London On The Ground
The London Christmas Quiz
Test your knowledge of London and Christmas with this challenging quiz. For those who love London, Christmas and trivia, The London On...
top of page
To receive blog posts and walking tour schedules by email, please subscribe (for free) at the bottom of the page
Search
London On The Ground
- Dec 9, 2022
- 4 min
Old Tom, the Christmas goose that wasn't cooked
Before turkey's popularity, goose was the Yuletide meal of choice. One goose escaped the pot. Today, Leadenhall Market houses a number of...
118 views2 comments
London On The Ground
- Nov 25, 2022
- 4 min
The City of London's only modern sculpture of school children
Andrew F Brown's bronze on Newgate Street immortalises the 470 year old 'Bluecoat school'. The sculpture commemorates Christ's Hospital,...
117 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Nov 11, 2022
- 5 min
The Cenotaph: Lutyens' simple but enduring design
Lutyens' 102 year old Empty Tomb remains the centre of national Remembrance. The Monument to the Women of World War II stands nearby....
128 views2 comments
London On The Ground
- Oct 28, 2022
- 5 min
Lord Mayor's State Coach still dazzles after 265 years
The Lord Mayor of London's State Coach is the world's oldest ceremonial vehicle in regular use. The Lord Mayor of London's 265 year old...
158 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Oct 22, 2022
- 5 min
Downing Street: "shaky" like its "rogue" developer
Does the street Churchill called "shaky and lightly built" take after the developer Pepys called "a perfidious rogue"? Downing Street's...
205 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Oct 7, 2022
- 4 min
Down Pentonville Road towards St Pancras: 1884 and today
The view towards St Pancras station down Pentonville Road looking west was painted by Irish painter John O'Connor in 1884. The painting's...
171 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Sep 22, 2022
- 2 min
See London from the steeple of St Mary's Islington
Compare the view today with how it appeared in 1789. St Mary's Church on Upper Street in Islington is offering a rare opportunity to tour...
75 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Sep 16, 2022
- 5 min
City of London proclaims the new King
I took my camera to an occasion resplendent with ceremony, pageantry and symbolism. The Royal Accession Proclamation took place on the...
76 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Sep 9, 2022
- 3 min
Wood, not gold, paved the streets of London
Timber blocks once paved much of London. Some of it can still be seen. Introduced from the early 19th century, wood paving has a number...
105 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Sep 2, 2022
- 4 min
Flushing out the truth: Jennings, Crapper and the public convenience
George Jennings should be much better known. He, and not Thomas Crapper, invented the flush toilet. 19th century installations bearing...
88 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Aug 28, 2022
- 7 min
Would Elizabeth I recognise Islington today?
An old greetings card shows 'The Village of Islington or Iseldon In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I'. I recently came across an old...
118 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Aug 19, 2022
- 3 min
Old Dr Butler's Head: City pub named for James I's physician
The pub is named after a self-proclaimed specialist in nervous disorders, who had no medical degree. According to its website a pub was...
75 views2 comments
London On The Ground
- Aug 12, 2022
- 3 min
The delicate terracotta Cutlers
An exquisitely shaped frieze depicting skilled craftsmen adorns a red brick Victorian building in the City of London. The building is...
307 views6 comments
London On The Ground
- Aug 5, 2022
- 3 min
Spitting image: Ben Wilson turns used chewing gum into art
Cross the Millennium Bridge and see tiny artworks painted on old chewing gum in the grid of the walkway. For years I walked across the...
102 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Mar 28, 2022
- 3 min
A London modernist icon: Isokon Flats
Britain's first modernist block of flats was home to intellectuals, spies and Agatha Christie. The strikingly sleek and simple 1930s...
220 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Mar 16, 2022
- 15 min
Wall to wall: Britannia Row, Pink Floyd & the City of London
A quiet Islington side street tells of urbanisation, social history, post war reconstruction - and two walls. Britannia Row is a quiet...
162 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Feb 11, 2022
- 2 min
Seven Ages of Man: Shakespeare, BT & brutalism
Shakespeare's 'All the world's a stage' inspired a 22ft sculpture at BT's brutalist City of London building. The statue, entitled 'Seven...
143 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Feb 4, 2022
- 7 min
Old Queens: Ten of Six in the City
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee prompts a look at ten public statues of six past queens in the City of London. By my count, ten statues of...
266 views0 comments
London On The Ground
- Jan 28, 2022
- 6 min
Bracken House: The Financial Times, Churchill And The Sun
Named after a friend of Winston Churchill and designed by an architect who preferred candles to electric light. Bracken House, the City...
180 views0 comments
bottom of page