June’s here, and we’re feeling a bit slack. But although the summer blockbusters have rolled into town to lessen the load on our addled brains, literary London keeps on cranking out the heavyweights. Lightweight summer reading? Not here, not yet. Tuesday: You might have inferred that we love London. We do, we really do. Which places us in the company of many a great poet: Wordsworth, Blake, Lawrence. Poems by these and plenty of......

The fifth edition of our favourite pocket sized publication, One Eye Grey, is here. If you went on the latest Londonist walk you'll be well aware of this as Chris Roberts was your genial guide and probably hawked it merrily in your direction. And more fool you if you didn't take him up on his ridiculously reasonably priced wares. For a mere two hundred and fifty pennies you could be reading stories from 'another......

Announcing the fifth Londonist guided walk. When: Friday 9 May - walk leaves at 7pm. What: Troglodyte pigs and syrup of figs. Herds of feral swine, a well hung Italian, giant dogs, huge rats and the ghost of the pig nosed princess. What’s not to like on this stroll around Blackfriars? Along with the folklore there’s literature, politics and the law, and remember that underneath your feet is the Fleet. Walk lasts ninety minutes......

A Boris emulator from Chris Roberts, creator of the Evening Standard Headline Generator. Does exactly what it doesn't say, more or less, in a manner of speaking, on the can.......

The fourth in our series of spooky, kooky guided walks is almost upon us. Wander Lonely Streets Part IV takes place on Friday, from 7.30, beginning at the north end of Green Park's Queens Walk (pedestrian route on the East side of the park). This is between the Tube exits and the Ritz. Do drop us a line if you'd like to come along (londonist - at - gmail - dotcom). It's free, and......

A couple of years ago Chris Roberts - who will be leading our 4th Londonist Walk on Friday evening - (and who is no relation to the Grantham Roberts clan) co-wrote True Blue: A musical about Margaret Thatcher in a bid to come to terms with his own, and his nation’s, past and more importantly setting Geoffrey Howe and others to music. Who better then, to send along as guest reviewer to a spanking......

Announcing the fourth Londonist guided walk. When: Friday 8 February. What: Piccadilly warriors, sapphic Royalty, bonkers fashion, nazi dogs, naval heroes and lovesick gardeners are amongst the cast on this dysfunctional relationship stroll through St James. Who: Chris Roberts, your genial guide from our previous walks is back. Chris is a veteran tour guide, author of Cross-River Traffic, resurrector of the Penny Dreadful with his One Eye Grey, and all-round top bloke. Where: Meet......

Dusting off the snow from last year, every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won't already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we'll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings.. Even seasoned Londoners like learning more about their home city. We're proof - we put our own......

Four weeks till Christmas! Argh. Funds are all focused on present buying and getting through the party season but we still want to go out and about because the heating isn't working properly at home. We can't afford to go and see Gandalf drop his trousers in King Lear but, thankfully, there's lots of cheap and interesting stuff about as usual. Monday: Start the week with an event truly in the spirit of London......

It’s time to announce our third Londonist guided walk. When: October 12. Meet at 7pm outside Atlantis Books, Museum Street. What: This walk around Bloomsbury will mention Mr Crowley, screaming queens – of the Egyptian variety – haunted clocks, incompetent executioners and much else as it meanders from St Giles to Holborn. The walk lasts about ninety minutes and focuses on spooky events and odd folklore. Who: As usual, this offbeat tour is led......

The revived Penny Dreadful, known as One Eye Grey, is back for its second edition. This loose collection of shadowy tales draws on London's folklore, presenting a cavalcade of spooky oddness and strange happenstance in one handbag or manbag-friendly dose. It's by our old mate Chris Roberts (who some of you will remember from the guided walks we recently put on). You can pick up a copy for just £2.50 from an impressive number......

We love London Lit Plus - it's the capital's independent festival as packed as any other London book-based love-in, such as the London Literature Festival. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and London Lit Plus is finishing its two weeks of literary doings today. If you haven't been to any events yet, tonight is your last chance... * Anything But Hackneyed: Niven Govinden reads from his acclaimed debut novel Graffiti My......

There are London Literature Festivals, and then there's London Literature Plus. This independent rival to the South Bank's extravagnza also kicked off yesterday, and involves almost 30 lit-related events. Here's a pick of the highlights. July 3: Poejazzi. Poetry and jazz? Not necessarily a winning combination in everyone's book, but Time Out certainly like it. They listed Poejazzi amongst their 101 things to do in London 2007. 8pm, Volupté. July 5: Social Disease Social.......

Just a quick reminder about the Londonist guided walk on Saturday. Now, the BBC’s weather forecast says this: But we say this: A bit of rain will just add atmosphere, to this spooky, kooky walk. Full details here, but the essentials you need to know are: 1. It’s free. 2. Meet outside Crockett and Powell bookshop, Lower Marsh Street near Waterloo, 2pm. 3. You’ll get an offbeat tour of the Waterloo area, taking in William......

It’s the second Londonist guided walk. When: Saturday 23 June. What: An offbeat tour of the Waterloo area, taking in William Blake, Spring Heeled Jack, dead sailors, weird tombs, the woman who started the French revolution and some stuff about the real spooks at MI5 & MI6. Who: Chris Roberts, your genial guide from our previous walk is back. Chris is a veteran tour guide, author of Cross-River Traffic, resurrector of the Penny Dreadful,......

Chris Roberts (not pictured) is a man of many talents. He's traced the origins of nursery rhymes, surveyed London's bridges and even written a musical about Margaret Thatcher. And then there's the Evening Standard random headline generator. Most recently of all, he took us on a walk around the Pool of London. His latest project, One Eye Grey (available at not enough good bookshops), is the first penny dreadful for over a hundred years......

On Saturday we did something a little bit special. We held the first ever Londonist guided walk, and we're happy to report that it was something of a success. We and around thirty of the Londonist readers assembled in Hay's Galleria and fell into line under the guidance of Chris Roberts. We couldn't have been in better hands as Chris took us on a meandering two hour romp through London's history. Best of all......

In other words, it's the first ever Londonist guided walk. We're putting on a tour of the upper Pool of London (London Bridge and the Tower precincts) on Sat 10 February, from 2pm. There are soooo many reasons you should come: 1. It's free! 2. You'll meet the authors of at least three nerdy books about London. 3. The tour is conducted by Chris Roberts, the chap who brought you such delights as the......

A new year brings a new name for The Bridge House Trust which will now be known as the City Bridge Trust *Yawn* So far so boring... in fact we often use the financial section of The Guardian as kitty litter, but this little piece hidden away among pensions and bonuses is filled with interesting little facts: The Trust built and continues to maintain all of the City of London's bridges - including Tower......

Just one more plug for our first birthday party, which is happening this Thursday at the Offside Bar on City Road, Islington. You should have this engrained into your memory by now, but just in case you haven't: the festivities kick off at 8pm until late, and it's free to get in (just let them know you're there for the Londonist party). We'll have DJs all night as well as images from the London......

As you might have seen already seen, it's our first birthday party next month and as part of the celebrations we're holding a birthday raffle. Basically it's just a way for us to say thank you to our readers by giving them the chance to walk away from the party with armloads of cool stuff. What we didn't realise when we started this was just how much cool stuff we were going to get...truth......

When Londonist heard that Chris Roberts, the man behind the excellent Heavy Words Lightly Thrown (the hidden meanings behind nursery rhymes), had written a book on London's Bridges we knew we had to get in touch and force him to complete the Londonist questionnaire. So we did, and here are the results. Age, occupation, where are you from, where are you now? Older than I look. It’s the restful library jobs I’ve had over......