Finneran: This Is London
Friday, November 15, 2019
Work by Herbert Mason/Wikipedia
What an opening. And what a city.
I just came back from a three-day visit there. It was my first time in that historic place. It will not be my last.
Murrow’s haunting words and broadcasts slowly awakened a drowsy and indifferent America to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. London, of course, was one of the two greatest cities in the world---the other being New York---and the image of London being burned to the ground by nightly German bombing raids was appalling. This was the Blitz, London’s trial of strength against a savage foe whose unbroken string of military success promised miles of rubble and incalculable human misery. More than forty thousand Londoners died in the eight-month duration of the Blitz. Whenever the Luftwaffe came calling, rivers of blood ran in the streets.
London is a beautiful city, although its beauty is found more in its vast and stoic history, rather than in its buildings or boulevards. It is not Paris. Paris has its cafes, London its pubs. Paris has quiche, London has fish and chips.
London was the heartbeat of the British Empire and London’s imprint can be found on every continent, all over the world.
America, of course, is the rebellious child of England, the ultimate juvenile delinquent who went straight and prospered, thanks in part to the protective moats of two great oceans. But English (or more accurately British) DNA courses through our veins. The Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, and the English carry a peculiar potency in virtually all human endeavors.
While walking the streets of London I thought of her archers, masters of the English longbow. I thought of her explorers---Cook, Peary, Shackleton. I thought of her poets and writers---Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell, Lewis, Johnson, Keats, Donne, Christie, Stevenson, Browning, Swift, and Kipling. And yes, they are all dead white men (save for Dame Agatha Christie). Thank God for such dead white men and for Dame Agatha!
I thought of the Royal Navy, once upon a time the sole master of the oceans of the world, whose ships were captained by Drake and Nelson. I thought of the Royal Navy’s dogged pursuit of the German monster ship Bismarck and the Navy’s triumph over that deadly foe.
A visit to Westminster Abbey is breathtaking. It reminds us of great British statesmen---Gladstone, Pitt the Younger, Pitt the Elder, Peel, Disraeli, Lloyd George, and Churchill. A visit to the Imperial War Museums provides a powerful survey of Churchill’s life and his leadership. And of course, World War II probably has a different and horrific outcome for humanity if not for the stubborn decency of Britain.
Speaking of stubborn decency, it was the Brit William Wilberforce who led the fight against slavery, as far back as the early 1800s. And it was the Royal Navy which provided enforcement against slave traders.
All in all, it was a great trip---friendly people, great museums, meaningful history, the Tube, the Eye, and those famous fish and chips. Merry Olde England.
I’ll be back!
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