The RAF and Intelligence

I went for a walk around the Royal Courts of Justice earlier in the week. That area is amazing. The Royal Courts are used for civil cases (criminal cases are at the Old Bailey), and there are always news vans outside for any live coverage. My professor recommended that we go in to watch a court proceeding at some time. I find it quite interesting that something that I would probably find boring in the US, sounds novel and enjoyable in London. I've walked by the BBC building every week, and I always see people lining up with tickets to go to live tapings of different televisions shows. And once again, I'm interested in going even though I probably wouldn't back home. But I digress.

Near the court is Australia House (representative of Australia in British soil - an embassy, from what I can tell). I wanted to pop in, as I heard that the scenes of Gringotts Bank from Harry Potter was filmed there, but I got distracted by an amazing church. St. Clement Danes is a church right next to the Royal Courts that is the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. It was originally founded back in the 10th century, and then rebuilt in the 1680s century by Christopher Wren after the Great-Fire-of-London-rebuilding-frenzy Wren had. During WWII, the church was bombed (May 10th,1941) (You could still see the shrapnel in the walls! Is that weird to find that incredible?) and rebuilt once again in 1958.
Interestingly, the church received funds from families of the RAF - it became a central hub for RAF related facts of interest. The interior is covered in crests honoring the RAF, and other air forces who fought with them in World War 2. There are books filled with names of airmen who were killed during their missions from the US, Poland, and Britain. Look up the story of Polish Airmen - it's astounding. I can't summarize it well, nor will I have all of the pertinent facts.
The crypt has plaques to the Danish (?) Underground civilians who were killed helping downed pilots return to England. I struggle to imagine the situation they were put in, and actively worked to fight against. (Ditto with the Polish. And everyone else alive during that time.) Having been defeated and occupied by German forces, instead of being obsequious, people decided to rebel. Reading about and witnessing evidence of it raises so many questions. How did ordinary people organize an underground spy network to undermine an organized military? How strong they must have been! A point that I keep belaboring, but still not enough - people are amazing.

Outside are the statues of Sir Arthur Harris (bombing of Dresden) and Hugh Dowding (Battle of Britain) and Samuel Johnson. Yes, the first two men did much more than just those two things, but once again, this post isn't about their life story. Look it up! Learn!
Over to Samuel Johnson and speaking of intelligence! (Get it? Maybe.) The area is full of old pubs such as the George, Cheshire Cheese and Devereux Chambers (now a law firm). The pubs used to host the intellectuals of London of different eras, including Samuel Johnson, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Isaac Newton. So in short, I geeked out about all of them.
After seeing the tribute to the RAF, and being inspired by ordinary people, to move on to seeing local hangout spots of some intellectual heavyweights, I felt that I had reached my capacity of amazement that day. Imagine walking barely 100 yards and encountering completely different aspects of London's history. If I hadn't done some prior reading and scoping of the area, I would have missed all of the subtle beauty of the area. It makes me wonder whether people who have lived here long term don't know what they're missing. I also wonder what sort of history (I'm sure it's not as nuanced or old) I'm missing back at home.


Fun fact- in the novel 1984, Winston Smith sees a picture of St. Clement Dane (not specified, but we all know it's supposed to be) and is told how it once stood in the area in front of the Palace of Justice (Royal Courts of Justice, anyone?) before being demolished in the revolution.