I’ve noticed a new name recently appearing in our “Best of Britain Poll” results, near to “fashion” and “pop music” … a certain Robert Pattinson.
According to some of our voters, the new Hollywood protégé, Robert Pattinson, is one of Britain’s best exports. Born in 1986 in London, he attended Tower House School in Richmond, London, and Harrodianprivate school in Barnes, London. The Harrodian Schoolis known for offering a wide range of extra-curricular activities including drama productions, art exhibitions and musical events. Robert was 15 when he started acting in amateur plays with the Barnes Theatre Company.
In 2005, Robert took on the role of Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and was named “British Star of Tomorrow” by The Times that year.
But I suspect the mention of his name as the best thing about Britain in our poll has more to do with his latest role as vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga (Twilight 2008, New Moon 2009, Eclipse 2010) based on Stephanie Meyer’s novel. This made him worldwide famous and Pattinson has since been offered several lead roles, including British comedy “How To Be” for which he performed some of the songs, as he did for The Twilight Saga.
Last but not least, he was named one of the “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2008 by People magazine and in 2009, through a poll conducted by Glamour magazine. This would explain why he has to hide in hotels even when he comes back to his “home” town of London.
But you might have a chance to catch him in 2010 in London as he will appear in a theatre show produced by David Pugh, who previously brought Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) to London West End in his production of Equus.
As revealed in a recent interview, he moved from the family home in Barnes to live in Soho, the vibrant heart of the city. On a personal day tour of London, ask your tour guide to take you for a beer at the The French House pub or a coffee at Bar Italia, one of Robert Pattinson’s favorite hangouts and a landmark of Soho since it opened in 1949.
On a recent visit to London, Pattinson dropped by a Soho pub holding an open-mic night and played 2 songs to a surprised but delighted crowd. Soho is full of these basement bars/small music venues such as The Spice of Life or The Blues Bar, offering live music and open-mic nights, with unexpected surprises…
Also your private tour guide could take you for a walk in Green Park, one of London’s Royal Parks and Robert’s favorite park where he used to spend a lot of time, before fame struck…
Finally, stop by the London Library in St James’s Square, where Robert used to spend hours browsing through the impressive and varied huge collection of books, occasionally getting lost in the maze of its building. “There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world” he said. With some advance notice British Tours could arrange for you to have a tour inside this library otherwise only open to its members.
- Aline
British Tours Ltd
You can include the Soho sights on one of our personal London sightseeing tours by day or night. Your guide will collect you by car or coach from your hotel.