London's Elephants - No. 41 in the Series

Been a while, but here we are back on the elephant trail. The Elephant's Head is in Camden High Street, and if you look carefully in the corner window you will see an elephant on top of an elephant.

London's Elephants - No. 40 in the Series

While this heffalump was originally in the Elephant Parade, it has since been adopted and can be found on the north side of Oxford Street, near Marble Arch. Say Hello to Ella May.

London's Elephants - No. 39 in the Series

Ahhhhh, another elephant. About time, I hear you say. I saw this on my way home, in Hanbury Street by Brick Lane. It looks to me as if there may be others around, too.

London's Elephants - No 38 in a series

Today's pachyderm present comes courtesy of Andreas, a gonna-be-cabbie, LDP visitor, contributor and all round good guy. This pub is in Highgate, and I wondered at first when I saw the name if they were confused with their animals. But then, I read a review and decided that they were just being honest.

Cheers, Andreas!!

London's Elephants - No 37 in a Series

I don't think I will have the time to hunt them all down in the Elephant Parade, but you can't begrudge me the occasional one.

London's Elephants - No 36 in a Series

With all the temporary Elephant Excess in London at the moment, here is another long term resident. The Worshipful Company of Cutlers has been around since the thirteenth century, so they aren't exactly fly-by-nights. This plaque is in Cutler Street next to Devonshire Square, marking the historical function of the street.

London's Elephants - No 35 - 300 in a Series

Did I ever think that I would suffer from there being too many elephants in London? I really dont know what to do about them, I will have to give it some consideration. In the meantime, here is one from Marble ARch, and Diamond Geezer's overview is here.

London's Elephants - No 34 in a Series

Once again I have to thank Andreas for keeping his eyes open while riding around London, doing The Knowledge. He found this one on the Chelsea Fulham border - cheers Andreas!

London's Elephants - No 33 in a Series

This great mosaic was found and photographed by Andreas by the Elephant & Castle in Elgin Avenue, an LDP follower and cabbie-to be, going through the tough regime of learning the knowledge to become a London taxi driver. Hats off to him, and many thanks from me.

London's Elephants - No 32 in a Series

If you do go to the Victoria Miro gallery, you also have the opportunity to see NS Harsha's work, including this one, "In Musth". It has always amused me that a must (or musth) is the word for an elephant on heat. When I say "always", I mean each time I hear someone say "It's a must".

London's Elephants - No 31 in a Series

Before London Daily Photo grinds to a halt, I had to bring you this elephant. Not the best photo - I had to sneak it and I've been trying since to get a better one - it is inside the Oriental Club in Stafford Place, just of Oxford Street. The African Indian Elephant is their emblem, and they have been a quintessential London institution since 1824, so it had to join the series. (thanks tot he Secretary of the Oriental Club for the correction!)

Stratford Place is a cul-de-sac, and you would not normally turn into it; you can see a view outside of the building here. The elephant is to the right as you go in.

London's Elephants - No 30 in a series

When I wandered into the grounds of Kings College I was brought up short by a bizarre sight - a bike shed with these plaster plaques recovered from the original St Dunstan's House demolished in 1976. Well, they had to do something with them, didn't they?

London's Elephants - No 29 in a series

The Horniman Museum has strong leanings to Natural History and, as we found out, to the odd walrus. I was pleased to learn that they didn't neglect the elephant, though.

The elephant series is here.

London's Elephants - No 28 in a series

Today's elephant was spotted by the great Greenwich Phantom sitting high on what used to be Burton's building in central Greenwich. See the general view of the building here.

London's Elephants - No 27 in a Series

A pachyderm moment to round off the week, this is one of a pair supporting the columns in the facade of India House in the Aldwych.

London's Elephants - No 26 in a series

It's been a while, but the elephants are on the move again. This stencil work is by OTP Collective, a bunch of artists and designers who get into tagging as well as the more interesting street art. Oh, and OTP stands for One Trick Pony.

See where on the London Daily Photo Map
For the first 200 Map places, click here.

London's Elephants - No 25 in a series

'Tis elephant time again! This time, not just one, but a herd of topiary elephants are in Regents Park. They are on walkabout as part of The Survival Tour, an event seeking to highlight the plight of the elephant as its habitat disappears worldwide. Not to be confused with the herd of elephants currently rampaging through Norwich. If you want to see what the elephants are like photographed on film using my old OM1, that's here.

They're in Regent's Park through the end of July, when they move to Selfriges (!!) - you may have seen them already in St James Park.

See where on the London Daily Photo Map

London's Elephants - No 24 in a series

Another week, another elephant. Today's can be found on the Animals in War monument at the top end of Park Lane. And no, I'm not about to start "London's Llamas".

See where on the London Daily Photo Map

London's Elephants - No 23 in a series

The Worshipful Company of Cutlers is one of the City's livery companies, dating back to the 13th Century, it gained it's Royal Charter in the 15th Century. The elephant on its shield probably refers to the ivory that was used for the handles of the best items. Whatever the reason, it means they have possibly the finest pair of knockers in London.

See where on the London Daily Photo Map

London's Elephants - No.22 in the series

It had to arrive, sooner or later - the London Elephant that everyone knows - in fact mostly just referred to as "The Elephant" - The Elephant and Castle. It's still one of the less solubrious areas of town; if you want to read about it, local autority blurb is here, a summary is here and interminable Wikipedia stuff here.

See where on the London Daily Photo Map

The elephant series is here.

London's Elephants - No.21 in the series

What can I have been thinking of? It's been two months without an elephant - I apologise.
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So here we have two, in the window of the Indian Tourist Office in Cork Street - which fits in nicely with the location for The Way We See It this week. Just DON'T ask me what thecharacter in the middle is doing.

See where on the London Daily Photo Map

London's Elephants - No. 20 in a series

It's elephant time again, strange but although they aren't native to this country they seem to do well here - there are still more waiting in the wings. You'll find this one in Rasa, an Indian Restaurant in Derring Street, just opposite yesterday's building. I've not tried eating there, but it looks OK, as far as you can judge these from the outside. And of course, they have an elephant.

London's Elephants - No. 19 in a series

The idea behind "Trunks Meet Trunks" in Hyde Park is to make you stop and consider the importance of wildlife corridors. The beauty is, there is not just one elephant here, but a whole herd.

These beasts are truly compelling, and they will only be here until the 18th, I would throughly recommend a visit. If you can't get there, here are a range of pachyderm connected activities you can do wherever you are.

Thanks to Dianne for bringing these to my attention.

London's Elephants - No. 18 in a series

The Trafalgar Square festival this year sets out to express London’s creative connections with India, with a range of dance, music and performance. Today, they were painting a poster and these elephants appeared.

Last day Sunday, if you want to get down there. Lots of photos here or here.

London's Elephants - No 17 in the series

Today's elephants come from Northfield Nursery in Sewardstone, Chingford. Not quite up to the standard of No. 7, but still adequate pachyderm quotient.

See where: London Daily Photo Map.

London's Elephants - No 16 in a series

It's a pachyderm moment one more time! This one is on Allington House in Victoria. It was created by Barry Baldwin, and here he is in the creative process. I have no idea why it's on this building.

London's Elephants - No.15 in a series

"I'm just popping out for a curry!" is what this elephant seems to be saying. It's one of a pair outside the Curry Palace restaurant, Queensway. I confess I wasn't about to sample their cuisine, but I do like their taste in elephants.

Who would have thought this series has been running for over a year already.

London's Elephants - No. 14 in a series

Nobody guessed, it's elephant time again. I particularly like this one because it was a visitor to London that brought it to my attention. I had The Adelphi down to visit sometime, and knew of the friezes, but I knew nothing of the elephants. You can find them right around the building.

London's Elephants - No 13 in a series

The latest in the series is in Notting Hill Gate and is title is "Carnival Elephant".

Interestingly, an intrepid scout from the U.S. of A. on a trip to London has found me another elephant that I didn't know about....it will be along next time.

London's Elephants - No 12 in the series

This one is high up on Africa house in Kingsway - very redolent of the turn of the century. I'm not too sure about the guy with the rifle, though. All I can say is that the elephant still looks alive.

London's Elephants - No. 11 1/2 in a series

I love London. If this was a book launch in Paris, there would have been a clever, artistic interpretation of mammoths in pre-history. New York? Hey, let's sell everyone a Mammoth Burger. Here? Come on folks, let's put a woolly mammoth in Trafalgar Square.

Don't you just love Garef (Gareth) the mamef (mammoth)?

Follow this link to find out what it was all about, or just enjoy the sight of a woolly mammoth in London.

Gareth has sadly been downgraded to 0.5 of an pachyderm because you don't have the opportunity to see him (except here,of course).

It was Dan the Elephant man that alerted me to this event. Do explore his site if you'd like to daydream about what it might be like to earn youn way through life working with these magnificent animals.

London's Elephants - No. 11 in a series

The series had to have an image of Ganesha, the elephant god. This rather unusual dancing Ganesh is in the British Museum and dates from 750 AD. It was pillaged brought back from Uttar Pradesh and can now be seen amongst the entirely wonderful Indian collection.

You may find it interesting to know that Ganesh, one of the favourite Hindu gods is the lord of beginnings and the placer and remover of obstacles. In the myth, he lost his human head when Shiva cut it off in a temper. He swore to replace it with the head of hate first creature he met, which was an elephant,