Across there is the Royal London Borough of Greenwich and
it's called the Royal Borough because it was the seat of royalty for 200 years
and this view was said to be Christopher Wren's favourite view in the whole of London
probably because he designed those two buildings over there
The reason I'm here is because a few months ago, L&Q who are this company that build houses
They asked me to make a film
and they liked it so much that they asked me to make another one
because they've got this big housing development going on down in North Greenwich
My favourite way to go is by boat
It's such a lovely way to travel down the Thames like this; it's excellent
It takes about 20 minutes to get to North Greenwich by boat from London Bridge
and I've got plenty of time so that's a nice way to go but if you want it's only 8 minutes on the Jubilee line
and that runs 24 hours a day
I love it in Greenwich
"-wich" actually means "port"
in anglo-saxon, so places like Greenwich, Harwich, Norwich
L&Q have a lot of their homes around here so they asked me to come and check out the area
and I think it's going to be quite exciting actually; I'm quite looking forward to it
This piece of art is by Anthony Gormley
it's called Quantum Cloud
And you can see that it's an Anthony Gormley because if you look inside it you can see the form of his
famous sculptures that he did of himself just standing there
These stretch all the way up towards the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
it's called "The Line"
I'm just talking about this amazing piece of art here
The human form caught between representation and abstraction
I could have told you that. I wouldn't have to look it up
Sliced in half. It's supposed to represent maritime history. The meridian
slicing through the peninsula of Greenwich
do you see what they've done there?
What's this piece of art work here, Julian ?
"Umbrella" by Joolzy
I quite like that one actually. It looks really nice at night
This is by Alex Chinnek
It's called "Bullet from a shooting star"
You'd make a good Dr. Who
Something about that artwork behind you and the silhouette
cheap BBC "oh we'll just make it out to be another planet"
Calling my productions cheap?
These art installation stretch all the way down Millennium Way
There's graffiti and modern art
the route even looks a bit like they've spelt out "The Line" there
I love being by the river, I've just got an obsession with boats and rivers and
sea-faring. That's why I love Greenwich so much
Yes, The Millennium Dome
It's now called the O2 Centre
They have loads of restaurants, bars, gigs, massive sporting events
The distance from the bottom to the top is 52 metres
which corresponds to the amount of weeks in the year
and those yellow spikes, there's 12 of those which is supposed to be the months in the year
or the hours on a clock face
as if you cared
opposite the O2 is The Now Gallery
which is a public art space and they short-list artists so if you have an idea they do take a few per year
this one is by Rebecca Louise Law with 10 000 irises hanging from the ceiling
We are building a new neighbourhood at Greenwich Peninsula
the art gallery is part of the place-making agenda that we're doing here
so it's fine art, fashion and design
there's a golf range as well
Oh, if you're wondering, L&Q are one of the largest providers of quality shared ownership homes in London
now watch this drive
You play a Slazenger 4, don't you?
You must have played the wrong ball somewhere on the last fairway
I own the club Mr. Bond
So over there in the distance you can see the Thames Barrier
it was built in 1982. It's got 10 flood gates, all abreast
Do you think they're supposed to look like the sails of ships?
Is that why they're designed like that? A bit like the Sydney Opera House.
It's a bit further than it looks though.
I did walk it yesterday and I'm not doing that again
In order to stop the urban sprawl taking over
they've got this little ecology park
It's supposed to help with the flourishment of
species like dragon flies...
Bats, cleavers....
I thought it said cleavage for a second
It's really serene actually
L&Q wanted me to mention they've got more shared ownership homes coming up in 2018 in London and the southeast
one of which is over towards the old town of Greenwich
and I'm really looking forward to going over there because it's one of my favourite parts of London
the staff on here are so much more jolly than on on the underground
This is great fun
I mean, it doesn't look quite like Venice but
These are known as gondolas
Excellent
That took about 10 minutes
That was so good
a romantic trip on a gondola....
with Simon
I really love the docklands light railway. It's like a toy train
If you want to get to the Cutty Sark another way you can just go underneath this Greenwich foot tunnel
which was built in 1899.
Down into the Mines of Morea
Through the mountain
Ah,
Her cutty sark, o' paisley harn
that while a lassie she had worn...or something
it's a poem by the Scottish poet Robbie Burns
and the cutty sark referred to a short sort of shirt
that the witch, Nannie, wore in his poem
That's actually supposed to be her on the figure head
it was the fastest vessel in the world, it managed to get to Australia in 73 days!
Lunch at The Moth, Simon?
This is the kind of quality you bump into in a pub in Greenwich
I was just at the bar
and who do I meet but Patrick Godfrey. He is a very well known actor
I saw you in Les Miserables recently on TV
You know we did it here.
We filmed Les Mis, I think it was in the Royal Naval College
and they made it look like Paris
Her Cutty Sark o' paisley harn
that while a lassie she had worn
wi' twa pun Scots it was her riches
Whatever graced a dance of witches
The royal connection with Greenwich started in the 15th century when
King Henry V....his brother, the Duke of Gloucester inherited some Land around here and he built
what was regarded as the finest house in England
and it was King Henry Vii who turned it into an actual palace
King Henry VIII was born here, so was Queen Elizabeth I
Henry Viii also married Anne of Cleves here
She was the 4th wife.
The ugly German one, so he said
or am I thinking of my wives
King James I had this house built for his wife Queen Anne of Denmark
and it's now a part of the National Maritime museum
but it fell into disrepair during the civil war
and then Queen Mary insisted that this be part of a hospital for seamen
No sniggering in the back row please
when I said seamen
but she insisted that the view of the Queen's House not be obscured
so they got Christopher Wren to design these two rather unique wings of the Royal Naval Hospital
So this is where, in 1805 on Christmas Eve
They brought the body of Admiral Lord Nelson after he was killed at the battle of Trafalgar
He arrived here pickled in rum
and they say that some of the sailors used to
drink some of the rum that he was pickled it
and that's where we get the expression "Tapping the Admiral"
You can actually see his blood stained trousers in the maritime museum
These are the actual pants he was wearing
full with perished gusset
reminds me of some of my own underpants actually
This is Greenwich park where Sir Walter Raleigh
famously laid down his cloak over puddle
for Queen Elizabeth to step over it
Oh Sir Walter.....really!
Famously this is where Anne Boleyn dropped her handkerchief as a signal to her lover
and apparently King Henry VIII spotted it and that spelt her doom!
And at the top of the hill
is the first ever observatory in England
This is where Edmund Halley charted the course of Halley's comet
but unfortunately he died before he could be proven right
it's a pity that they're renovating that building because that ball on top was installed in 1833 and
every day since they've raised it at 5 minutes to 1pm
and then lowered it at 1pm so that the ships on the river could set their clocks by it
One yard, two feet, one foot
six inches
Give them an inch and they'll take a foot
and the next thing you know you haven't got a leg to stand on
This is where east meets west
where time begins
I am now half in the western hemisphere and half in the eastern hemisphere
in 1884 there was a conference in Washington where they decided where
to set the prime meridian
and they came to the conclusion that Greenwich the best place
because so many ships from around the world used to come here to Greenwich
However, the French, typically
decided not to accept it until 1911 so they kept their meridian in Paris
but everyone else in the whole world decided to use Greenwich
I can see why the Kings and Queens decided to move here .
This is where Queen Elizabeth I used to play as a child
This ancient tree known as Queen Elizabeth's oak
is thought to have been planted in the 12th century
The shadows grow tall, the sky bruises and we must be forced to camp
A pint at the Plume of Feathers I think
The oldest pub in Greenwich, built in 1691
Seems like a reasonable place to finish the day
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Cheers!