London, Feature

Longstanding London

Helena Thompson heckles with history

Like any young Londoner, I prefer my hometown a little unpredictable. And I don't mind sharing the city's secret - a modern knack for disguising its age.

Sure the place has more than just the present going for it, cocooned by remnants of the wall built in the second century to protect the city from Roman invaders. But that bygone vibe is best relished in unexpected places. Like Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street Station, where over two hundred stalls crammed with hand-made craft and fresh produce teem with so many young enthusiasts you'll forget the place is over three centuries old.

Or in the Globe on the bank of the Thames where the spirit of the Bard has been resuscitated complete with a recreation of the stage for which he first wrote. Of course well-established institutions like the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre have also played their part in turning the odd Shakespearean phrase into common speech currency, and all are fine places to spice up your vocab with a tried-and-tested Elizabethan insult.

If it's "cream faced loons" and "base biscuit eaters" you're after you'll find plenty more at the Victoria and Albert. This comfortably located South Kensington museum dedicates itself to preserving England's pastiest period.

For it is through thriving institutions that London really nurtures sick and healthy histories alike, keeping wise old friends like Westminster Abbey and St Paul's cathedral ignorant of current religious crises. The good folk of London will never lose faith in their past.

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