THE THURSDAY MORNING LONDON WALKS |
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THE THURSDAY AFTERNOON LONDON WALKS |
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THE THURSDAY EVENING LONDON WALKS |
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Famously, London Walks operates 365 days a year! Though on Christmas Day we do throttle right back. Which is by way of saying, on Christmas Day we only do two walks. Christmas Morning, 1660 - A Christmas Morning Saunter with Samuel Pepys takes place at 11 am.
And at 2 pm we do The Christmas Day Charles Dickens London Walk.
 The meeting point for both of the Christmas Day walks is by the big Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.
Anything else? Well, yes, this.
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OLD MAYFAIR - "the best address in London" 10.30 am on Thursdays
from Green Park Tube
(meet Russell on the corner, just outside the north exit)
Now here's a champagne cocktail of a walk. It's a marriage made in heaven: "the best address in London" and a top drawer guide - a chevalier and a place where Old Masters and old money, Rolls Royces and glamour, titles and butlers are par for the course. It's hob-nobbing with knobs on it - because Mayfair's been home to Clive of India, Disraeli, Handel, Florence Nightingale, Jimi Hendrix, Dodi Fayed, and the Earl Mountbatten, to name but a few. Last but certainly not least, it boasts London's best village within a village - Shepherd Market, a charming little nest of alleys that hasn't lost a jot of its 18th-century scale and village atmosphere, let alone its raffishness.
The Old Mayfair walk takes place
every* Thursday at 10.30 am
and every Monday at 10.30 am.
*Except December 25th
Meet Russell or Graham on the corner
just outside the north exit of Green ParkTube.
Green ParkTube is on the
Victoria, Piccadilly & Jubilee Lines
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THE NATIONAL GALLERY TOUR "Sex and Violence in Trafalgar Square"
10.45 am on Thursdays
from EmbankmentTube
"You've been nailed again, eye-popped. Life has just been adjusted."
As the wonderful Simon Schama puts it, "Great art has dreadful manners. The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed in short order to rearrange your sense of reality." And on that note (warning?) you are cordially invited to a levee withe the likes of Rembrandt, Rubens, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Dyck, Goya, Constable, Turner, Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh.
Which is by way of saying, "In the National Gallery, as perhaps nowhere else, you can walk through seven centuries of European painting, on the mountain-tops. And, as always on the mountains, it's useful to have a guide, a companion who can spot things that you might miss and trigger thoughts that might not occur to you on your own." Let alone the fact that the National - "the single best picture gallery in the world" - covers 10 acres, has 75 galleries, and houses 2,300 of the world's greatest paintings!
The National Gallery Tour
takes place every* Thursday at 10.45 am.
*Except Dec. 25 and Jan. 1
Meet just outside the exit of EmbankmentTube.
EmbankmentTube is on
theCircle, Bakerloo, District & Northern Lines
 Guided by Helena, Margaret, Molly or Tom
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HISTORIC GREENWICH "Versailles with a riverscape"10:45 am on Thursdays
from Tower HillTube
We begin with an overture: the best boat ride in London. The Tower, Tower Bridge, Docklands, and then, three miles downstream, the Thames bursts into one of the sublime sights of English architecture: "the most stately procession of buildings in England." Moments later, another frisson: the mast and spars, the web of rigging of the Cutty Sark, the hauntingly beautiful old tea clipper. As the poet said, "they mark our passage as a race of men; earth will not see such ships again." Welcome to Greenwich! Maritime Greenwich. Royal Greenwich. Greenwich the home of time and centre of space. The Greenwich of crooked lanes, bric-a-brac shops, and bustling antique and flea markets. Greenwich the "green village." Greenwich of the Queen's House, Old Royal Observatory, Royal Naval College, the world's largest nautical museum, the Millennium Dome, and the Cutty Sark itself! Nick or Hilary will turn the pages of its history for you.
Now who's for some eavesdropping? Here's Nick at his spellbinding best: wonderful voice, perfect timing, humour, engagement with his audience. It's a tour de force of brilliant guiding. Absolutely equal to the occasion and the subject matter - and that's really saying something because he's in the Painted Hall. Having Nick open it up to us the way he did was worth the price of admission alone (as the saying goes).  Here's the clip - enjoy!
The Historic Greenwich Walk takes place every* Thursday,
every Sunday and every Tuesday at 10:45 am.
*Except Dec. 25th
Meet your guide just outside the exit of
Tower HillTube at 10:45 am.
Tower Hill Tube is on the Circle & District Lines
N.B. The boat trip costs £3.50 (a huge discount). Your guide - Gillian or Chris or Nick or Hilary - goes with you on the boat.
Guided on Thursdays by Nick or Hilary
Guided Sundays and Tuesdays by Gillian or Chris
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THE FAMOUS SQUARE MILE - 2,000 Years of History11 am on Thursdays
from Monument Tube, Fish Street Hill exit
This is the great classic London Walk. It explores the very heart of the City - the most historic part of the capital. Threading their way through an intricate network of narrow alleys and cobble-stone lanes, Tom, Judy and Fiona chronicle the 2,000 years of London's rich and tumultuous history. And illustrate it by drawing upon everything from street names to ancient customs to the frozen music of London's great buildings, among which are the ruins of the Roman Temple of Mithras, the Bank of England, the Lord Mayor's Mansion House, and ancient Guildhall. (The walk includes, whenever possible, a visit inside Guildhall!)
The Famous Square Mile Walk takes place
every* Thursday at 11 am
and every Sunday at 10.30 am.
*Except Dec. 25th
Meet Tom, Judy, Fiona or Graham outside the main exit - the Fish Street Hill exit - of MonumentTube.
Monument Tube is on the Circle & District Lines
Guided on Thursdays by Tom, Judy or Fiona
Guided on Sundays by Graham
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THE BEATLES MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR |
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OLD WESTMINSTER - 1,000 Years of History2 pm on Thursdays
from WestminsterTube, exit 4
This is the cornerstone, the great seminal London Walk. Miss it and you've missed London. For Old Westminster is London at its grandest: the place where kings and queens are crowned, where they lived, and often were buried. It's the forge of the national destiny, the place where the heart of the Empire beat, the Mecca of politicians throughout the ages. The past here is cast in stone and we take it all in: ancient Westminster Hall, the Houses of Parliament, the Jewel Tower, and Westminster Abbey. And to see it with a great guide is to have that past suddenly rise to the surface...like seeing a photographic print come up in a darkroom. It doesn't get any better than this. And embarras de richesse, we'll also explore the private face of Westminster - the London equivalent of Georgetown! Unlike the tourist hordes, we'll get to see the hidden and ever so picturesque Georgian back streets where all the political salons are! We end at the Cabinet War Rooms, the fortified bunker that housed Winston Churchill's centre of operations during the war. You'll get a brilliant discount on the price of admission if you want to visit the War Rooms.
 And fancy a listen? Try this. It's the opening of the Secret Westminster chapter in our book, London Walks London Stories. A chapter that was inspired by - and draws on - this walk.
The Old Westminster Walk takes place
every* Thursday at 2 pm;
every Saturday at 11 am;
every Sunday at 2.45 pm;
and every Tuesday at 2 pm.
*Except Dec. 25th
Meet your guide just outside exit 4 of WestminsterTube.
WestminsterTube is on the Circle, District & Jubilee Lines.
Guided on Thursdays by Shaughan or David
Guided on Saturdays by Simon
Guided on Sundays by Graham
Guided on Tuesdays by Judy
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OLD KENSINGTON - London’s Royal Village2 pm on Thursdays
from High Street KensingtonTube
Meet in the rotunda just beyond the ticket barrier (by Pret a Manger)
This one's special. It's rarely the first - or even the second or third - walk people go on, but when they do get round to taking it, they often say it's the one they liked the most. And no wonder, because Royal Kensington is London at its best - picturesque, stimulating, and full of character. Its parts are as delightful as London can provide: everything from warmly handsome old Kensington Palace (home to the late Diana, Princess of Wales) to Kensington Gardens (all meadows, shaded walks, bowers, and flower gardens, it might be the grounds of a stately home in some rural shire) to cobbled little soigne lanes and mews, girt with pretty cottages and charming old shops; and from millionaires" row and regal avenues to beautifully kept squares and a clutch of the world's greatest museums; let alone a garden in the sky (the largest and most breathtaking roof garden in Europe); the secluded town house of the greatest Londoner of the 20th-century, an American president's flat, the most astonishing small literary house in the world, acres of gentility, a secret trap-door into a hidden world, and more history and colourful characters than you can shake a stick at.
And afterward you can visit the State Apartments or take tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace! Now who's for another visual or two? Or if you'd like a further word or two, click here. Or here. And finally, how about some audio? There's going to be a chapter on Kensington in our forthcoming book, London Walks London Stories. It's one of the five chapters that have fallen to me, David, to write. The which I've done. Anyway, here's a tri-partite taster - of Kensington, of the walk and of the book. In short, here's how the chapter opens.
The Old Kensington - London's Royal Village Walk
takes place every* Thursday at 2 pm
and every Saturday at 2 pm.
*Except Dec. 25th
Meet David or Angela or Adam in the rotunda just beyond the ticket barrier ("subway turnstile" in North American parlance) of High Street KensingtonTube.
High Street Kensington Tube is on the Circle & District Lines
Guided on Thursdays by David or Adam
Guided on Saturdays by David or Angela
"Kensington, especially in a summer afternoon, has seemed to me as delightful as any place can or ought to be, in a world which, sometime or other, we must quit." Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home, 1863
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OCCULT LONDON & THE DA VINCI CODE "Researching this I often felt we should be
in a Witness Protection Programme..." Brian
2 pm on Thursdays
from TempleTube
People have long sensed the high strangeness of London. That some of its nodal points appear to be the foci of arcane secrets; that the Monument and Nelson's column - can it be a coincidence that they're both 202 feet high? - cast significant shadows at the summer solstice; that there appears to be "intelligent design" in London's alignments and angles; that there could well be a secret gnosis incorporated into the architecture of some of our most famous buildings; that a 1960 mural of Jean Cocteau in a hidden little London church suggests that he and Leonardo da Vinci were collaborators across the centuries - and that their religious beliefs were not nearly as orthodox as the history books would lead us to believe. Dan Brown's best-selling novel lifts the lid on some of these matters. As does Gerard de Sede's The Templars Are Among Us. And if they're right... it's a live rail running right through our culture. "Heretical beliefs", the goddess mystery, sexual alchemy secrets, mastery over time itself, gateways where the human and divine worlds meet; a church that's allegedly denied its true roots...it's, well, dangerous to touch.
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THE BLITZ - London at War"send every bloody pump you've got,
the whole bloody world's on fire"
London Fireman during a Luftwaffe raid 8 September 1940
2.15 pm Thursdays
from St. Paul'sTube exit 2
The dome of St. Paul's seemed to ride the sea of fire like a great ship. Ludgate Hill was carpeted in hosepipes. Two hundred people died that night. On the north side of the cathedral 63 acres became a waste of smoking ash and rubble. Another 100 acres were completely devastated in other raids that autumn. At the finish, out of the City's tight-packed 461 acres, 164 were reduced to ruin. And this was just 1940. And now, over to Helena, who's going to take us through a great city in its finest and most desperate hour. Some of what you see and hear may be disturbing.
And just to get you primed, here are the three best paragraphs ever written on London and The Blitz. Nobody told it like it was like V.S. Pritchett and in this passage he's crystallised it: this is what London was like, this is what it felt like to live through that terrible time.
And then there's this. Warning: it hardly bears thinking about.
The Blitz - London at War takes place
every* Thursday at 2.15 pm from just outside exit 2 of St. Paul'sTube.
*Except Dec. 25th
St. Paul's Tube is on the Central Line
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THE ANCIENT CITY AT NIGHT Take Another Look!
6.30 pm on Thursdays
from BankTube
(meet Peter G. by the Wellington statue outside exit 3)
If I were going to take Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Dante, Elizabeth I, Adam Smith, George Washington and Claude Monet on a London Walk this is the one I'd plump for. Because of where it goes and what we see. Historically this is the oldest part of London; but it's also the most aggressively modern part. And after hours - which is when we're heading in there - it's transfigured: crystalline, transparent as a dragonfly, submerged in its past. We can peer into its depths. And then rub our eyes and wonder at a church that "transcends originality", at the only private house in the country with its own court and cells, at a lost river, at a jewel box of a market (going there is a little touch of Harry Potter in the night), at Dirty Dick"s, at the architectural equivalent of a butterfly collection. And to see it at night - washed in blue and green light - it's like moving, stunned, through the crevasses of a mountain glacier!. And that's just first impressions, a quick scratch at the surface. The behind-the-scenes stuff - hidden courtyards, dimly lit alleyways and wonderful old pubs* - will take us right down into the depths of London's ancient past. Guided by Peter G.
*Yes, pubs are included on this walk; a post-walk curry is an optional extra (which is by way of saying, the walk ends near that little parade of the best - and best value - curry houses in London!)
The Ancient City at Night - Take Another Look! takes place
every* Thursday evening at 6.30 pm.
*Except Dec. 25th and Jan. 1st.
Meet Peter G. by the Wellington statue -
it's just outside exit 3 of BankTube.
Bank Tube is on the Central & Northern Lines
Guided by Peter G.
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"Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night." Rupert Brooke
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OLD MARYLEBONE VILLAGE - The Pub Walk 7 pm on Thursdays
from Bond StreetTube, exit 2
On the A-List. That's Marylebone. It's that most enticing of combinations - it's very appealing and it's little known. Finding it - finding your way into it - from brash, crass, tacky Oxford Street is like coming through a mountain pass at night and there it is, up ahead of you, all aglow - a cozy, unexpected, inviting, well nigh perfect village. The hyperbole is deserved. Quietly, unobtrusively, classic, historic old Marylebone has become the most successful and attractive nieghbourhood in London. How so? Well, there's something about Marylebone. That something is vibrancy. Some well-heeled neighbourhoods are so rich they're lifeless - embalmed in their wealth. Not so Marylebone. It's got a buzz, it's connected, it's inviting (its pubs are as welcoming as classic old country inns) - it's got makes-you-feel-good-to-be-there villagey warmth. Let alone gusto! Here's an audio taster - a "grab" from near the beginning of the walk. And here's a tip. Whatever you do, don't book dinner elsewhere! Click here and you'll see why. Give yourself, give your whole evening to Marylebone. The walk and then what Marylebone serves up after the walk - well, it makes for a perfect night out on the town in London Town!
The Old Marylebone Village Pub Walk takes place
every* Thursday evening at 7 pm.
*Except Dec. 25th and Jan. 1st.
Meet Andrew just outside exit 2** of
Bond StreetTube.
*Meet by the HMV shop in Stratford Place
Bond Street Tube Stop is on the Central & Jubilee Lines
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"The only plagues of London..."
"Everywhere outside their houses are the citizens" gardens, side by side yet spacious and splendid and set about with trees. There are also in the northern suburbs of London splendid wells and springs with sweet healing, clean water…[where]…crowds of schoolboys and students and young men of the City take the air on summer evenings…The only plagues of London are the immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires."
William Fitzstephen, Preface to the Life of Thomas a Becket, c. 1180
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APPARITIONS, ALLEYWAYS & ALE 7.30 pm on Thursdays
from EmbankmentTube
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Dead men walking. Ghosts. Poltergeists. That's what these crepuscular, crooked little alleyways are known for. And that's why Russell speaks in a low voice - lest they hear us and come calling. And best stay close together because stuff happens on this walk. Like seeing a gray procession of headless figures! I don't know whether it's atmospheric conditions or the power of suggestion or Russell's sepulchral voice, but it's happened more than once. Or a creepy churchyard where the gaslights are guttering and the shadows are deeper than they should be. Give it a wide berth. One of our guides had the most terrifying experience of his life in there. Russell gets you safely past it - and if he feels up to it - he just might tell you about it. Ditto the haunted old pub where we'll fortify our - er - spirits...before heading into the spooky "old palace quarter". N.B., Variations on a theme...which is by way of saying this walk is similar but not identical to Monday night's Ghosts of the West End walk. The chief difference being that Apparitions, Alleyways & Ale has a ghost-busting pit stop. Halfway through the walk, Russell will take us into that haunted old pub where things go bump in the night.
Now who's for some audio? Here's Adam, pinch hitting for Russell on December 16, 1897. Funny thing that. Because when we turned into this alley it was June 26, 2008. Was. That's creepy old London for you. You're not careful where you're going - you turn certain corners - and time bends. What's this? It's a gas lamp. Here's Adam. And there's the famous actor, William Terriss. William Terriss, who's just been murdered tonight, right here, December 16, 1897.
The Apparitions, Alleyways & Ale Walk takes place
every* Thursday evening at 7.30 pm.
*Except Dec. 25th
Meet Russell just outside the exit of EmbankmentTube.
Embankment Tube is on the Circle, Bakerloo, District & Northern Lines
Guided by Russell
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7.30 pm nightly
from Tower HillTube
Please tread carefully and keep away from the shadows - you are about to enter the abyss...
He came silently out of the midnight shadows of August 31, 1888. Watching. Stalking. Butchering raddled, drink-sodden East End prostitutes. Leaving a trail of blood that led...nowhere. Yes, something wicked this way walked, for this is the Ripper's slashing grounds. We evoke that autumn of gaslight and fog, of menacing shadows and stealthy footsteps as we inspect the murder sites, sift through the evidence - in all its gory detail - and get to grips, so to speak, with the main suspects. Afterward you can steady your nerves in The Ten Bells, the pub where the victims - perhaps under the steely gaze of the Ripper himself - tried to forget the waking nightmare. And for a pictorial or two, click here.
The Jack the Ripper Haunts Walk takes place
every* single night at 7.30 pm.
N.B. on Saturday afternoons there's also a Ripper "matinee".
I.E. we also do the Ripper walk every Saturday afternoon at 3 pm.
Meet the guides - on Thursday evenings it's Angela and Shaughan -
just outside the exit of Tower HillTube.
Tower Hill Tube is on the Circle & District Lines
*except December 24th & December 25th
Guided by Donald or Molly on Mondays
Guided by Donald or Molly on Tuesdays
Guided by Steve on Wednesdays
Guided by Angela and Shaughan on Thursdays
Guided by Donald or Shaughan on Fridays
Guided by Fiona or Peter G. on Saturday afternoons
Guided by Steve on Saturday evenings
Guided by Donald on Sundays
N.B., Let's call a spade a spade. Going on Donald Rumbelow's walk is as close as you're going to get to nailing the Ripper. Donald is the author of the best-selling The Complete Jack the Ripper, the definitive book on the subject. He's been the chief consultant for every major television and film treatment of the Ripper for the last 20 years. In the words of The Jack to Ripper A to Z (the bible of Ripperology studies): "Donald Rumbelow is internationally recognised as the leading authority on the subject". The former Curator of the City of London Police Crime Museum and a two-time Chairman of the Crime Writers" Association, Donald is Britain's most distinguished crime historian. And I hasten add, he's not some dry-as-dust academic. He spent 25 years on the City of London Police Force - which in effect means you'll be taken over some of the most famous crime scenes in the world by a law enforcement professional...who just happens to be the world's leading expert on those particular crime scenes! Oh and I almost forgot - he's also a top-flight professionally qualified Blue Badge Guide!
But a word of warning: never part with your money or set off with anyone until you're absolutely certain you're with Donald or - if it's another night - one of his London Walks colleagues. Donald (and co.) will be holding up copies of the distinctive white London Walks leaflet. And remember, Donald and his colleagues never ever start the Jack the Ripper walk before 7:30pm. In short, don't let anyone pull a fast one on you.
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ADDITIONAL WALKS ON SELECTED THURSDAYS |
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