Pre-birthday outings

 My birthday is looming closer and this yeas it's one of the 'big' ones.  My sister has kindly pointed out that it's all downhill from here on... cheers sis!!  As a pre-birthday treat my son treated me to a day out in London (something we haven't done as a dad and son for a long time).

First stop was at the Prince Charles Cinema in London's glittering West End to see one of my favourite films on the big screen... The Princess Bride.  Surprisingly busy for a Saturday lunchtime screening with a really mixed audience including some small-ish kids who were only a bit traumatised by the Shrieking Eels and ROUS's.

We followed this by a walk up to King's Cross which let me indulge my very nerdy hobby of Blue Plaque spotting...

 ...and we ended up at the British Library to take in their current 'Secret Maps' exhibition.  It was a very interesting exhibition with maps ranging from the 13th Century to the present day and touching on how maps are used to promote political agendas and their role in the history of colonialism.  A lot of the earlier maps relate, not surprisingly, to exploration and naval voyages as well as being tools to allow countries to establish their claims to far off lands.  There were also a number of more military maps and sketches which were really interesting.  Here's a selection of photos...

Map of India

'Disguised' map from Normandy.  Rugger is actually Pegasus Bridge 

Enigma

A frankly rubbish map by TE Lawrence showing settlements on the Red Sea coast of the Hejaz

A much better map by Lawrence showing his journey from the Red Sea coast to the Hejaz railway

It was really interesting, although to be fair, there were a lot of maps which can become a bit samey after a while and it could maybe have done with something to expand the exhibition.  Still very recommended though