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15 pts!

@ A most capital capital ...

Welcome to Joshua's Lions of London tour! This is a vibrant and exciting city with some of the world's best sights, attractions, events and activities. It has amaz­ing parks, the Thames and canals. There's West­­minster Abbey and Harry Potter World—literally some­­thing for everypet!

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12 pts!

@ London Heathrow calling!

Heathrow, or LHR in aviation-speak, is London's busiest airport. It has 5 terminals, 2 run­ways and a 285-ft (87m) high control tower. It has a counter­part control room, an exact replica, some distance away, which would enable the air­port to keep running in the event of control tower failure.

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10 pts!

@ Royal Menagerie

These are wire sculptures at the Tower of London! Some 600 years ago there were real lions, along with other exotic beasts from far-off lands, as monarchs liked to display their wealth and power. There were lions at the Tower well into the 19th century.

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11 pts!

@ Elizabeth Tower & Great Bell

You all know what this is ... so, time for a completely unrelated fun quiz! What book title is represented by this dialogue?

"Look at all those lions over there!"
"I'm very sorry, but I CAN'T STAND LIONS!"

Send 1 SM or any very low value item as a gift to Uncle Robert and type the answer as a message to accompany the item. You may win a small prize!

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59 pts!

@ The O2 Arena

Take an exhilarating outdoor climb over the roof of the O2 Arena and enjoy incredible views of London. Don jacket. Boots. Harness. Latch. Clip onto the walk­way and up you go. A climb guide will be with you every step of the way. Mind you, it's 170 ft high (52m) so I'd have to take my courage in both paws to complete the walk!

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15 pts!

@ Egyptian Museum

There are some surprising places to see Ancient Egypt in London, from Cleopatra's Needle to the British Museum, where these fine examples of the Sphinx are located. The Sphinx has the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the head of a human.

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14 pts!

@ Wrought Iron Gates

The Lion of England and the Unicorn of Scotland on the Royal Coat of Arms, on the wrought iron gates of Bucking­ham Palace. The Scottish unicorn wears chains to denote its untameability. I'd like to see them tame me! Huh! Yes, dear—just coming!

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10 pts!

@ Mind the Gap

The phrase was first introduced in 1968 on the London Under­ground. As some platforms on the Under­ground are curved, and the rolling stock that use them are straight, an un­safe gap is created when a train stops at a curved plat­form. In the absence of a device to fill the gap, some form of visual and auditory warning is needed to advise passengers of the risk. The phrase Mind the gap was chosen for this purpose and can be found paint­ed along the edges of curved plat­forms and heard on record­ed announce­ments when a train arrives at many Underground stations.

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14 pts!

@ The Union Flag

One of the most instantly recognisable national flags in the world, the Union Flag represent­ing England, Wales, Scot­land and North­ern Ire­land has had a some­what bumpy, even contro­versial history. However, in flag symbol­ism, white represents peace, red stands for courage, strength and valour, while blue means justice and loyalty.

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13 pts!

@ Wimbledon, but not as you know it

Located next to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon Park is one of the largest in Merton, and has many facilities including a large lake, athletics track, play areas, tennis courts, paddling pool and adventure golf. It also has relaxing views such as this one! Just the place to stretch out on a summer's day.

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12 pts!

@ River Thames at Putney

Whilst in London, do make time to follow the Thames Path, start­ing at Putney Bridge and follow­ing the meander­ing river through the city to Kew Bridge. The traditional annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cam­bridge Universities begins at Putney Bridge.

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12 pts!

@ Horse Guard

Horse Guards is the home to the House­hold Cavalry Mounted Regiment who provide the King's guard and escort on state occasions. Horse Guards Parade was built by Henry VIII as a joust­ing court­yard. It is now the guards' exercise ground and venue for the annual ‘Trooping the Colour’ in June.

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15 pts!

@ 221b Baker Street

QUIZ QUESTION BELOW! Home of the most famous fictional detective in history. Enjoy the guided tour! There are books for sale, of Holmes' cases. The Adventure of the Lion's Mane disappoint­ed me. It wasn't about a lion at all, but a—well, I won't spoil the story if you haven't read it!
Quiz: What was the deadly creature in The Adventure of the Lion's Mane? Gift 1 SM or other very low value item to Uncle Robert on his page and put the answer as your message.

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15 pts!

@ Ceres

Part of the Imperial Memorial to Queen Victoria adjacent to Bucking­ham Palace. The female human with scythe is a depiction of Ceres, or Agriculture. Doesn't my lion friend look noble?

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57 pts!

@ Tip-top flip-flop

In 2016 a poll allowed the British public to name a new polar scientific research ship. They voted over­whelmingly for Boaty Mc­Boat­face. This reflects the national trait not to take any­thing too seriously, certainly not a polar scientific research ship. So—here's a lilo in the shape of a flip-flop, decorated with the Union Flag. Doesn't it make you feel happy? And proud to be British?

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13 pts!

@ Fallow Deer in Richmond Park

Meet my new friends! Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve and home to over 600 red and fallow deer, herds of which have been roam­ing freely there since 1637. The grazing deer keep the grass­land open. Fallow deer are smaller than the native red deer.

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14 pts!

@ Rule, Britannia!

The statuette in the middle is carved from wood and features Britannia next to a lion and cornu­copia, which repres­ents strength, bravery and abundance.

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67 pts!

@ Home of Greenwich Mean Time

England is where the concept of time zones origin­ated, with the world's first time zone, Greenwich Mean Time, being established in 1675. You would need to be very brave to voyage the seas before the ability to measure longi­tude on board ships was invent­ed! The further people wished to sail, the great­er the risks, whether along well-travelled routes or into relatively un­known waters. The deter­mination of longitude was of most interest to nations invest­ing in long-distance trade and out­posts over­seas.

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10 pts!

@ Boudicca of the Iceni

Britain has produced many fierce, noble warriors down the ages who have fought to keep Britain free. One formid­able lady in history will never be for­gotten—Queen Boudicca of the Iceni people of eastern England who led a major up­­rising against occupy­­ing Roman forces. In 61 CE Boudicca and her warriors success­­fully defeated the Roman Ninth Legion and destroy­­ed the capital of Roman Britain, Camulod­­unum (i.e. Colchester in Essex).

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11 pts!

@ Legal lions

Did you know there are over 10,000 lions in London? I wish I could show you them all! These thirteen lions proudly stand outside the offices of the Law Society in Chancery Lane, WC2. They were recently voted among the fourteen best lions of London!

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68 pts!

@ Landseer Lion

Meet my brave bronze comrade, one of the four Land­seer Lions placed around Trafalgar Square. Land­seer, re­nowned for his animal paint­ings, was commission­ed in 1858 to sculpt the creatures. He had never sculpt­ed before and spent several years studying and drawing lions, while the public and press grew increasing­ly ribald about the delay. Each lion is differ­ent in face and mane, although each is sitting (or couchant­—hey, get me!) in the same position.

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14 pts!

@ Westminster School

This is the facade, in Little Dean's Yard, of a centuries old, yet modern school in central London. It must feel like going to school at Hogwarts! I expect to see owls landing and taking off all the time!

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10 pts!

@ An English Lioness ...

Not part of the England ladies' football squad, but a suffrag­ette who bravely cam­paigned for women's right to vote. Millicent Fawcett's statue stands in Parlia­ment Square. It was un­veiled in 2018 to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage in the UK.

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12 pts!

@ ... and an English Lion

Sir Winston Churchill was a statesman, writer, an inspirational orator and leader. Interest­ingly, he failed at school but was award­ed the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his many publish­ed works. Check out the War Rooms for a lot more information!

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10 pts!

@ Urban Foxes

Meet the handsome red fox, vulpes vulpes, found all over Britain. Foxes are bold in explor­ing new territories, even ventur­ing into the Shard sky­scraper when it was being built. Fox pop­ulations are self-regulating, limit­ed by the amount of food and territory avail­able. Isn't Mother Nature wonder­ful, when left to herself?

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10 pts!

@ Traditional Sweetshop

The British are not only a nation of shop­keepers (claimed Napoleon) but also a nation fond of its sweeties! The British love affair with sugar goes back centuries. The cheap­er it became, the more central it grew in the British diet. It had one major boost: when tea and coffee, both natur­ally bitter, rose in popular­ity in the 18th century, sugar was their indispens­able sweet­­ener. Then, in the late 19th century, cheap jam (more sugar than jam) began to appear on the table of every working-class household.

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14 pts!

@ It's summer!

The deckchair, taking its name from those used on ocean liners, became establish­ed in British sea­side resorts in the 1860s, used on piers, promen­ades, and London parks. The simple, light­weight, easily transport­able deck­chair has stood the test of time.

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13 pts!

@ A Nation of Shopkeepers

Who can forget the bravery of young Little Nell, pro­tect­ing her grand­­father from his pursuers in Dickens' 1841 novel? The build­ing depicted above, former­ly an "odds and ends" shop, is believed to be the inspiration for Grand­­father's establish­­ment, although it was re­­named after public­­ation of the novel to match the book's title.

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@Give me a sign!

There is sometimes confusion between Westminster Abbey and West­minster Cathe­dral. They are not so very far from each other, separated only by the length of Victoria Street, SW1, but the latter, completed in 1903, is the Catholic cathe­dral. It has a dramatic extern­al appear­ance of stripes of red brick and white Port­land stone and the interior is spacious and beauti­ful. The bell tower is 284 ft high and can be seen above roof­tops from some distance away.

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@Lines o' type

You never know what quirky items you will come across in junk shops!
William Caxton set up England's first print­ing press, in London, in 1476. In 1484 he printed—get this!—Aesop's Fables: The Lion and the Mouse.

Icarus has enjoyed visting London, but it is time to go home. Please select another pet as visitor, so it can also enjoy this event!