London Walks

They’ve already got the money, the houses, the jets – so why the fever when the bidding starts? Why the thrill of the gavel? In this Daily London Fix, we step inside Sotheby’s, where wealth turns to theatre and possession becomes performance. From a Strand bookseller’s auction in 1744 to today’s multimillion-pound spectacles, it’s part ritual, part sport, part confession. And – grace notes before the curtain falls – we discover why it’s called Sotheby’s, and why the man bringing down the hammer is, delightfully, named Barker.

The world’s most famous auction house was born on a quiet London street. From polite Georgian book sales to multi-million-pound bidding wars, Sotheby’s has mirrored the city’s rise from mercantile capital to cultural powerhouse.

October 25th — St Crispin’s Day. On this date in 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, London’s first great poet, breathed his last. Fifteen years later, on another St Crispin’s Day, Henry V’s tiny army triumphed at Agincourt. Two centuries after that, Shakespeare turned that muddy field into legend with “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...” This episode of London Calling links those moments – Chaucer’s passing and his London voice, Shakespeare’s stage thunder, and the date that binds them. A tale of bells, battles, and words: how the vintner’s son and the glover’s son together made English –...

United Nations Day, a Westminster hall… and a secret Roman flogging and beheading kit. Only in London.

Tapas time on today’s London fix – a double act. We begin in Smithfield with the redoubtable Jonathan, guiding us through London’s old killing ground, where the condemned met gruesome ends. Then David takes up the thread – from the execution ground to the digital gallows. The former Duke of York has been “unduked”; online the dead are “unalived”; the countryside is “UnLondon.” Welcome to the Age of Un – a wry look at our binary, reversible century, where everything can be done, undone, and done again.

Three “newly discovered” chapters of 1066 and All That – on the railways, the internet, and the French – lead to the story of W. C. Sellar, the quiet Scottish schoolmaster who co-wrote one of the funniest books in the English language. From a Gladstone joke in Brent to a trail that runs all the way to Edinburgh, it’s a very London tale of humour, history, and happy accidents.

Brent – the Borough with the oldest name and the youngest spirit. Named for the ancient River Brent – a Celtic word meaning “holy” or “high” – this is a borough where history hums beneath the pavements. From the roar of Wembley to the quiet grace of St Andrew’s Church, from the marble splendour of the Neasden Temple to the laughter spilling out of Kilburn’s Irish pubs, Brent is London in miniature: diverse, layered, endlessly alive. It’s where A. A. Milne met Winnie-the-Pooh, where Gladstone debated the Irish Question, where the Golden Retriever was born, and where the world still comes to play. Short...

London runs on rails – and we've got a new tour that explores London's railway stations. Distinguished railway historian Christian Wolmar and elite London guide Sam Jacobs take us on an all-day journey through the city’s iron arteries: from Shoreditch to Paddington, from Victorian grandeur to modern revival. Part history, part adventure, it’s London seen through its railway termini – the people, the power, the ambition, and the steam that made the city move.

Story time, history time – and this one’s about the storytellers themselves. In this episode of Londerful, London Walks introduces Jonathan, the so-called “new boy” who’s been guiding for four years and already won hearts. Warm, witty, and passionate, he’s the kind of guide who turns facts into discoveries.

At the Savoy Hotel, superstition and style sit side by side – and the proof’s in the cat. Meet Kaspar, the sleek black feline carved to save diners from the curse of thirteen at table. Born of tragedy in 1898 and still dining in style more than a century later, Kaspar has shared a table with Churchill, survived a wartime kidnapping, and become the Savoy’s most charming guest. This is London at its best: polished, peculiar, and purring with stories.

Seventh-century saint meets secret London. This episode follows St Etheldreda – or St Audrey – from her royal beginnings in the Fens of Ely to her hidden London church in Ely Place, Holborn. We explore the legend of her incorrupt body, the feast that became tawdry, and the medieval enclave that once stood beyond the City’s law. Shakespeare’s bishops, bombings, beadles, and even a relic of her hand all make an appearance in this vivid talk through holiness, history, and hidden London.

One night. One storm. Winds near a hundred miles an hour. London wrecked, trees flattened, Britain humbled. The Great Storm of ’87 – the night we all remember.

Camden’s not just a postcode – it’s a state of mind. From the quiet grace of Bloomsbury’s squares to the glorious bedlam of Camden Market; from the high wildness of Hampstead Heath to the learned hush of Museum Mile – this is the borough that can keep you busy for a lifetime. In this episode, we go exploring: parks, markets, music, museums, canals, cafés, and everything in between.

From the barristers of Holborn to the buskers of Camden Lock and the poets of Hampstead, this episode climbs right through London’s social landscape. Along the way we meet the borough that built better homes for its people, raised its rates for beauty’s sake, and made “progressive” a point of civic pride. Radical politics, visionary housing, the ghosts of railways and revolution – Camden’s story is London’s story, all packed into eight and a half square miles.

In the inaugural Get to Know Your London episode, we land in Camden – and David takes us on a visual decoding of the borough’s logo. You’ve seen it a hundred times on street signs – that little green circular symbol above the word Camden. Most people assume it’s a recycling logo. It isn’t. Look closer. It’s actually four pairs of hands, thumbs almost touching, arranged in a circle. They’re meant to symbolise connection – the borough and its community linked hand in hand. The official line says they stand for unity, giving, receiving, and voting. But of course, there’s...

A Sunday snapshot of London in 1975 – Harold Wilson in Downing Street, inflation roaring, Bowie on the airwaves, and a bomb that failed to explode in Westminster. From the smell of petrol and vinegar on the streets to Routemasters, Reliant Robins, and 25p fish-and-chips, this is the city as it really was: battered, brave, and brilliantly alive.

In this episode, Dr Ann Gandhi introduces us to Mahatma Gandhi as we’ve never met him before – in Tavistock Square, in words that bring him vividly to life. David steps in with his reflections, Adam stirs things up with a seasonal tipple, and together they serve a heady mix of history, humanity, and the best eggnog recipe in London.

Today’s London Calling is a double treat. First up, Adam tears into the London Calling Book Club Corner with a book so gripping you’ll be ordering it before he’s finished talking. Then Dr Ann takes the baton for a taster from her brand-new walk, Nooks & Crannies – Unseen Covent Garden. Books, ghosts, hidden corners – London doesn’t get better than this.

Dr Ann's What's the Big Idea Walk takes you through Bloomsbury's squares – the cradle of modern thought. Where ideas were born, challenged, took shape, and still reverberate. A walk as stimulating as the minds that inspired it.

An October evening City of London excursion that begins at the 17th-century Monument and winds through Philpot Lane (where it takes in London's tiniest sculptures) and then on to Leadenhall Market’s Victorian splendour before arriving at the modern marvel of the Leadenhall Building – the “Cheesegrater.” The piece tells the story of the building’s design, nickname, height, and views, blending history and anecdote with the experience of going up to its soaring upper floors. It’s a love-letter to London’s layers – from Wren’s column to Rogers’ skyscraper – all encountered in one golden City evening.

A lively, anecdotal wander through the creamy world of stucco — the material that gave London’s grand western terraces their smooth Italianate glamour. From its humble mix of lime and sand to its starring role in John Nash’s Regent’s Park and Little Venice, this is the story of how plaster and paint pulled off one of the greatest visual conjuring tricks in urban history: turning brick into marble, speculation into splendour, and Paddington into “Venice.”

Gazumped. London Calling's on the case. Sniffs out one of the great London words – gazump! From its East End Yiddish roots to its 1970s rebirth in the city’s cut-throat property market, this is the story of how a market-stall cry for “don’t get swindled!” became the headline-grabbing curse of London homebuyers. It’s a word that sounds like what it means – half comedy, half cruelty – and it could only have been born in London. Pointer David’s on the scent again, and he’s tracked down a linguistic gem that’s equal parts etymology, history, and sheer London mischief.

London told through the creatures that know it best: the rat in the tunnel and the dog on the lead. From the sewers to the parks, from Herbert’s scuttling hordes to Ann’s faithful pack, this is the secret animal history of the capital – cheeky, vivid, and unmistakably alive.

When Alison leads her Old Palace Quarter Walk into Pickering Place – that exquisite little centuries-old courtyard off St James’s Street – a sharp-eyed walker spots a mysterious oval plaque numbered 8100. What is it? Not a relic, not a door number, but a clue to one of London’s best-kept secrets: the city’s living network of gas lamps.

October 1956: the Bolshoi Ballet lands in London with 80 tons of scenery, KGB minders in tow, and a troupe led by Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya. Covent Garden reels at their scale and power – 45 minutes of applause, queues in the rain, a stage too small for their vast sets. Meanwhile, across Europe, the Hungarian Uprising explodes. Ballet, politics, glamour, tanks — three weeks that shook London and rewrote the story of British ballet.

October 2nd, 1925: four covered-top double-deckers debut on the Elephant to Epping route, drawing queues of curious Londoners. A century later, their descendants — 8,800 buses, 6,000 of them double-deckers — knit the capital together with 5 million journeys a day and 300 million miles a year. From four pioneers at the Elephant to a red fleet that could lap the Earth 12,000 times or reach the Sun in four months — London’s buses aren’t just transport. They’re a solar-system-sized lifeline, a cosmic commute.

On section 13 you get the best view in London from here on earth...it's unrivalled, it's very high, it's an amazing view

September 30 twice marked history. In 1938, Chamberlain promised “peace for our time.” Eight years later, in 1946, the Nuremberg judges delivered guilty verdicts on Nazi leaders. Hope and reckoning – two dates, one day, history’s cruel symmetry.

An exploration of what “Georgian” really means — the look, the feel, and the deeper story behind London’s calm, symmetrical 18th-century architecture.

Michaelmas Eve – when the year tips into the dark. The last geese sizzle, the last debts get squared, and the devil, they say, is out spitting on the blackberries. It’s a night for charms, for peering into bowls of water to see who you’ll marry – or if you’ll die – and for hoping St. Michael, sword flashing, is on duty. Because after tonight, the dark takes over.

Dan’s taking London’s Spymasters out for a spin this afternoon – so we couldn’t resist giving you a sneak preview. Picture him in Horse Guards Parade, spinning the yarn of Operation Mincemeat, weaving in the James Bond connection, and – just for good measure – putting us tantalisingly close to unmasking the real 007. Pull up a chair, lean in. Here’s Dan.

A night of fire. A very grand historic old house in ruins. And an image that came to define the Blitz

September 25, 1818 – the day London made medical history. Guy’s Hospital. A patient is bleeding out. London surgeon James Blundell rolls the dice on an untested idea: take blood from one person, inject it into another. No blood typing, no antiseptic, just urgency, ingenuity, and a syringe. Against the odds, the patient lives. We’ll meet Dr. Blundell, part mad-scientist, part visionary, who turned a desperate gamble into the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion. It’s a story of risk, luck, science, and the moment London learned life could be borrowed.

The wind howls, the candles gutter… London, 1717: a child is born beneath a sky that seems to know it’s witnessing trouble. He will grow up to conjure castles full of ghosts, corridors thick with secrets, and gossip sharp enough to draw blood.

On a hushed September morning in 1939, as war loomed over London, Sigmund Freud drew his last breath in Hampstead. This is the story of that extraordinary passing.

Right, gather round — this one’s a bit of a lucky dip. Here’s what’s rattling about in the bag: 📚 A cracking book recommendation from one of our celebrity guides — proper page-turner stuff. 🚶 A London Walk so good it’s gone — yep, Sold Out (but all is not lost). 🍜 A delicious little amuse-bouche from a Chef’s Tour in Kuala Lumpur — have a sniff, have a taste. 🇮🇹 An Italian guest’s rave review — bellissimo! 🌊 And to top it off, a message in a bottle — chucked into the sea and washing up here, on your earbuds. It’s a short one, a tasty one, perfect for holiday listen...

it’s London with its heart on its sleeve...

Put a candle in the window...

London calling. London Walks connecting. This… is London. This is London Walks. Streets ahead. Story time. History time. Top of the morning to you London Walkers. Wherever you are. It’s Friday, September 19th,  2025. Our warm up act, as always, the London Calling Book Club Corner. In the Chair today, London Walks’ Knight errant, Richard […]

the square is to London what canals are to Venice

The gas lamps throwing halos

London doesn’t just import, it cross-pollinates.

he's a leading authority on espionage

'oldest pub in England'

Eurostar is basically a moving living room.

Maximum history, minimum hassle.

Hyde Park – London’s open-air parliament.

Hooked, deadly, ready to rip

The Thames Police, like it or not, became London’s undertakers.

London calling. London Walks connecting. This… is London. This is London Walks. Streets ahead. Story time. History time. A very good day to you London Walkers. Wherever you are. It’s Monday, September 8th,  2025. London Calling Book Club Corner first. Recovering lawyer Tom Hooper’s second day in the Chair. If this were Ascot Tom would […]

What it was about this hugely different cup of tea – The Ultimate London Walk – that caught their eye

That's the curtain raiser. Now, shall we walk?

"there are more things in London than are dreamt of in your philosophy Horatio"

High Barnet is the trumpet call.

This is border country – London nudging into Hertfordshire

Postcodes are the city in miniature: eccentric, irregular, a little chaotic — but if you know how to read them, they reveal patterns, layers, history.

the canal itself is London's secret artery

It's walking through the world's memory palace

The city is the show

It's a London no one's ever seen

the manifold, magnificent, mind-bending, maddening mysteries of London postcodes

When Mary's happy Mary dances

"he was the subject of the world's first international manhunt"

Here's a hot London tip

"it took me a year to get an interview with astronaut Neil Armstrong"

Good news for Eliza and Mrs Higgins, the cats who live in St Paul's Covent Garden

One of the most important bits of London you never knew about

Out of fire, a festival

London invented smog; the London Plane invented the cure.

London's Memory Bank (In Blue)

Which is why it's called 'the Westminster Abbey of the City'

the corpse said he felt a lot better and would skip his funeral, said he was off to the wine shop

He kept a tent pitched in the back garden of his Kensington house

"I used to be Commodore of Greenwich Yacht Club"

Rebellion is spreading, like spilled ink across a map

"one woman...all the time in the world"

"It’s only Adam and Eve, you know!”

"runs in blood down palace walls"

so many essences of London

"Mary Poppins, her umbrella was a Brigg"

the fighting sailor who invented the Sea Story

Where's this killer statue?

good manners go a long way in London

He was known in RAF circles as Butcher Harris

where the stories bloom

Men walking in giant wooden treadwheels, like human hamsters...

She was cremated on a beach in Bali

"There's anti-German feeling. But no violence"

a kaleidoscope of colour

“they told us to look out for bones, we should expect to find a lot of them. And we have.”

London calling. London Walks connecting. This… is London. This is London Walks. Streets ahead. Story time. History time. A very good evening to you London Walkers. Wherever you are. It’s Wednesday, July 30th, 2025. All work and no play makes David a dull dude. That’ll never do. So let’s have a bit of play. But […]

London calling. London Walks connecting. This… is London. This is London Walks. Streets ahead. Story time. History time. Top of the morning to you London Walkers. Wherever you are. It’s Tuesday, July 29th, 2025. And here’s the spin of the roulette wheel. Where’s the ball – aka the pill – coming to stop? Ah, there […]

"the past is a foreign country"

"thou art an everlasting bonfire light"

"She's our greening expert"

"traditional Polish fare...the dumplings are my favourite"

egg and bacon

A touch of Camelot in Cadogan Square

"walkways and pathways along rivers and brooks"

"I was moved to tears"