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I am desperate to find out why Piccadilly was named Piccadilly Circus. What is the origin or meaning why the word "Circus was" added that it was named Piccadilly Circus? Was there perhaps, and excuse me if I might sound stupid, a long time ago when the name originated because there was a real circus there? I doudbt it as I cannot find any evidence of such on the internet. Can anyone please help...
"Piccadilly" takes it name from a 17th century frilly collar called a picadil. A dressmaker grew rich making them and built a house in the vicinity.
Someone queried the last time the the Earl of Shaftesbury memorial (Eros) was moved. It was moved a few metres southwards towards the theatre in 1985 as part of the work to pedestrianise the south side. Prior to that there was only a narrow bus lane heading east passing to the south of the memorial.
Eros is actually his brother whose name escapes me. The sculptor used the wrong likeness for the casting of the statue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.25.42.209 ( talk) 23:54, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
I prefer arranging pictures closely with the text. JuntungWu 18:20, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)
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Surely this was never Sogo? Wasnt the Japanese store next door. Lillywhites is *very* old. Justinc 13:38, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Lillywhites has been where it is now for many years; SOGO closed only 5 or 6 years ago, and was replaced by the Virgin records store - which has itself just closed. jamesgibbon 6 July 2005 15:45 (UTC)
This sentence is missing a verb: After the war, the entire fountain from the centre of the junction at the beginning of Shaftesbury Avenue to the southwestern corner. Was it supposed to read "was moved"? Seems most likely Justinc 15:30, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)
The info about the band is an exact suplication of their main entry, and I dont think they are important. Can we reduce it to a one liner linking to the other article? Justinc 15:30, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)
According to Isaac Asimov's Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, Piccadilly Circus was known as "Regent Circus" in the late 19th century. (See Thespis, line "And he sells pipe-lights in the Regent Circus", from Thes.' "I once knew a chap who discharged a function". wikisource:Thespis) This sounds plausible to me, and ought to be added to the article somewhere (e.g., History), but I'm not going to add it. Could someone please confirm the name and add it? -- Quuxplusone 16:07, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
The article refers to the fountain being moved to the SW corner "after the war". In fact while that's technically true, I believe it was moved sometime in the '80s - definitely after 1970, anyway; I have a photo taken in 1970 which shows it at its previous position. I'll find out when, and amend the article. jamesgibbon 6 July 2005 15:47 (UTC)
This is a great article to see on the main page, but is plaza really the correct word for describing an area of a British city? Giano | talk 9 July 2005 09:45 (UTC)
I winced when saw the word plaza applied to Picadilly circus. Not sure what to describe it as but thats not it. Pedestrianised area sounds the right sort of English phrase. 81.133.143.209 9 July 2005 13:20 (UTC)
There isn't a convenient English term, but "landmark" would do well on this occasion. Mark O'Sullivan (an Englishman)
The split into separate articles (eg Illuminated advertisements of Piccadilly Circus is starting to lead to inconsistencies, as they basically have duplicated text. The parts in the main article need to be cut right down to stubs or the drift will get worse. Justinc 10:03, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
As of 2017, the Illuminated Signs section is too detailed and interrupts the flow when reading the article. My immediately thought it should have been a separate article. Thereafter, looking at Talk, I see that this was addressed in 2005. However, the extent of details seems to have grown since 2005. I think it should be reconsidered for separation into a standalone article. IGE ( talk) 09:18, 8 February 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for putting up the new image, but the red triangular area is not Piccadilly Circus. The correct location is the open area to the West of the triangle. -- Wgsimon 17:25, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
The correct location can be seen here. The dark round area in the northwest part of the block below the triangle is the circus itself.
I have put a 'fact' tag in the section concerning the naming of Eros. The text looks convincing and I have no reason to doubt its accuracy but I have never heard the name 'Anteros' used before. As this information is news to many people and likely to be used to resolve disputes by readers I think it is important that what is stated is verifiable in some way. Can anybody provide any verification? Also, what was the official name of he statue, if it had one? Martin Hogbin ( talk) 09:10, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
If the proper name is 'Anteros', as the article mentions several times, why is the statute called 'Angel of Christian Charity' at the end of the History section? 68.230.71.24 ( talk) 15:35, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
I also question the Anteros name since there is a plaque commemorating 100 years as Eros. Astro359 ( talk) 16:43, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
I believe it is incorrect to suggest (especially in an unequivocal fashion, and in the section heading) that the figure that crowns the Shaftesbury Memorial represents Anteros rather than Eros. It’s true that Alfred Gilbert himself made this claim at one point, but that was one of many conflicting statements that the sculptor made about the inspiration for the statue some years after the work had been completed and installed. Gilbert seems to have come up with the Anteros afterthought as an element of his extensive attempts to justify his work in the face of prolonged (at times rabid) criticism from late-Victorian moralists. The same motive applied to Gilbert’s retrospective suggestion that the statue represented ‘the angel of Christian charity’. At the time the work was installed, no one was in much doubt that the figure was Eros, rather than Anteros, or any other alternative character, and the same view is held by most scholars today.
For the section on Eros, and also for the article on Anteros, to present as definitive the view that the statue represents Anteros, without any verifiable citation, is, I’m afraid, one of those classic Wikipedia issues, whereby one unnamed (but doubtless well-intentioned) user (213.123.37.252) who holds an unorthodox view has foisted it on unsuspecting readers as undisputed fact when it’s actually nothing of the sort. At best, it’s one hypothesis among several. There is no incontrovertible statement that can be made about the identity of the wingèd figure, but the broad consensus is that it’s Eros. But next thing you know, Anteros will be coming up as the answer in pub quiz questions on Piccadilly Circus, because someone read it on Wikipedia.
For an in-depth discussion of the subject, I recommend Jason Edwards’s book ‘Alfred Gilbert’s Aestheticism’ (2006), especially the chapter entitled ‘Piccadilly Aestheticism, c.1886–93: Eros’. Russ London ( talk) 18:29, 20 April 2010 (UTC)
On a related point, how can the two sentences "The fountain, when originally placed, was meant to have Anteros pointing his bow south towards Wimborne St Giles in Dorset, which was the Earl's country seat. The archers arrow was also aimed so as to bury its shaft in Shaftesbury Avenue." both be true? Dorset is to the south-west, while Shaftsbury Avenue is to the north! He only has the bow, and no arrow or quiver are depicted on the statue. It sounds to me as though the whole "shaftsbury = shaft buried" thing is hokum, cooked up because of the similarity in the way the terms sound. Anyone got any reliable sources? Pyrop e 16:55, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
Is it really necessary to have three maps, surely an actual photo would be better—Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.30.110.25 ( talk • contribs)
Wards was indeed a deep labyrinthine pub which served the best Guinness in England. It also served very good lunch and was frequented by all sorts, including City types looking for good grub at reasonable prices. It sold Irish brand cigarettes, such as Carrols and Major. It had two bars...The Munster and Leinster and the Connacht and Ulster Bar. You would have to go down two steep lots of steps to get to the bars and they were not very friendly if you were trying to get back up with a few pints in you because they were very steep. The writer of this note has personal experience of falling down these on St Patrick day about 40 years ago at about 4pm.....2.30pm was closing time but if you were in you were in and the pub did not close(except for the doors) most days.
Wards Irish House: Where we learned that the ubiquitous Buskers from all local Underground Stations' Alleyways were, in fact, not sole-traders but rather a loosely bound Collective who divvied their dosh up here whilst enjoying the excellent Guinness. All Irish Students heading for London seeking work for the Summer were well aware of the existence & location of this Community//Employment//Accommodation Centre nestling in the bowels of Piccadilly Circus unbeknownst to the milling throngs above hustling hither & thither avoiding Tourists lest they all go down like 10-pins. Many's the Mammie's boi, fresh-off-the-Boat on their first adventure outside their Parish, balking at first at the dark almost ominous descent into this Promised Land, to later emerge, lighter by the cost of a few Pints sure [FACT: In 1974 £1 got you 5 Pints] BUT knowing they were on their way to crash on someone's floor that night; in the morning get an introduction to some slum Landlord who ALWAYS had 'BedSits' available AND, on the next Working morning, be brought along to some Building Site where a few patrons of Wards already worked & (being the 70's) vacancies existed everywhere.
> As an habituê there WAS one troubling time to be in such a prominent centre-of-town establishment that unashamedly marketed it's Irishness. October & November 1974; Guildford & Birmingham. Bad times. Now, as the two entrances (Shaftesbury Ave. & Coventry Street) were merely darkened doorways that led you down steeply-inclined stairs to a dungeonesque basement, we theorised that sooner-or-later it'd only take two outraged citizens with one petrol-bomb each down the stairs & us imbibers would've been incinerated...!
>> There were SO many crazy characters around, not to mind the Dilly Boys AND the Scandal & Conspiracy Theories arising from the infamous PLAYLAND Amuement Arcade a few doors away. MJ
There is no mention here of Wards Irish House in Piccadilly Circus located next to or under the London Pavilion, Piccadilly. I think under. It was a quite famous underground pub, popular with journalists, actors and Irish navvies. It could certainly well have been a public toilet at one time – it closed down sometime in the 1980s. A big, dingy, labyrinthine pub in the bowels of the London Pavilion, with zinc counters, the walls were covered in public toilet tiling (light green and cream in colour) and there was ever that indefinable odour mingling with the Guinness and whiskey and tobacco fumes. You could get Dublin standard Guinness, along with gruffly amiable service. Underground, it was a sort of sanctuary, a club for the unclubbable.
Its (junior) sister pub was at 1-2 Bull Inn Court, WC2R 0NP off the Strand. It was in use certainly in the 1920's and was definitely still open in the early 1980s.
More famous in its day than the Wong Kei Restaurant, in Soho.
Surely it rates a mention? BeckenhamBear ( talk) 20:14, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
The Anteros name is based entirely on one source, which is not intended to be entirely serious. 'Eros' is the name by which the statue is almost universally known. Martin Hogbin ( talk) 19:20, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
The explanation is confusing. Why not just say "an archaic term for roundabout (UK) or traffic circle/rotary (US)"? Are they not synonymous?
And even if not quite, how about "a form of" or "an older design for". It blows my mind that a whole article on a "circus" doesn't once mention "roundabout" or "rotary"! 209.172.25.203 ( talk) 06:02, 23 March 2014 (UTC)
The place is essentially a glorified and noisy roundabout, and has been for the last fifty years. 83.251.170.27 ( talk) 15:44, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
i'm gonna move it over to the "piccadilly" page instead.
I could not find a description of the horizontal extent of Piccadilly Circus. Sir James Hopwood Jeans in his book, The Stars in Their Courses, models the size of the Solar System (the orbit of Pluto) to Piccadilly Circus. The scale size of the sun and planets he gives as a pea, seeds and dust. To write about that model, I wanted to give a correct idea of the size of Piccadilly Circus for someone that has not seen it. IGE ( talk) 09:19, 8 February 2017 (UTC)
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