Royal Wedding celebration, 2011

 

Britons through the ages enjoy nothing more than an excuse to join together in a communal celebration. Food, drink (preferably alcoholic), music and the company of family and loved ones are the essential ingredients. Any excuse will do: victory on the battlefield, a rare sporting triumph or a Royal Celebration.

April 2011 saw the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. A nation rejoiced and this photograph, taken in somewhere in the north of England, shows Britons young and old alike toasting the happy couple.

Feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square, 1956

For many years, one of the most popular tourist sights in London was the feeding of the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

This woman, Mabel Barnes, was employed by Westminster Council to distribute poisoned bird seed to keep numbers down. The bird seed used by the Council was designed to cause the pigeons a slow and agonising death.

During her career, Mabel was personally responsible for the deaths of many thousands of these unwelcome and disease-ridden pests. Her service to Westminster saw her awarded the freedom of the borough.

Sadly, shortly after this picture was taken, Mabel was pecked to death by these birds.

A campaign to erect a statue of Mabel on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square was recently announced by the Council.

No Irish. No Blacks. No Donkeys 1968

It was common in London pubs until relatively recently to see signs proclaiming ‘No blacks. No Irish. No donkeys’.

In years gone by, London pubs could be less than welcoming to strangers and these signs were designed to warn off the casual drinker from entering these pubs lest they incur the wrath of the locals.

It took a brave publican in those less-enlightened times to open the doors of his establishment to all who were thirsty and in need of refreshment.

In 1968, Charlie Perkins, the landlord of the Queen Mary in Plaistow, East London (seen here on the left), caused controversy when he was the first publican in London to allow donkeys to drink freely in his pub.

The Queen Mary continued to ban Irish drinkers until 1985 and the ban on black people still operates to this day.

Up for the Cup, 1946

The visit of these Derby County fans to a war-ravaged London in 1946 ended in jubilation after their triumph against Charlton Athletic in that year's FA Cup final.

A trip to London was the perfect excuse for wanton behaviour: an excess of hard liquor was consumed, hard-earned money was frittered away in illegal gambling dens and ill-advised romantic liaisons were furtively conducted. And that was just the wives they had left behind for the weekend.

British Union of Fascists meeting, 1939

This gathering of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), held at Earls Court in 1939 was attended by over 20,000 supporters drawn from all over the United Kingdom.

The BUF, led by Oswald Mosley, was outlawed by the British government shortly after the outbreak of the second world war.

This meeting, the last to take place before the ban took place, was interrupted when a local resident, Mrs Irene Smallpiece, wandered onto the stage during Mosley's oration to complain about the noise.

Ziggy, Derek and Clive, 1973

It should have been a match made in showbiz heaven. A coming together of the glam rocker from outer space with the foul-mouthed Oxbridge-educated comedians.

Unfortunately, the union between Ziggy Stardust and Derek and Clive was a brief one.

Sadly, no recordings survive, only a short written note - the extract of a work in progress - of a re-working of 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' with new lyrics:

"Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly. He got his cock caught in a mangle. The fucking stupid cunt."

This tantalising glimpse of the coming together of these oustanding talents leaves fans the world over mourning what might have been.

A London Docker, 1958

The river Thames lies at the heart of the story of London. It is one of the great working and trading rivers of the world.

For over 2000 years, Londoners have lived on it, worked on it, feared it and loved it.

Central to the story of this great river were the many dockers, like Bill Brewster pictured here in 1958, who dedicated their working lives to stealing cargo from ships, going on strike for no reason and protesting about coloured immigration.

London owes them a huge debt.