Talks

An eclectic list. Can be done via Zoom, or in person. Please email colinwalkslondon@aol.com for more information and pricing.

Law and Lawyers

  • Virtual walking tours of Legal London: These can be done on a mix and match basis, taken from the area marked by the four principal Inns of Court, the Royal Courts of Justice, and the Central Criminal Courts of Justice (Old Bailey)
  • Inns of Literature: Writing connected with lawyers and Legal London, from Shakespeare to McEwan, done in the form of two virtual walking tours - (1) From Gray's Inn to Kingsway and (2) from Kingsway to the Temple. 
  • From the West End to the City – a Lawyer’s Life: An autobiographical trip through a career.
  • Stories of the Law - Real Cases Brought to Life: I teach law to lawyers. But the stories are as good as the law.
  • Deconstructing Holocaust Denial: a talk on the case of Irving v Lipstadt and Penguin Books (as made into the film, Denial): With Israel and Gaza front and centre today, listen to what happened when a Holocaust denier sued an Jewish academic.

Central London

  • Developers and the City: Those City buildings, love'em or hate'em. But what about the characters who made them happen? And what makes property development tick?
  • Catholics and the City: The story of the 1780 Gordon Riots
  • Sir Horace Jones: The life of the City Surveyor whose design work has underpinned the heritage of the City.
  • The Road Less Travelled: A virtual walk from Moorgate to the edge of Bloomsbury, avoiding main roads as far as possible.
  • City on Fire: A virtual walk following the route of the Great Fire of London 1666 and knitting 

Outside the Centre - there is more to London than the West End and the City

  • The Park and the Green: A virtual walk exploring the area around Finsbury Park and Stroud Green.
  • From Fields to Focaccia: A virtual walk revealing the evolution of Kentish Town.

High life and Low Behaviour

  • The Cleveland Street Scandal: Intrigue over the visitors to a West End brothel.  Did they include a Royal?
  • The Lives of W P Frith (19th c. painter): The clue is in the title. Frith, the master of the panoramic narrative, but with a flaky private life.

The Jewish Community

I have had connections to the Jewish Community throughout my life. I have used these to devise walks, physical and virtual, that tell the Jewish story in London. They cover the East End, the City, Mayfair and Soho.

I like to think of this work in the broader context of the Jewish community - I am proud that my children are half Italian, one quarter English and one quarter Irish.