Cambridge Circus

Cambridge Circus and Palace Theater

Cambridge Circus is a square in central London . To about halfway between the subway stations Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square meet at the intersection of the Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road to each other.

history

The original name of the intersection was Five Dials, according to the number of streets it joins. After Shaftesbury Avenue opened in 1886, it was renamed Shaftesbury Circus and later Cambridge Circus . It was named after the Duke of Cambridge , who inaugurated Charing Cross Road in January 1887. As the name suggests, Cambridge Circus was originally a narrow roundabout .

At the west end of the intersection is the Palace Theater , which opened as the Royal English Opera House in 1891 and is now owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber . Many years of musical success of the Palace Theater was The Sound of Music (1961-1967), Jesus Christ Superstar (1972-1980) and Les Misérables (1985 to 2004).

Cultural references

Cambridge Circus became the headquarters of the British secret service MI6 in many spy novels John le Carrés about the secret agent George Smiley and gave his nickname The Circus . The actual secret service was never in this place, but originally near St. James's Park and later on the Thames . Based on the descriptions of the entrance in the novels, BBC correspondent Gordon Corera located the fictional circus at 90 Charing Cross Road, immediately north of Cambridge Circus . Richard Rayner spoke on Salon.com by a "Topographical Joke" ( "topographical joke"), which have proven to be extremely fit because the MI6 its roots in Cambridge have, but in fact little more than a Soviet influence during his circus was .

Cambridge Circus was used as the backdrop for the films The Gentlemen Burglars Do Themselves (1960), Match Point (2005), Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and the television series Dame, König, As, Spion (1979) based on the novel of the same name by le Carré.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Ed Glinert: The London Compendium . Penguin, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-71-819203-7 , without page.
^ Henry Benjamin Wheatley: London Past and Present. Its History, Associations, and Traditions . Cambridge University Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-02808-0 (first edition 1891), p. 237.
↑ Trevor Rowley: The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century , Hambledon Continuum, London 2006, ISBN 1-85285-388-3 , p. 439.
^ Gordon Corera: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: John Le Carre and reality . In: BBC News Magazine, September 11, 2011.
^ Richard Rayner: Everything you need to know about "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" . On Salon.com on December 19, 2011.

Web links

Commons : Cambridge Circus, London - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Webcam of Transport for London on the website of the British Broadcasting Corporation

51.513055555556 -0.12916666666667Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 47 " N , 0 ° 7 ′ 45" W.

[compendium-1] Ed Glinert: The London Compendium . Penguin, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-71-819203-7 , without page.

[2] Henry Benjamin Wheatley: London Past and Present. Its History, Associations, and Traditions . Cambridge University Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-02808-0 (first edition 1891), p. 237.

[3] Trevor Rowley: The English Landscape in the Twentieth Century , Hambledon Continuum, London 2006, ISBN 1-85285-388-3 , p. 439.

[4] Gordon Corera: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: John Le Carre and reality . In: BBC News Magazine, September 11, 2011.

[5] Richard Rayner: Everything you need to know about "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" . On Salon.com on December 19, 2011.