It was more sport to start the day with a tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground. It started with a look through the museum which houses the Ashes Urn, player memorabilia and a stuffed bird that was killed by a cricket ball.

The tour included the Long Room, the visitors and England dressing rooms (which are quite small and spartan), the media centre and the ground. It was a very interesting tour with an entertaining guide. The group was all Aussies, Indians and a Kiwi with only two poms.

On the walk back to town, I tried to get into a phone box but it was locked shut.

Given we were on Baker St, we stopped off at 221b to see Sherlock Holmes‘ house. It was quite well done and surprising how many people thought it was real.

We then travelled down to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

We then looked through the Churchill War Rooms which was very interesting. It was basically just closed up after the war ended and opened to the public after its existence was revealed in the 1950s. There was also a museum of Churchill’s life. Churchill was certainly a unique individual who polarised opinion throughout his career.

We then wandered through St James Park to Buckingham Palace.

It was then a walk around the revamped area north of Kings Cross station along Regents Canal. It included the Coal Drops Yard development with shops, homes and markets. On the canal was a canal boat converted to a book shop which had a band playing on the roof.

This day in sporting history (25 August)

1875 Captain Matthew Webb makes the first observed and unassisted swim across the English Channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes