The Blog

Thank you for your donations!

10/11/2025 donbrown 0

Those of you who signed up for my recent online talk raised £462 to be split between Prostate Cancer UK and the Brain Tumour Charity.

black and white half timbered house in mayfair

22 Farm Street, Mayfair – a tudorbethan house of history

10/10/2025 donbrown 0

The much-photographed Farm House in Mayfair – residents include Wallis Simpson, Gloria Swanson and JFK (possibly).

plaque to corporal arthur sullivan in birdcage walk

The Birdcage Walk Memorial to Australia’s ‘Shy VC’

09/10/2025 donbrown 0

The easily-missed memorial to Corporal Arthur Sullivan, Australian war hero, who died in Birdcage Walk after being ‘besieged by autograph hunters’.

warehouse number one, the home of the london Museum Docklands

The missing statue of Robert Milligan

03/10/2025 donbrown 0

To the London Museum in Docklands for a bit of research on the history of the docks for my forthcoming online talk. The museum’s building […]

Gerry Judah’s Great War Sculptures in St Paul’s

22/09/2025 donbrown 0

The 2014 sculptures commemorating WW1 by the artist Gerry Judah are powerful works that tell a story of continuing war and suffering.

the churchill memorial screen in st paul's cathedral

The Churchill Screen in St Paul’s Cathedral

21/09/2025 donbrown 0

All about James Horrobin’s sculptural ironwork that commemorates the 1965 funeral of Churchill in the cathedral.

a view of westminster's jewel tower from college green

Westminster’s Medieval Jewel Tower

02/09/2025 donbrown 0

Well, I’m pleased that I finally got around to visiting the 14th century Jewel Tower, one of the last remnants of the old Palace of […]

guards memorial statues of soldiers

The Bomb-Scarred Guards Memorial

28/08/2025 donbrown 2

Walk across Horseguards Parade towards St James’s Park and directly in front of you is the Guards Memorial, a portland stone monument with five bronze […]

great fire of london image

The Great Fire of London – Online Talk

27/08/2025 donbrown 0

Earlier this year I revived the idea of the online talk that we all grew to love/hate during lockdown. Much to my surprise there still […]

double headed serpent from the British Museum

The Mexica Double-Headed Serpent in the British Museum

27/08/2025 donbrown 0

In 1521, less than 30 years after Columbus first landed in the Americas a Spanish force of invaders/adventurers/colonists had sacked the Mexica (Aztec) capital of […]