UCO London Study Tour 2025
By : J. David Chapman/May 22, 2025
I am writing this from the Grand Rotunda in the British Museum. The 2025 UCO London Study Tour is in full swing. The British Museum is arguably the most noteworthy museum worldwide. It is an incomparably rich treasure chest of items collected by the British when they ruled the world. The Rosetta Stone, Egyptian antiquities and mummies, the Elgin Marbles, the Black Obelisk, the 2,000-year-old Lindow Bog Man, and the Sutton Hoo treasure, all within an incredible building housing these treasures.
We started the tour of London with The Business of the Premier League – a tour of Chelsea Football Stadium. Then we were off to a lecture at the Bank of England from a high-ranking fin-tech executive and then wrapped up the day with a quick visit to the sight of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
The following day is spent in central London. We start with a visit to the Tower of London where the
Crown Jewels are housed. Next, it was off to a behind-the-scenes tour of Tower Bridge. We ended the day at St. Paul’s Cathedral which was built over 300 years ago and is an architectural masterpiece designed and built by Christopher Wren. On the way back, we stop quickly at the Twining’s Tea Company where they have been selling tea in the same tiny building since 1706.
We turn our focus to the central London business district. We toured skyscrapers with nicknames such as The Heron Tower, The Cheese Grater, The Walkie-Talkie Building, The Gherkin, and The Shard, which is the tallest building in Western Europe at 310 meters. Our students are always interested to compare it to our Devon Tower, at 257 meters, and are proud to know it would hold a respectable place in London’s skyline. While there we tour Lloyd’s of London – the largest insurance marketplace in the world.
No tour of London is complete without a visit to the theater. The UCO group was treated to the production of the Lion King at the Lyceum Theater in London’s world-famous West End. In the days following, the students will enjoy a visit to the Museum of Brands, the V&A Museum, see Buckingham Palace, tour Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and the underground Cabinet War Rooms where Winston Churchill orchestrated Britain’s defense again Nazi Germany.
J. David Chapman, Ph.D., is Chair of Finance & Professor of real estate at The University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).