No shortage of great writers in the English language – and no real shortage of statues remembering them. Sadly, they don’t seem to get the sites or attention given to generals or politicians and you have to look quite hard to find many of them.
Samuel Johnson
England’s most famous writer of the 18th century -and creator of the first English dictionary - looks very cuddly and amusing company in this statue, hidden behind St Clement Dane's church. Outside his house, nearby in Gough Square, is a statue of his cat, Hodge.
Strand WC2
Tube: Temple
John Bunyan
The author of Pilgrims Progress stands in a niche high on the corner of Catton Street, ignored by the many commuters using nearby Holborn Tube. This rather fine statue is by Richard Garbe RA and is dated 1953. Bunyan died in Holborn in 1688.
Southampton Row WC1
Tube: Holborn
Oscar Wilde
Called ‘A Conversation With Oscar WIlde’ this bronze memorial is designed as a seat, so you can enjoy his company and his quote: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’ Sculptor Maggie Hambling’s work was unveiled in 1998. Oscar is smoking - but his cigarette is regularly stolen.
Adelaide Street WC2
Tube: Charing Cross
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Men Of Letters 1 2
William Shakespeare
This rare statue to the Bard pays tribute to his friends, actors Henry Condell and John Heminge, who collected his works in the First Folio of 1623. It is in the grounds of St Mary Aldermanbury, bombed in 1940, whose remains were rebuilt in 1966 in Fulton, Missouri, as a memorial to Sir Winston Churchill.
Love Lane EC2
Tube: Barbican
Robert Burns
The national poet of Scotland, ‘Rabbie’ Burns wrote in Scots dialect and he is celebrated worldwide every year on Burns Night, Jan 25, which ends with the singing of his famous ‘Auld Lang Syne’. This statue by John Steel has a twin in Central Park, New York, and shows him writing the poem ‘Highland Mary’.
Victoria Embankment SW1
Tube: Embankment
Lord Byron
A traffic island at the bottom of Park Lane is a solitary spot for this bronze of the romantic poet - honoured in Greece, neglected in England. At least Byron does have his adoring dog Boatswain for company. Sculptor Richard C Belt won a libel case - and £5,000 in damages - in 1882 over whether this work was his own.
Park Lane SW1
Tube: Hyde Park Corner
