The Great Leadenhall Market Wild Goose Chase
Hunt for the Golden Egg and uncover the legend of Old Tom
Leadenhall Market is reimagining the roaring twenties’ craze for London-wide treasure hunts – get a team together to complete as many of the 100 challenges as you can within the time to win some eggciting prizes. In the spirit of the original 1920s treasure hunts by Bright Young Things across the capital, The Great Leadenhall Market Wild Goose Chase will include quirky in-market challenges, clue hunting and of course, dressing up. From Harry Potter homages to stylish photography, dance feats, goose faces and culinary constructions, teams will face a wide range of tasks for the honour of winning the inaugural Old Tom’s Golden Egg trophy and a first prize valued at £500
Free to enter. Sign up details to register your team…
Participant Instructions:
Participants can join in the game by following these simple steps:
1. Download the GooseChase iOS or Android app here.
2. Choose to play as a guest, or register for a personal account with a username & password.
3. Search for The Great Leadenhall Goose Chase or use join code: BD755B.
4. Follow the prompts to create or select a team.
Tasks will go live 8am on 1st April, and submissions will close on 30th April at 10pm. Organisers reserve the right to remove teams that have been inactive for 7 days or more from the start of the competition, to allow new entrants to compete.
The Legend of Old Tom (1797 – 1835)
Leadenhall Market was a centre for the poultry trade and during the 19th century ‘Old Tom’ was a celebrated character in Leadenhall. He was a gander from Ostend who came to England by chance, due to his fascination with one of the female members of his flock. It is recorded that over two consecutive days 34,000 geese were slaughtered in the Market – but Old Tom managed to escape execution. He became a great favourite in the market, even being fed at inns like The Lamb Tavern. After his death in 1835 at the age of 38, he lay in state in the market and was buried on site. You can visit Old Tom’s Bar for a spot of relaxation after your goose chase below The Lamb Tavern.
The Roaring Twenties
The Bright Young Things (a nickname given to them by the tabloid press) were a hedonistic group of young artists and socialites who lit up interwar London with elaborate parties and pranks.
Always in search of something entertaining to fill their time, along with friends Enid Raphael and Lady Eleanor Smith, in 1924 sisters Zita and Teresa ‘Baby’ Jungman set the craze for London-wide treasure hunts by fast car. From midnight, 50 motors sped across the capital in search of clues. The Hovis factory made a loaf with a clue baked inside; Lord Beaverbrook was persuaded to print a special edition of the Evening Standard complete with mocked-up headlines, concealing clues in imaginary news stories.
There were paper-chases across London buses and tubes (a mode of transport which would have been utterly unfamiliar to the socialites), scavenger parties and games of follow-my-leader across Selfridges, in pursuit of a chap in a scarlet cape. Pranks abounded including trophy hunts, in which participants had to bring back such impossible items as the wig of American society hostess Laura Corrigan or the Archbishop of Canterbury’s spectacles.
Their antics gave the Daily Mail, Sketch and Express plenty of outraged copy. Baby posed as a reporter to get into Claridge’s and interview author Beverley Nichols; Zita attempted to overnight in the chamber of horrors at Madame Tussaud’s. The girls posed constantly, often in costume, wanting to get their portraits in such magazines as Tatler, Bystander and Vogue.
Bit of a gem from said author which we’re sure Windsor Flowers would agree with!
“Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums.” Beverley Nichols