Advertising to Air Travelers…From the Ground

by Iva Skoch on

Those flying into or out of London’s Gatwick Airport are getting a surprise. There’s a 100,000 square foot advertisement of a pole-straddling nude dancer, advertising an escort service.

Some folks are up in arms. Apparently, it was painted on a field without permission of the district council, and the Campaign for Rural England is upset. But the ad agency isn’t budging.

It’s the agency’s second time doing a similar thing. They had a Unilever deodorant ad up in 2005, which, incidentally, also featured nude women.

Maybe even funnier than the ad itself is watching for fellow passengers hastily scribbling down the URL on takeoff.

One for the Road: Celebrate Literary London

by Kelly Amabile on

The Southbank Centre in London is gearing up for a summer full of exciting events that celebrate the city. At the forefront of the festivities that focus on Literature and the Spoken Word is the brand new London Literature Festival, a two-week collection of literature, writing and performance activities that will take place throughout the Southbank complex beginning June 29.

One of the main themes of the festival is Metropolitan Lines, which honors London as muse with readings and performances inspired by the city. A headliner event of this series will celebrate the re-opening of The Poetry Library, which has been closed during the Royal Hall renovations. The library will be showcasing an exhibition of books on the theme of London and on July 4, three poets (Sean Borodale, Tobias Hill and Iain Sinclair) will pay tribute to the city.

London’s Royal Festival Hall Reopens This Week

by Kelly Amabile on

Southbank will be buzzing tomorrow as Overture Weekend begins, a prelude celebration to Monday’s grand re-opening of the Royal Festival Hall, which has been closed for the past two years. The weekend festivities lead up to a series of kickoff performances that starts with a four orchestra extravaganza on June 11.

The Royal Festival Hall opened in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain. It is one of the world’s leading performance venues, presenting concerts by the finest international orchestras, operas, and a wide variety of music events, from jazz to rock to pop. The Guardian has a nice series of yesterday and today photos of the transformed complex, including the photo shown here.

This refurbishment is part of a larger overhaul of the entire Southbank Center area, which stretches from County Hall to Waterloo Bridge and along the Queen’s Walk by the river Thames.

Famous Tourist Site Frauds: Where “Original” and “Authentic” are Blatant Lies

by Neil Woodburn on

There is nothing more powerful than standing in a spot where some famous historical event occurred, surrounded by exactly the same objects as were there hundreds of years ago.

Tourism’s greatest fraud, however, is that so many historical places have been so thoroughly renovated or rebuilt that one really wonders what is real anymore.

I first ran across this in Warsaw. Wandering through the UNESCO Old Town, I was hit with an odd feeling of disconnect. The buildings all appeared very old and beautiful, but wasn’t Warsaw flatten during the war? The reality is that Warsaw’s entire Old Town was completely rebuilt like some type of Disneyland. Sure, they did an outstanding job, and replicated it almost perfectly based on photos taken prior to World War II, but that sense of history just isn’t there. In fact, one could argue that the entire Old Town is a bit of a fraud.

With the recent fire on board the historic Cutty Sark, journalist Nick Trend began to wonder what exactly it was going to be like when it was rebuilt and that sense of standing in the middle of history becomes lost amongst 21st renovations (much like the HMS Victory, he points out–a historical boat in which only 17 percent of the original wood remains).

As with the Warsaw example, the Cutty Sark is not the only famous tourist site claiming to be the real thing. Trend has put together a rather eye-opening list which sadly undermines a handful of sites I’ve visited in the past under the assumption that I was gazing upon the real deal–not some recently painted or renovated replica.

The most striking example was the Parthenon in Athens which actually blew up in 1687 and has been completely rebuilt. Had I known this at the time when I visited, it would have gnawed away at the back of my mind and detracted from my experience.

So, under the premise that ignorance is bliss, I would recommend that you do not click on over to Trend’s article detailing Ten famous buildings and artworks that are not quite what they seem. If, on the other hand, you are a seeker of truth, check it out and be prepared to be slightly saddened.

Videos of Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake

by Justin Glow on


The 2007 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling race recently took place, and SoGlos.com has a good recap on the event. The race is named after Cooper’s Hill near Cheltenham and Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England, and the object is to chase a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the very steep hill. Many are injured — see for yourself. [via]


Here’s the uphill race