The great and the good

Seasonal suggestions

In March, attentions turn to the River Thames. On March 18, up to 400 crews will take part in the Head of the River Race between Mortlake and Putney; on March 26, Cambridge will take on Oxford in the Boat Race. The impact that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on civilians is the subject of the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Ukraine: Photographs from the Frontline’ exhibition. Tickets are available until May 8 (www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwmlondon-ukraine-exhibition). On March 11, Melita Thomas will kick off a day of talks about Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day Queen (below), at Southwark Cathedral, with an in-depth look at her book The House of Grey: Friends and Foes of Kings (www.cathedral. southwark.anglican.org/whats-on). On March 22, Sir David Bell will chair a talk on Sir Christopher Wren at St Stephen Walbrook church, EC4 (www.wren300.org/events/ wren-conversations-building-cities).

Here’s looking at London’s lions

• Throughout the Middle Ages, Barbary lions (also known as the North African lion) were a common sight at the Tower of London’s menagerie (Here’s looking at, November 2, 2022), employed as fearsome gatekeepers. Incidentally, English rulers with a reputation for bravery often earned the title ‘the Lion’, most famous being Richard I or Richard the Lionheart. Although now extinct, the Barbary lion is still a symbol of bravery and a national animal of England. The skull of an animal likely alive between 1280 and 1385 can be viewed at the National History Museum, SW7

• The four lion statues that surround Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square (above) were famously sculpted by Edwin Landseer in 1858—but he wasn’t first choice. The commission was originally awarded to Thomas Milnes, but the statues he produced were deemed unworthy for the memorial, and a second commission was made. The animals are almost identical, save for tiny differences in the heads and manes—although no one knows if the discrepancies were deliberate or accidental. They are the largest lion statues in the UK • The statue of a dog called Lion stands proud in Highgate Cemetery, N6. The black mastiff was the pet of bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers, accompanying him to all of his fights. When Sayers died in 1865, aged only 39, 10,000 people attended his funeral, alongside ‘chief mourner’ Lion. The statue was installed on the grave in 1866, and was paid for by public subscription. AEW

Shop of the month

Birley Bakery

CALE STREET, SW3

Open Monday to Friday, 7am–6pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 8am–6pm (for orders and enquiries, email info@birleybakery.com)

BETWEEN 3am and 4am, seven days a week, a pack of bakers troops through Chelsea Green, that triangular stitch of lawn in SW3 known for its fruit and veg shop, butcher, fishmonger and, now, Birley Bakery. The shop opened recently, unwinding a yolk-yellow awning and letting steam from the oven obscure the windows. The feeling among locals, choosing iced madeleines from a basket on the counter, is that they can’t believe it wasn’t here before. Executive pastry chef Vincent Zanardi—in partnership with owner Robin Birley—estimates he’s selling more than 1,000 croissants per week. ‘We are surprised and delighted with how many of our neighbours visit us for coffee every day,’ says Mr Zanardi. Many of the breads on the shelves were formerly only available in Mr Birley’s members’ clubs, 5, Hertford Street and Oswald’s, where Mr Zanardi has been honing his recipes for over a decade. What does he reach for most often at the bakery? ‘The pork hot dog by far. Then the pain au chocolat and the white baguette.’ Jo Rodgers

A green space

AVENUE GARDENS, REGENT’S PARK, NW1

IN 1863, The Illustrated London News wrote in anticipation of the soon-to-be completed Avenue Gardens: ‘It will doubtless form one of the most delightful promenades in London.’ Happily, they still live up to such claims, particularly in spring, when cherry blossom frames the formal Italianate flower beds designed by William Andrews Nesfield