More curious doings on the other side of the channel
(Daily Pundit and Prague Tory - feel free to skip this one, although I do bring in some UK interest later on in the post)
Le Monde has an item on sundry malcontents intent on protesting at the naming of the wind swept concrete in front of Notre Dame Cathedral as 'Place Jean-Paul II'. In a surprising outbreak of democracy Paris city council had a vote on it, and the respectable right and left voted for it, and the Greens and other parties of the extreme left voted against it. The political party opponents of the move will be joined by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, inter alia, in a protest against the inauguration of the name by the Mayor of Paris and the papal nuncio. Should be quite a sight to behold.
I'm rather thankful for the rather anodyne names given to streets etc in this country, and the (general) avoidance of naming things after divisive or recently dead politicians, whereas our Gallic chums are all for it. Wander around any town in France and there will almost certainly be a Rue Gambetta, a Rue Victor Hugo and a Rue something or other of June, July etc. The former two stem from the revenge of the republicans after the downfall of the ridiculous Napoleon III, while the date streets refer to the Liberation. There are times when the desire to commemorate rather clashes with what one would imagine are the interests of the general public. An acquaintance has the doubtful privilege of living in Rue Victimes de Nazisme. Yes, really.
Meanwhile, back in Albion, a flick through the index of the London A-Z throws up all sorts of oddities, like the vastly higher number of streets named for Gladstone than Disraeli and the unforgetable Batman Close in Shepherds Bush. Don't believe me? Look it up. Other favourites include Crutched Friars and Frying Pan Alley in the City, and the rather odd sounding Jews Walk nearer my neck of the woods. A friend of mine was tempted to append 'And Muslims hop' or somesuch. And I think I can feel some anecdotes coming on....
Way back lost in the mists of time, US accountancy partnership Cooper Brothers (the predecessors of PwC) set up in London and were not best pleased that their address was in Gutter Lane and wrote to the Corporation of London suggesting a name change. They felt Coopers Lane had a nice ring to it. The Corporation replied suggesting they change their name to Gutter Brothers. There is also the rather amusing tale of a peevish Liverpool (?) City Council deciding to make hay with the naming rights for a executive development that the Secretary of State had allowed on appeal. They proposed naming it Low Sex Drive. Not sure if it ever happened. Meanwhile, one of our airports has an access road called Letsby Avenue, Chelmsford suffers regular thefts of the signs for roads named for Tolkein characters, and houses in streets named for poets command a not insignificant premium on the property market.
(Daily Pundit and Prague Tory - feel free to skip this one, although I do bring in some UK interest later on in the post)
Le Monde has an item on sundry malcontents intent on protesting at the naming of the wind swept concrete in front of Notre Dame Cathedral as 'Place Jean-Paul II'. In a surprising outbreak of democracy Paris city council had a vote on it, and the respectable right and left voted for it, and the Greens and other parties of the extreme left voted against it. The political party opponents of the move will be joined by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, inter alia, in a protest against the inauguration of the name by the Mayor of Paris and the papal nuncio. Should be quite a sight to behold.
I'm rather thankful for the rather anodyne names given to streets etc in this country, and the (general) avoidance of naming things after divisive or recently dead politicians, whereas our Gallic chums are all for it. Wander around any town in France and there will almost certainly be a Rue Gambetta, a Rue Victor Hugo and a Rue something or other of June, July etc. The former two stem from the revenge of the republicans after the downfall of the ridiculous Napoleon III, while the date streets refer to the Liberation. There are times when the desire to commemorate rather clashes with what one would imagine are the interests of the general public. An acquaintance has the doubtful privilege of living in Rue Victimes de Nazisme. Yes, really.
Meanwhile, back in Albion, a flick through the index of the London A-Z throws up all sorts of oddities, like the vastly higher number of streets named for Gladstone than Disraeli and the unforgetable Batman Close in Shepherds Bush. Don't believe me? Look it up. Other favourites include Crutched Friars and Frying Pan Alley in the City, and the rather odd sounding Jews Walk nearer my neck of the woods. A friend of mine was tempted to append 'And Muslims hop' or somesuch. And I think I can feel some anecdotes coming on....
Way back lost in the mists of time, US accountancy partnership Cooper Brothers (the predecessors of PwC) set up in London and were not best pleased that their address was in Gutter Lane and wrote to the Corporation of London suggesting a name change. They felt Coopers Lane had a nice ring to it. The Corporation replied suggesting they change their name to Gutter Brothers. There is also the rather amusing tale of a peevish Liverpool (?) City Council deciding to make hay with the naming rights for a executive development that the Secretary of State had allowed on appeal. They proposed naming it Low Sex Drive. Not sure if it ever happened. Meanwhile, one of our airports has an access road called Letsby Avenue, Chelmsford suffers regular thefts of the signs for roads named for Tolkein characters, and houses in streets named for poets command a not insignificant premium on the property market.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, September 03, 2006 at 1:11 pm.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Do we have much left named after Winnie Mandela? Or named in her honour: "Necklace Close",that sort of thing, perhaps?
few can beat the semi official change of manchesters canal street to anal treat (for obvious reasons)
I've found five Mandela related streets in the London postal districts.
Superb. Classic Croydonian. You could make a living out of this malarkey, William.
DP - glad you enjoyed it. Cheers mate.
Our local paper recently published an interview with a hard-pressed council worker who'd just had to replace the street sign for Hornyold Avenue (quite near me) after it had been stolen for the nth time.
He commented that certain street names were prone to being stolen - the prime local example being Minge Lane in Upton-on-Severn. Can't think why!
» Post a Comment