Abstract :
One of the nice things about working part-time is that you can have days out with your wife when most people are at work. In January this year we went from York to London for the day to see the exhibition at the British Museum on the history of Germany. What a disappointment! However, before we went to the museum we had arranged to go to the only surviving house where Benjamin Franklin had lived. What a treat! The house is at 36 Craven Street. It was built around 1730 and is about a five minutes´ walk from Trafalgar Square. Franklin spent sixteen of the years between 1757 and 1775 lodging in rooms there whilst principally engaged in diplomatic activities on behalf of what were then the UK´s North American colonies. The house was run by his landlady Mrs. Margaret Stevenson and her daughter Polly. He referred to Mrs. Stevenson as his ???London wife??? and was very close to both of them although there is no evidence of anything other than platonic relationships. Today the house is run by a charity and it can be visited most days, see www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/default.htm. We took the one hour guided tour and our guide was an actress playing the part of Polly who had a conversation with other characters in a projected audio-visual presentation, a rather engaging way of being shown around the house.
