Windsor Castle Excursion

Sue was born a Londoner and has lived in several other cities including Seoul, Berlin and Washington DC. Since returning to London, she has spent the last three years studying its art, architecture, literature and history. Sue holds a research MPhil in History of Art from the Barber Institute, Birmingham University and has specialist knowledge of Victorian Britain through her study of its painting and literature. Her thesis, on symbolism in Victorian Art, focused on the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and she has also made studies in 20th Century American art. Sue is fascinated by London's history and is most interested in the artists and writers who have helped to define it. She loves to recount stories of their lives and works, and their connections with each other and the city.

Clare has lived and worked in London for over 25 years. After graduating with a Degree in Geography and a Masters Degree in Environmental Planning from Nottingham University, she worked as a town planner and urban designer in one of the most dynamic, diverse and probably most challenging cities on earth - London! Employed in both the public and the private sector, she specialised in regeneration policy guidance and the conservation and renewal of protected buildings and historic areas in several of London’s Boroughs. Before starting a family in the 1990’s, she travelled extensively throughout Africa and Madagascar, working as a volunteer on several self-help community projects. She has spent two years training to guide around London and now has the pleasure of telling London’s fascinating planning and architectural story to visitors, bringing her own personal insight into many of the city’s landmarks!

Viv has a degree in English Language and Medieval Literature from Durham University. She spends part of each year in France, but for the past 25 years London has been home. Following two years of intense training she qualified as a Blue Badge Guide, coming top in her year. She particularly enjoys giving individuals and families in-depth tours of London focusing as much on the hidden and unfamiliar as the well-known - she concentrates as much on the here-and-now as the past. The City's fringes - Bankside and Spitalfields - hold as much appeal as Westminster and St James's. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for London's C18 and C19 history and her detailed knowledge of the city's royal connections. She has a particular interest in the great aristocratic landholdings of London, and has created walks around the 'villages' of London such as Chelsea, Bloomsbury and Spitalfields. Viv also works as a volunteer marshal, or 'Green Gown' at Westminster Abbey.