Tours | Categories (New, Hot) | Map
Alcohol - Ancient - Animal - Architecture - Art - Aviation - Boxing - Celebrity - Charity - Children - Church - Cinema - Comedy - Crime - Dance - Death - Disaster - Drugs - Fashion - Food - Gambling - Ghost - Grave - Health - Historical - Industry - Justice - LGBT - Literary - Look Up - Medical - Military - Motoring - Murder - Museum - Music - Nature - Naval - Paranormal - Pioneer - Poetry - Police - Politics - Pub - Public Amenities - Quirky - Religion - Retail - Ripper - River - Royalty - Science - Sculpture - Sex - Signs - Society - Sport - Subterranean - Technology - Theatre - Train - Transport - Tube - TV - Weather -
Contact Us
IN THE NEWS
TOUR OF THE MONTH
ON THIS DAY IN LONDON
20th August 1978 Two dead after El Al crew ambushed in Mayfair.
20th August 1923 London harbor strike ends
20th August 1909 Born today: Andre Morell, London England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles)
Punch and Judy Birthplace
The birthplace in England of the Punch and Judy puppet show.
Location: St Pauls Portico, Westminster
Description: On the 9th May 1662 Samuel Pepys was coming back from visiting a nearby ale-house when he stopped to watch a puppet show that was performing in Covent Garden.
It was the month that King Charles II (recently restored to the throne) was getting married and hordes of entertainers from all over Europe had thronged to the city hoping to make some money.
The Italian puppet play that Pepys saw was presented by puppetmaster Pietro Gimonde - or 'Signor Bologna' as he was known to his audience - and starred one of the great comic characters of all time.
The star puppet came originally from Naples, where he was known as Pulcinella, then toured across Europe to France - where he was called Polichinelle - and finally came to captivate English audiences who settled for calling him Punchinello.
Pepys' diary entry for 9th May reporting that he had seen the show is taken by today's performers as marking Punch's 'birthday'.
Tagged in this Tour: Elizabethan & Stuart London
Children
Historical
Ranking This Month: 1703/2805
Pages Hit This Month: 40
Link to This Page: http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location/963
Credits: http://www.coventgardenlife.com/info/street_entertainers/punch_judy/punch_judy.htm
|
The birthplace in England of the Punch and Judy puppet show. |
The Shady Old Lady points out that you can drag this map using mouse. Or visit our full massive map.
St Paul's Cathedral
Wren's masterpiece and oldest classic dominant symbol of London.
2007-03-07
Shakespeare's Curtain Theatre», 1.0km
Colet Court: Home of Joseph», 6.2km
The Gielgud Theatre», 1.4km
Ellen Terry's House and Theatre», 3.5km
Stanley Holloway was born here», 6.6km
Magician David Devant lived here», 3.9km
Finsbury Park Empire», 3.4km
Fortune Street Park», 0.6km
A Puppet Barge not to be missed», 3.6km
Magic St Georges Hall», 1.8km
mapping London's most interesting and unusual places and history
