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Welcome to my July 2020 list of free and unusual things to do in London.
Given the uncertainty of the current situation, the locations that I have chosen to include this month are worth paying a visit to, but they also have intriguing stories behind, which can be enjoyed without actually having to visit them.
I've been vetted by the official tourist body for England, and I have been awarded the "Good To Go" mark, so I will be offering a limited number of regular walks in July.
I have done risk assessments on each route to ensure that I can conduct the tours in a way that will be as safe as is possible and still remain enjoyable. Numbers will be capped at a small number of participants (following government guidelines at all times) and social distancing will be observed throughout.
The Jack the Ripper Tour will take place on Wednesday 22nd, Friday 24th, Wednesday 29th and Friday 31st July at 7pm. Click here for full details.
The Charles Dickens in Southwark Tour will be taking place on Sunday 26th July at 11am. Click here for full details.
For those who don't fancy, or are unable, to get into central London, the virtual tours that you can join online, without having to leave home, will continue throughout July.
On Sunday 5th July at 12 noon I'll be conducting an online tour of the London of Charles Dickens. This will be repeated on Tuesday 14th and Tuesday 28th July at 7pm. Click here for full details.
On Saturday 11th July at 11.30pm I will be conducting a late night Jack the Ripper tour. This will be repeated on Sunday 19th and Sunday 26th July at 8pm. Click here for full details.
I will also be conducting a virtual haunted London tour on Saturday July 18th At 7.30PM Click here for full details.
On Sunday, 19th July at 5pm, I will be conducting a virtual online Secret and Curious London tour. Click here for full details.
On Saturday 25th July, 2020, I will be conducting a special Virtual Dickens Christmas Carol Walk at 7pm. This might seem a strange tour to be offering in the middle of July, but, to be honest, I thought a bit of festive cheer would not go amiss, given the few months we've just endured. Click here for full details.
Just to remind you that I also post updates and additional venues on our Facebook page, so you might like to join us and like us (as in Facebook likes!) to ensure you're kept fully up to date on what's happening in London during the weeks ahead.
As ever, if something changes in the weeks ahead I will put the update on the Facebook Page, in order not to bombard you with emails.
So, without further ado, here is my July 2020 list of ten things to do in London.
The most notable external feature of this magnificent church is the two sets of four caryatids - stone carvings of draped female figures, which are used as pillars to support the entablature above their heads - which stand above the north and south entrances to the Crypt.
Robert Balthrope was the Sergeant Surgeon to Queen Elizabeth 1st. His memorial inside this lovely little church is both fascinating and curious, as it demonstrates the art of the epitaph writer.
One of the most curious windows in the City of London is that which adorns the outer wall of the former home of Sir John Betjeman in Cloth Fair.
When it reopens again, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, on Fleet Street, is well worth a visit, both for its literary history and associations, but also to take a look at a preserved parrot who, during his or her lifetime, was famed for the obscenities that could issue forth from its beak. You might say it was a fowl mouth bird!
The fabled Seven Noses of Soho are well worth hunting for on the walls around the West End of London. Indeed, searching for them can uncover many great curiosities that you might not otherwise notice, and, if you can find all seven - well, great wealth could be yours!
Begin The SearchDid you know that some of the streets of London were once lit by lights that were powered by the gasses from the sewers?
Did you know that, just off Strand, you can see one of the types of gas lamp that Londoners once depended upon to light their nighttime journeys?
Whether you did or did not, you can see a re-creation of one of these sewer powered gas lamps in Carting Lane.
More InformationThe delightful church of Notre Dame de France is home to a lovely set of murals by French artist, writer, poet and film maker Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963).
More InformationCrouch down over a grille on a tiny island in the centre of Charing Cross Road, peer into the darkness below, and you will catch a tantalising glimpse of what is reputed to be an underground street.
Whether it is or not is debatable, but, what is certain is that it is most certainly one of London's curiosities that has a decided air of mystery about it.
Read Its StorySt Pancras Old Church really does have the feel of a sleepy country church about it.
In fact, it has more than that. It has the air of an aged aunt who, having withstood every trial and tribulation that life can throw at her, has now settled into her dowager years to mull over her memories, nonchalantly oblivious to the encroachment of the modern age around her.
More InformationIn the lovely overspill burial ground of Hampstead's St John's Church, you will find the grave of the boys who inspired the creation of Peter Pan.
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