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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.

Illustrated London News

Latest news, articles and photos

Illustrated London News - Latest news, articles and photos

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 11th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 11th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 11th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
11
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 10th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 10th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 10th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
10
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 9th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 9th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 9th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
09
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 8th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 8th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 8th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
08
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 7th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 7th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 7th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
07
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 6th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 6th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 6th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
06
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 5th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 5th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 5th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
05
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 4th Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 4th Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 4th Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
04
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 3rd Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 3rd Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 3rd Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
03
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 2nd Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 2nd Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 2nd Dec

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my

Dec
02
2011
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 1st Dec
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 1st Dec

A Victorian Advent Calendar – 1st Dec

Much of our modern Christmas traditions date from the Victorian era, including the advert calendar – and like the Christmas Tree, it is also German in origin. Although the first known Advent calendar can be traced back to 1851, the

Dec
01
2011
75th Anniversary of the Destruction of the Crystal Palace
75th Anniversary of the Destruction of the Crystal Palace

75th Anniversary of the Destruction of the Crystal Palace

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the great fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace, an ill fated “shopping center” that had long since fallen on hard times and finally met its knackers yard in a blazing inferno. Although set up

Nov
30
2011
The Queen’s Speech and a Coalition Government – of 1854
The Queen’s Speech and a Coalition Government – of 1854

The Queen’s Speech and a Coalition Government – of 1854

On this day, marking the first Queen’s Speech delivered by a coalition government to Queen Elizabeth II, I take time to reflect on an earlier Queen’s Speech, when there was not so much a Coalition Government as a single-party state.

May
25
2010
A Panorama of New York City in 1855
A Panorama of New York City in 1855

A Panorama of New York City in 1855

Accepting that this isn’t really about my usual topic of London, I still think the below panorama drawing of New York City as it was in 1855 is still rather impressive to look at. Whether, as predicted in the news

May
21
2010
The Wellington Testimonial Clock-Tower in Southwark
The Wellington Testimonial Clock-Tower in Southwark

The Wellington Testimonial Clock-Tower in Southwark

In 1854, the good peoples of Southwark wished to demonstrate their appreciation towards the Duke of Wellington, who had died only a few years earlier, and chose to construct some form of memorial to him. As detailed below, an original

May
16
2010
A New Asylum for Idiots
A New Asylum for Idiots

A New Asylum for Idiots

Another snippet from my collection of the Illustrated London News – this time of March 1854 detailing the fund raising efforts of an educational charity that wanted to offer specialised education to “idiots”, or those we would today tend to

May
12
2010

The Victorian Panopticon in London’s Leicester-Square

In the days prior to the development of the mass-market cinema, one of the most popular forms of morally suitable entertainment was to visit a site of ephemeral entertainments in the cities. These “fun fairs” would promote themselves as displays

May
08
2010
A Declaration of War
A Declaration of War

A Declaration of War

You may recall that just a few weeks ago I attended the formal reading of the Proclamation for the Dissolution of Parliament as it was read on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Such a

May
05
2010
Repairing the Fleet Sewer
Repairing the Fleet Sewer

Repairing the Fleet Sewer

Probably the most famous of the “lost rivers” under London is the river Fleet, an increasingly polluted river through the City which was slowly buried to hide its contents from surface dwelling folk as its contents became increasingly putrid. I

May
04
2010
When there were icebergs in the River Thames
When there were icebergs in the River Thames

When there were icebergs in the River Thames

Although most readers will be familiar with the tales of the Frost Fairs, when the River Thames was completely frozen over, changes to the climate and river structures made such an event almost impossible in the 19th century – and

May
03
2010
Croydon’s Experimental Atmospheric Railway
Croydon’s Experimental Atmospheric Railway

Croydon’s Experimental Atmospheric Railway

Long term readers may recall my on/off researches into a tube railway that would have linked

Apr
30
2010
A Destructive Fire at East Greenwich
A Destructive Fire at East Greenwich

A Destructive Fire at East Greenwich

Another snippet from my collection of the Illustrated London News – this time from 8th March 1845, detailing a conflagration that nearly destroyed a major factory in what we would probably today more commonly refer to as the Greenwich Peninsula.

Apr
21
2010
Pictures of the Digging of the Fleet Sewer
Pictures of the Digging of the Fleet Sewer

Pictures of the Digging of the Fleet Sewer

Another extract from my collection of the Illustrated London News of 1845 – this time a short item on the enlargement of the earlier sewer system running under Fleet Street. As subterranean structures are a long running passion of mine,

Apr
16
2010
The Original Hungerford Bridge
The Original Hungerford Bridge

The Original Hungerford Bridge

When the Millennium (aka, Wobbly) Bridge was opened by the Tate Modern, it was heralded as marvel partly for its construction, but also for being devoted solely to pedestrians. This was not the first pedestrian only bridge over the Thames

Apr
09
2010