The infamous 'Old Bailey' has had a long, scarred history. It stands on the site of the medieval 10th Century Newgate Gaol, which was destroyed in the 1666 Fire of London, rebuilt on 1674, only to be hit with an outbreak of typhus, which killed 60 people including the Lord Mayor and two judges.

During the Blitz, the Central Criminal Court was bombed and severely damaged as well as being a focus point for a series of IRA bombing attacks.

Oscar Wilde and William Penn were famously convicted in this building with an iconic statue of the blindfolded justice sitting above the dome. Written above the main entrance is 'Defend the Children of the Poor & Punish the Wrongdoer'.

In Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, the Old Bailey plays a central part in the trial of Charles Darnay for treason and terrorist Sean Miller is tried here in the novel Patriot Games.

Who can forget the long-running TV series Rumpole of the Bailey and the popular Australian folk song 'Botany Bay', where the first verse referenced the 'well known Old Bailey'.