Ten years ago blogging was in its ascendency, and should I have wanted to make a list, I’d have dozens of excellent musings from which to choose. Today many have fallen by the wayside, but there are still a few notable exceptions worthy of inclusion. For this post written because I can’t be bothered to explore anything more interesting to include on CabbieBlog I’ve only included blogs which write regularly and nearly always post exclusively about London:
Once in a while, a truly original idea for a London blog comes along. The author of this blog takes as its starting point his father’s post-war black and white photos, and using an original 1940 London Street Atlas (aka Michael Portillo), along with books, documents and notes collected over the years, and revisits the same locations. We get an essay on just one street, shop or historic plaque.
I’ve copied this from Londonist: Time Machine (more of which later), as it seemed to me the best summation: Mr. Geezer recently celebrated 21 years of blogging. His daily updates mostly concern the minutiae of London (he keeps spreadsheets of everything), often with a historical bent. I’ve read every single instalment since 2005 and I’m pretty confident the site will be compared with Pepys by future historians. It’s that good.
There are plenty of blogs which list ‘things to…’, Ian goes way beyond a list, with comprehensive data on upcoming anniversaries, informative posts about transport and historic buildings, and did I mention alleyways? He finds a lot about alleyways.
Katie Wignall’s blog states: ‘You just have to take a moment to raise your eyes above your phone and see what you can spot’. Here this award-winning blue badge guide teases out lesser-known London gems.
Born and bred Londoner Geoff Clements wrote a song titled London Shoes in the 80s about a Londoner who had an immense passion for the metropolis and its history, and used to spend his time travelling all over London visiting every nook and cranny, learning about its history, its characteristics, its customs and its people – whilst safe in the knowledge that his ‘London Shoes’ would always bring him safely back home. Upon retirement, it seemed a good premise to start a blog.
Blog or Newsletter? Matt Brown is Editor-at-Large of Londonist, and while Londonist has turned into a listing site, not dissimilar to the London ‘influencer’ sites, this relatively new regular newsletter has, among other items, a weekly in-depth examination of the capital’s history. It also offers a paid option.
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