Questions:
1. At the exact same time as this edition of The Weekly is being sent out, two partners from St Bride’s Managers, including the author, will be starting the London Landmarks Half-Marathon. Yes… we are part of a six-man team wearing those idiotic costumes in the photograph above. The race kicks off from Trafalgar Square and winds its way across Mid-Town and The City before returning from The Tower of London to end up at the gates to Downing Street.
We all know that 10 Downing Street is the official residence and offices of the British Prime Minister and 11 Downing Street is the official residence and offices of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but can you name the occupants and the addresses of the other properties in Downing Street?
2. On this day, 121 years ago (1 August 1900), the first Michelin Guide was published. It appears that the original aim was to promote more road travel, and hence the sale of more tyres. Today’s half-marathon route takes the runners to within a few yards of La Dame de Pic, a two-starred restaurant near The Tower. Overall, London boasts 66 Michelin-starred restaurants, but which world city has the most?
3. Over the twenty-eight Summer Games prior to the Tokyo Olympics, the US had gathered a massive haul of 2,542 medals and is easily top of the pack. Great Britain had a commendable tally of 867 medals but where does GB stand in the national rankings?
4. Part of the course of today’s half-marathon runs along Cheapside, the City’s main retail pitch which is anchored by Land Securities’ One New Change shopping centre at the St Paul’s Cathedral end. In recent times, the City Corporation has spent a small fortune improving the streetscape and introducing traffic-calming measures. It looks great. However, we all know that the retail sector has taken a beating recently and City offices have also been a major casualty of WFH. So, what percentage of the retail outlets with Cheapside frontages do you think are now vacant?
5. The costumes donned by the six-man running team (in alphabetical order) are Big Ben, the Cheesegrater, the Gherkin, the Shard, St Bride’s Church and St Paul’s Cathedral. Can you list these structures in order of both their age/opening dates and their heights?
Enjoy your Sunday.
The Weekly.
PS. The half-marathon team are running in favour of Boost Charitable Trust (www.boostct.org) and if, somehow, you have managed to avoid being approached for sponsorship, please feel free to go to this link and make a donation.
Answers:
Photo: Who knows? However, the idiom ‘having a screw loose’ appears to originate from the late 18th century. The Cambridge English Dictionary also suggests - crackers, off their trollies and, they have bats in their belfries. All these seem perfectly valid.
1. There are now only four formal addresses in Downing St. – Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12. Boris’s official residence is at No.10, but he lives above No.11. Rishi Sunak’s official residence is at No.11 but he lives above No.10. The official residence of the Chief Whip is at No.12 but he lives at No.9. Nos.1-8 and 14-20 were demolished in the 19th century and no longer exist. No.13 was amalgamated into No. 12. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is on the left-hand side of Downing St as you enter it from Whitehall. Confused? Well, there’s a surprise! No wonder none of us understand the self-isolating rules!
2. Michelin-starred cities: Tokyo (226), Paris (119), Kyoto (108), Osaka (98) and New York (69). All-in-all there are 668 across Japan – way ahead of the 184 in the UK.
3. Summer Olympic medals: US (2,542), Soviet Union (1,010), Great Britain (867), Germany (760), France (739), Italy (597), China (546), Sweden (498), Hungary and Australia (both 495).
4. When The Weekly walked along Cheapside last week, 12 of the 54 retail outlets were vacant (22%). Inside One New Change, which is on three levels, the ratio is rather higher. And, according to Land Securities, Zone A rents on Cheapside have probably fallen from £300 per sq. ft to £180 per sq. ft over the past year – but, given the lack of transaction activity, it is hard to be prescriptive.
5. London Monuments:
Age: St Bride’s Church (1675), St Paul’s Cathedral (1675-1710), Big Ben (1859), the Gherkin (2004), the Shard (2012) and the Cheesegrater (2014).
Height: The Shard (1,016 ft), The Cheesegrater (737 ft), The Gherkin (590 ft), St Paul’s Cathedral (365 ft), Big Ben (316 ft) and St Bride’s Church (226 ft).