LIFE'S A BOARD GAME
LIFE was simpler back in the day. If you wanted to buy a Monopoly set, you went to a toy shop and bought one. Now, there is a cornucopia of sets to choose from, including a luxury version by David Linley for £3,995.
Monopoly is more than a game, however, it is a way of life: aspirational, strategic and entrepreneurial. Its phrases have penetrated our vocabulary, from ‘get out of jail free’ to ‘do not pass go’. More significantly, it gives us an insight into the social history of London, starting from Old Kent Road, the first square on the board and. Another square, Pall Mall (£140), built during the reign of Charles II and notable for its gentlemen’s clubs, including The Reform, Athenaeum, Royal Automobile and Travellers, was named after a croquet-like game called pell-mell. Because the street was routinely congested, the King suggested a second, wider road to help ease traffic—The Mall, from Admiralty Arch to Buckingham Palace. The Strand (£220) was associated with important townhouses, including Essex House, inherited by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1588; Arundel House, owned by William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton, and then Henry FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel; Somerset House, built by Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset; Savoy Palace, one-time home of John of Gaunt, destroyed during the Peasants’ Revolt and now a hotel; and Durham House, once occupied by Anne Boleyn and demolished in 1660.
