London Walks

"London is a riddle, Paris is an explanation"

Slava Ukraini!

"catch the hum of history"

But she's also eternally young and in London, just over the way from Royal Opera House where she was a royal ballerina.

the past is a lighthouse, not a port

"he was paralytically drunk"

"the notorious bankrupt and womaniser who was tried for treason"

"it's every bit as bewitching as the Bridge of Sighs itself"

the first-ever Wimbledon champion was also the father of the volley.

"then we see it, the most terrifying sight we'll ever see"

“the tramcar was very nicely arranged with chairs and pink cushions"

"doing one-hand handstands"

"looking at a portrait transcends time"

General Howe had no choice but to put the torch to New York City

Wars don't end when they end

The world has raised its whip. Where will it descend?

Married in July with flowers ablaze

100 years ago nobody was doing a better job of telling the London story

"She was popularly known as 'Lady Randy'"

The Monument is a 17th century skyscraper

"in fact colour were vibrant in the late Victorian age"

"they fought the dogs and killed the cats"

"How did three titled dunderheads get to be in charge of an army?"

"I started guiding before I finished lawyering"

"you could make yourself invisible"

"there's always a bit of wistfulness. Laurie misses London"

"the most interesting street in London"

think of each one of those 800,000 words as the life of a young soldier or officer

"look, there's the football coach in the chair getting a buzz cut for his palms"

"You have to wash your mouth out with carbolic"

he blacked out when he ejaculated

The walk explores the London of 1923

bye bye influencers, hello Goths

"we had images of glaring demons with horns sprouting from their heads"

"those wounds are nicks in a living oak"

“There is only one recipe – to care a great deal for the cookery.”

Item: two human skulls in a bag. Item: a jar of bull's sperm

it gets a big dodgy here. Juno wasn't just Jupiter's wife. She was also his sister.

"a hero was one who urinated standing up"

Every cat owner secretly knows if it were big enough their treasured companion would have them for lunch

both were kneeling beside the bed and were naked

Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see”

The James Bond novels were among President Kennedy's favourites

the May Pole – the phallic symbol par excellence.

he was a bottom pincher par excellence

the word focus comes from the Latin word for hearth

"why he's not a 'little lettuce'"

an easy horse, some good old authors, ingenious and cheerful Companions

"the prayers soak into the fabric of the church"

"America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it was always hushed up"