The World’s Best Cities report makes London the top City followed closely by New York and Paris. London has had top spot for 11 years now. The Report is based on core statistics plus a survey of visitors and residents. It is created by Resonance, a consultancy group working in real estate, tourism, and economic development. They are based in Vancouver.
142026WORLD’S BEST CITIES “London is a city of constant reinvention. It is this remarkable commitment to ongoing growth that has seen us retain our crown as the World’s Best City. In 2025 we launched a 10-year plan for growth in the capital and celebrated a number of wins: record-breaking London-based scaleups going global, growing visitor numbers and an almost £10 billion planned investment in our experience economy over the next decade.” —LAURA CITRON, CEO, LONDON & PARTNERS
AFAR gives a good analysis of Resonance’s methods on its web site:
‘London’s magnetic appeal continues to draw a global audience, from students and entrepreneurs to tourists and corporate titans. The city’s robust recovery post- pandemic is reflected in its strong international traveler spending, which in 2024 reached almost $22 billion (up from $17.4 billion in 2023) and secured London the third-highest amount globally, outpacing destinations like New York and Dubai. Benefiting from a softer pound, London has remained a compelling bucket-list destination. Heathrow Airport recorded record-breaking arrivals, exceeding pre-pandemic passenger levels, and Gatwick Airport’s recent $320-million upgrade underscores London’s infrastructural excellence, enhancing the visitor experience with new concourses and improved amenities. The city’s airports, not surprisingly, rank #1 in our Top 100 cities.’
London No 1. Really?
Last year, I asked the question. Is it a fix? My thought below largely repeat what I said last year. It was a bit of a surprise to me given the hit Brexit has given to the City. But, London’s dominance for eleven years may be because of the consultancy’s focus on real estate as well as tourism and economic development. This gives London a head start as it has long been considered a very safe place to invest in property. London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore as 1-5 also suggests the report writers might have a bias to the big hitters. This year it notes that tax rises have hit the wealthy sector property prices but, the reduction in prices at the top end has made London very attractive, particularly to Americans. London seems a very sane City when compared to what is going on in America.
What London offers is its status as one of the world’s leading financial/business capitals. Supported by outstanding creative and services industries. At the same time, it has a superb cultural offering and, consequently, high figures for tourism. It is a City that seems to have a deep past behind it and an equally important future ahead.
The future might depend on the growing Knowledge Quarter around Kings Cross. (British Museum & Library, Wellcome Institute, Crick Institute, UCL, Central St. Martins, Google etc.) With Silicone Roundabout and the wealth of investments from the nearby City of London, providing London with a leading place in AI, the Knowledge economy, and Fintech. London also has a very high value on the internet as far as hashtags, and internet searches are concerned. Click here to see last year’s post.
On This Day
1889 The first ‘tabulating machine’ was patented by Dr Herman Hollerith in the US. It provided the beginnings of IBM, and the age of the Computer.
1923 The World’s first Outside Broadcast took place. The BBC broadcasted Mozart’s Magic Flute from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Early radios were called ‘Listening In’ devices. (see ‘Lucia in London’ by E. F. Benson).
1940 Rationing Introduced in the UK (initially Bacon, Butter and Sugar).
1947 David Bowie Born in Brixton as David Robert Jones
Today’s Link Rare Iron Age war trumpet and boar standard found in Norfolk. The Britons, and Celts on the continent, used a carnyx to provide the soundtrack to battle. A bit like the vuvuzela used at football matches, they make a horrible noise! This one is one of the most complete ever found. It is found with a Boar’s Head standard. For pictures and more information, look here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7jvj8d39eo
Created on January 8th 2026 based on a similar post for 2025.
On the twelfth day of Christmas My true love gave to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves And a partridge in a pear tree.
Twelfth Night
In 1775, William Snooke recorded in his diary, that he sat down to a fine dinner with:
‘Mr and Mrs William Clifford and their seven children (and maid), John Fox Snr. and Sally Twining, Mr and Mrs William Fox, and William Weale.’ To feed this crowd took “Ham, Greens, 3 fowls roasted, Soup, Leg of Mutton, potatoes, Boiled rump of beef (large)”
Dessert included pudding, mince pies and a forequarter of home lamb. For supper, the assembled party consumed tarts, stuffed beef, mince pies, cold mutton, oysters, cold sliced beef, cold lamb, apple pies and pears.
A recent ‘tradition’ for a Tweltfh Night procession has been established on the south side of the River Thames in London. The Lions Part Company begin their entertainments at the rebuilt Globe. The parade has all the traditional mummers characters, including the Green Man, and the Holly Man. They perform the Combat Play of St George. This involves the Old ‘Oss (which is the centre point of the May Day festivities at Padstow in Cornwall. They also have Twelth Night Cakes containing a bean and a pea. These are used to crown the King and Queen of the Day.
Photo of Twelfth Night Celebrations in Southwark, London on the South Bank
I’ve posted about this before but just to make sure those who find themselves on this page understand the issue:
Many people start their count of the Twelve Days of Christmas on the 25th December. But some folklore sources going back in time count from Boxing Day. For example, Gervase Markham’s ‘The English Husbandman of 1635 counts it from Boxing Day.
The Daily Express reveals that the Protestants count from Christmas Day and the Catholics from Boxing Day. That maybe it, but I wonder if the confusion more complicated than that? The religious festival really makes sense if it begins with Christmas Day, and ends with the Epiphany. This is the day the Three Kings from the Orient come to worship Jesus. But Epiphany is on the 6th January, which is 13 days from Christmas. 13 days of Christmas would be ill-omened. So two solutions: make the end of the Twelve Days the Eve of Epiphany, i.e. the 5th, or start the 12 days from Boxing Day.
I suspect there is a fudge going on here. Twelve is the magic number, twelve Apostles, 12 months in the year, so twelve Days of Christmas. But clearly, for Christians it stretches from Christmas Day to Epiphany. Two ways to square that 13 day difference. One is to begin the twelve days on Boxing Day. The other is to end with a Twelfth Night party on the Eve of Epiphany. Have a look at Notes&Queries for different viewpoints.
Time to take your decorations down- January 5th or Candlemas
However, we currently all seem to agree that January 5th is the day to take down your Christmas decorations. If you fail to do it now, you have to keep them until Candlemas, which is at the begining of February. See my Candlemas post to see the official end of Christmas.
Toss your unwanted Christmas Tree on the Pavement Day
In London, today and yesterday have seen people throw out their unwanted Christmas Streets out on the street, for someone else to pick up and throw away. This became a thing a few years ago not. But, no, people you are supposed to take them to a Recycling Centre, or arrange to have them picked up. Not just throw them on the street.
1753 People gathered around the Holy Thorn in Glastonbury. The Thorn normally blossomed on Christmas Day, but the Gregorian Calendar had been introduced the year before. Christmas Day was now 11 days earlier. on December 25th, it did not blossom. On the 5th, it blossomed, proving that the new Christmas Day was a fraud, From then on January 5th was called Christmas Day Old Style. Other festivals, and events thereafter kept their traditional slot in the year, by changing the date to the Old Style, and ignored the New Style.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five gold rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On this day in 1793 the National Convention in Revolutionary France decreed that Year II of the Republic had begun the day before. That is on New Year’s Day, January 1st. But, by October, they decided that the French Revolutionary Calendar should not have begun on January 1st but on the Autumn Equinox. The point being, I imagine, that January 1st, chosen by Julius Caesar had become a random date, not fixed to any external, astronomical event of significance.
The Revolutionaries, wanted their calendar to be completely rational. So they, retrospectively, made 22 September 1792 the first day of Year I. The Equinox has the virtue of having equal days and nights, and with the Sun rising due east and setting due west. Why the Autumn one? I don’t know but, the traditional calendars in Northern Europe, the Celtic and the Northern European tradition had an autumnal start to the Year. The idea being that the harvest is in, the growing has been completed, plants are beginning to die. Seeds are in the ground. So it’s the end of the growing year, therefore the beginning of the next year. It also had the virtual that it was not the Spring Equinox. For, Christians believed that the world was created on the Equinox, and Adam and Jesus born 4 days after the Spring Equinox. (see my post on March 25th)
By choosing a radical and rational reform of the Calendar, the Revolutionaries were following Julius Caesar’s example. His Julian Calendar tidied up the old Roman Calendar. However, Caesar did kept many of the essentials in place. The French, by contrast, almost completely ripped up the calendrical rule book. For more on the Julian Calendar read my post here.
Slippy January
Let’s start with the names of the months. The concept of the month they kept but got rid of the irrational Latin-based names. They replaced them with neologisms derived from seasonal indicators, as you will see. But it’s more fun to begin with the names as reported, satirically, by John Brady. He published these in England in 1811. The list starts with ‘October’ as the year began at the Autumnal Equinox. The seasons are separated by semicolons.
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
The historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names in his 1837 work ‘The French Revolution: A History’ namely:
Each month was a rational 30 days, (12*30 = 360) leaving 5 days of the solar year to be sorted out. These were given to the Sans Culottes as holidays and called complimentary days. The leap year was similarly given to the Sans Culottes; an extra day, every 4 years. It was a copy of the Egyptian year, which had inspired Caesar to make the Roman year rational.
Working flat out 10/10
And like the Egyptians, the 7-day week went out the window. The month was divided into three décades of 10 days. The tenth day, the décadi, being a day of rest. By my calculations, the ‘lucky’ Sans Culottes gained 5 days at the end of the year. But lost 16 Sundays, a net lost of 11 days over the year. I’m guessing they would have been compensated somewhere in the year? By time off to celebrate various revolutionary festivals, such as the 14th July (celebrating the storming of the Bastille)? The days were called primidi (first day) duodi (second day) tridi (third day) etc.
The hours of the day were decimalised. So each day was divided into 10 hours, rather than the 24 hours we use. The hours into 100 decimal minutes, and the minute into 100 decimal seconds. This meant that an hour was 144 conventional minutes; a minute 86.4 conventional seconds, and a second 0.864 conventional seconds.
The French Revolutionary Calendar did not survive Napoleon, who recalled the conventional calendar. Time keeping returned to the Gregorian standard on 1 January 1806.
I do like the idea of the 10-day week. But I would prefer it to be 6 days of work and 4 days of leisure, thank you. I do wish we could rename our months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
Notably, Napoleon did not reverse the Metric System. This was initiated in 1799, by the Revolutionary Government, shortly before it lost power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire which took place in Year VIII and installed Napoleon in power. Brumaire is November roughly?
The metric system not only survived, it prospered. Notably absent from the universally accepted system are English-speaking Countries, The UK, US and Canada being the main abstainers. Make of it what you will, but I think the main reason as that we don’t think we should be told what to do by foreigners who we rescued from the Germans. This is, of course, nonsense, given the contribution of the Russians, and all the others who fought to defeat fascism, but it is something that lingers as an idea. (Oh, how I hate you Brexit voters!).
Introducing a Rational System?
We made our coinage metric on 15 February 1971, and from 1962, stopped and started introducing the Metric System. The system was enshrined in UK law with the accession to the European Economic Community. We are now in a strange pickle where our children are mostly fully metric while we boomers are ambivalent. I buy my beer in pints (I’m lying I am the sort of wimp who orders beer in half pints). But petrol in Litres, although I only know how many miles my car does to the gallon. (I no longer have a car).
We measure long distances in miles, and short distances in a strange combination of both. I might go to ask a timber merchant for a couple of metres of 2 by 4. (2 inches by 4 inches is a standard size of wood). (I hate DIY!)
I buy butter in grams and fruit in a £1 container’s full. In summer, I use Fahrenheit as I spend a lot of time with Americans, telling them about our Quintessential country. In winter, I return to the universal world of Centigrade.
The exceptions that prove the Rule! The Blue countries have adopted the metric system. By Goran tek-en, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96077271
On this Day
Today, is special for the Cybele, Isis, Aphrodite and Ishtar, and is the Vigil for St Genevieve of Nanterre. Paris. (more tomorrow). It is also a Bank Holiday in Scotland.
1492 Spain Conquered Al-Andalus, ending the Reconquista and Islamic rule in Spain with the fall of Granada.
1959 the Russians launch Luna 1, the first human-made object to escape Earth’s gravity.
In your Garden
Clean and repair gardening tools. Plan Spring Flower Beds. Check whether you need more evergreens or flowering heather to add interest to a winter garden.
First Published Jan 2nd 2023, republished Jan 2024, 2025 and 2026
Jane Austen’s London Walk 2.30pm Sun 31st May 2026 To Book The First Blitz – Zeppelin London New Walk! 6pm Sun 31 May 2026 To Book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 3pm Sat 6th June 2026 Tobook The Rebirth Of Saxon London Archaeology Walk 11am Sun 7th June 2026 To book Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3pm 4th July 2026 To Book Jane Austen’s London Walk 2:30pm Sun 5th July 2026 To book London. 1066 and All That Walk 11.30am Sun 12th July 26 Tobook Bloody, Flaming, Poxy London 3pm Sun 12th July 26 To book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 3pm Sat 1 Aug 2026 Tower Hill Underground To book The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11:15am 2nd Aug 26 To book Jane Austen’s London Walk 2:30pm Sun 2nd Aug 26 To book Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 11.00am Sat 5th Sept 2026 To book Jane Austen’s London Walk 2:30pm Sun 5th Sept 2026 To book Jane Austen’s London Walk 2:30pm Sat 24th Oct 2026 To book
For a complete list of my guided walks for London Walks in 2026 look here
Thursday 1st January 2026 7.30pm . On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.
The New Year has been a time of renewal and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid-winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus. Janus looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption. His second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.
We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. Why did different societies have different New Years we use? How were their calendars arranged – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year. We look at folk traditions and New Year London customs. Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Lords of Misrule, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festivals
At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2026..
The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at Barbican Underground. Continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.
On the seventh day of Christmas My true love sent to me: 7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying; 5 Golden Rings; 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
First Footing on New Year’s Eve
The first person to set foot into your house needs to be a ‘Tall, well-made man’. Dark-haired men are preferred to fair-haired, but he must not be dressed in black, nor be from the ‘professions’ (those people who can counter-sign your passport). He must not carry a knife, but he must bring gifts, particularly a loaf of bread, a bottle of whisky, a piece of coal or wood, and a silver coin. Silence is to welcome him to the house until he puts the coal on the fire, pours a glass of the whisky and greets the family.
He will bring in the luck through the front door on the stroke of midnight; the bread symbolising that you will be well-fed, the fuel that you will be warm and safe, the whisky that you will have fun and the coin will bring prosperity. Your first-footer will take the old year and its bad-luck out of the back door when he leaves.
An Irish tradition is that you should open your front door at Midnight to let the old year out and the New Year in. Perhaps, open the back door to let the old year out and the front door to let the New Year in.
Burn the Calendar First wind in nine Times round with red Wool and thread
Cast into the flames And say:
Burn, burn, burn Old Day Book, Burn! Old year’s troubles Never Return Ka!
Clean the house And do the first footing With silver, bread and a piece of coal or charchoal
Old Rhyme
Hogmanay – Holy Month or New Morning
Is the Scottish name for New Year’s Eve. There is no certain explanation of the word. But it has been suggested it comes from the Ancient Greek for Holy Month (or from the Anglo-Saxon for Holy Month). Or the Gaelic word for Oat Cakes or from the Middle French word for mistletoe (aguillanneuf = meaning “to the mistletoe be the new year”). Perhaps, it is named from the great giant Gogmagog. Or from Norse, or Scots. or any number of other possibilities. See Wikipedia for more guesses.
Hogmanay was celebrated all the way down to Richmond in North Yorkshire. (Remember that Northumbria used to control North Britain up to and including Edinburgh, and sometimes into Fife. ) The vividness of the Scottish Celebration, may simply stem from the Scottish temperament. But it is often proposed that it stems from a Presbyterian tradition in Lowland Scotland, which disapproved of the superstition that was Christmas. So all that Christmas Joy was transferred to the New Year Celebrations.
Wassail in the Orchard
On New Year’s Eve, wassailers went to the oldest tree in the apple orchard. There they poured a liberal dose of wassail over the roots of the tree. Then they pulled down the branches to dip the end of the branches in the punch. They decorated the tree, and then drank the cider based wassail themselves.
We wish you a merry Christmas, a Happy New Year A pocket full of money, and a cellar full of beer A good fat pig to last you all the year Please to give us a New Year’s Gift. (Radnorshire song)
For more on Wassail, see the bottom half of my post here.
New Year Weather Prophecy
The weather today will be reflected on the 7th month, according to Gervase Markham. First Day of the 12 Days of Christmas prefigures the weather in January and the 12th Day that in the following December. So we are going to have a cool, sunny winter, and a sunny June, July, August, by the looks of the weather forecast.
Or as a Scottish Rhyme has it (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac)
If New Year’s Eve night-wind blow south That betokens warmth and growth If west, much milk, and fish in the sea If North, much cold and storms will be If east, the tress will bear much fruit. If north-east, flee it, man and brute,
The wind is currently varying between West and West North West. So it would seem we are in for a year of much milk and fish in the sea, with the occasional cold storm? .
New Year Reflections
Victorian New Year’s Card
This is a day of preparation, and perhaps of anxiety. Have we got an invitation from anyone tonight? Is anyone going to come to our party? Can I take another blow-out feast, a belly full of alcohol and a very late night? I’ve just lost my Christmas weight, and you want me to come for a big feast?
My first memories of New Year’s Eve were spent with the parents watching some inexplicable variety show hosted in Scotland. Google has helped me remember that it was the ‘White Heather Club’ hosted by Andy Stewart. Up to 10 million people watched this between 1960 and 1968. I never understood the pleasure of it. To my rebellious teenage soul, it seemed a symbol of an old-fashioned world that was passing and irrelevant.
More recently, if not spent at a party, New Year’s Eve is often spent with Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, which is a music show masquerading as a live New Year’s Eve party. It features really excellent bands and singers. It is, however, recorded earlier in December (15th, 20th are dates I have seen) and hence a New Year’s fake. Here is a 2007 excerpt staring Madness’s ‘House of Fun’. The fun of this is to spot the stars grooving along to the music.
New Year’s Preparation
New Year’s Day needs a lot of preparation. Folklore suggests that this should include finishing off any unfinished work or projects, as a task carried forward is ill-omened. Your accounts for the year should be reconciled. As Charles Dickens suggests in the Chimes, his second Christmas Book, your moral account should also be addressed. So you can come into the New Year with a clean slate, good conscience and plans for a better new year. And don’t we all require that for 2025!
Monday 1st January 2025 7.00 pm On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.
The New Year has been a time of review, renewal, and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.
We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London traditions and folklore.
At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023.
The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at the Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.
The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour
The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print
7:30pm Fri 30th January 2025
January 30th is the Anniversary of the execution of Charles I and to commemorate it we explore the events and the aftermath of the Civil War in London.
Along with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and winning the World Cup in 1966 the Great Fire in 1666 are the only dates the British can remember!
And we remember the Great Fire because it destroyed one of the great medieval Cities in an epic conflagration that shocked the world.
But it wasn’t just the Great Fire that made the 17th Century an epic period in English History. There was a Civil War, beheading of the King, a Republic, a peaceful Restoration of the Monarch, the last great plague outbreak in the UK, the Glorious Revolution and the Great Wind.
The Virtual Walk puts the Great Fire in the context of the time – Civil War, anti-catholicism, plague, and the commercial development of London. The walk brings to life 17th Century London. It starts with the events that lead up to the Civil War concentrating on Westminster and ends with a vivid recreation of the drama of the Fire as experienced by eye-witnesses. Route includes: Westminster, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane, Monument, Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Cheapside, St Pauls, Amen Corner, Newgate Street, Smithfield.
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk
11.30 am Sun 9th Feb 2025 Monument Underground Station
also on 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25 but starting from Moorgate
London Roman Riverside Wall o
This is a walking tour features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.
This is a walking tour that features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.
Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.
We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.
Zinger Read: Talk about a high-quality one-two punch. This walk investigates the groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. And then it reconstructs life in a provincial Roman capital using archaeological and literary sources. Discoveries – insights – like flashes of lightning in a cloud. We begin at the site of the Roman bridge. We might be decent young Roman citizens in togas, having this and that bit of explained to us as we make our way towards the Roman Town Hall. From there we head to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North.’ Followed by the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street in order to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. So, yes, welcome to London as it was 2,000, 1,900, 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600 years ago. And, yes, the walk’s guided by a real expert, the distinguished emeritus Museum of London archaeologist Kevin Flude. That means you’ll see things other people don’t get to see, delve into London via fissures that aren’t visible, let alone accessible, to non-specialists.
REVIEWS “Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Guided Walk
2.30 pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025
Green Park underground station, Green Park exit, by the fountain To book
Also
9 February 2025
Sunday
2.30 pm
4.30 pm
8 March 2025
Saturday
2.30 pm
4.30 pm
6 April 2025
Sunday
11.30 am
1.30 pm
2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth in Steventon, Hampshire. We celebrate her fictional and real life visits to Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”
People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.
Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London’ in 1809 Virtual Walk
With the help of a contemporary Guide Book, Jane Austen’s letters, and works we explore London in 1809.
‘The Picture of London for 1809 Being a CORRECT GUIDE to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London.’
This Guide Book to London might have been on Henry Austen’s shelf when his sister, Jane, came to visit him in London. But it enables us to tour the London that Jane Austen knew in some detail. We will look at the Curiosities as well as the shopping, residential, theatres areas as well as the Port, the Parks and the Palaces.
The guided walk is a thank you to Alix Gronau, who, having been to one of my lectures in 1994, wanted the book to come to me. I have had the book restored and am using it to explore London in 1809.
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30 pm Sunday 9th February 25 To book
A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath
7.30pm 10th February 2025
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am Sat 22nd Feb 25
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London
Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower
2.30pm Sat 22nd February 2025 Tower Hill Underground
The walk tells the stories of our changing ideas about the origins of London during the Prehistoric, Roman and Saxon periods.
The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in myths, legends and London’s Archaeology.
The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London which record that it was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan and was called New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. This name was recorded in the words of Julius Caesar; and, then, according to Legend, the town was renamed after King Ludd and called Lud’s Dun. Antiquarians and Archaeologists have taken centuries to demolish this idea, and became convinced London was founded by the Romans. Recently, dramatic evidence of a Bronze Age presence in London was found.
When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical records were almost non-existent, until the Venerable Bede recorded the building of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, has another rich selection of legends. which the paucity of archaeological remains struggles to debunk.
The walk will explore these stories and compare the myths and legends with Archaeological discoveries.
The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, London Bridge, and into the centre of Roman London.
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat Mar 8th 25 Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sat 8th Mar 25
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 22nd March 2025 London. 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 22nd March 2025
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 11.30am Sun 6th Apr 25
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sun 6th Apr 25
and
Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book
George Inn,Southwark
A Walk around Medieval London following in the footsteps of its resident medieval poet – Geoffrey Chaucer
One of the spectators at the Peasants Revolt was Geoffrey Chaucer, born in the Vintry area of London, who rose to be a diplomat, a Courtier and London’s Customs Officer. He lived with his wife in the Chamber above the Gate in the City Wall at Aldgate. His poetry shows a rugged, joyous medieval England including many scenes reflecting life in London. His stories document the ending of the feudal system, growing dissatisfaction with the corruption in the Church, and shows the robust independence with which the English led their lives.
His work helped change the fashion from poetry in French or Latin to acceptance of the English language as suitable literary language. This was helped by the growth of literacy in London as its Merchants and Guildsmen became increasingly successful. In 1422, for example, the Brewers decided to keep their records in English ‘as there are many of our craft who have the knowledge of reading and writing in the English idiom.’
Chaucer and other poets such as Langland give a vivid portrait of Medieval London which was dynamic, successful but also torn by crisis such as the Lollard challenge to Catholic hegemony, and the Peasants who revolted against oppression as the ruling classes struggled to resist the increased independence of the working people following the Black Death.
A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages, We begin at Aldgate, and follow Chaucer from his home to his place of work at the Customs House, and then to St Thomas Chapel on London Bridge, and across the River to where the Canterbury Tales start – at the Tabard Inn.
This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25
Roman layer opus signinum,
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3:00pm Sun 27th Apr 25
Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield.
The Walk creates a portrait of London in the early 16th Century, with particular emphasis on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More during the Anne Boleyn years.
More and Cromwell had much in common, both lawyers, commoners, who rose to be Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, and ended their careers on the block at Tower Hill.
The walk starts with an exploration of Smithfield – site of the stake where heretics were burnt alive and of St Bartholomew’s Monastery – given to Richard Rich after his decisive role in the downfall of Thomas More. We continue to St Paul where Martin Luther’s books were burnt, and later, where Puritans preached against dancing round the Maypole.
We walk along the main markets streets of London, to Thomas More’s birthplace, and to the site of More’s and Cromwell’s townhouses before, if time allows, finishing at the site of the Scaffold where More and Cromwell met their ends, overlooking where Anne Boleyn was incarcerated in the Tower of London
To Book: https://www.walks.com/our-walks/tudor-london-the-city-of-wolf-hall/
A Boy From Haggerston before the War. 6pm 1st May 2025 Shoreditch Library.
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.30am Sun 25th May 25 To book
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 3pm Sun May 25 To book
The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Guided Walk
Medieval drawing of an archer
6.30pm Wed 11th June 2025 Aldgate Underground To book
An Anniversary Walk tracking the progress of the Peasants as they take control of London in June of 1381
Short read: The Summer of Blood
Long read: The Peasants’ Revolt. The greatest popular rising in English history. This is the anniversary walk. The London Walk that heads back to 1381, back to the Peasants’ Revolt. You want a metaphor, think stations of the cross. This is the stations of the Peasants’ Revolt walk. We go over the ground, literally and metaphorically. Where it took place. Why it took place. Why it took place at these places. What happened. The walk is guided by the distinguished Museum of London Archaeologist His expertise means you’ll see the invisible. And understand the inscrutable.
On the anniversary of the Peasants Revolt we reconstruct the events that shook the medieval world. In June 1381, following the introduction of the iniquitous Poll Tax, England’s government nearly fell, shaken to the core by a revolt led by working men. This dramatic tour follows the events of the Revolt as the Peasants move through London in June 1381.
We met up with the Peasants at Aldgate, force our way into the City. We march on the Tower of London as the King makes concessions by ending serfdom, at Mile End. But the leaders take the mighty Tower of London and behead the leaders of Richard’s government. Attacks follow on the lawyers in the Temple, the Prior at St. John’s of Jerusalem, Flemish Londoners, and on Lambeth and Savoy Palaces.
The climax of the Revolt comes at Smithfield where a small Royal party confront the 30,000 peasants.
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am 13th July 2025 To Book Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 3pm Sunday 13th July 25 To book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30 am Sat 2nd Aug 2025 ToBook Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sat 2nd Aug 2025 To Book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.00am Sat 16th Aug25 to Book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 6:30pm Wed 24th Sept 2025 To book The Archaeology of London Walk 6.30pm Fri 3rd October 2025 To Book Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 11:30pm Sat 4th Oct 25 To book The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30pm Sat 8th Nov 25 To book Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.00pm Sat 23rd Nov25 To book Rebirth of Saxon London 23rd Nov 25 Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk sat 11am 6th Dec 2025 To book Cromwell’s and More’s Tudor London Walk 2pm 7th Dec25 To book Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sun 14 Dec25 To book Christmas With Jane Austen Virtual London Tour 7.30pmTues 16 Dec25 To book The London Equinox and Solstice Walk 11:30pm Sun 21st Dec 25To book The London Winter Solstice Virtual Tour 7.30pm Sun 21 Dec 25 To book
Previous Years Archives
Here are previous archive of guided walks and events
John Stow reports on the Lord of Misrule. Memorial in St Andrew’s Church
On the sixth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me 6 Geese a Laying; 5 Golden Rings. 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
The Lord of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops
The Roman festival of Saturnalia reversed the rules so that slaves, ruled and masters served. It was held between 7th and 23rd of December. It also included giving gifts. In the medieval period, the disorders of Saturnalia was continued. Monarchs, Lords and Gentlemen, City Institutions elected Lords of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops. John Stow was London’s first great historian. In his Survey of London, he wrote of the Lords of Misrule in London. They were chooses at Halloween and continued until Candlemas, in early February. See my post here for more details on Candlemas.
From John Stow’s Survey of London
This is what Stow says:
Now for sports and pastimes yearly used.
First, in the feast of Christmas, there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he was lodged, a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. Amongst the which the mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.
These lords beginning their rule on Alhollon eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas day. In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain.
Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; (…) , at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people…
Holm is an evergreen oak. Its Latin name is Quercus ilex. The Tree in Leadenhall Street was also used as the Maypole. And he tells us it was destroyed in the great wind of 1444. You can read all about that here. You might also like to see my posts. These include information about John Stoww and midsummer celebrations and Boy Bishops, and l Stow’s Memorial.
The Winter Solstice this year is: Sunday, December 21, at 3.03pm GMT in the UK. according to the Royal Museums Greenwich. Today, the Sun is at its lowest midday height of the year. This morning was the most southerly rising of the Sun this year. If the southward diminishing of the Sun everyday were to continue, life will be extinguished on earth. The world would have no light and no heat. So, societies all round the world, made a point of honouring their Sun Gods and Goddesses on this day.
And so on this day, or so it was thought, our Deities renew their promises as the Sun begins its rebirth. It begins to rise further north each day, the Sun at noon is higher, and it sets further north. So the days are longer, brighter, eventually warmer. Thank God(s)!
For some, it’s just the turn in the cycle of life. For others, it’s the death of the old Sun and the birth of a brand-new Sun. The Egyptians believed that the sun was reborn every day as a dung beetle.
Symbolically, the winter solstice is an ending as well as a beginning. It is a turning point and a promise by the Deity that the world will continue. It will turn, the wheel will turn. Warmth and growth will return. Buds already growing in the earth will break out and bring new growth.
The Winter Solstice – time for a party!
Culturally, it’s a time to have a party before the weather gets really cold. It is a time to evaluate your life; look back at the lessons from the last year. A time to begin, like the Sun, a new and hopefully better cycle.
Note. So if the Sun is at its shortest and weakest, why isn’t it the coldest time of the year? That is because the earth and particularly the oceans retain the heat of the Sun, and so the coldest time is at the end of January.
Trotty Veck 1889 Dickens The Chimes by Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke)
As Christmas looms, seasonal publications have a mixture of wonder and joy at the coming family reunions and festivities mingled with an awareness that, for some, Christmas will depend on the Food Bank or the Charity Shelter. The weather is now cold, living costs continue to rise at the very time extra spending is needed to unlock the joy of the Season. Also to counter the dark, the cold, and the spectre of death which, in fact, has always been central to the season of winter.
Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books epitomise this dichotomy.And by adding an element of the supernatural, provided a vehicle for joy and hope. It also came with a forceful political message that the authorities and the rich were not doing their Christian duty to alleviate poverty. Christmas Carol contrasts the wealth of a mean rich Stockbroker with the family of his poor employee Bob Cratchit, and provides a powerful tale of redemption.
The Chimes
But in this post I want to concentrate on his second Christmas Book, ‘The Chimes’. It was published on December 16th, 1844. And tells the story of the stick-thin Trotty Veck who is an aged City messenger, nicknamed Trotty because of his habit of keeping himself warm by running on the spot. He is afraid to let his daughter, Meg, marry as he has so little hope for the future. While he is worrying, he, Meg and her intended Richard are approached by Alderman Cute and Mr Filer.
Meg, Richard, Mr Filer, Gentleman, Alderman Cute and Trotty Veck. Probably located by the door of St Nicholas, Colechurch, City of London.
Cute represents the financial industries in the City of London and the Law. Filer the new breed of political economists. These, working with the ideas of Malthus and the new science of Statistics, had proved, that generous support for the poor would, inevitably, lead to a country full of poor people and no rich people. And thus, they justified the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1832. At this time Dickens was a Parliamentary reporter (1831-1834), and he observed the cruelty and absurdity of this piece of iniquitous legislation. In 1929 my mother was born in a workhouse, where she had been taken by her unmarried mother. She was so ashamed she didn’t tell her children until she was in her 70s.
The Workhouse
That is the legacy of the cruel Workhouse system. It was based on providing the lowest possible level of support offering separation from family, meagre food, and sparse comforts. This the rate payers believed would encourage the poor to stop being lazy and get back out there to earn their own living. Thus allowing taxes to fall. (brilliantly satirised by Dickens’ Oliver Twist, asking for ‘More’).
Below, I enclose the scene from the Chimes, which satirises the attitude of the governing classes.
‘And you’re making love to her, are you?’ said Cute to the young smith.
‘Yes,’ returned Richard quickly, for he was nettled by the question.
‘And we are going to be married on New Year’s Day.’
‘What do you mean!’ cried Filer sharply?Enough ‘Married!’
‘Why, yes, we’re thinking of it, Master,’ said Richard. ‘We’re rather in a hurry, you see, in case it should be Put Down first.’
‘Ah!’ cried Filer, with a groan. ‘Put that down indeed, Alderman, and you’ll do something. Married! Married!! The ignorance of the first principles of political economy on the part of these people; their improvidence; their wickedness; is, by Heavens! enough to—Now look at that couple, will you!’
...
‘A man may live to be as old as Methuselah,’ said Mr. Filer, ‘and may
labour all his life for the benefit of such people as those; and may heap up facts on figures, facts on figures, facts on figures, mountains high and dry; and he can no more hope to persuade ’em that they have no right or business to be married, than he can hope to persuade ’em that they have no earthly right or business to be born. And that we know they haven’t. We reduced it to a mathematical certainty long ago!’
Alderman Cute was mightily diverted, and laid his right forefinger on the side of his nose, as much as to say to both his friends, ‘Observe me, will you! Keep your eye on the practical man!’—and called Meg to him.
...
‘Now, I’m going to give you a word or two of good advice, my girl,’ said the Alderman, in his nice easy way. ‘It’s my place to give advice, you know, because I’m a Justice. ...
‘You are going to be married, you say,’ pursued the Alderman. ‘Very
unbecoming and indelicate in one of your sex! But never mind that.
After you are married, you’ll quarrel with your husband and come to be a distressed wife. You may think not; but you will, because I tell you so. Now, I give you fair warning, that I have made up my mind to Put distressed wives Down. So, don’t be brought before me.
You’ll have children—boys. Those boys will grow up bad, of course, and run wild in the streets, without shoes and stockings. Mind, my young friend! I’ll convict ’em summarily, every one, for I am determined to Put boys without shoes and stockings, Down. Perhaps your husband will die young (most likely) and leave you with a baby. Then you’ll be turned out of doors, and wander up and down the streets. Now, don’t wander near me, my dear, for I am resolved, to Put all wandering mothers Down. All young mothers,of all sorts and kinds, it’s my determination to Put Down. Don’t think
to plead illness as an excuse with me; or babies as an excuse with me;
for all sick persons and young children (I hope you know the
church-service, but I’m afraid not) I am determined to Put Down.
And if you attempt, desperately, and ungratefully, and impiously, and
fraudulently attempt, to drown yourself, or hang yourself, I’ll have no pity for you, for I have made up my mind to Put all suicide Down! If there is one thing,’ said the Alderman, with his self-satisfied smile, ‘on which I can be said to have made up my mind more than on another, it is to Put suicide Down. So don’t try it on. That’s the phrase, isn’t it? Ha, ha! now we understand each other.’
Project Gutenberg - The Chimes by Charles Dickens
It is a savage burlesque of a satire but at its core, Filer provides the economic/statistical justification. Cute enforces it by legal harassment of the poor. Dickens was writing after a recent introduction of legislation making suicide a punishable offence.
Government Cruelty
This has a contemporary resonance. During my lifetime, the first British Government to be cruel in its provision of benefits, in my opinion, for the poor was Teresa May’s Conservative Government. Her laws made getting help so difficult that people died as a result of the deliberately difficult system. ‘I, Daniel Blake’ a 2016 film by Ken Loach brilliantly captured the essence of this system. That government’s treatment of the Windrush generation was a similar example of bureaucratic cruelty. And the continual decline of the benefit system over the 14 years of Conservative Government meant that the poor bore the brunt of austerity. Keir Starmer started his period in office on the wrong foot too cutting benefits to the poor.
Dickens, progressive propagandist
The piece above reminds us what a brilliant propagandist Dickens was. Every generation of children, since he wrote Christmas Carol, has read it or seen it in popular retellings such as The Muppet Movie. I think it could be argued that the ‘More’ scene in Oliver Twist and the Christmas Carol have made the case for compassionate care and redemption far better than contemporary Christianity or political parties.
In the Chimes. these two men discourage Trotty from letting the young ones marry. He has a dream and sees the hopeless result of his decision: suicide, prostitution, crime. When he wakes up, he realises that what they do have is hope. Hope springs eternal and he lets them marry.
For more on this scene, have a look at the Victorian Web
Dickens was not a socialist. ‘Hard Times’ shows that Dickens was against strikes, despite leading a strike when he was a young newspaper man. He was a free trade Liberal; a reformer who believed that the rich needed to do their Christian duty and provide charitable support, pay decent wages and look after their dependents and servants. He thought society should care less about the dogma of Christianity but look to its essence, ‘love your neighbour like yourself’. This, alone, was sufficient to right the wrongs caused by the selfish.
First Published on December 16th 2022, republished and revised in December 2023, 2024, 2025
