MURDER MOST FOUL -
London's Chamber of Horrors
Reece - London
May 2008
A group of us did the Blood Curdling walk on Saturday and all thoroughly enjoyed it. Alan was both informative and fun and even though it was his third tour of the day and the whole group was fairly large - he made sure he was heard above the general noise that is London. Thank you very much for a great evening's entertainment. I will definitely be back to try some of the other tours.
Regards Reece
Lena
January 2008
I went for this walk a weekend or two before Xmas, on quite a wet Saturday and we weren't that many. Alan - when he finally turned up - let us feel from the beginning that he is not too keen on doing the walk on that particular evening, due to the weather and also probably because the audience was not impressively big. Comparing the walk with its description I must say I am disappointed - Alan covered a mere 30% and unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations. However on a "better" day it still may be a fascinating walk:)
 
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Lena,
 
Ouch!
 
I think - I hope - that was a one-off. I think that because Alan's a "veteran" LW guide and we've had a lot of good feedback about his walks over the years and precious little of the negative variety. But I'll certainly have a word with him. Yours will have been his third walk on the day in question and he probably will have been "in" single figures all day (we always "hit the wall" - Christmas shopping, the weather, etc. - in the first three and a half weeks of December) and it can be a tough slog for the guides. It's like being an athlete on a losing streak and you can get to the point where you wonder if it's ever going to end. Chances are, that'll be the "background". I'm not trying to excuse it - whatever it was he shouldn't have let it show - just trying to explain. Offered up in the spirit of that wise old Chinese saying that "to understand all is to forgive all".
 
David
alan titchard
January 2008
Hi Lena,

Sorry you were not happy with your walk,but do let me address your points.

You are right it was very cold, wet and windy and as David points out it was my third walk that day in those conditions. However being an Englishman of the old order I will always complain about the weather. I would just as likely complain in a heatwave. It does not follow I had no desire to do the walk. I always do.

Those of us who have guided walks for many years - in my case 15 - have dealt with all that the atmospherics can throw at us. My finest hour was an Oscar Wilde walk with 76 people in constantly driving icy rain in a February and finishing with 76! This is not a job you can do if you don't enjoy it. If my sense of humour was off target you have my unreserved apology.

Your other point is fully justified and we were already fully aware of it. The walk described was altered because it took us through the heart of Soho on a Saturday night. And inasmuch as it's got a bit Bacchanalian in there of a Saturday night - chorus lines of unruly and drunken oafs (every man Jack of them solid concrete from the neck up) going in for urban acrobatics (lurching for the pavement when it comes round a second time, treading on the last stair when it isn't there, doing their felled tree in a gutter impression, that sort of thing) - I re-routed out of consideration for our walkers.We are painfully aware that the blurb for the walk has not yet caught up with the revamped route. This will be put right in the new print run.

I know I speak for all London Walks guides when I say that the sheer pleasure of meeting so many people from all over the world makes ours a "blessed condition". We try very hard to make it the same for you. If occasionally we fall short, please remember we are human after all.We have all made lifelong friendships with people the world over. I get loads of e-mails from people who have done my walks for years and have since become friends.

Thanks for your comments, but do come and join me again soon.

Kind regards

Alan
Norman Godfrey - Toronto
January 2008
A highlight for all my family were the walks led by Alan! He brings the life and times of Oscar Wilde to life and in the evening entertains with a wonderful walk called 'Murder Most Foul' that recants how others lost their lives! The 'Murder Most Foul' walk is a wonderful evening alternative to the pub walks that brings an untold part of London's history alive at the hands of very warm, skilled and engaging story teller. It is unique and it is fun and it is not to be missed. We shall be back for more!