wimbledon tennis championships" sticker. They really take the queueing seriously...

I don't want this account to feel like queueing for over 2 hours so I'll skip forward to the highlights. As we munched our houmous, bread, cheese, crisps, grapes and jaffa cakes we passed by people with tents, burger bars, ice cream vans and were eventually lead through an exhibition drawn by Gerard Scarfe showing famous tennis players from the past:
Finally the queue filtered through a thorough security search of bags and jackets etc and we arrived at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club. The time was 6.30pm (so the queue really did take about 2 and 1/2 hours!). We bought the cheapest (£14) ticket that allowed us entry to courts 3-19.

Once we were inside past the ticket barriers we stopped and wondered what to do. We'd been queuing for so long that I'd forgotten there was still tennis to come - I felt like the epic queue was the reason everyone was there.

We just wanted to see some tennis. We practically ran to the nearest court and, having watched a rally, breathed a sigh of relief. But who were these players? Where were all the famous tennis stars? We scuttled through the crowd to hungrily see another court but it wasn't that exciting. Was it all going to be like this?

Deciding to explore we climbed up the hill to watch "The Big Screen" at the Aorongi Terrace. People lounged about on the grassy slope watching a match between famous players on Centre Court on the huge screen. We watched for a little bit then felt restless and went to find some quality tennis. Studying the map we headed off to courts 2-11. There were some courts so busy that passers-by were peaking through the wooden slats around the court.

The paths were crammed with tennis fans trying to outmanoeuvre each other to get to the best court.We finally saw a few matches and tried to take cool photos of the players mid-serve:
We settled for a slow singles game between two people we didn't know. After watching for about 10 minutes there was a commotion behind us. Venus and Serena Williams were walking towards court 11 surrounded by a mob of autograph hunters. No sooner had I alerted ABJ to their presence than she was scrambling over spectators in an attempt to reach court 11. She ran ahead of me as we were swept up in a whirlwind of fans streaming forward, clawing at each other, hurrying to get a seat for the court 11 game. ABJ arrived first and saved one for me. We settled down to watch the match. It was between two Polish women and the American Williams sisters. Unfortnately the game wasn't very equal and the Williams' won easily. As they hurled their 120mph serves across the net the Americans in the audience whooped and cheered. The game was simply settled after half an hour.

We flowed out with the other fans, passed the "Cushions for hire" stall and wandered aimlessly to the food courts. We had discussed earlier buying strawberries and cream but, at 8pm, were not in the mood. There were television crews broadcasting the summary of the days tennis:
Dusk fell. The tennis was over. We felt tired and wandered slowly out and back to Southfields tube.

Summary: An unique experience but not one I want to repeat urgently.