Rising tide.
A rising tide of parades.
Parades everywhere you look.
New York. Boston. Chicago. Even Moscow.
And no prizes for guessing why.
It’s St Patrick’s Day.
And sure enough, London’s at it as well.
There’s a parade.
Though in our case, it’s not so much a parade as a ramble.
The London Walks St Patrick’s Day Ramble.
More than a party, more than a parade – it’s a London Walk.
A walk that traces Irish London in all its forms: power and protest, labour and literature, exile and ambition.
From Embankment to St Paul’s.
Two hours of walking, exploring, and stories that leave you seeing London – and Ireland – rather differently.
And best of all, it’s guided by Amy.
Amy Bracken.
Properly Irish.
But also, very much, a Londoner.
And how familiar that story is.
Born and raised in Ireland. Fourteen years in London.
A historian. A genealogist. A documentary producer.
Someone who spends her days sifting through the records of the past – and bringing them back to life.
And, as it happens, working towards a PhD on the Irish in Victorian London.
In short, exactly the person you want leading a walk like this.
I caught up with Amy yesterday.
We sat down for a chat.
The three of us.
Amy. Myself. The microphone.
We talked about her story.
The Irish story.
The Irish-in-London story.
And yes – I even coaxed a little Gaelic out of her.
Here’s Amy.
[Amy interview follows]
Well there you are.
Amy Bracken.
Irish London, alive and well.
And still talking.
Because if today belongs to St Patrick…
Tomorrow belongs to another Irish voice.
A very different one.
A mischievous one.
A man who made eighteenth-century London laugh, blush – and occasionally raise an eyebrow.
Laurence Sterne.
He died in London on March 18th, 1768.
On Bond Street.
And what happened next… well, let’s just say he didn’t rest entirely in peace.
That’s tomorrow’s story.
London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead.
Story time. History time.
And in the meantime, here’s to lots of great Londoning one and all.
See you tomorrow.