The London Traveler

I’d heard quite a lot about Silvercane Tours – Simon Rodway’s special interest tours of London. He’s obviously quite busy at the moment, but he agreed to do an interview for The London Traveler about the mysteries of becoming a Blue Badge guide, his favourite sights in London, and his various tours.

LT: How did you first get interested in the history of London? (And are
you a Londoner – or did you grow up somewhere else?)

SR: I am a sufferer of ‘The Alexander The Great Syndrome’. Meaning, someone not born of the culture, but the biggest fan of it. I am a Kiwi of British and NZ/Italian stock. I grew up in Auckland NZ in the 1950s/60s when all NZ history was BRITISH – Churchill and World War II etc.
Now, of course down there it is much more Polynesian and now even East Asian, as well.

So in the 60s/70s I couldn’t wait to get here to London. Everything was Bond
and Blow Up and the Beatles.

The first thing I did when I got off the plane in 1975 was head for The
Roundhouse, to hear Patti Smith supported by The Stranglers. I had arrived!

So …

1. I am a history nut

2. I love walking

3. I read a lot of biographies, so that here in London, uniquely, there are
the physical buildings still existing, where my heroes lived/worked/played.

LT: And that all makes a potent mix which made you into a tour guide! Tell me a bit about the process of getting your Blue Badge – how long it takes, which bits you found most difficult (I know for me remembering dates would be a real problem), what else you were doing at the time.

SR: At 50 years old I enrolled in the Blue Badge qualification – an adult education course, lasting 2 years, that trains up professional British tourist guides.

It’s tough – rather like joining the Marines – they ‘break you down to build you up’ – two 2-hour lectures a week, plus every Saturday an all-day practical on the mic, to the Tower, or Bath or Canterbury or Stratford etc. Then, there’s the exams! Written and practical. The pass rate is around 40% only.

LT: That’s worse than taking the driving test. 43% of people pass that the first time. (I didn’t…)

How do you see your job? We often see images of Big Ben, royal pomp, guardsmen in their bearskins, as if that’s all there was to London – but I see you have Sufragette tours, a James Bond tour, a da Vinci tour, all sorts of interesting off-beat destinations.

SR: London is a 2000 year old city – the world centre for foreign exchange and
insurance, dominated by the mighty Lloyds of London.

And because of the British Empire, London is the world’s most multi-racial and
multi-cultural city, and with the 2012 Games coming our way, it is getting
better all the time. So it is my job to make sure people enjoy this fantastic and ancient river/port city.

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