'Gorilla' by David Wynne

In Crystal Palace Park, beside the Lower Lake, stands a wonderful statue of a Gorilla, by David Wynne. The gorilla is shown on all fours as a way to convey the powerful majesty of the animal.

In 1959, London County Council, through its Patronage of the Arts scheme, commissioned David Wynne to create a large animal sculpture, to go with the spirit of the dinosaur and extinct species statues already in the park

Having studied zoology at the University of Cambridge, David Wynne chose 'Guy the Gorilla' as his subject. 

The sculpture was completed, in 1961, and unveiled near the Children's Zoo in 1962. The statue is still in place, even though the Children's Zoo closed in 1990.

Ready Money Drinking Fountain

The Ready Money drinking fountain, also known as the Parsee Fountain.

If you walk along the main Broad Walk, of Regent's Park, you will come across this beautiful drinking fountain, which is situated close to the highest point of the park.

Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, whose nickname was 'Ready Money', a wealthy Parsee from Bombay (now Mumbai), was a well respected philanthropist, funding asylums, colleges and hospitals, in India. He gave the fountain to the British nation as a 'thank you' for the protection his countrymen received by the British, in India.

It was built in 1869 and cost £1,400. It is made from 10 tonnes of Sicilian white marble and 4 tonnes of Scottish pink and grey granite. It was designed by Robert Kierle and constructed by the sculptor Henry Ross.

There are carved busts, in the gables, of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Cowasji Jehangir, with the the fourth gable containing a clock.

Below each of the four basins are small apertures which allowed dogs to drink at the fountain, too.

It became Grade II listed in 1970 and was fully restored, thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, between 1999-2000.

Between 2016-2017 further restoration work was carried out.

Battle of Britain Monument

"Scramble!"

Walking along the Victoria Embankment, near Whitehall, you will discover the Battle of Britain Monument, which stretches along the pavement.

This granite and bronze monument was built so that visitors can interact with it. This impressive monument has scenes from different aspects of the Battle of Britain. From Airmen 'scrambling' to women working in munitions factories to the ground crews who kept the aeroplanes serviced... and more.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

I can happily look at this monument for hours, and still find something that I have never noticed before.