Footprints of London

New Footprints of London guide Hazel shares themes in her ‘Follow the Footsteps of Oliver Twist’ walk. Charles Dickens was the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and deeply descriptive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable.   In his second major work, Oliver Twist, he highlights a number of social issues including the…

New Footprints of London guide Sheldon Goodman previews his forthcoming tour of Brompton Cemetery ‘A Cemetery tour? Good grief, that’s a bit morbid isn’t it?’ ‘I can’t stand Cemeteries. They’re too creepy. They’re all depressing and horrible!’ For the longest time, Cemeteries have suffered from an image crisis that seems peculiarly confined to the UK…

As part of the Literary Footprints Festival we are hosting an event called Bleeding London which will preview a new exhibition by the Royal photographic Society. To celebrate the Footprints of London Guides are nominating their favourite streets. This time Neil Sinclair and Maggie Blake’s Cause Maggie Blake’s Cause is a small alleyway connecting Shad…

Our Literary Footprints Festival starts on 1st October and the Footprints of London Guides are sharing their favourite Literary London locations. This time Stephen Benton looks at Rossetti’s house in Chelsea Dante Gabriel Rossetti lived out his last years in Chelsea in a house in Cheyne Walk and is one of the writers featured in…

As part of our Literary Footprints Festival we are holding an evening called Bleeding London – which includes a preview of the Royal Photographic Society Exhibition of their project to photograph every street in London. The Footprints of London guides have been choosing their favourite streets – this time Sue Bingham looks at Exeter ‘Change…

Our guides are getting ready for the Literary Footprints Festival in October, and so our blog is featuring some of the best of London’s Literary places. One of Neil Sinclair’s favourite stops on his Shakespeare on Bankside walk on Monday 6th and 13th October at 2pm) is the bard’s memorial sculpture and stained glass window in Southwark…

Jen Pedler looks at another Literary connection in London The Langham Hotel, at the bottom of Portland Place, opened in 1865 and was Europe’s first ‘grand hotel’. Its seven floors were served by the first hydraulically powered lifts in the world and each of its 600 rooms had air conditioning, hot and cold running water…

London Open House Weekend is almost here again. With over 800 London buildings to be explored over the weekend it can be a bit bewildering which ones to see, so the Footprints of London team have come up with their suggestions. Jen Pedler I’m stewarding at Imperial Hall – formerly the Leysian Mission – that wonderful…

With our Literary Footprints Festival starting in a couple of weeks, here is the first in a new series of posts on London Literary locations. Michael Duncan looks at Brown’s in Dover Street Brown’s which opened in 1837 claims to be London’s first hotel.  It was opened by James Brown who was butler to Lord Byron…