The Egyptian Hall stood on Piccadilly from 1812 to 1905, an extraordinary piece of architecture of the 'sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb' type. However, that was nothing compared to those involved in the displays and shows.
For my second look at unusual gentlemen's clubs in London, I examine the Bath, a club so exalted that kings and their children swam and played squash there, yet forward-thinking enough to admit women from the outset.
It started as an attempt at the 'moral elevation' of the people and ended as an amusement palace. The story of the Royal Aquarium is full of curious tales and eccentric people.
The centuries-old Fellowship of Free Porters couldn't survive the seismic changes of the Victorian era. I chart its chaotic and tragic collapse mainly through the eyes of newspaper journalists.
Was he a liberal reformer and the first black Lord mayor of London, a figure to be celebrated, or an imperialist unaware of his own ethnicity? Read on to discover why I don't really answer the question.
It is clear that in the coming weeks visits to the cinema, theatre, museums and art galleries won't be feasible. Time for green destinations to step up to the mark.
I am now the proud owner of a reader's pass for the British Library, a truly extraordinary national institution. However, extraordinary national institutions, operate in very strange ways.
