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The Documentary Podcast

Blind Man Roams the Globe: London's Square Mile

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.32.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2017

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

BBC presenter Peter White explores London’s Square Mile, from the drama of the stock exchange, through to the changing fortunes of streets where traditional traders are being replaced by wealthy investors. “Most people assume that vast cities like London are intimidating for blind people like me, with their noise and bustle, but in fact give me a busy city any time to the countryside. Noise, to me, means useful signals to navigate by, bustle means people to ask for help, and cities normally promise decent transport and plenty of places to buy the things you need".

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Square mile there as in the city of London.

0:07.0

Not with this bus I'm sure of this.

0:10.0

No no no never.

0:12.0

Never this one. No no, never this one.

0:14.8

M mention the city of London and most people assume that you're talking about the

0:18.6

sprawling capital which spreads across much of the southeast of England.

0:23.0

But there's another one, some would say, the real one.

0:27.0

Often known as the square mile,

0:29.0

it's the hub of the UK's financial sector,

0:32.0

where it sits alongside London's traditional markets and the East End,

0:37.0

London's beating heart.

0:39.0

But where does this city of London begin, and where does it it end and what's so special about it?

0:45.4

I've joined a bus queue to try to find out.

0:48.8

So you can get the 17, yeah. The number 17. Number 17 and if you get off at Cannon Street Station

0:57.1

so we stop the Heinz simple's so which stop would which one would they announce?

1:02.8

We're trying to find out what river this, no I'm just joking about that.

1:09.2

You know the river, don't we know the river, the river, yeah.

1:13.0

We're trying to explore the square mile, the city of London.

1:17.0

It's actually marked with posts, which have got Griffins on I think I think

1:25.0

or dragons but they've got they've definitely got a it's only a square mile

1:29.8

and it's where it starts most of the gates I would have thought, Blood Gate or Gate, all the original

1:38.1

world gates of the city, you know, more gate, all the old Roman gates to the wall city.

...

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