I’m sure people will see the title and think (like I did) that this “Secrets of…” PBS special is about London’s Underground rail system (which would be interesting in itself). However, this hour-long program introduces viewers to a whole bunch of bizarre things that are under the city streets of the metropolis. It’s so fascinating, …
There is so much history centered in and around the famous walls of the Tower of London, the imposing fortress that sits in the River Thames in the heart of London. Existing for almost a millennia, stories (and secrets) from the Tower could fill a proper Oxford English Dictionary (and I’m talking the multi-volume kind). …
American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge grew up in poverty and cut his teeth working his way up at Marshall Fields department store in Chicago. But he had big ideas: bringing his American-style egalitarian attitude to London to create a revolutionary shopping experience. His department store Selfridges, opened in 1909, was a sensation, and has been …
Scotland Yard (or rather the NEW Scotland Yard) is a nickname for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service (or “the Met”), aka the City of London police force. Almost two centuries old, the Met has a rich history that I’m sure could be mined into an engrossing documentary TV series all its own. However, …
Fans of Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs, and Remains of the Day will completely soak up Secrets of the Manor House, a fascinating peek at the UK’s aristocracy and their lives of filthy-rich leisure, which peaked a century ago during the Edwardian age. In early 1900s Great Britain, the gap between rich and poor was greater …