I worked in London for eight years, firstly around London Wall, then in Bankside and lastly in Holborn. This is an album of things I have seen, places I have been and the wonderful tales I have collected about this magnificent city.
A children’s nursery rhyme
Here is the text of the children’s poem "Oranges and Lemons", as published in 1774. The Victorians added lots of ...
Barnard’s Inn
This is the entrance to the Hall of Barnard’s Inn. A beautiful, fascinating little courtyard with old date stones, a ...
Bloomsbury
There is a connection between these three pictures: the sign in New Zealand near Matamata, Bloomsbury Square Gardens in the ...
Camden Lock
Strictly speaking, Camden Lock isn’t in our neighbourhood at all, since you can’t walk there and back in your lunch ...
Crane City
Our neighbourhood is in a constant state of change, and the best indicators of where the change is happening are ...
Dickens
I’ve mentioned Dickens a couple of times so far – his “club for tom cats” jibe at Barnard’s Inn, as ...
Gray’s Inn
The Inns of Court are ancient institutions and as you walk around our neighbourhood you’ll see signs of them: Staples ...
Holborn
Picture this at the turn of the last millennium – around 1000 AD. You are sitting on a high branch ...
Justice in London
There are two world-famous landmark buildings in London which represent justice in its two major forms – criminal and civil ...
Lincoln’s Inn
Lincoln’s Inn is another of the four great Inns of Court that have dominated London for nearly 1000 years. It ...
London Bridge
From Holborn Circus you can walk, in an hour, to and from each of five of London’s bridges across the ...
Ludgate
I like to go for a walk at lunchtime and recently I have taken to stalking Fleet Street. This rather ...
Portobello Road
This isn’t strictly speaking Holborn, either – rather like Camden Lock – but if you take a Central Line Tube ...
Sir Richard Whittington
There’s a wonderful story about Dick Whittington, isn’t there? The first dramatic presentation of this story was a play in ...
Sir Thomas More
I’m sure you have heard of Sir Thomas More as part of your high school English theatre studies, if not ...
Sir William Walworth
This chap was Sir William Walworth. He was lord mayor of London in the late 1300s, during the reign of ...
Smithfield Garden
London is one of the most beautiful, and powerful cities on Earth with a mixed and fascinating 2000-year history. I ...
St Giles In-the-fields
St Giles is called In-the-fields because, like St Martins-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square, it was outside the City walls. It must ...
St Mary le Bow
When I was a kid, St Mary le Bow WAS London. We would crowd around the radio (yes, really) in ...
St Paul’s Cathedral
One thing about St Pauls that always takes your breath away is just how magnificent it is. It’s not just ...
Staples Inn
Staples Inn is not so much an institution as an experience. It used to be one of the Chancery Inns ...
Temple Bar
I’ve been wondering for a while why there is a Fleet Street sign on the Old Bank of England building, ...
The Blitz
On 7 Sept 1940, the Germans started a policy of strategic bombing of non-military targets – first used by the ...
The Great Fire
I’m sure you know more about the Great Fire of London in 1666 than I do. It’s as much folk ...
The Norwegians
The Norwegians arrived in Britain some time after the Saxons (who were invading as the Romans left) but they had ...
The resurrectionists
There were three great slums in Victorian London, perhaps the worst slums in the whole world; Spitalfields, the Mint and ...
The Temple
Ever since a very good friend of mine from Waikato University said his family used to be members of the ...
The Virginians
On 20 Dec 1606, Captain John Smith commanding the Susan Constant, with two other ships, the Discovery and the Godspeed, ...
TheatreLand
The heart of theatre in London is in Shaftesbury Avenue and the streets immediately off it, including Drury Lane. The ...
Thomas Tearle brandy warmer, London, c1730
Antique Georgian Solid silver large brandy saucepan, crafted by Thomas Tearle, London c1730 Thomas Tearle brandy warmer Thomas Tearle brandy ...