Mrs Redboots wrote:
Richard J. wrote to uk.transport.london on Mon, 1 Nov 2004:

Mrs Redboots wrote:

Er - hello? The OP was entirely correct in his usage of the
apostrophe there - if you have a name ending with "S", and wish to
denote something belonging to the bearer of that name, the
apostrophe goes after it. James' shoes, Thomas' gloves.....

Er, no. James's, Thomas's. Go and read Eats, Shoots & Leaves
again.

That usage is accepted nowadays, but it is not what I was taught 45
years ago! Lynne Truss is, I think, younger than I am.

Sir Ernest Gowers, in Plain Words (1948) said that the James's form was
"favoured" especially for monosyllabic names like Giles, and by 1965 (in
Fowler's Modern English Usage which he edited) it was quoted as a
definite rule. So your teacher was a bit out of date, clinging to an
outdated rule that is not considered correct today.

Mind you, it is arguable that, as the Circus doesn't actually
belong to St Giles, he doesn't need an apostrophe.....

... which I think is the official view also. (St Giles High Street
is certainly spelt that way. Not sure about the Circus, which
doesn't seem to have an official existence.)

It's the bit round Centrepoint, isn't it?

Yes indeed, but I meant that there's no road that officially has that
name, so it's difficult to find an authoritative spelling.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)