Nothing to see here...
Toy Soldiery activities; went to the Fusilieer Museum at the Tower a day or so back. It was OK, but not great; likewise I'll try to get to the Guards Museum, but my expectations are not too high.
There were a good selection of vehicles at the Imperial War Museum, but the bookshop had little to really interest me as it was focussed on 20th Century conflict. The "Monty" exhibition surprised me as there was no real focus on el Alamein or the controversy on operational goals for the European campaign and his eventual sidelining. I did find out that his poor wife died from an infected bug bite, though. I seriously got more from the Airfix Magazine Guide article on "24 Hours at Alamein" and the writeup on the Rapid Fire website on a scenario inspired by the same article!
5 comments:
National Army Museum in Chelsea is a must. As is Firepower - the museum of the Royal Artillery at Woolich.
Grimsby's spot on with the suggestion re. the Army Musuem at Chelsea - I did a review some time back in my blog if you want a heads up...
Firepower is on my list to visit, as is:
1/. a gaming shop called "Orcs nest" at 6 Earlham Street (WC2H9RY) looks like it's mostly RPG but game shops are so few and far between...
2/. Hamleys for the "Britain's" figures :o))
Sadly the wonderfully cluttered British museums of 30 years ago have mostly been stripped down to minimal exhibits, theoretically to appeal to children and non-enthusiasts. The fact that this has put off the enthusiasts who were the main visitors doesn't seem to matter, sadly. A lot of it has to do with Heritage Lottery Funding which comes with all sorts of draconian baggage about making sites accessible to the greater public - whatever that means. So I fear you might find a lot of our museums far less interesting than they were - unless you can get access to the reserve collections i.e. the storerooms where they've had to stack 90% of their collections!
Bookstalls and bookshops in museums have gone the same way in general, too.
David.
I think that there is a toy soldier shop in either the Burlington Arcade or the Piccadilly Arcade.
You will be kicking yourself if you don't visit the National Army Museum in Chelsea.
Also try something called The Antique Hypermarket off Oxford Street. There are several dealers of the original Britains toy soldiers down in the basement level of the building.
If you want an old style museum try the military museum in Brussels, lots of uniforms and things in glass cases.
Have you considered the tank museum in Bovington Dorset? All the AFVs you could want.
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