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★★★★★

4.9

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46 reviews

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Welcome to The Story of London, a podcast dedicated to telling the history of London as a single narrative tale; from its birth until the present day. Each episode takes us along that tale, a chronicle of the most fascinating and vibrant city on Earth. There is a lot of content in here and each listener can enjoy it in a variety of ways. You can listen to an episode by itself for a slice of life from London’s past; or, if you have a favourite period of time you want to explore, find the era and follow the Chapters in that section. Or maybe you want to join us on the grand journey, starting at the beginning and following along? Whatever option, welcome to the chronological tale of this amazing place. The Story of London covers events as they happened, from the actions of the great and the good, down to those of the poor and marginalised. We try to be as historically precise as possible, sometimes stumbling upon little gems of history that change the way we see the past, and never take ourselves too seriously. Feel free to join us… new episodes every week.

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Check latest episodes from The Story of London podcast

Chapter 216- The Dutch Daredevil Atop St. Paul’s… (1553-1554)

2026/10/23

The story returns after a brief hiatus with the opening months of the reign of Queen Mary Tudor… and we examine how and why London had gone from the place that exploded in joy at her proclamation as Queen… to hundreds of armed Londoners joining an armed rebellion against her. It’s a few months where we watch the trappings of regime change as London would have seen it, of fiery pamphlets filling the streets, of suicidal judges, of the fraught relationship between the Queen and her half-sister, and the causes of a rebellion down in Kent (its always Kent). More than that, it’s about the pageantry and splendour of when a new monarch takes the throne, and the moment when a Dutch daredevil climbed to the very top of old St. Paul’s cathedral… Cover includes detail of St. Paul’s in 1540 by Van der Wyngarde.

Chapter 215- Bloody (Minded) Mary (July 1553) (The Fall & Rise of the Tudors: IV)

2026/10/08

Continuing and concluding the saga of the reign of Lady Jane Grey and her brief moment on the throne, the story follows the dramatic sudden twists, that were to see a London haberdasher suddenly become most important man in the kingdom for a few hours, London itself erupt into a wild two day spontaneous celebration fulled by copious amounts of booze, and the unlikely figure of a woman already known to suffer from fear induced paralysis, suddenly stare down the government of England… and seize the throne for herself. Cover includes detail of portrait of Queen Mary I by unknown artist.

Chapter 214- The 18 Days in July… (July 1553) (The Fall and Rise of the Tudors III)

2026/10/01

In July 1553, London witnessed a new Queen- Jane Grey, cousin of the late teenager Edward VI. her story is supposedly this tragic romantic tale of an innocent young woman placed upon the throne by an ambitious father-in-law… But as this chapter will show? It was no such thing. To London, Jane WAS the Queen, and the regime behind her executed an almost faultless plan to make her queen, and to ensure the smooth running of the state. But one simple miscalculation made what was a smooth transition difficult… and a crisis will suddenly emerge where no crisis should have been. Around this, London carries on, starting life as loyal subjects of their new queen… over 18 days in July. Cover includes detail of portrait of Jane Grey.

Chapter 213- Childish Things (1551-1553) (The Fall and Rise of the Tudors: II)

2026/09/23

The last two years of the reign of Edward VI were VERY busy for London; there was a economic crisis to get out from under; there were brutal storms which devastated Flanders, which the cities merchants could exploit; there was the successful removal of the rights of the German merchants in the Steelyard. But it was also a time that saw a brutal epidemic of Sweating Sickness, wild expeditions to China leaving the docks of Deptford, and the rise in power of the son of a man who once ran the cities first true secret police force… but while all this was happening, the teenage King got it into his head to implement a policy to change the line of succession- suddenly dragging the nation to the brink of a civil war, and threatened the stability of the Tudor dynasty itself. Cover includes extract of from profile of King Edward VI, holding the red rose of the royal house of Lancaster, in a portrait attributed to the court artist Guillim Scrots.

Chapter 212- The (mostly) true and tragic death of Arden of Faversham (1551) 4th Anniversary Special

2026/09/16

February 1551… and in a small town near London a terrible murder takes place; a man is killed by his wife and a large assortment of colourful characters, and the case of it creates an uproar that scandalises London all that year… and beyond. The crime became immortalised in poems, ballads, plays, and over 25 years later was included in detail in one of the great historical accounts of the history of England. What was it that so intoxicated the Tudor audiences that they were drawn back again and again to rehash the details so salacious? In this special chapter, made to celebrate our 4th anniversary, we examine the most detailed account of this event to see what it tells us about the time, and to witness an amazing story of London Grocers, criminal soldiers, and children who helped murder their own father. Cover includes detail of a cover of Arden of Faversham, produced by the artist Hugh Ribbans.

Chapter 211: The Bones of St Erkenwald (1549-1550) (The Fall and Rise of the Tudors: I)

2026/09/10

Welcome to the first of two special episodes celebrating the 4th birthday of the Story of London! In the years 1548 and 1549, London existed under the reign of the child King Edward VI, and his Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset… and was heading towards a series of political crisis that would rock it to its core. And the opening one begins now… We see the tale why London’s merchants found themselves at odds with the protectorate regime; how it witnessed the country slip out from under the governments control; how a political disagreement became a crisis, and how suddenly, London the city was presented by a terrible choice… and a moment where one man of the Common Council of the city may have prevented a civil war. All of this, and the awfully sad loss of the remains of London’s ancient Patron Saint… and this is only the open salvo in the disaster to come. Cover art includes a close up of the window to St Erkenwald, in Soulton Hall.

Chapter 210- “Richly hang’d with rich cloths…” (1547-1549) (Aftermath of Henry VIII: Part 2)

2026/09/03

The Story returns with the second and final part of the aftermath of the death of Henry VIII- the grand ceremonies of death and rebirth carry on within London, as the new child king is welcomed, before London gets back to its usual type of issues- Aldermen who don’t want the job, ex-monks smuggling body parts out of the country, worried academic types recanting their beliefs at Paul’s Cross. But over in Westminster, the new regime of the King’s Uncle began to build up their courage to unleash a series of dramatic evangelical reforms upon the land, reforms which would see the churches of our city forever changed, and the fate of one such sacred space was to have a profound impact upon the country which we see to this very day. Cover art includes detail from ‘Portrait of a Gentleman, Said to be Sir Edward Seymour’ by unknown artist.

Chapter 209- The Kids are NOT alright… (1547) (The Aftermath of Henry VIII: Part 1)

2026/08/26

We are back with a two part examination of the immediate aftermath of the death of King Henry VIII- and look at the impact of his death upon his family (especially his children), the government of England and upon how London reacted to it all. A nine year old boy was now on the throne of England… this changed everything. Lets find out how… Cover features a detail from “An Allegory of the Tudor Succession” c.1590, Unknown painter

Chapter 208- “Of God’s Wrath, that doth thee enwrap…” (1546-1547)

2026/08/20

We return after a short break, and tell the story of London during the final two years of the reign of Henry VIII- a chapter that not only documents the declining health and mental state of the aging king, but also shows how right up to the end, his regime was as deadly and as vicious as ever. This is London witnessing the trial of a noble whose cause became one London supported… even if he was the kind of man to wander the streets firing crossbows at passersby. Welcome to a city which reflected the paradoxical nature of the regime itself. Cover shows detail of a sketch of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, credited to Hans Holbein the Younger.

Chapter 207- “Alack! Poor mouse!” (1546)

2026/07/30

1546- a year which saw the full tyranny of Henry VIII bloom across London; when the city was not being forced to buy tonnes of surplus wheat from the King; when it was not celebrating the end of the War with France; and when it was not almost burning the wives of cattle barons… it was dealing with a great many things. One of these was the closure of its legal red light district over on Bankside, an event which actually caused the spread of illegal sex trade; but it also witnessed a wild year wherein the 6th wife of Henry VIII came within an inch of being arrested for heresy, and an amazing, and bold woman called Anne Askew found herself suffering a horrendous death upon Smithfield. Welcome to the last full year of the life of Henry VIII- it alls it gory detail. Cover features Portrait of Anne Askew by Hans Eworth (1560)

Chapter 206- “Some for one thing, some for another…” (1543-1546)

2026/07/23

The Story finds itself in the last years of the reign of Henry VIII- and we find our metropolis a place where innocent simple teenagers are burned alive, where security clampdowns see curfews and house searches, where ships explode on the Thames, where thousands of men leave the streets to march out to war, where the economy contracts, where no one is safe, and where all of this is caused by an obese, diseased, angry, foul tempered man, playing games with people and dragging all down into insanity. Cover includes portrait of Henry VIII by Cornelis Metsys.

Chapter 205- “Lombard street shall be exercised…” (1520-1550)

2026/07/15

An episode where we look under the surface to see what the cities merchants were doing- and run into some surprising truths; this was London at the birth of modern capitalism, and this chapter takes you though the sophisticated financial operations taking place in the city, the newly emergent international trade in credit, why Antwerp was showing the way London had to follow, and introduce a family who would dominate trade in the city over a few generations; the Gresham dynasty. Welcome to the ground floor in the revolution that will change London forever… Cover includes altered picture of the Mercer’s Maid, symbol of the Mercer Livery Company, Dryden Street, London

Chapter 204- “No man dare speak against…” (1539-1544)

2026/07/08

Henry VIII was a tyrant. He was a brutal, wilful, petulant king, whose desire to do whatever the hell he felt like and deal with the consequences later, had driven his country into uncharted and dangerous waters. And this is his reign made manifest upon the streets of London- a city filled with massive mock battles on the river, accidental shootings of washerwomen, new churches to prevent bodies being dragged through Whitehall Palace, confusing mass executions of both Protestants and Catholics on the same day, parades of soldiers never destined to fight, and the king going through wives faster than some residents went though a decent jacket. And in all of this- that highest ranked of all London residents, Thomas Cromwell was to fall from power and be put to death. The sheer madness of the king made manifest in a city just trying to cope with his whims… Cover includes altered version of the portrait of Henry VIII, done by Hans Eworth based on the original by Hans Holbein the Younger (1540-1547)

Chapter 203- Gregory Sweet Lips (1536-1540)

2026/06/25

This weeks chapter examines four busy years in the story of our city- culminating in the first death by shooting in its history; along the way we explore a country descending into resentment, resignation and eventually rebellion as Henry VIII descends into tyranny. We examine the seeming madness of his actions, from the speed and ferocity with which he turned on Ann Boleyn, to the dramatic sudden marriage to Lady Jane Seymour, to suddenly being married to a German princess… Along the way we look as the city copes with massive rebellions in the north, violent turmoil in Calais, and crucially, explore why the city itself remained peaceful- discovering that while the king increasingly gave way to his own dark passions, perhaps driven there by a near fatal accident, London’s mercers and others began to look to each other for continuity. Cover includes detail from the portrait of Queen Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein the Younger.

Chapter 202- “With force and arms break down the gate” (1536-1550)

2026/06/17

We take a pause from the narrative, to examine, in detail, what the dissolution of the monasteries of London meant for the city- literally, who gained the land and the buildings, what did they do with them, and how much money was made from this? What we see is series of deals that will influence London for the next few decades, as a plethora of new landlords and new homes erupted, and how a small bunch of people were able to make a fortune out of this. Cover includes photograph of the blue plaque denoting the site of Grey Friars Monastery, the City of London

Podcast reviews

Read The Story of London podcast reviews

4.9 out of 5

46 reviews

★★★★★

AY in ATL 2026/05/30

Captivating, fun and informative

Was looking for a good London history podcast ahead of my first trip there later this year. This one is fantastic. Saul is an excellent storyteller. H...

★★★★★

Maluhfaluff 2026/01/02

Great podcast

Very well-researched and vividly retold. Episode art is so poor and distracting that I have to avoid looking at it in order to enjoy.

★★★★★

Bookish C 2024/11/07

Interesting

Fell in love with London last summer when I visited and wanted to know all about it. This podcast is a history buff’s dream. So much detail. I love it...

★★★★★

thepinckpunk 2023/09/06

A History Lover’s Podcast

I was looking for a podcast on London and found this one about a month and a half ago. Saul does an immense job of providing a highly detailed podcast...

★★★★★

AlexNoHo 2023/06/05

Great Storytelling

Fascinating, very well told, the perfect podcast for learning London history

★★★★★

war eagle 64 2023/05/26

Delightfully entrancing

A wonderful mix of drama, insight, and wit. Superb podcast.

★★★★★

Mountain Spidergirl 2023/01/13

Expertly historical, dramatic, fascinating

The pleasure of discovering this exquisitely researched and dramatically presented podcast cannot be overstated. The breadth and depth of the host’s h...

★★★★★

pjbnyc777 2022/12/26

Incredible gem of a podcast

I’m a self-proclaimed Anglophile who wanted to find a very in-depth podcast on the beginnings of London, before making another visit to the city. This...

★★★★★

Nurse1921 2022/11/07

The Story of London

This is a great telling of a rich history. I am learning so much and loom forward to the upcoming chapters.

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