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.
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 @ 11 am (Click here for more dates)
A walk, a performance, a clinic in how Shakespeare's lines should be delivered
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"the cornerstone walk – miss it and you've missed London"
Tuesday, 10 September 2024 @ 2 pm (This walk goes every Tuesday)
Unexpected, uncommon, unforgettable, undiscovered Bloomsbury...
Wednesday, 11 September 2024 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"the jewel in the London Walks crown" The New York Times
Thursday, 12 September 2024 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
"Kensington specialises in hiding the best of itself"
Friday, 13 September 2024 @ 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, 31 December 2024 @ 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.
"best medley of lost lanes and hidden passageways in all of London"
We walk with Mrs Dalloway. Walk her London. See it with her eyes.