Exploring one of the world's greatest cities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ssbFKLzJ4&t=5s James Greenacre was one of 19th century London’s most notorious murderers. The story behind his gruesome crime begins on the Regent’s Canal, which was built between 1812 and 1820 as a means of linking the Grand Union Canal to the River Thames. Route of the Regent’s Canal on an 1840s map of London A…
1960s London was truly swinging; an exciting place where music and fashion thrived. In this post, I’ll be sharing a number of music videos which were all shot in 1960s London. Even though the medium was still in its infancy during this era there are still some cracking promos to discover! London, 1967 This collection is…
Believed to have developed amongst market traders and petty criminals in the mid-19th century, Cockney Rhyming Slang is one of London’s most famous quirks and, although not as widely heard as it once was, this fun and playful language remains an important aspect of the city’s character. As a companion to my earlier A-Z Guide of…
80 years ago, on the night of 29 December 1940, a photograph of St Paul’s Cathedral was taken as it towered above smoke and flames. It would prove to be one of the most iconic images of London ever captured. Christmas 1940 The Battle of Britain had been raging since July 1940. As the weeks…
Welcome to this festive special in which I’ll be taking you on a tour of the sites in London connected with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I have also compiled a video version of this tour for the robslondon YouTube Channel which can be viewed below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4bPj8jjrg During his celebrated career, Charles Dickens wrote a…
Over the past few weeks, I have been working on establishing a YouTube channel to accompany this website. The videos featured will focus on London’s history and hidden stories. The channel- Robslondon– is now available! There are currently two videos up and running- ‘The Man who Mended Faces‘ and ‘London’s Monolith‘- which you can also…
If you’re looking to exercise your brain during this cold, dark lockdown why not try my big London Quiz?! Below you’ll find sixty questions about the capital, spread across five fiendish rounds: ‘Name that boat race’, ‘Lost London’, ‘On location’, ‘Blue blur’ and ‘Map it!’ Answers can be found at the bottom of the page. …
London is brimming with ghost stories; many of the city’s pubs, hotels and tube stations have a spooky tale to tell. Even in the paranormal realm however, some hauntings are more bizarre than others. Here are five such peculiar tales from London, rated in what I consider to be their ascending level of creepiness. Happy Halloween- and…
On 21st October 2020, the celebrated photographer, Frank Horvat passed away at the age of 92. Frank was born in April 1928 in the Croatian town of Opatija (then part of Italy and known as Abbazia), into a family of Jewish, Central European descent. He discovered photography in his teens and swapped his stamp collection in…
On the 30 October 1995, Pulp released their fifth studio album: Different Class. Featuring songs about everyday working class life set to an eclectic fusion of disco, pop and rock, Different Class is a masterpiece- as well as providing the ’90s Britpop era with a defining moment, the album is now widely considered to be one of the…
