Madame Tussauds

What can one say about Madame Tussauds? It’s unbelievably kitsch and terribly overpriced, yet it draws more than three million people every year and sits high on the ‘must-do’ list of any visitor to London. Different strokes for different folks, as they say, but if you like the idea of wax celebrities, movie stars and fantastically lifelike figures of the Windsors, you’re in for a treat. Madame Tussauds dates back more than two centuries when the eponymous Swiss model-maker started making death masks of the people killed during the French Revolution. She came to London in 1803 and exhibited around 30 wax models in Baker St, on a site not far from this building, which has housed the waxworks since 1885. The models were an enormous hit in Victorian times, when they provided visitors with their only glimpse of the famous and infamous before photography was widespread and long before the advent of TV. Madame Tussauds is very keen on public surveys telling it who the punters would like to see most, resulting in such highlights as a photo op with the Kate Moss figure (a poor likeness), an eco Prince Charles statue, the Blush Room where A-listers stand listlessly and where the J-Lo figure blushes if you whisper in her ear. Bollywood fans are treated with a smiling Shahrukh Khan and ‘Big Bruvva’ lovers can get into the Diary Room and take the video home. The latest addition to the collection is of London Mayor Boris Johnson, smiling cheekily at the visitors, and the website features a YouTube video of the live Boris Johnson next to his waxen doppelganger, telling a bunch of journalists that Madame Tussauds is ‘one of those London attractions that will pull this city out of the recession’. All for a good cause, then. Permanent photo opportunities include the political leaders in World Stage and the array of celebrities in Premiere Room. The famous Chamber of Horrors details the gory exploits of Jack the Ripper and is usually a huge hit with children. Finally you can take a ride in the Spirit of London ‘time taxi’, where you sit in a mock-up of a London black cab and are whipped through a five-minute historical summary of London, a mercifully short time to endure the god-awful scripts and hackneyed commentary. The old Planetarium is now the Stardome, which screens an entertaining and educational animation by Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit (it involves aliens and celebrities). In case you were wondering what happens to the models of those people whose 15 minutes have passed, contrary to popular belief, they are never melted down, but simply rest in storage. If you want to avoid the queues (particularly in summer) book your tickets online and get a timed entry slot. They are cheaper this way too.