Foundation Director, Sir Terry Wogan, Freeman of the City of London, raises Tower Bridge

published on Nov 25th, 2009

Sir Terry Wogan will raise Tower Bridge and receive the Freedom of the City of London next month to celebrate five decades in broadcasting, and to mark his final week as the presenter of his hugely successful breakfast show, Wake Up to Wogan, on BBC Radio 2.

Sir Terry has been invited by the City of London Corporation, which owns Tower Bridge, to raise the two 1100-tonne bascules on Monday 14 December at 11.15am to allow a vessel to pass underneath the Bridge and along the river. While he is operating the machinery, Sir Terry will make a series of announcements over the Bridge’s tannoy system to warn road traffic, pedestrians and technical staff about its imminent closure and reopening.

After the bridge lift, he and his guests will be driven to Mansion House in the ‘Square Mile’ to attend his Freedom of the City of London ceremony at 12.00pm. He will be joined by Lord Mayor Nick Anstee and Stuart Fraser, City of London Policy Chairman, who both nominated him for his Freedom, and members of his family and BBC colleagues.

The ceremony, which will be presided over by Christopher Bilsland, Chamberlain of London, will begin with an oath of allegiance (to HM The Queen and the Lord Mayor, read aloud by Sir Terry) and end by him being greeted as a ‘Citizen of London’ and the presentation of a framed copy of his Freedom certificate. After the ceremony, the Lord Mayor and the Chamberlain will host a private lunch at Mansion House for Sir Terry and his guests.

Speaking before his Freedom ceremony, Sir Terry Wogan said:

"For years, I've been hoping to drive a herd of sheep over London Bridge. Or failing that, swinging from the Tower on a silken rope.”

Nick Anstee, Lord Mayor of the City of London, said:

“I am delighted to nominate Sir Terry for the Freedom of the City of London to help celebrate his outstanding work, whether it’s entertaining millions of people on ‘Wake Up to Wogan’ or raising millions of pounds for ‘Children in Need’. I am sure that pedestrians and car drivers on Tower Bridge will be pleasantly surprised to hear his dulcet tones over the tannoy when he stops the traffic… but I don’t hold out much hope for his sheep herding plans.”

One of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies still in existence today, the Freedom of the City of London is believed to have begun in 1237 and enabled recipients to carry out their trade. Today, people are nominated for, or apply for, the Freedom, because it offers them a link to the historic City of London and one of its ancient traditions. Many of the traditional privileges associated with the Freedom, including driving sheep over London Bridge and being drunk and disorderly in the City without fear of arrest, no longer exist.