Margaret Evans Porter
 

London




London



I first became acquainted with London during my teens. And I kept a diary--sometimes informative and frequently unintentionally hilarious. For instance, this entry: "Dressed to go to the House of Lords. Went instead to Pizza Hut." (I did storm the House of Lords eventually, more than once.)

Ever since marrying an Anglophile who for many years had a trans-Atlantic commute, I've returned to London at least once a year, and sometimes twice. Usually I'm based in Mayfair, among streets my characters trod. Not only do I research my novels, accessing primary source materials in the British Library and other archives. I visit museums and exhibitions. I see friends, some of them fellow authors. I go to the theatre. I attend church. I eat. I shop. I live.

Here are photos of my London: persons, places, pageantry.


Seen in Westminster: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill and the spires of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Porter Street, Margaret Street.





Places encountered in Georgian and Regency novels: Somerset House, St. James's Palace, St. James's Square (book trivia: in Kissing a Stranger, Lavinia occupied the white house as a guest.)




London's Pageantry: Horse Guards in Whitehall, Westminster Abbey on Remembrance Sunday, Molton Street Christmas lights, a Pearly King at the Costermongers' Service at St. Martin's in the Fields.





Outdoor Delights: Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea, Kensington Palace grounds, tulips and primroses in Bloomsbury, ice skating at the Museum of Natural History in Kensington, Westminster's Pye Street Market, spring blossoms, cold frames at the Chelsea Physic Garden, Hyde Park in autumn.








The George in Southwark, a famous coaching inn and terminus for travellers from the southern ports.