• Visscher Redrawn
    Visscher Redrawn
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    After months of anticipation, the modern-day update of Visscher’s famous 1616 panorama of London has finally been unveiled.  Neil Sinclair was at the launch at the Guildhall Art Gallery and tells us more. Four hundred years separate two iconic and fascinating panoramic views of the City of London now on display side by side in…

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  • Canvassing with a sailor
    Canvassing with a sailor
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    In the first of series of posts on some of the fascinating characters you will encounter on our walks celebrating International Women’s Day, Jen Pedler shares the story of Nancy Astor’s journey to becoming our first ever female MP. Nancy Astor was the first woman to take her seat in parliament when she was elected…

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  • “A Monstrous Regiment Of Women”
    “A Monstrous Regiment Of Women”
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    In 1588 when the Scottish reformer John Knox first published his diatribe The First Blast of the Trumpet from which the above phrase was taken, he was using words very differently from the way we would interpret them today. “Monstrous” meant “unnatural” and “regiment” meant “rule” (being as he was violently against female monarchs –…

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  • Aldgate’s Guild of Knights
    Aldgate’s Guild of Knights
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    The word “Aldgate” is more likely to inspire thoughts in most Londoners of an almost permanently impassable gyratory system than it is tales of knights and chivalry.  But as ever in this great city, once you start to do a little digging there is more to it than meets the eye.  David Charnick tells us…

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  • Secrets of The Star in Belgravia
    Secrets of The Star in Belgravia
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    Belgravia.  An area of grandeur and apparent calm. But behind and among the stucco, there’s often a different story.  Michael Duncan has been investigating… Belgravia is not normally an area associated with pub crawls, but there is one to be done in these exclusive streets, perhaps starting with the tiny Grenadier at the Knightsbridge end…

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  • So why do Green Line carry route numbers in the 700s?
    So why do Green Line carry route numbers in the 700s?
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    In an earlier post, Stephen Benton (one of our resident transport history geeks) teased us that he would reveal why Green Line coaches all carry route numbers in the 700s.  Fortunately for all of you who have been on the edge of your seats awaiting the answer since, he has returned to provide it! For…

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  • What might Dickens have made of “Dickensian”?
    What might Dickens have made of “Dickensian”?
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    With Dickensian, the BBC’s re-imagining of some of Charles Dickens’ most enduring characters well under way, Mark Rowland speculates on what the great man himself might have made of it all. One of the more gratifying aspects of sharing our love of all things London with the guests on our walks are the fascinating discussions…

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  • The Cheese and Pickle lunchtime walks
    The Cheese and Pickle lunchtime walks
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    Our guides do love a challenge, so when Joanna Moncrieff, Rhona Levene, Stephen Benton and Jen Pedler were given a private commission asking if they could design 6 different lunchtime “quicky” walks (i.e. do-able in less than an hour)  starting at the Gherkin in The City of London they had to see if it could…

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