London Walks
London Walks is the oldest urban walking tour company on the planet. It’s the gold standard of this profession, this craft. Here you can listen to our guides' stories and anecdotes of London.
The London Traffic Light that Changed the World
A red light. A London street in Bloomsbury. A Hungarian physicist steps off the kerb and has an idea that will change the world. This is the extraordinary London moment when Leó Szilárd saw the possibility of the nuclear chain reaction.
The Great Diamond Job
One fabulous diamond. One audacious plan. And one of London’s most extraordinary heists.
Two Sisters, a Fable & a Little Mirth
Tucked away on Kensington Church Walk is Fable and Mirth, a tiny cabinet of wonders created by sisters Neely and Sarita. We step inside to meet them and hear the story behind one of Kensington’s most individual little shops.
William Morris: the Revolutionary Who Made the Rich Beautiful
William Morris wanted to change the world, beautified the homes of the rich and somehow ended up on everything from nuclear submarines to egg cups.
He Poured London in Concrete
From Kensington boy to master of concrete: the story of Sir Denys Lasdun, the man who gave London a National Theatre that one future king called a nuclear power station and John Betjeman greeted with a gasp of delight.
Happy 493rd Birthday, Your Majesty
It all comes down to one little letter – the letter S.T
The Day London Dug Up a Roman Ship
In 1962, somebody dug a hole beside the Thames at Blackfriars. And London opened a trapdoor into its past. Down there, waiting beneath the city for eighteen hundred years, was a Roman ship.
Hampstead Invented Wellness
Hampstead was doing health and wellness when the rest of London was doing gin, smallpox and open sewers.
The Worst Day in London’s History
September 4, 1666. London was an inferno. The fire was still advancing. This wasn't just the worst day of the Great Fire. It was the worst day in London history.
Four Hundred Years Hiding in Plain Sight
An ordinary London street, three names, four hundred years and one astonishing reminder that nothing in London is ever quite what it seems.
The Comedian Who Went to Ground
What makes a young Londoner swap stand-up comedy for gardening? Meet Luke, the comedian who went to ground.
London Through a Cat’s Eyes
What happens when you look at London history through a cat’s eyes? Ann knows.
The Woman Who Invented Our Dream of England
Helen Allingham painted the thatched cottages, tangled roses and flower-filled gardens that became our enduring dream of England.
Six Foot Six in Village London
Meet George, the six-foot-six goalkeeper whose summer job in Kensington Church Walk reveals that, beneath the big-city bustle, London is still a village.
The Day English Cricket Died
When Australia beat England at The Oval in 1882, a cheeky newspaper obituary pronounced English cricket dead and gave the world the Ashes.
The Man Who Saved St Pancras
John Betjeman loved the London other people wanted to demolish, and when the wreckers came for St Pancras, the poet stood in their way
Naked, German & Going for Gold in King’s Cross
Long before the Olympic flame reached London, a German gymnasium in King’s Cross was limbering up, stripping off and helping to set the modern Games in motion.
The Prince Who Turned a Lamp White
Anniversary of Prince Albert's birth. His death left Queen Victoria inconsolable, changed the colour of a London police lamp and left a remarkable trail through the capital.
The Death of Chatterton: The Dead Poet Who Wasn’t There
The dead poet is George Meredith, the garret is in Gray’s Inn, and the painter is about to run away with his model’s wife.
The Night London Learned a New Word
A navigational error. Nine Londoners dead. Edward R. Murrow at his microphone in Trafalgar Square. And the night the Blitz began.
The Oxford Don, the Railway Laureate and Learning England
The railway laureate, an Oxford don, a baby, and infantry...
The Man Who Painted Joy
The more you know about Fragonard, the more beautiful The Swing becomes.
Constant Lambert: Brilliant, Bohemian, Burnt Out
Constant Lambert had wit, genius, glamour, appetite and almost no instinct whatsoever for self-preservation.
Moon Over Covent Garden
One outrageous evening in Covent Garden tells you almost everything you need to know about Restoration London.
Phyllida Law: She Was Some Kind of Woman
Phyllida Law – Ave atque vale
Why London’s Railway Story Begins in Canada
Before the first train steamed into London, its story had begun on a remote island in Lake Huron, with an eighteen-year-old soldier building a fort in the Canadian wilderness.
Æthelstan – The King Who Invented England
A house in Kensington and the story of Æthelstan, the warrior king who, 1,100 years ago, forged a kingdom and became the first ruler of all England.
Andrew Marvell – Sex, Time & London
"Had we but world enough, and time…" Meet Andrew Marvell: poet, politician, satirist, Londoner, and the man behind the sexiest poem in the English language. Then follow his footsteps through the London streets he knew.
David Low –The Hampstead Cartoonist Hitler Wanted Arrested
Hitler wanted him arrested. Mussolini banned him. And in a little Hampstead studio, David Low took on the dictators armed with nothing more than a pencil.
August 14th – The Day the Chiefs Died
"Less British Museum and more life"
How Many Strangers Do You See in a Day in London?
Strangers in London: for a few seconds their paths cross on a Tube escalator, then they disappear into the city.
William Blake: The Londoner Who Saw Angels and Talked to the Dead
The dead got into him. Old London got into him.
Lee Miller – From Vogue to Dachau to Hitler’s Bathtub
The woman who put the dirt of Dachau on Hitler’s bathmat.
The 200 Bodies on Everest… and the 250 in Arizona
The people in those vessels are not called bodies. They’re called patients.
The Ship on the Roof
The most wonderfully landlocked ship in London.
£20,000 for a Pair of Old Boots
...they’re old leather boots. Heavy, battered, workaday things. Except they’ve been silver-plated.
Thirty-nine
Each of those 39 stab wounds a candle blown out.
The Hotel that Invented Modern Luxury
He created a demonstration of modern life.
The Capitalist Who Created Communism
the capitalist who financed communism.
The Last Evening of the Old World
Everything you know of your life...