Allies Sculpture

The lowdown

Halfway along expensive New Bond Street, two wartime giants sit relaxed on a bronze bench in mid-conversation, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, casual and unbuttoned rather than heroic and stiff. The sculpture was unveiled in 1995 to mark fifty years since the end of the war and the alliance between their two nations.

The lovely touch is the gap between them. There is just enough room to sit down in the middle, so people perch between the two leaders for a photograph, which is exactly what the artist intended. It is free, friendly and a welcome bit of warmth among the luxury shopfronts.