Press release published Friday 29 September 2006
The Lord Mayor’s Show 2006 will take you on a cultural trip around the world – without the need to leave London.
This year’s Show, on Saturday 11th November 2006, will be one of the biggest and most culturally diverse in the parade’s near-800 year history as the three-mile long parade winds its way through the streets of the City of London, from the Mansion House to the Courts of Justice via St Paul’s Cathedral and back.
A poppy drop at 11am will herald the start of a two-minute silence for Armistice Day, as Typhoons from the Royal Air Force and helicopters from Joint Helicopter Command kick-start the celebrations with a flypast over the Royal Exchange and Mansion House.
More than 6,000 people of all ages, including 1,550 military personnel, will take part in the parade to celebrate the inaugural outing of the 679th Lord Mayor of the City of London. A total number of 249 vehicles will join the procession, including 19 carriages – the most eye-catching of which is the 250-year-old, gold Lord Mayor’s State Coach.
The colourful pageant of international music, song and dance also includes 71 floats, six of which are sponsored by the City of London Corporation. Participants converge from across the world, as Hong Kong acrobats perform alongside Kazakh horsemen and Bengali drummers next to Brazilian Carnival dancers.
One of the highlights of the Show will be a giant, mechanical Bengali tiger which will roar its way through the crowds to the sounds of Bhangra beats.
Some 202 horses, 116 of which are military, and 24 marching bands, including 10 military bands, will also take part in the procession which travels from Mansion House to St Paul’s Cathedral. There the new Lord Mayor is blessed by the Dean of St Paul’s before the procession carries on to the Royal Courts of Justice where the Lord Mayor swears an oath of allegiance to the sovereign before the Lord Chief Justice and Judges of the Queen’s Bench Division, as enshrined in the Magna Carta.
The processions then sets off at 1pm on the return journey along Victoria Embankment to Mansion House, where the newly sworn-in Lord Mayor arrives to be greeted by the City Aldermen and Livery Company Masters in their colourful gowns.
The day culminates in a fireworks extravaganza between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges on the Thames from 5pm.