Quite leafy Ruislip, a typical London suburb, was home to Helen and Peter. He was a 2nd hand book dealer and....... well, what else? And why did Helen end up commemorated on a stamp? I'm not going to tell you now, you'll have to listen to find out. Can you work it out before Alex does? Hillingdon has jumped the queue, Havering will be next week. Plus random cat news, and dappled shade in the street. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 01, 2025•47 min•Ep 207•Transcript available on Metacast We're often called clowns. I'm sure it is meant nicely. In any case, this week we take a look at one of London's most unusual events, the Clown Service every year in East London. We also trace back the history of clowning, and find where the traditions that we know and love (or are scared of!) originate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 26, 2025•44 min•Ep 206•Transcript available on Metacast Alex takes us to the North London borough of Harrow. Eschewing the school and it's many celebrity alumni, we are retiring to the country instead. When Sir William Gilbert bought a house in Harrow, it came with a resident animal, who quickly became a family favourite. So much so, when he died, they acquired a new pair. What were they? There were also cats and dogs and donkeys. But it's Nancy's pet that provokes the most questions. We are talking of WS Gilbert, creator of plays and comic operas, w...
Mar 19, 2025•39 min•Ep 205•Transcript available on Metacast Never has paying rent been quite so elaborate. Even when it's rent you're not paying, for a piece of land you don't use anymore. It's confusing. The City of London goes to town with the pomp and processions, and we are here to explain all. In fact this year (unlike all the others) we are determined to make it to some of these events. Get your diaries at the ready if you'd like to join us. There's the Boar's Head procession, by the Butchers. The Carmen do the cart marking. City Freemen with their...
Mar 12, 2025•59 min•Ep 204•Transcript available on Metacast Hello Haringey. From Highgate to Tottenham, and the cemetery to Bruce Castle, we flit West to East and back again. Fiona's long been fascinated by a film clip, and turns out both the filmmaker and the subject have Haringey connections. So this week we are talking about the magician David Devant and the cinema pioneer Robert Paul. Roll up, roll up, roll up, for the Kinetescope, the Animatograph and the Filoscope. And cheer loudly for the Prince of Wales. (In fact there's two mentions for the Prin...
Mar 05, 2025•38 min•Ep 203•Transcript available on Metacast Fiona hits the streets in search of the sound of London. Or at least the sound of the bells of London. From the Westminster the the City and beyond, listening as the hours pass by and the years drop away. Listening to the echoes of sounds that Londoners heard 300 years ago. What's a carillon? How long does it take to ring a peal? How heavy? And can we start making them here again please. Of course there's Big Ben, and Great Tom, and Dick gets a mention, can anyone find a Harry? Learn more about ...
Feb 26, 2025•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In which Alex tells us why a Hungarian dancer was instrumental in fixing the distance for the marathon. It's a journey that takes us all the way from Pest to Chicago and from Hammersmith, through the Court of Honour, via some more dodgy colonial model villages and out to Windsor. Theatrical and event impresario Imre Kiralfy created the area we now know as White City*, to host events and exhibitions. Including the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908. What else happened in 1908? Well Rome was due to...
Feb 19, 2025•49 min•Ep 201•Transcript available on Metacast Get your pencils and paper ready to join in with us. Alex has prepared a quiz, Fiona has fun facts to share and special guest and friend of the pod Lee Ingleby is putting on a brave face for all of it. Which tube station is the opposite of Squander? What weighs the same as 200 ping pong balls? We're not just testing your London knowledge this week, we're testing your mathematics and spelling too. What links a rocking horse, a 14 ft boat and some breast implants? Settle in for a rollercoaster of ...
Feb 12, 2025•55 min•Ep 200•Transcript available on Metacast This week it's the rose red empire of Hackney famous residents from the 1500s. We discover why Alex didn't watch Wolf Hall. She's a sensitive gal you know. And we go way back to 600bc, before returning, via the world's first coal powered electricity generating station, where? Really!? How Extraordinary! To the bright lights and power hungry pubs of Shoreditch in the late 1800s. Time for some civic minded Victorian engineering, to produce: More Light, More Power. The unassuming brick building on ...
Feb 05, 2025•57 min•Ep 199•Transcript available on Metacast Today we are ringing London, joined by special guest, author and walker, Anna Sayburn Lane. Refugee Tales is a modern recreation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. A five day walk with stories along the way. Each evening there's entertainments (and snoring, especially from the men's dorm!) The walkers are a mix of interested supporters and people who have been through the process of arriving in this country as a refugee. Sharing a path, breaking bread, and chatting along the way. This year, for thei...
Jan 29, 2025•51 min•Ep 198•Transcript available on Metacast Climb aboard and come away with us on the high seas. Take a trip to France on Henry Grace a Deau. The pride of Henry VIII's fleet. Or overtake her whilst laden with tea, wool or pianos, on board The Cutty Sark. How many woolly jumpers can you fit on the only extreme tea clipper left in the world? Henry's ship was built nearby, and maybe ended it's life nearby as well. A war ship that broke the rules, bedecked with guns in all directions. The Cutty Sark you can still visit in Greenwich. Climb her...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep 197•Transcript available on Metacast This week we are talking hats. What's Fiona's favourite London hat? Celebrating National Hat day, and giving you time to prepare for London Hat Week. We've got a bit of a beaver update to start us off, and sadly their ancestors make an appearance in one of London's notable hats - The Beaverskin or Muscovy Hat of the Swordbearer of the City of London. The hat pocket plays an important part in one of the solemn and important (or, bonkers, depending on your point of view) City ceremonies. We can't ...
Jan 15, 2025•47 min•Ep 196•Transcript available on Metacast Ooh it's a mixed bag this week. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Farming. Industry. Royal Enfield - which might not be from Enfield. What is an Enfield anyway? A heraldic beast with a bit of Fox, a touch of Eagle, maybe some wolf, that's what. And this week's main topic might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. He was a figure of fun in our house when I was growing up. Norris McWhirter - the man who checked the Guiness world records. Turns out there's a whole other story of his life I knew...
Jan 08, 2025•50 min•Ep 195•Transcript available on Metacast Well here it is, the second half of our live record evening. We set out to discover the most important/ best/ typically London/ Londitudinal building. Can the champions of Regent St sway the room, to win against The Barbican? Will rock, paper, scissors, finally settle the age old question, is Roman stuff more important than Greenwich? And, critically, is St Pancras railway station better than the Wanstead Tap? Joined once again by Leo Hollis, plus lovely listeners, Dan from the Tap and friend of...
Dec 25, 2024•59 min•Ep 194•Transcript available on Metacast Our story this week is of a hardworking immigrant family, beavering away to improve the quality of life for Ealing. But first there’s hills made of rubble, classic comedy capers (we find out which world leader was their biggest fan) and the first incline lift in a tube station. An experiment is underway at Paradise Fields, to see if Beavers can live in an urban setting. Since moving in last year the family have been coppicing trees, damming lakes, and filtering the water. We chat about why beave...
Dec 18, 2024•45 min•Ep 193•Transcript available on Metacast We're still on an airfield this week. But it's all about the woman wielding the tools, keeping the planes aloft. It's 1941 and Lilian Bader is one of the first women to qualify as an instrument repairer. Her Barbadian father had served in the Navy, her husband drove tanks, her son flew helicopters. Across the generations her family served across the forces, and gave back more than they received. Lilian not only broke barriers as a woman of colour, she campaigned to remember the contribution made...
Dec 11, 2024•40 min•Ep 192•Transcript available on Metacast Mayday, M'aidez! I'm worried that Alex is turning to a life of crime! Croydon: The international airport of London in the golden age of glamorous travel. Even the cargo was golden, and enticing. And this week we're learning why you should organise your own getaway car. Plus a superstar kidnapping caper. It's all go. Just as well Alex has had a relaxing holiday. No, I'm not jealous at all, I've been living it up in London with Bert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...
Dec 04, 2024•40 min•Ep 191•Transcript available on Metacast We are slightly overexcited this week, as we're chatting with comedian and writer Eleanor Morton. Her fabulous book of lessons from historical women features many of our favourite women. And a host of, maybe, less familiar ones. From mountaineering and marathons to creating familiar music and much loved characters, we're casting the net wide this week. Who slapped who, and why? Who found adventure in the most dangerous of journeys? How does hiding in a cupboard help anyone? Plus ghosts, tour gui...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep 190•Transcript available on Metacast We're taking a stroll through the medical powerhouse that is south Camden and focussing on Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. She's been on the fringes of many an episode - her sister and her daughter have already featured, now she gets the limelight. And boy does she deserve it. She overcame hurdles and jumped through loopholes, even learning another language in her fight to become the first female Dr to practise (while presenting as a woman) in the UK. Her co-founders of the London School of Medicine...
Nov 20, 2024•54 min•Ep 189•Transcript available on Metacast In a new guessing game Alex tries to pick the material chosen to sculpt the Prince of Wales. 100 years ago the crowds were gathering in Wembley for the extraordinary spectacle that was the British Empire Exhibition. A showcase for trade, manufacturing and, it turns out, people. Problematic? Just a tad. But there was a miniature railway, a palace of engineering, a palace of art including the teeny tiny wine bottles in Queen Mary's Dolls House. And a regular display of destruction of the House of ...
Nov 13, 2024•50 min•Ep 188•Transcript available on Metacast Calling all penny farthing enthusiasts, we need answers! New records have been set, and we want to know more. Alex takes a dive into the Thames this week. Not the modern Thames, oh no, she's bravely gone back to 1858, the year of the Great Stink. What's that got to do with Bexley? The Crossness pumping station, that's what. An important part of Bazalgette's solution, his new improved sewage system, to transport the poop of London out the East. A very functional building then, presumably. Wait, h...
Nov 06, 2024•53 min•Ep 187•Transcript available on Metacast We're very excited about our guest this week. With a suitably seasonally episode. What do we think about Spiritualism? Are mediums in contact with those who have passed. Doris Stokes held audiences enthralled, was it all smoke and mirrors? But how did she know about the money? There's relocated bodies, fancy tombs, and a Bermuda Triangle in Blackheath. So that's how the highwayman disappeared. This'll set you up nicely for Halloween. Sleep tight. Did I mention the special guest? Learn more about...
Oct 30, 2024•54 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast Get your buzzers ready. We get competitive this week. Can you beat Alex in spotting the links to past episodes? Who'd have thought that Gladdie Park could be so well connected? And just around the corner was a unassuming building with a big story to hide. Partly the underground bunker, and partly their contribution to code breaking in WW2. Bletchley Park was the main centre for British codebreaking. Telecoms engineer Tommy Flowers and his team at Dollis Hill provided the equipment to break the m...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep 185•Transcript available on Metacast You might not know her name but there's a decent chance you know her face. Fanny Eaton worked as a model for the Royal Academy and painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Was she chosen for her beauty or seen as an exotic other? Alex goes in search of the beautiful Mrs Eaton. Possibly the most seen woman of colour in Victorian Britain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 15, 2024•32 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast Project 32, this week we're south of the river in Bromley. Home to Margaret Finch, Queen of the Gypsies. (We're using the term as that's how she would have been known at the time). A mysterious figure who loitered by a lychgate. Margaret was elected Queen by the Roma community. Part figurehead, part ambassador, part advisor, she drew visitors to Norwood to consult her cards. Royals, celebrities, that one who went everywhere, they all came to see and seek their fortunes. Editor's note: since reco...
Oct 08, 2024•52 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast The radical preacher who served in Parliament and the son who followed in his footsteps, but maybe for very different reasons. Between them they span the 1600s,a time of great change in London, and the century that might just be Fiona's favourite. Praise God for the Barebones family. And the bricks and mortar legacy of one of London's most ambitious, unscrupulous businessmen. As Alex says "it's another historical rotter!". If Jesus had not died for thee, thou wouldst be damned. Learn more about ...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast The 2nd week of project 32, and London's 2nd most populous borough. This week we are stumbling around in the fog of the Battle of Barnet. Who is fighting who? who trusts who? We're in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, and the kingdom is at stake. The biggest failure of the battle - it's Heraldry itself. Hang your head in shame heraldry, you cost lives that day. Plus the tale of Dirty Gertie's arrival from France, and the gift that Barnet keeps on giving to the rest of London. Ooh, a lovely Bar...
Sep 25, 2024•53 min•Ep 181•Transcript available on Metacast We're in between boroughs this week as Alex goes gaga for Miss Lala (as painted be Degas). She wowed the crowds in Paris and London with her phenomenal strongwoman act, on the trapeze, holding herself, and others, with her teeth. Her portrait is still wowing the crowds at the National Gallery. Pop in to pay her a visit and decide for yourselves, what do you see at first glance? Is she jumping? We know more about her performances than her life, but there are moments when we can glimpse her, movin...
Sep 17, 2024•42 min•Ep 180•Transcript available on Metacast It's the long awaited, hotly anticipated, much hyped launch of Project 32. Our deep dive into all the boroughs of London. And Alex is kicking off this week with Barking and Dagenham and a group of women who changed the world of work for the better. It's 1968 and the female sewing machinists of Ford are not happy. Not surprising when they are classified as less skilled than the men sweeping the factory floor. When striking doesn't work they head to Whitehall to meet the minister. With cars backin...
Sep 10, 2024•44 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast We're BAAAACK! Oh gang, we've missed you! After an eventful summer, Alex and Fiona are back in your ears, and we have been out and about. Following on from our episode with the Gasketeers a while ago, we have been to meet the very lamp lighters whose job it is to keep the London gas lamps lit - we have visited HQ and nerded out about finials, housings, mantles and how to tell your Grosvenors from your Rochesters. We've missed you!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast 
