KGB Lamppost, Mayfair

In Mayfair, at the corner of South Audley Street and Audley Square, outside the University Women’s Club, stands this Victorian lamppost.

It is exactly the same as the rest of the lampposts, along this street, but this one has a tale to tell.

From the 1950s the USSR had KGB agents placed in England, with orders to gather information and pass it back to their superiors. Some agents worked at the Soviet Embassy, which was under close watch by MI5, but 'illegal' agents had to find another way to pass their information on. 

So, this lamppost was used as a 'dead letter drop'. Agents would conceal their documents, or messages, behind the door of the lamppost, before leaving a chalk mark at its base, notifying their superiors that a message was contained within. Their superiors could also leave instructions or messages for the agents to collect.

In 1985, British intelligence managed to extract their secret agent, Colonel Oleg Gordievsky, from Moscow, without the ever watchful KGB even noticing. It was Colonel Gordievsky who alerted British Intelligence to the lamppost, which was soon put under surveillance. Word must have spread fairly quickly, through the KGB, because by 1986 it was no longer in use.

Interestingly, or ironically, EON Productions had their offices at No. 3, next door to the University Women's Club, from 1961. EON Productions was created by Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and Harry Saltzman who auditioned Sean Connery for the first James Bond film, 'Dr No', in their office overlooking the KGB lamppost.

I was quite surprised, on my visit, to see that the door of the lamppost wasn't locked, but ajar.

Vauxhall Cross

Home to the Secret Intelligence Service - MI6.

Friday August 5, 2016.

For one of the most highly secure and monitored buildings in the world, you can get remarkably close to the home of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. There is a public footpath that runs in front of the building, above the River Thames, and access to the foreshore, via a slipway. The slipway will become inaccessible in September, during construction of a new super sewer.

However, one of the best views of the building can be seen from the north bank, directly opposite.

A Duck Tour for Erin's 1st birthday

Erin and Emma waiting to take our first Duck Tour.

Saturday November 10, 2012

For Christmas 2011, Emma and I were bought tickets for the London Duck Tours Amazing Amphibious Adventure. And, since the tickets were shortly to expire, we had booked our places on the 11:30 Tour. So, we were up bright and early to catch the 09:30 train to Baker Street, changing to the Jubilee line at Finchley Road. We exited at Westminster, where we then walked across Westminster Bridge and found a place on York Road to get a bacon sandwich and coffee. We then went into the Duck Tours Booking Office, where we left Erin’s buggy, before heading across the road to the Duck Stop on Chicheley Street. Exactly on time our ‘Duck’ began its Tour, with Sam at the wheel and Ali as our Tour Guide.

Leaving Chicheley Street we turned right onto York Road, where Ali pointed out the abundance of cast-iron and steel lampposts on London’s streets, so unless we wanted to stop at St. Thomas’ Hospital we should keep our hands and heads inside the ‘Duck’ at all times. We were then instructed in the rules of the Duck Tour:

If you see another Duck Tour vehicle, you MUST flap your arms and make noises like a duck.

End of the rules.

We then crossed Westminster Bridge, all the time waving at the ‘tourists’ who were bemused by our WWII bright yellow and blue ‘Duck’ on wheels, but who still smiled and took photos. A quick trip around Parliament Square and we headed up Whitehall, passed Downing Street and Horse Guards and up to Trafalgar Square, where we were told some quite interesting facts (some of which were new, even to me) about Nelson and his Column. From here we were drove onto Cockspur Street and then Pall Mall, where we passed many Gentlemen’s Clubs and St. James’ Palace and the Club where John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich ‘invented’ the sandwich. (Although for centuries people had placed meats between slices of bread and called them simply, “bread and meat” or “bread and cheese”.) From here we turned left onto Piccadilly, passing the Ritz Hotel and Green Park. At this point Ali gave us two different stories as to why Green Park is so green;

1. King Charles II and his wife were out walking in Upper St. James’ Park (as it was known), when she said to the King, “You should pick the most beautiful flower in this park and it give to the most beautiful woman you know.” So, King Charles II looked around and found the most beautiful flower he could and gave it to a passing maid. The Queen was so incensed by this that, on her arrival back at the Palace, she demanded the gardeners remove all the flowers and flowerbeds and never plant another flower in the park… Ever! And, to this day, there are still no formal flowerbeds in Green Park.

2. The Green Park was originally a swampy burial ground for the lepers from nearby St. James’s Hospital and, with so much leprosy in such a small place, the gardeners refused to plant flowers for fear of catching the disease.

I prefer story number one.