27 Astonishing Things You Didn't Know About London

11. Queen Anne's Statue Faces A Pub Because She Liked A Tipple... Or Ten

Outside St Paul€™s Cathedral is a statue of Queen Anne, who was the monarch when St Paul's was erected. This statue, rather unfortunately, used to face a gin shop (pub). It's unfortunate because Queen Anne had a well known drinking problem. In fact, her addiction was so widely mocked that there was even a song poking fun at the statue's placement:
Poor Queen Anne, left in the lurch, facing a pub, back to the church!
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Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year. You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike