Anyone ever see the Pancake Day race at the Guildhall in London? It's Tuesday (Mardi Gras = Pancake Day in Britain) and I was wondering if it were worth seeing.

Never 'erd of it, as my grandad would have said.

it's an interesting area of London to explore, once the race is over!

Never heard of it either, but its down the street from where I work - what time does it start?

Pancake day = Shrove Tuesday, is that right??

I've heard of pancake races in other parts of England (Olney, etc.) - but not in London . . .

This is a wonderful example of a tourist industry myth.

An annual ritual of a pancake race every Shrove Tuesday sounds like the sort of thing that's been going on in the City of London since Christianity was introduced here. Google long enough, and you'll probably be told the Christians just bastardised an even more ancient pagan tradition to celebrate the end of deep winter.

The usual giveaway with this kind of codswallop is the unnecessary use in tourist-oriented bumpf of the word "traditional"

As this has indeed been since 2004, when it was invented - largely by that most traditional of all London institutions, an events management company. True to the City's proudest tradition of all ("never pass up an opportunity to dress up a PR stunt as a fundamental part of Our Centuries-old British Way of Life"), this race was designed as a device for the company to promote the premises of City livery companies (don't get me started: the City's multiple versions of the Elks, only sillier costumes), in many of which it has a monopoly for organising weddings, bah mitzvahs and corporate strategy awaydays.

The fact that an event's a bit pseudo doesn't make it less enjoyable to watch than really ancient traditions. A town near mine has had a tradition for centuries of the Mayor throwing stale buns at the citizens, which makes watching paint dry riveting by comparison. As for Oxford's May Morning, where thousands of people get up at 4 am to "watch" a choir they can't see singing hymns they can't hear in a language scarcely any could understand even if they could hear...

The sheer silliness of the Guildhall race (the competitors all dress up in their "medieval" Company livery) is probably made even more fun by the collective pretence this has all been going on outside the "ancient" Guildhall (designed and built 1954) since Julius Caesar arrived in London (he didn't).

A few seconds' googling will throw up lots of pics. Starts noonish

Well, there you are. Though, to be fair, Guildhall was <b>re</b>built in 1954, albeit with a lot of modern office accretions.

Pancake races have been a biggish thing in a number of different places, though I suspect most of them really came in with the end of postwar rationing. Quite fun if you enjoy seeing people larking about (except for the few who take it all far too seriously), but not necessarily something to go out of one's way for: in this case, if you're doing something else in the area that day, such as St Pauls or the Museum of London, you might as well stop by and see what's going on.

Pancake day = Shrove Tuesday, is that right??>>

yes. the idea was to use up all the good stuff [eggs, milk] before the fasting of Lent started.

nowadays we eat the pancakes anyway and carry on stuffing ourselves until Easter.

"Guildhall was <b>re</b>built in 1954"

Well, like St Paul's was rebuilt after the 1666 fire. That is, so as to be quite unlike what had earlier been destroyed.

To be fair, historic cities can't win when major buildings get destroyed. Meticulously copy what was there before (as with many Eastern European "old towns") and you end up with a soulless, almost Disneyland, stage set. Use your finest skills to produce the best we can make today (as we did at Coventry cathedral) and it's inevitable it just doesn't look "real".

150 years after their rebuilding, the Houses of Parliament look as if they've been there since the 13th century: but just 50 years after, the modern Guildhall screams 1950s safeness as much as all those mock Queen Anne phone exchanges and post offices we built at the same time.

Probably a bit like designing an arboretum: it's only once everyone involved's dead that it'll start looking as if it belongs there. Wren's St Paul's was excoriated, among other things for not being Protestant enough (apparently domes were the mark of the Whore of Babylon), in his day.

>>apparently domes were the mark of the Whore of Babylon<<

Depending on the lady in question, they may still be.

Thanks everyone, I think it does start at noon, sounds like fun but we'll see how it fits with the rest of our plans.

Yes, it starts at 12pm 'til 1.30pm and it's definetely good fun to watch. Have a look at this link for more info: http://www.visitthecity.co.uk/index....ents/view/160/

There is another pancake race at nearby Leadenhall Market at 12pm too. It's free to enter and you can win great prices. http://www.leadenhallmarket.co.uk/

If you are quick, you may even be able to see both.