Hello loyal listeners. Sorry it's been soooo long - I explain why in the show but it was too long. This TWIL is all about a British institution - the curry. I talk about the history of the curry, where it came from and how the British have changed it in its home country as well.

Listen to it here



Music is by Slashed Seat Affair, Nick Cave and Bad Seeds and Black Lab.

Please do email or leave comments - I really do appreciate and reply to every single one. Thanks!

Paul

Greetings! In this show I interview two top guys from the Docklands Light Railway. I hope you enjoy it. It's my usual blend of interesting background information combined with my irreverant prattlings.

You can play the podcast by clicking the PuPu Player (no, really) up there at the top of the page. Alternatively you can listen to the show here:




I have one of the DLR Goody Bags here if anyone wants it enough. Best comment detailing why they should have it will get it.

Music is by
Twelfth Night - Sequences
Wes Brookes - Parka
Black Lab - Ghost In Your Mind

Thanks

Greetings one and all and welcome to This Week in London #32 - Buckingham Palace.

You can play the podcast by clicking the PuPu PLayer (no, really) up there at the top of the page. Alternatively you can listen to the show here:




This time I'm putting Buckingham Palace under the viewing glass. Interesting place and a builders dream. It's been built and rebuilt since the early part of the 18th Century with some humungous heavy lifting jobs done to it.


The picture at the very top is a great panoramic by Meichimite from FLickr under Creative Commons. The rather wet one is one I took when Flat Stan went on his trip round London in 2002. The lower one is of a Garden Party, courtesy of the CC-licensed image from Flickr by Mark Hillary. Thanks to them both for making it available under Creative Commons.

Music this time out is:

Black Lab with Ghost in your Mind - where you can buy the album Passion Leaves a Trace and See The Sun (strong recommendation for both these albums - awesome stuff )

Beyond7 with Smoke. You can buy the album at iTunes - click here
Thanks to Steven for the CD and a strong recommendation to go listen to the music.

and

DJ Earworm with Funky goes to Hollywood
Which I thought was just terrific and worth playing on the show even if it is "just" a mashup.

As always, your feedback is appreciated and all emails ARE read AND replied to by yours truly.
I hope you enjoy the show and look out for another show PDQ!

Hi everyone. Here's Episode 31 where I talk about three very important people. The three are the Chelsea Pensioners, the Pearly Kings and Queens and the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London.

You can listen to the show here:


Music is by Sender with Sleepwalker
Wes Brookes with Autumn Sun and
We The Living with Atlantic. Also at the Podsafe Music Network and at iTunes.

Update: I just had a lovely email from Wes Brookes:
"Thanks for the request! My name is Wes Brookes and the band was called the Wes Brookes Band simply because we couldnt think of a suitable name. We are called Resination (for now) but I think that will change it to Resonation in the next week or so (we are currently debating the spelling - we were Rezination last week).....just advertise us as the reggae band from West Yorkshire (I think we are the only reggae band up here) called Resonation featuring Wes Brookes ! Cheers for interest."


I got a phenomenal response to the the Sender track last time out so I was delighted to receive an email from the band's manager with a link so you can go download the tracks. There are 8 tracks for download here (updated with correct link)

I wanted to play Beyond 7 tonight but the track kept bombing out my Acid Pro set up. If I can ask Steven to send the tracks again that would be v. cool.

Anyways, enough prattling on from me. Thanks to Paul Nicholls for the idea and heartfelt commiserations on your bad luck mate. I hope they catch the *^$£%$ thugs and kick some sense into them. Chances are though they'll get away with it in this country. You need to be... Nope - not for this site. Please send messages of support to Paul Nicholls at www.podcastpaul.com

Take care.

Greetings all!

Tonight's show is all about the Crown Jewels of the royals of Britain. I changed my format with this show - rather than having general bullet points I have actually written out a script of sorts (I still deviate a little ;-) so it flows better. It's a bit more work upfront but better in the recording stage. I'm *really* interested in what you think about it - please do email me with your thoughts!

You can listen to the show here:


Music on the show is provided by

Sender - Alive and Kicking (demo)

Penda's Fen - Walking on the Edge

Ehren Starks - The Tale of Room 620

Please do support the bands who give their music to be played on podcasts - we get to play it to you for free - they make nothing from the podcast plays on shows like this. They hope you will like the music enough to go buy it!

So there you have it - a tad longer than usual but not as much as I thought at the beginning of the show. I hope you enjoy it and if you feel the need to send me a mail, call me on Skype or leave comment then please do! Thanks.

Hi all. This show is all about London Heathrow Terminal 5. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours earlier this week being given a guided (chaperoned) tour of LHR T5.

For the record, the building is amazing - deisgned by the Richard Rogers Partnership and opening on 27th March 2008 it's going to take London Heathrow into the 21st Century in a big way. Everything about LHR T5 is huge - from the 96 check in desks to the 18km of baggage belts... mind blowing.

You can listen to the show here:


I'm sure I've left stuff out so I suggest you go visit www.BA.com for the most up to date information. In fact it's essential you do so as the various terminals that BA uses at the moment are gradually transitioning over to T5 but some are NOT. Be aware of that and double check before you go to the wrong one!

Plenty of pictures from Terminal 5 are available here.
Thanks for link to the pictures at the BBC (see comments in previous post) but I have permission to post these ones.

Other bits of news are the new "enhanced" security checks for internal flights in the UK. I think Civil Liberties people should dig a little deeper here. Taking Liberty? You betcha. Listen for the low down.

Music is by

Esteban with Santiago

Lato with London Girl

Finniston with Another Love Song from the Organised for Hi Fi album

So, to wrap up. An awesome building, great logistical feat to get it built. Not sure about the domestic flight civil liberties issue but elsewise - fab.

Hi all!

This show was prompted by an audio comment sent to me by Paul Nicholls, a good mate and great podcaster who recorded something for me while he was in London. He mentioned Marylebone and I thought that's a great place. I hope I do it justice.

You can listen to the show here:


I cover 221B Baker Street, the "home" of Sherlock Holmes, Madame Tussauds, the London Planetarium and Lords with a bit of a detour to talk about the movie "Plunkett & Macleane" via the River Tyburn, the hanging tree and Newgate Prison.

The music in this show is provided by Sera via www.myspace.com/seramusic

Don't be shy - send me email (I reply to every mail!) and comment below.

Have a great day.

I'm on my last legs as I write this; the jet lag is almost gone - but it's done. This Week In London #27 is available for your musical and Londonist needs. This time I take a peek at The BT Tower or as I keep calling it, the Post Office Tower. My pictures are at the bottom of this post....

Built in 1964, opened in 1966, the Post Office Tower was the tallest building in London for quite some time. The views from the (still)(just) rotating restaurant area are stunning (see below) but only if you go to the Tower - you'll need to listen to the show to get that joke.

You can listen to the show here:


Music from the Podsafe Music Network courtesy of

Manic Street Preachers with two tracks from their "Send Away The Tigers" album
first up was "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" followed by "Autumn Song". Good solid rock out tracks. Don't forget the fast forward if they are not to your taste. But - for heavens sake - it is the Manics!

The bonus track this evening is from Punam Verma who is also on the PMN - this was HUSH...

Thanks for all your emails and comments over the past few weeks. Daz - if you're reading this - send me the file and I'll edit and link to it here.

I'll be back with another show, in a week or so. Three for February - or should that be FreeFerFeb? Peace.

I've posted them to my Flickr page... you know how to find me right? Just google parkylondon... Or if you're feeling less inquisitive click here

Hi everyone and happy New Year!

Sorry I didn't get my second show out last month - I just got caught up in time off from work and spending time with the family and Christmas and all that (yes I know the grammar is bad but it flowed well)

Today's show covers London Zoo, or more correctly the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. You can find them here so go and have a read of what they do! It's a great organisation and one worth supporting.

You can listen to the show here:


The winner of the competition is announced in the show and if you haven't been emailed it wasn't you I'm afraid. Better luck next time!

The companies were Bentley Motors; Calders and Grandidge, Colmans of Norwich, Kimberly-Clark and Weetabix. What did they have in common? They are all suppliers to the Royal Family. This means they can use the Royal Warrant on their packaging and letterhead etc. I had loads of entries so thanks to everyone who took the time to enter.

Music this time was by Amplifico (www.amplifico.net) and I recommend you go over there and subscribe to the newsletter so you know when the album comes out. As soon as it does buy it! It's gonna be great!

Tracks were from the Logic Kills The Fire EP and were

1. Logic Kills the Fire
2. Open Our Eyes
3. We Believe In Something Unusual

Thanks to Donna for giving me the okay to play the tracks.

So there you go. TWiL #26 is in the can....

PS the voice in my head is called LEO....

Greetings and Happy Christmas to you all!

Today's show covers the Houses of Parliament - the House of Commons and the House of Lords. I talk about some of the quirks of the place, how to get into it and what it all means. I touch on PMQ's and include some sound bites from that venerable institution. I particularly liked the Stalin / Gordon Brown / Mr. Bean comparison!

You can listen to the show here:


I clarify the end date of the competition I kicked off last show - you need to tell me what those five companies have in common by the time I do a show in the first week of the New Year. There's fifty dollars up for grabs here so hopefully I've made it tricky but meaningful.

The companies are: Bentley Motors; Calders and Grandidge, Colmans of Norwich, Kimberly-Clark and Weetabix.

Over to you.

Music today was by Candy Butchers who you can find here. Don't worry, Mike Viola WAS half of Candy Butchers. His new stuff is good and you can still buy the Candy Butchers stuff.

I think that all - I'll edit and add anything else!

Edit 1: I have updated and corrected a post for TWiL #21 Nelsons Column which for some reason had gone AWOL. Try this link and let me know if it works eh?