If you flick through a few London guidebooks then it won’t be too long before you come across the phrase “when a man is tired of London he is tired of life”. It’s the go-to quote when you’re writing about our city. And the guy who wrote that line used to live here.
Samuel Johnson was a famous writer and wit who wrote an English dictionary. Everybody seems to believe that it was the first dictionary, but he was actually beaten to that by a Frenchman. And that’s pretty much everything that we remember him for: that opening quote plus the world’s first (but not actually the first) dictionary. And this house. And the cat statue out the front.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub
You’ll find his house tucked away in a little courtyard behind Fleet Street. What you need to do is find his local pub, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (which is still standing), and then head down the side of that dark and dingy alley. The great man used to come down here himself (or stagger down here) and have a few beers before heading home. All of the best writers had a pub on their doorstep. Many did their best thinking when they were drunk. I wonder how much of his wisdom and wit was written three sheets to the wind in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese? In my experience you either do your best work when you’re drunk, or your worst. The trick is knowing which is which. Samuel Johnson was lucky because he had James Boswell to filter out all the drunken banter from the good stuff.
I definitely recommend having a quick look inside the pub because you can sit where he sat, and bang your head on the same low oak beam. I have smacked my head against that oak beam a couple of times and trust me: it hurts! Go inside and have a nose around and you’ll see what I mean. I managed to smack my head on it when I was stone-cold sober, so Lord knows how many drunks have done it.
The actual house looks quite interesting from the outside but it’s rather dry and quiet once you step through the door because there’s not enough stuff inside it. They need to bring the house alive a bit and pipe in some Georgian music, have some waxwork models sitting in the seats playing cards, gossiping, writing their letters… let’s see how Georgian society actually lived! Unfortunately none of his original furniture has survived and they’ve been too coy about what they’ve allowed in so it’s all brown walls and floorboards, and gloomy-looking portraits of people you don’t recognise.
Samuel Johnson’s English dictionary
They’ve placed a few cabinets of curiosities in the rooms with some old yellowing letters and old editions of his books. They’ve got a copy of his big dictionary on show as well, but everything else is locked away inside a couple of cream-coloured bookcases to keep them safe. You can peer at their spines through the glass if you want to.
Upstairs is a little museum of wartime photos showing how Hitler remodelled the roof, but if you’re expecting to see a Samuel Johnson museum then you’re going to go home disappointed, because you’re really here to see the house.
If you enjoy this then try Charles Dickens Museum (walk it in 16 mins or travel from Temple to Russell Square via tube). If you enjoy literary museums then you might like to try a tour of the Globe Theatre Tour, or the exhibition of historical books at the British Library. If you’re more interested in old houses then you might like to visit Benjamin Franklin’s House and 18 Stafford House
