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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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

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. 

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...