Blogs about London

When exploring London, you will come across lots of excitement by chance, so try to take everything in rather than just rushing around to all of the major tourist haunts. Richard Branson (b.1950)

Crossness Pumping Station is one of those amazing places that are always worth revisiting. It looks pretty snazzy outside, but inside will consistently take your breath away. And it was designed to do so – …

Life lived with a bang, ended with a whimper Look at the cover image on this biography, written by Thomas Edgar Pemberton. Dressed with long, theatrical whiskers and a quizzical, confused glance – this was …

Buses, boozes and bum dossers. Source

Summer Olympics of my lifetime 10th October 1964: Tokyo I hadn't yet been born but I was present on the planet embryonically so arguably this was my first Summer Olympics. I know my parents enjoyed …

At home all the morning, and walking met with Mr. Hill of Cambridge at Pope’s Head Alley with some women with him whom he took and me into the tavern there, and did give us …

Post to the north CricklewoodThe North London LineThe north London line from West Hampstead Station turns south westwardsArial Road,Hebrew word for water spirit, built by British Land Company 1879Barlow RoadBuilt on the site of the …

As Britain’s population grew throughout the 19th Century and the demand for water in its towns and cities increased, local authorities and water boards looked to rural areas, building dams in remote valleys and creating …

Often when we are researching new tours, an unexpected nugget of information will pop up its head. Michael Duncan had just such an experience while researching his new walking tour Aldwych – before and beyond. …

I am doing a talk next Thursday (July 11) at the new Meanwhile space, which is just round the corner from Denmark Street, backing on to No 4, where the Rolling Stones recorded their debut …

“Swedenborg’s visions were not events imposed upon him by some outside agency. They were the agency that he had always, from the beginning, solicited with his eyes wide open.”—Iain Sinclair ... The post SWEDENBORG’S LUSTHUS …

After coming so close last week, and after several years where bad weather has stymied the attempt to fly hot air balloons over London, this Sunday was looking perfect. Too perfect. (c) Lord Mayor’s Balloon …

Yesterday afternoon I wandered down to Clerkenwell Road to watch the procession in London's "Little Italy" – an event that has been going since 1880. The route starts and ends at St Peter's church. Today …

One of London’s most fascinating museums for those interested in history but particularly World War Two, is the Churchill War Rooms. I was lucky enough recently to be invited to go on one of their …

The GLA demography team just released a report that examines the demographic evidence around trends in the population of young children (age 0 to 10) in London. We wrote this report to examine the truth …

As a young man Collins probably had his romantic experiences those "intimacies" to which the Dictionary of National Biography rather ambiguously refers. But when he was thirty-five and seemingly a confirmed bachelor, he formed an …

A guest post by London Historians member Laurence Scales. Piles of sacks lie on a London quayside on a misty morning, depicted in a brown old painting hanging in a gallery. A modern caption says …

The church of St Bride’s Fleet Street is famous for a few reasons. It’s elegant steeple supposedly inspired the classic wedding cake design (more on that later) and it’s renowned as the journalist’s church for …

There is an area around Archway underground station where the name Whittington, and the symbol of a cat features prominently, and this area is the subject of today’s post, to track down the location of …

Sadiq Khan hopes London will host "the greenest Games ever". Image: Shutterstock/Matt Brown Not a starting gun has been fired at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, and yet already there's talk of London hosting …