London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This… is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead.
Story time. History time.
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You’re going to like this one. You know that old saying, ‘the eyes are the window to the soul’…
My view – if view’s the word – is the voice is the window to the soul. It’s not just what’s being said, it’s how it’s said.
And how it’s said is not just the volume and cadence – above all, it’s the quality of the voice, the timbre.
Duncan in Macbeth says ‘there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.’ Shakespeare’s nailed it with that observation. But all is not lost. You can find the mind’s construction in the quality of the voice. If someone sounds snarly it’s a pretty good bet they are snarly. Ditto smarmy. Ditto oleaginous. Ditto whiny. Ditto edgy. Ditto toplofty. And so on. There’s that kind of voice. And then – out at the other end of the spectrum – there’s the other kind. The best kind of voice for listening to a story round a campfire. And that’s by way of introducing the voice you’re going to be listening to today. Richard Walker. Actor and adventurer and guide extraordinaire. Aside here. When I say adventurer, I mean every last syllable. Richard Walker sailed a 25-foot sloop across the Pacific Ocean. Knowing that about Richard you can suddenly hear some of that sea-battered, sun-soaked, wind-flapped voyage in his voice. Listening to Richard, well, to put it into culinary terms, it’s like eating Christmas. It’s all good.
Autumn leaves rustling, candle glowing, mood companionable, that’s Richard’s voice.
He comes across as what he is: his own man, unflinchingly honest, fiercely intelligent, principled, decent, thoughtful, courageous, far-sighted, utterly dependable, level-headed, wise head on his shoulders, one of life’s good guys. Someone you can trust. Someone you want to get to know. Someone whose story you want to listen to.
So for over twenty years now we’ve been lucky enough to have Richard Walker on this all-star team of guides. Just as he crossed the Pacific his own way, he crosses the storm-tossed sea of the Jack the Ripper story his own way. Put it in Frank Sinatra terms, it’s easy enough to imagine Richard saying, “I do it my way.” Different meeting point. Different route. Guaranteed small group size. Charges more. All different. The result? Well, as the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The people doing the eating are Richard’s walkers. And they’re providing the proof. Rave review after rave review. 130 of them so far. And counting. And you might want to run those numbers a bit. That’s 130 rave reviews for a walk that usually only runs twice a week and that averages about ten people per outing because Richard’s put that VIP lock on it. His guarantee that you’ll be part of a small group.
Personalised. Limited edition. Exclusive. Tailored as opposed to off-the-peg. What’s not to like? The walk takes place on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 pm. And just occasionally on a Saturday. This Saturday, for example. October 12th.
But that’s enough from me. This is Richard’s show. It’s an introduction to his walk – an introduction in the shape of a powerful, utterly compelling backgrounder to the Jack the Ripper story. Richard strikes the match by asking, “What kind of a world was it that gave us this monster?” Answering that question, well, it’s the best kind of London Walks podcasting. You’re finding out about the subject – the neighbourhood, the times – but you’re also getting to know your guide.
Here’s Richard. Here are those autumn leaves rustling, candle glowing, mood companionable.
[Richard Walker’s Jack the Ripper Backgrounder follows]
You’ve been listening to This… is London, the London Walks podcast. Emanating from www.walks.com –
home of London Walks,
London’s signature
walking tour company.
London’s local, time-honoured, fiercely independent, family-owned, just-the-right-size
walking tour company.
And as long as we’re at it,
London’s multi-award-winning walking tour company. Indeed, London’s only award-winning walking tour company.
And here’s the secret: London Walks is essentially run as a guides’ cooperative.
That’s the key to everything.
It’s the reason we’re able to attract and keep the best guides in London. You can get schlubbers to do this for £20 a walk. But you cannot get world-class guides – let alone accomplished professionals.
It’s not rocket science:
you get what you pay for.
And just as surely,
you also get what you don’t pay for.
Back in 1968 when we got started
we quickly came to a fork in the road. We had to answer a searching question:
Do we want to make the most money? Or do we want to be the best walking tour company in the world?
You want to make the most money you go the schlubbers route. You want to be the best walking tour company in the world
you do whatever you have to do
to attract and keep
the best guides in London –
you want them guiding for you,
not for somebody else.
Bears repeating:
the way we’re structured –
a guides’ cooperative –
is the key to the whole thing.
It’s the reason for all those awards, it’s the reason people who know go with London Walks, it’s the reason we’ve got a big following,
a lively, loyal, discerning following – quality attracts quality.
It’s the reason we’re able – uniquely – to front our walks with accomplished, in many cases
distinguished professionals:
By way of example, Stewart Purvis, the former Editor
(and subsequently CEO) of Independent Television News.
And Lisa Honan, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat (Lisa was the Governor of St Helena, the island where Napoleon breathed his last and, some say, had his penis amputated –
Napoleon didn’t feel a thing – if thing’s the mot juste – he was dead.)
Stewart and Lisa –
both of them CBEs –
are just a couple of our headline acts.
Or take our Ripper Walk. It’s the creation of the world’s leading expert on Jack the Ripper, Donald Rumbelow, the author of the definitive book on the subject. Britain’s most distinguished crime historian, Donald is, in the words of The Jack the Ripper A to Z,“internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper.” Donald’s emeritus now but he’s still the guiding light on our Ripper Walk. He curates the walk. He trains up and mentors our Ripper Walk guides. Fields any and all questions they throw at him.
The London Walks Aristocracy of Talent – its All-Star team of guides – includes a former London Mayor. It includes the former Chief Music Critic for the Evening Standard. It includes the Chair of the Association of Professional Tour Guides. And the former chair of the Guild of Guides.
It includes barristers, doctors, geologists, museum curators, a former Museum of London archaeologist, historians,
university professors (one of them a distinguished Cambridge University paleontologist); it includes
criminal defence lawyers,
Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre actors,
a bevy of MVPs, Oscar winners (people who’ve won the big one, the Guide of the Year Award)…
well, you get the idea.
As that travel writer famously put it, “if this were a golf tournament,
every name on the Leader Board would be a London Walks guide.”
And as we put it: London Walks Guides make the new familiar
and the familiar new.
And on that agreeable note…
come then, let us go forward together on some great London Walks.
And that’s by way of saying, Good walking and Good Londoning
one and all. See ya next time.