19/07/2024

The Freedom of the City of London has been bestowed by the Lord Mayor since feudal times. There is disagreement about what actual freedoms it confers. There seems to be some truth in the widely-held belief that you get the right to drive your sheep across London Bridge (at least without having to pay a toll), hence the photo-bombing ovine on the left. Other benefits may be apocryphal or long-ago withdrawn: for example the right to be drunk and disorderly in the City of London without fear of arrest. This would almost certainly be frowned upon by the modern day City of London police force; but were they to invoke some equally arcane and ancient Medieval law imposing the death penalty for such offences, at least a Freeman has the right to be hanged with a silken rope (or possibly not).

And here's how Alex and Clive got their Freedoms.