An inspired passion for London

It was the year Harold Wilson resigned abruptly, the year when the sun unexpectedly blistered Britain into months of drought, and, more predictably, the year when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey, went cap-in-hand to the IMF, seeking cash to prop up our battered economy. None disputed that Britain was the sick man of Europe. But towards the end of 1976, something good did emerge: on 2 December, the Queen opened the Museum of London.

This may have seemed a small consolation at the time, although the critics who ventured there ahead of her had already formed highly favourable opinions - despite initial misgivings. "Next Thursday, the Queen opens the new Museum of London. I hope she can find it," wrote Kenneth Pearson. "It stands at the St Paul's end of London Wall, a forbidding fortress made for the Henry the Fifths of this nation. Its seductions lie inside."

Oliver Pritchett, in the Standard, suggested that the approach might cause visitors to wonder whether "the authorities have gone mad and made it the country's first drive-in museum". At the entrance, added Pritchett, different doubts crowded in. "There is a shy glimpse of the top of the Old Bailey and an apologetic corner of the Dome of St Paul's, and St Botolph's church huddles modestly below. All the rest is windblown office blocks. It is difficult to imagine there is any past left in London ... the museum triumphantly proves the contrary." The Architectural Review remarked that "those intrepid visitors who find their way in are rewarded by the sight of one of the most pleasant new public interiors in the country".

In the succeeding 25 years, "intrepid visitors" have been increasingly well-rewarded. The Museum is now the world's largest "urban history museum", with more than a million objects in an encyclopaedic collection which spans more than 2,000 years. Perhaps more importantly, however, it has an unrivalled reservoir of skills and specialities: its staff of 400 share and propagate the Museum's creed - "to inspire a passion for London".

It was in that proselytising spirit that, two months ago, the Museum announced its Linking Lives initiative, whose intention is to channel assistance from business - especially, the City, which lies on the Museum's doorstep - towards young Londoners who lack the educational and cultural opportunities that others take for granted.

The Museum has an undoubted flair for this kind of scheme: earlier this year, in conjunction with Land Securities plc, it recreated an archaeological dig, which 7,000 children visited; a party from the Barbican YMCA, on the other hand, was introduced to a freeze-dried rat, rattus rattus (carrier of the plague which killed 70,000-100,000 in 1665) and a tank of live leeches, during a day sponsored by Aon Group Ltd.

The jaundiced view might be that being brought face-to-face with a tankful of leeches is admirable preparation for life in the City. Firms wanting to challenge that kind of thinking - to show that humanity is alive and well in the Square Mile - can involve themselves with the Museum by donating money spread over a number of years. During that time, the Museum will devise projects and exhibitions which suit a sponsoring firm's business objectives.

But there is more to it than corporate philanthropy: Linking Lives will directly involve City staff in events at the Museum.

The Museum's director, Dr Simon Thurley, is characteristically effervescent about the prospect. "Since the Museum of London opened its doors 25 years ago, its aim has been to inspire a passion for London among all Londoners. Linking Lives will enable the Museum to work more closely alongside neighbouring organisations to engage the less-privileged communities of London in its rich and fascinating history."

There is a further carrot for the City - perhaps appropriately so, since it is the City's ceaseless redevelopment which yields opportunities for new archaeological discoveries. Over the next five years, £33 million is being spent on an extensive three-phase remodelling of the museum. Firms which invest in Linking Lives will be the first to benefit.