Today I ran a 10k route in London with Mandy, Helen and Lou. Along the way we learnt all about the history of gin.
On the train to Waterloo we had a little traveller to help us on the way.
We met the other people on the run, and the tun leader Matt, at an old pub, Ye Olde Cock Tavern, where the upper floor is now a gin palace.
Our first stop was at the riverside where we learnt that the definition of a gin is neutral spirit with juniper. So basically gin is just vodka with juniper berries.
At some of the stops our run leader had hats or other props for people to wear to try and bring the story more to life!
We then ran on to Cleopatra’s needle. Apparently the Egyptians used juniper for jaundice. It was later used by the Greeks for male enhancement purposes. And in the Roman times juniper was steeped in wine for chest infections. And although this was a combination of juniper and alcohol it wasn’t gin.
We carried on to St Martin’s in the field where we learnt that juniper was used by alchemists and in apothecaries. Alchemists believe that everything is related to four main elements- earth, wind, fire and water – and anything can be made from this. The apothecaries used juniper for many purposes including as a cure for the plague.
John Parkinson was an apothecarist and belonged to the worshipful company of apothecaries.
The next stop was by Trafalgar square at the statue of Charles I. Charles I supported the Dutch when they were at war against France. The Dutch were drinking gin and they drank this before going into battle and this is where the saying ‘dutch courage’ comes from. The Dutch and English won the war and to say thank you the Dutch itch gave a large quantity of gin to the British to take home with them.
So gin became a popular drink.
We ran on to Westminister Abbey and to No 1 the Sanctuary. This is the location of the Worshipful company of distillers and they made sure that the gin was of a certain quality. Around this time Samuel Peeps wrote in his diary that he had been suffering from constipation and that drinking gin, juniper water, had relieved this.
William of Orange came to power in 1688 and war there was a war with France. Beacause of this William banned all french products and this included french brandy. French brandy was the drink of noblemen who were slightly annoyed with this. They substituted the brandy with gin.
Our next stop was a statue of Anna, known as Brandy Anna, who came to power after William of Orange. She cancelled the charter of the worshipful company of distillers. Once this was cancelled, in order to produce gin, all you had to do was put a letter in your window to say you intended to distill gin and if this was not opposed in 10 days then you could start your production. This led to lots of gin houses where people produced gin in all sorts of ways, including in bathtubs.
William of Orange was not a popular monarch and their is only one statue of him in a private garden in London. Before William became king the previous king was Charles II. Charles was a catholic but the people didn’t want a Catholic king. In order to avoid being beheaded, Charles II renounced the throne to Mary. It was felt that Mary needed support so she had to marry William of Orange. William had asthma so he lived in Kensington outside of the pollution and smog in london. He was said to be very ugly and apparently Mary cried when she knew she had to marry him. Despite this e had lots of sex with both sexes. William died falling off his own horse as the horse went over a small mole hill. The statue shows and mocks this.
And then it was on to St Giles in the field past s very nice shop selling lots of gin.
St Giles used to be quite a poor part of London and gin was everywhere. Signs said ‘drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, straw for nothing’. The straw was there for people to pass out on. Gin was extremely cheap – cheaper than ale, but the quality was really bad. The gin was toxic and made with turpentine and sulphur acid. People literally lost their sight from drinking it – blind drunk. Mothers drank gin and many babies were stillborn or deformed – mother’s ruin. Lots of children drank it too and many of them died before the age of 5.
In 1732 there was a case heard at the old bailey. Judith Defur was tried for the murder of her child. Her child was 2 years old and she said she couldn’t afford to look after it so she took it to the workhouse. The child was clothed and fed. After 2 days Judith picked up her child from the workhouse. She strangled it and sold the clothes to buy gin. Judith was hung at the old bailey.
And then we carried on to Bow Street where there was a stone commemorating some notable men including Henry Fielding. Henry was a magistrate and had two pictures commissioned- gin alley and beer street. The beer street depicted a much nicer scene and the message was drink beer and you will have a better time than drinking gin.
So a number of gin acts were put in place. The acts were aimed at the gin sellers and basically anyone selling gin had to have a license. These cost £50 each and only two were ever sold.
In 1738 they had 5 acts in place but people got round the acts in a number of ways. One of the most notable ones was the black cat in blue cap alley. People would put money in the mouth of the cat in the wall and gin would came out of its paw.
In 1751 the Tippling act came into force and this targeted the people making the gin. The act said that gin could only be distilled in 18 hectare vats and only be sold to taverns.
Also in 1757 there was a massive food shortage and the ingredients that went into gin were used for food instead and this also had an impact on gin production.
In 1761 the laws were elaxed a bit, but you continued to still need a license to make gin and be a licensed distillery.
In the 1800s there was the creation of public houses and many of these were in a sorry state. Gin Distillerys payed some pubs to be done up so they could then sell them their products.
This led to the creation of gin palaces, over 5000 in 5 years. Gin became a bohemian drink.
Lord Byron started to drink gin and water which is an early vesrion of a gin and tonic. People are still trying to recreate some of the oldecipes today.
The gin trade began disappating again in 1900s and vodka became more popular as it was easier to prepare and drink. Gin became the drink of the grannies.
The Tippling act inhibited innovation as 18 hectare vats meant that you couldn’t try new gins. In 2008-2010 both Sipsmith and Chase distillers managed to overturn the Tippling act. So more distilleries started to open and there are now 390 registered in this country to date. In the City of london there is only one distillary within the square mile.
£1 billion of gin was sold last year.
Back at the pub we were rewarded with a Sipsmith gin and tonic – it was very welcome.
Gibraltar has a really long main street, but to be honest it wasn’t all that interesting.
We all had a little snooze on the plane and then a g&t!After landing in Gibraltar we bought some very cheap alcohol in the tiny duty free shop before walking across to Spain. In Spain we picked up our hire car and Jamie drove us to the flat, it’s only about 25 minutes and along a coastal road.We quickly unpacked and headed to the swimming pool to catch some rays.
Whilst we were sunbathing Alicia prepared a delicious Spanish lunch.
We decided it would be a good idea to walk off some of the food we’d eaten. So we set off, walking along the beach.
Just up from the apartment is a nudist beach which made for some interesting sights! We also came across a huge jellyfish.
We walked up to some small rocks at the far end of the beach where we took a little rest.
Alicia and Jamie decided to walk across to some larger rocks, but that wasn’t such a good idea as Jamie slipped and managed to get some sea uurchin spikes in his feet.
Alicia performed emergency surgery and managed to extract one of the spines but we couldn’t get to the others. So we walked back to the apartment and Jamie managed to get the rest of them out using needles and and tweezers.
After all that drama, alcohol was needed.
And then it was time to get ready to go out!We got the bus into Estepona and walked through the town to a posh tapas place.
The food was delicious! We had a beer here before heading off to another tapa place where we had more tasty fod and a beer or two!
Alicia then took us to a small club where we played table football- I was not particularly good at this and let in quite a few goals.
We then walked through town, the small streets are really beautiful.
We decided to walk down to the port ewhich is where the nightlife is. On the way we had a little fun in the playground.
At the port we stopped at a bar where Alicia and Jamie had a shisha.
We also had a little dance!On the way to get a taxi we stopped off at a salsa club and I had a little bachatta dance with a very good dancer!I think it was the early hours of the momorning when we got home.
Fun, Fitness and Fabulousness in your Fifties 