SideStreets Podcast

<p><strong>SideStreets is a podcast about the history and geography of London. </strong></p><p>SideStreets will not attempt a narrative history of London. It will instead focus on out-of-the-way places, little-known people, and good stories. It will use them, I hope, to illustrate important patterns and principles in that history and maybe even in the history of all cities.</p><p>Enjoy extra exclusive additions to the regular episodes by supporting us on <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=84135705&utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Patreon</a>. </p>

SideStreets S3E9 - From the Clink to the Cardinal's Cap

Come with me in this episode as I make my way through the wildest part of Shakespeare's Bankside. We will meet Winchester Geese, apes on horseback, the first billboards, and rap battles between competing preachers. Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

09-22
20:40

SideStreets S3E8 - A Walk through Shakespeare's Southwark

Come with me as we brave the crowds and the confusion to visit the neighborhood Shakespeare would have known. There's so much to see that we will need at least two episodes!Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

08-26
19:31

SideStreets S3E7 - Nothing is to be seen upon the river

Meet Patrick Colquhoun, slave-trader, wartime profiteer, founder of the Thames River Police. As much as anyone, he created modern London. Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

07-16
19:25

SideStreets S3E6 - Taming the Thames

This episode considers London's changing relationship with the rivers flowing through it, paying particular attention to the attempt to make the Fleet River respectable after the Great Fire. Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

06-12
19:30

SideStreets S3E5 - The pouihi in New Zealand House

In this episode, we meet another pillar—the magnificent Maori carving rising through the centre of New Zealand House. In a bit of Westminster thick with sculpture, this one puts all the others to shame.Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

05-14
18:16

SideStreets S3E4 - The Brick Lane Mosque gets a minaret.

We take a walk through the history of Brick Lane, and eventually witness -- and celebrate -- the construction of Banglatown’s jewel, the Brick Lane Jamme Masjid’s minaret.Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

04-17
22:22

SideStreets S3E3 - A Jamaica Lady

In this episode we meet Anna Hassall, in many ways a typical female entrepreneur of early 18c Jamaica. But Anna, unlike her business partners competitors, ended up in Westminster Abbey. Why?Visit Our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/ Support Us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

03-17
18:27

SideStreets S3E2 - Elizabeth Montagu, Queen of the Blues

Meet Elizabeth Montagu, doyenne of the Feather Room and hostess of the Chimneysweeps' Feast, who gently feminized London society for half a century. Visit Our WebsiteSupport Us on PatreonSideStreets is a Black Lab Media Production © 2025 - All rights reserved

02-21
22:16

SideStreets S3E1 - The Puzzle of Mrs Humphry Ward

Why would one of the most famous, successful, influential women of Victorian Britain, one of the greatest and most effective champions of progressive causes, spend twenty years campaigning to deny herself political power? I wish I knew . . . Visit our website Support us on Patreon Copyright Black Lab Media AB 2025 - All rights reserved

01-15
22:09

SideStreets Season 2 - The invention of Christmas

Two young men on the make decide that Christmas is a marketing opportunity disguised as a holiday. In London during the third week of September 1843, modern consumerism comes of age.Visit our website - https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon - patreon.com/user?u=84135705

12-17
17:38

SideStreets S2E10 - Rockin' Richmond

In this episode, we head back to the 60's when Thames geese competed with Eric Clapton's guitar riffs and the wail of Rod Stewart's harmonica, and the hush of Richmond's middle-class respectability was delightfully disturbed by the birth of British rhythm and blues. Visit our website - https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon - patreon.com/user?u=84135705

11-16
20:08

SideStreets S2E9 - St Margaret's Belgians

In 1914 and 1915, thousands of Belgian refugees descended on East Twickenham, many to work in the great munitions factory by Richmond Bridge. They had their own shops, schools, choir, orchestra, theatre groups, even a brothel. By 1920 they were all gone. This episode tells the story of this brief, strange moment in the history of leafy Richmond.---Support us on Patreon - patreon.com/user?u=84135705Visit Our Website - https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/

10-14
19:32

SideStreets S2E8 - Marianne North’s suburban jungle

Marianne North was one of Victorian England’s greatest travelers, and wherever she went, she painted plants. Her greatest adventures were in the tropics, and her greatest achievement is the Gallery of her collected work in Kew Gardens. Come visit it with us!---Visit our Website - https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon - patreon.com/user?u=84135705

09-06
20:09

SideStreets S2E7 - Black Jack's moveable tomb

In this episode we meet Black Jack Needham, 2nd Earl of Kilmorey, one of Richmond-upon-Thames's most eccentric eccentrics. We also meet his baby elephant, his escaping snakes, his rat-fur shroud, and his migrating Mausoleum.---Visit our Website - https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon - patreon.com/user?u=84135705

08-12
17:52

SideStreets S2E5 - Founding Londinium

In today’s episode we’re going further back than we’ve ever done before… all the way to the founding of London. Many know that London was initially established by the Romans, but did you know that they actually founded London TWICE! Explore this intricate story with us on today's episode of SideStreets. Visit our website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

06-09
17:56

SideStreets S2E4 - Three Developments Part 2

This episode explores two post-World War II housing estates built by the pioneering Modernist architects: Chamberlin Powell and Bon. The first is their small gem at Golden Lane; the second is more difficult to love, but we try: the Barbican.Visit our website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

04-30
21:25

SideStreets S2E4 - Three Developments Part 1

In this episode we explore three developments which are the results of Mr. George Peabody and his legacy, known by many as the first modern philanthropist...Visit our website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

04-14
23:01

SideStreets S2E3 - The Monster of Chiswell Street

Meet Samuel Whitbread the First, one of London’s most innovative and most successful businesspeople. The monster he created on Chiswell Street was the most productive brewery in London in an age when beer-drinking was healthy, patriotic, and enormously popular.Visit our website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

03-08
19:01

SideStreets S2E2 - Roaring Girls and other entertainments

Gwyneth Paltrow was not the only woman to appear on the stage in Shakespeare’s time. Meet Mary Frith, the Roaring Girl, and some other edgy entertainers from the original Fringe.Visit our website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

02-09
22:46

SideStreets S2E1 - The Many Dead of Whitecross Street

We introduce the area around Whitecross Street, the subject of our first four episodes this season, with a tour of seven sites, where the dead of London have been placed for almost two thousand years.Expect mysteriously flooded Romans, mysteriously exhumed Jews, a Quaker with two death-dates, a mutilated poet, and a columbarium.Visit our Website: https://www.sidestreets.co.uk/Become a Patreon and listen to the accompanying Alleyway episode: patreon.com/user?u=84135705

01-10
25:29

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