This Week In London’s History Monday – 8th September 1915: During the first bombing raid on London of the First World War, a Zeppelin drops incendiary bombs near Fenchurch Street. Tuesday – 9th September 1960: Hugh John Mungo Grant is born in Hammersmith. He would become a well-recognised film actor and producer. Wednesday – 10th September 1973: IRA bombs explode at King’s Cross and Euston mainline stations, injuring 13 people. Witnesses describe a teenager......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 1st September 1856: Richard Westmacott, the sculptor responsible for numerous London landmarks, dies at his Mayfair home. Tuesday – 2nd September 1666: The Great Fire of London breaks out. It would burn for three days, destroying over 13,000 buildings. Wednesday – 3rd September 1878: Passenger steamer Princess Alice collides with cargo ship Bywell Castle on the Thames near Woolwich Pier. All of the 700 passengers of the......

43. Steelyard Passage Where? Creepy underpass beneath Cannon Street station, linking All Hallows Lane and Cousin Lane. What? Of all the byways we've commended in this column, none has presented such a singular collection of historic factlets and neoteric curiosities as Steelyard Passage. The Victorian brick arches are immediately atmospheric, plunging the passage-goer into an otherworldly darkness that banishes the open skies of the Thames. The first thing you notice is the azure lighting that......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 18th August 1937: William George Rushton is born in Chelsea. Better known as Willie Rushton, he would become a popular comedian and satirist, co-founding Private Eye magazine and featuring as a regular panellist on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue game show. Tuesday – 19th August 1897: London’s first horseless taxi is introduced by the London Electric Cab Company of Lambeth. The taxi is battery-powered,......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 11th August 1897: Enid Blyton is born in East Dulwich. She would become a hugely successful author of children’s fiction. Tuesday – 12th August 1827: Renowned poet and painter William Blake dies. Five days later, he would be buried in an unmarked grave in Bunhill Fields. Wednesday – 13th August 1977: Hundreds of protesters clash with police at a National Front march in Lewisham, south-east London. About......

Brilliant news just in, the western end of Smithfield Market has been saved from demolition and redevelopment. Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, put paid to the planning application from Thornfield to redevelop the site into blah offices and shops today, following a public inquiry. Hooray! So, now that this fascinating and beautiful, if neglected and decaying, historic bit of meat market is safe for now, how about some imaginative plans for it, to revive Smithfield,......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 4th August 1902: The Greenwich Foot Tunnel is opened, providing pedestrian access between the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich. Tuesday – 5th August 1100: Henry I is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. Wednesday – 6th August 1937: Barbara Windsor is born in Shoreditch in central London. She would achieve fame as an actress, notably as a ‘saucy strumpet’ in the Carry On films of the......

View Larger Map Fulla, Padda and Waendel were three wealthy Saxons. No one has the slightest clue what they looked like or what they were up to; whether they died young or lived to a grand old age. None can say if they exchanged farming tips, fisticuffs or bodily fluids with other notable Saxons Gisla, Wynman and Putta. They are murky names in crumbling Anglo-Saxon chronicles. Yet we recall them every day, whenever we mention......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 28th July 1540: Thomas Cromwell is executed for treason at the Tower of London, at the behest of Henry VIII. Tuesday – 29th July 1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral. Wednesday – 30th July 1966: England defeat West Germany in the FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, claiming the Jules Rimet Trophy (and, of course, the status of Football World Champions......

We gave you a heads up last week but here's a big reminder - the Museum in Docklands is having a 5th birthday party this weekend, flinging open its waterside doors and welcoming all, waiving its entrance fee. The Museum is lesser known than its big sister, the Museum of London with pride of place on London Wall since 1975, but the converted warehouse at West India Quay brings the importance of the river......

The former Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia has been under hoarding for some time now, awaiting a wholesale mixed-use redevelopment. Late last year a group of local artists twigged that the iconic building was about to disappear with all its secrets and embarked on a last minute crusade to create work about the building, its history, and previous and future occupants. The developers granted them unlimited access to the site over a string of Saturdays......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 21st July 2005: Two weeks after the July 7th bombings, four would-be suicide bombers attempt to detonate explosive devices on London’s public transport system. None of the bombs explode fully, but widespread disruption of the transport system ensues nonetheless. Tuesday – 22nd July 1987: Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in the face outside his office in Chelsea. He would die of his injuries several......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 14th July 1824: On a state visit to London, King Kamehameha II of Hawaii dies of measles. Tuesday – 15th July 1966: A ‘colour bar’ at Euston Station, preventing black people from holding positions where they might come into contact with members of the public, is overturned. Wednesday – 16th July 1924: Crowds of photographers, reporters and ‘autograph seekers’ greet the pilots of the first (successful) round-the-world......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 7th July 2005: Four suicide bombers detonate bombs on London’s public transport system, resulting in the death of 52 commuters and injury to some 700 others. Tuesday – 8th July 1965: Ronnie Biggs, a member of the gang that carried out the notorious ‘Great Train Robbery’ a couple of years earlier, escapes from Wandsworth Prison. He would remain un-incarcerated until 2001. Wednesday – 9th July 1981: An......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 30th June 1894: Tower Bridge is opened by the Prince of Wales. It would become an iconic symbol of London, and arguably the most well-recognised ‘bascule bridge’ in the world (even if tourists do sometime mistake it for London Bridge). Tuesday – 1st July 1858: Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection is presented at the Linnean Society at Burlington House, Piccadilly. Wednesday – 2nd July 1865: One-time......

SS Robin, with the Canary Wharf skyline in the background (photo by Dean Nicholas) While the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast are well-known icons of Britain's marine history, London's only other National Historic Ships Register Grade I-listed vessel was, until recently, in serious danger of being scrapped. The SS Robin, built at Bow Creek in 1890, is the world's oldest working steamer, and hauled raw materials all over Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Bought......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 9th June 1958: Queen Elizabeth II flies into a revamped Gatwick to officially open London’s second biggest airport. Tuesday – 10th June 2000: The Millennium Footbridge opens, spanning the Thames between Bankside and the City. It would initially suffer from ‘synchronous lateral excitation’ (a.k.a. wobbliness), necessitating its closure and the fitting of dampers. Wednesday – 11th June 1988: The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (a.k.a. Mandela Day......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 2nd June 1953: The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place in Westminster Abbey. Tuesday – 3rd June 1982: Israeli ambassador to Britain, Shlomo Argov, is shot in the head outside the Dorchester Hotel in London. He would survive the attack, but be left permanently paralysed. Three men would be convicted of attempted murder. Wednesday – 4th June 1762: A newly installed peal of ten bells at......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 19th May 2004: Security at the House of Commons is breached, as two protesters from the ‘Fathers 4 Justice’ campaign group throw condoms filled with purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair as he addresses the House. Tuesday – 20th May 1609: London publisher Thomas Thorpe publishes Shakespeare’s Sonnets for the first time, possibly without The Bard’s permission. Wednesday – 21st May 1853: The Aquatic Vivarium, the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 12th May 1967: Pink Floyd stage their ‘Games for May’ concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. The concert is notable for being the first ever live performance to use a quadraphonic sound system. Unfortunately, the use of bubbles and daffodils during the performance stain the carpets and seats, resulting in the band being banned from the venue. Tuesday – 13th May 1966: Alison......

London's history has been told many, many times. Such is the volume of literature on the subject, it can't be long before someone writes a history of all the history books available. So we were curious what Historic London by Stephen Inwood might add to the mix. And yes, at first glance, this looks like another scholarly account of our city's 2000 year adventure, weighing in at some 400 pages with additional photographic plates.......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 28th April 1801: Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, is born at 24 Grosvenor Square. He would become a noted politician and philanthropist, whose works would be commemorated by the construction of the Shaftesbury Memorial (a.k.a. ‘The Angel of Christian Charity’, a.k.a. ‘Eros’) in Piccadilly Circus. Tuesday – 29th April 1745: Cowper Thornhill, keeper of the Bell Inn in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, rides from the inn to Shoreditch......

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......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 21st April 1509: Henry VII dies in Richmond Palace, supposedly as the result of a ‘broken heart’ following the deaths of his son and wife several years before. Tuesday – 22nd April 1925: George Cole is born in Tooting, and given up for adoption. He would become a successful film and television actor, arguably best known for his role as used car dealer Arthur Daley in the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 14th April 1471: During the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians in the Battle of Barnet, allowing Edward IV to resume the throne. Tuesday – 15th April 1755: Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London. Wednesday – 16th April 1889: Hollywood great Charlie Chaplin is born in Walworth, South London. Thursday – 17th April 1999: ‘London nailbomber’ David Copeland......

Just as concern about our disaffected youth seems to be getting absurdly out of control and becoming a despairingly permanent fixture on our news radar, along comes a media friendly academic to reassure us that it has ever been thus. Yes, yootful human nature has always inclined to disturbing the peace with covered heads according to Professor Robert Bartlett of St Andrews whose expertise in Medieval history confirms that the teenage apprentice boys of London......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 7th April 1779: The Reverend James Hackman follows Martha Ray, a singer and the mistress of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. When she leaves the theatre after the performance, Hackman shoots her dead, seemingly out of jealousy. Tuesday – 8th April 1908: Edward VII appoints Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister, following the resignation of his predecessor, Henry Cambell-Bannerman, due......

You've laboured (either lovingly or reluctantly) over his serialized novels, you've likely quaffed in some of his favourite pubs, and now, you can sit at his desk. And by "you" we mean those rabid Dickens fans that can spare around £100,000. Charles Dickens's writing desk and chair are to be auctioned off at Christie's in June. All proceeds will go to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, of which Dickens was a serious patron and......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 31st March 1990: Violence erupts as hundreds of thousands of anti-poll-tax protesters take to the streets in the West End. An estimated £400,000 of damage is caused to property as cars are overturned and set alight. Hundreds of arrests are made. Tuesday – 1st April 1965: The administrative area known as Greater London is formed, amalgamating and consuming parts of central London and the home counties. Wednesday......

Those Knights Templar that everyone rabbits on about - what did they ever do for us anyway? Apart from fuel a controversial trash novel and inspire a million visits to Temple Church by Da Vinci Code tourists? Now the Knights of St John - the Hospitallers - there's a useful order. With history reaching back as far as the Knights Templar but with a tangible, helpful and enduring legacy today - those knights of......