Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Latest news articles about London’s long history.
Blue Plaque honours Tommy Flowers, the man behind Alan Turing’s computer revolution
Although Alan Turning gets justifiable fame for his WWII computer work, he needed help, and now a Blue Plaque has been installed to celebrate the electrical engineer who made it all possible, Tommy Flowers.
London’s Blue Plaques to become a UK-wide scheme
For nearly 160 years, notable people have been recognised in London by a plaque on a building they were associated with, and now it's going nationwide.
Unveiling the unsung hero: 360-year search ends as first witness to Great Fire of London identified
It's taken nearly 360 years to find him, but researchers now believe they have identified the person who first raised the alarm when the Great Fire of London started on the evening of 2nd September 1666.
Finsbury Square’s lost “Sodomites Walk”
A strip of land to the south of Finsbury Square in the City that's today just a busy road was once far more notorious -- as a space where gay men congregated.
The Tanner Street Drinking Fountain
There's a drinking fountain in Bermondsey that would once have been very difficult to get a drink from, as it used to be on top of a church.
The North London Railway WWI memorial
If you walk north from Hoxton station, you might spy a Cenotaph, sitting in a recess next to this north London railway station.
A visit to Carshalton Water Tower and Hermitage
Just over 300 years ago a very rich man on the verge of bankruptcy built a grand house and a water tower. Three hundred years later, both still exist, and you can go inside the water tower, but not the house.
London’s first Night Bus started 110 years ago – in July 1913
This month marks the 110th anniversary of London's first Night Bus, when a new service was introduced between Cricklewood and Liverpool Street Station on Monday 14th July 1913.
The restoration of Charles Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop
Surrounded by modern buildings is a very old building that claims to be the original Old Curiosity Shop made famous by Charles Dickens, but it's not what it says it is.
Lost Victorian animal returns to Crystal Palace’s dinosaurs
A sculpture of an extinct animal that was created to go among the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs but vanished in the 1960s has been restored.
Climb to the top of Britain’s only surviving semaphore tower
Peeking just above the trees by the M25 in southwest London can be found a curious octagonal building which was built 200 years ago as part of the defence of Britain.
Exceptional Roman Mausoleum discovered in South London
The most intact Roman mausoleum ever found in Britain has been discovered in south London, on a site that already revealed some of the largest Roman mosaics found in London for over 50 years.
Historic England wants your modern photos of old postcard views
A collection of historic postcards is looking to find modern photos of the same views so that past and present can be compared.
A visit to Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare
Not far from Hampton Court Palace can be found a small temple, created by the actor David Garrick to honour William Shakespeare, and is said to be the world's only dedicated shrine to Shakespeare.
See the Coronation Stone in Kingston
When King Charles III is crowned, he will sit on a throne containing a Scottish stone, but there's another Coronation Stone he could have sat on -- and it's in southwest London.
Rececently uncovered Roman Wall in the City of London given heritage protection
Three large sections of a previously unknown Roman wall discovered under the City of London in recent years have been designated as scheduled monuments in the National Heritage List for England.
At the remains of the Elizabethan era Boar’s Head Playhouse
Just outside the walls of the old City of London there used to be a coaching inn that became a popular theatre, and you can now see echoes of the long lost theatre in a modern building on the site.
200 year old fish found under the House of Lords
During surveys to prepare for the restoration of the Palace of Westminster, a 200-year old carved bone in the shape of a fish was discovered.
Stand inside a 250-year old subterranean ice well
Hidden beneath a small metal grate in a south London park is a 250 year old marvel -- subterranean ice well from the days before modern refrigeration. And it's occasionally open to the public.
Exceptional Roman London kiln to be restored and put on display
London's most complete Roman pottery kiln is going on public display for the first time, following a grant to cover the restoration costs.
You can climb to the top of the Canonbury Tower
A tall tower that's not only one of London's oldest buildings still in private ownership but also boasts some wonderful views across north London - this is the Canonbury Tower.
The English Civil War Society marches through Central London
Had you been in central London on Sunday morning, you'd have seen over 200 people in full English Civil War clothing and arms marching through central London.
Kensington’s mobile memorial to Queen Victoria
At the western end of Kensington High Street is a tall stone column memorial to Queen Victoria, but it used to be at the eastern end of High Street. It moved.
The day Londoners humbled an Austrian tyrant
On a Southwark side street, you can find a small plaque that reminds people that in 1850, "an international incident occurred here", when an Austrian general was attacked by a mob.
