The National Gallery first threw open its doors 200 years ago today. It wasn't in Trafalgar Square at the time, that hadn't been built yet, but at 100 Pall Mall in a dead banker's townhouse. Here John Julius Angerstein's small collection of Old Masters was displayed, slowly growing in scale and stature as the government acquired additional bequests before the enlarged collection moved to its current home in 1838. The bicentenary is being celebrated tonight with a public lightshow across the frontage of the building and a private shindig inside hosted by Jools Holland. I visited marginally p ..read more

As unexpected street names go, this is right up there. And there are ten more where that came from. We're not in London we're in Kent, on a housing estate in Dartford not far from the QE2 Bridge. We're in Dartford because that's where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards grew up, met and went on to form the Rolling Stones. And we're here because when the time came to pick street names somebody thought 'Why don't we name them after Rolling Stones records?' Hence more of this kind of thing. The estate in question is called The Bridge, and lies to the north of the town centre on a large brownfie ..read more

7 unblogged things I did in the first week of May Wed 1: While I was touring City churches I came across this, the Lost London Churches Project. They've printed a little colour card for every church in the City of London - current and former - and the idea is to collect them all and stick them in a special pack. It's a bit like collecting Brooke Bond tea cards (I still have the full set of The Race Into Space) but with churches. Each card has an illustration on the front and a list of dates on the back (a bit like Top Trumps except you couldn't play this as a game). There's also a collectors ..read more

London's waymarked walks These, I hope, are all the waymarked walks in London. (i.e. they have signs showing you the way to go) All walks are clickable. (n.b. fabulous Londonwide map here) The Premier League (i.e. important enough to be listed on the TfL website) Capital Ring: 75 miles, 15 sections   [blogged✔] A circular route approximately 4–8 miles from Charing Cross, starting and finishing at Woolwich. The quintessential London hike, first waymarked in 2005. Full directions courtesy of the Inner London Ramblers. London Loop: 150 miles, 24 sections   [blogged✔] A larger more ..read more

London has just two streets called Mayday Something. I've been to both. Mayday Road Thornton Heath CR7 This brief Victorian sideroad was once well known across much of south London, indeed you may even have been born here. It's to be found in Thornton Heath (the pond bit rather than the station bit) and bears off London Road about a mile north of Croydon town centre. Look for Coughlans bakery at the end of the street, or else the faded peeling Saints and Sinners pub (which you can tell closed three years ago because it's still advertising a pint for £2.99). Perhaps dodge the ambulances. And ..read more

     Voted for Sadiq; voted for a Labour London Assembly Member         Voted for Sadiq; voted for a Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member         Voted for Susan; voted for a Labour London Assembly Member         Voted for Susan; voted for a Conservative London Assembly Member Elected: Sadiq Khan (Labour) Voted for Sadiq   1,088,225 44%   ↑4% since 2021 Voted for Susan 812,397 33%   ↓2% Voted for Rob 145,184 6%   ..read more

10 Centuries In 1 Day may not have been a very good walk. But can we do it properly and pick one London building from each of 10 centuries? In fact, given London's a Roman city, can we do 20 centuries? Let's give it a try... 16th-21st century This is the easy bit. Far too many buildings to choose from. So I've just chosen one big one. 21st century Tons of London buildings are from this century. To be representative and iconic I want to pick something tall, so whereas I'd have preferred the Gherkin (2004) I'm going to pick The Shard (2013). It's still the tallest building in western Europe ..read more

One of the capital's best places to go walking is the City of London, and what's more they have the wherewithal to have created all sorts of self-guided walks for you to follow. 21 downloadable walks are listed on their old website (although they're increasingly hard to find because most links keep trying to divert you to their new website which is a swooshy atomised disappointment, and all it says there is 'go to the City Information Centre and pick up a printed map', and admittedly they do have six walk leaflets there which is pretty good going, but I thought I'd try one of the 15 other walk ..read more

What does the National Rail symbol on the tube map mean? Obviously it means 'National Rail interchange', it says so in the key. But what does 'National Rail interchange' actually mean? I ask because several stations with a National Rail service don't have the symbol, for example here in the northwest corner of the map. Crossrail's fine. Reading, Twyford and Maidenhead are also served by GWR and Taplow isn't. The Central line's fine. West Ruislip and South Ruislip are also served by Chiltern and the other stations aren't. But the Metropolitan line's not fine. Five of its stations are serve ..read more

    NORTHUMBER LAND AVENUE £160   London's Monopoly Streets NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE Colour group: pink Purchase price: £160 Rent: £12 Length: 300m Borough: Westminster Postcode: SW1 Northumberland Avenue is a young street by central London standards, and a grand one at that. Like the rest of the pinks it starts at Trafalgar Square and in this case cuts down to the Victoria Embankment, pretty much direct. It's also the shortest street I've had to write about so far, being fully walkable in under five minutes, and more somewhere tourists stay than Londoners go. Pleasingly ..read more