The nerves of the second year boys were perhaps shaken rather more
seriously by their experience at the London Dungeon. The gorier
side of life in the capital in past centuries was vividly brought
to life as boys experienced the grim realities of the sixteenth
century torture Chamber, the horrors of the Great Plague (boys were
‘sneezed upon’ by a plague victim and observed an ‘autopsy’)
and the terror of the Great Fire of London (including negotiating
a ‘burning’ bridge). They also learned about the five
gruesome Jack the Ripper killings and the possible suspects, discovered
the gruesome antics of the mythical Sweeney Todd and subjected themselves
to the Traitor Boat Ride to Hell! It was with some degree of relief
(not least on the part of accompanying staff), that lunch was found
on a quiet patch of grass outside the rather more cultured walls
of the Tate Modern, though, whilst the walk alongside the river
to admire the Globe Theatre, The Golden Hinde and St. Paul’s
went some way to soothe ruffled nerves, it is perhaps not entirely
surprising that the highpoints recalled by the younger generation
on the coach journey home tended to be primarily of the gripping
and the gruesome!
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