London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This… is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead.
Story time. History time.
A very good evening to you London Walkers. Wherever you are.
It’s Thursday, July 31st, 2025.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.
Rings out like a tocsin, doesn’t it, that line. It’s Shakespeare at his most quotable, his most famous.
And I’m wheeling it out here because we had our Alas, poor Yorick! moment on today’s Kensington Walk. That’s London for you, always stimulating, always something unexpected. I figure I’ve guided that Kensington Walk getting on for 5,000 times but what happened today was a first.
It shaped up to be just another Kensington Walk. Here’s my S.O.P. – Standard Operating Procedure – for that walk. I take the 328 from West Hampstead to Kensington. Always get there nice and early. Usually an hour early. Get off the bus one stop before High Street Kensington. Stroll along Holland Street to Kensington Church Walk. Walk down Kensington Church Walk to Hornets. Ah, yes, Hornets, can’t say enough good things about Hornets. It’s one of my all-time favourite shops in London. Absolutely tiny. Not much bigger than a walk-in closet. And a walk-in closet it is because Hornets is the best second-hand menswear shop in London. It’s run by an actor, William Wilde, and a Brazilian model, Orlando. Bill is socially well connected, so the lowdown on the shop is that sometimes the aristocracy in the neighbourhood – remember, this is Kensington, the wealthiest residential neighbourhood in the country – sometimes the aristocracy in the neighbourhood want to free up some space in their closets. And remember I said Bill is socially well-connected. So with his connections, Bill’s got dibs on the stuff. It’s always the very best Savile Row and Jermyn street attire. Bill gets the stuff for a song. It’s given a good cleaning and then it goes on sale for about ten percent of what you’d pay for the same garment new down in Savile Row. So before you go down there and do an impossible amount of damage to the credit card, it makes a lot of sense to go to Hornets. And not just for the wares. A bit part of the experience is that Bill and Orlando and Mark – Mark is Mark Jax, Bill’s nephew; Mark’s also an actor, works regularly – so Bill only gets him at Hornets when he’s resting – anyway, they’re really nice guys. Going to Hornets is not just shopping, it’s also social and therapeutic and story swapping, you get to know them it’s dropping by and hanging out with pals. Cushions come out, take up their rightful place on the sitting wall that flanks the other side of Kensington Church Walk, cups of tea appear, tins of biscuits get magic’d out of somewhere. It’s a completely different experience from the anonymity and impersonality and couldn’t care less attitude of bored shop assistants down on the street. It’s a good place, Hornets. Made a big difference in my life, and certainly my wardrobe. Confession time, now. It solved a major problem for me. Once or twice a year I was going down to Savile Row and spending a fortune. More than I could afford, really. So I had some beautiful garments but I wasn’t happy about it because my spend – well, put it this way, the family budget was reeling, badly duffed up, black-and-blue after said foray to Savile Row. Or I’d go down there and for once rein myself in, exercise some self-control. Not give way to temptation, not go in for a financially ruinous spend. I’d show Savile Row a clean pair of heels and head off to Marks and Sparks. But truth be told, ok, I’d not holed the family budget beneath the water line but it wasn’t a feel good situation. In fact, it was the opposite of feel good. I felt lousy about it. Because – expensive tastes me, I wanted the best, I wanted Savile Row gear. So it was a lose lose situation. I either succumbed and blew the budget to smithereens – which was a self-inflicted body blow. Or I bit the bullet and went down market. Which also felt lousy. Lose lose. Well, Hornets changed all that. Changed lose lose to win win. So for sure, I’m really partial to the place. And I always like to get to that Kensington Walk early so I can hang out at Hornets for half an hour or so, shoot the breeze with Mark or Bill or Orlando. It’s a great way to get squared away for the walk. They’re always bang up to date with neighbourhood gossip and goings-on. It’s a good time, it’s fun putting in there.
And that’s what happened. Shot the breeze for half an hour or so with Mark. And then got up to head to High Street Kensington Tube to meet my walkers. Halfway there I walked past the front of St Mary Abbots, the beautiful old parish church. And in the event there were a couple of workmen there. Digging away. I asked them what they were doing. “Oh, we’re putting in a new gate.” Well, one thing led to another. Got into a bit of a chat with them. And one of them mentioned, “yeah, digging here, this was a graveyard. So we’re getting lots of bones.”
David’s jaw drops open.
John McEnroe moment. “You can’t be serious.”
“No, not making that up. Look here. Here’s a pile of bones.”
And, yup, he was right.
And then we were away.
He said, “this whole area was a graveyard. The part of Kensington Church Walk you’re standing on – that pavement – it’s overlaying a burial ground, a bone yard.”
He said, “they told us to look out for bones, we should expect to find a lot of them. And we have.”
I said, “what happens to them?” He said, when we knock off tonight we’ll put them in that box there, take them into the church and they’ll eventually rebury them.”
“That’s if it’s just bone fragments like these.”
“If we find a skeleton the whole thing grinds to a halt…no more digging until the skeleton’s dealt with properly.”
Well, the whole thing was fascinating. And in ten minutes I was going to push the boat out on my Kensington Walk. My Kensington Walk which goes to that church and its churchyard. I asked them what time they were clocking off.
They said “3 o’clock.”
Decision time for Mr Guide. Because our walk doesn’t normally get there until 4 o’clock.
I did it. Then and there. Executive decision. Rerouted so we’d turn up while the two workmen were still there. The two workmen and the bones.
I like that about this job. If you’re a walking tour guide you’re thinking on your feet. And how. And an opportunity like this comes up you make course corrections.
Now it goes without saying, I did put it to the walkers. “This is going to be something you won’t have seen before – and it’s not for the faint of heart – what do you say?”
Well, happily, they were all game. So twenty five minutes later we pitched up. The workmen told my walkers the story. Showed them what they’d found. Fielded lots of questions.
Basically, a walk they’ll never forget.
Seeing what we saw, hearing what we heard, puts the mind in overdrive. It’s common knowledge that most of London is under London. But we sort of forget – until something like this happens – that lots of Londoners – millions of them – are also under London.
What else? Well, I don’t know why – I suppose it’s just the circuitry between my ears – but for sure, I thought about Yorick, thought about Hamlet’s speech. I’m going to close this out by reading it.
And then for some reason I started to think about the name itself. Yorick. It’s an unusual name. It’s got Scandinavian and English origins and it means farmer or earth worker.
Which in the circumstances couldn’t be more appropriate.
And it turns out that it’s also associated with the Greek name Georgios, which comes the root ge meaning earth – same root as the core of the word geography – and ergon, meaning work. So the Greek name Georgios means someone who works the earth. A farmer. A tiller. And of Georgios is simply the Greek version of our English name George. It’s my middle name. It’s the name of all those English kings. It’s the name of the patron saint of this country. And so on.
Well, there you go. Stuff happens. In the event this was going to be an English Lit podcast. The gameplan was to talk about what happened to Daniel Defoe – he of Robinson Crusoe fame – what happen to Daniel Defoe on July 31st, 1703. But that plan got kicked into touch by events, by that grave-digging episodes. So I’m banking it. It’s turn will come round on July 31st 2026.
Here’s Hamlet.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that.
To this favour she must come.
I hope it goes without saying I didn’t quote that line to my walkers.
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 London Museum archaeologist, historians,
university professors (one of them a distinguished Cambridge University paleontologist); it includes a criminal defence lawyer, 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.