The Blog

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 […]

farm st church

Farm Street Church, Mayfair – a gothic wonder

02/03/2020 donbrown 0

The Victorians loved the medieval. The ‘gothic revival’ actually started earlier – in the late 1700s/early 1800s as a reaction to classicism – but it […]

green parakeets in london

London’s Green Parakeets

17/02/2020 donbrown 1

Perhaps 15 years ago, I was sat by the river in East Molesey, just past Hampton Court. Across the water the trees on the opposite […]

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 […]

Hallie Rubenhold’s “The Five”

11/12/2019 donbrown 0

Should you want a wee bit of titillation, there is a ‘Jack the Ripper tour’ just about every day of the year. In fact, so […]

The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist

06/12/2019 donbrown 0

The fourth plinth in Trafalgar square was meant to have an equestrian statue of William IV, but funding could not be raised (this was in […]

“Turning Rebellion into Money” – The Clash at the Museum of London

01/12/2019 donbrown 0

I came late to London Calling, the Clash album being celebrated with a mini exhibition at the Museum of London. When it came out I […]

Number One London

26/11/2019 donbrown 0

You’re likely to have been past this place several hundred times, because Apsley House is the big, honey-coloured building on the north side of Hyde […]

“One of the sights of London”

26/11/2019 donbrown 0

“Miss the Tower of London, if you have to, but don’t miss this” wrote Ian Nairn in his 1966 guide, Nairn’s London. A Nash terrace? […]

The Painted Hall Greenwich

22/03/2019 donbrown 0

James Thornhill is sometimes called “the English Michelangelo”, although that’s less to do with a comparability of talent – he’s good, but he ain’t that […]