This is Regents Park, one of my favourite royal parks in London
it's named after the Prince Regent who was the son of mad King George iii (the stupid one from Blackadder)
It was first opened to the public in 1835
after prince regent had redeveloped all the area from Pall Mall
all the way up through here and down to Parliament Hill Fields
and you can actually see these buildings over there
If you've ever read The Magus by John Fowles he refers to those buildings right at the end of it
and they were actually built as a part of and intended palace
the palace never got done in the end but they did retain the buildings for his mates and buddies
he was quite a spend thrift was Prince Regent
and his brother, the grand old duke of York, he stands on top of that column down by Pall Mall
where you can see buildings that are very similar to the buildings over there
after the dissolution of the monasteries King Henry viii commandeered these whole grounds
and turned turned it into his hunting grounds
but my favourite thing about it is that it's perfect for feeding the squirrels
and I've got my nuts and I know just the spot
I've left the bag unattended
That was an amateur schoolboy error
These are those boundary markers that i was telling you about in my other video about Peter Pan's tombstones
They divide the edge of what used to be the parish
SMB...Saint Marylebone
and this one
Parish of St. Pancras
So this bit is called the avenue gardens but there's lots of different parts of regents park
that's where we were
It's massive, it's got a boating lake, football pitches
This is called the Broadwalk and this tree is is most definitely the most unhappy tree in the park
Poor fellow he looks so sad
Hast thou forgotten the foul witch, Sycorax who with age and envy was grown into a hoop?
He looks angry
I think there's a spirit trapped inside it
If thou murmer'st I will rend an oak and peg thee in its knotty entrails till thou hast howled away 12 winters!
You're a bit of . afreckled whelp, hagborn
not honoured with human shape, aren't you Simon?
Imagine you came back tomorrow and he had a smile!
I like this water fountain , when I used to walk my dog here
they've got the little water bowl
the trick with this fountain
a lot of people don't know
I often see people struggling with the water fountain
because they don't know how to get the water to start. There's a little trick
There's a little light inside, if you just put your finger inside then out it pops and you can have a drink
particularly nice with that bag of dog poo next to your face
People are great arent they? I love people sometimes .
I used to play football here every sunday
and we were here once and this guy showed up and said "Can I play with you?"
and we said " Yeah ok"
and he looked just like Woody Harrelson
so the whole game up until half time I kept going "Here Woody, pass the ball"
and at half time he said to me
Julian why do you keep laughing saying woody woody
And I said, because you look like Woody Harrelson
And he said I AM WOODY HARRELSON!
and then for the next 6 weeks
Woody Harrelson showed up and we hung with him, man
that's right. That's how we roll
and then what do I see
He appears on the TV in some pro-celebrity football match with Robbie Williams
Not only does she show up playing
but he scores the winning penalty at the end!
Not so much as a mention for us
The people who taught him everything he knows
The real heroes behind that penalty
Exactly! I taught him how to kick the ball with the outside of the boot
No acknowledgement in the post match interview but he knows we welcomed him
They were great days. The Woody Years we call them.
There's teh camels over there
and sometimes you can see the tiger
but he's a bit shy
I think he wants payment
It's blackberry season
If you don't mind eating blackberries that a dog might have peed on
perfectly nice...and free
Have you ever been to the open air theatre?
What did you see?
Macbeth...
How Now you secret black and midnight hags! What is't you do?
They often show things like A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest by Shakespeare
Quite popular open air plays
because they are full of spirits and summery activity
this part of the park was opened in 1932 by Queen Mary so it's called the Queen Mary Rose Garden
originally it was a botanical garden which I think means that
you're allowed to plant any type of species here whereas in the rest of the park
you're only allowed to plant certain types of trees and plants which are native to Britain
there is the jungle border that' up the top there. That gets done...
every summer so it's there for 6 months
there's 84 different rose beds here
we replace about ten every year
so we get new varieties
You can really smell the roses can't you
Double Delight.....Smells like Turkish delight
It looks like the one in ALice in Wonderland that he paints
It looks like they're half painted red
I always like to come to Regents Park to try and clear my head
My shrink told me I should do it at least once a week and switch off my telephone
Just me and my hoe...
and when I was a kid
I used to think that fairies lived just down here at this waterfall
You didn't see any fairies in there?
When I was your age I saw a couple of fairies running around in there I'm pretty sure
you can really imagine nymphs and spirits hopping around on top of these rocks and down the waterfall
no wonder my shrink told me to come here when I told him I believed in fairies
it really does have something magical about it
i don't know if you've ever seen the film About A Boy
you know where he kills the duck
he throws the bit of bread at the duck and it kills it
it was right in there...with Hugh Grant..
Huge grunt
Be not afeared
the isle is full of noises
sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not
sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears
and sometime voices
that if then I has waked after long sleep would make me sleep again
in 1867 the boating lake froze over
and people used to go ice skating and walking across here
and apparently 40 people died
so don't go walking on frozen-over boating lakes
in 1982 I remember this being in the news this bandstand because it was when the IRA bombed it
a lot of people lost their lives which is why you can see all these poppies and stuff here
I love these weeping willows
my favourite tree
we lay my love and I
beneath the weeping willow
did you know incidentally
That swanshave black flesh underneath white feathers
and therefore they are often used to represent hypocrisy in literature and art
they belong to the queen
This is where they filmed Withnail and I
it's one of these benches, I haven't watched the film recently
Christ,
look at that
apart from a raw potato it's the only solid to have passed my lips in the last 24 hours
when you get to this bit towards the end of the broadwalk
you can smell fish
and that's not because I haven't changed my underwear recently
although that may be the case
it's because this is where the penguins live
that scene at the end of Withnail and I the wolves are here
and he's just doing Hamlet
I have of late
but wherefore I know not
lost all my mirth
and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition
that this goodly frame, the earth , seems to me a sterile promontory
How infinite in faculties, how like an angel in apprehension
how like a god!
the beauty of the world
the paragon of animals
It's the final scene from Withnail and I, have you seen that film?
and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?
man delights not me
no
nor woman neither