Tag: London

The Metropolitan Police Has Provided 185 years Service To Londoners

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Metropolitan Police 185 years of service to Londoners

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The Metropolitan police has provided 185 years of service to Londoners along with New Scotland Yard is iconic throughout the world  it has been mentioned in novels, TV and movies. I have enjoyed working  at the ‘Yard’ as we call it, and in the Metropolitan Police – not for  all 185 years of it’s existence  but nearly 37 years. 😉  A mostly enjoyable and interesting career.

Here are the worthy words from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on this day.

“The Met police has provided 185 years of service to Londoners and there  was a time, more than a century ago, when London boroughs (or parishes as they were back then) were policed by small numbers of unpaid, part-time parish constables. Some boroughs had no police presence at all and relied on ‘local watch’ teams to keep the peace. This all changed on this day, 185 years ago when Sir Robert Peel was Home Secretary. The first Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Parliament and the Met established.

We’ve come a long way since then. Policing 620 square miles, we’re now the UK’s police service, we’ve earned an international reputation for crime fighting, and we’re still transforming today.

So on this proud day, we look back at some of the notable investigations and events that have shaped the Met over time.

How it all began…

The inception of the Met couldn’t have come at a more crucial time. Activity to uphold the law during the 18th and 19th century lacked focus and organisation. And it became considerably challenging as the population of London ballooned during the Industrial Revolution. Parish constables and local ‘watchmen’ had a tough time keeping the peace and struggled to detect and prevent crime. A different solution was needed.

The first police patrols walked the beat on 29 September 1829, adorned in blue uniforms, armed with only a wooden truncheon and a hand rattle to alert colleagues for assistance. The first police whistles weren’t blown until 1884, when the Home Secretary invited companies to invent the police whistle to replace the rattle.

Ever wondered why officers wore blue uniforms? Sir Robert Peel asked for them to be blue instead of the traditional red worn by the military so they’d be seen as non-threatening. The standard wage for a constable was one guinea (£1.05) a week for a 12 hour shift six days a week, with Sunday as a rest day.

Historic moments

Margaret Damer Dawson, an anti-white slavery campaigner, and Nina Boyle, a militant suffragette journalist founded the Women Police Service in 1914. The first female officer in the Met was Sofia Stanley in 1919. She also went on to design the first women’s police uniform, known as the ‘Stanley uniform’. Duties for female officers included deterring prostitution, caring for juveniles and vulnerable people in custody and preventing deceitful practices such as fortune telling. They weren’t allowed to carry handcuffs and make arrests until 1923. The first female police officers to receive George Medals for courage were Sergeant Ethel Bush and Kathleen Parrott in 1955.

During the First World War, officers from the Met’s Special Branch Unit were among the first soldiers in action when war was declared.

1918 saw the introduction of the Flying Squad. Originally put together by Detective Chief Inspector Wensley, it was called the ‘Mobile Patrol Experiment’. It was given motor vehicles and a wagon hired from the Great Western Railway to become the first ‘mobile force’ of detectives. The squad arrested 396 people in its first nine months. They achieved impressive results and at the end of the trial year were kept on board as a permanent section of the Met.

During the 1950s and 60s, protests were common on the streets of London. Public order trained officers were needed and, in 1965, the Special Patrol Group was formed, the precursor to our Territorial Support Group.

1963 saw the first computer used in the Met, set up in the Receiver’s office for pay and crime statistics. In 1965 the first personal radios were introduced to officers.

In 1967, Norwell Roberts was the first black male officer to join the Met. He retired after 30 years’ service with the rank of detective sergeant. Sislin Fay Allen was the first black female officer to join in 1969. In 1971 Karpal Kaur Sandhu, of Indian heritage, became the Met’s first female Asian officer.

The Crime Reporting Information System (CRiS) was introduced in 1995, revolutionising the way we record crime. One year later our Met website was designed and unveiled to the public.

Some famous cases

1888 – 1891 – Whitechapel murders – suspected to have been carried out by Jack the Ripper who killed at least five prostitutes. No suspect was ever charged with the murders.

1911 – The Siege of Sidney Street – popularly known as the ‘Battle of Stepney’. A notorious gunfight in London’s East End, it ended with the deaths of two members of a politically motivated gang of burglars.

1950s – 1960s – The Krays – gangster twins, Ronald “Ronnie” Kray and Reginald “Reggie” Kray were perpetrators of organised crime in London’s East End during the 1950s and 60s. They were finally arrested and convicted by the efforts of a special squad of detectives led by Detective Superintendent Leonard Read.

1963 – The Great Train Robbery – this saw the Flying Squad investigate the infamous robbery of a Royal Mail train heading between Glasgow and London.

We have a rich history to be proud of and we now serve more than eight million people in one of the world’s most dynamic and diverse cities. Despite the challenges, we tackle an amazing range of things and with the support of Londoners continue to build on our successes every day.”

 

Regents Park, Central London

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Peter and I spent the  whole day at Regents Park yesterday. It was simply quite wonderful place to lose yourself; there were plenty to see and do.

Strangely enough, neither Peter nor I have ever been to  Regent’s Park, when it was practically in our own doorstep.  Not only that, it was  quite easy to get to.

It is a beautiful, wooded area in the heart of London.

Apparently the Regent’s Park is the largest grass area for sports in Central London, although we noted that there were notifications that the grass area was only for the game of cricket, no football or soccer allowed! There were a lot of interconnected areas to the park, at one corner is the world renown London Zoo.  Rather hidden within the park is an Open Air Theatre which incidentally was showing Porgy and Bess.  There were also many cafes dotted around the park.  The smell of grilled meats were enough to make your stomach grumble and activate your salivatory gland.

Now for a bit of history to this iconic park.   As history would show, Henry VIII was obsessed with riding and hunting.  He needed a large acrage of land as a hunting ground which will also be challenging and invigorating to get to from his Whitehall Palace.  Regent’s Park fits the bill perfectly.

The Regent’s Park, including its annex, Primrose Hill, covers 197 hectares.

There have been excessive development to Regent’s Park , since it was first appropriated by Henry VIII.  It is no longer an isolated farmland nor a hunting ground.  Instead, the park is a verdant place for peaceful musing and contemplation.  Within the park is a quintessential English Garden.  It is called the Queen Mary’s Rose Garden where roses of many cultivars grow majestically.

– See more at: http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/the-regents-park/about-regents-park#sthash.gHQXALFR.dpuf

Earth Day Photos

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To belatedly celebrate Earth Day we have compiled some of our favourite nature photographs.

We live in a beautiful planet and we should do our bit to keep it that way.

Let’s make everyday an Earth Day!

Dale Chihuly – Glass Scuptor

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The very talented and much sought after American artist, Dale Chihuly, has unveiled the Sun at Berkeley Square in London.  Certainly beautiful enough to brighten a cold dready morning.

Londoners have seen another work by Dale Chihuly at the V&A Rotunda in the form of a chandelier.

See below photo:

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V&A Rotunda Chandelier
Photo by PH Morton (21Aug 2013)

 

The fantastic chandelier above welcomes you at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  It was as fantasThe Sun glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly in Berkeley Square, London, Britain - 03 Apr 2014
This new sculpture by Dale Chihuly is an absolute must to visit this Easter holiday.
Apparently this sculpture is 5.5m tall (18ft) and comprising of 1573 hand-blown glass elements.

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Dale Chihuly at Berkerley Square

Boudicca – Warrior Queen

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Boudicca, Photo by PH Morton

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Jean paying homage to Boadicea, Photo by PH Morton

England and Great Britain have had some amazing historical famous female characters  being brave, indomitable and  true leaders in their own right.
Queen Elizabeth 1, Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  One such powerful Queen, going back over 1400 years further in our history, is Boudicca of the Iceni people.

Boudica, Boudicca (also spelled Boudicea)e was a true warrior queen. In AD 60-61, she inspired and led the largest revolt against Roman rule in Britain

What we mainly know of her life derives from two Roman writers, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 56-117) and Cassius Dio (A.D. 150-235)
Boudicca is still celebrated as someone who stood up against foreign oppression, she took on the might of the Roman empire

From around 65 BC, the Iceni people of East Anglia had grown prosperous by trading with Romans on the Continent. When the forces of Emperor Claudius conquered Britain in AD 43, the Iceni were able to negotiate for themselves an arrangement that allowed them to exist as a client kingdom loyal to Rome. But trouble was on the way. When the Iceni King, Prasutagas, died, he bequeathed his kingdom jointly to his two teenage daughters and the Roman Emperor Nero. This was perceived as an insult by Rome, which believed it had a right to inherit and subjugate the entire Iceni kingdom. A brutal crackdown on the Iceni began.

Queen Boudicca was the widow of Prasutagus. In an attempt to quash the Iceni, Roman officials had her publicly flogged and allowed the empire’s soldiers to rape her daughters. But Rome had misjudged Boudicca and the Iceni. Instead of submitting humbly, Boudicca raised a huge army and led them against Rome’s forces in Britain. The Roman historian, Cassius Dio, writes that Boudicca was “most tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh.” She was an effective, brutal commander and her Celtic fighters soon overran the capital of Roman Britain, Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester).

THE SACKING OF LONDON
Boudicca’s timing was good. The majority of Rome’s legions were tied up in Wales, fighting the Druids. There was little effective opposition as Boudicca and her army swept into the commercial centre of Londinium (London) on the Thames. The Iceni were merciless as they tore through the town, razing most of it to the ground and butchering any civilians left behind by Rome’s retreating forces. Inspired by the crushing victory at Londinium, Boudicca turned north and headed for Verulamium, known today as St Albans. Another vicious sacking followed.

The Roman military governor, Suetonius Paulinus, had refused to commit his forces to the defence of Londiunium or Verulamium. Instead, he lured Boudicca and her warriors north of Verulanium to a site somewhere in the Midlands. Contemporary historians never identified where the crucial battle between Rome and the Iceni was fought but the outcome was decisive. Paulinus had just 10,000 men. Estimates of the Iceni strength vary between 100,000 and 250,000 but they were no match for the disciplined troops of Paulinus. Rome routed the Britons in one of the ancient world’s most bloody massacres.

The attacking hordes of spear-wielding Britons, many daubed with blue war paint derived from the woad plant, must have been a terrifying sight as they charged at the Roman lines but Paulinus had chosen his battleground carefully. The Roman historian, Tacitus, describes it as an area with a narrow approach, backed by woodland. This meant that the Britons could not use their superior numbers to outflank Paulinus and encircle him. Instead, they were forced to hurl themselves at the Roman front lines, in wave after desperate wave. The well-trained Roman soldiers advanced with their large shields, stabbing at the Britons with their easily manoeuvrable short swords. Boudicca’s best warriors had no room to swing their long swords and were trapped between the deadly Roman advance and their own advancing hordes. Around 80,000 Britons died as Paulinus took his revenge. Roman casualties were around 400 dead and a similar number of wounded. Boudicca and her daughters survived the battle but are believed to have taken poison to avoid capture and ritual humiliation at the hands of the Romans.

An interesting local London legend has it that Boudicca is buried beneath Track 10 at King’s Cross Station (Kings Cross is famous from the Harry Potter stories). Her final battle is believed to have taken place in the area.