Blogs-And-Stories

Fashion & Style
Fashion & Style

Norman Hartnell: Couturier to queens & stars

The south Londoner who brought a theatrical flair to high-end fashion design

Love, Sex & Relationships
Love, Sex & Relationships

The toilet photos that saved gay men on trial

Fighting the prosecution of gay encounters in the 1980s and 1990s

London Places
London Places

The animals of London Zoo in the 1950s

Photographer Henry Grant takes us on a tour of these Regent’s Park residents

Lifestyle & Leisure
Lifestyle & Leisure

Tower Beach: A seaside in the city

Sun, sand and… the River Thames

Health & Disease
Health & Disease

Inside Homerton Hospital, 1988

A new hospital for Hackney – its patients and staff, needles and blood

Fashion & Style
Fashion & Style

London’s fashion designers

Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant and the many other talents that make London a fashion capital

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

How wartime bombsites became adventure playgrounds

Reclaiming the wreckage for play and imagination

Politics & Society
Politics & Society

Ken Livingstone: GLC leader & London’s first mayor

Dubbed “Red Ken” in the 1980s, Livingstone became London’s first directly elected mayor in 2000

Art & Design
Art & Design

Forgotten faces from post-war London

Fred Wilfred’s photos of London from 1957 to 1962 have remained largely unseen

Rights & Activism
Rights & Activism

Photographing an east London rent strike, 1939

Cyril Arapoff captures life in a dangerously dilapidated apartment block

Trades & Workers
Trades & Workers

Post-war photographs of the working River Thames

Sandra Flett’s snapshot of trade and industry on London’s liquid highway

Trades & Workers
Trades & Workers

London’s street markets by László Moholy-Nagy

The influential Hungarian artist turns his attention to 1930s street life

Music & Subculture
Music & Subculture

Blitz: A revolutionary 1980s club night

How one small group of revellers shaped the style and sound of a decade

Fashion & Style
Fashion & Style

Bikers unite: Rockers & rebels at the Ace Cafe, 1963

A gathering of leather-jacket-wearing adrenaline junkies

Religion & Beliefs
Religion & Beliefs

The history of London’s mosques

Fascinating buildings that tell the stories of the capital’s Muslim communities

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

How did London celebrate VE Day on 8 May 1945?

Joy, relief and grief as the city marked ‘Victory in Europe’ near the end of the Second World War

Games & Sports
Games & Sports

Ian Wright: Arsenal hero, London legend

This ex-footballer and pundit from Brockley has won hearts on and off the pitch

Trades & Workers
Trades & Workers

Hop-picking: Londoners’ working holiday

Going ‘hopping’ in Kent was once a rare summertime escape from city life