F is for Four Winds

A-Z Challenge.

Random Sightings No 6.

Last year when I was doing the A-Z Challenge I tried to get a good shot of this clock but it's high up above the pavement in the otherwise nondescript Charles Street in Leicester and all my attempts suffered from huge lens distortion. Recently though I just happened to be on the top floor of a nearby multi-storey car park and suddenly through a gap in the surrounding buildings there it was looking back me.



It's called the Four Winds Clock and I suspect it goes largely unnoticed by the passers by below, though it measure a fairly hefty 3.62 metres by 3.24 metres. It’s situated on the central tower of Halford House which was built for the Leicester Temperance Building Society by Pick Everard Keay and Gimson between 1955 and 1959. The sculptor was Albert Pountney and it is carved in Portland Stone.

A typical view of Charles Street. The clock is way up out of view on the building on the left.

E is for Eternal Damnation

Day 5, Random Sightings. Just a short one today. A random sighting in Birmingham, England just before Christmas. A warning to sinners stands ignored while a stream of eager shoppers pour into the inappropriately named Paradise Forum.

D is for Day and Night

Day four of the A-Z Challenge and some Random Sightings in Leicester by day and night.

Leicester's New Walk by day…

…and by night.

The former Victoria Coffee House in Leicester's Granby Street.

Vintage shopping by day…

…window shopping by night.

For more pictures of New Walk see: http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/promenade.html

For more on Leicester’s nineteenth century coffee house movement see: http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/eastgates.html

C is for Cardinal

Day three of my Random Sightings. This time it’s Cardinal Wolsey randomly caught on camera in Leicester.

Cardinal Wolsey (1473-1530) rose from modest beginnings to become HenryVIII’s Lord Chancellor. A shrewd political operator, he eventually came to wield immense power. However his inability to secure the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon led to his ultimate fall from grace. Whilst in Yorkshire, Wolsey was ordered to London to answer a charge of treason but fell ill on the journey and died at Leicester Abbey.

This relief portrait in faience of Cardinal Wolsey (c.1923) is situated over the entrance to the former Wolsey Ltd warehouse on Abbey Park Street, Leicester. The artist is unknown.

The Wolsey knitwear company was founded in Leicester in 1755 and by the 1880’s was the largest hosiery manufacturer in the city. It is still in existence today. More information about the company’s history can be found here: http://www.wolsey.com/Static/History_1755

B is for Beneath Your Feet

Day 2 of the A-Z Challenge and some more Random Sightings. This time at ground level.

I did something similar on one my posts last year but then I called it underfoot and in keeping with the theme it just consisted of pictures taken in Leicester. The pictures this year include one taken in Milan and some from the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter.

A is for Alphabet

Day one of the A-Z challenge. Due to circumstances beyond my control all planning has gone out of the window and I don't know what I'm going to be doing. Last year I took my camera around my home town of Leicester and wrote about what I found. This year it could be anything so I'm calling it Random Sightings. All I can tell you with any certainty is that there will be pictures.

Random Sightings number one is an alphabet of found lettering.

A nice cup of tea and a biscuit

In a moment of madness I decided to do the A-Z Challenge again this year. So I'm sitting down with a nice cup of tea and biscuit and reviewing my blog.

The challenge involves posting every day (except Sundays) throughout April, thematically from A-Z. Last year I took my camera around my home town of Leicester and posted the results.

Being new to blogging the challenge really helped get me going. It also gave me an excuse to take my new camera out, as well as getting to see the City of Leicester in a fresh light. It was lovely when people commented about how nice the place looked (though I sometimes worried I was making it look too good!).

So what to do this year? That is the question.

I'd like to do something similar but will I find enough things? We shall see. Although I struggled once or twice last year it was an enjoyable process and I learned a lot. In particular that less is more.

Good luck to any other A-Z challengers looking in, especially if it's your first time.

The spire of St Mary de Castro, Leicester, back in the summer and
as it is now looking pagoda-like as it's dismantled.

A while back I posted some pictures of historic Leicester taken close to the remains of Leicester Castle. Sadly the spire of the nearby church of St Mary de Castro has become unsafe and is currently being dismantled. The spire is something of a landmark and it'll be strange when it's gone. However they hope to reassemble it sometime in the future if they can raise sufficient funds.

St Mary de Castro (St Mary's by the Castle) was founded in the early 12th century by Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester. The spire was added in the 14th century. There's a possible literary connection as it's been said that Geoffrey Chaucer married Philippa de Roet here sometime around 1366.

http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/a-quiet-corner.html