Guided Walks | Private Tours | Podcast

In October 1684 the diarist John Evelyn went to see what was probably the first rhinoceros to appear in England. She had been brought to London by some East India merchants who sold her at auction. The novelty factor allowed them to obtain the enormous sum of £2,320. Evelyn noted in his diary: ’Twas certainly a very wonderful creature’.

The money promised by the bidder never materialised, and the animal became an exhibit at the Bell Savage, which stood on the north side of Ludgate Hill an...

Jack the Ripper has remained a mystery for the past 132 years. That is not to say that numerous (too numerous to calculate) attempts have not been made to identify this most famous serial killer. Practically every year a new book and a new theory emerges and is pored over by Ripper enthusiasts in the hope that this is the theory that will finally nail him. But to no avail!

However, after reading five or six theories you come to realise that every book is slightly different in their view of ho...

As you cross the Thames on the Millennium Bridge (the “wobbly bridge”) you may well not be aware that immediately below you on the north bank river path there is a fascinating record of the history of London and the UK, scientific instruments/inventions and religion in London over the last 2,000 years.

Leading up to the year 2000 the northern riverside, round where the bridge is now, was completely regenerated. An accessible and pleasant riverside promenade was created where previously it...

Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood is one of London’s biggest tourist hotspots that isn’t open to tourists. Thousands of people visit each year, graffitiing their name on the studio’s outside wall (and their neighbours’ walls too) and attempting to recreate the Beatles’ famous walk over the zebra crossing from the cover of the Abbey Road album. And rightly so. London should be proud of being the place where arguably the most famous album in the world was recorded, part of London...

London’s first coffeehouse was founded in 1652 by the churchyard of St Michael’s, Cornhill. It was not quite the first coffeehouse in England, which had been founded in Oxford two years earlier, and it was not really a coffeehouse - more of a coffee shack. Business blossomed for the man behind it, Pasqua Rosee, and soon he was selling 600 dishes a day. From this start, the capital had acquired several hundred coffeehouses by the turn of the century, a development which set London apart fr...