Gregory Ainger

Actualizado el 20/02/2012

Email:
Código Postal: NW5 2TA
Teléfono: 020 7482 4038 - Móvil: 07800 803907

Año de graduación: 2009
Otras cualificaciones: BA(Hons) Geography & Anthropology City of London Guide, Clarkenwell & Islington Guide, Museum of St.John's Gate Guide

Lenguaje Nativo: English

Biografía: Born in Hampstead, allegedly within the sound of Bow Bells, I, like Dick Whittington 600 years before me, felt them calling me back to London after spells in the English Lakes where I lost my tonsils, but found the countryside; Bedfordshire, where I spent the 60s (and I can even remember something of them); Durham where I got my Geography and Anthropology degree and discovered lands north of Watford; Uganda and Brunei with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) where I learned about cultural and religious diversity, and Leicester where I put what I had learned into practice working for the BBC, and ....where I met my wife!

After hearing the call of the ‘Great Bells of Bow’, I returned to London nearly 30 years ago to continue working for the BBC in Radio and Television until the birth of our son when I became a 'house husband', and then I really began to explore what London had to offer. Albeit from a different perspective - that of an active four year old! - The Parks, the Museums and Galleries, the theatres and, of course, the Zoo, where we were on first name terms with the chimps and they with us. It was these experiences that really brought me to guiding (after a 7 yr spell teaching Media Studies in Further Education Colleges in West and North London). I qualified first as a City then as a Clerkenwell and Islington Guide. At the same time I became a Guide of Lord’s Cricket Ground where I delight in showing the home of cricket to people from all over the world.

In addition to said wife and son (now 19), I share responsibility for a lively Collie Cross who often takes me to Hampstead Heath for ‘walkies’ - where, if I listen ever so carefully, I can hear the sound of those same bells that rang (allegedly) in my infant ears all those years ago.

Región acreditado para esta región: London
Lugares de Londres para los cuales esta acreditado: 2012 Venues, British Library, British Museum, City of London, Docklands, East London, Greenwich, National Gallery, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey
Sitios fuera de Londres para los cuales esta acreditado: Bath, Oxford, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Windsor Castle

Intereses especiales: For me London lives. It is like a complex organism. One with its brain in the West, where we find Parliament, Church and monarchy. It is fed by an economic powerhouse - the City of London churning away in the East. It is sustained by an arterial system of tube trains, railways and bus services. It is controlled by a complex nervous system made up of wires, microwaves and the ubiquitous internet. This organism has evolved over centuries, from its Roman origins to the leading world city of today. For me what is fascinating is not that London ‘has’ history, but that it ‘is’ history. Not that it ‘has’ a future, but it ‘is’ the future. Past and present are not separate but are intertwined, and where new strands are continuously created and wrapped around what is already there. The joy of guiding is to tease out some of these strands and help visitors understand what makes our city tick.

The city’s diversity is one of these strands. Roman London was diverse, housing people from all over the Empire, and this diversity continued throughout its history – Flemish weavers, Huguenots from France, Italian émigrés, Jews from Eastern Europe, Bengalis, West Indians, East African Asians, Poles, Romanians Australians etc have always contributed to the vibrancy, colour and character of London and make it such an exciting place to be.

London will entertain the world in 2012 when the city hosts the Olympic Games on a site in East London, that is almost literally rising from the ashes of post industrial dereliction. And talking of the Ashes - cricket, a passion I'm anxious to share, for it provides not only an exciting spectacle, but also a metaphor for life and an insight into the British personality and social history even if you don’t know the difference between ‘caught behind', and 'leg before.’

Tours paseando: Live 2000 years of the City's history by exploring the back alleys of the modern 'Square Mile'

Discover the ancient monastries of the City and Clerkenwell.

Islington - the city's playground past and present.Explore the banks of the River Thames along a stretch known as King's reach (Wheelchair friendly)

Charles Dickens' London - 2012 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of CD enjoy a walk through the streets that inspired the great novelist.

Walk the banks of the hidden River Fleet.

Martyrs and Mayhem - discover Smithfield's bloody past.

'String of Pearls' visit and hear stories about the world famous city churches.

In the shadow of St Paul's - visit St Paul's Cathedral, and its environs to discover its part in London's history.

Journey back to the swinging sixties with one who was there!

Enjoy a walk around the Olympic Park as London gets ready for 2012

Regions offered as British Isles Tour Manager: South East England (Essex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Wiltshire)

Se dan charlas de: Monastic London

The history of Lord's Cricket Ground.

WG Grace's London - a look at the role London has played in the development of cricket

London and The Olympics

Dicken's London