David – the Seigneur of this favoured realm – broods over words, breeds enthusiasms and is “unmanageable.”* A balterer, literary historian, university lecturer, journalist, logophile and lifelong thanatophobe, he’s also the London Walks “pen” – he writes “the famous white leaflet”, let alone the document you’re reading (this website). Or, for that matter, the “piece” you’re listening to! In short, this is what I sound like – chewy diphthongs and all. The Old Kensington, and Old Hampstead Village chapters in our book. Both of which, needless to say, were inspired by and draw on the walks that I guide in those two magical London neighbourhoods. And the Thames chapter, which opens the book, was inspired by my Along the Thames Pub Walk.
*He blames his gene pool, especially the contribution made to it by an American vice president in the dark backward and abysm of time. Yes, that vice president: the notorious bankrupt and womanizer who spread his seed across two continents; who wed, at 77, a 58-year-old former prostitute who had become the richest woman in America (she divorced him less than a year later on the grounds of his infidelity**); a notorious bankrupt and womaniser who was tried for treason.
And those were just his misdemeanours.
**It wasn’t exactly good riddance: he made off with 13,000 very good reasons of hers – 13,000 very good reasons for having him up for larceny as well as infidelity. And it goes without saying, he went through the 13,000 reasons like a dose of salts.
Thursday, 30 November 2023 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"if you understand this Kensington house you understand London"
Friday, 01 December 2023 @ 6 pm (This walk goes every Friday)
"the most exciting walk in London, it does more to interpret the city than anything else, a real skeleton key"
Tuesday, 05 December 2023 @ 11 am (Click here for more dates)
A walk, a performance, a clinic in how Shakespeare's lines should be delivered
Tuesday, 05 December 2023 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"the cornerstone walk – miss it and you've missed London"
Tuesday, 05 December 2023 @ 2 pm (This walk goes every Tuesday)
Unexpected, uncommon, unforgettable, undiscovered Bloomsbury...
Wednesday, 06 December 2023 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"the jewel in the London Walks crown" The New York Times
Tuesday, 26 December 2023 @ 10.45 am
We walk with Mrs Dalloway. Walk her London. See it with her eyes.
Saturday, 30 December 2023 @ 6 pm
"best medley of lost lanes and hidden passageways in all of London"
Sunday, 31 December 2023 @ 9 pm
Watch the Fireworks from the Roof of London. Auld lang syne in auld Hampstead.
The Write Stuff – Welcome to London Walks' Saturday evening literary soirée!
Free booklet of London poems. Double act. David guides. RSC actor Steve performs the poems.