I’m an avid collector of old – and I mean very old – newspapers. From the year 1766, I own a copy of The London Chronicle with the most extraordinary front page article. It recounts the story of a “female husband” – a woman who donned male apparel and lived openly as the ‘husband’ of…
LGBT life in London during the Bridgerton era was surprisingly open but dangerous as a court case from the time reveals
In the year 1091 a huge tornado hit the city of London tearing down its famous bridge as Tony McMahon discovers
At both ends of the same road in Camberwell, London is stark evidence of mass deaths in the London Blitz as Tony McMahon discovers
It seems like some London statues may be toppled but you might be surprised to know who many statues have been toppled in the past or hidden away
London historian Tony McMahon guides you through the lives of some notorious highwaymen and their daring in robbing people in central London
Galvanism was a new science that brought the dead back to life – seemingly – and inspired the novel Frankenstein
This is a curious and terrible story I heard about years ago and found again in an old book on London history dating from the 1870s in my library. The story goes that when King Edward I of England expelled all the Jewish people from his kingdom, one ship captain deliberately murdered a group of…
In 1750 three judges busily sentencing some criminals to death caught jail fever off them – and died of typhus a little while later
Being French in London could make you unpopular long before Brexit when in the 18th century there was widespread xenophobia and abuse
