Visiting places from the movies or Shaken, not stirred – My new James Bond tour of London

Many of you know that when not writing my little heart out, I run and guide private guided tours with my company, Ye Olde England Tours.  One of my most popular tours I run is one dedicated to Sherlock Holmes and particularly the BBC series Sherlock where I take fans of the super sleuth and… Continue reading Visiting places from the movies or Shaken, not stirred – My new James Bond tour of London

75th Anniversary of The Battle of Britain – This was our finest hour

Today marks the start of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the skies of London will be treated once again to the familiar sights and sounds of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster bombers.  As strange as it sounds, I think the sound of a Spitfire Merlin engine is possibly the best man-made noise… Continue reading 75th Anniversary of The Battle of Britain – This was our finest hour

Mad dogs and Englishmen

You might not realise it if you live elsewhere but for today at least London is about the hottest city on planet earth, not including Paris and err New Delhi.  It’s easy for everyone to scoff at the idea that we aren’t living in the hottest place on earth, especially if you happen to live… Continue reading Mad dogs and Englishmen

VE Day Remembered in Photos – This Is Your Victory!

The 8th May 1945 was V.E. Day or Victory in Europe Day.  As the U.K. is in the midst of remembering and celebrating perhaps the most momentous day in our history,  I thought it would be interesting to post some old photos of that incredible day as well as showing how war had left London and… Continue reading VE Day Remembered in Photos – This Is Your Victory!

A Guided Tour Inside The Houses Of Parliament

The last year or so I have probably visited Parliament a dozen times but always from the outside.  I’ve been in before when I was about 10 years and remember bits and pieces of the interior and especially inside the famous clock tower of Big Ben and the unusual scenario of being deafened by the… Continue reading A Guided Tour Inside The Houses Of Parliament

A Brief History of Parliament

On Thursday evening I was kindly invited on a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament by my local MP, Richard Harrington.  Before I write-up a post about the tour itself I thought this would give a great opportunity to write a little about Parliament itself. Though there were bodies with some parliamentary like qualities… Continue reading A Brief History of Parliament

Was it something I said? – Accents and dialects of the world and Great Britain

Over the weekend it was a revealed in a Time Magazine survey that we British apparently have the most sexy accent in the world.  Whilst not sure how many from Tanzania or Mongolia were surveyed, we sure are grateful to all our English speaking and European friends. I must say though that I find it… Continue reading Was it something I said? – Accents and dialects of the world and Great Britain

The Death of the music scene in London

I’ve written before on the various building and engineering projects that are transforming many cities in Britain and London in particularly.  In the grand scheme of things, many of these obviously offer huge improvements bringing 20th and often 19th century infrastructure into the new millennia.  However increasingly it is becoming obvious that all is not… Continue reading The Death of the music scene in London

Jack The Ripper Breakthrough: Identified as Aaron Kosminski

It seems slightly unreal to be updating a historical blog post I wrote just a week ago on Jack The Ripper.  Jack being the legendary serial killer in Victorian London for whom police identified over 100 suspects. However, several British newspapers have printed a story that his identity has finally been proven, again.  This time… Continue reading Jack The Ripper Breakthrough: Identified as Aaron Kosminski

From Hell: Yours truly, Jack The Ripper

At the end of August 1888, the district of Whitechapel in the impoverished east end of London was plunged into terror when a series of killings were perpetrated by a man that would forever be known as Jack The Ripper.  ***Please Note that this post does not contain any photos of murder victims but does… Continue reading From Hell: Yours truly, Jack The Ripper