Footprints of London

Explore Peter Ackroyd's shadowy East End! Photo: St Anne Limehouse (detail) – © 2018 Alan Tucker Peter Ackroyd’s is one of the authentic voices of London: his novels, histories, biographies and so much more capture the rhythms of the city. This tour celebrates his portrayal of the riverside East End as a place of monsters…

Tales from the streets of betrayals, assassinations and other covert activity! Photo: The Old Vic Theatre – © David Charnick 2021 There is a secret world of agents and assassins. It’s a world of spy rings and subversion. And it’s an uncertain world, where betrayal lurks and suspicion sees spies where there are none. Join…

Come celebrate a world of inns, hops and beer! Photo: Site of Barclay Perkins Brewery – © David Charnick 2020 Join me to celebrate a time of inns and brewing. Come see traces of the hospitality offered by the inns of Borough High Street. Learn how central the hop trade was locally. And of course…

Explore the London of Charles Dickens through his own words! Photo: Marshalsea Prison Wall – © David Charnick 2020 The works of Charles Dickens are informed by his urban insights, founded on the observations of the journalist and shot through with human understanding. Join me in celebrating the London evoked by an authentic voice of…

Come celebrate a world of inns, hops and beer! Photo: Site of Barclay Perkins Brewery – © David Charnick 2020 Join me to celebrate a time of inns and brewing. Come see traces of the hospitality offered by the inns of Borough High Street. Learn how central the hop trade was locally. And of course…

Explore the London of Charles Dickens through his own words! Photo: Marshalsea Prison Wall – © David Charnick 2020 The works of Charles Dickens are informed by his urban insights, founded on the observations of the journalist and shot through with human understanding. Join me in celebrating the London evoked by an authentic voice of…

Tales from the streets of betrayals, assassinations and other covert activity! Photo: The Old Vic Theatre – © David Charnick 2021 There is a secret world of agents and assassins. It’s a world of spy rings and subversion. And it’s an uncertain world, where betrayal lurks and suspicion sees spies where there are none. Join…

Celebrate the many sides of Dictionary Johnson! Photo: Samuel Johnson by Percy Fitzgerald (detail), St Clement Danes – © David Charnick 2022 In 1737 a teacher with an uncertain future arrived in London in the company of one of his former pupils. The former pupil was David Garrick, who would become one of the most…

An ancient area of travel and movement at one end of the Metropolitan Line! Photo: Aldgate Underground Station © 2021 David Charnick Aldgate’s stories are perhaps well hidden behind its seemingly plain frontage. However, it’s an area full of rich interest going right back to the Romans. It has its boundaries – a silver dragon,…

Explore the political career of one of Britain's greatest statesmen! Photo: Churchill Statue by Ivor Roberts-Jones (detail) – © David Charnick 2021 In 1940 Winston Churchill became Britain’s Prime Minister, with the task of steering the nation through the nightmare of the Second World War. But what else do you know about him? Churchill’s political…