It’s November 8th, 1674. The rain drifts softly over London as the light fades early and a blind old poet slips away in Bunhill Fields. This London Calling podcast follows John Milton – born in Bread Street, schooled under St Paul’s, hunted near St Bartholomew-the-Great, dictating Paradise Lost in Petty France – through the London of his life and death. We meet “the Lady of Christ’s,” the young scholar who became the thunderous voice of English verse; the blind visionary who saw eternity more clearly than most. From the alleys of the City to the stained-glass glow of the Milton Window in St Margaret’s, Westminster, it’s a portrait of the Londoner who gave the world its most magnificent lines.
Read MoreOn Helen Suzman’s birthday, David takes us from apartheid-era South Africa to Hampstead’s Vale of Health – to the very house where Suzman’s actress niece Janet Suzman lived with director Trevor Nunn. It’s a story of courage, art, and a family of difference-makers who refused to take the easy script.
Read MoreMeet the saint who looked after London’s grafters – from blacksmiths to Shakespeare’s mates.
Read MoreFrom Saxon arches to Wren’s soaring spire, from the rebel hanged at its doors to the golden dragon that’s ruled the skyline for three centuries, St Mary-le-Bow has witnessed a thousand years of London life. Its bells gave birth to the Cockneys, its court judged the clergy, and its crypt hides a mystery stretching all the way to Wall Street. Fire, faith, riots and rebirth – this is the story of the church that quite literally defines London.
Read MoreLondon Calling gets ambushed by events – from Dick Cheney’s death to a hawk called Breeze patrolling Lincoln’s Inn. A day of coincidences, literary echoes and London surprises, wrapped up with Francis Beaumont’s poem On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey. Proof, if ever you needed it, that London never stops writing the script.
Read MoreFrom couvre feu to Cockney – how St Mary-le-Bow’s bells became the sound that shaped London’s identity. Once they told Londoners to bank their fires; centuries later, they told Dick Whittington to turn again. These were the curfew bells, the comeback bells, the heartbeat of a city that never stops ringing.
Read MoreAnn’s Foodies London – The West End walk is coming up By way of an appetiser, she’s whipped a little dish of culinary history (and nostalgia) for us. About Lyons’ ice creams (this is their centenary, after all). And make not mistake, Lyons’ ice creams were more than desserts – they were time capsules. From the Zoom rocket to the Fab lolly, each one tells a tale of pop culture, post-war hope, and good old British fun in the sun.
Read MoreEvery November, London flares with fireworks and half-forgotten history. London Walks Capo David traces the story behind the rhyme – Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot, and the strange endurance of a failed revolution. From the haunted cellars beneath Parliament to the Tower’s shadowed ramparts, the ghosts of 1605 still stir. The gunpowder never exploded, but its charge is still humming under London’s stones.
Read MoreWhat is it about October 31st?
This piece roams from Luther’s hammer on a church door to the end of the Battle of Britain, from Houdini’s final curtain to the Celtic bonfires of Samhain. It traces how Halloween began as an ancient threshold between worlds and became the world’s biggest fancy-dress party. Along the way we glimpse Mexican marigolds, Austrian bread for ghosts, Japanese lanterns, and a universal truth: that once a year, humans everywhere like to dance with the dark and laugh at their fears.
It’s funny, atmospheric, and full of surprises – a story of thresholds, history, and a date that refuses to stay quiet.
Two parter today. Forget the fake cobwebs and the pumpkin punch – this is the real Halloween experience: history, mystery, and magic in the world’s greatest treasure house. Guided by Marc – host of the award-nominated Extraordinary Stories of Britain podcast – you’ll explore the British Museum after dark, when the crowds are gone and the marble whispers. From the Rosetta Stone to the Elgin Marbles, five thousand years of civilisation glow under the glass dome of the Great Court. Spine-tingling, civilised, unforgettable – it’s Halloween the London Walks way.
Followed by: Tucked behind Victoria Gate Lodge lies one of London’s tiniest and most tender secrets – the Hyde Park Pet Cemetery. Born of a little girl’s grief in 1881, it grew into a miniature city of marble headstones for beloved dogs, cats, parrots and rabbits. It’s the Victorians at their most human – sentimental, heartfelt, and quietly profound. Join us among the mossy stones and whispering trees for a story of love, loss, and loyalty – a forgotten corner of London where even the ghosts have wagging tails.