Meet The London Spy
Winner of the 2024 Innovative Tour Company of the year in London, from the Travel and Hospitality Awards.
“Hugely enjoyed the Fleet Street Apocalypse tour, especially with the added magical ingredient.”
– Simon Calder, Travel Editor of the Independent
“5 Stars out of 5, excellent, great walk down Fleet Street” – Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet
David – your guide – is a man of multiple talents:
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), after a degree in Classics and teaching English in Cairo for two years, travelling widely in the Middle East and learning some Arabic, he decided to settle down into a normal job.
Since moving to London he has worked in the Square Mile for over 25 years – starting at the bottom as a temp mailroom/photocopy operator and ending at the dizzy heights of a Vice President of a global investment bank before changing career to follow his passions and become a top rated award winning London guide.
He has always loved poking round the odd corners of the City and in 2017 qualified in the prestigious and very competitive Corporation of London City Guides course. In 2020 he qualified as an equally prestigious City of Westminster guide.
He is now a proud guide not only for the whole of the Square Mile, but also Stationers’ Hall and the newly opened Roman Bathhouse in Billingsgate, and has recently extended his walking tours to cover historical Victoria area too.
He is also a Freeman of the City of London and a Livery Member of the Worshipful Company of Stationers who date back to 1403, and has in 2019 been a”Renter Warden” for them – ask him about it.
And a professional Magician adding extra entertainment to your walk!
Step right up, put on your comfy shoes and take part in London’s finest walking tour.
Embark on a journey around the amazing City of London and Westminster that is filled with intrigue, mystery, and of course a sprinkling of magic. David will take you on a journey through the fantastical underbelly of the city.
Delve into the capital’s darkest secrets, from murders and poisoned princes, through to the heroes that have made London the inspiring cultural capital it is today.
What is the London Spy and why name my site after it?
I discovered this book as part of my studies to become a City of London guide, and immediately fell in love with it – as it was written shortly after the Great Fire of London, many of the locations he describes still exists.
The London Spy is a racy, scurrilous and irreverent guide through the underbelly of early 18th Century London, published between 1698 and 1700 and written by a Ned Ward, who went on to become a City publican.
In its 18 chapters we travel with the narrator (a visitor from the country) and his City-living friend to illustrate the seamy seedy life of the time – a tide of disease, filth, crime, prostitution, cheating, swearing, and general lowlife.
The book is a great read even now and wildly entertaining, disgusting, hilarious, profane and vivid. Coffee Houses, Prison, Fairs, Court, River trips, Whorehouses are among the sites visited – as well as the partly built St Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument, The Royal Exchange, The Guildhall and the Old Bailey, and all are brought to life by the inventive slang and swearing used throughout.
Just as a taste of the contemporary slang used, here is how two boatmen hurl invective at each other as they pass on the Thames.
“You couple of Treacherous Sons of Bridewell B—s, who are Pimps to your own Mothers, Stallions to your Sisters, and Cock-Bawds to the rest of your Relations; Who were begot by Huffling, Spew’d up, and not Born; and Christen’d out of a Chamber-Pot; How dare you show your Ugly Faces upon the River of Thames, and Fright the Kings Swans from holding their heads above Water? To which our Well-fed Pilot, after he had clear’d his Voice with a Hem, most manfully Reply’d, You Lousie Starv’d Crew of Worm-pickers, and Snail Catchers; You Offspring of a Dunghill, and Brothers to a Pumkin, who can’t afford Butter to your Cabbage, or Bacon to your Sprouts; You shitten Rogues, who worship the Fundament, because you live by a Turd; who was that Hundred of Sparragrass, and dug twice in his Wives Parsley-bed before the Goodman.”
Testimonials
Spy Tours
The London Spy – City Walks
“Hugely enjoyed the Fleet Street Apocalypse tour, especially with the added magical ingredient.”
– Simon Calder, Travel Editor of the Independent
“5 Stars out of 5, excellent, great walk down Fleet Street” – Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet
