The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 108

T14 Britain Doing The Knowledge without the taxi Britain's Blue Badge guides were founded 60 years ago. Sophie Campbell, a new recruit, marvels at their meticulous training and the stamina of their customers he taxi driver, his face slid stained rumpled addressed back heap the with the in window tear-, the concern, back and of his cab. Me. "Can I just ask, love, are you doing The Knowledge?" "No! I'm about to fail my Blue Badge exams! Waaaaahhhh!" He told me he had been just the same hard to imagine before he did the fearsome exam taken ore London cabbies. He said I would be fine and to let him know how I got on, "otherwise I'll be able to email him to say I was the proud, if haggard, possessor of a Blue Badge.

The badge, in my case for guiding in London, is the only internationally recognised guiding qualification in Britain. It took 18 months (two nights a week plus Saturday practicals, with a six-month break to do a project and my own research) and cost about £5,000, if you add in the exam fees, books, espressos, cream buns and alcohol. I still spent less than my friend Sarah, who bought a designer waterproof jacket from Fenwick need it for my before we had even finished the induction weekend. It's 60 years since the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides which runs the Blue Badge Tourist Guide training courses appeared in its first incarnation. London needed properly accredited guides in time for the Festival of Britain, so the main tourist body at the time, the British Travel Holidays Association, set up a course at Regent Street Polytechnic.

When the first group qualified, a few of them met to celebrate in the George Inn on Borough High Street one of London's few original coaching inns, as you may know (and if you don't I can tell you about it in exhaustive detail) and decided to form their own association. It was at first called the Guild of Guide Lecturers, and its founding members nicknamed "The Magnificent Seven" by the Guild's archivist, Mehmet Topal guided in Blue Badge basics For information on the For other Blue Badge Tourist Guide country, email course for London, email Institute of the Guild of Registered (itg.org.uk) or Tourist Guides (london contact the Tourist Guides' uk); details for 2012-14 Association courses are now available. Current fees are £4,550, book a including lectures, coach guide, contact training and entry fees. of Registered SO OVER YEARS OF COX KINGS ESTD 1758 RUSSIA Travel with Cox Kings on the 8-day Classic Russia group tour from only £1,295 per person. Cox Kings offers the highest quality group tours, private journeys and tailor-made arrangements for discerning travellers.

Benefit from our expertise, personal service and superb value. To speak to an expert or request a brochure, please call 0845 564 3772 quoting reference TELEE12D or visit www.coxandkings.co.uk/russia ATOL 2815 ABTAV2999 1758-2011 TRAVEL EXPERIENCED hats and gloves. The badges they of Britain, with the Dome of wore were a handsome red, white Discovery on its metal legs and the and blue and featured the Order of space-age, tapered cylinder of the the Garter, London Pride the little Skylon glittering above the South pink flower that was common on Bank: "It looked like a wonderful London bomb sites at the time rocket," he explains, "We were so and the initials BTA. proud to be British." That was the first thing Maurice When he qualified as the youngest Jones put on the table when I met guide in Britain, aged 23, his wife him in the bar of the Grosvenor knitted beside him in the library. Hotel in Victoria.

"Look," he said, four nights a week while he studied, flipping it over, "Number 180. That things for him in the shows it's one of the earliest ones. Encyclopaedia Britannica. In the There are hardly any of these left." early days he found himself the lone Not only has Maurice, at the age of guide for nine coach loads of 82, got a very cool vintage badge tourists going to Cambridge: "I and a 60-year track record, he's still coach-hopped all the way, so they guiding, mainly Kent, where he all got a talk," he says cheerily. He lives.

He's one of the few who knew also guided 250 American surgeons any of the Magnificent Seven and around the Yorkshire Moors when has vivid memories of the Festival the local guide dropped out, despite having never been there before, and developed a 16-hour marathon tour of England that would now be illegal in terms of driver hours, not to parts of the Guides (020 7403 1115; mention his standing up to face the the blue-badge-guides. passengers and guiding backwards, Tourist Guiding com) or the Association as all the guides then. for Scotland, of Professional Tourist Things have on since solid Scottish Guides (020 7611 2545; Maurice and the Magnificents first touristguides.org.uk), got the ball, or perhaps the coach, (stga.co.uk/ which also runs two-hour rolling. For a start, the scenery "Essential Walks" 365 moves in a different direction: we Blue Badge days a year in London, guide strapped in and facing the Guild leaving from Piccadilly forwards, away from the passengers, Tourist Circus at 10am which means developing ostrichlike neck muscles and eyes in the Inghams No.1 for Ski Quality, Service Value NEW YEAR JANUARY DEPARTURES SKI SALE Star Rating Country Resort Board Departure Date Was NOW Austria (8 nights) 30 Dec £679 £299 Italy Bormio HB 14 Jan £635 £399 Switzerland Saas HB 7 Jan £685 £429 Austria Mayrhofen HB 7 Jan £579 £469 Switzerland Verbier CB (8 nights) 30 Dec £925 £529 La Plagne CB (8 nights) 30 Dec £1099 £599 France CB (a nights) 30 Dec £1079 £649 France Les Arcs CB (8 nights) 30 Dec £1049 £699 lift pass offer SAVE £299 per couple Terms, conditions and exclusions apply. Bed and Breakfast; HB Half Board; CB Catered Board.

Prices shown are based on 2 sharing and maximum occupancy of the standard room type or apartment for 7 nights (8 nights on 30 Dec), including lowest cost London flights, transfers and accommodation as shown. Supplements apply for regional airports. Subject to availability. Book by 30th November 2011. A late booking fee of £10 per person applies within 15 days of travel.

HUGE CHOICE OF HOLIDAYS DEPARTING 30 DEC TO 29 JAN NOW REDUCED BY UP TO £500 PER PERSON IATA ABTA Tract A DABTA No.V4871 020 8780 www.inghams.co.uk 7718 7 NOW DAYS OPEN BONDED SECURITY Join us on Facebook for the latest news and deals facebook.com/Telegraphtravel TOUR RIVIERA FAVOURITE, OPERATOR TRAVEL TRAVEL Five Selected Four days luxury from departures only and April £749pp, river to eight October days five-star 2012. from cruising only or ON NO DEPARTURES SUPPLEMENTS CERTAIN SINGLE 5 14 Explore days from Europe's only stunning rivers and waterways along the Rhine and Rhone There are many vessels cruising European rivers, Fully escorted price includes: but few can match the luxury and elegance of the Return rail connections on selected dates from more than 30 four-star superior Serenade 2, the star superior Swiss regional stations including Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Pearl or the five-star Swiss Corona. Boasting superb cuisine Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol and which will exceed your expectations, and the most comfortable surroundings possible. Standard class reserved seat on Eurostar from London St. There are a choice of seven fascinating cruises visiting such Pancras or flight from Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham or memorable places of interest and cities as Cologne, the Rhine Edinburgh (at a supplement) Gorge, Trier, Koblenz, Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Avignon, Beautifully appointed four-star superior and five cabins Amsterdam, Lucerne, Basel, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest.

with hotel standard beds, private bathrooms and river views See vineyards, monasteries, medieval towns, breathtaking Exceptional cuisine with full board throughout Alsace and the Black Forest, absorb the history of Gutenberg, A choice of seven stunning cruises plus experience stunning scenery with enchanting castles on Extensive and fully inclusive touring programmes virtually every river bend. The services of an experienced tour manager For a brochure, call 0844 873 0324, or to book, The Telegraph TRAVEL visit www.telegraph.co.uk/rivp, or email: 2011 AWARDS WINNER applicable for certain stations. Travel insurance not included. Prices based on two people (registered in England no 1869298) a company wholly independent of Telegraph Media Group Limited. Please Saturday, November 26, 2011 TELEGRAPH TRAVEL Our AUSTRALIA IA Western Australia offers you a world of rich experiences.

Our collage of highlights ranges from sipping wines from the Margaret River to the awesome wilderness of the Kimberley, dotted with ancient Aboriginal rock art sites, and the kaleidoscopic wonders of the Ningaloo Reef. Fly in style with Australia TRAVEL COMPANY QANTAS BUNGLE OF THE OZcars YEAR ATOL AITO 5019 BRIDGE WICKERS 020 7483 6555 travel with experience bridgeandwickers.co.uk 328 Wetmore Road, Burton upon Trent, Staffs DE14 1SP. Fax: 01283 742301. ABTA V4744 3 3 A ALAMY; SCHROER; RII sharing a twin cabin. Single cabins and optional insurance available at a supplement.

Riviera Travel, New Manor, refer to the Data Protection Notice in today's Personal Column. ATOL 3430 protected. This holiday is operated by, and your resulting contract will be with, Riviera Travel 02.