Showing Tag: "a" (Show all posts)

London Frost Fairs

Posted by Hazel Baker on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, In : Art 


When walking along the pedestrian underpass of Southwark bridge you may have noticed five large pieces of slate along the southern wall. The slates have been beautifully engraved by artist Richard Kindersley and shows a fun scene of a long-lost London event; the Frost Fair. 


The large slate engravings show a map of the area surrounding the section of frozen Thames with fun pictures of the impromptu market stalls and Londoners having a gay 'ole time. 


The scenes include a man playing skittles, a...


Continue reading ...
 

What Was London Like in 1888?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

In 1888 the population of London was almost five million out of which I would say that over 2 million lived below the poverty line and that of those about 900,000 lived in the East End about 76,000 in Whitechapel.


Why was there so much overcrowding in areas like Whitechapel? From the 1840s farming was becoming mechanised and so farm-hands lost their jobs and came to London looking for work. From 1845 the Irish Potato Famine began from a disease that blighted the potatoes causing them to rot in...


Continue reading ...
 

The Unknown Warrior

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, November 26, 2021, In : World War II 
When visiting Westminster Abbey or watching one of the filmed ceremonies you may notice a black marble stone (7x 4 ft) set in the floor which everyone walks around, including the Queen. That is the grave of the Unknown Warrior, a symbol of all the glorious dead from World War I (1914-1918).

How did this soldier end up amongst the kings in Westminster Abbey? 


In 1916 a young military chaplain by the name of David Railton had been conducting burial services for fallen soldiers in France. He sa...


Continue reading ...
 

What did the Georgians use to brush their teeth?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, November 15, 2021, In : Georgian 

I spoke with Sarah Murden to talk about dental care during the Georgian era. 


My first question was 'What did the Georgians use to brush their teeth?'


Here's what she said:


"A Frenchman, a chap called Pierre Fauchard, actually studied the anatomy of the mouth and looked at the actual teeth, looked at the construction of the teeth and he started to write documents and, I think, wrote a thesis on what we were doing wrong, this is what we should be doing and this is how to look after the teeth bett...


Continue reading ...
 

Who was Robert Hooke's neice?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, November 5, 2021, In : Victorian 
Who was Robert Hooke's neice? Grace Hooke was the daughter of Grocer John Hooke and his wife Elizabeth. She was baptised on 2nd May 1660 at Newport parish church. She grew up in a large substantial property on Newport High Street. On 16th October 1668 her father John Hooke (brother of Robert Hooke) became Mayor of Newport. ​​John Hooke started to borrow money from his brother Robert during the 1670's. Robert, was not a big spender and was sensible with his own money, kept an account of ...
Continue reading ...
 

Victorian Actor William Terriss

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, October 29, 2021, In : Victorian 

The Adelphi Theatre, smack bang in the middle of London’s theatreland, holds many secrets; one of which is what happened to the leading actor of the Victorian era William Terriss? His ghost purportedly still haunts the theatre.


But what happened to William? Why did the nations’ favourite theatre actor lose his life at the hand of one of his colleagues and what happened to incite it?


After a number of short unsuccessful careers, Terriss was mistakenly identified as Prince Alfred, Queen Victo...


Continue reading ...
 

London's First Railway

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, October 22, 2021, In : Georgian 
London's London Bridge - Greenwich line was the first steam railway in London. It was also the first to be built specifically for passengers. It's an early C19th engineering marvel, an entirely elevated railway and can still be experienced today. Spa Road was the first London terminus but where was it? Spa Road station, Bermondsey, opened in 1836. Built during an era when station design was still in its infancy, the original terminal was very basic indeed, consisting of two narrow timber p...
Continue reading ...
 

Whitechapel: Poverty Breeds Crime

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guidev on Monday, October 11, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

The Whitechapel murders by Jack the Ripper took place in 1888 in one of the most poverty-stricken places in London. Whitechapel was an area with massive overcrowding caused by multiple reasons:


From the 1840’s farming started to become mechanised people fled to London looking for work. The Irish Potato Famine from1845 meant one million Irish people left their homes in search of a new life abroad. Some came to London, some of those later went on to America. From the mid 1800’s Jews fled fro...


Continue reading ...
 

London's Blackout During World War II

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Friday, October 8, 2021, In : World War II 

Explore with Hazel London's blackout experienced during World War II. 
She answers questions such as:

What was pre-war London like in 1939?
What was the blackout?
When did the blackout begin and why?
What did Londoners think of blackout restrictions?
How did London's commuters cope with blackout?

Books about London during World War II. 
The blackout was one part of a much bigger story. Hear about the books Hazel recommends for reading about London during World War II.



Links to book recommendations:

Put...


Continue reading ...
 

Sir William Gull: Ripper Suspect

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Friday, September 24, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

Most of the candidates for Jack the Ripper have fatal flaws. For example, the queen’s doctor Sir William Gull. In 1887, Sir William Gull suffered the first of several strokes at his Scottish home, Urrard House, Killiecrankie. The attack of hemiplegia and aphasia was caused by a cerebral haemorrhage. He recovered after a few weeks and returned to London, but was under no illusions about the danger to his health, remarking "One arrow had missed its mark, but there are more in the quiver".


Over...


Continue reading ...
 

A Green Gem by the Gherkin

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, September 20, 2021, In : Architecture 

Hidden away in Bury Street, by the Gherkin, in the north east of the City is Holland House, one of Europe’s most important buildings. It may well be the first on the Continent to be constructed on a steel frame.


It was built in 1914-16 by the Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage for the Kroller-Mullers shipping company. Berlage had been deeply influenced by a visit to the US in 1911, especially by Frank Lloyd Wright.


The surface is decorated with green tiles, giving a highly distinctive app...


Continue reading ...
 

Bigger Than Shakespeare?

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Monday, September 13, 2021, In : Local History 

Lancelot Andrewes is hardly a household name, but he arguably had as much influence on the English language as William Shakespeare. Andrewes would have walked the same London streets as Shakespeare. He was born in the shadows of the Tower of London in 1555 and has a handsome tomb in what is now Southwark Cathedral, close to Shakespeare’s Globe. He was one of the most respected theologians and translators of his day and rose to become the Bishop of Winchester. He was the last Bishop of Winch...


Continue reading ...
 

William Bury - Jack The Ripper Suspect

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Friday, August 13, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

One of the lesser-known suspects for the Ripper murders is William Bury and his is a strange tale indeed!


He was born in May 1859, orphaned at an early age and attended a charitable school in the Midlands. After he left school, he was in regular employment for a while and then got into financial difficulties and was dismissed for stealing. He became a street pedlar. In 1887 he moved to London and met and married Ellen Elliot, who was probably a prostitute. Their marriage was stormy, punctuated...


Continue reading ...
 

Saint Thomas Becket at the British Museum

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, In : Museums 

The British Museum’s exhibition ‘Thomas Becket murder and the making of a saint’ is into its last days now and will close on 22 August. It is being held to mark the 850th year of his death (or the 900th of his birth), with the slight discrepancy of it now being 2021 (he lived 1120 to 1170) being explained by a postponement from last year due to lock-down.


The main drawback of exhibitions is usually the other people there, preventing you seeing what you want to see when you want to see it...


Continue reading ...
 

A Scientist in Mayfair

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Friday, August 6, 2021, In : Georgian 

Albemarle Street is one of Mayfair’s quieter streets, but it has not always been so. It is home to the Royal Institution and with its imposing classical columns it is one of the most notable buildings on the street. But it is also the reason Albemarle Street became Britain’s first one- way street.


The Royal Institution (RI for short) is one of the UK’s leading scientific institutions, founded in 1799. It has always had an emphasis not only on research but also teaching and you may have s...


Continue reading ...
 

Suspect Montague John Druitt

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, July 29, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

Montague John Druitt was 31 years of age at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. He had been born into a reasonably well-off family from Wimborne Dorset, and went to New College Oxford in 1876. He graduated three years later with a third-class honours degree in classics, thereafter taking up a post as a teacher at Blackheath Boys School, a boy’s preparatory school. It was a successful school, run by George Valentine who was widely respected as a headmaster.


Druitt played cricket at the M...


Continue reading ...
 

Newton's Darker History

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Wednesday, July 28, 2021,

On fashionable Jermyn Street, close to Piccadilly, is a plaque marking where Sir Isaac Newton lived in London. While living here Sir Isaac Newton was responsible for the hanging of at least 19 people. Newton is of course the famous physicist, mathematician and astronomer and his ideas are taught today even at primary school. Born in 1642 he grew up knowing the troubles of the English Civil War and ended up with the Stuarts as his patrons while President of the Royal Society.


Newton started wor...


Continue reading ...
 

When is a Hospital not a Hospital?

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, July 22, 2021, In : City of London 

When it’s a school founded by a Tudor king. In the Middle Ages a hospital was not what we think of today. The word has the same origins as hospitality or hotel, coming from the Latin hospes meaning both guest/visitor and host. A medieval hospital could be almhouses for the poor, a hostel for pilgrims or a school for the poor.


The sculpture by Andrew Brown commemorates the founding of Christ’s Hospital in 1552 by King Edward VI on part of the site of Greyfriars, a Franciscan monastery in th...


Continue reading ...
 

George Frederic Handel in London

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, In : Music 

Handel came over to London in 1710, initially. There was the question of the succession looming over the country, and it was pretty clear by this stage that the kings of Hanover were going to be coming in. George, who was going to become George I, was Elector of Hanover at this time and Handel already worked with him. He came over to England on a bit of a sabbatical almost for working with George I, a bit of a cultural scout here for that incoming Royal family. 

He comes in 1710 and it's not m...


Continue reading ...
 

The Thames Barrier

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Friday, June 11, 2021, In : Things to Do in London 

Greenwich Peninsula is the fastest growing area in London and is home to the O2, Emirates AIrline and the Thames Barrier. 


Back in the C16th the peninsula was drained by Dutch engineers before being used as pasture land. 


For over 100 years the peninsula was dominated by the gasworks which primarily produced town gas which is also known as coal gas. 

 

The Thames Barrier spans 520 metres across the river. It was built to protect central London from flooding caused by tidal surges. 


The 10 steel ga...


Continue reading ...
 

The Tragic History of Clapham's School for Africans

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Friday, June 11, 2021, In : Georgian 

A small churchyard in a quiet corner of Clapham has a largely forgotten and sad part in

Britain’s black colonial history. Zachary Macaulay was one of the leading members of the

Clapham Sect, a network of individuals working for the abolition of slavery in the British

dominions. He is remembered by a memorial in Westminster Abbey, a plaque on the site of

his former house just by Clapham Common Tube and a road next to the Common.


Macaulay had worked in the Caribbean and seen slavery first hand and...


Continue reading ...
 

Great Fire

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, June 10, 2021, In : Great Fire of London 

The Great Fire of 1666 was devastating, destroying around four-fifths of the City of London. The main reason it was so destructive was the wind which was blowing from the south-east, and which was particularly fierce. The Dutch and English fleets vying for a fight in the Channel the night before the fire broke out had been unable to join the battle because the winds were so strong. 


The direction of the wind was important as it helped usher the flames away from the river which might in other c...


Continue reading ...
 

The Ten Bells

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

Not far from where Mary Kelly, the last victim of Jack the Ripper, was brutally slaughtered in her room in Millers Court, off Dorset Street lies her favourite pub, the Ten Bells. Mary was known to solicit on the corner outside and woe betide anyone else who decided to take her spot, as she would drive them off very quickly. Jack may well have drunk here also before his killing sprees!


The pub originally stood at 12 Red Lion Street, but this was pulled down as part of the cutting of Commercial ...


Continue reading ...
 

The History Deep Below Clapham Common

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Friday, June 4, 2021, In : Local History 

Beneath south London there are a series of tunnels. They lie directly under the Northern

Line and those that used them would complain about the early morning rumble of the trains

overhead waking them up. The deep level shelters were originally conceived as much-

needed air-raid shelters and there are sections at Clapham South, North and Clapham

Common station as well as elsewhere on the line.


These were huge tunnels, where bunk beds could house 8,000 people under each station.

They had their own ca...


Continue reading ...
 

Graves of the Victims of Jack the Ripper

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, June 3, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

Walking round on a Jack the Ripper walk, I am sure that most people would be wondering where all the victims of Jack the Ripper were buried. Even though most of these women were buried in common graves as their families either could not be traced or did not have the money to buy them a plot in a cemetery, it is still possible to find and visit their resting places.


Here is a list of all the graves that have been discovered up until now.


Martha Tabram - unknown but most likely common grave in th...


Continue reading ...
 

Where Are The Cabbie Shelters?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, In : Podcast 

There are currently only 13 cabmen's shelters in existence, 12 of them are still in operation.

If you don't know what cabbie shelters are, they are the small green cricket-pavillion-style sheds dotted around London.


I have put together a map for you to see their location which you can share to your phone and use to find them for yourself. All of these remaining shelters are now Grade II.


It's perhaps the Embankment Place cabbie shelter many of you may have seen before. It's on the corner of ...


Continue reading ...
 

Why Are Black Cabs Called Hackney Cabs?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, May 24, 2021, In : Podcast 

The name cab derives from the French, cabriolet, the popular style of carriage in the early 19th century two-wheeled French-style cabriolets which had an exposed seat on the top. They were known for their speed and comfort and eventually replaced the heavier and more cumbersome hackney carriages for the rest of the century. By the 1830s, the word “cab” entered the Londoner’s vocabulary.


But where does the word Hackney come from? Is it related to the area of Hackney?

The short answer is no...


Continue reading ...
 

Where Was London's First Taxi Rank?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, May 21, 2021, In : Podcast 

According to the London Vintage Taxi Association, the first taxicab stand was formed in 1634 outside the Maypole in the Strand, basically between where Somerset House and Mary le Strand Church is nowadays.


Captain John Baily, a veteran of one of Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions, managed a taxi rank of four horse-drawn carriages, available for hire from the Strand. Baily's cab men wore a distinctive livery, and charged customers a fixed rate, depending on distance. The idea caught on and by the...


Continue reading ...
 

Ice cream in the 1830s

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, In : Regency 

Ice cream has been around for over 200 years but our taste buds have changed quite a bit. Paul Couchman, The Regency Chef, tells us about popular ice cream flavours in 1830s Britain.


Paul Couchman: Ice cream thing was massive trend and I love hearing stories about the bizarre flavours they had. One of my favourites of Hannah Glasse recipes where its absolute art.


I think somebody tried to bring back a sort of Parmesan ice cream. Have you had parmesan ice cream before?


Hazel Baker: I haven’t. I...


Continue reading ...
 

The Fashion for French Chefs

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, In : Regency 

Having a French chef was all the range in Regency Britain. Paul Couchman, The Regency Chef, tells us about the practicalities of having servants in the 1830s.


Paul Couchman: That really began in the 1700s. If you were anyone you'd have a French chef. And of course the most famous French has come in and he works for, I think, three years for the Prince Regent at the Brighton pavilion and make amazing menus. But of course, what the Royals do everyone else wants to copy.


And so French chefs were e...


Continue reading ...
 

Festival of Britain and its Art Legacy

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, May 7, 2021, In : 20th century 

The Festival of Britain was one of the first occasions where many women artists and designers had opportunities to take part. The famous sculptor Barbara Hepworth received two important public commissions; Turning Forms which was a motorised abstract piece, made of reinforced concrete, painted white and 84 inches (just over 2m) in height was commissioned by the Festival of Britain authorities. In 1952 it was moved to Marlborough Science Academy, in St Albans and in October 2020 was moved to a...


Continue reading ...
 

What is left of the Festival Britain in London?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, May 7, 2021, In : 20th century 

Much of what was built for the Festival of Britain was temporary and after the event was dismantled. In both Wales and Scotland, little remains. In London some remarkable examples have survived, which is what I will be sharing with you today...


The Southbank

One could argue that the greatest legacy of the Festival of Britain is the stretch of former industrial riverside near Waterloo we call the South Bank. Since then it has grown to embrace the London Eye, the BFI and the Tate Modern (the most...


Continue reading ...
 

What was the Festival of Britain?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, May 7, 2021, In : 20th century 

3rd May 1951, King George VI declared The Festival Britain open with venues in London and across the country.


It was a national exhibition designed with the aim of promoting a feeling of recovery from both world wars. It was a large-scale demonstration of Britain’s contribution to civilisation; past, present and future in the arts, science and technology, industrial design and the viability of democracy.


Projecting and celebrating a sense of national identity was closely linked to Memory, rem...


Continue reading ...
 

Festival of Britain 1951

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, May 7, 2021, In : 20th century 

As the centenary of the Great Exhibition approached, politicians had begun to ask whether a celebration in the same vein might operate as a tonic to lift the nation’s spirits.


1951 Britain was very different from the context in which the Great Exhibition took place. Britain had lost its sense of purpose and place in the world. The Second World War had sounded the death knell for the days of the Empire, which had been in a phase of steep decline since 1918.


Where the Great Exhibition had been ...


Continue reading ...
 

Was The Crowd Not Amused By Queen Victoria?

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, In : Victorian 

If you go through the Blackfriars Bridge underpass on the south bank of the Thames look out for this tiled replica of a picture which appeared in the Illustrated London News on 13 November 1869.


It was eight years since Queen Victoria’s beloved husband Prince Albert had died and since then she had been in deep mourning and had very rarely appeared in public. Her and the monarchy’s popularity had plummeted. In an effort to change this, the Prime Minister William Gladstone had persuaded her ...


Continue reading ...
 

The Bard's Birthday

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Friday, April 23, 2021, In : Tudor 

The 23rd of April is Saint George’s day, but also William Shakespeare’s birthday (1564) and death day (1616). He was born and died in Stratford-Upon Avon, where you can visit his childhood home and actually stand in the room he was (probably) born in. As a young man Shakespeare moved to London, although scholars are not sure when or indeed why.


One of the first records of Shakespeare in London is when the drunk, drugged and hugely bitter critic Robert Greene in 1592 refers to the new write...


Continue reading ...
 

Gun Salute at Woolwich Barracks

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Guided Walks on Saturday, April 10, 2021, In : Local History 
Today gun salutes marked the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, took place across the UK and at sea. Saluting batteries fired 41 rounds, one every minute in cities including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. The Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich was the home of the Royal Artillery from 1776 until 2007. The artillery fired field guns dating from the First World War – the same guns fired for Philip’s wedding to the Queen in 1947 and at her Coronation six years later in ...
Continue reading ...
 

London's First Theatre

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 10, 2021, In : Theatre 

Well, London's first two theatres were built in Shoreditch. The first theatre was built in 1576 and was called The Theatre, not only London's first ever permanent Playhouse. And it was also Britain's the benefit of shortage, much like Southern was that it was just outside the walls of the city of London.

Even though plays were highly censored. The mayor of London had banned players from being performed within the City walls, but he couldn't ban them out of it. Before specific theatre buildings...


Continue reading ...
 

Why did the Globe theatre close?

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 10, 2021, In : Theatre 

Shakespeare's and John Fletcher's Henry VIII was originally a script called "All is True", which was a historical thriller. The play was based on the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Sir Thomas Lovell is a minor in the play. He's present at the Duke of Buckingham's trial and execution, and also at the festivities at Wolsey's residence. Later on in the play, Lovell is accosted by Bishop Gardner while he's on his way to inform the King that queen Anne is in labor, but may not su...


Continue reading ...
 

Medieval Shoreditch

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 10, 2021, In : Medieval 

Medieval Shoreditch was still mostly rural. The doomsday book shows that 'shore ditch' had been part of the parish of Stepney before becoming its own parish.

After the building of the first version of St. Leonard's church in the 13th century. And for many years, it was the main focal point of Shoreditch. Indeed. Many of you may be not aware that St. Leonard's church is actually featured in the nursery rhyme, Oranges and Lemons. 

Oranges and lemons

Say the bells of Saint Clements

You owe me five f...


Continue reading ...
 

Richard Tarleton - An Elizabethan Clown

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 10, 2021, In : Elizabethan 

Richard Tarleton was the most famous clown of the Elizabethan age. 

He had a gift of pleasing the groundlings of the Curtain theatre in Shoreditch and royalty alike. He was Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite clown and became her Court Jester and Groom of the Queen’s Chamber. In this rôle he: …told the Queen more of her faults than most of her chaplains, and cured her melancholy better than all of her physicians. 


The date of his birth is not recorded but he died on 3 September 1588. He wrote ...


Continue reading ...
 

Regency Dress: Costume Dramas

Posted by London tour guide Hazel Baker on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, In : Regency 
I love a good costume drama. There's something quite magical about stepping back in time and seeing what an era from the past was like. That's not just to say about the costumes, but also the architecture and also how people lived; the accepted etiquette, technological advancements and scientific understandings.

Looking back at the long list of period dramas I have watched, I must confess to being a bit of a junky for them. My first love for film came when I was nine years old and I had chicke...
Continue reading ...
 

Radical Mural Tucked Away in Battersea

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, In : Art 

Hidden away in Battersea is an amazing piece of street art, showcasing not only the delights

of the local Thames river front, but also the area’s radical political history. On a former pub

on Dagnell Street is the wonderful “Battersea in Perspective” mural, done by local artist

Brian Barnes. Centre stage is Battersea Park and the Peace Pagoda, with the Thames and

the Albert and Chelsea Bridges either side.


The golden circles in the sky represent the Battersea Shield. This Celtic shield dates...


Continue reading ...
 

Hats off to Bankside Fashion Icon

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, In : Victorian 

Did you know Bankside’s role in the invention of one of Britain’s most iconic fashion items?

The Earl of Leicester had a problem: his gamekeepers hats kept on being knocked off as they went about their work, because in the mid-19th century gamekeepers wore impractical tall hats. He dispatched his younger brother Edward Coke to posh St James’s hat-maker Lock and Co to find a solution.


Lock and Co got in touch with a certain hat-maker’s on Bankside to design a solution.  Bankside has a lo...


Continue reading ...
 

Dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park - a Virtual Tour

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, In : Victorian 
In episode 47 of our London History podcast we discuss the wonderful dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park. I was going to pop along and do a bit of filming but the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs have beaten us to it. They have included dinosaur names and sound effects too - something we just couldn't even compete with. 

Enjoy!

Continue reading ...
 

Buckingham Virtual Tour

Posted by Hazel Baker on Monday, March 15, 2021, In : Royal 

Situated in the heart of the West End of London and surrounded by two royal parks; Green Park and St James's Park, Buckingham Palace is considered to be the most recognizable building in Great Britain. 


It is the official London residence of Queen Elizabeth II who also uses it for important events, meetings and receptions and is a place where over the years the masses gravitate towards. 


It didn't start its life out as a royal palace. It was originally called Buckingham House and started as a ...


Continue reading ...
 

The Text on the Monument

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, March 11, 2021, In : Art 

The Monument was built between 1671-1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666 which ended up destroying four-fifths of the city. It is a column standing on a very large pedestal, some 20 feet high, much of which is covered in dense Latin writing.

This goes unremarked today, partly because so few of us read Latin. Then as now only a minority of people would be able to read it, even if in the 17th century Latin was a more important language and in theory if you were a gentleman it was...


Continue reading ...
 

Why Was Jack the Ripper Never Caught?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

I think there are many reasons why the police did not catch Jack the Ripper, even though at one time they believed that they were only five minutes behind him after the murder of Catherine Eddowes on 30 September 1888, the night of the double event.

One reason was that policing in those days was far removed from the efficient methods of today. Just imagine no fingerprinting until 1906, no crime scene analysis, no DNA, no genetic sequencing, or any of the other tools that the police now have.

On...


Continue reading ...
 

Historic Pubs in Bankside

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, March 5, 2021, In : Local History 
In our latest podcast episode: 46: Beer, The Bard and Historic Buildings in Bankside, I asked London tour guide Stephen King for his recommendations for historic pubs in Bankside.
This is what he said:

"The classic pub for everybody having to visit Bankside has to go to is of course the George Inn which is London's only remaining gallery.

In. So if you go there, you are standing only a fragment of it remains for the very important fragment for the George Inn remains. And if you go there, you ca...


Continue reading ...
 

Drawing London's Buildings

Posted by Hazel Baker on Sunday, February 28, 2021, In : Podcast 
In episode 45 we talk to architect and artist Christian Coop about his inspiration for drawing London's buildings.
You can follow Christian on instagram here
I have also added a selection on places we mention in the podcast. Enjoy:
Elizabeth Tower, Westminster
Tower Bridge, from the foreshore
Westminster Abbey, Westminster
Woolwich Town Hall, Royal Borough of Greenwich
Queen Anne Gate, St James

Continue reading ...
 

John Stow A Survey of London

Posted by Hazel Baker on Saturday, February 27, 2021, In : Tudor 

This is a wonderful resource for anybody researching life in late C16th / early C17th London. 

The book is an easy read and brings a new knowledge of the streets within the City of London where years ago I had once worked. It's one of those books that you can dip into at any time for the sheer quirky pleasure of it - but it's also a superb historical document in its own right.

The introduction by Antonia Fraser in this edition is a fascinating essay.

Now, other people come to work & walk along s...


Continue reading ...
 

Walking Tudor London

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, In : Tudor 

John Stow, an historian and antiquarian, is best known for his ‘Survey of London, originally printed in 1598, during the reign of Elizabeth I. 

Stow’s Survey of London is a chorographical study, it maps Tudor London with words. Anybody looking at any of London's history is bound to have come across this at some point or another.

It’s a critical source for knowing what life was like in Tudor London, a city which mostly disappeared during the great fire of London in 1666. Further damage was...


Continue reading ...
 

Greenwich: Nailing Down the Jousting

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, In : Tudor 

Henry VIII built the first permanent tiltyard (for jousting) in England at his palace in Greenwich - and everyone knew where it was more or less. This was because we have lots of paintings from the seventeenth century showing it in relation to the Queen’s House, which was built between 1616 and 1635 by architect Inigo Jones and still stands today. The Tudor Palace, along with its tiltyard fell into serious decay during the Civil War and after, and its remnants were finally pulled down in Ch...


Continue reading ...
 

Clapham Common's Posts

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, February 9, 2021,

Hiding in plain sight on Clapham Common are a series of fairly dull-looking brown posts. Anonymous and overlooked, these posts mark a dark bit of the Common's history. The Common, as the name suggests, was common land, people could graze their sheep, collect firewood and get water. 

 

Now there has always been a bit of tension between Clapham and neighbour Battersea about the rights to these freedoms. This tension was only heightened when during the English Civil War the lord of Battersea suppo...


Continue reading ...
 

Henry Greathead - The First Life Boat

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, February 5, 2021, In : Georgian 

Henry Greathead had been pressed into his Majesty's navy in Portsmouth having returned to England in 1784. His dream was to become a boat builder in his home in South-Shields. He had designed a boat to withstand rough seas. In order to build the boat he needed materials, and to get those he needed money (something which he didn't have). 


Greathead wrote to two underwriters with whom he had been in correspondence with during an incident in Calais of a false insurance claim by his captain. He wr...


Continue reading ...
 

Travel Podcast

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Monday, February 1, 2021, In : Things to Do in London 

I don't know about you, but I am creating a looong list of things I want to do in London post lockdown. I am absolutely delighted to have been invited on Curious Pavel's Travel Podcast where we talked about the less obvious things to do in Covent Garden such as stuffing your face at Mariage Frere or exploring new food fashions at Seven Dials Market. 


Have a listen here and add your recommendations in the comments below!



Continue reading ...
 

Clapham's Hidden Classical Temple

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Thursday, January 21, 2021, In : Georgian 

Clapham Common has a hidden history from Samuel Pepys and Noel Coward to the first successful measurement of the weight of the planet. Not bad for an often overlooked suburb.

 

One of the hidden features is Clapham’s very own classic temple. From the 17th century onwards Clapham became the place to be, as connections to the City improved and highwaymen decreased, meaning that you could do a day’s work in the dirty, unhealthy commercial centre and return safely to your family in the country ...


Continue reading ...
 

The Common Thread Among All The Victims of Jack

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Friday, January 8, 2021, In : Jack the Ripper 

All the victims of Jack the Ripper had a few things in common. They were all poverty stricken, all lived in Whitechapel at the time of their death, and they were all alcoholics.

 

Most were around or over the age of 40, so these were prostitutes at the end of the line. This includes Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. All of these were over 40, except Martha Tabram who was 39, (strangely enough this was the amount of stab wounds inflicted on her ...


Continue reading ...
 

Borough Market

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, In : Roman London 

Hidden behind the world famous Borough Market is one of London’s most historic quarters. The streets South of London Bridge team with 2,000 years of history. Borough Market is an excellent place to start to explore this history.

 

The Romans landed on the Kent coast in the 1st century AD. They then built some roads, as Romans always did: Watling Street, and Staines Street. These met at the bottom of Borough High Street, which was a raised bit of land across boggy marshes. This led to the Roma...


Continue reading ...
 

Trekking in London’s Hills

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, January 4, 2021, In : Roman London 

One of the highest points near to the Thames is Cox’s Mount in Maryon Park, Charlton in South-East London. Here you can reach almost 100 feet above sea level. Yes, almost 100 feet! The views of the Thames are impressive, with the Dome and North Greenwich to the West, and beyond them Greenwich itself. The Thames Barrier is immediately to the North, and a little to the  East across the river is the Tate and Lyle factory at Silvertown. 


Go at the right time and you have the place to yourself, a...


Continue reading ...
 

A Christmas Carol

Posted by Dr Stephen King, Westminster Tour Guide on Thursday, December 10, 2020, In : Christmas 

Nahum Tate is hardly a household name, but he wrote one of our oldest and most popular Christmas carols. 

 

Tate was born in Dublin in 1652, moved to London and rose to become Poet Laureate by 1692, during the reign of William and Mary. He wrote the words for Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, as well as a wide range of plays and poems. He was nothing if not prolific. 

 

Tate wrote ‘While shepherds watched their flocks by night’ in about 1700. It was the first Christmas carol to be authorised by th...


Continue reading ...
 

Jack The Ripper – The Diary of James Maybrick

Posted by By Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

This is a convoluted theory which I first became aware of in t1993 when I went to a book launch at the Alma Pub in Spellman Street,  just off of Hanbury Street where Annie Chapman was murdered.

 

The book told the story of James Maybrick, a cotton broker from Liverpool who lived in Battlecrease House with his American wife Fanny. The couple had met on a voyage from Britain to America. James was wealthy but a lot older than Fanny. They married and eventually settled down to live in Battlecrease ...


Continue reading ...
 

How Exmouth Market Got its Name

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Monday, November 16, 2020, In : London Street Names 

If youve ever had lunch in one of the excellent restaurants or the interesting street food stalls in Exmouth Market, you might wonder how the street got its name. After all, the Islington street is a lot nearer Sadler’s Wells Theatre than it is the little Devon seaside town of Exmouth. The answer involves a daring raid to rescue 3,000 people from slavery in 1816.

 

Viscount Exmouth was born as Edward Pellew in 1757 and he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13. Due to his bravery fighting ...


Continue reading ...
 

Walter Sickert

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Friday, November 13, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

According to the book Portrait of a Killer, Jack The Ripper Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell, Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper, the murderer who stalked the streets of Whitechapel in 1888.

 

Patricia Cornwell went to a great deal of trouble and expense trying to prove her theory. She even spent about £1million in the attempt. She bought Sickert’s desk and cut some of his paintings out of their frames, desperately searching for DNA from blood/skin shreds she hoped to find on the edges of th...


Continue reading ...
 

Lime Street’s Brief Moment of Catholicism

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, November 5, 2020,

Lime Street does not have much of historical interest today. It is dominated by two pieces of well-known modern architecture: the Lloyd’s Building, designed by Richard Rogers, and the Willis Building by Foster and Partners. Otherwise, it is undistinguished. In the late seventeenth century, however, this small City lane briefly became the site of religious controversy.


Here in 1686 for the first time since the reign of Queen Mary a Catholic place of worship was opened in England. The new chap...


Continue reading ...
 

The Sad Past of Danson House

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, In : Georgian 

Today Danson House in the London Borough of Bexley is home to a rather wonderful tea room and provides a stunning venue for weddings, but it was built on the proceeds of human misery and was not a happy place for its owner Sir John Boyd.

 

John Boyd’s father Augustus left Donegal in 1700 to run a sugar plantation on the island of St Kitts that had belonged to his uncle. The plantation was worked by African people brought as slaves from Sierra Leone. Augustus bought more plantations but gradua...


Continue reading ...
 

British Museum: The False Door of Ptahshepses

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, In : Museums 

Like all displays of objects from Ancient Egypt, the British Museum’s collection is biased towards funerary objects, as these are what have survived best. This is partly due to an early preference on the part of Egyptians to be buried in the desert, where the arid conditions have been conducive to preservation. Amongst the largest and most detailed of the objects on display is the False Door of Ptahshepses which dates to around 2440 BC - part of the Old Kingdom, which ran from around 2,686 ...


Continue reading ...
 

The Mousetrap and Agatha Christie

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, In : Theatre 

On this day in 1952 Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" opened in London at the Ambassadors Theatre and has played at the St Martin's Theatre since 1973. In 1954 she became the first woman to have three plays running in London at the same time.

Agatha Christie was a prolific writer of novels, short stories and plays and is best known for her series of crime books featuring detectives Hercules Poirot and Miss Marple.

The Agatha Christie memorial on Cranbourne Street near Leicester Square tube...


Continue reading ...
 

Where was Paddington filmed in London?

Posted by London Tour Guide Hazel Baker on Monday, October 5, 2020, In : Films 


Written and directed by Paul King (Mighty Boosh), this family adventure features the vocal talents of Ben Whishaw (Skyfall and Spectre) as the eponymous bear.

Arriving in London to search of a new home, the talking bear finds that London is very different from what he had imagined. He is at Paddington Station with only a few marmalade-sandwich-loving pigeons to keep him company. Paddington is spotted by Mr Brown as the family return to London after visiting the Victorian Wool Experience. It is...


Continue reading ...
 

Havering Hoard

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, September 17, 2020, In : Museums 

The Havering Hoard is the largest Bronze Age hoard to have been found in London, and is now available to see at the Museum of London Docklands, in Canary Wharf.


All 453 items from the site are on view, together with other items from the Museum of London, which help place the finds in context.


The objects, which date to around 900BC to 800BC, include axe heads, fragments of swords, axe heads, daggers and knives.


The finds were unusual in being recovered from four individually placed hoards within...


Continue reading ...
 

James Maybrick: Fact or Fiction?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Monday, September 14, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

James Maybrick, a cotton broker from Liverpool, did not become a suspect until 1992 when a diary written on part of a Victorian ledger was rumoured to have been found by Tony Devereux, in the attic of Battlecrease House, Aigburth in Liverpool, the former residence of Maybrick. He supposedly gave it to a friend Michael Barrett in a pub, but the story later changed as his wife Ann said it had been in her family for generations. She had asked Devereux to give it to her husband because he had lit...


Continue reading ...
 

Beware Of Yielding To Your Passion

Posted by By Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, In : Heretics and Horrors 

It is a sad fact in London history – some murders get attention and the details poured over again and again, and some that are simply forgotten. The murder of Elizabeth Osborn in 1719 is one that has passed quietly away – a shame as her killer, Jane Griffin wanted us all to learn a lesson from the sorry episode.


Elizabeth Osborn was a maid working at the Three Pigeons, a tavern used by booksellers located in Butcher Hall Row – not far from modern day Paternoster Square. The tavern was ru...


Continue reading ...
 

Lockdown Street Art – A Tribute To The NHS

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Friday, August 14, 2020, In : Art 

Lockdown has been such a strange time for us all but there has been so much culture available to us online.  However, the other day whilst making my way through the back streets from the South Bank to Waterloo Station I came across a physical example of what has been produced.  A celebration of the heroes of our time – the NHS - through street art.


Under the railway bridge between Waterloo and Waterloo East is this tribute - the NHS as Superman - by Lionel Stanhope. He trained as a sign writ...


Continue reading ...
 

Jack the Ripper

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Monday, August 10, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

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...


Continue reading ...
 

A Modern Monument to 2,000 Years of History

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, In : City of London 

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...


Continue reading ...
 

A Recording Studio in St Johns Wood - but Not Abbey Road!

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Tuesday, July 21, 2020,

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...


Continue reading ...
 

London’s First Coffeehouse

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, July 6, 2020, In : Eighteenth Century 

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...


Continue reading ...
 

Ten Things To Know About Mary Seacole

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, June 18, 2020, In : Victorian 

Mary Seacole is credited as being a brave doctress and entrepreneur. There was an inner strength within Mary Seacole which made her overcome many barriers. Here are some facts about her. 



1. Born in Jamaica

Mary Seacole was born Mary Jane Grant on 23 November 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother was a practitioner of traditional Jamaican medicine. In 1655 Jamaica was seized by the British. At the time Mary was born, most Jamaicans worked as slaves. Howeve...


Continue reading ...
 

Ten Things To Know About Florence Nightingale

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, June 18, 2020, In : Victorian 

Florence Nightingale is credited as the founder of modern nursing. She strived to improve the standards of nursing, notably during the Crimean war. There was something special and extraordinary about Florence Nightingale and here are some facts about her.



1. ‘International Nurses Day’ is on her birthday

International Nurses' Day is celebrated around the world each year on 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Her birthday is also celebrated as International CFS (chronic f...


Continue reading ...
 

Other murders in 1888

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Monday, June 15, 2020, In : Victorian 

In 1888 there was a population of 5.5 million people in London. Murder was not that common as there were only 28 killings that year. At least six of these were crimes committed by Jack the Ripper! What about the other killings which are rarely mentioned? 


Apart from Martha Tabram, Mary Anne Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly, who were these other women? Well, the first was Emma Smith, a prostitute, who on 3rd April that year was attacked in the stre...


Continue reading ...
 

The Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Saturday, June 13, 2020, In : Greenwich 

London does not really do triumphal architecture in the way continental cities do. It has grown up piecemeal, with a belief in private enterprise, suspicion of autocratic government, and a relatively impecunious monarchy.


Greenwich is in some ways the exception, and one of the best views in all of Britain is to be had looking south at it from Island Gardens on the north bank of the Thames, or better still, as it was meant to be seen, from a boat on the river. It is undeniably grand. However, g...


Continue reading ...
 

A St Pancras Royal Wedding – Well Sort Of!

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Saturday, June 13, 2020, In : Kings Cross 

The little Old St Pancras church lies to the north of Kings Cross station. Lovely though the church may be it seems an unlikely location for a royal wedding, and indeed it is, but in 1826 a royal wedding of sorts took place there – between Louisa Constance Bouchier Smith and Charles Edward Stuart, Count Roehenstart – pretender to the British throne.

The last of the Stuart monarchs, Queen Anne, died childless in 1714, and the 1701 Act of Settlement prevented Catholics from the throne. This ...


Continue reading ...
 

Shopping For Our History in Kingston-upon-Thames

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Saturday, June 13, 2020, In : Local History 

In these strange times we have more time to look more closely at some of the familiar spots in our own locality. So, I had time to stop and study this over-the-top shop frontage in the historic market place of Kingston-upon-Thames – normally full of shoppers but it was very quiet as most shops were still closed. 

At first sight this Grade II listed building might be thought to be Medieval or Tudor but the two dates 1909 and 1929 give away the fact that it is just over 100 years old and built...


Continue reading ...
 

The Old Operating Theatre Museum

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Thursday, June 11, 2020, In : Things to Do in London 

Up a narrow 52-step spiral staircase and in the attic of the early eighteenth-century church of the old St Thomas' Hospital is the oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe. Predating anaesthetics and antiseptics, this atmospheric museum offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery. The original timber framed Herb Garret was once used to dry and store herbs for patients' medicines and in 1822 an operating theatre was included. The Old Operating Theatre Museum has a sp...


Continue reading ...
 

Coffee Houses - a hotbed for revolution

Posted by Hazel Baker - London Tour Guide on Saturday, June 6, 2020, In : Eighteenth Century 

Coffeehouses became a hub of news and inevitably a place where new ideas were formed. Boy runners were sent from coffee house to coffee house in order to relay information on major events of the day. After a while coffeehouses became members only clubs in order control the clientele and raise the status of the particular coffeehouse. This conversion of coffee houses into clubs came at the same time as coffee consumption began to decline due to import duties on coffee increased significantly....


Continue reading ...
 

London's Coffeehouses of 18th Century London

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Friday, June 5, 2020, In : Eighteenth Century 

London's coffeehouse culture and its commerce were intrinsically linked. During the 18th century a new active culture evolved. Coffeehouses sprang up all over London and attracted a variety of patrons with a head for business. The crowd at coffeehouses included doctors, merchants, writers and politicians.

Over two-thousand coffee houses existed in London by the closing of the seventeenth century. Here are some of London's prominent coffeehouses in the 18th century that we didn't have time t...


Continue reading ...
 

London's Folklore

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 29, 2020, In : Podcast 

Why is storytelling important? “It's the foundation of how we understand the world. When we're looking back on our own life, we make narratives about the people who we know and about ourselves and think about your life. You've always got the kind of grandparents who read out the same old stories again and again, and that's how you understand your own life. So our whole life and our whole thought is all structured around stories and a city like London is basically, you may say it's built br...


Continue reading ...
 

Music Halls and Cabaret - from yesterday to today

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 22, 2020, In : Podcast 

Modern cabaret and burlesque shows can trace their roots back to the taverns and coffee houses of 18th century London. Hear how they grew in popularity and made history.

Variety shows in London still continue today, often with venues with a single doorway leading out into the street. Some are steeped in history and others are making history today.

Making history today is Ivy Paige, international showgirl, singer and burlesque queen. Check out our Episode 9 Podcast to hear Ivy's experiences back...


Continue reading ...
 

A Fine House For A Ship's Captain

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Friday, May 22, 2020, In : Local History 

Rainham Hall, in the London Borough of Havering may not be the largest house in London, but it is certainly one of the most charming. Now owned by the National Trust it was built for a ship’s captain. Captain John Harle, one of the traders and ship owners who made 18th Century London wealthy, showed off his fortune by building Rainham Hall in 1729.

Harle was born in South Shields , in the North East of England and began his career sailing on ships bringing coal from Newcastle to feed London...


Continue reading ...
 

Clattering Hooves Over London's Oldest Bridge

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Friday, May 22, 2020, In : Local History 

In the most South-Western corner of Greater London is the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Many people think of this area as just the suburbs, but there is a lot of historic interest here.

This shouldn’t really be too surprising. It is one of only three Royal boroughs in London – the other two being Kensington and Chelsea, and Greenwich. Just think of the name – it means King’s manor/estate. It was first mentioned in royal records in 838. In the tenth century it was the place of ...


Continue reading ...
 

The Monument to the Great Fire of London

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 15, 2020, In : Podcast 

The Great fire of London destroyed four fifths of the city. The monument on fifth street Hill is a memorial to the great fire, and those who rebuilt the city without rock and roll.


The monument is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. It took six years to build to the difficulty of getting a sufficient quantity of Portland stone or the required dimensions. This caused the King to issue a proclamation on the 4th of May, 1669 for bidding any person to transport stone from the Arla Port...


Continue reading ...
 

The End of Londinium

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, May 14, 2020, In : Roman London 

Dating the precise collapse of Roman rule in London is hard. However, a lack of archaeological finds for the fifth century suggests that the Roman city was largely empty by about 450. The Anglo-Saxons developed a new port in the late seventh century, but that was upstream from the old settlement at what is now Aldwych.


It used to be thought that an imperial rescript (a set of answers to queries) of the Emperor Honorius dated to 410 was a reply to an appeal from the Britons for help, in which h...


Continue reading ...
 

Mithraeum

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, May 14, 2020, In : Roman London 

In virus-free times you can visit three Roman sites within the City: the Amphitheatre underneath Guildhall Art Gallery, the baths on Lower Thames Street, and the Mithraeum in the Bloomberg Building. Each is definitely worth a visit, and the three are very different, not only in terms of the buildings’ original purpose, but also as visitor experiences.


The most high-tec is the Mithraeum. The construction of Bloomberg’s new European headquarters allowed for an extensive archaeological dig an...


Continue reading ...
 

The Crutched Friars: London’s Least Known Religious Community

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, May 14, 2020, In : Medieval 

Religious orders were divided into monks and nuns who followed a monastic life, and mendicants who followed a monastic rule but who went outside their house’s walls to preach, perform acts of charity and beg for alms. Complicating matters were canons regular, who were ordained priests (members of monastic and mendicant orders were not priests) who followed a monastic rule but who also went out into the community to preach.


The name ‘friar’ was commonly used to describe a member of a mend...


Continue reading ...
 

Was Francis Tumblety Jack the Ripper?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, May 14, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

 A man of dubious character to be sure, as at 15 he was selling pornographic books and papers on the canal packet boats. He apparently disappeared from the area, returning years later he advertised he was ‘a great physician’, but he was really a man who sold potions from the back of a wagon. One of these, for pimples, was very effective and made him a fortune.  A boastful flamboyant man, who held sumptuous dinner parties in his tastefully furnished apartment in Washington, intimate with m...


Continue reading ...
 

We'll Meet Again for VE Day 75

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, May 8, 2020, In : Things to Do in London 
For the first time in our 150 year history, the Royal Albert Hall will play host to a unique concert.

Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins OBE will perform in an empty Royal Albert Hall in a special free online half-hour concert.

Katherine will sing wartime favourites including The White Cliffs of Dover and We’ll Meet Again; the latter performed as a virtual duet with Dame Vera Lynn. The timeless song, featuring the lyrics, ‘I know we’ll meet again some sunny day’, epitomised the emotion...
Continue reading ...
 

True London Spy Stories

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, May 7, 2020, In : Podcast 

Have you ever wondered how much of the James Bond stories are true? We all know 007 is a fictional character but the inspiration for the stories has to come from somewhere.


During the Second World War, the James Bond author Ian Fleming was a Naval intelligence officer at the time involved in the Goldeneye operation. Goldeneye eh - seem familiar? Fleming oversaw two of the intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T- Force throughout the Goldeneye operations.


His wartime service experiences provid...


Continue reading ...
 

Queenhithe: Queen Matilda's Small Port

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Tour Guide on Monday, May 4, 2020, In : City of London 
Over the last 20 years the riverfront in central London has been transformed. In many places it used to be dominated by derelict warehouses and seedy streets – not the sort of place for a pleasant stroll. How things have changed! In particular, on both the north and south banks of the Thames between Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge the pleasant river paths now make the regenerated river frontage accessible in most areas.

Whilst the path on the south has much of cultural interest (galleries,...
Continue reading ...
 

The Roman London Wall: Why it Was Built

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London tour guide on Tuesday, April 28, 2020, In : Roman London 

The wall is the most imposing survivor from Roman London. It can be seen to good effect at Tower Green, Cooper’s Row, and inside a car park on London Wall. At Tower Green it stands 20 feet tall, with an extra 10 feet added in the medieval period. On top of the Roman wall there was probably a walkway which would have had a crenellated breastwork and been punctuated by turrets. The wall was two miles long, making it by far the longest city wall in the province of Britannia, and it would have ...


Continue reading ...
 

Taking the Plunge in Greenwich Park

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, April 23, 2020, In : Georgian 
The remains of the house of Queen Caroline lie in the south-west corner of Greenwich Park. Easily missed, they require a degree of imagination to reconstruct what this area adjacent to what is now the wall might have looked like.

Caroline famously did not get on with her husband, George Prince of Wales who succeeded to the throne as George IV in 1820. They married in 1795 and had decided by 1796 to live apart as much as possible. 

She lived in Montague House on the site from 1798 to 1813, ta...

Continue reading ...
 

John Pizer a Possible Jack the Ripper Suspect?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, April 23, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 
After Polly Nichols was murdered by Jack the Ripper on 31 August 1888, followed by Annie Chapman a few days later on 8 September, the police questioned many members of the local community asking if they knew anybody locally who showed a hatred for prostitutes, someone who might attack them, rob them or rape them.

Many people were eager to help the police catch this terrible killer and came forward with a possible suspect - John Pizer, a Polish Jew working at a boot- finisher. Being in that t...

Continue reading ...
 

Earth Day 2020

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, In : Events 

Wednesday 22 April marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.


It’s a time when millions across the globe partake in positive action in order to raise awareness and save the planet.


This year will be different. Earth day 2020 will be the first ever digital Earth Day. Participants are encouraged to use hashtags #EarthDay2020 and #EARTHRISE to safely raise awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic.


It’s clear to see benefits of reduced air traffic from the wonderfully bright blue skies across London...


Continue reading ...
 

Virtual Events for Your Enjoyment

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, April 17, 2020, In : Theatre 
MUSIC/OPERA


  • British Music Embassy Sessions - PRS for Music has gathered UK artists unable to play the cancelled SXSW festival for the British Music Embassy sessions. Here’s the link to their live sessions on Youtube.

  • English National Ballet Philharmonic - The musicians that make the ENB Philharmonic play the Swan Lake Overture from their homes. Available on Youtube.

  • Support independent musicians performing at home - Isolate Live is a Facebook page that is organising online streamed concerts fr...


Continue reading ...
 

Connecting the World from South-East London

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Friday, April 17, 2020, In : Local History 
In the latter part of the nineteenth century the new industries of chemicals, electrical engineering and pharmaceuticals increasingly took the place that cotton and railways had occupied as the leading sectors in an earlier phase of industrialization. Increasingly too, it was the fast-growing economies of Germany and the US that blazed the path for the new technologies.

One of the new industries, electrical machinery under the influence of German know-how put down roots in Charlton in south-...

Continue reading ...
 

Looking for Old London Bridge

Posted by Rob Smith, Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide on Friday, April 17, 2020, In : Great Fire of London 
London Bridge is Falling Down. Anyone know a song about that? London Bridge certainly has a record of having been built and replaced many times. The first Roman bridge was built around 43AD but was replaced by a more permanent structure in 55AD (there is a great model of this bridge in the Museum of London). When the Roman’s rule ended their bridge fell into disrepair and London was left bridgeless until 878 when a Saxon bridge crossed the Thames slightly downstream from the Roman one. Acc...

Continue reading ...
 

The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, In : Podcast 

The Crown Jewels reside under armed guard in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. 


Over 30 million people have seen them in their present setting at the Tower. They are possibly the most visited objects in Britain, perhaps the world.


It’s such a unique working collection of royal regalia with some still being used by The Queen for important national ceremonies, such as the State Opening of Parliament. Others are only used at a monarch’s coronation. 


Since 1066, coronation ceremonies have ...


Continue reading ...
 

Woolwich Arsenal: Classical Splendour Meets Storage Space

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, In : 20th century 

The Grand Store at the Woolwich Arsenal was built between 1806 and 1813, by James and Lewis Wyatt, and as the name implies was used to house items for the Arsenal itself, and for bits of kit for the army and navy. The picture shows Building 46, which was the western wing. It is built in brick, with Purbeck limestone dressings. In the middle is a triangular pediment supported on four giant pilasters. The windows are recessed and those on the ground floor are arched. The building was not made c...


Continue reading ...
 

Childhood Food Memories

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 11, 2020, In : Eating 

I recently saw a conversation on twitter about people's childhood foods. Some of the contributors shared their memories of sugar sandwiches and tomato ketchup sandwiches and it got me thinking.

Food helps shape the identity of people's whole life experiences.It's a bonding ritual between friends, families and communities. Can you remember a children's birthday party when you went to as a child which didn't have food? No? Me neither. Being a child from the 980s many of my memories are of psyche...
Continue reading ...
 

Merchant Seamen’s Memorial, Trinity Square

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Thursday, April 9, 2020, In : Local History 

Just north of the Tower and in front of Trinity House stands the Mercantile Marine Memorial, which was built to commemorate the merchant seamen killed in the Great War.


It is a vaulted passage way with three bays, and with Doric columns.The dead are listed under the names of their ships on bronze plaques on the walls. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens, with the sculpture by William Reid Dick. Reid Dick’s other work includes the boy and goose on Lutyens’ headquarters for the Midland Bank, no...


Continue reading ...
 

Your Theatre Fix (digitally)

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, In : Theatre 
I don't know about you but I cannot live without the arts in my life. 

This lockdown has enabled several artists, art organisations and exhibitions to open up their digital archives. 
I have broken them into genres: Musicals
The Wind in the Willows - One for families, this long-running West End show is up here for free. Just register and consider donating to their suggested theatre charities before watching.  Read our review here.

The Other Palace - Off-West End theatre The Other Palace is st...

Continue reading ...
 

Visit Egypt (Virtually)

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, In : Travel 

This is for lovers of Ancient Egypt

If you missed visiting the TUTANKHAMUN: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh exhibit at Saatchi Gallery then fret not. 

I have been lucky enough to have visited Egypt twice, once for my 21st birthday and the millenium and the other on my honeymoon. Ancient Egypt has called to me for as long as I can remember. 

Who was Tutankhamun?
Egypt's most famous pharaoh is Tutankhamun. The 'bog king's' intact tomb was discovered in 1922 by British explorer Howard Carter and his...


Continue reading ...
 

End of the Line for London’s Effluent

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, City of London Tour Guide on Saturday, April 4, 2020, In : Victorian 

Situated 11 miles down river along the Thames Path from London Bridge is a Victorian building 

containing the world’s largest rotative steam engines. Crossness Pumping Station, built between 1859 and 1865,  is the end point on the south bank of the river of Joseph Bazalgette’s sewer system.


There were four engines built by James Watt & Co. named Albert Edward, Alexandra, Prince Consort and Victoria, named after the leading members of the royal family, which lifted the raw, untreated waste a...


Continue reading ...
 

London's First Hero?

Posted by London Tour Guide Rob Smith on Sunday, March 22, 2020, In : Roman London 
Londinium – the city built by the Roman’s we now call London started some time around 43AD. You can see lots of physical evidence of Londinium – parts of the City wall, tiled floors in church crypts, even the amphitheatre where gladiators fought. And there are plentiful objects from Londinium in the Museum of London. However, the names of the people who lived in Londinium are harder to find. One of the few we know the name of is someone who had an important role in building the city - G...
Continue reading ...
 

London Markets: Ancient and Modern

Posted by Susan Baker, City of London Guide on Sunday, March 15, 2020, In : Local History 
What are these? They are known as the London Fields Flower Sellers. You will find them and also sculptures of sheep in London Fields park in Hackney, east London. They were created in the 1980’s by local artists Freeform Arts Trust and local schoolchildren to remind us of the area’s history.

London Fields used to be on the edge of London and what is now the park was grazing area. Drovers, who had brought their animals from miles away, would stop to give their animals a rest and a chance t...

Continue reading ...
 

Bishopsgate Before the Great Fire of London

Posted by Ian McD, City of London guide on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, In : Great Fire of London 

Suspended high on a wall in the Victoria and Albert Museum is the facade of a London house from before the Great Fire of 1666.


It is a complex succession of curves and angles forming two windows which give rise to a semi-circular column in the centre. The wooden panels are  decorated with scrolls, masks, cartouches and strapwork.


The house belonged to Sir Paul Pindar, the English consul in Aleppo and subsequently  ambassador to the Ottoman court. Pindar traded in alum and tobacco and helped adm...


Continue reading ...
 

Was Martha Tabram a Ripper Victim?

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 
For many years it was not acknowledged that Martha Tabram (Turner) was a victim of Jack.

However, in a recent documentary Jack the Ripper Case Reopened, presented by Emilia Fox, star of Silent Witness with help from Professor David Wilson, a expert criminologist, they uncover many fact that point to the fact that Martha could have been Jack’s first victim not Mary Ann Nichols or Polly as she is better known. Calling this the ultimate cold case he carefully looks at the murders with cold case...


Continue reading ...
 

Wanders in London with a camera phone

Posted by Alastair, London photography guide on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, In : Photo Walks 

The days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter as we reach the end of winter. Nighttime can be such a great time for photos. Don't put your camera away just because the sun has gone down. 

When it's dark, there's a whole other city out there waiting to be captured. This photo was from my walk through Hyde Park in February. Do you know the building? When I posted this on my social media, so many people couldn't figure out what this building was. Even though they've visited it. W...


Continue reading ...
 

A Team of London History Experts

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, February 28, 2020, In : Guided Walks 
London Guided Walks is growing from strength to strength



As a solopreneur moving into a leadership role I wanted to get all our tour guides together and work on our core principles and our identity as London Guided Walks. 

Wanting to set the right tone, instead of meeting in a pub (the usual hang out for London tour guides) we met at our office's meeting room (bribed by sandwiches, coffee and cake). 

In this session, complete with a colourful presentation and a whiteboard, we delved into the det...


Continue reading ...
 

A fabulous start to 2020

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, February 28, 2020, In : Guided Walks 
We have had our busiest January and February to date.

Over the last two months we have delivered 22 guided walks and private tours to a total of 539 people, covering a mere 54.2 miles.

Ian's Roman London walk has been very popular:

"5 stars. This was my perfect walking tour. The group was the right size, I could hear everything the guide had to say. There was some walking (much preferable to ambling very short distances). The content was excellent: a mix of history, art and civilisation. I learn...
Continue reading ...
 

Growing from strength to strength

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Thursday, February 27, 2020, In : Guided Walks 
Becoming a London tour guide wasn't originally on my career ladder. For a couple of years I had been writing a London history blog and by default had ended up on the most specialist London tours going. "You should really move your blog onto the streets" I was told. And so that's what I did. I went back to university to become a qualified London tour guide. 

For four years I have worked on my own, always with the vision of creating a space where other professional guides would be able to share...

Continue reading ...
 

Literary London Tube Map

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Friday, February 21, 2020, In : Literary London 

How well do you know literary London via its tube stations?

In The Book's literary-themed map replaces stations with famous novels based on the area they were set in London, a nice way of sharing some my favourite books (which are also some of our most popular tours). How many do you know?

Oliver Twist is set around Islington. Clerkenwell Green (Farringdon being the closest station) is where poor Oliver Twist is wrongly accused of trying to pick the pocket of Mr Brownlow. Oliver Twist Tour st...


Continue reading ...
 

Guided Theatre: March 2020

Posted by Sarah at ThriftyTheatre on Thursday, February 20, 2020, In : Guided Theatre 

February is over already? That went by quickly. Hello and welcome to your March addition of GUIDED THEATRE, the hub for all thing’s theatre, including news, the hottest shows and where to get your tickets.

It’s time to set those clocks forward and enjoy an extra hour of light. March also means we are one month closer to summer (woohoo). SO, what do we have to look forward to this month:


City of Angels

Originally premiering at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014, City of Angels was a huge success! S...


Continue reading ...
 

The Oldest Trick in The Book

Posted by Rob Smith, Tour Guide at London Guided Walks on Wednesday, February 19, 2020, In : Museums 

I am always amazed when I cross Westminster Bridge to see the Three Card Trick in operation. In case you don’t know it, this is where three criminals con people out of their money in a rigged card game, also known as Find The Lady. One person has three cards set up on a table or box and they invite you to guess which one is the Queen of Hearts – the lady. One of the accomplices poses as a punter, who is doing well at the game and winning lots of money. The third person then befriends peop...


Continue reading ...
 

An evening tour of Moorgate

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, February 17, 2020, In : Corporate Tour 

Last week Cubitts Opticians celebrated the opening of their new City of London store with a private tour of the local area for their staff. 

Private tours in the evening add a wonderful sense of drama to the events. Part of the Roman London wall route originally taken by the northern wall is commemorated, although now only loosely followed, by the road also named London Wall. With the store having a London Wall address I would have been remiss to not have mentioned it. 

This alignment, however,...


Continue reading ...
 

Best way to get around London

Posted by Hazel, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, February 17, 2020, In : Travel 

Navigating London

London is a fabulous city in which to live and to visit. Saying that though, the most hardcore of Londoners can use a little help at time. And that help comes in the form of a mobile app.



It is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security on regular London journeys, we know the optimal route on autopilot, even the specific carriage to get for a speedy exit from the station. But as soon as an unfamiliar journey is required a little more thought and preparation needs to ...


Continue reading ...
 

Rare objects paint a new picture of Bronze Age London

Posted by Hazel Baker on Monday, February 10, 2020, In : Things to Do in London 

A total of 453 bronze objects dating between c.900 and c.800 have been discovered in Havering, Greater London. They were uncovered by archaeologists from Archaeological Solutions, as part of a planned excavation.

A pair of terret rings will be on display at the Museum of Docklands’ new exhibition: Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery. 

What are terret rings?

Terret rings are believed to have been used to prevent the reins of a horse from tangling on carts. 

These are the first Bronze Age ex...


Continue reading ...
 

Why we provide Jack the Ripper tours

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Monday, February 10, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 

In today’s Guardian author and social historian Hallie Rubenhold has announced her plans to commemorate the lives of the women murdered by Jack the Ripper with a new mural in Whitechapel.  She claims Ripper tours are ‘atrocious’. 

One of the most popular questions we get asked by people is if we provide a Jack the Ripper tour. Yes we do. If we didn’t, they would just go with someone else. Is it not better to provide a Ripper tour which truly reflects the Whitechapel of 1888, the murky...


Continue reading ...
 

Aaron Kosminski - Jack the Ripper Suspect

Posted by Jenny Phillips - Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Thursday, February 6, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 
Arron Kosminski, the suspect hinted as being Jack the Ripper, by Sir Melvlle MacNaughton as being the most likely suspect. Also, the subject chosen by Author Russell Edwards, who bought the shawl in 2007 Results from a forensic examination of this stained silk shawl that investigators claim was found next to the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes, the killer’s fourth victim, in 1888. The shawl is speckled with what is claimed to be blood and semen, the latter believed to be from the killer...
Continue reading ...
 

Medieval London: Holy Trinity Priory

Posted by Ian, City of London Tour Guide on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, In : Medieval 

If you peer in the window of a modern office building at the end of Leadenhall Street, where it meets Fenchurch Street, you can see what is left of Holy Trinity Priory. All that remains is an arch which once led from the choir to a side chapel. There is little to indicate the priory’s former grandeur.

Holy Trinity was one of England’s wealthiest religious houses, and after the crown it was the largest landowner in the capital. We have a papal taxatio - a valuation - from 1291 whic...


Continue reading ...
 

Who was Jack the Ripper?

Posted by Jenny, Jack the Ripper Guide on Saturday, February 1, 2020, In : Jack the Ripper 
Who Was Jack?

This is the most common question that I an asked by people attending the tour. His Identity is a never-ending source of mystery and interest to most people.

To answer this question, I have studied many books, films and police reports from the time and I have a unique answer which explains why, after Mary Kelly he never struck again and disappeared just as mysteriously as he had started these horrific murders. I love the mystery of this case and take great delight with sharing my...
Continue reading ...
 

Kult Pizza in Farringdon

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, In : Eating 

If you are planning on attending Bleeding Hearts & Body Parts or Heretics and Horrors walk during the week then you may enjoy Kult pizza. It's a small pizzeria on Cowcross Street, perfectly placed a couple of minutes walk away from where these two walks end. 
Finding somewhere that serves quick tasty food during the evenings in the week around Smithfield can be tricky.

The pizzeria is small and funky, clean and bright. They have two choices of pizza sizes, 6" and 10".  I chose the 6” pancett...


Continue reading ...
 

Guided Theatre: February 2020

Posted by Sarah at ThriftyTheatre on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, In : Guided Theatre 

Hello and welcome to your February addition of GUIDED THEATRE, the hub for all thing’s theatre, including news, the hottest shows and where to get your tickets.

February, the month of love, pancakes and millions of school kids enjoying their half term holidays. So, what should you look out for this month: 


Waitress:

Jenna, a pie-making expert working as a waitress in a small diner in America. With her friends Dawn and Becky, she dreams of happiness and escaping her marriage but after...


Continue reading ...
 

Have you been upstaged by a squirrel?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, In : Georgian 
Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day. 

The squirrels you see in London are grey squirrels. They were introduced into the UK in the 1800s which is quite apt since this cheeky fella upstaged me on my Georgian London tour. As cute as these squirrels are, they can be damaging to woodlands and has contributed to the decline of the stunning red squirrel.

Did you know?

Grey squirrels are renowned for their agility, adept climbing and cunning - they can crack open bird feeders and run along tight-rope wa...


Continue reading ...
 

The Best Places To Eat Cheese in London

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Sunday, January 19, 2020, In : Eating 

It's cheese lover's day!

To celebrate, I’ve rounded up my favourite cheesemongers, street food stalls and cheese boards. 


My Best Cheese Shops in London

Paxton & Whitfield

Having started as a cheese stall in London's Aldwych market in 1742, the now partnership of Paxton & Whitfield is my go-to place for cheese. Jermyn Street’s branch of Paxton & Whitfield is one of London’s most iconic shops. 

It’s beloved of both the royal family and well-heeled Londoners. As well as the usua...


Continue reading ...
 

Smartphone Photo Walks

Posted by Alastair Hilton on Sunday, January 19, 2020, In : Smartphone Photo Walks 

Happy New Year to you all!

Christmas seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it? How are your new year resolutions coming along? Have you been to the gym? Have you refrained from the alcohol? Don't worry, I don't tell anyone if you haven't!

Whatever resolutions you break, the one to keep, is getting out in London with your phone, having a wander and taking some great photos. Luckily, we've got just the walks for you!

From our first Southbank photowalk that we introduced last year, we've now add...


Continue reading ...
 

1930s novelty soap

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, In : 20th century 

Today is National Bubble Bath Day. Yes, it’s a thing!

Would you like having a bath only once a week, in your kitchen, using only carbolic soap, in a hip tin bath like this? No? We don’t blame you, but this is what many Victorian families. Brrrrr. Washing body parts separately, such as arms, hands and faces were executed regularly but full-body baths were a different beast all together.

History of Soap

Ancient Babylonians are credited for inventing soap. Evidence for this has bee...


Continue reading ...
 

What is the strange contraption in St Magnus the Martyr church?

Posted by Susan Baker, London Guided Walks tour Guide on Saturday, January 4, 2020, In : Great Fire of London 

As you enter the church of St Magnus the Martyr, just to the east of London Bridge, you would be forgiven for missing this strange wooden contraption to the right.  What is it?  Not a mobile pop up food stall.  It’s a very early fire engine.  How appropriate it should be in this church as a reminder of the dangers of fire, particularly in medieval London.

St Magnus was the second church to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London – the Monument being built on the site of the first...


Continue reading ...
 

Leadenhall Market: the Heart of Roman London

Posted by Ian McDiarmid, London Tour Guide on Friday, January 3, 2020, In : Roman London 

Leadenhall Market stands in the very centre of Londinium, for underneath its buildings and avenues lie the remains of the forum.

The Romans began their conquest of Britannia in 43AD, and the settlement of London began sometime after. We do not know exactly when, but perhaps the most important find from a great deal of archaeological digging in the capital points to very rapid development. A timber drain found under No 1 Poultry dates to 47AD, indicating that a road was constructed by ...


Continue reading ...
 

When is Twelfth Night?

Posted by Hazel Baker, Director of London Guided Walks on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, In : Christmas 

It is said that it is bad luck to leave your Christmas decorations up past Twelfth Night. But when is Twelfth Night?

One of the biggest surprises for those on my Victorian Christmas Walk is that at the beginning of the 19th century Christmas was hardly celebrated. It’s hard to imagine that many businesses did not even consider it a holiday and for most it was simply yet another working day. Instead Twelfth Night was the big event in the calendar associated with parties and drinking....


Continue reading ...
 

Award-Winning London Tour Guide

Posted by Hazel Baker, London Tour Guide on Monday, December 30, 2019, In : Awards 

We have some fabulously fantastic news to share with you.

We are excited to have been awarded, 'Tour Guide of the Year in London' by the prestigious Travel & Hospitality Awards, 2020.

It's wonderful to receive positive reviews from those attending our guided walks, private tours and treasure hunts and we are thankful for each and everyone. 

It now feels incredible to be recognised in the industry for the private London tours, guided walks, photo walks and treasure hunts we provide....


Continue reading ...
 

Jack the Ripper and Winter Nights

Posted by Jenny Phillips, Jack the Ripper Tour Guide on Sunday, December 29, 2019, In : Jack the Ripper 
What a perfect time to do a Jack the Ripper Walk as the streets are dark (from 4:00 pm and starting at between 6-7:30 you can be sure of a great atmosphere on the walk. It’s even better when it’s misty or cold, as this gruesome walk will make you shiver to your bones.

A mysterious man our Jack never caught at the time, never really identified. So, who was he? You had a multitude of suspects even at the time, as the police arrested and questioned over three hundred men but never found enou...
Continue reading ...
 

Cartwright Gardens: classical calm off the Euston Road

Posted by Ian McDiarmid on Friday, December 20, 2019, In : Kings Cross 

Cartwright Gardens is a graceful crescent of brick buildings with stuccoed ground floors. The first floors facing the street have finely wrought iron balconies and the top, fourth floor is marked off from the lower levels by a heavy white lintel. Otherwise, the facades are plain with recessed sash windows picked out in white.

The effect is of restrained classical elegance. It lies just south of Euston Road in Bloomsbury, and features in our King’s Cross Walk. The buildings a...


Continue reading ...
 

Guided Theatre: 2020

Posted by Sarah @ Thrifty Theatre on Saturday, December 14, 2019, In : Guided Theatre 

GUIDED THEATRE

Welcome to this new addition of London Guided Walks blog, GUIDED THEATRE by Sarah at Thrifty Theatre. your hub for all thing’s theatre, including news, the hottest shows and where to get your tickets. Each month I will give you my top tip for the month as well as recommendations for some great shows.  

So, what is there to look forward to at the start of 2020:

Curtains

Do you like Murder Mysteries? Do you like Musicals? Do you like Jason Manford? Well this show combines all thre...


Continue reading ...
 

London photography in December

Posted by Alastair Hilton on Saturday, December 14, 2019, In : Smartphone Photo Walks 

Halfway through December and the days are short and the nights are long. Perfect! For photography in London, we now get the best of both worlds, the light and the dark, without staying up really late!

Our smartphone photo walk along Southbank the other day showed what a great time if year this really is. Starting the tour at 3pm, we got some lovely photos of the area and the river and bridges. Then, as we stood photographing the view across the Thames towards St Paul's Cathedral, the ...


Continue reading ...
 

NEW: Smartphone Photo Walks in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, December 13, 2019, In : Smartphone Photo Walks 

Learn how to take great photos with your smartphone with professional photographer Alastair Hilton.

During the photo walk, Alastair will set photography challenges, nurture your photographic eye and help you develop a better understanding of what makes a great photo. 

At the end of the 2 hour tour you will have gained a collection of photos you will feel proud of and having gained insight as to how to improve your smartphone photography. 


Our smartphone photo walks are external focu...


Continue reading ...
 

Victorian Christmas in Islington with Rob Smith

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, December 13, 2019, In : Christmas Events 
Brand New for 2019

London Guided Walks are proud to present A Victorian Christmas in Islington presented by our very own Clerkenwell and Islington tour guide Rob Smith

The Victorians totally reinvented Christmas and this walk looks at how it was celebrated in Islington in the 1860s. Taking stories from local newspaper's of the period Rob will conjure up the sights of sounds of Christmas - the shops being readied for Christmas day, acts performing at the music hall, decorations for sale and ba...
Continue reading ...
 

Guided Walks this Christmas

Posted by Hazel @ London Guided Walks on Friday, December 13, 2019, In : Christmas Events 

Continue reading ...
 

Hidden Roman London

Posted by Susan Baker on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, In : Hidden 

When I wander round the City of London ( “the City” or “the Square Mile”) it is always a delight to find remains from our past amongst the hustle and bustle of the modern business centre.  Many City workers rush around without seeing their history all around them – I know I was guilty of this when I worked in an office in the City.

However, some things are rather more difficult to spot than others.  This remnant of the ancient (originally Roman) city wall is an example.  I h...


Continue reading ...
 

Soho-Ho Treasure Hunt

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, In : Christmas Events 
Our Soho-Ho Treasure Hunt kicked off the Christmas season on Sunday.

Forty people donned their santa hats and explored the area of Carnaby street looking for answers to our cryptic clues in the streets and in shop windows.

Here's a short video of what you missed: https://youtu.be/AfQGwb32Yr0


Our Soho-Ho Treasure Hunt makes a fun Christmas Event for corporates or friends and family.
Who knows, we may see you on our next public Soho-Ho Christmas Treasure Hunt next year with new clues!
Continue reading ...
 

How to access Panoramic on your smartphone (Android and iPhone)

Posted by Alastair Hilton on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, In : Photo Walks 

How to access Panoramic camera setting on your smartphone (Android or iPhone):

Press the camera icon on your phone. Next to the "shutter release button" (the white circle you press to take a photo) will be a list of options, including Square, Pano or Panorama, portrait, time lapse etc. Press the Pano/panorama option. Two parallel lines and an arrow will appear in the centre of the screen. 

Turn your phone horizontally. Stand the aisle of a church (for instance) and point the camera le...


Continue reading ...
 

Taking panoramic photos with your smartphone (iPhone and Android)

Posted by Alastair Hilton on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, In : Photo Walks 

Capturing ultra-wide  or ultra-high panoramas is a great technique to mix up your photography skill-set and create larger-than-life work that captures landscapes and architectural features in a unique way.

You may think you’d need specialised equipment to shoot a panorama, but but fear not. The widespread usage of smartphones means many of us have a really good panorama camera in our pockets, with us at all times, and many don’t
even know it!

The built-in software is designe...


Continue reading ...
 

Susan's River Thames Walk

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, October 7, 2019, In : Guided Walks 

Susan's City of London River Thames walk helps us all make sense of the changing scene on London's river. The Thames rapidly became the most important river in the country following the Roman invasion, and has remained so ever since.

Starting at Blackfriars walk along the length of the City of London's edge of the Thames to the Tower of London. Susan's walk puts everything into perspective and looks at how it developed and changed through the ages. 

Hear the origins of the nursery rhy...


Continue reading ...
 

Half-Price Half-Term London Walks

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, In : Half Term 

Looking for a fun way to keep the kids entertained this half term? 

We have half-price tickets for our half-term London walks to keep the kids busy and entertained. Half price tickets available for half term week Monday 21  - Saturday 26 October 2019

Adult tickets £6 & Kids £4 + booking fee

All our mid-week half term walk start at 1pm and at a tube station.



Monday 21 October, 1pm Wonders of Whitehall

Explore the historical district of Whitehall see the iconic Houses of Parliament and Wes...


Continue reading ...
 

Al fresco brunch at The Plumstead Pantry

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, In : Local History 
Do you have a favourite London al fresco spot? Tell us!

Here's my review of The Plumstead Pantry
With the sun shining I decided to head on out for a spot of al fresco lunch. We jumped on the bus to Plumstead to The Plumstead Pantry. This is somewhere I have been itching to go for a few months after stumbling across them on Facebook. Having missed their August lates I wanted to take full advantage of the Indian summer.

We were lucky to have a table for two outside in the sunshine, overlooking Plu...
Continue reading ...
 

Old Mill Pub, Plumstead

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, In : Local History 

The Old Mill pub is a historic pub right on Plumstead Common. The windmill was built on Plumstead Common in 1764.


In 1827, there was an accident at the mill when so many people crowded onto the stage to watch a sham fight that it gave way, injuring a number of them. In 1848, the mill was converted into a brewhouse, having been disused for a number of years previously.


Plumstead Common Windmill was marked on the 1819-43 Ordnance Survey map. Photographs show it was once tied t...


Continue reading ...
 

FREE Rembrandt Exhibition at The British Museum

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Art 
The British Museum is a wonderful place to visit, especially when you are dipping in to see something specific.

Many of us Londoners would say they are familiar with the British Museum and have ticked off the main display items but few, I would suggest, have visited Room 90 on the Upper Level. Therein lies a free exhibition on Rembrandt. Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) is among the best-loved artists in the world. 

It may surprise you that The British Museum has one of the gre...
Continue reading ...
 

London's Brunch Festival

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Eating 
Saturday 31 August & Sunday 1 September 2019
The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane
Tickets: £12.50 + booking fee
VIP Tickets: £35 + booking fee

This will be the biggest celebration of brunch London has ever seen. There will be coffee, there will be booze, also workshops, talks, music and most importantly … more perfectly delectable brunch food, yum yum.

Event includes:

Marketplace
- 10 amazing Brunch Headliners who will each be serving a special festival menu

Sweet Street
- packed full of...
Continue reading ...
 

Things to do in London (for Londoners)

Posted by Hazel Baker on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Things to Do in London 

We are so lucky to live in such a vibrant world city. Sometimes though, it's hard to find events off the tourist trail and experience the real London.

I am excited to announce the creation of a new Facebook Group 'Things to do in London (for Londoners). This Facebook group is something I have been wanted to do for a while. It's designed as a place to find and share London events which Londoners would enjoy.

Hazel
London Guided Walks / Things to Do in London (for Londoners)

Continue reading ...
 

Nunhead Cemetery Open Day 2019

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Events 
Saturday, 18th May, 2019 11am - 5pm
FREE
Nearest Station: Nunhead

What does the event entail?
Cemetery tour including visits to the chapel and crypt which are not usually open to the public.
Seek guidance on family history
Food and drinks at our café.

More Nunhead open day information

Find out more about Nunhead Cemetery in our blog post.
Continue reading ...
 

Evening bird walk at Sydenham Hill Wood

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, May 2, 2019, In : Events 
Guided bird walk with London Wildlife Trust in Sydenham Hill Wood.

Typical woodland birds expected to encounter: wren, robin, blackbird, woodpigeon, and to hear migrant blackcap and chiffchaff, as well as nuthatch and stock dove.

Wear suitable footwear for a woodland with rugged paths, steps and gentle inclines.

If there is prolonged heavy rain, thunderstorms or high winds the walk will be cancelled. Please check before attending.

Find out more
Continue reading ...
 

Beasts of London: a Review

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, In : Events 
Rats, horses, a dormouse, pigeons and geese, the Museum of London is turned into a menagerie of beastly wonder.

In partnership with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Museum of London's latest exhibition 'Beasts of London' is a journey through London’s history, told through its animals who have lived in London and those who still call it home.

It's described as an experience rather than an exhibition even though there are a handful of artefacts on display including an impressive prese...
Continue reading ...
 

Beasts of London, Museum of London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, In : Events 
When: 5 April 2019 – 5 January 2020
Where: Museum of London
Suitable for: 7 years+
Price: Variable. Family tickets from £20

Beasts of London experience at the Museum of London explores the fascinating role animals have played in shaping the capital. Step into a self-guided tour through London’s beasty history, narrated by the animals who once lived here. 

Follow the footprints to travel through time, from the Roman era through Medieval London and right up to present day, narrated by the b...
Continue reading ...
 

Feast of St George 20 April 2019

Posted by Hazel on Friday, April 12, 2019, In : Events 

Come and celebrate the best of English culture at the Feast of St George, 20 April 2019

If you want to see me in a Victorian bonnet, now is the time! I am very proud to announce I will be partaking in the festivities by providing three Dragon Quests where wanna be knights hunt down the name of our St George's dragon with Edith Baker (me) and Julius Drake and three 20 minute talks on St George MythBusters. 


Come and join me:

St. George MythBusters 12.15pm, 2.45pm and 4.15pm
Come and hear mo...


Continue reading ...
 

St George's Day Walk

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, April 12, 2019, In : Guided Walks 

It's back!

Celebrate St George's Day 2019 with us on our dragon walk.

The City of London is surrounded by dragons. On this walk we explore the city of London in search of these elusive beasts.

Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label. Some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous, such as in the Old English poem Beowulf. Which dragons will we find?

Start: London...


Continue reading ...
 

It's oh so quiet...

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, In : Quirky 

So, you may have noticed that I am not offering many tours in October and November. Well, that's because something unexpectedly wonderful is happening...

I'm getting married! 

Who knew my guiding would lead me down this path. I met my future husband several years ago when he came on one of my guided walks in Camden. Like many other people he came back time and time again until he had done all the walks I had offered which finally led to him asking me on a date. 

Our first date was a mo...


Continue reading ...
 

Unusual Work Christmas Parties

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, In : Christmas 

Need to organise a Christmas works do with a difference? 


Being a small business owner, one thing I don't miss are those awkward Christmas work dos, where you're sipping a glass of paint thinner disguised as white wine while trying to look like you are having a good time.

If you need to organise your work’s Christmas do, give them an experience they can share and remember with our Christmas corporate events. This is your chance to get out of the office and to explore an area of Lo...


Continue reading ...
 

Pancakes in Covent Garden

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, In : Eating 
If you have a love of pancakes then you are sure to enjoy Pancs in Covent Garden.

No matter whether you prefer savoury or have a sweet tooth there is sure to be something that suits your palate. We ventured down to the lower level of Covent Garden Market, following our noses to the warm and welcoming smell of Pancs. 



Having chosen Duck Confit Panc containing duck, stilton, rocket, mustard and honey and a Chicken Teriyaki Panc with chicken, pepper, lettuce and teriyaki we say down on the raised ...
Continue reading ...
 

Pancake Day in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, In : Events 
It is Shrove Tuesday! While Brazilians donne their carnival colours and Danish children dress up and 'hit the cat out of the barrell' we English partake in pancake races.

If you are stuck for something to do today then you are spoilt for choice for pancake-related events in London:

Parliamentary Pancake Race, Westminster

Now celebrating 21 years of tradition, the parliamentary pancake race in Victoria Tower Gardens where MPs, Lords and members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery willingly...


Continue reading ...
 

Winter Lights Festival 2018, Canary Wharf

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, In : Festival 

It’s back! From tonight Canary Wharf will be illuminated by sculptures, structures and installations as part of the Winter Lights Festival, an annual celebration of light technology and art.

Over 30 cutting edge installations and artworks provided by artists from across the world including UK, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and USA. They will be on show both indoors and outside from 5-10pm across Canary Wharf estate where you can also enjoy an array of over 300 bars, shops and resta...


Continue reading ...
 

Who's your favourite Scrooge?

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, December 14, 2017, In : Christmas 


There is one question whilst doing my Christmas Carol Tour which I always get asked: who is your favourite Ebenezer Scrooge?

Hmmm….who do I think plays ‘a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping….old sinner’ the best? 

It’s fair to say there is plenty of choice:

  • 1910 Marc McDermott - A Christmas Carol (silent film)
  • 1938 Reginald Owen - A Christmas Carol
  • 1951 Alastair Sim - Scrooge (UK) & A Christmas Carol (USA)
  • 1962 Mister Magoo - Mister Magoo’s Christmas
  • 1970 Albert Finney - Sc...

Continue reading ...
 

Howard's End London Filming Locations

Posted by Hazel Baker on Tuesday, November 21, 2017, In : Films 
The BBC's latest version of Howard's End has now hit the UK's TV screens. For those who have joined me on my Georgian London walking tour will see a familiar sight, Myddelton Square, Clerkenwell.


Myddelton Square, Clerkenwell 2015


Myddelton Square 2017

You'll notice the chapel has moved closer up the street and a large Victorian red brick building has replaced the small Georgian workers homes of Arlington Way.

Even though this majestic flagship square exudes Georgian elegance, a touch of movie m...
Continue reading ...
 

The Writeidea Festival 2017

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, In : Festival 
The Writeidea festival 2017 is nearly here!

This free annual festival has a diverse programme of over 40 events over this coming weekend (17-19 November) at the Idea Store, Whitechapel

The Writeidea festival, backed by the Arts Council, will include a breadth of authors such as Stella Duffy, Alan Dein, The Gentle Author and Irenosen Okojie who will be talking and reading from their own work combining well-known names with emerging writers, all bringing their own local, national and internatio...
Continue reading ...
 

Woodstock Terrace, Poplar

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, November 14, 2017, In : Victorian 
There are so many interesting details to see in Poplar. One of the bigger details is the beautiful Woodstock Street facing west onto Poplar Recreation Ground.

The street was built in the mid 1850s during the Victorian perood. Like many tenancies of the day, the covenants prohibited the lessees and their tenants from practising specified noxious trades, including the boiling of horseflesh (to create cat meat), tallow melting and soapmaking, and from using forges, anvils or steam engines on the ...

Continue reading ...
 

Gold Christmas at the National Gallery

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, November 13, 2017, In : Christmas 

Image Credit: NG1 Sebastiano del Piombo incorporating designs by Michelangelo about 1485 - 1547. The Raising of Lazarus 1517-19. Oil on canvas, transferred from wood 381 x 289.6 cm © The National Gallery, London

Celebrate the festive season at the National Gallery and take part in gold-themed activities and events.

17 November 2017 – 1 January 2018 


Gold shines brightest in the National Gallery during the festive season. This year, visitors are invited to celebrate the holidays by exp...
Continue reading ...
 

Old Flo Returns!

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, In : Art 

Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman has returned to the East End after taking a 20 year holiday at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Purchased in 1962 by the LCC under its ‘Patronage of the Arts Scheme’ where sculptures by leading artists were acquired for housing estates, schools and other public places for the benefit of local people. 

Draped Seated Woman was placed on LCC’s Stifford Estate in Stepney, where it gained the nickname ‘Old Flo’ by the residents and where she stayed for 35 years...


Continue reading ...
 

Afternoon Tea Awards 2017

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, July 18, 2017, In : Eating 

We were lucky enough to be invited to the 2017 Afternoon Tea Awards, celebrating the best Afternoon Teas to be enjoyed in the UK. The event was hosted in the sumptuous surroundings of 5 star Grosvenor House Hotel, Mayfair. 



Lanson Champagne accompanied a quirky afternoon tea beautifully presented, featuring cream scones in terracotta flower pots, burned caramel chocolates with popping candy and delicate hand-crafted pastries in bird cages. Tea was on hand thanks to Newby Teas. 


2017 Afternoon T...


Continue reading ...
 

BBC Filming in Clerkenwell

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, In : 20th century 


Whilst out with a lovely group on my Georgian London tour in North Clerkenwell we were lucky enough to come across the BBC filming. When I asked the crew, and after being told they were filming Jeremy Kyle the movie I was informed they were filming a new miniseries of Howards End. 

Back in February 2017 the BBC announced an all-star cast for Kenneth Lonergan's adaption of Howards End for BBC One. This is to be Academy Award® nominated screenwriter and playwright Lonergan's first TV screen ad...


Continue reading ...
 

Rossopomodoro - a taste of Naples in Covent Garden

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Thursday, March 30, 2017, In : Eating 

One of the challenges of eating out in Covent Garden is to avoid the tourist traps and find somewhere authentic and affordable. Rossopomodoro’s Covent Garden restaurant is in olive-spitting distance from well-known chains Bella Italia and Spaghetti House. I was curious as to what culinary delights yet another Italian restaurant chain can offer the area.

The décor is simple and functional with ceiling lamps, and a golden mosaic tile wood oven creates a kitchen-like appearance.  

The menu i...


Continue reading ...
 

Floating Garden Party

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Friday, March 24, 2017, In : Quirky 

A unique London Thames experience - 25th, 26th and 27th May 2017

The Floating Gardens of Westminster coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show between 23rd – 27th May 2017. A cool and contemporary cruise collides with a quintessentially British garden, offering tourists and Londoners alike the best floating garden party in the city.

The fresh, flower-clad vessel will see a City Cruises sightseeing boat transformed into a fragrant paradise. Hundreds of thousands of fresh roses will adorn the ship'...


Continue reading ...
 

Cake and cocktails? Yes please

Posted by Hazel from London Guided Walks on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, In : Eating 


A girly catch-up was well overdue. Since we couldn’t decide between cake and cocktails we decided to head somewhere in Central London that offered both. Having been to the Quarter Bar & Lounge at London Bridge Hotel for cocktails before I was aching to try their afternoon tea. 

We had a booth reserved which gave the feeling of privacy. Champagne or a sparkling cocktail can replace the usual tea offering for an additional £10. We chose the regular afternoon tea and had a co...


Continue reading ...
 

Have you visited Nunhead Cemetery yet?

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Thursday, March 16, 2017, In : Victorian 
Nunhead Cemetery was originally called All Saints. Covering 52 acres, it is the second largest of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established around the outskirts of London between 1832 and 1841 during a time when inner city churchyards were unhealthily overcrowded.
The cemetery was built on Nunhead Hill which rises two hundred feet above sea level with views of the City of London and St Paul’s Cathedral to the north and the North Downs to the south.
The London Cemetery Company, th...

Continue reading ...
 

‘Sacred Bodies’ by Sara Burgess

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Thursday, March 16, 2017, In : Art 
Art in Nunhead Cemetery, 20 Feb - 22 April 2017
Nunhead cemetery hosts ‘Sacred Bodies’ by Sara Burgess her first solo exhibition of her metal sculpture work in an outdoor space. This art exhibition explores our connection between the inevitable physicality of our earthly, human existence and our violation to overcome suffering.
‘Iron Maiden’ is a stylised wrought-iron torso in a female form; highlighting the enduring discrimination against women throughout the ages and took 50 hour...

Continue reading ...
 

Michelangelo & Sebastiano exhibition review

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, In : Art 

Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano plays homage to two of Italy’s great Renaissance masters, Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo.

The large altarpiece The Raising of Lazarus by Sebastiano (NG1) was one of the first paintings in the National Gallery and so it seems quite surprising that Sebastian is not so well known with those not so immersed in the Renaissance art world.

The National Gallery’s latest exhibition is the first to explore the creative partnership between ...


Continue reading ...
 

New Solo Show to open at Curious Duke Gallery

Posted by London Guided Walks on Saturday, March 11, 2017, In : Art 



Solo Show of Contemporary Artist Louise McNaught explores the theme endangered animals through paintings and 3D painted sculptures at the Curious Duke Gallery, currently London's leading urban and contemporary art space for emerging artists. 

The exhibition on opens Friday 7th April. McNaught's wonderfully colourful combinations of animals and neons where the animals are ‘God-like, sublime and ethereal in their luminescence.’ 

McNaught embraces a mixed-media approach which is motivated by e...


Continue reading ...
 

Sensational Butterflies at Natural History Museum

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, March 9, 2017, In : Attractions 



This Easter, escape to the tropical butterfly house and see the crawling caterpillar transform into the beautiful butterfly at the all-time favourite National History Museum.

Sensational Butterflies returns for its ninth year in 2017 and remains a spring and summer favourite for schools, families and anyone seeking solace from the busy London streets.

Running from the 31 March – 17 September you can see so many butterflies and learn about their lives in the specially constructed tropical en...


Continue reading ...
 

Thames River Crossings Event - Saturday 13 May, 2017

Posted by Hazel from London Guided Walks on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, In : Events 



The first London bridge

The first bridge in London to span the Thames was built by the Romans in AD55 using piled structures for the foundations. It was located where the current London Bridge stands. It has been rebuilt many times since. A small trading settlement grew up around the wharves and bridge which later became known as Londinium.

The Thames depicted in Art
French Impressionist Claude Monet painted the Thames three times. 'The Thames below Westminster' painting depicts the riv...


Continue reading ...
 

10 Secrets of a Superhero Revealed

Posted by Hazel at London Guided Walks on Friday, March 3, 2017, In : Quirky 
What does it take to be a superhero? Here are 10 qualities which can see you onto greatness:
  1. Superheroes never give up
  2. They get the job done
  3. They are the best at what they do because they believe in themselves and focus on their strengths
  4. Superheroes have a clear, defined purpose
  5. They don’t seek glory, they focus on the bigger picture
  6. Superheroes help each other
  7. They work well on their own but are even better when they work with others eg The Avengers
  8. A superhero’s real strength comes not fr...

Continue reading ...
 

In search of shrunken heads in Harry Potter and London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, February 26, 2017, In : Films 


The wizarding world of Harry Potter has so many levels, from the books, films, Warner Brother and Universal studios, a stage play and also walking tours in London. 

Shrunken heads in Harry Potter

Shrunken heads are a lively addition to the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but they don’t appear in the Harry Potter books or any other of the films. I want to share with you my findings on shrunken heads not only in the Harry Potter films but also where to see them in London.

Heads...


Continue reading ...
 

Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, February 21, 2017, In : Day Trips 



It’s at this time of year where our household orchids come to bud, reminding us that it’s that time of year again; the Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens. The orchid festival at Kew Gardens is now in its 22nd year and is something we look forward to doing year after year. Having a Friends of Kew membership makes our regular visit much more affordable, allowing us to treat ourselves to a pub lunch. 

The excitement was building as we entered the familiar steamed glass of Kew Gardens’ Princess...


Continue reading ...
 

Five Fantastic Questions I Get Asked on my Harry Potter in London walks

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, February 20, 2017, In : Films 

I do Harry Potter walks in London. The best bit about doing my tours are the amazing people that come on them. 

My Harry Potter walks attract both adults and children, some with a general interest in Harry Potter and some which are true Potterheads - the eclectic mix of people make each walk truly unique. 

Here are five fab questions I have been asked on my Harry Potter's London walk:


Question 1: What is the name of the Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Philosophe...


Continue reading ...
 

Fantastic Beasts - Where to Find Them in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, October 13, 2016, In : Quirky 


Magical beasts are on the street of London and many Muggles don't even notice!

Now, the average Muggle may think that griffins and unicorns are mythical creatures harking back to medieval times but the wizarding world may disagree. If you have read J.K Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book then you are already aware that such beasts are hiding in plain sight. But what fantastic beasts and where to find them in London? 

First of all you need to know what you're looking for...

The...
Continue reading ...
 

Why did Charles Dickens choose the name Ebenezer Scrooge?

Posted by London Walks on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, In : Christmas 

Charles Dickens was prompted to write A Christmas Carol as his response to the evident evils of capitalism; but it was also an attempt to pay his ever-increasing unpaid bills. Six weeks after visiting Manchester where the fancy first occurred to him, his novella was complete. Dickens was in the event underwhelmed with the profits it generated, but his story went on to become synonymous with the modern Christmas ideal.

The first few paragraphs of the novella set the scene of Ebenezer Scrooge i...
Continue reading ...
 

Pokemon Go in Bristol

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, October 2, 2016, In : Day Trips 
We had an awesome day in Bristol doing a Poketour this week. We caught many 2nd evolution Pokemon such as Slowbro,  Poliwhirl and Starmie. Since we were all Team Mystic, the best Pokemon Go experience was taking down gyms together.

Pokemon Go aside Bristol is a wonderful place to explore, especially on a day trip away from London. It's small enough to navigate there is rich history starting in the stone age, enough to keep any history-lover happy. 

Below is a short video of some of the wonderfu...
Continue reading ...
 

London's Burning

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, September 4, 2016, In : Guided Walks 

350 years ago the Great Fire of London tore through the medieval streets of London, destroying 80% of the city in four days. 373 acres of the City - from the Tower in the East to Fleet Street and Fetter Lane in the West - and burning around 13,200 houses, 84 churches and 44 company halls.

Learn more about this major event, how the royals and the regulars dealt with this disaster as well as other historical events on our Heretics and Horrors walking tour.

Further reading: Was the Great ...
Continue reading ...
 

Afternoon Tea at The Keeper's Lodge

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, August 26, 2016, In : Eating 


Full of sweet treats and tasty sandwiches Afternoon Tea is a wonderful way to relax during the afternoon. 

The Keeper's Lodge is a sideways extension to Burlington House which houses the Royal Academy (RA) off Piccadilly. Go down the stairs on the left.

Long & Kentish, award-winning architects,  have restored it retaining many details including vaults, old ceiling beams and hearths originating from the Restoration era. Award-winning architect David Chipperfield RA added a luxurious contempora...

Continue reading ...
 

Enjoy Afternoon Tea on the BB Bakery Bus

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, August 12, 2016, In : Eating 

We have the Victorian 7th Duchess of Bedford, Anna Russell to thank for the invention of Afternoon Tea. It was in 1840 when the Duchess found a tasty solution to the problem of being hungry at around 4pm, having to wait another four hours before dinner at 8pm; tea with bread and butter. 

After inviting a few friends to join her afternoon tea had been established and the rest, as they say, is history! Today, afternoon tea includes dainty finger sandwiches, including the famous thinly sliced cuc...

Continue reading ...
 

A Taste of Pleasure

Posted by London guided Walks on Saturday, June 4, 2016, In : Eating 
It has returned! 

Magnum has moved from Selfridges to it's own swanky pop-up shop on nearby Molton Street. So having finished my Street Art in Shoreditch tour I popped along to see what all the fuss was about. 



The Magnum Pleasure Store is serving bespoke ice creams to cool customers throughout the summer.

The hotly anticipated summer pop up of pleasure celebrates the launch of the Magnum Double range, where they will be the first to try a double dipped Magnum with two layers of chocol...


Continue reading ...
 

The personal touch, Covent Garden

Posted by London Walks on Sunday, May 15, 2016, In : 20th century 





Covent Garden's Apple Market is a popular market under the glass roof of Covent Garden market providing an antiques market every Monday. For the other days a vibrant market filled with individuals selling unique products for ever-demanding visitors.


Lavinia has had a popular stall The T-Shirt Club Covent Garden's Apple Market for the last six years; making and selling hand made T-shirts with a London theme. All T-shirts host hand-painted designs by Lavinia herself and are machine washable at 4...


Continue reading ...
 

Cats in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, In : Quirky 

We British pride ourselves on being animal lovers. One of the most unpredictable of our furry friends are cats.
There are a number of cats represented and remembered in the streets of London. Keep your eyes open when you're out and about.

 


In the SW corner of Queen Square, Bloombury is Sam. Very little is known about Sam. His curious sculpture was unveiled in 1997 in honour of Patricia Penn (1914 – 1992) who was a local resident who had been very active in the area.

Outside the Savoy H...

Continue reading ...
 

Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, In : Theatre 

Glenn Close reprises her Tong Award-winning role as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum. This was something of a treat as I was only a teenager when I was introduced to one of the lesser-known musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The semi-staged performance was a contrast to the opulent surrounding of the London Coliseum. 

The 48-strong onstage orchestra was beautifully conducted by Michael Reed whose splendiferous sound feels like ...


Continue reading ...
 

Nell Gwynn at Apollo Theatre

Posted by Theatreland walks with London Guided Walks on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, In : Theatre 

The story of Nell Gwynn is surrounded with intrigue. A woman who rose up the ranks quickly due to the favour of Charles II and then disappears from the history books. 

A Shakespeare’s Globe production is written by Jessica Swale is an English theatre director and writer and playwright. Nell's story was engrossing and Gemma Atherton commanded the stage. The hat joke was truly magnifique.

The set was cleverly constructed and fully utilised by the performers with having designated area...


Continue reading ...
 

Enjoy Easter at Kew Gardens

Posted by Guided walks in London on Sunday, March 20, 2016, In : Day Trips 
Spring has truly sprung, delicate petals have began to unfurl showing off their colours. The Davies Alpine House at the North end of the rock garden is a real treat with many variety of plants where home would be mountainous regions to the warm Mediterranean. 

Easter is the perfect time to visit Kew Gardens especially with their Chocolate Sensations event on from 19 April - 10 April 2016 with a Lindt Gold Bunny Flavour Trail to follow. On Easter Sunday, the first 4000 visitors to Kew Gardens w...

Continue reading ...
 

Mothering Sunday or Mother's Day?

Posted by Guided walks in London on Monday, February 22, 2016, In : 20th century 


The British tradition of Mothering Sunday is rather muddled. Mothering Sunday has been celebrated in the UK on the fourth Sunday in Lent since at least the C16th. 

In the early twentieth century Mothering Sunday underwent a revival thanks to Constance Penswick Smith (1878-1938). It was in 1913 where she was inspired after reading a newspaper report of Anna Jarvis’s campaign for Mother's Day in America.

What is the connection between Laetare Sunday and Mother's Day? 
Laetare Sunday g...


Continue reading ...
 

Visit Magical Lantern Festival, Chiswick

Posted by Guided walks in London on Saturday, February 20, 2016, In : Quirky 

Chiswick House Garden plays host to a 26 day Chinese lantern festival suitable for adults and children alike. To mark the Year of the Monkey 2016, a Mount Huaguo lantern with an illuminated waterfall will provide the fairytale setting for an intricate recreation of popular Chinese fable, The Monkey King.

Other illuminated delights include a life size 
 lantern Terracotta Army, a 10-metre tall recreation of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven and an 8-metre, porcelain Imperial Palace Lantern. The 66-me...


Continue reading ...
 

Spa Terminus & Maltby Street Markets

Posted by London Walks on Saturday, January 30, 2016, In : Eating 


Spa Terminus


In a hidden corner of Bermondsey is a gourmet lover's delight. During the week Spa Terminus is an area for food production and distribution where like-minded businesses grow and develop. On Saturdays many open and their their wares to the public. 

At Spa Terminus you will find Adrienne Treeby at Crown and Queue working to produce the very best of British heritage pork including sausages such as Lincoln Imp which uses Kernel Brewer's Export Stout, Answell which uses Five Points Brew...


Continue reading ...
 

Winter Lights Festival @ Canary Wharf

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, January 25, 2016, In : Quirky 
Canary Wharf has been illuminated by sculptures, structures and installations as part of the Winter lights Festival @ Canary Wharf. 

Many pieces were about how we communicate in the modern world, one using a live newsfeed to extract words for them to be projected onto falling water droplets.

What was interesting was to leisurely walk around Canary Wharf at night; a place which has the reputation of being full of men in dark suits walking in what could be described as a human version of an ants ...
Continue reading ...
 

Victorian London; a new era full of hope

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, November 10, 2015, In : Victorian 

Victorian London was the largest city in the world for much of that time. London's population grew from about 1 million people in 1800, to about 6.7 million in 1900.  Many of the city’s residents lived in poverty.

Middle class England grew rapidly and the upper class, which was formerly purely hereditary, came to include the nouveau riche, who made fortunes from successful commercial enterprises.

However, a large proportion of Victorian society was still working class, and they remained disgr...


Continue reading ...
 

Halloween London Walks

Posted by London Walks on Thursday, October 15, 2015, In : Quirky 

London has a lot of many wondrous things such as pubs and theatres but what London seems to have more of is ghosts.

We have some fab Halloween themed walks available 27th, 29th & 31st October. Join us on this night walk and hear tales which will give you a chilling thrill! 

Tues 27th Oct, 7pm Baker Street  - Haunted Marylebone & Mayfair Book now

Thurs 29th Oct 7pm Baker Street  - Haunted Marylebone & Mayfair Book now

Sat 31st Oct, 3pm London Bridge - City of London Dragons Book now

Sat 31st Oct, 7...


Continue reading ...
 

Play a piano in Canary Wharf

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, September 15, 2015, In : Quirky 

If you missed the Play Me I'm Yours pianos in Canary Wharf in 2012 then this is your chance to play them! Play Me, I'm Yours is a touring artwork by artist Luke Jerram. This interactive artwork has been presented in over 46 cities so far, reaching an audience to date of over 6 million people around the world.

In Canary Wharf now until 12 October there are 15 street pianos which have been decorated by local artists and community groups. The pianos are located in parks (e.g. Jubilee Par...


Continue reading ...
 

Explore Victorian London on our walks

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, In : Victorian 

In Victorian literature London is often described as a labyrinth or a maze; once you enter it’s hard to get out. Even though we may look back at the Victorian era with fond sentimentality Victorian London was a dangerous place especially after dark, with highway men and other scoundrel’s waiting to pounce on anyone crossing their path. 

Our Victorian Covent Garden & Soho walk we delve into the world of Music Halls, the introduction of ice cream to the masses and the fortitude of V...


Continue reading ...
 

Visit Eltham Palace

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, August 7, 2015, In : Day Trips 
Eltham Palace has had an interesting life being once an important royal palace and being the home of King Henry VIII and his siblings to being occupied by Army Educational units until 1992. With being so easy to get to from Central London Eltham Palace is certainly an English Heritage site certainly worth visiting. 

The building is a concoction of various inspirations such as Christopher Wren's Hampton Court Palace, Trinity College's library and 1930s ideals. The interior is defined with each ...
Continue reading ...
 

St John Street, Islington

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, In : Local History 

St John Street, Islington, was originally a lane linking the village of Islington to the City of London.

When you look up St John Street (as in the pic above) you can see a slight incline. That's been made up of gravels from the ice age. Underneath that is London clay. Where the gravel and London clay meet there is a line of fresh water springs. 

Those springs are still evident in place names such as Sadler's Wells and Clerk's Wells, more commonly known as Clerkenwell today.

The geology has had ...


Continue reading ...
 

Take a trip to Bath

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, In : Day Trips 
Bath is a small and beautiful city and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. From London, Bath is less than two hours train travel, making it an ideal location for a day or weekend trip. There is plenty to see without spending too much money. Here are a few suggestions:


Bath Abbey, BA1 1LT 
The fan vaulted ceiling and wood carvings in the choir stalls are particular fine.  They also have a free audio guide which you can download and listen to as you walk round. In the audio guide...


Continue reading ...
 

Visit the Wellington Arch

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, June 18, 2015, In : Georgian 

Today is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Wellington Arch is an English Heritage property which has an interesting exhibition about the battle and reveals a few details which are missed from the English history class rooms.

Wellington Arch now sits at Hyde Park Corner, where Kensington Road meets Piccadilly near its junction with Park Lane, and where the Kensington Turnpike Trust had its tollgate. As a result, Hyde Park Corner became thought of unofficially as the new entrance...


Continue reading ...
 

Shaun the Sheep hits London streets

Posted by Guided walks in London on Sunday, March 29, 2015, In : Quirky 

Over 50 giant sculptures of Shaun the Sheep created by artists, celebrities and designers will be placed in iconic locations and beautiful green spaces across central London.

Much as we did with the book benches last year, we will be following a trail of Shaun the sheep. Each walk will last c. 90 mins with an option for post walk drinks available. 

These walks are intended to be pleasant and light with plenty of opportunity for taking photos and chatting along the way. Bring your camera and you...


Continue reading ...
 

Royal Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park Corner

Posted by Guided walks in London on Thursday, March 12, 2015, In : 20th century 

The Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner has continued to be the subject of much critical discussion with Lord Curzon being quoted as describing the howitzer as "a toad squatting, which is about to spit fire out of its mouth...nothing more hideous could ever be conceived". 


What is the objective of having a war memorial? 

To remember the dead? To bask in the glory of sacrifice for King and country? Ex-servicemen were quoted by the Manchester Guardian as reminiscing about the war as they...


Continue reading ...
 

London Underground - Victoria Line

Posted by Hazel Baker on Friday, February 27, 2015, In : Travel 

For many of us Londoners the tube is something which needs to be endured rather than enjoyed. Big improvements have been made to the Victoria line with new bigger and more comfortable trains with wider aisles and doors, and higher ceilings.

Victoria Line History

Funding for a deep-level “Route C” line, better known as the Victoria line, was approved back in 1955. The grand opening of the Victoria line, or “London’s Pride”, was on 7 March 1969. Queen Elizabeth II was the firs...


Continue reading ...
 

Follow the Footsteps of Oliver Twist

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, January 4, 2015, In : Victorian 


Many of Dickens’ contemporary critics and reading public feared that novels could be too realistic, and that naïve readers (often female readers) wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between fiction and reality. Especially for a novel like Oliver Twist, which is about “dangerous” subjects like poverty, crime, and the relationship between the two.

"Please sir, I want some more"

London is repeatedly described as a labyrinth or a maze – once you get into it, it’s hard to get back o...


Continue reading ...
 

Oliver Twist Guided Walk in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, January 4, 2015, In : Victorian 

Continue reading ...
 

Farewell Christmas Lights

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, January 4, 2015, In : Guided Walks 
It's not yet the 6th day of Christmas and yet many retailers in the West End have taken down their Christmas decorations. The 2 tonne Christmas canopy of Selfridges on Oxford Street disappeared overnight. Where is Harry the Golden Goose now?

Even though each season has it's own charms, there is an air of sadness when the darkness returns to the West End, when the Christmas lights are removed and the wait for lighter evenings begins.

Christmas 2014 saw nearly 200 attendees on our Christmas light...
Continue reading ...
 

What is a silent Disco?

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, December 28, 2014, In : Quirky 
What is a silent disco?
In basic terms it is a disco where instead of 1 DJ playing at a disco, there are 3 playing at the same time. The music is played through wireless headphones and those wearing them can chose which DJ to listen to.  The head sets themselves are comfortable, adjustable with easy to find controls for channel and volume change and have a 200m range.


What are the benefits of a silent disco?
1. You can't please everyone - Not everyone likes the same music which means you have a ...

Continue reading ...
 

London in a Day

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, December 18, 2014, In : Quirky 
There is no denying it, London is a fabulous city in which to live, work or to visit.

As a London guide I have few tools but my voice, my stories and the streets of London in which to paint a picture as to how London has been in the past.



This 3 minute timelapse video called LapseLondon took 40 talented photographers a day to film. It shows the familiar iconic views of the City of London, the financial hub, the shopping triangle of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street and the ever po...
Continue reading ...
 

Christmas at Kew Gardens

Posted by Guided Walks in London on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, In : Quirky 

I get a little tired of hearing "Christmas is for Children'. Surely Christmas, a time for sharing and goodwill is for everyone, no matter their background and beliefs?

Walsall Illuminations and Severn Valley Railway at Christmas were my Christmas highlights as a child. But what is there for adults that doesn't include mistletoe or alcohol?

Christmas at Kew Gardens has the answer; a one mile trail of illuminations befitting the world’s most famous botanic garden. The effects are enough to gi...


Continue reading ...
 

Paddington Bear hits London

Posted by Guided walks in London on Monday, November 17, 2014, In : Art 
As a child of the 80's I grew up with the cartoon of Paddington Bear who wore an old black hat, a blue duffel coat and had an unhealthy relationship with marmalade. I have never been a fan of the sweet citrus nectar but certainly could relate to the well mannered bear as I too had a duffle coat and very often found myself in surprising situations.

The star studded Paddington film hits the UK 29 November. To assist it's launch 50 statues of Paddington Bear have graced the streets of London.  ...
Continue reading ...
 

Know your Ghosts from your apparitions

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, In : Quirky 

London has a lot of many wondrous things such as pubs and theatres. What London seems to have even more of is ghosts. 

There are a number of different types of paranormal activity:

Demonic hauntings - a haunting by a nonhuman entity. They often start off with subtle and relatively simple paranormal activity before quickly increasing to strong, potentially scary activity. Demonic hauntings can be very dramatic, yes, even violent.

Cold Spots – a small, defined area of intense cold, at least 10 d...


Continue reading ...
 

Georgian Clerkenwell & Islington

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, October 13, 2014, In : Georgian 


On Saturday many tour guides provided guided walks in London based on the theme of the Georgians for Local London Guiding Day 2014.



Luckily in Clerkenwell & Islington we are spoilt for choice as to what to include in an hours walk. The problem then is to decide what to include. Each guide designed their own walk around particular stops. Mine included Islington Tunnel, the Angel Inn, George Cruikshank and a young Charles Dickens as well as middle class houses and Georgians shops. No Georgian...


Continue reading ...
 

Free London Walks

Posted by Guided Walks in London on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, In : Local History 
It's back again!  Local London Guided Day

I am proud to be involved with this years Local London Guided Day on Saturday 11 October. This year's theme is the Georgians, a particular favourite of mine. Four guiding associations are working together to deliver free guided walks in their specialist areas: Clerkenwell & Islington, City of London, Westminster and Greenwich.

Walks start at 10am and repeat on the hour with the last one at 4pm. Each walk will last no longer than an hour which means you...

Continue reading ...
 

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Posted by Guided walks in London on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, In : Victorian 

Charles Dickens was the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and deeply descriptive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable.

In his second major work, Oliver Twist, he highlights a number of social issues including the abuse and corruption suffered by children. The orphan boy Oliver Twist manages to survive the ordeals the authorities and criminal fraternity throw at him. The scene of Oliver's plea in the workhouse for more to eat is familiar to countl...


Continue reading ...
 

Hampstead Village Highlights - A Guided Walk

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, September 12, 2014, In : Guided Walks 

Hampstead Village has a rich history of intellectual and artistic associations and, of course, Hampstead Heath. With Hampstead having attracted the rich and famous over the last two centuries it's not surprising there are plenty of historical plaques which show a glimmer of its glamorous inhabitants.

This guided walk starts at Hampstead Tube station (Northern Line). There will also be a post walk drinks option too. The terrain does have a few inclines (Hampstead is on a hill you know). Ther...


Continue reading ...
 

Notable Priors of St John's Priory, Clerkenwell

Posted by London Guided Walks on Saturday, September 6, 2014, In : Local History 


Thomas Docwra Shield

Notable Priors of St John's Priory, Clerkenwell



The shields in the Chapter Hall of St John's Gate are a wonderfully visual timeline of the English Grand Priors of the Order of St John, Clerkenwell. The following are Priors who made history.

Thomas Docwra

Responsible for the rebuilding of the gateway in 1504. He was very close to King Henry VIII and accompanied him to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Val d’Or in 1520. 


Sir Robert Hale

By the 1200s the Knights Hospitaller were h...


Continue reading ...
 

Walk a royal trail around the fields and woods of Windsor

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, September 5, 2014, In : Hidden 

Home to kings and queens since William the Conqueror, Windsor is dominated by its castle, which, as benefiting a monarch, is the largest in the kingdom.


 The trail starting in Egham takes you first to the calming waters of the Thames, where you can explore Runnymede, the site at which medieval barons forced a King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 which  lasted less than three months. Read more about the situation surrounding the Magna Carta.


"And still when mob or monarch lays,

Too rude a ha...


Continue reading ...
 

The Great Fire of London - a terrorist attack?

Posted by London Guided Walks on Friday, September 5, 2014, In : Restoration 

The Monument, near Pudding Lane

The Great Fire is known as the most famous disaster in
London's history.
 The Monument is located at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 61 metres from where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. It was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London and to celebrate the rebuilding of the City.

How did the Great Fire of London begin?

The fire is believed to have began in a baker's house in Pudding Lane on Sunday 2nd Septemb...


Continue reading ...
 

A brief history of Barnsbury, London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, September 1, 2014, In : Local History 

Where does the name Barnsbury come from?


The name ‘Barnsbury’ comes from the de Berners family, which owned the medieval manor that occupied the site until the early C16th. The Manor of Barnsbury (also called Bernersbury or Iseldon Berners) was held in 1086 by Hugh de Berners.


Who owned The Manor of Barnsbury?

The Berners family retained the manor until 1502 when it was sold to a Merchant, Thomas Fowler. He passed the manor on to his son Edmund (d 1560) who left it to his son Sir Thomas (d 1...


Continue reading ...
 

Artist Walter Sickert in Highbury

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, August 28, 2014, In : Art 

Walter Sickert, Victorian artist & actor

At 1 Highbury Place there is a Georgian building with the green plaque was once Walter Sickert’s school of painting and engraving.



Walter Richard Sickert was a late Victorian painter who came from an artistic family. He had a particular fondness for Islington which was a major presence at both ends of Sickert’s life, personally and professionally.


It was a 5yr old Walter Sickert who first visited Islington. In 1865 he attended St Mark’s Hospital, Ci...


Continue reading ...
 

New River Head

Posted by London Guided Walks on Tuesday, August 26, 2014, In : Hidden 

Clerkenwell is an area flowing with history of London's water supply. There is Myddelton Square, Amwell Street, Chadwell Street, Myddelton Street and River Street all in recognition to the New River. 



The New River Head, is on Rosebery Avenue and was built in 1920 to a design by Herbert Austen Hall who is more famously associated with the post-war design of several livery halls, primarily the re-building of Carpenters' and Clothworkers' Halls, but also the interior and north part of Fishmonger...


Continue reading ...
 

Cloudesley Square, Barnsbury

Posted by London Guided Walks on Monday, August 25, 2014, In : Local History 

Cloudesley square was the first square to be built over the Barnsbury area of Islington and was originally part of the Cloudesley Estate. 

Cloudesley Square, Barnsbury, London

The site of the square was formerly known as Stoneyfield and in the C16th was owned by Sir Richard Cloudesley. By the early C19th, the area was leased by dairy farmer Samuel Rhodes (great grandfather of the founder of De Beers diamond company Cecil Rhodes).


It wasn’t long before areas of the Estate were being chosen for ...


Continue reading ...
 

Exploring London on foot

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, August 24, 2014, In : Quirky 

“London is a city that needs, that demands, to be explored on foot.”
Geoff Nicholson, The Lost Art of Walking


The pace of London and its people moves so fast that the ability of being able to observe and absorb one’s surroundings certainly requires the speed of travel be slowed down. And what better speed to decrease down to than that of walking? It is a way of actually shifting a state of consciousness.

There are many nooks and crannies of London that cannot be seen and/or appreciated at ...


Continue reading ...
 

History of Ice cream in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Sunday, August 24, 2014, In : Victorian 


History of ice cream in London
It's on hot days like today where we Londoners should thank Victorian entrepreneur Carlo Gatti for introducing us to this splendid cool nectar.



Carlo Gatti came to London in 1847 travelling from the Italian speaking region of Switzerland. He began his business selling refreshments to normal Londoners from a stall selling a waffle-like treat sprinkled with sugar in the summer and chestnuts in winter.

Gatti lived in Holborn where there was an established Italian comm...

Continue reading ...
 

What does the Coat of Arms of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries mean?

Posted by London Guided Walks on Saturday, August 23, 2014, In : Art 

What is a Coat of Arms?

During medieval times a coat of arms was very important. It told everybody who you were, what family you belonged to, who your relatives were, what territory you may hold. It basically said everything about a powerful person that you wanted (and needed) people to know.

A coat of arms is a unique design belonging to a particular person (or group of people i.e. the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries) and is used by them in a wide variety of ways. Some of these ways include...


Continue reading ...
 

The Start of the Georgians

Posted by London Guided Walks on Saturday, August 23, 2014, In : Georgian 

Queen Anne of Great Britain & Ireland (1665-1714)

Only one of Queen Anne's seventeen pregnancies produced a potential heir, William, Duke of Gloucester (1689-1700). His death in July 1700 at the tender age of eleven caused Parliament to institute the Act of Settlement making Electress Sophia of Hanover heiress presumptive. Electress Sophia died two months before Queen Anne.


In 1714 Queen Anne died and was succeeded by her second cousin, Georg Ludwig, Elector of Hanover. Georg was an appealing c...


Continue reading ...
 

History of Mason's Yard, Mayfair

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, August 21, 2014, In : Art 

History of Mason's Yard, Mayfair

Mason's Yard SW1

Ormond Yard was laid out as a 200 feet square plot of land originally designed to be a stable yard and by 1740 the yard was already being called Mason's Yard, probably due to the owner of the two houses fronting both the yard and Duke street was a Mr Henry Mason. It would make sense for him to have rented some stables in Mason's Yard.


In 1748 the London Evening Post reported a death 'at his House in Duke-Street' of a Mr. Margison 'who for several...


Continue reading ...
 

The National Police Memorial

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, August 21, 2014, In : Art 

National Police Memorial

Seated at Cambridge Green, on the corner of The Mall and Horse Guards Road, directly outside the Old Admiralty Building.The site had previously been occupied by an air shaft on the Bakerloo Line of the London Underground.


The National Police Memorial consists of two distinct parts; a black granite clad tablet with a glass cabinet containing a book listing the names of every British police officer killed during arrests or as a result of criminal acts. Alongside that is t...


Continue reading ...
 

Royal Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park Corner

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, August 21, 2014, In : Art 

What is the objective of having a war memorial? 

To remember the dead? To bask in the glory of sacrifice for King and country? Ex-servicemen were quoted by the Manchester Guardian as reminiscing about the war as they examined the statue, and remarking on how the bronze figures had captured the reality of their time in the artillery. The newspaper noted that the frankness of the portrayal was a "terrible revelation long overdue", and hoped that veterans would be able to show the monument to the...


Continue reading ...
 

Christie's in London

Posted by London Guided Walks on Thursday, August 21, 2014, In : Art 

Christie's is the world's oldest fine art auctioneer and has sold fine art, furniture, jewellery and wine since 1766, when James Christie conducted the very first sale in London. Since then, Christie's has continued to build its reputation as the perfect backdrop for the sales of the world's finest collections and greatest works of art before their auction. 


It was in 1823 when Christie's moved to its global headquarters at 8 King Street, St. James's, which remains to be its London headquarter...


Continue reading ...
 

History of the Carousel

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, In : Quirky 

A carousel could be considered to be a key component of any fayre. But how did it the carousel come about?


Horsing Around

It's believed that in 1100's, Arabian and Turkish horsemen competed in a game played on horseback. 

Italian and Spanish crusaders who witnessed this sport described the contest as a "little war" or garosello and carosella respectively based on the ferocity the horsemen played.

When the crusaders returned home, they brought the game back with them where, over time, became an ex...

Continue reading ...
 

The lamps are going out all over Europe

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, In : Art 


One hundred years ago Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary stated to his friend and journalist John Alfred Spender, editor of the Westminster Gazette "the lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time." It was dusk as he was watched the first of the gas lights along the Mall were being lit. The next day Grey would face the Cabinet and persuade them that the time had now come to declare war on Germany.

From what had been a European war, when Britain declare...


Continue reading ...
 

A City surrounded by dragons

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, In : Quirky 
The City of London is surrounded by dragons but why? 


How are dragons perceived in western culture?

In classical legend, dragons are associated with guarding something. For example, in Greek mythology, a ten headed dragon guarded the golden apples, in the Garden of the Hesperides. In medieval romance dragons spend a lot of time guarding pretty, captive women i.e. the princess in the tower story we all know so well.


How are dragons portrayed in literature and language?

Dragons are mention...


Continue reading ...
 

Henry VIII and his family jewels

Posted by London Guided Walks on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, In : Tudor 

The statue of Henry VIII on top of the main entrance gate to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in West Smithfield is apparently the only public statue of the Tudor king in London. Is familiar frontal stance shows off his shapely calves and codpiece off to full advantage.

What is a codpiece?

The word comes from Middle English with cod meaning scrotum and was originally required to provide a fashionable man of the Middle Ages with modesty as the short doublets failed to do so.

What is a Tudor codpiece?

...


Continue reading ...
 
 
 

Tags

"online bookings' cpd #earthrise 17th 1830s 18thcentury 1930s 20th 50th a abbey adele afternoon afternoon tea age ages alastair ancient and animals annie anniversary apps architecture arsenal art arts attack autumn awards baker bank bankside barbican barrier bathhouses battersea bazalgette bear beasts becket bells bexley bishopsgate black blackfriars blackout blitz bloomsbury bombers book books borough bowie breakfast brewery brick bridge britain british bronze bronze age brunch buckingham burger burlesque buses cab cabaret cake canal canary captain care carl carol caroline carols cathedral cemetery cenotaph century chapman charles charlton cheap cheapside cheese childhood chips chiswick chocolate christmas church city city of london clapham clerkenwell cocktails coffee coffeehouses common company concert corporate covent covent garden covid-19 cream crime cross crown cruise crystal danson david davy day december dental deptford dick dickens dinner dinosaurs do dock dockland museum dragons dreamtime druitt earth east eat eating eats ecommerce edward edwardians edwin egypt elizabethan end engineering era ernst event events exhibition exhibitions facebook fair fairytale fall family fantastic farringdon fashion february festival film finance fire first fiscus florence folklore food for francis free friars frost gallery galliard garden george georgian georgians german germany gibb gift girls globe grade great greenhithe greenwich group guided guides gun half hall halsk handel harle harry potter hats havering havering hoard hawksmoor hazel heroes hidden highbury hill hilton history holloway homes hooke hot hotel house housing how humphry i ian ianmcd ice ice cream icelandic ii iii in india inigo isaac islington italian iv jack jack the ripper jack's james jenny jewels john johns jones joseph katharines kelly kenneth kew gardens kids kidstours killer kim king kings kingston lambeth lane lewis lights limestone literature liverpool locations londinium london london bridge london's londoners londonhistory lunch lutyens macaulay magnus management maritime market markets martyr mary match matilda maufe mayfair mcdiarmid measure medical medieval memorial middle military millennium mock-tudor modern modernist montague month monument moorgate mosaic murder murderers museum museum of london docklands music musicals mystery n7 national gallery national history museum ned new newcomen news newton nhs nichols night nightingale nurse of old street oliver open opera paddington palace palaces pancakes pandemic panoramic park parties path pauls people philip photo photograhy photography photos pizza places plague plantation plays plumstead podcast poetry pokemon polly poor pop poplar port poverty prince priory private tours pub public pubs purbeck qe2 queen queenhithe quirky railways recording regency reid religion rembrandt renaissance restoration ripper river road rob robert roman romans roundhouse royal saga saints salute saxon school. science sculpture scupture seacole second serial servants sewers shakespeare shoreditch siemens sir slave slavery small smartphone smith smithfield smithfields soap soho somme south southbank southwark spitalfields spy squirrels ss st statue stories stow street strike stuart stuarts studios subscription suffragettes sugar summer susan sydenham tate taxi tea ten term terror thames thamesmeade the theatre thiepval things things to do thrifty thriftytheatre to toothbrush tour tours tower trade travel truman tudor tudors tumblety twelfth twentieth twist und underground update v&a ve victims victoria victorian victorian london victorians viking virtual vouchers wales walk walking walks wall war water werner west westend westminster wharf wheeler whitechapel wilde wildlife willelm william windrush wine winter women wood woodland woolwich world wyatt york zachary 1666 1888 2019 2020

LONDON GUIDED WALKS:

LEARN MORE:

CONNECT WITH US:

USEFUL LINKS:

Site by Hazel  |  Photographs by Hazel or Ian