London Walks

40 Episodes
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By: 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.

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The Palace Vanished. The Monsters Survived.
The Palace Vanished. The Monsters Survived. episode artwork
Yesterday at 8:48 PM

A palace of glass. Victorian dinosaurs. Six million visitors. And a fire that lit up the London sky. The extraordinary story of Crystal Palace, where the monsters survived but the palace didn’t.


Meet Your Guide: A Photographer’s London
Meet Your Guide: A Photographer’s London episode artwork
Yesterday at 11:21 AM

There were 175 people in that room in the Royal Academy. 174 of them - including me – were standing. You were stretched out on the floor, your camera two inches off the floor. What had you seen that nobody else had clocked? What were you photographing?"


The Dinner that Invented Georgian Poetry
The Dinner that Invented Georgian Poetry episode artwork
Last Sunday at 8:46 PM

On September 20, 1912, a handful of poets sat down to dinner. By the time the evening was over, they had the beginnings of a literary movement, a new generation of poets and a name: Georgian Poetry.


Not Bad for a Girl from Neasden
Not Bad for a Girl from Neasden episode artwork
Last Saturday at 9:16 AM

A skinny, clothes-mad schoolgirl from Neasden became the face of Swinging London. On her birthday – Happy Birthday, Twiggy! – this is how Lesley Hornby became Twiggy, and Twiggy became an icon.


The History of Everything. On a Theatre Walk.
The History of Everything. On a Theatre Walk. episode artwork
Last Thursday at 9:44 PM

London is one of the great theatre cities of the world. So why don’t more people want to walk it? Adam makes the case for two hours of greasepaint, gossip, gorgeous buildings and, just possibly, the history of everything.


Second Only to Newton. And We’ve Forgotten Him.
Second Only to Newton. And We’ve Forgotten Him. episode artwork
Last Thursday at 8:18 AM

Every time that blood-pressure cuff tightens around your arm, an eighteenth-century Teddington clergyman is standing invisibly beside you. Meet Stephen Hales: scientist, inventor, pie improver, painter of posts and a man whose reputation once stood second only to Newton’s.


The Day Biba Hit the High Street
The Day Biba Hit the High Street episode artwork
Last Wednesday at 8:59 AM

On September 16, 1969, Biba hit Kensington High Street. Step inside the dark, decadent world of Barbara Hulanicki and the trendiest store in Swinging London.


The Day the Sun Rose Over Fleet Street
The Day the Sun Rose Over Fleet Street episode artwork
09/15/2026

On September 15, 1964, the Daily Herald set and a new Sun rose over Fleet Street. But it wasn’t yet the brash red-top Britain came to know.


Who’s that Lady in Blue?
Who’s that Lady in Blue? episode artwork
09/14/2026

There’s a new woman in Trafalgar Square. Tschabalala Self’s vivid blue Lady in Blue has taken possession of the Fourth Plinth, and she’s already changing the conversation.


The Day They Bombed Buckingham Palace
The Day They Bombed Buckingham Palace episode artwork
09/12/2026

On September 13th, 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed Buckingham Palace, bringing the Blitz to the King and Queen’s own front door and giving the Royal Family an unexpected bond with bomb-battered London.


The London Traffic Light that Changed the World
The London Traffic Light that Changed the World episode artwork
09/11/2026

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
The Great Diamond Job episode artwork
09/11/2026

One fabulous diamond. One audacious plan. And one of London’s most extraordinary heists.


Two Sisters, a Fable & a Little Mirth
Two Sisters, a Fable & a Little Mirth episode artwork
09/10/2026

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: the Revolutionary Who Made the Rich Beautiful episode artwork
09/08/2026

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
He Poured London in Concrete episode artwork
09/08/2026

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
Happy 493rd Birthday, Your Majesty episode artwork
09/07/2026

It all comes down to one little letter – the letter S.T


The Day London Dug Up a Roman Ship
The Day London Dug Up a Roman Ship episode artwork
09/06/2026

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 Invented Wellness episode artwork
09/05/2026

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
The Worst Day in London’s History episode artwork
09/03/2026

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
Four Hundred Years Hiding in Plain Sight episode artwork
09/02/2026

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
The Comedian Who Went to Ground episode artwork
09/01/2026

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
London Through a Cat’s Eyes episode artwork
08/31/2026

What happens when you look at London history through a cat’s eyes? Ann knows.


The Woman Who Invented Our Dream of England
The Woman Who Invented Our Dream of England episode artwork
08/30/2026

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
Six Foot Six in Village London episode artwork
08/29/2026

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
The Day English Cricket Died episode artwork
08/28/2026

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
The Man Who Saved St Pancras episode artwork
08/27/2026

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
Naked, German & Going for Gold in King’s Cross episode artwork
08/26/2026

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
The Prince Who Turned a Lamp White episode artwork
08/25/2026

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 Death of Chatterton: The Dead Poet Who Wasn’t There episode artwork
08/24/2026

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
The Night London Learned a New Word episode artwork
08/23/2026

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 Oxford Don, the Railway Laureate and Learning England episode artwork
08/22/2026

The railway laureate, an Oxford don, a baby, and infantry...


The Man Who Painted Joy
The Man Who Painted Joy episode artwork
08/22/2026

The more you know about Fragonard, the more beautiful The Swing becomes.


Constant Lambert: Brilliant, Bohemian, Burnt Out
Constant Lambert: Brilliant, Bohemian, Burnt Out episode artwork
08/21/2026

Constant Lambert had wit, genius, glamour, appetite and almost no instinct whatsoever for self-preservation.


Moon Over Covent Garden
Moon Over Covent Garden episode artwork
08/20/2026

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: She Was Some Kind of Woman episode artwork
08/19/2026

Phyllida Law – Ave atque vale


Why London’s Railway Story Begins in Canada
Why London’s Railway Story Begins in Canada episode artwork
08/18/2026

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
Æthelstan – The King Who Invented England episode artwork
08/16/2026

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
Andrew Marvell – Sex, Time & London episode artwork
08/16/2026

"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
David Low –The Hampstead Cartoonist Hitler Wanted Arrested episode artwork
08/15/2026

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
August 14th – The Day the Chiefs Died episode artwork
08/14/2026

"Less British Museum and more life"