{"id":2263,"date":"2013-09-16T16:44:57","date_gmt":"2013-09-16T15:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/?page_id=2263"},"modified":"2025-11-14T11:05:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:05:38","slug":"alan-fortune","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/live\/guides\/alan-fortune\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"<table style=\"width: 40%; border: none;\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/AlanFortune2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3923 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/AlanFortune2-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"picture of Alan Fortune\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/AlanFortune2.jpg 240w, https:\/\/footprintsoflondon.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/AlanFortune2.jpg 384w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Contact 07725 997943 or mail alan.fortune@footprintsoflondon.com<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Let me introduce myself.\u00a0 Originally from Devon, and then the Universities of Reading, London, Stockholm and Edinburgh, I have lived in London for over 30 years and am an enthusiastic student of the city, being fascinated in particular by its cosmopolitanism, its social history and its literary connections.\u00a0 In 2012 I retired from an academic career as a Senior Lecturer in linguistics at King\u2019s College London and since then have divided my time between university teaching, exploring London and guiding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I am a qualified guide in the City of Westminster Guide and the Borough of Camden. I also train people to become guides and am currently Course Director of the Camden Tour Guiding Course. My current portfolio of walks includes:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Soho pubs and restaurants: the European dimension<\/strong> \u2013 how Soho\u2019s European immigrants, and even its short-term residents from Europe, have made huge contributions to our culture, to literature, to scientific knowledge and to global political movements.\u00a0 Many were vivid Bohemian\u00a0characters who either lived in the vicinity of a pub or were\u00a0habitu\u00e9s.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Literary Soho<\/strong> &#8211; explore the Soho lives of some famous literary figures.\u00a0 Some, like William Blake and Fanny Burney, lived in Soho when very young; others wrote, drank and ate in the area as adults. We will look at places frequented by such literary giants as George Orwell and Dylan Thomas, the tomb of William Hazlitt, and the home of one of the creators of the horror novel genre.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Soho Rock n\u2019 Roll \u2013 how Soho\u2019s clubs shaped rock and pop history &#8211; this<\/strong> tour of legendary venues shows how rock and pop were forged in Soho\u2019s trailblazing music clubs of the 1950s, through the 1960s and up to the dawn of punk in the 1970s. We also look at associated youth fashions and the developing countercultures of the time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>St. Pancras in Literature, Film and Drama \u2013 <\/strong>look at the lives of important figures from the worlds of literature, film, and theatre who have lived and worked in St. Pancras and Somers Town.\u00a0 These include the former home of award-winning film director Mike Leigh, the gravestone of the forerunner of modern feminist writing, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the site of a radical theatre where the famous American singer\/actor, Paul Robeson, once performed.\u00a0 The walk finishes at a famous railway platform where you can board the Hogwarts Express.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Ealing: Queen of the Suburbs \u2013 <\/strong>explore Ealing, long known as the Queen of the Suburbs.\u00a0 Hear about Ealing Studios and its famous film industry connections and discover one of Ealing\u2019s gems, Pitzhanger Manor, Sir John Soane\u2019s elegant country home.\u00a0 You will learn about a club that changed the face of rock and roll, dark events in the Borough\u2019s history and about television\u2019s most famous time-travelling Doctor.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">I am also happy to lead walking tours around Marylebone, Mayfair, Whitehall, King\u2019s Cross, St. James, Bloomsbury, the West End, Covent Garden, Camden Town and Hampstead, as well as my home borough of Ealing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Walks currently on Footprints of London:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contact 07725 997943 or mail alan.fortune@footprintsoflondon.com Let me introduce myself.\u00a0 Originally from Devon, and then the Universities of Reading, London, Stockholm and Edinburgh, I have lived in London for over 30 years and am an enthusiastic student of the city, being fascinated in particular by its cosmopolitanism, its social history and its literary connections.\u00a0 In&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":3704,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2263","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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