The gory history of Temple Bar
Temple Bar used to be the entry from Westminster to the City of London and on the top of it were severed heads of those executed for treason
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Freakish street performers in 17th century London
People either hate or love London street performers but they have been around for hundreds of years and won’t disappear any time soon
Unsolved murders in 1930s Soho
In a seventy year old guide to Soho in my London book collection, there’s a chapter titled: Wide Boys, Spivs, Dippers and Steamers. It details the murky criminal underbelly of London’s entertainment district. Because mid-twentieth century Soho was a dangerous place. But also exciting. As the book puts it: One has only to take a short…
Taking a dead man’s head to the pub
Londoners do some very odd things but taking a dead man’s head to the pub is probably one of the more unusual. Read on! There’s a monument that many office workers pass under every day that they’d never realise has a ghoulish past. It’s an innocuous old gateway that leads from the front of St…
Hotel Cecil – a hotel built on scandal
Where flappers went to dance in 1920s London – the Cecil Hotel on the Strand