London Walks

Listening to this is like being knighted. You'll arise and go forth – to the Abbey.

No need to beat around the bush with this one. Finding out about Tania's Cafe is worth the price of admission of the Hampstead walk all by itself. And "finding out" is very much to the point. Guarantee you you almost certainly won't find it off your own bat. It's maybe London's most hidden cafe. It's down a secret alleyway. You go past a tiny little Piaggio van – you couldn't get a normal size veh...

This one's David doing his thing, brooding over words. In this case – it's Halloween after all – the words 'goodbye' and 'Halloween'. With some creepy history and a great moment in Eng Lit thrown in for some seasoning. Transcript: London Calling. David here. David creaking open some word doors. Getting into their darkest recesses. On Halloween. “When we say goodbye on Halloween what we’re really s...

David's been poking around in the undergrowth of history. This podcast introduces you to a resident of Kensington you hadn't heard of – but will be blissfully glad you got to meet her.

Charles Chilton MBE – "the one true genius the BBC ever produced" ( Daily Telegraph ) – was the best-loved London Walks guide of them all. Hardly surprising since "he was the most gifted storyteller I've ever known" (David). This podcast rejoices in a few great Charles Chilton anecdotes as it tells, very briefly, the remarkable and inspiring story of Charles' life. It takes as its jumping-off poin...

This one's discursive, laid-back and piquant (in places). David goes a Londoning. Here's what he brought back.

A man on the street, ordinary life report (by David) about London. What it's like here now (October 2020). What it looks like, sounds like, feels like.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed David today. They wanted to find out what it's been like for a small business in this Covid era, what our response has been, where things stand now, what we think the future holds for us (for London Walks), etc. This podcast (talk) is a synopsis of what David told them. He said, "the entire experience can be crystallised in the figure £450. Better write it down....

David put his foot in his mouth on his Kensington walk. But it worked out ok. In supporting roles: Thackeray, Churchill, Vanity Fair and an English cavalry officer or two.

Right round the world there's probably half a million walking tour companies. The price of admission to go on a walking tour won't break the bank. But the opportunity costs of a walking tour are very expensive. So it's important to do what the wealthy do as a matter of course – get the best (the poor man always pays twice). In this instance, track down the best walking tour company wherever you ar...

Once seen never forgotten, the striped house. It's back in the news. She's now suing her lawyers. David reports.

David was out walking the eerily quiet streets of central London today. What he saw put him in mind, first, of Malaga and then of one of the "nodal, defining moments of London's history. A nodal, defining moment that's preserved in stone. AKA London's long, colourful, dramatic – hell, yes, let's get some adjectives into this parade – history crystalised in a single word

High quality walking tours – how do you sort the wheat from the chaff? This podcast is the first of a series of guidelines that will stand you in good stead. A checklist, really.

Ok, it's a top-up to yesterday's 9 Buckingham Gate piece. But, yes, Boris Johnson, plays a cameo role. And there's other good stuff, ranging from house prices to 'the least inhibited tongue in Europe'

David's been digging. Digging in a seriously old money neighbourhood. "If you live in a 24-room house across the street from Buckingham Palace... a century and more of world history flows from that as a matter of course."

This one's very David. It's quixotic, quirky, whimsical, fun and, yes, pensive. And it makes some extraordinary connections. In other words, a perfect autumn equinox piece. And at the end – some very good news indeed. Keep your fingers crossed.

Catalogue title:  Virginia Woolf Diary Entries – Scene-setter for Simon's Blitz Anniversary Virtual Tour A final scene-setter for Simon's Blitz 80th Anniversary Virtual Tour. This is two diary entries made by the great novelist Virginia Woolf in September and October 1941. Made just hours after air raids that hit London very hard and in particular Virginia Woolf's Bloomsbury. Indeed, the second at...

Storytime! Full title: The London Sky has been a battlefield – a scene-setter for Simon's Blitz Anniversary Virtual Tour A short talk followed by a great read. This is the second of three scene-setters for Simon's upcoming Blitz 80th Anniversary Virtual Tour. The read is a favourite passage from my favourite book on London, V.S. Pritchett's London Perceived . Click here for full details about The...

You are listening to the words of CBS correspondent Quentin Reynolds, who filed daily reports from London during the Blitz. This podcast – from London on October 12, 1940 – is a scene-setter for Simon's 80th Anniversary Blitz Virtual Tour , which takes place at 7 pm on Sunday, September 13 .

Full title:  Niagara Falls Drowning, Swimming the English Channel, Rule Britannia, Inspector Clouseau (Pink Panther) and Sitting Bull Adam's London Walks' musical London expert. He's got a peach of a walk called Musical Covent Garden – from Thomas Arne to Frank Zappa and Beyond. This podcast is David's little scene-setter for the Musical Covent Garden walk. Click here for full particulars about th...

This podcast – by David – is a two-parter. It opens with David's final thoughts about The Great Fire of London . It's the last of his four scene-setters for his colleague Simon's Virtual Tour, "London's Burning". Which takes place at 7 pm on Sunday, September 6, 2020. Full details on www.walks.com Click here for particulars about the London's Burning Virtual Tour The second part of this podcast ta...

This is David's third and final scene-setter for London's Burning, Simon's Virtual Tour of the Great Fire of London. It's flecked with fascinating sidebars – the spark that got across the Thames and set fire to a stables in Southwark, the Inn in Fish Street Hill that caught fire, the hugely destructive fire on London Bridge (why they were both lucky and unlucky with that fire). But chiefly, this p...

The second scene-setter for Simon's upcoming Great Fire of London Anniversary Virtual Tour (it goes on Sunday, September 6th, 2020 at 7 pm). This podcast, by David, zooms in on Pudding Lane, where the fire began, and rakes through, minutely, the ashes of the first two hours of the fire. (Big thanks to Christopher Burns – and Unsplash – for the featured image.) Click here for the particulars for Lo...

This podcast is David's scene-setter for Simon's upcoming London's Burning – The Anniversary of the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour . It asks – and answers – what was the London of September 1, 1666 like? The London that would be no more in a matter of hours. Click here for lots of information about the Virtual Tour itself .

A reminiscence. Accompanied with some reflection. And a panegyric. David remembers the three Js – June, Jean and Joan. Late, great London Walks guides.