London

The treasure hunt map of Westminster (click to enlarge)

Westminster

1 Boadicea
Properly known as Boudicca, this Iceni Queen, who ruled East Anglia in the early decades of the first millennium, led an uprising against the Roman occupiers after she and her daughters were raped and humiliated in an attempt to cow her people after the death of King Prasutagus. Her armies destroyed London, which had only been in existence for about 20 years at the time, in AD61. Thomas Thornycroft’s imposing statue of her in her chariot stands on the north side of Westminster Bridge. It bears a defiant inscription – what is the sixth word?
Answer

2 St Stephen’s Tavern
Now go across Victoria Embankment and along past Portcullis House on Bridge Street. Just beyond the tube station and the weird corridor-shaped Tesco is St Stephen’s Tavern. In common with every other drinking establishment – and indeed, private home – within ten minutes’ walk of Parliament, St Stephen’s has the right to sound a division bell when it is time for boozing MPs to return to the House for a vote. What is the surname of the Tavern’s current licencee, as displayed above the door?
Answer
Feature continues

3 Clive Steps
Cross over Parliament Street and keep going, past the Northern Ireland Office, then turn right into Horse Guards Road by St James’s Park. Just past the Churchill Museum is a monument to Robert Clive. The son of a Shropshire squire, Clive joined the East India Company as a teenager and later became head of its military arm, establishing British rule. He was made governor and commander-in-chief in 1765, but committed suicide nine years later after being accused of financial irregularities. Have a look at the inscriptions: can you find the name of a type of fruit?
Answer

4 St Margaret’s church
Double back to Parliament Square and head across to St Margaret’s church; look around – it’s where both Samuel Pepys and Winston Churchill got married. One of the church’s stupendous stained-glass windows is dedicated to John Milton and bears some lines which refer to an earlier version of Britain and the USA’s special relationship, based on revolutionary ideals: ‘The New World honours him whose lofty plea/For England’s freedom made her own secure/Whose song, immortal as its theme shall be/Their common freehold, while both worlds endure’. Obviously, the window was sponsored by an American. What city was he from?
Answer

5 Westminster Abbey
Work your way round the Abbey to the Great West Door. The Abbey was begun in 1045 by Edward the Confessor and it is still a work-in-progress – the decorations above this doorway were only installed in 1998. They depict twentieth-century martyrs who have died for their beliefs. The fifth figure from the left should be instantly recognisable – what is his surname?
Answer

6 Westminster School
Continue round the Abbey, through the entrance to Dean’s Yard, and you’ll find yourself in the quiet confines of Westminster School which traces its history back to 1179. Go round the Yard clockwise and you’ll come to the school’s main entrance, where a notice lists the boys who, in 2006, won scholarships under an ancient scheme known as ‘The Challenge’. What’s the surname of the boy who came first last year?
Answer