It's fair to say that Matt is London-obsessed. In the cause of exploring London, he has waded along the buried River Fleet (twice), spent the night in a haunted plague pit, crawled through the little-known tunnel beneath the deck of London Bridge, and walked along the tracks beneath Leicester Square at 2am. Matt has lived in Blackheath, Borough, Greenwich, Weybridge, West Hampstead, Fortune Green and Chalk Farm. Thanks to the capital’s obscene property prices, he’s since gone into exile in what he optimistically refers to as "The Future London Borough of Elstree and Borehamwood". It’s just a bit west of Barnet, since you ask.
Matt is the main contributor to Londonist: Time Machine, a Substack 'bestseller' newsletter about the history of London.
Matt is also author of 12 books, including London Night and Day (2015), Everything You Know About London Is Wrong (2016), the bestselling/award-winning Atlas of Imagined Places (2021) and its sequel Atlas of Imagined Cities (2023). His forthcoming book The Boroughs of London (2025) explores the history and peculiarities of London's 32 boroughs.
NOTE: Matt is Editor-at-Large of Londonist. That means he used to be editor, but has now stepped back to spend more time with his Oyster card (update: Apple Pay). Please only contact him with (a) invitations to unusual locations like sewers, rooftops or dungeons; (b) invitations to give a talk (he does like talking); (c) random questions about the history/culture of London. There's no point sending him press releases or product pitches as he feeds them to his imaginary dog.
