First Days, The

‘These captured German guns commemorate the devotion to duty and the achievements of those who fought for their country in the Great War 1914 – 1918’ Unknown location but the trees suggest that it could be associated with the following capture.

"20 years" Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1

The only change is the addition of 15 inch guns from HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution placed in 1968. SJ

"September the 3rd". 1939 Cannon Street looking east towards the junction with Gracechurch Street and the dome of the House of Fraser center background as viewed from about Dowgate Hill, EC4.

The dome is just about visible. SJ

London was at peace on that Sunday morning. North West view across London with St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street EC4 centre stage.

The spire of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, EC2

St Lawrence Church, Whitchurch Lane, Little Stanmore, Middx.

Seth Belson took a very short walk and took this shot of the tower for us from ground level. (RL)

St Lawrence Church, Whitchurch Lane, Little Stanmore, Middx.

Antony Blair returned to the scene.

It looks as though they live at 22 Cloyster Wood, Canons Park, Edgware, Middx.

St Lawrence Church, Whitchurch Lane, Little Stanmore, Middx.

The topiary needs attention in Antony Blair's comparison.

Presumably the vicarage to St. Lawrence Church but unidentified and unknown location.

Unidentified location.

St Lawrence Church, Whitchurch Lane, Little Stanmore, Middx. again.

Serpentine, Hyde Park, W2 looking towards the Serpentine Bridge, from it would appear, the north side of the lake.

Elizabeth Tower, Houses of Parliament. For the moment I wonder if the shot is from the water and horizontal flipped. A visit I think would resolve.

A visit did resolve, though it took two! But no water involved. This is looking north on Abingdon Street, close to Parliament Square, by the rear of St. Margaret's. SJ

“I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street…….”

“….withdraw their troops from Poland a state of war would exist between us”. Unidentified location.

“No such undertaking has been received”. Unidentified location.

“This Country is now at war with Germany”. Downing Street, SW1 from Whitehall.

This may be the best one can do, as I can't see the long standing (since 1989) gates being removed anytime soon. SJ

“It is evil things that we will be fighting against”. Unidentified location.

Unidentified location.

‘This is London calling to a World at war’. Dave W is always comfortable on a rooftop, here from Selfridges he can pick out for us the sunlit apartment block 120 Wigmore Street in the center.

‘The air raid alarm is sounded in the first hour of war’. Panning left from the previous capture Orchard Court, Portman Square W1 dominates the view.

‘Protective balloons are sent up’. The towers of St Thomas’ Hospital SE1. The rose windows on the right belong to St Thomas’ House. Seen from Lambeth Palace Gardens or the adjacent Archbishop’s Park.

The gentleman is entering No 2 Soho Square, W1

Having found the location Dave W just had to make a personal visit to inspect the ironwork, only to find that someone had had the temerity to remove both the original ironwork and the tiles on the step. Is nothing safe?

‘The warden is on duty, he is the link between the simple citizen and the protected services.' Taviton Street WC1, with No 12, end of terrace, nearest to camera.

Maintenance works mar the scene on the east side of the street. The tree has fared well enough to remove the railings. SJ

'Friendliness has become the wartime equipment of all Londoners.’ The art deco railing of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Gower Street, WC1 as the entrance to the Shelter in the basement there.

There are still steps leading down here. SJ

‘People joked, but in their hearts was devastation.’ Filling sand bags. Hyde Park with the Albert Memorial, center distant.

This is looking west from Hyde Park across West Carriage Drive and beyond over East Albert Lawn to the memorial in Kensington Gardens. SJ

‘Those rows of bags, those earthworks are rising like a tide in our streets.’ St. Martin's Le Grand EC1, looking north.

I had to settle for a ground view with roadworks just north of Newgate Street. SJ

‘We want these to be the last earthworks.’ Regent Square, London WC1, north east corner with a pillar of St Peter’s Church frontage extreme right.

St Peter's House now stands on the right. Regent Square also appears in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Gumshoe. SJ

‘Men and women left what they were doing to shovel sand’. Finchley Road, NW3 more or less where 'Superdrug' is today at what is now known as 3-5 Harben Parade, Finchley Road.

'But the bags, the boarding and the trenches were the external signs of a great upheaval in London’s inner life.’ Finchley Road, NW3 looking north with the sunlit gap on the left after the detached houses being Fairfax Road.

‘…the ruggedness of the streets meant a warming of the heart and a quickening of the sympathies.’ Finchley Road, NW3 looking east with the end of Northways Parade extreme top left with College Crescent turning off to the left behind the telephone box. A telephone box more or less remains in the same place.

‘A generation of young men born up in the last war and brought up in contempt of militarism….went into uniform.’ Unidentified location.

‘These were London’s children.’ Unidentified location.

'Now they carry on.’

‘The defence of London is in young firm hands.’ Unidentified location.

‘But some Londoners must keep their feet on the ground.’ Piccadilly Circus seen from Lower Regent Street with the underground exterior entrance that is outside 'Lillywhites' and the bus exiting Shaftesbury Avenue.

An uncluttered entrance these days.

To face a new day where nothing is the same. A warden stands in the forecourt of Lex Garage, Brewer Street W1.

It is many years since petrol pumps were seen on that forecourt.

‘Trade went on, they bought covers for their gas masks.’ Piccadilly Circus looking east towards Coventry Street.

One no longer has to go the Haymarket for access.

‘The shiny facades of the West End put up barricades.’ A branch of the Abbey Road Building Society (a predecessor of the Abbey National). Modest expenditure, continued detailed research and perhaps a stroke of luck provided just reward in revealing 108 Victoria Street, London SW1.

108 was opposite Westminster Cathedral but now comprehensively replaced by the vast Cardinal Place development. SJ

‘Sometimes with paper and glue.’ Dave W put his shirt on 15d Clifford Street, W1 the premises of Edouard & Butler Ltd, shirt manufacturers. This window, however, is that around the corner in Cork Street.

Paul Lincoln was left to wonder whether they knew that the war was over.

‘Even Scotland Yard’s stout walls were made stouter still.’ Canon Row, SW1

No longer a through way, looking south at the Victoria Tower. SJ

‘While citizens turned into policemen to man the streets.’ Derby Gate, SW1

It's well guarded despite appearances. SJ

‘Resources of the day to day were mobilised to deal with fire and explosions.’ Bartholomew Close, EC1 looking towards Little Britain and the east wall of St Bartholow's Hospital.

The east wall has been obscured by extension to the edge of Little Britain so not a lot to see. SJ

Favoured to be the wharves of Bermondsey looking west towards Tower Bridge but open to opinion.

John Harwood didn't receive the same celebratory reception when he took a similar shot of the locaion.

'London has many monuments and dead past, but the real London…….Snowsfields Guinness Trust Buildings/Kirby Grove SE1

'…..……. is its young life, its future.' Unidentified location.

The nuns' banner says ‘Notre Dame High, Southwark’. The school was evacuated to Weymouth, Dorset. 269-275 Waterloo Road looking towards St George's Circus. Nearest to St. George's Circus is the Royal Eye Hospital and the sign for the 'Out Patients Entrance'. An excellent supporting photo of the location can be seen at LPA 116505.

‘London is the cradle of tomorrow……’ Dave really doesn't like 'lose ends' and persistence has revealed that the camera angle suggests that the fluted column forms part of the corner archtecture of the building, but they are some distance apart. The column is the corner support for the forecourt canopy of London Bridge Station. The background building is the former Terminus Hotel, later demolished as a result of WWII damage. Behind the parapet brick wall on the lower right is the fall to Joiner Street at a lower level than the forecourt.

‘……and not just the slate and stone, brick and mortar of an ancient and toiling city.’ This is perhaps London Bridge.

'Southern Railway Class N15 No 739 ‘King Leodegrance’ hauls carriages…' Locomotive evidence would suggest this could be Waterloo Station SE1.

'……of evacuees.' London Bridge Station.

‘Some of the anonymous millions did get into uniform. For weeks women had been learning to drive ambulances.’ Berkeley Square W1 looking towards No 25.

Looking north-west on the east side of the square. Similar angles are seen in A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (cap27) and Londinium. SJ

Regent Street, W1 looking north towards Oxford Circus from opposite Foubert’s Place seen on the extreme right.

Not even a mounted police offficer to support Paul's shot.

'3,000 taxi drives became godfather’s to a fire pump.' Piccadilly Circus looking across to the entrance of Shaftesbury Avenue with the corner of the London Pavilion to the right.

Paul accepts our revised 'rules' regarding scaffolding shots and is willing to have this shot replaced when the property is once again revealed, but the facade here is unlikely to be different.

'At almost every corner a balloon was tethered.' Shell Mex House, 80 Strand with the clock tower as seen from Victoria Embankment Gardens.

This is the view close to Villiers Street but a winter shot would show more of the buildings on Watergate Walk and Savoy Place. SJ

‘Sometimes on London’s waterway.’ Unidentified location.

‘One side of the street might be sunny and civilised, …………' The Mall looking east towards Admiralty Arch.

The real arch is still covered by a realistic shroud as plans to open the new Waldorf Astoria hotel have moved from 2022 to 2026. SJ

‘……………… the other, like a road in France with army convoys hiding under the trees.’ The Mall and Admiralty Arch panning slightly left from the previous capture.

Panning left. SJ

‘In quiet backwaters of the civilian city, young men train.’ Inner Temple Library from Inner Temple Gardens.

‘It was a time for saying goodbye.’ In front of St Martin-in-the-Fields WC2 with Church Path on the left leading to Adelaide Street .

Looking south. SJ

Waterloo Station concourse.

John Harwood shows us the much changed concourse as it is today.

“Goodbye”. Unknown but likely to be Waterloo Station.

Southern Railway Class N15 No 739 ‘Linette’ hauls the soldiers to their appointed barracks. Waterloo Station.

‘They have gone off, like the children, but they have gone the other way. “Goodbye”.’ Unidentified location.

Same as Capture 60 but looking up Charing Cross Road.

The shaded Edith Cavell Memorial on the right helps here. SJ

‘The National Gallery, the old masters have gone into the country.' Dave proved that sometimes a personal visit over a 'Google Walk' is essential to pinpoint the location. It's on the leftside steps of what is architecturally the porticoed entrance facing Trafalgar Sq. It seems not to be the entrance way these days.

To prove his find Dave had the moving experience to be in exactly the same spot as 1939 camerperson must have been.

‘Here is the British Museum hallowed by the footsteps of many nations.’

And here is the south entrance to the British Museum. SJ

‘There is peace, even for dictators.’ Sort of rev POV of Capture 68 towards the ground floor bay window of 57 Gt Russell Street.

I encountered a dilemma here: which comparison, either the statue or the view of Great Russell Street to post here? I opted for the Easter Island statue/moai known as Hoa Hakananai'a which was moved during the WWII from outside the museum as seen in the capture to various locations until finding its way to Room 24 (The Wellcome Trust Gallery) just north of The Great Court. SJ

'And here’s a hanging, another gentleman who is going to the country.’ The statue of James II stood on the lawn at the side of the Admiralty Building SW1 which is now covered by the Admiralty Citadel Building constructed in 1940. The statue can now be found on the front lawn of the National Gallery. EPW057065 shows the statue’s position in 1938

This was quite a challenge. The best shot of the side I could muster but there is a clear barrier to achieving a decent shot of the rounded column, the top of which is barely visible here, seen in the original. SJ

‘When they can get him off his pedestal.’

The architecture is very similar but I have a feeling that there may be more on the other side of the access passage to the Admiral Citadel. SJ

‘Here…..’ The location in E2 is clearly given but which building remains a mystery.

‘We now have a real cockney monument…..’ See following capture.

‘…..built by cockney hands.’ The southern part of Gibraltar Walk, E2 looking north towards 31 Gibraltar Walk and ‘The Gibraltar’ public house end of terrace to the right. Bethnal Green Road behind the camera.

‘Back in the West End life is flowing by….’ Looking across Tottenham Court Road to the Dominion theatre behind the Police call box.

From the new entrance of Tottenham Court Road tube station with the Dominion currently showing a musical: The Devil Wears Prada. SJ

Entrance to Monument Station outside 68 King William Street, EC4 looking north west.

‘Back in the West End life is flowing by….’ Marble Arch looking towards Bayswater Road and Edgware Road, W1 going off behind the car.

This was not particularly straightforward with the tree in the way but I managed it, given many changes that have taken place at Marble Arch. SJ

‘….in the old channel.’ Oxford Street looking east. Above the roof of the nearest bus Poland Street can be seen heading south.

‘Warsaw, like London, was still untouched in that first week of war.’ Just clipping the left-hand edge of the frame is Finchley Road Underground Station NW3 under construction. It reopened in Nov 1939 with its new connection to the Bakerloo Line.

Paul Lincoln did well to find a suitable gap in the traffic to capture the scene some 66 years on. Reassuring that many of the properties survive.

‘In London the men and women of many nations were waiting to register as foreigners, 100,000 people from other lands, they are part of London.’ Holy Trinity Church on the opposite side of Finchley Road to the previous capture. Demolished after closure in 1974:

With such a desperate change, a wider shot from Paul provides a better understanding of the passage of time.

'Part of its broad culture.’ The background is 124 Finchley Road, NW3 now replaced by an office block.

Once again, the changed scene can only be meaningfully displayed in a wider shot, as Paul has provided here. We are left to wonder whether that post box was hidden by those queueing people.

‘Tolerance’ From a similar camera position to Capture 81 the roofline of 132 et seq Finchley Road seen in Capture 79 is still visible.

Again from a similar camera position, Paul Lincoln matched the roofline some 66 years on.

‘Some without a homeland when war comes passing by.' Passing 124 Finchley Road also seen in Capture 81.

Paul's wider shot for Capture 81 is perhaps better suited to this Capture even if the angle is slightly off.

Unidentified location.

‘Night must fall and with night, for many will come a wakeful sleep.’ Looking across the Thames to the Battersea dry gasholder on the left, then Battersea Power Station, the dome of the Hovis Building, and the spire of Holy Trinity at Bessborough Gardens SW1

‘No one has ever stopped the cockney voice of London’. Orient Wharf, St. John’s Wharf, and Morocco Wharf now the location of the River Police boat yard. 70 to 82 Wapping High Street, E1

'London turns to a new day.’ Carlton Cinema, later the Empire, Haymarket

This is 63-65 Haymarket today after the Empire closed in 2023, after only six years. Now Grade II listed, notices posted suggest that it may revert to The Carlton when it is refurbished. SJ

‘This is not twilight that has come to England but dawn.’ Vincent Square, SW1 looking north towards the pavilion from Bloomburg Street. Vincent Square and the pavilion also appears in ‘The Warrior Strain’. Vincent Square itself features in a number of other films, including ‘The Great Van Robbery’, ‘Innocent Meeting’ and ‘Daemon’.

The pavilion and Victoria Tower can still be discerned in this view. SJ

‘A civilian people who’s name has gone spinning across the World’ Unidentified location

‘Men still whistle at their work in England.’ Queen Victoria Memorial, The Mall, as viewed from the courtyard of Buckingham Palace.

Wilton Crescent, SW1

Taken from Wilton Terrace looking north-west. SJ

New College Parade, Finchley Road, NW6, opposite Capture 31 that at the time extended to almost Northways, see LPA 66772. It has since been foreshortened.

Extreme left hand gates of Buckingham Palace.

Closed gates and no sentry box. SJ

Dave deserves to have the 'last word', so to finish the captures, he has identified the distinct property as Brook House, 113 Park Lane, W1 on the corner of Upper Brook Street before re-development. Consequently it is facing Hyde Park, a Heavy-Duty Anti-Aircraft Unit ZW5 and a solitary guard.