Walk free in London

 Add your view

Headstart: Walks are taken by specially trained guides

Get walking: Tours will be taking place all around the capital

History: Take in a story of murder, intimidation and body disposal in the Great British Villains - Kray Brothers walk

Look here too

• Events listings

British Tourism Week, 10-18 March

Blue Badge Free Guided Walks, various locations in London, 15 March, 0207 403 1115

To coincide with British Tourism Week, the UK's famed Blue Badge Guides are presenting a series of free public walks in a variety of locations throughout the capital.

The theme for this year's event is 'Great British', with tours taking place all around London on 15 March.

The walks are taken by fully trained, qualified and insured Blue Badge Guides and tell the stories of monarchs, statesmen, actors, scientists, writers, libertines and hauntings.

Walkers will journey through genius, fame, infamy and controversy, uncovering the lives of the men and women who put the 'Great' in Britain - from Mrs Whitehouse to Amy Winehouse, from Tony Benn to Mr Benn, from Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter.

On the day of the walks, a vintage Blue Badge heritage bus will be touring London, offering free tourist advice to the public.

Further information can be found at www.britishtourismweek.com and www.blue-badge-guides.com

List of available walks

Morning Tours
Great British Food - Elizabeth David - Simon Rodway
A walk on the great British food writer Elizabeth David who revolutionised our diet in the 1950's and 60's, with a visit to the Ebury Street Farmers Market. 10am South Kensington tube (shopping concourse) End: Ebury Street Shopping Village 120 mins

Great British High Street – Shopping, a Modern Obsession? - Sarah Tree
Walk through centuries of shopping, shoes, footmen, scents, silks, Sergeant Pepper … and more. 11am outside Ritz Hotel (Green Park Tube) End: Oxford Circus 90 mins

Great British Theatre – Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square - Joy Levene
Join your costumed guide, to hear about the theatres, the stars, the shows and their songs. No excuse for not joining in, song sheets will be provided. 11am at Eros statue End: Charing Cross Road 120 mins

Morning and Afternoon Tours
Great British Music - 250 Years of Music - Gregor Laing
Exploring a corner of Marylebone, we follow a trail which leads from the Beggars Opera
to Elgar and Paul McCartney – and the man who sponsored the first season of Promenade Concerts. 10.30am & 2pm St. Marylebone Church (opposite the
Royal Academy) End: Regents Park tube. 105 mins

Great British Statesmen - Felicity Whittle
Explore the backstreets of Westminster and hear about the men and women who tried to govern Britain: Cromwell, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eleanor Rathbone, Earl Mountbatten and more. 10.30am & 2pm Westminster Tube Station (at barriers) End: Westminster Tube 90 mins

Great British Performers of the Stage & Screen - Richard Williams
To the ends of their egos and back. Meet the wild personalities of London's Theatreland. 10.30am & 2pm Haymarket (Her Majesty's Theatre) End: Covent Garden 90 mins

The Great British Bard - the City of Shakespeare's London - John Renshaw
Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears'. Walk in Shakespeare's footsteps, meander through city alleyways - the haunts of the Great British Bard. 11am & 2pm St Paul's Tube Station (exit 2). End: Farringdon Tube Station 120 mins

Great British Heroes and Anti-Heroes in St James' & Piccadilly - Hugh Macdonald-Buchanan
See where British monarchs, statesmen, soldiers,
architects, scientists and entrepreneurs rubbed shoulders with courtesans, rakes, libertines and crooks. 11am & 2.30pm Hyde Park corner Tube (exit for Apsley House). End: Piccadilly 90 mins

Great British Nursery Rhymes - Margaret Machin
The story of the City of London told and sung in Nursery Rhymes. From London Bridge to Mother Goose – real events and real people. 11am & 2.30pm London Bridge Tube (Duke Street Hill exit) End: Bank Tube Station 90 mins

Great British Monarchs - A Ramble among the Royal Statues - Howard Medwell
Hear about the ever changing popularity of Kings & Queens, their history and their monuments. 11.00am & 2.30pm Trafalgar Square (by
Nelson's Column): End: Westminster Abbey 90 mins

Great British Heroes - Churchill's Finest Hours - Kevin Molloy
A walk through the capital's corridors of power uncovering one of history's most fascinating figures. 11am & 2.30pm Green Park Tube (Next to Ritz hotel) End: Parliament Square 120 mins

A Great British Achievement - The City of London - David Thompson
Reaching new heights in spectacular architecture. 11.00am & 2.30pm Liverpool Street Station (Bishopsgate exit) End: Fenchurch St. 90 mins

Great British 'Bloody' Stories - Heather Symes. Come and 'meat' Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
11am & 2.30pm Royal Courts of Justice. End: St Paul's Cathedral 90mins

Afternoon Tours
Great Britons Who Changed The World – the National Portrait Gallery - Marc Zakian
Come face to face with Britons who changed the world. Find out what made then unique; from their genius to their folly; from their
inspiration, to their desperation. 2pm Meet by the escalators - tour takes place inside the gallery. Maximum 25 people 75 mins

Great British Engineering – The Lea & the 2012 games - Simon Rodway
A walk alongside British engineering - Bazalgette's 1860 masterpiece, the Northern Outfall Sewer and see his 'Temple to Sewerage' the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, ending with a view of engineering of the future – the 2012
park at Stratford. 2pm Pudding Mill Lane Station (DLR) End: Stratford Tube Station 90 mins

Great British Villains – The Kray Brothers - Ian Jelf
A story of murder, intimidation and body disposal. Follow in the steps of the notorious Kray Twins who ruled the East End in the 1950s & 60s. 2pm at Whitechapel Tube Station End: Whitechapel Tube 120 mins

The Great British High Street – The stories behind the stores - Rachel Kolsky
A walk in and around Oxford Street, discovering when shopping became a pastime and how London's stores became world famous. 2.30pm Oxford Circus. Tube Station, exit 4. End: Marble Arch Tube 90 mins

Great British Theatre – Come Into The Garden - Joy Levene
Covent Garden has several fine theatres, all with tales to tell. Hear about eccentric agents, a murdered actor, the prince & the actress, and a ghost. 2.30pm at Wyndhams Theatre, Charing Cross Road. End: Covent Garden. 120 mins.

No pre-booking is required and walks are offered on a 'first come, first served' basis. For safety, guides may decide on maximum numbers.

 

What's on today   What's on tomorrow

Receive our newsletter