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  • Top Ten London connections with India
    Top Ten London connections with India
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    This blog celebrates the many connections London has with India. There are, of course, many memorials, buildings and institutions which are relevant to Britain’s colonial connections with India, but there are also currently thriving religious and other institutions which serve London’s considerable population with South Asian roots. The Top Ten blog can only provide a…

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  • June 9th is Dickens day!
    June 9th is Dickens day!
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    June 9th 2020 is the 150th anniversary of the death of one of our greatest storytellers, Charles Dickens. Claire Tomalin in her book Charles Dickens: A Life hails Dickens as the greatest creator of characters after Shakespeare: “Dickensian characters, especially so because of their typically whimsical names are amomgst the most memorable in English literature….

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  • Footprints of London virtual London tours
    Footprints of London virtual London tours
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    Given the ongoing restrictions on public gatherings (and because we miss you all!), we are going virtual and taking a number of our tours online. These virtual tours will be conducted via Zoom conferencing and will be hosted live by our guides who will talk you through their tour assisted by an illustrated presentation of…

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  • Our favourite London fiction
    Our favourite London fiction
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    Lockdown means that our Footprints of London guides are doing even more reading than usual, and we are all avid readers.  So we asked some of our guides to recommend some of the works of fiction set in London they have enjoyed (and books for which London, or a part of London, as a location…

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  • James Glaisher: Meteorologist and Aeronaut extraordinaire and his connection to Millennium Quay, Deptford
    James Glaisher: Meteorologist and Aeronaut extraordinaire and his connection to Millennium Quay, Deptford
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    Deptford local Sean Patterson shares the fascinating story of the man after whom his street is named When I moved to Millennium Quay in Deptford four and a half years ago, the only remarkable thing that I knew about my address on Glaisher Street was its annoying habit of being auto-corrected to ‘Glazier Street’ by…

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  • Our top ten lockdown walking spots
    Our top ten lockdown walking spots
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    So how’s your lockdown going? If you’re anything like us, you’re on the lookout for some variety as to how and where to take your government-sanctioned exercise, so we turned to our team of talented guides and asked for some suggestions from their own local areas accompanied with a few historical pearls to help you…

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  • Viruses, Plague and Diseases in London
    Viruses, Plague and Diseases in London
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    The Covid 19 outbreak is a difficult time for London, but it is not the first time London has faced viruses, plagues, disease and pestilence. So we asked our Footprints of London Guides to come up connections to outbreaks from the past, how they affected London and how London dealt with them. 1. London Smallpox…

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  • Hanger Lane: from country road to malfunction junction
    Hanger Lane: from country road to malfunction junction
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    Jen Pedler tells the story of a notorious road junction and its tube station – the end point of her ‘Suburbs, Stations and Subways‘ walk. The Hanger Lane gyratory system, where the North Circular Road meets the A40, was voted Britain’s scariest road junction in a 2007 survey by the Highway Insurance Company. Poorly signed,…

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  • Henry VIII’s Great Warship
    Henry VIII’s Great Warship
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    While the Mary Rose might be the most famous ship in the navy of Henry VIII, it wasn’t the largest. That honour belongs to the Henry Grace a Dieu, otherwise known as The Great Harry, and it was built in London. Early in his reign Henry VIII was drawn into conflict with France. Desperate to…

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  • Who was Alan Dower Blumlein?
    Who was Alan Dower Blumlein?
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    Jen Pedler tells the story behind a blue plaque on the Haymills Estate, Hanger Hill. You can hear more and discover a smorgasbord of 1930s suburban architecture on her Suburbs, Stations and Subways walk coming up on 25th January. I had never heard of  Alan Dower Blumlein until I came across the blue plaque marking…

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