One of the things we're going to do in London is fly kites on Primrose Hill. I found this prospect rather intriguing, as I knew there had to be a reason why we would be doing this particular activity in this particular place. Apparently this is a very high and windy hill and, as such, is a good place to fly kites, but there had to be more to it. According to
Wikipedia, a group called Appleton has a song with the lyrics, "Let's go fly a kite on Primrose Hill." Now I was getting somewhere. Searching our textbook,
Once Upon a Time in Great Britain, revealed that Mary Poppins herself sought out Primrose Hill for kite flying; and Pongo and Missis, of
101 Dalmatians fame, barked forth their plea for assistance in finding their stolen puppies from its heights. The Martians camped here in
War of the Worlds, and a murder was committed here in
The Lodger.
There was a real life murder committed here, too, or at least that was where the body was discovered. Sir
Edmund Berry Godfrey was found on Primrose Hill, run through by his own sword, in 1678, but evidence indicated that the body had been moved there from another location. Godfrey was surrounded by a great deal of political intrigue and scheming involving an alleged plot by Catholic clerics to murder the king, so there were a number of suspects. Eventually three men were convicted of his murder and hanged on Primrose Hill, although the chief witness against them changed his story so many times nobody knew if it was true. Today the case is considered to be one of history's unsolved mysteries.
On a lighter note, many famous people have lived in the Primrose Hill area, including Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Lovett of the version of
Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp) and
Adam Ant.
This is the first photograph I printed from my new digital camera. This little burrowing owl posed for me for several minutes atop a signpost while I experimented with my zoom feature. When I didn't think I was getting the image as large as I wanted it, I said, "I guess I'm not very good at this yet." With that, he gave a weary owl sigh, rolled his beautiful green eyes, flew down towards me and began walking in my direction, as if to say, "Do I have to do everything?" These owls are protected, but their habitat is still disappearing at an alarming rate.
