finding europe in London - leg 4

From: Greek Street

To: Denmark Street
DISTANCE: 0.2 miles

TOTAL DISTANCE: 1.8 miles

Directions

Take the grey route on the google map to the right for the sake of the nicer roads! 

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Turn left up Greek Street and then turn right onto Manette Street. At the end of Manette Street turn left and then immediately right onto Denmark Street. Gosh, that one was easy! 

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DENMARK STREET

What's it got to do with Denmark?

Denmark Street was named after Prince George of Denmark in the 17th century, who married Queen Anne of Great Britain - she ruled from 1702 to 1708.

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Tragically, Anne was pregnant 17 times by George. Only one child survived birth, William, but he died aged 11. George and Anne's marraige remained strong throughout the tragedies.

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What else happened here?
Can you see the blue plaque above the Giaconda Cafe (about a quarter of the way down Denmark Street on the right)? This is to mark Denmark street as the centre of music in the twentieth century.

 

The Giaconda Cafe was the meeting point for many key figures in the music industry, including Elton John, Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Jimie Hendrix. 

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This was the first blue plaque to be unveiled with a QR code.

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Denmark and the EU

Did you know that Denmark applied to join the European Economic Community (the EU's predecessor) the day after Great Britain in 1961? When Britain's membership was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle, Denmark also refused to join. Their trade was too bound up with the UK. Denmark and Great Britain eventually joined together in 1973.

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Denmark had a referrendum in 2014, and despite being closesly associated with euroscepticism, voted 53% in.

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The UK continues to be a key importer of Denmarks' goods. Denmark's currency is Danish krone.

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