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A week after Bonfire Night, around the time when we wear poppies and observe the two minutes' silence. I suppose that since the post of London Mayor (Sadiq Khan's position) came into existence in 2000, some people have confused that with the Lord Mayor. There seem to be two "London's" - the new London which we are familiar with; and the old London which dates back over 1,000 years, and the show seems to focus on that part. I witnessed it myself on TV like I do most years when six years out of seven, it is on the same day as the Royal Festival of Remembrance - the only time it isn't on the same day is when the Festival is on the 7th, and the Mayor's show is a week later on the 14th.
Most of the time, it seems to be fancy dress, i.e. a red cloak and an unusually pointed admiral's hat, a souvenir from around 400 years ago, and all these organsations that even New London hardly gets to know about. The Worshipful Company of Hatters - worshipful? I did assume that there was something religious, hence the "worship". Why would we worship them anyway? It all seems good fun - carnivals and floats of celebration a la Notting Hill at the end of August, or even the late Queen's Jubilee parade. It dates back to around the 12th century, and unlike the London Mayor, the Lord Mayor changes on an annual basis.
TV Cream gave it a mention on its old website where they said that it was "seventies in outlook", and that a generation of annoyed kids had to turn over to BBC 2 once a year so that they could see the second half of Swap Shop / Supertore / Going Live and Kicking, etc. Or was the LMS on BBC 2 in those days?
But what the big highlight for me this year was the stars of the West End's recently closed Grease the Musical, and it was fitting that in light of Olivia Newton-John's death, another Olivia (Moore) came to change into the tight black leather trousers and jacket and sing "You're the One That I Want" with her opposite number, stepping out (pun intended) from a classic car, doing their stuff for three minutes (including propositioning bollards on the way), and then getting back into the car and driving away. Three minutes of pure magic from around 11.56 am to 11.59 am on Saturday morning!
One thing that I can say about the Lord Mayor's Show is that for something that was founded around eight centuries ago, it can easily catch up with modernisation and make the event relevant to our modern times as it did in the past. This year's was the best I have seen as a result.
As a lot of people's memories of it were of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, I suppose that it does deserve a place on here... Oh, and the 694th (and new (incumbent) Lord Mayor of London is Alderman Nicholas Lyons of the Tower Ward.
Most of the time, it seems to be fancy dress, i.e. a red cloak and an unusually pointed admiral's hat, a souvenir from around 400 years ago, and all these organsations that even New London hardly gets to know about. The Worshipful Company of Hatters - worshipful? I did assume that there was something religious, hence the "worship". Why would we worship them anyway? It all seems good fun - carnivals and floats of celebration a la Notting Hill at the end of August, or even the late Queen's Jubilee parade. It dates back to around the 12th century, and unlike the London Mayor, the Lord Mayor changes on an annual basis.
TV Cream gave it a mention on its old website where they said that it was "seventies in outlook", and that a generation of annoyed kids had to turn over to BBC 2 once a year so that they could see the second half of Swap Shop / Supertore / Going Live and Kicking, etc. Or was the LMS on BBC 2 in those days?
But what the big highlight for me this year was the stars of the West End's recently closed Grease the Musical, and it was fitting that in light of Olivia Newton-John's death, another Olivia (Moore) came to change into the tight black leather trousers and jacket and sing "You're the One That I Want" with her opposite number, stepping out (pun intended) from a classic car, doing their stuff for three minutes (including propositioning bollards on the way), and then getting back into the car and driving away. Three minutes of pure magic from around 11.56 am to 11.59 am on Saturday morning!
One thing that I can say about the Lord Mayor's Show is that for something that was founded around eight centuries ago, it can easily catch up with modernisation and make the event relevant to our modern times as it did in the past. This year's was the best I have seen as a result.
As a lot of people's memories of it were of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, I suppose that it does deserve a place on here... Oh, and the 694th (and new (incumbent) Lord Mayor of London is Alderman Nicholas Lyons of the Tower Ward.
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