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Pop quiz: what connects Pirates of the Caribbean, Skyfall, Fast and Furious, Bridgerton and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties?
Locations spotters will clock that each of those Hollywood blockbusters (and Netflix hits) have scenes that were filmed at Greenwich’s famous Old Royal Naval College – and the World Heritage Site is now share its big-screen secrets via a new walking tour called ‘Wigs, Weddings, Powder and Palaces’.
The tour will even catapult visitors back in time to cinema’s silent era. Great War veteran and filmmaker Harry Bruce Woolfe shot scenes from his silent film Sons of the Sea at the Naval College in 1925, the first time the site was used for a motion picture. Its popularity among location scouts blew up in the ’70s and ’80s as John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), and Octopussy all filmed scenes here, before Four Weddings and a Funeral, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and The Mummy Returns booked the site around the turn of the millennium.
Even more attention came in the years that followed as Disney, Marvel, Netflix and the BBC all took advantage of the old English aesthetic of Christopher Wren’s 17th century designs, along with the likes of Ridley Scott, Steve McQueen, Ang Lee and Sam Mendes.
The total number of movies filmed at the College is officially 102 (and counting), but its popularity has surged in recent years. Sixty-eight films have shot here since 2005 – plus 46 TV series – with Johnny Depp, Will Ferrell, Judy Dench, Anne Hathaway and Uma Thurman are among the many A-listers to step in front of cameras in Greenwich. Guy Ritchie has directed six different films here, and there have been five adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes story filmed on the site.
‘Wigs, Weddings, Powder and Palaces’ includes a Bridgerton-inspired class on the secret meanings of hand fan etiquette, plus a souvenir fan chucked in with your ticket. Organisers also recommend the SetJetters app, which will let you photograph yourself in some of the College’s most famous scenes using augmented reality.
The tours run on Saturdays and Sunday from April 4. They set off at 1.30pm and 3.30pm, and last for 75 minutes.
Ticket are £25 for adults and £19 concessions, and can be booked from the official website now.
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