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Introducing Matthew

Writer, historian and broadcaster Dr Matthew Green is a world expert on the history of London. He has a doctorate from Oxford University and is the author of the critically acclaimed book London: A Travel Guide Through Time which has been described by the Londonist as ‘easily the best social history of London for a decade’. No dry academician, he is passionate about bringing London’s richly layered history to life in the most vivid way possible, revealing its hidden treasures and offering memorable perspectives on the present-day city.

Matthew founded Unreal City Audio in 2012 which produces immersive tours of historic London, highly praised for their originality and energy. When not researching, Matthew can be found in Hampstead with his tuxedo cat, Buster, and his collection of London diaries through the ages strewn across the floor (he has an aversion to shelves!).

his experiences

Historic tours

Matthew would love to take you on an immersive whirlwind tour of the greatest city in the world. He will guide you through London’s labyrinth of cobbled alleys and snarling thoroughfares, and through the centuries, showing you a side of the city rarely featured on conventional tours of chocolate-box London. From a stimulating Coffeehouse Tour to a Medieval Wine Tour, see a different side of London.

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SEASONAL TIPS

1. GORDON’S WINE BAR

Perhaps my favourite place to while away a summer evening is Gordon’s Wine Bar in Embankment. You may sit at the tables outside, the Thames glistening in the distance and London’s stell mountains soaring into a turquoise sky, or, better still, venture into the 17th-century interior, shadows spilling out, clinking and chattering coming from within, and embrace the wall of heat that engulfs you as you make your way to candlelit table in London’s oldest wine bar with an appropriately exquisite, but affordable, wine list. It is as though nothing has changed for 400 year

2. PARLIAMENT HILL

‍If you are after a panorama of the city, eschew the touristy London Eye for nothing compares with the view from Parliament Hill, atop which you can stand, in the summer breeze, and gaze down at the metropolis splayed out beneath your feet, with Sir Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s, symbol of London’s resurgence from the ashes of fire, and another plague, clearly visible in the centre.

More tips please

Matthew’s book Shadowlands unveils a forgotten history of Britain through its drowned cities, ghost towns and buried villages. A fab read!

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favourite spots