Literary London, London

Dr. Johnson lived here during some of the most productive years of his life, from 1748 to 1759 while he was working on his great "Dictionary of the English Language." The house is now a charming museum dedicated to the productive life of this great melancholy and irascible writer. One of the best preserved 18th century homes in London.

Books, what else? :p

Lots of students studying here. The reading room reminds me of the Victoria State Library (Australia) reading room with a similar dome, and the endless hours trying to cramp as much info as possible into my puny little brain in a short period of time when the exam's round the corner. Urgh!

Check out the display on the history and significance of the Room in the Viewing Area, and marvel at the azure-blue, cream and gold papier mâché interior of the dome.

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The British Library quotes that they hold "14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 58 million patents, 3 million sound recordings, and so much more" (The British Library Website).

The British Library is UK's national library which houses a collection of over 150 millions covering a wide range of discplines and various formats. As well as the reading rooms, galleries and exhibitions, there are cafes and restaurants.

It's free to enter although everyone is subject to a security search.

The purpose of my visit was to visit the "Evolving English, One Language, Many Voices", an English Language Exhibition (12 November 2010 to 3 April 2011). I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and took me half a day to see everything there and a lot of it compliments my English Lanugage Module I'm studying at the moment)

For further information: www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish

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It was a warm Saturday afternoon; and there was live entertainment outside. Inside there are of course the Reading Rooms; which you need to register to use.

There are exhibitions, they are wonderful and excellent to visit. There are places to eat and use the free wifi.

Enjoy The Sir John Ritblat Gallery - see the Magna Carta.

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The world-famous protagonists of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson have inhabited in this victorian style lodging house between 1881-1904, according to the novels.
In the house at number 239, built in 1815, a Sherlock Holmes Museum has been opened to the memory of the legendary Mr. Holmes, where everything has been installed, as it is known from the novels.

A frequently asked question by visitors whether Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson really lived in the house. Although there are no official records of the house early tenants, allegedly somebody, who was working here had a relative a certain Mr. Holmes; while in the neighborhood lived a Doctor Watson in the 1890-years, who was a false teeth maker .

However, from the brilliant stories published in the Strand Magazine, you can learn every little detail of Mr. Holmes and Doctor Watson's life, as if they would have been actually existing persons.
In the gift shop on the ground floor you can go for nothing and get many realistic trinkets of a never existing fictional person, but also all of the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published between 1887 - 1927: A Study in Scarlet · The Sign of the Four · The Hound of the Baskervilles · The Valley of Fear · The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes · The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes · The Return of Sherlock Holmes · His Last Bow · The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Also a favourite destination of Sherlockians is the small Sherlock Holmes Restaurant at the turn of Northumberland Street, in Westminster not far from Charing Cross . It's a bit of a tourist trap, but worth a visit.

Opening time: 9.30am - 6pm every day
Admission fee: Adults £6, children under 16 £4

This probably does not qualify as a "Thing to Do" tip because you probably cannot even get into the building, let alone do anything there, but I still thought that it was interesting. We passed it on a trip along the Thames and I later found out what it is. If you are a "spook," or a James Bond afficionado, you will probably find this building quite interesting, as I now do, but my original thought was about it looking like a power plant, or perhaps an observatory. Actually, it is the (relatively) new headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). (Think M, Q, 007, Miss Moneypenny, et al.) Regarded by many as an ugly structure, I imagine that we all must agree that it is a bit unusual.
While designing this building, which opened in 1995, British architect Terry Farrell had to deal with extensive government requests, like removing windows and adding moats (yes, really). So the many eyesores supposedly exist for safety reasons, with cameras lurking behind every nook and cranny. While I do not find it in any way similar to American CIA HQ at Langley, VA, I have discovered why the building looked a bit familiar even though it has opened since my last previous trip to this part of London. It has appeared in several James Bond movies made within the past decade, including Golden Eye, Die Another Day, The World Is Not Enough, and the most recent version of Casino Royale.
It was also attacked by someone with an RPG in September of 2000 but sustained only superficial damage.

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Admittedly, I don't care for the architecture of the new British Library. When they moved from their historic (but overcrowded) facilities in the British Museum, I think they squandered an opportunity to create a structure that would truly celebrate the great British literary tradition; instead, they ended up with something that looks like a shoe factory, IMHO!

But they still have the great books and great exhibits that make the British Library one of my favorite places to visit in London. I love looking at the old - and very old - books and manuscripts - the charters of liberties from the Middle Ages, the first printed Bibles, the early editions of Shakespeare or the Bronte Sisters.

In the summer of 2009, there was a great exhibit marking the 500th anniversary of the coronation of King Henry VIII. It was a ticketed exhibition, but there were also plenty of free events taking place over the weeks and months of the summer. When I was there on one afternoon in June, for instance, there was a live concert of Renaissance music in the central lobby.

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This fantastic museum is often overlook, or worse, mistaken for being inside the British Museum. Many people go to the British Library looking for the Magna Carta and when they find out its actually here, they do not come over for a visit. Also, most tours of London will not even mention its existence. It is a hidden gem of London and easy to get to! They have lots to see including:

• Two copies of the Magna Carta (1215)
• Two Gutenberg Bibles
• The only surviving manuscript of the poem Beowulf
• The Diamond Sutra - the world's oldest dated printed book
• An original copy of the Domesday Book
• The Codex Arundel - a notebook written by Leonardo da Vinci
• Working manuscripts by Composers Bach & Mozart
• The Lindisfarne Gospels (from the North East of England)

OPENING HOURS
Mon 09.30 - 18.00
Tue 09.30 - 20.00
Wed 09.30 - 18.00
Thu 09.30 - 18.00
Fri 09.30 - 18.00
Sat 09.30 - 17.00
Sun
& English Public Holidays 11.00 - 17.00

Please note - no photography is allowed so my photo is a bit naughty.