Top 5

Snipe Top 5: Online glimpses into great London history

Mike Pollitt | Monday 18 October, 2010 10:01

London is a living museum, and the internet is full of resources that can help illuminate the history right under our noses. Here are five of the best.

BFI’s Big Smoke, London on Film
Brilliant, brilliant collection of films of London life, many in surprisingly luscious colour, somehow dating back to 1896. Don’t ask us how they managed that. If you’re going to waste an hour of your life on YouTube today, waste it on this.

Gustave Doré’s London Engravings
Doré was a 19th century French engraver who created some fabulously dark illustrations for The Bible, Divine Comedy and Poe’s The Raven. Check those out. He’s in this Top 5 for his impressions of London c.1870 which were condemned at the time for focussing too much on the poor and seedy side of the city. Of course, that’s what now makes them so fascinating. Extra credit assignment: compare and contrast with Hogarth’s work from the previous century.

Samuel Pepys on Twitter
You’ve got to love the man who’s tweeting daily diary updates as Samuel Pepys. Sample tweet: “Into the garden with my wife and went about our work to dig up my gold. Lord! what a tosse I was in that they could not tell where it was.” If you’d rather follow Kim Kardashian then Snipe doesn’t want to know you. Fuller entries at this blog, updated daily.

London Walks Podcast
A caveat: Snipe has not listened to these podcasts of London walks, so take this as a suggestion rather than a recommendation. It seems like a good idea though, and a great way to bring attention to the hidden history lurking in the shadows of every London street. Let us know if it delivers on its promise.

Museum of London iPhone App
iPhone only, unfortunately, but if you’ve got one, get this. It’s a genuinely useful application of geolocation (not like all that Foursquare nonsense) which shows you what historical sites you are near, along with a picture from the past and a little explanatory blurb. Feels like the prototype for some really cool things that will be coming up in the next few years.

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