Image © Will Pearson 2009.

This morning we have added the Dr Samuel Johnson statue virtual tour to the London Revolution map. The 360 tour shows a statue of a diminutive, slightly caricatured man holding a book. Dr Johnson is best known of course as a lexicographer - as the author of the first ‘Dictionary of the English Language’, completed in under a decade and containing 42,773 entries, an incredible feat. As well as researching for and writing 13 entries a day in his dictionary, Johnson was simultaneously writing poems, sermons, essays and plays, as well as making frequent appeals for financial support. And he was not a healthy man, suffering from Tourette Syndrome (diagnosed posthumously) as well as testicular cancer, tuberculosis, gout and scrofula.

In addition to Dr Johnson’s undisputed literary genius (and tenacity!), he was a Londoner through and through. It was he of course who quipped: “Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” He himself was born in Lichfield and lived away from the capital at various points throughout his life, though he returned to London as he was dying. He narrowly missed dying in Scotland, which given his attitude to the scots would have been a little ironic, having said: “The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!” among various other barbed witticisms.

Dr Johnson’s love of London shines through in much of his writings. He wrote:

“Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.”

I hope that at London Revolution, we have captured a little of this spirit of London. That as well as taking you around the obvious London landmarks, we’re able to take you on a journey to those places that are lesser known. The nooks and crannies of Temple, the London squares missed by tourists, the woods on Hampstead Heath, and many more besides. Dr Johnson is quite right, these truly are the essence of London.

You can see the Dr Johnson Statue virtual tour by clicking here (link opens in a new window).

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Tags: dr johnson, dr johnson statue, London, londoner, samuel johnson, samuel johnson statue, strand

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Famous Londoners, London History & Information, London Virtual Tours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.