lost london

Henry VII, Ted Lasso, and the Richmond greyhounds

24/09/2023 donbrown 1

Henry Tudor, had a pretty tenuous claim on the English throne. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a great granddaughter of John of Gaunt (third son […]

mithras

The Mithraeum: The City of London’s Roman Temple

24/07/2023 donbrown 0

Under the Bloomberg European headquarters building in the City is the ‘London Mithraeum’, a glimpse into an obscure part of Roman London. Obscure not just […]

Book Review | Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub

23/07/2023 donbrown 0

[This review was first published on The London Society website in February 2022] As a London Blue Badge Guide I take Americans around London – the Tower, […]

Book Review | Vic Keegan’s Lost London

23/07/2023 donbrown 0

[This review was first published on The London Society Website in February 2021] Followers of the OnLondon twitter feed will know that every week, among the pieces […]

The York House Watergate and the 1st Duke of Buckingham

12/02/2023 donbrown 0

When Joseph Bazalgette created his marvellous (and still used) sewer system the 1860s, he pushed back the banks of the Thames and buried his main […]

the 1655 carved sign above the old gateway to tothill bridewell

The Supreme Court and Tothill House of Correction

03/12/2022 donbrown 0

On the south west corner of Parliament Square, directly over the road from Westminster Abbey, is the Supreme Court building. The final court of appeal […]

Queen Anne’s Gate: Higgledy-Piggledy in SW1

29/08/2022 donbrown 0

Apparently the expression “higgledy-piggledy” is not much known in the US; my use of the phrase to an American tour group as we passed a […]

The Monarch’s Champion

15/03/2021 donbrown 0

If you ever have a tour of the Houses of Parliament it is in Westminster Hall where you meet your guide. This is the oldest […]

The Soho grave of Theodore I, King of Corsica

05/03/2020 donbrown 1

St Anne’s churchyard is a small patch of open ground at the Shaftesbury Avenue end of Wardour Street, Soho. Once the hang out of druggies […]

The Blue Plaques and famous names of Putney, SW15

05/02/2020 donbrown 2

A short piece I did for Essential Surrey on Putney’s history, and some of the famous people associated with the area. Now a thriving, popular […]