Don't Panic! A Geek's Guide to London!

I'm probably the most excited about this private tour! I am a geek and I am a Londonphile, so combining the two of these into one tour only makes sense.

London is chock full of geeky things...from Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who, from Shaun of the Dead to 28 Days Later, from An American Werewolf in London to the Highgate Vampire, from Harry Potter to The Rivers of London, from Clockwork Orange to Misfits.
Some of the locations we can visit are...

• Several Doctor Who locations including Earl's Court, the London Eye & London Bridge.
• Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter.
• The house in the TV show Spaced.
• Trafalgar Square - the location of several films & TV shows including Doctor Who and Day of the Trifids.
• The house from Hellraiser.
• Piccadilly Circus -  film location for bo
• The actual location of 221b from the TV show Sherlock.
• th 28 Days Later and An American Werewolf in London.
• The river side locations for Clockwork Orange & Misfits.
  
  

Most of these things are in and around central London but some of these sights are a little out of the way...so this is an all day tour. The minimum length will be 6 hours.

Because of this, we will obviously be stopping for refreshments, this may or may not include a pub or two, it's up to you.


Here's some places we can stop off at along the way:
The Four Quarters - London's only arcade bar. Craft beer, arcade games & fun times, what could be better!

The Grapes - The pub owned by Sir Ian McKellen, aka: Gandalf, Magento, etc.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - One of the oldest pubs in London. Dickens drank here.

Ye Olde Mitre - Another historic pub...if you can find it. It's almost like it's on a real life trap street.

Ping - Ping Pong bar in Earl's Court

We can even plan to do the tour on a day that Geeks Inc. have one of their quizzes!

The price for this tour is £150 per person. I can customise this tour to fit your fandom or we can do a mixed bag of geekdom.

Contact me at: djalicat@gmail.com

Legendary Londoner: David Bowie

David Bowie was born in Brixton and grew up in Bromley. He found himself in the alleys of Soho. He found his mentors, bandmates, rivals, partners in crime in London. Has been and always will be an inspiration and an influence on everything around us. He changed music and fashion obviously...but he also changed nightlife...The Blitz started off as a Bowie tribute night, it was one of the first club nights to happen on a week day. Without Bowie and the Blitz there would've been no Trash, a club night that I worked at, which would finish every night with Rock n Roll Suicide.

Besides Londonphilia Tours, I also do tours under the name Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour...through that I have been doing a Bowie themed tour of Soho, Sound & Vision: David Bowie's Soho, since 2014 when the V&A was doing their Bowie exhibition. I will now be doing it the first Sunday of each month starting on February 7th. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a cancer charity.

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Starting in February!

 

I can't wait to start doing Londonphilia tours in February! 

I've got so many tour ideas that I hope people will come on and enjoy!

Londontelly - Spaced

The cast of Spaced

Obviously, a lot of TV shows are filmed in London too. From Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who...every genre of television has used London as its inspiration and backdrop.
My favorite TV show set in London is the comedy Spaced. It written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson and directed by Edgar Wright, who went on to big screen fame with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End...(my personal favorite of his is Scott Pilgrim Vs The World).

I will live here some day

Spaced is about two strangers, Tim and Daisy, who pretend to be a couple to get a flat in North London. The house is Spaced is located in Tuffnell Park, I used to live around the corner from it and visit it when I had a bad day. Their landlady is hard drinking, chain smoking Marsha, who's daughter Amber we never actually see, we just hear her coming and going. In the basement lives eccentric artist Brian. Tim's best friend Mike, Simon Pegg's real life best friend Nick Frost, and Daisy's best friend Twist fill out the cast...and then Colin the dog joins later.
Spaced should be required viewing for anyone moving to London. It is chock full of pop culture references and one episode was the inspiration for Shaun of the Dead. It is a surreal mish mash of music, television, film and comic book references and then a bit of real life. And that's what makes it a classic, not the references...which are amazing by the way...but that we could still relate to what they were going through. Unemployment, break ups, make ups, job hunting, ex-partners, parties, nights out in Camden, raves, losing your dog, fighting with friends, falling in love, pubs, Star Wars & zombies...basically, life in London.

Skip To The End making of Spaced documentary

Londonmusica - Songs About London

Parklife by Blur released 22 August 1994

Along with the movie blogs on Londonphilia I will be posting weekly videos about London. With Blur being my favorite band, of course I had to start with one of their many songs about London. The songs was inspired by Hyde Park as Damon said at Blur's 2009 Hyde Park show; "I came up with the idea for this song in this park. I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons...", enter Phil Daniels.

The video was directed by Pedro Romhanyi and filmed on the Greenwich Peninsula.

It won Best British Single and Best Video at the 1995 Brit Awards.

Disappearing Soho

Soho in London is one of the most interesting, creative, bohemian parts of the city. It started off as a
hunting ground and then became the Red Light District and is now the home of the UK film industry.
Everyone from Oscar Wilde to Dylan Thomas to David Bowie to Elton John have lived, worked and played here.
Sadly, some of the venues that these influential people used have been lost to regeneration.
This tour will take you around Soho pointing out and telling the history of these lost venues...including:
Madame Jojo's
The Intrepid Fox
The Marquee (all three located in Soho)
The Astoria
Central Saint Martins
The 12 Bar and soon to be lost Denmark Street.
Also included is a brief history of Soho.

This tour will be on the third Saturday of each month starting on July 18th until November 21st, 2015.
Please meet me in Soho Square at the Tudor style building in the center of the square.
The price is £10 per person. £1 from the ticket price will be donated to Save Soho.

If you are interested in coming on this tour please email me, Alison, at djalicat@gmail.com.

http://savesoho.com

Coming Soon!

I run the popular Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour in Camden Town. Now I don't just love Camden...I love London! 
I want to share my passion for all things London with people. This is where all the tours, that aren't to do with Rock n Roll or Camden, will be located!

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