- published: 15 Apr 2014
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Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starring Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius.
The script was written by T. E. B. Clarke and demonstrated his usual logical development of absurd ideas. Some scenes in which the residents are refused passage out of their district into London by the authorities, and rely on supplies thrown over the dividing wall by well-wishers, were very topical because the film was made during the Berlin Blockade.
The film was inspired by a true incident during the Second World War, when the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so that, when Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born there, she would not lose her right to the throne.
The film was screened at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, but not entered into the competition.
When some local children roll a tractor tyre down a hole, it sets off an unexploded bomb left over from the Second World War in Miramont Gardens in the Pimlico district of London. The explosion reveals a buried cellar containing artwork, coins, jewellery and an ancient parchment document. Professor Hatton-Jones (Margaret Rutherford) authenticates it as a royal charter of Edward IV that ceded the house and its estates to Charles VII ("the Rash"), the last Duke of Burgundy, when he sought refuge there several centuries ago after being presumed dead at the Battle of Nancy. As the charter had never been revoked, Pimlico is legally part of Burgundy. Local policeman P.C. Spiller (Philip Stainton) is shocked to realise, "Blimey! I'm a foreigner!"
Coordinates: 51°29′19″N 0°08′22″W / 51.4887°N 0.1395°W / 51.4887; -0.1395
Pimlico /ˈpɪmlɨkoʊ/ is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture.
The area is separated from Belgravia to the north by Victoria Railway Station, and bounded by the River Thames to the south, Vauxhall Bridge Road to the east and the former Grosvenor Canal to the west.
At Pimlico's heart is a highly disciplined grid of residential streets laid down by the planner Thomas Cubitt beginning in 1825 and now protected as the Pimlico Conservation Area. Pimlico is also home to the pre-World War II Dolphin Square development and the pioneering Churchill Gardens and Lillington Gardens estates, now designated conservation areas in their own right. The area has over 350 Grade II listed buildings and several Grade II* listed Churches.
Notable residents have included politician Winston Churchill, designer Laura Ashley, philosopher Swami Vivekananda, actor Laurence Olivier, illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley, Kenyan nationalist Jomo Kenyatta and inventor of lawn tennis Major Walter Wingfield.