All stories

Games & Sports
Games & Sports

The first London Olympics, 1908

Featuring marathon misfortune, contentious judging and a brand new Olympic sport

Royalty & Aristocracy
Royalty & Aristocracy

The long reign of Queen Victoria

Ruling for 63 years, Victoria witnessed rapid changes in British society, culture and industry

Royalty & Aristocracy
Royalty & Aristocracy

Pageantry and protest at Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee

Marking 25 years as monarch in 1977, the queen’s jubilee was met with celebration and discontent

Crime & Legislation
Crime & Legislation

Horsemonger Lane Jail

Where rooftop executions became a violent Southwark spectacle

Games & Sports
Games & Sports

Fun in the frost: Outdoor ice skating in London

Londoners have skated on the city’s frozen lakes and ponds for centuries

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

What were London’s pleasure gardens?

For dancing, drinking, glamour and debauchery, there was nothing quite like the pleasure garden

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

A big night out at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

Discover the exciting new entertainment on offer to Londoners in the 1700s and 1800s

Rights & Activism
Rights & Activism

How Black Friday changed the Suffragette struggle

A day of aggression in the battle for women’s right to vote

Crime & Legislation
Crime & Legislation

The Metropolitan Police on London’s streets

The changing face of law and order

Fashion & Style
Fashion & Style

Hardy Amies: London’s great tailor & couturier

The Savile Row-based designer had a long career spanning luxurious couture and casual menswear

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Skating through the history of London’s ice rinks

Did you know ice rinks were invented in London? And the earliest version was made from pig fat?

Rights & Activism
Rights & Activism

Emmeline Pankhurst: Suffragette icon

Pankurst’s leadership of the militant votes-for-women campaign made her a feminist hero

Politics & Society
Politics & Society

Guy Fawkes & the Gunpowder Plot

The explosive plan that gave us Bonfire Night

Games & Sports
Games & Sports

London 1948 Olympics: The ‘Austerity Games’

Held in the struggling post-war years, these frugal Games were celebrated as a harmonious success

Health & Disease
Health & Disease

How Florence Nightingale shaped London healthcare

Modern nursing has a lot to thank this 19th-century trailblazer for

Nature & Environment
Nature & Environment

Lost rivers: The Fleet

A vital part of London life since the Romans

Art & Design
Art & Design

John Hargrave: Leader of the Kibbo Kift

Camp out, help others, work for world peace: Hargrave’s youth movement aimed for a better society

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

Boudica: Rebel queen of the Iceni

London burned when this warrior queen challenged the Romans