The cause of the explosion that ripped apart a Victorian terrace in Stanley Road, south Harrow, on Wednesday continues to baffle the authorities. The body of a man who died has been removed, and with no trace of a gas leak thus far discovered, police are now investigating whether the blast was detonated deliberately in a quite brazen, albeit successful, act of murder. As more details emerge, some warming anecdotes have come to light.......

16.40 UPDATE: With no trace of a gas leak to be found, Scotland Yard are saying this explosion might be murder. 10.00 Firefighters are still on the scene of a major suspected gas explosion which happened around 21.40 last night, on a residential street in South Harrow. The blast completed wrecked a house and 2 flats. At this stage, one man has been found dead and two more people are in hospital. At the height......

Last night's shoot out in Markham Square, near the Kings Road, ended with the police taking out the gunman. The BBC reports the 32 year old gunman (or gun maniac if you're reading the Sun) firing at police between 17.00 and 21.30 with the police returning fire on each occasion. Once the gunman was pronounced dead, the incident was reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for investigation at 21.50. There's no news on what......

Tube scammer got £1m out of scam and is fined £11k. Go figure. Guide dogs not good at spotting 3ft deep sewage holes Royal gay sex blackmailers jailed On the edge of our bar stools for the election results... coming up around 20.30 Drive safely, and take umbrella and sunglasses, if you're daft enough to leave London this weekend Image courtesy of Bloo Phoenix via the Londonist flickr group.......

British Elvis fans have been suffering for decades with the rueful knowledge that their beloved hip-swingin', side-burned, fried peanut-butter-banana-sandwich-lovin', Graceland crooner had never set foot in England. The only time he had ever been to the UK, in fact, had been a quick stopover at Glaswegian Prestwick Airport. Now, however, there is more fuel to add to the Scot vs. English fire. In a Radio 2 interview, showbiz top dog Bill Kenwright revealed that......

2012 Games won't benefit locals, claims think tank Take that, Monaco - London now has the world's priciest homes Our Amy's up for three Ivor Novello gongs Lie detector software proves a nice little money-saver for south London council Russian heavyweights to square off at the High Court Which? reveals candidates for London Restaurant of the Year Image courtesy of Orhan* via the Londonist flickr group.......

Image courtesy of Greenpeace's Flickrstream © Cobb/Greenpeace Victoria Embankment went somewhat bananas this morning as Greenpeace protestors disguised as orang-utans mounted themselves atop Unilever HQ to launch a campaign to get the popular Dove brand to stop destroying the Indonesian rainforests for palm oil. Direct action took the form of causing monkey trouble occupying a balcony of Lever House on the riverside and aping about, playing jungle music and displaying a pastiche of the Dove......

Anyone out and about near Brixton Tube station this grey and damp afternoon will have noticed general chaos as police cordoned off the busy high street whilst 15 fire engines and 75 firefighters tackled a blaze at a shop and flat on Brixton Road. Reader, Alistair, was on the scene and got this and other impressive photos. Traffic may have been totally up the creek but thankfully the Beeb say no-one was hurt in......

The original sort of Iron Men found on Olympic Park Hitler liked naked lady paintings Cut price bespoke tailoring shakes up Savile Row Seems there's another tube strike on its way zzzzzzz Image of Sarkozy & Bruni in Greenwich this week courtesy of Orhan via the Londonist flickr group.......

Londonist eye witnesses were alarmed yesterday when their quiet lunchtime pint in Camden (alright for some, eh?) was disrupted by "more than 30 police vans and unmarked police cars driving past with their lights flashing. It was quite surreal." Turns out the Met were on their way to an all out rout of Blackstock Road. An incredible 600 officers in riot gear targetted 19 premises on the busy shopping street near Finsbury Park, apparently......

The police have been called in, and a full investigation has been launched this morning, to discover how the personal details of the entire BBC Olympic staff have gone missing from a private office within Television Centre. Details of hotel bookings, addresses, photographs and the passport information of the 437-strong workforce attending the Beijing games, including those of Surrey tennis Queen and Cliff Richard stooge, Sue Barker, were first reported missing from their West......

Those pesky OAPs just keep getting into trouble. This time it's drug smuggling Artists take stand against Shoreditch high rises Tube film upsets train drivers. Well it doesn't take much Bozza waves treehugging card While TfL send Congestion Charge payer 3000 receipts "Urban Chameleon" image courtesy of urban:zoo by [windscreen fly] via the Londonist flickr group.......

Heathrow panic over rucksack man, running onto runway. He removed his shoes first though as per airport protocol. Woman charged over drug mule children with illegal leg loads. Environmentally aware, double-barrelled teen to ski to North Pole. The Royals are checking out their sugar suppliers in Silvertown And, newer, shinier, longer DLR trains are GO (thanks IanVisits!). Image courtesy of rodfdoyle via the Londonist flickr group.......

Shakespeare is in the news today due to the fight of three male Shakespearean leads for the Best Male Actor prize at the Olivier awards last night. But another bard-based story has caught our eye in the swirl of iambic pentameters and though it's been rumbling along for a week already, it's clear old William still knows how to shake things up... Nine girls at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School in Stamford, north London,......

Government departments are being asked to switch from bottled to humble tap water for lubricating the endless meetings involved in running the Civil Service. Hot on the heels of Ken's campaign to get London's diners to insist on tap water in restaurants, this switch could save Whitehall more than £100,000 a year according to a Panorama investigation into council spend on bottled water. DEFRA, which has already made the switch, was draining a jolly......

There's a Spitfire in Trafalgar Square today. Not a Banksy Spitfire, amusingly positioned so it looks like it is crashed into the steps leading from the National Gallery. It's not propped up between the lions by a protest group and it's not there as a misguided celebration of Prince Harry's safe return to England. It's there to launch a campaign to put a statue of Sir Keith Park on the fourth plinth and do......

As a parochial and unglamorous antidote to the Hollywood Oscars that took place last weekend, London Underground was crowned Public Transport Operator of the Year at what LUL are desperately trying to sex up as the "transport Oscars" but are actually more prosaically known as the London Transport Awards. The MD of LUL explained they had scooped the gong for: delivering a record volume of service, carrying more passengers than ever before, while at......

In the realm of fuzzy math and statistical manipulation, nothing sounds so wonderful as things that'll add years to your life and nothing so scary as things that'll take those years away. And though we're not scientists or number-crunching pros, we don't want to feel like suckers when it comes to fear mongering figures. So let's take a look at London's newest set of mortality figures, which supposedly triumph the roughly quarter decrease in......

Four Greenpeace protestors mounted a freshly landed Boeing 777 on the tarmac at Heathrow this morning to protest against a 3rd runway and it's implications for the "climate emergency". BAA are calling the protest "unlawful and irresponsible" which it probably is but, more pressingly, how the hell did 4 volunteers with a flourescent banner manage to walk from Terminal One, across the tarmac to the plane and clamber on top of it without hundreds......

Lunchbox Linford won't carry Olympic flame Yellow box rules for Jubilee Line platforms Affordable homes cheek by jowl with hordes of Sloanes Arsenal's earning loadsamoney New mothers urged to bank umbilical blood Art Deco Dream Home image courtesy of onionbagblogger via the Londonist flickr group.......

Though this story would have been more appropriate for Valentine's Day, this love letter from long ago was returned a week late for that lovey-dovey deadline. Still, this sentimental stuff tugs at our little heartstrings, so we're happy to report that a stolen love letter, dumped in a garden at an empty house in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, and picked up by police has been returned to its author, who is still alive at 98.......

Where's Gil Grissom when you need him? Before London gets their own version of the hot shot crime scene investigator TV series, the police will have to do. They've got a real nut to crack with the murder of 94-year-old Thea Zaudy. CCTV footage of the suspected murderers, including Mrs Zaudy's cleaner, show them carrying a large empty suitcase from Notting Hill station and later lugging the same suitcase, now full, back to the......

Al Fayed and his Royal Ghouls conspiracy - Macca, Mills and the millions - enough already!! Science Museum specialists to strike over pay... Unsurprising since London's streets may as well be paved with gold Junior suffrage in action as Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets elected (are you registered to vote in May?) Eels attempt to put the Royal back in Festival Hall Image courtesy of Shutterbuguy via the Londonist flickr group.......

Hang on to your TLSs. Literary London is a lioness roaring in a few weeks ahead of her regularly scheduled appearance in March. With both the London Word Festival and Jewish Book Week launching this week, we’ve got enough events in our diary to keep us busy until spring. Keep an eye on this space as we highlight our favourites from these festivals over the next couple of weeks. Monday: You want poetry? RADA’s......

Londonist has had an astonishing flash of brilliance this weekend. It may not fundamentally improve the fabric of society, or save the planet. But it so neatly wraps up a number of pressing issues. We’re so chuffed we’re going to have an extra tofu muffin with our brunch. The idea is: GEESE. We’ve just been reading about these problem fowl in Chesham and the fact that they need to be relocated. And then there was......

Massive Attack to curate Meltdown London flood resilience to be tested East London super-church for KICC turned down Bloomsbury insider archive goes on display at the British Library Camden Market reopens in time for the weekend - London urged to rally round traders Image courtesy of Orhan via the Londonist flickr group.......

Sickening news this morning that the aspirational Stephen Lawrence Centre, which only opened last week, had bricks thrown through its beautifully designed front windows this morning. It's shocking enough that there are are people out there who are so against a community centre designed and purpose-built to encourage young people, help them out of deprivation and foster better community relations that they feel the need to damage it. Shocking too that this act of......

A former magistrate with a personality disorder and apparently plenty of time on his hands, scammed the London Underground out of £5,000. Between 2003 and 2006, 33-year-old Terrance Jolley made over 2,000 claims for refunds by saying his trains had been delayed. Not happy about receiving his fraudulent checks in a timely fashion, though, the small-time thief complained to London Underground's managing director about the slow process, and was found out after LU looked......

A major fire has broken out in Camden Town. Part of the Canal Market, Chalk Farm Road, caught fire around 7pm. As dense black smoke billowed out from beneath shutters at least four fire engines and a surveillance helicopter rushed to the scene. Nearby shopkeepers rallied together bringing buckets and extinguishers. The market appeared to be closed and there is no indication of any injuries. 7.50 This is a major, major fire. At least......

What a lovely day! Confused Kew think it's spring. Westminster Council wants to get sandwich boards and placards off the streets - how will we know where the golf sale is? Post-mortem fails to reveal cause of death in headless corpse case: um, it wouldn't be 'missing head', would it? Winehouse can't get into the US, so she's moving in with the Osbournes. Abu Hamza doesn't have a choice. Cab fare home on the......