Leicester Square in the Limelight

On May 12 Leicester Square will host the opening premiere of the new Sex and the City Movie. Glitz and glamour are nothing new to Leicester Square as visitors to London listening to The Museums, Galleries & Performing Arts, Walk Talk Tour mp3 guided tour will discover. The red carpet is regularly rolled out - and the Square sprinkled with star dust - for premieres of one film or another.

A marble statue of William Shakespeare is the Square's centrepiece. The bard was born and brought up in Stratford upon Avon before he headed to the capital, where he wrote plays that were staged at the Globe Theatre. Tourists wanting to learn about the Globe Theatre can find out more by purchasing the Ride and Stride downloadable travel guide or the City & South Bank Circular podcast guided tour.

A modern master of both talkies and silent movies is commemorated with a statue in Leicester Square. Charlie Chaplin was born into a poor London family in 1889. Chaplin’s first silent movie was screened in 1914 and a year later The Tramp was a box office hit. His trademark down-at-heel appearance, in formal dinner wear, is well depicted in this statue. Chaplin did not appear in his first 'talkie' until the late 1920s.



Chaplin was banned from re-entering the USA in 1952, after promoting Limelight in the UK. Discover why he was prevented from re-entering the States and when he finally returned with The Museums, Galleries & Performing Arts city guide. Later in the tour listeners to this mp3 guided tour will also find out which nineteenth century actor turned theatre manager pioneered on stage lighting, the so-called limelight.

French, German and Spanish speakers can purchase any of the five London iPod travel guides in their native tongue.

To hear an audio sample from The Museums, Galleries & Performing Arts mp3 guided tour please click here.