Welcome to my website! I’m Mark, a 4th generation Londoner with a passion for discovering new things about this amazing, vibrant, cosmopolitan city.
I’m a former business consultant who, after two decades of working across the globe, decided that perhaps showing people the spectacular sites, hidden nooks and crannies, and unexpected stories contained within my own fair city is a far, far better job. I am passionate about London – its history, buildings and people. Both my maternal and paternal families are from London and I have been based in Walthamstow (London borough of culture 2019) for around thirty years.
← Outside the Royal Exchange, in the heart of the City
I’m a qualified City of London ‘Green Badge’ Tourist Guide; the qualification is accredited by the Institute of Tourist Guiding. I am also both a qualified Camden Tour Guide and Westminster Tour Guide; I passed both of these qualifications, which are backed by the local councils, with distinction. I also have a degree in History and am a freeman of the City of London.
Although much of my time is spent employed by Parliament as one of the guides taking people around the Houses and Parliament and up the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben), I do sometimes run guided walking tours in or close to the City – the ‘square mile’ – and Westminster. Take a look at my tours page to learn more about these. My walks tend to focus on entertainment (theatres, cinemas and the like) or curiosities. For Parliament tours you’ll need to head over to the Parliament website here.
Please do take a look at my blog: I write about various aspects of London – its history, buildings, organisations, people. Unlike many bloggers, I make a point of seeking new topics, or new ways to look at the familiar, and I allow my sense of humour to come through where appropriate. Subjects tackled range from the long-gone City of London gasworks (‘Noxious Niffs, Nauseous Nickers and Blue-Billy’), the fall of the Fellowship Porters (‘Protests, Petitions and Poverty‘) and the puzzle of the City’s only ethnic-minority Lord Mayor (‘James Townsend’s Legacy’) to London architecture created for dogs (‘Every Dog Must Have His Day‘) and the history of a single crossroads in the West End (‘Drowning in Beer, Trading with the Enemy and Murdering the Manager’). There’s even an eccentric post on the Eccentric Club (‘Where the Weird Things Are‘). And there are lots more – many equally obscure and all hopefully entertaining.
← That’s me in the ballroom of Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, which was completed in 1752. I’ve written a bluffer’s guide to the building here.
Credits: All images © the author 2021 & 2026
