It’s asking for trouble, isn’t it, using superlatives? Some smart-alec is bound to pop up and contradict your claim. Quite right too. But it’s an eye-catching headline and we really shouldn’t allow truth to get in the way of a…
The bodies at Bunhill
London’s Bunhill Fields is known as a place for dissenters. Not living ones – though I daresay there are plenty of those too – but dead ones, non-conformist Protestants opposed to the practices of the established Church of England, who…
The remains of London’s white friars
It beggars modern belief just how much London – well, pretty much everywhere in Europe, I guess – was once dominated by the Church. Did you know there were more than one hundred parish churches within or just outside the…
Secrets of the Middle Temple
Some years ago, I was fortunate to be invited to do some work for the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in London. The days I spent there were almost like being in a time capsule; all around were ghostly…
The secret Cabinet War Rooms
There are many secrets buried beneath London’s streets. Once classified, but no longer, is the underground complex beneath the Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS) near Whitehall, in Westminster: the Second World War Cabinet War Rooms. These will forever be…
Christmas at Liberty
Don’t think I haven’t noticed that people are talking about Christmas. In our local, The Olde Ruptured Duck, decorations started to appear weeks ago and nearby houses are lit up like, well, Christmas trees. I’ve seen things on TV too,…
The ghosts of Christ Church Greyfriars
Christ Church Greyfriars is one of those places you stumble across in London without meaning to. That’s exactly what I did a few years ago, drifting in search of somewhere to eat a sandwich after a tedious meeting. Close to…
London’s Lord Mayor’s Show
What are you doing on the 2nd Saturday in November? If you want to experience a little pageantry – well, quite a lot, actually – get yourself up, down, over, across, or whatever, to the City of London for the…
The church that makes a cockney
Not to be confused with the sound that a cockney makes… There has been a church on the site of St Mary le Bow, on London’s Cheapside, since Saxon times. And this is where Cockneys come from. Or, rather, a…
Wallace memorial, Smithfield
London’s Smithfield seemed a little ragged round the edges to me. Home to the capital’s huge meat and poultry market, some of the buildings have seen better days and the well-intentioned Victorian garden at West Smithfield appeared a little sad;…
London’s Church of the Templars
Almost hidden, tucked away from the jarring bustle of London just off the Strand, you may stumble upon a church that was built by the Knights Templar. Like all Templar churches, it is round – modelled on the Church of…
The end of the line for Eleanor
Network Rail, the people that own and operate Britain’s rail infrastructure (after someone sold it by mistake) say that 37 million people pass through London’s Charing Cross Station every year. That’s equivalent to the population of Uganda. It’s probably not…
Tracking down Britain’s secret SOE
The tiny village of Arisaig, nestling on an inlet along the beautiful Morar peninsula, has a wonderful little museum. The Land, Sea and Islands Visitor Centre tells visitors all about the local flora and fauna in this relatively remote part…
Bomber!
At the RAF Museum in Hendon, north London, there is a massive aircraft hanger entirely dedicated to bombers. Most of the aeroplanes on display in Bomber Hall are World War Two vintage, some are more recent – and some aren’t…