Just the colour is enough to conjure up something of England: red post-boxes; red telephone boxes , red buses. But the red bus speaks more of the capital than the others. In a hundred American films a red double-decker is the visual shorthand to identify ‘ London – England’. Who of a certain age can forget Here Come the Double Deckers either – though Peter Firth who starred in it as a boy may wish to?
In our folk memory it is not just buses, but Routemaster buses, manufactured between 1958 and 1968 , indelibly associated in our mind’s eye with mini-skirts, The Beatles and Carnaby Street. The Routemaster with its slippy steel pole at the open exit at the back of the bus, which the brave and foolhardy would jump from coolly before the vehicle stopped – not advisable on icy mornings. There are still a couple of these iconic buses running on so-called heritage routes: one travelling from the Royal Albert Hall via Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus , Trafalgar Square , and the Strand to Aldwych ; the other from Trafalgar Square to Tower Hill , taking in Fleet Street, Cannon Street and The Monument.
And where would London’s souvenir stalls and shops be without the red bus?
But for Londoners the bus is not just symbolic, it’s part of everyday life; tube trains run faster, but getting to and from them takes time, and the view is definitely not as good down there as it is riding the streets of London, where knowledge of the routes is a literal rite of passage.
More British Institutions
Afternoon Tea
Allotments
April Fools Day
Big Ben
Binge Drinking
Black Cabs
Bonfire Night
British Sense of Humour
Brown Windsor Soup
Burns Night
Cadburys
Castles
Changing the Guard
City of London
Coronation Street
Cowes Week
Cricket
Crufts
Dad’s Army
E-Type Jag
Eccentricity
English Country Garden
Fish and Chips
Fish Fingers
Fox Hunting
Full English Breakfast
Gin and Tonic
Glastonbury
Glorious Goodwood
Grand National
Grouse Shooting
Harrods
Highland Games
Hogmanay
James Bond
John Bull
King Arthur
Land Rover
Lloyds of London
London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally
Marks and Spencer
Monty Python
Morecambe and Wise
Old School Tie
Oxbridge
Panto
Picnics
Pimms
Point-to-Point
Punch and Judy
Queueing
Real Ale
Red Arrows
Red Telephone Boxes
Remembrance Poppies
Robin Hood
Rolls Royce
Royal Ascot
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Savile Row Suits
School Discos
School Sports Day
Seaside Piers
Speakers’ Corner
Stag Nights
Stiff Upper Lip
Strawberries and Cream
Street Markets
Summer Festivals
Sunday Roasts
The Archers
The BBC
The Beano
The Boat Race
The Brass Band
The British Bobby
The Bulldog
The Church of England
The Cup Final
The Curry House
The English Rose
The Garden Shed
The Honours System
The Kilt
The Last Night at the Proms
The London Bus
The Mini
The National Trust
The NHS
The Oak
The Pub
The Queen’s Speech
The Rolling Stones
The Royal Christmas Message
The Spitfire
The V Sign
The Village Fete
The Weather
Travelling Fairs
Trooping the Colour
Village Greens
Wedgwood
Wellington Boots
Wimbledon
Wine Gums
Yeomen of the Guard
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