Monopoly Challenge Piccadilly

Many people think that Piccadilly on the London Monopoly Board means Piccadilly Circus. Well, that’s understandable. Piccadilly Circus is probably the most important road junction in the West End. However, it is also at the end of a mile long road, called Piccadilly. Piccadilly is a small section of a main thoroughfare leading West out of London, connecting with the M4 motorway.

So, let’s start with Piccadilly Circus. Throughout the 20^th century it was particularly notable for its huge neon advertisements displayed on the side of some of its buildings. Through my childhood there was a huge one advertising Coca Cola. The word circus in this case has nothing to do with the type popularised by the Ringling Brothers in the USA and Billy Smart in the UK, but simply refers to the round shape of the junction. At the other end of Regent Street the junction with Oxford Street is called Oxford Circus. There is also a Cambridge Circus within walking distance.

The most famous feature of Piccadilly Circus is the statue of a winged archer. Ask most Londoners who it represents and they will incorrectly tell you it is the Greek God Eros. Some who think they know better might tell you that it is the Spirit of Christian Charity. Both are wrong. The statue actually represents Anteros, the God of requited love, brother of Eros. It stands on top of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain. The 7^th Earl of Shaftesbury was a Victorian philanphropist who successfully campaigned to end child labour in the UK and replace it with free education. In the 1980s extensive repair work was done to Sir Alfred Gilbert’s aluminium statue. It had to be removed from the square, and as work was completed put on public display in London’s Festival Hall, where you could view it from a platform.

Bearing in mind the names of the other properties in the yellow set you might be forgiven that the street was named after Sir Absolom Piccadilly, King Charles II’s ceremonial bottom-wiper. However since he never existed, this is not true. It takes its name from the piccadill. During the time of King James I – Charles II’s grandad – a man called Robert Baker bought land in the area and began to manufacture piccadills. If you think of portraits of prosperous Jacobean men, like the engraving of Shakespeare at the front of the first folio – they are often wearing broad, white cut lace collars. These are piccadills. They probably derive their name from a Spanish word meaning pierced or cut.

Piccadilly has been home to many grand and stately houses. Most of these are long gone, although Burlington House still stands an is the home of the Royal Academy of Arts. It’s also home to the very exclusive Burlington Arcade of shops, and Fortnum and Masons. You could argue that Fortnum and Masons are the world’s oldest department store, opening in 1707. However they were specifically a grocers until much later. The Ritz hotel is only one of several along the length of Piccadilly. While we’re going through the edited highlights it also boasts the church of St. James, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Piccadilly Circus Underground station with its underground circular booking hall was a pioneering achievement which caused a sensation when opened in the 1920s. The last remaining station surface buildings were removed at the end of the 20^th century.