Danny Hurst

Historian, podcaster, performer, professional speaker and smart arse

[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The legend that is Chaz Jankel joins me on the Unusual Histories podcast. Most famously Ian Dury's songwriting partner in the Blockheads, Chaz wrote the music to some of the most iconic songs ever. We talk about London, music and lots more.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

Queens Tower in South Kensington is the only remaining part of Imperial Institute, saved from demolition after a campaign by John Betjeman.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

16 Alkham Road in Stoke Newington was where the first bomb hit London in 1915. The first of World War II hit Fore Street near the Barbican in 1940.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

Potters' Fields Park by Tower Bridge was named after the ceramic industry that thrived here during the 17th and 18th centuries.

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St Leonard's in Shoreditch was the original 'Actors' Church' and features a memorial plaque from 1913 to a number of Elizabethan performers.

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Hays Galleria, formerly Hays Wharf, by London Bridge, was once known as 'London's Larder', known for tea, bacon and butter imports and storage.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

There has been an inn on the site of the George and Vulture, off Cornhill, since the 12th century.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

In 1863, the Football Association was founded and laid down the rules of the modern game on the site of what is now the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The Gold Mace is the symbol of the power of the monarch in parliament, which is unable to meet, function or pass laws without its presence.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

This drawing is of what was figuratively known as 'Caesar's Camp', an Iron Age settlement, now buried under Heathrow Airport's runways.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The life of London's first great historian and chronicler, John Stow, is celebrated as close to his death (5th April 1605) as possible every three years.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street was the haunt of artists and writers and was frequented by the likes of George Orwell and Dylan Thomas.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

Century House by Lambeth North station, was known to almost everyone as the headquarters of MI6. The building was converted into an apartment block.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The London Eye has 32 capsules; each one representing the 32 boroughs within London.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The last peer to be executed in Britain was Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, after murdering his steward in 1760.

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39 Furnival Street off Chancery Lane is the gateway to an entire underground Cold War era telephone exchange and nuclear shelter complex.

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The members' cloakroom in the House of Commons still includes ribbon loops designed to hold the swords of those entering the Chamber.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens was built in 1761 as a present to Princess Augusta and reflects the contemporary fashion for all things Chinese.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

When Handel was carved for Poets' Corner, sculptor Louis-Francois Roubillac claimed his ears were so peculiar that he copied those of a young woman.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The world's first car fatality occurred in 1896, when Bridget Driscoll was hit by a car in Crystal Palace Park.

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[Danny Hurst @DannyHurst]

The Camberwell Beauty was named after its discovery at the Camberwell end of Coldharbour Lane in 1748, and is also known as the Mourning Cloak.

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