Walk & Talk: London 🇬🇧

Join me as I walk through central London and talk about the things I can see around me.
🎧 Listen to the audio-only episode of the podcast this week here (different to this video) 👉 https://teacherluke.co.uk/2025/06/09/939-our-favourite-things-to-do-in-london-part-1/
✅ Subscribe to my audio podcast 👉 https://www.teacherluke.co.uk/links
🎶 Intro music by Jim Thompson 👉 https://jimthompson.bandcamp.com/

Hello video viewers, this episode is called Walk 
and Talk London, although as you can see at this point I’m actually on a bike, making my way from 
Bloomsbury, in the north of the city centre, down to the south bank of the River Thames, where 
my walk is going to begin. So yes, you’re going to join me on a walk through central London. It’s a 
bit of an adventure, you’ll see some of London’s most famous sights, and I’ll talk to you in 
English, of course, throughout the entire thing. Hence the title, Walk and Talk London. 
It’s a rambling episode in both senses   of the word. Rambling through London, with 
my feet, and also rambling with my voice. Now, I’m not a tour guide, so don’t expect a 
history lesson for each location that I visit. There’s a little bit of that, but really, 
this is just a chance for you to hang out   with me in London for an hour or so, and I’ll 
chat to you about this and that along the way. Now as you know, episodes of this podcast 
have video versions and audio versions,   and usually they are the same, 
but this week they’re different. Obviously the video version this time is a 
tour of London, but on the audio podcast this week you can hear something different. It’s an 
episode with recordings of some of my friends and family talking about London. I asked some of 
my friends and family who’ve lived in London or still live there, I asked them to send me quick 
voice notes describing their favourite things to do in the city, and I got some really great bits 
of inside knowledge and tips for what to do there. If you listen to it, you can get insights 
into how Londoners like to enjoy their city, plus you can hear from some of my friends and 
family, including various returning guests and familiar voices. You can listen to the 
recordings and then I’ll teach you vocabulary   that comes up in each one. So that’s the audio 
version of Luke’s English Podcast this week. I think it’s a good companion episode to this 
video, so why not listen to it and subscribe to the audio version of Luke’s English Podcast 
while you’re at it. It’s available wherever you   get your audio podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify, 
Pocketcasts, all the podcast platforms. Just click the link in the description to check it out, 
or scan this QR code for some podcast links. But this video version was recorded when I was 
in London for the day. I was there because I   was on my way to visit my parents, who live in 
the Midlands, a couple of hours away from the city centre. Usually I live in Paris, in 
France, but it’s very easy to travel from Paris to London via the Eurostar train, which 
goes under the sea, under the English Channel, and drops you off at St Pancras station, 
not far from the centre of the city. Usually I don’t hang around, I just get on another 
train, which takes me to where my parents live, but this time I decided to spend the day in 
London and record this video while I was there. So let me tell you about the route which I 
took on this particular day, just to give you   an idea of what things you’re going to see. 
So this is London, let me just scroll back. So this is the Earth, right, you’re familiar 
with it, you probably live here somewhere. Let’s zoom in on the UK. Here’s obviously 
France, here’s Paris, and the Eurostar, phew, goes under the sea here, under the 
English Channel, and takes you to London. So here is the UK, England, 
Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, this is the United Kingdom. Anyway, let’s 
zoom in on London. Here we go, here it is. This is more or less central London. It’s pretty   big. There’s the River Thames that winds 
its way through the centre of the city. So after cycling down through Bloomsbury and 
Hoburn, and then across Waterloo Bridge here, which has fantastic views of the city on both 
sides, I parked up the bike, and then you’ll see that my walking tour starts here, underneath 
Embankment Bridge on the south bank of the river, and I walked along the south bank past the 
London Eye, and onto Westminster Bridge, which was very crowded with tourists at this 
time of year, across Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, 
and then I turned right onto Whitehall,   past Downing Street, which is the home of the 
Prime Minister, left through Horseguards Parade, which is where the Horseguards are based, 
and onto Horseguards Road. I was originally planning to walk through St James’s Park, or walk 
down the Mall here, to visit Buckingham Palace, maybe drop in on the King, have a cup of tea or 
something, but I realised I didn’t have time, so I turned right here into Trafalgar Square. Let 
me just change the way this looks a little bit. So yes, into Trafalgar Square here, an iconic 
tourist attraction, where you can see Nelson’s Column, and also you can visit the National 
Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery,   and then I made my way through the back streets 
here, into the Soho area and Covent Garden, and a quick visit to Covent Garden Market, and then 
I made my way into Covent Garden Underground Station, where I took the, was it the Bakerloo 
line, the Piccadilly line, I can’t remember,   took the Underground up to Baker Street, which is 
up here. This is where the video ends, next to the statue of Sherlock Holmes, which can be found just 
outside the station here somewhere, down here. Not here, this, oh dear, I’m 
about to get run over by a bus. Get out of the way, out of the way of the bus, 
I can’t actually get through to it. Anyway, just here there’s a statue of Sherlock Holmes, 
you’ll see it at the end of the video. Anyway,   that was an overview of my walk through London, 
where I didn’t get hit by a bus or a taxi. So if you’ve never been to London, but 
you’re interested in seeing what it’s like,   while listening to me rambling on 
in English, this video is for you, or maybe you’ve already been there, and this 
will be a pleasant trip down memory lane. You alright mate? Yeah, I’m alright thanks. 
Subtitles are available on this video,   so switch them on if you’d like a little bit of 
help understanding every single word that I say. But now, without further ado, let’s begin this 
walk and talk episode in London, and here we go. Hello everyone, yes, this is me walking and 
talking again. This time I’m in London, yep, and currently walking along the 
south bank of the River Thames. This area is known as the South Bank, 
that’s what this area is called.   Just walked under Embankment Bridge. 
You can get lots of buskers here, that’s a busker, a guy in this case 
playing the guitar in the street. But you get different types of buskers here, 
singing, dancing, doing magic, this bus, there’s a bus here, a big pink bus, not a red bus, 
they sell frozen yoghurt. Kids on a school trip, where are they from? Where are they all from? 
Are they from China? I’m trying to read the badges on their sweaters, I couldn’t see where 
they were from. Here’s a big merry-go-round, a merry-go-round, yes, for the kids, 
my daughter loves those things. There’s a van over there selling fish and chips, 
freshly hand-battered fish and chips out of a van. It’s such a busy and vibrant place, 
the South Bank. It got kind of refurbished, when was it? Around the time of the millennium, a 
lot of this stuff got refurbished and redesigned, they added these green spaces here, they kind of 
repaved the embankment, refreshed the whole area with more shops and cafes and things, made it 
a really attractive place for people to come. There’s some sort of street 
performance going on here. What’s he doing? Stop, stop, stop. Three people 
clapping, the rest of you go like this. But now I give you the show, London, if you’re 
ready, say yeah! Everybody together, not just the kids and the alcoholics, or the alcoholic kids. If 
you’re ready for this, say yeah! Yeah! If you’re happy, say yeah! British humour, right, alcoholic 
kids. It’s just a joke, of course, listeners. Here’s the River Thames, big wide river, 
big old river. Well, all rivers are old, aren’t they, really? And right up here in 
front of me is the London Eye, which is like a big observation wheel. I think it takes 
about 30 minutes to go all the way around it, and it goes really high and at the top you get 
a great view of the London skyline and beyond. And on a clear day you can see really far 
and you can pick out all the different   interesting buildings and monuments 
and things from up there, including of course the Houses of Parliament, 
Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and other things. Now it’s bound to 
be noisy, everyone. It’s bound to be noisy. Here’s another busker. Some more street performers 
dressed up in their outfits. Big London Eye. So yeah, I was just saying it’s bound 
to be noisy this episode. There’s not   really anything I can do about that. If 
I’m going to visit these sort of popular places then there’s going to 
be a lot of activity around. Not just the sound of people talking around me, 
in English this time, not in French. And if I’m going through parts of the city there’s bound to 
be the sounds of cars and buses driving past me. This is what it’s like in any big city, 
isn’t it? It’s always going to be noisy. So I expect for some of you listening 
that might be a bit disorienting or just, I don’t know how to put it really, 
just a bit unpleasant to listen to. I think that, as I said in the last one of 
these, I think that only affects certain people it seems who are particularly 
sensitive to that kind of noisy audio atmosphere. Other people find it immersive and 
makes it an interesting listening experience. Wow, it’s very crowded here. 
It’s like school holidays, school holiday time. So lots of families are 
down here with their kids, lots of tourists. Hello, this is Luke from the future just 
interrupting things here. I hope you’re   enjoying this walk through London. 
We’ve only just started in fact. There’s so much more to come, so many other things 
to see. I’m just interrupting myself here for two   reasons. The first thing is that there is a 
full transcript available for this episode. So if you would like to check anything that 
you’re hearing, if you would like to see the   written version, then go ahead, you can just 
download the transcript from the description of this episode. The link is in the description. 
The second thing is that in just a second,   you’re going to hear me talking about 
the Olympic Games and you’ll hear me say, in Paris at the moment, the Olympics is happening 
or the Olympics is going to happen soon in Paris. And you’ll think to yourself, wait a minute, 
what’s going on, Luke? That was last year,   that was 2024 or that was two years 
ago or basically that was in the past, Luke. What’s happening? Well, yes, 
I actually recorded this footage a year ago from the moment I 
speak. It was summer of 2024. So that’s why when you hear 
me talking about the Olympics,   that should make sense. I actually recorded 
this a year ago and I’ve been sitting on this footage. I haven’t literally been sitting on it. That would be strange. But I’ve had 
this in my hard drive for ages and finally I’ve worked on it and 
produced this episode. But anyway,   just so that you don’t think that you’re 
losing your mind or I’m losing my mind. Yes, I know the Olympics happened 
in the past in Paris. So that’s why, that explains that. Okay, on 
with the walking tour of London. Here we go. It’s quite funny, really, 
because at the moment in Paris, the Olympics is going on. Okay, sorry, one 
more interruption, because here you are, you’re listening to this and you’re 
learning English and therefore you’re   paying attention to every single word I’m 
saying and you’re thinking, wait a minute, Luke, is it really the Olympics is? Surely it’s 
the Olympics are, right? Because it’s plural. The Olympic Games are? Yes, I think so. Yes, the 
Olympics are. But I think that this is actually one of those cases where it’s kind of acceptable, 
maybe just in my mind, to say the Olympics are, because for me, the Olympics is the name of 
an event, right? A specific singular event. And so that’s why I’m saying the Olympics 
is. It’s a bit like when I say the Beatles, right? The Beatles is my favourite band, because 
although that’s plural and there are four Beatles, or there were four Beatles, although 
that’s plural, I’m thinking of the   Beatles as a singular thing, as a 
band. So when I say the Olympics is, the Olympics is going to start, that’s because 
in my mind, the Olympics is a singular event. So yeah, although it’s technically 
plural because it’s the Olympic   Games and that should be the Olympic Games 
are, you can see how actually in English, sometimes plural things can be 
considered a singular thing,   right? Like my example of the Beatles, and 
in this case, the Olympics. So I’m not wrong, okay? There you go. So sometimes with English, 
it’s not just a question of right or wrong. It’s just a question of whether you can 
explain your unconventional use of grammar, maybe. So there you go. The Olympics 
begin in Paris this coming Friday. So it’s just like the week or days before the 
Olympics. And everyone expected the city to be completely full of tourists and to be 
unbelievably crowded. All the Parisians were convinced that the place would get so 
crowded, you wouldn’t be able to do anything. But all the reports in the 
news say that Paris is empty, it’s deserted. This is what the reports 
are saying, whether it’s true or not,   I don’t know. But apparently it’s deserted, like 
not enough tourists have come for the Olympics. There’s over a million unsold tickets. I bet 
it’s not deserted. I bet during the Olympics, especially for the opening ceremony, I’m 
sure around in parts of the city where the Olympic activities are happening, 
I’m sure it’s going to be very crowded. But it’s just ironic that I’m walking through 
London and it’s like incredibly crowded. Meanwhile, Paris is all deserted. 
And everyone expected the city to be so full of people, but it’s not the case. What’s going on? Do you think people 
are not interested in the Olympics anymore? I think everyone’s a bit 
sceptical now. Everyone’s over it, right? The Olympics. Just recent years, 
people maybe see what’s really going on. Maybe, what am I saying, it’s become a 
little bit jaded because of corruption and people just feel like it’s all a way 
for the corporations to make loads of money and it’s not really that profitable 
for most normal people. But still,   the sporting events are great and the Paralympics 
is really cool. Like all of the different events, it’s just really interesting to 
see the different sports that are featured in the Paralympics and the interesting 
ways in which people are able to do sports. For example, like playing basketball when 
you’re in a wheelchair or blind football or people doing athletics when they’ve 
perhaps got, what’s the word for it, perhaps when they’re using artificial 
limbs. You see people running with the kind of metal or carbon fibre legs and 
things. God, it’s so crowded here, everyone. I’ve picked the most crowded place to do this. 
All these people. It’s a bit overwhelming. Why did I choose to walk down the most 
touristy part of London? This is not a very good advert for the city. It’s 
not normally as crowded as this. And this is a Tuesday afternoon in July, but 
it’s peak tourist season at the moment. But you can see what people come for. They come 
for these big monuments and these views. Like, is that too windy? Like the 
London Eye over there, Big River. And then London, Westminster, the city of 
Westminster, which is a part of London. London itself is divided into different districts 
or cities. We’re currently in Westminster. And over towards the east, you’ve got 
the City of London, as it’s called. Then you’ve got other parts of 
the city, like, for example,   Kensington and Chelsea to the west. 
Hammersmith further down the river. Southwark on the other side of the river down 
there. And so on and so forth. London’s really just a collection of different towns all 
stuck together to form one big metropolis. London, home of Danger Mouse. You can’t really 
see very much right now except the backs of tourist heads and silly tourists walking in 
the cycle lane. They’re in the cycle lane, the cyclists are coming, going, ding, ding, 
ding, get out of the way, silly tourists. Someone’s trying to have their romantic photograph 
taken in front of the Houses of Parliament. So I’ve got a feeling that this episode’s not going 
to work very well as an audio episode, but who knows, maybe I’ll be able to edit it together. 
Oh my goodness, just in case I was worried about the loud noises in this episode, here’s a guy 
playing the bagpipes with a Canadian flag. Is this a Canadian bagpipe player? I’m not going to stop for long 
because I’ve got somewhere to be,   I’ve got to make progress. I’m actually 
heading towards Marleybone train station. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to make my 
way there because I’m quite far away from that. But I wanted to try and visit some interesting 
parts of town to show you some of the sights of London while also making my way up to 
North West London to get my suitcase and then get on a train to where my parents 
live. There’s the Houses of Parliament, this is where the House of Commons 
and the House of Lords are based.   It’s where the government, you know, have 
their debates and vote on laws and things. And this is the Elizabeth Tower, it’s called these 
days. And inside the Elizabeth Tower is Big Ben, which is actually a large bell 
that goes dong every hour. So it’s actually the bell that’s called 
Big Ben, as you will know if you’re a   long-term listener to this podcast, 
because I’m always telling you that. Sorry, it’s so crowded. I’m not sure this 
is, how is this going to work out as an episode? What does this look like? Is it, is 
it, how is it to watch this? It’s probably better to watch this than it is to actually 
be walking along here because this is just kind of annoying. Having to walk through 
crowds of people, it’s just so irritating. I wanted to go and visit, I wanted 
to walk down Whitehall, which is like a major street where lots of 
government ministries are based. Oh my God, it’s tourist hell. I 
hate crowds of people, I really do. Keep talking, keep talking, Luke. It’s always 
a good, good policy for doing a podcast, Luke, for doing your podcast. Just keep 
talking, OK? Just keep the words flowing. As we walk down this road, it’s a busy city, 
especially in July. Tonnes of tourists. I need to get off the beaten track, right? 
The beaten track, that means the   places where everybody goes, like the way that 
everyone chooses to go is the beaten track. So the phrase to get off the beaten track means 
to go sort of down the roads or on the routes that people don’t normally take, right? So I’m 
walking down these major roads, going to the most touristy places, so of course there’s going to be 
loads of people. But I need to get off the beaten track. But the thing is, if I get off the beaten 
track, I end up missing some of these highlights. So you can look at these. This is 
the Cabinet War Rooms over here. It’s a museum which shows the war rooms of Winston 
Churchill and his government from World War II. They’ve been preserved, so you can 
visit them. There’s the Cenotaph, which is one of London’s most significant 
monuments. The Cenotaph is a monument to the people who died during the 
Great War, the First World War. And I believe it also represents the people who 
died in World War II as well. I think originally it was for the people who died in World 
War II. That’s a fire engine driving past. Hopefully nothing too serious.   So this whole street, as I said, is Whitehall. 
Now these buildings are government buildings. This is where government offices are based, and 
different ministries. I’m not sure which ministry is based in this large building here. Which 
ministry is this? But these black gates here, there’s a big crowd of people, because 
this is the entrance to Downing Street. It’s basically a small side street, but 
that’s where the Prime Minister’s house   is. Number 10 Downing Street. Can we see it 
from here? You can’t really see it from here. It’s just down there on the right. 
Oh my God. So many tourists. The police guarding the entrance. It’s down there 
on the right. Number 10 Downing Street, next door to it, number 11, which is where the Finance 
Minister lives, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. So there you go. If you want 
to go and visit Keir Starmer, you know where he lives. Number 10 Downing Street. OK, there’s another monument here. This 
is a monument to the women of World War II. The women who not only gave their 
lives, but gave their service at home. Working in factories, building weapons, 
ammunition, doing the work that the men couldn’t do because they were off 
fighting. Let’s just have a closer look at some of these large buildings. See if we 
can identify which ministries are based here. In this particular section 
of Whitehall, as I said,   this large row with all these large buildings, 
this is the Cabinet Office. Number 70 Whitehall, the Cabinet Office. This is 
where the Cabinet is based. The Cabinets, that’s basically the set of 
ministers, government ministers, who form the most important members of the government. 
For example, the Ministry for Education, the Home Office Ministry, the Foreign Office 
Ministry, and so on. So this group of ministers, selected by the Prime Minister, is like his 
main team that forms the core of the government. We call that the Cabinet. Dover House, which 
is where the Secretary of State for Scotland is based, apparently. This thing here is 
apparently the Government Ministry for Tourist Merchandise Crap, where you can 
buy badges, royal guards with toy guns. How nice. Let’s keep going, because we’re going 
to approach Horse Guards Parade. Coming up on the left, you’re going to see some guys in 
old military uniform, sitting on horses. These are the Horse Guards. I don’t 
know how long the Horse Guards have been doing what they’re doing. But 
this is a military unit based here. And they are a horse unit, so they 
ride horses. And they basically guard this entrance towards Buckingham 
Palace. I’m going to walk through here. I’m assuming I’m allowed. I mean, I 
am Luke from Luke’s English Podcast,   after all. If all these tourists are allowed in, 
then I don’t see why I can’t come in as well. Bloody tourists. No, I don’t 
mind. King’s Mounted Bodyguards. OK, so these are basically the King’s 
Bodyguards. Mounted means that they are on horses. So I’m walking through Horse 
Guards Parade, I think it’s called. I’m not a tour guide, I’m just a bloke, right? 
So we’re kind of approaching St James’s Park, and Buckingham Palace is in that direction.   We’ll go and have a look at Buckingham Palace, 
if we can actually get to it, because often there are crowds in front of that as well. Another, 
what looks like another war memorial over there, with St James’s Park in the background, 
which is a lovely, pleasant green space. London is full of green spaces. It’s 
an interesting spot, this, with these government ministries, these important 
institutions around me. Various statues. Tourists, pigeons. Tourist pigeons, 
I don’t think… Do you get tourist pigeons? Do you think that pigeons 
ever go on holiday? Like, coo-coo,   where shall we go? Coo-coo-coo. 
Let’s go to… Let’s go to London. And… No, probably not. Oh, dear,   I’m not feeling that inspired this afternoon. 
What time is it? OK, it’s nearly four o’clock. Actually, I wanted to go now. See if I 
can find a bike. Cycle to Marleybone. My phone is going to die. I don’t think I can get 
a bike. Right, I’m going to abandon this episode. I’m going to abandon this, I’ve decided, 
for various reasons. Reason number one,   I’m not prepared enough with 
the right information. I need to prepare a document with key facts, 
and a clear route decided in advance, so that as I walk along the route, I can 
tell you the facts, right? That’s one. Second thing, my phone is going to die. It’s 
going to run out of battery. And I need my phone to communicate with my mum and dad, so that they 
know when I’m going to arrive, and other things. So I need to go to a shop and buy one 
of those battery chargers. And yeah, third thing, I need to get going. I need to 
get on a train to go and visit my parents. So I don’t know what I’m going to do with this 
episode. What shall I do with it? It would be a pity just to get rid of it. I don’t know, 
maybe I’ll just chuck it in as a bonus extra. This is the Mall, right? This road, this 
big red, long red road, is basically the driveway for Buckingham Palace, which is over 
there, way up there in the distance. I don’t know if you can see it, all the way up there, 
Buckingham Palace, and all the way down there,   Trafalgar Square. I guess I’ll head 
towards… Well, I wanted to get a bike. I wanted to find a Lime bike, a little rental 
bike. But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to rent one, if my phone’s going to die, because 
if it dies while I’m on the bike, what does that mean? How do I end the rental? The rental 
will just go on forever. It’ll cost me a fortune. London is a big city, and it takes 
a long time to get from A to B, especially on foot. It’s not like Paris. Paris 
is smaller, and so you can get on a bicycle. You can get from one part of the 
city, quite far to another part,   in a relatively short time. But 
it took me 20 minutes to get from the British Library, where I started, near 
St Pancras, down to the South Bank. In fact, it took me about 10 minutes just to go from 
Marleybone Station to the British Library. I felt like they were right next to each other. In 
Paris, if I got on a bike and rode for 10 minutes,   I’d feel like I’d be half the way across town. So 
it just gives you an idea of the different sizes. And in London, everything takes longer. You end up   doing a lot more walking. People end 
up being in a bit more of a hurry. There’s a bit more of a sense of urgency, 
because often people have to travel a   little bit further. Here’s an interesting 
statue. It’s like a soldier with a rifle. Is there a wounded man? Erected by the 
officers and men of the Royal Marines   in memory of their comrades who were 
killed in action or died of wounds or disease in South Africa and China, 1899 
to 1900. Wow. South Africa and China. South Africa, is that what’s 
known as the Boer War? So many of those sorts of things here. 
OK, clearly this gate which leads into Trafalgar Square is being repaired right 
now, refurbished. So they’ve covered it. They’ve covered it in this… ..this kind 
of awning, this covering. It’s quite clever, the way they do this these days. 
Didn’t used to be like that. When a building was being refurbished, it would 
look like that. They would just cover it with really horrible-looking plastic covers. 
These days, with the really big monuments,   they cover them with a cover that 
looks like the building itself, so it’s kind of like… ..a little bit better. But isn’t it grand? I mean, I 
love being in central London.   I love these grand buildings and 
these pubs. Look at this nice pub. The Admiralty. What a nice-looking 
pub. Have a quick look. You just walk through from one end 
to the other. It’s like a nice pub,   isn’t it? Look at that. 
Wow, what a fantastic room. Chandelier, lovely wooden tables and floor. Big 
wooden bar. It’s like a naval theme to this one, with ships and telescopes and things, 
and all these nice English beers. I’d like to stop and have one, but 
I don’t have time. Look. Nice pub. It’s got that naval theme, because this is 
Trafalgar Square, which commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, which is when the English 
fleet fought against Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, as I said. The English fleet 
was led by Admiral Lord Nelson, whose statue is at the top of this big tower. And the English 
navy won that one, so we like to celebrate it. It’s a big, important battle that we won,   so let’s commemorate it with this fantastic 
square, with fountains and statues and big copper lions. Are they made of copper or 
bronze? I’m not sure. Bronze, I suppose. Very grand it is. And then at the back,   the National Gallery and the 
National Portrait Gallery, full of priceless paintings and portraits. And 
it’s free, you can just walk straight in. I remember when England won the Ashes against 
Australia. That’s a big series of cricket matches. In 2005, in those days I used to teach 
sort of freelance in London, and I’d be moving around from office to office to someone’s 
home, teaching different one-to-one lessons. And I remember I had an afternoon 
to kill. I’d taught in the morning, and I had a one-to-one at six o’clock or 
something. So I had five hours to kill. And the Ashes, the cricket match was on TV, and 
I went to a pub and sat there and drank coffee all afternoon. I couldn’t drink beer because I 
was teaching later on, and watched England win   the Ashes. And then this place was completely 
full of England cricket fans all celebrating. It was the middle of summer, and they 
were all jumping in the fountains and   marching in circles in the water. 
It was amazing. Trafalgar Square used to be completely full of pigeons, 
like literally just so many of them. If you came here, if you had some food, they’d 
climb all over you. It was a sort of feature of Trafalgar Square back in the old days. Feed 
the birds, tuppence a bag, right? Mary Poppins. But they were so unhygienic 
that they got rid of them   all. I don’t know how they did that. 
Probably best not to think about it. More noise for you. Another 
busker somewhere. Tracy Chapman. Ben Dixon. His name? Ben Dixon Music 
on Instagram. Here you go, Ben. Ben Dixon Music on Instagram. There he 
is singing Tracy Chapman. Fast Car is, the name of the song, isn’t it? I wonder if 
that’s going to get picked up by YouTube’s copyright infringement detection software. Probably this video will end up getting 
demonetised. If that whole section of the video is silent, then you’re going to know 
why. Deadpool versus Wolverine in cinemas. July 25th. Will it be good? I hope so. I have 
to say, I quite like those funny Marvel movies. I do quite enjoy them. Now, where am I actually 
going? Where am I actually going? I wanted to buy a battery pack for my phone. So, I want 
to go to the Apple Store or something. Where’s the nearest Apple Store? Covent 
Garden. Can I make it to Covent Garden? Covent Garden, and then I need to get on a train in 
Marleybone. I need to pick up my suitcase as well. Oh, Lord, I’m going to be late. As I 
just continue to jaywalk here, meaning cross the street even when the 
lights are red. I’m a maverick. What are you going to do? Some people are like, I can’t believe you crossed the street when 
the light was red. It’s all right. It’s okay. You know, I’m a rule breaker. I’m a 
maverick. It’s just the way I live. I live life on the edge. 
It’s okay. It’s all right. It’s not, that’s a cultural 
thing. I think in some cultures,   doing that is considered to be really 
dangerous and you don’t do it. But in England, in France, people do cross the 
street even when there’s no crossing. You’re allowed to do it, I think. Actually, I said 
that in one of the episodes in Paris. I said, oh, the law is that you can cross 
the street wherever you want. And to be fair, someone wrote to me and 
said, actually, there is a law in Paris, which says you’re supposed to cross at crossings, 
just so you know. All right. But the fact is, people tend to cross the street 
wherever and it’s no big deal. As long as you look both ways, as long as 
you’re careful, it’s totally fine. More pubs, there’s so many pubs in London. I think 
there’s 3,500 pubs in this city, I read. I read that on the Eurostar this morning while 
I was like half preparing to do this. I didn’t prepare enough because I slept. The reason 
being, I got up at seven o’clock this morning. No, I got up at half past six. That half an hour,   that half an hour is crucial. 
It’s a crucial difference. I got up at half past six to get the early train.   And so I was a little bit sleepy. So I 
had a bit of sleepy time on the train, which is why I didn’t quite prepare this 
walk and talk as well as I could have done. But it looks like I’m still going. 
I’m still talking, still walking,   still recording. It was touch and go earlier 
on whether I was actually going to use this. I mean, who knows? Maybe I won’t. If I 
review the footage and look back at it, maybe I’ll see, oh God, no, 
that’s terrible. Too noisy,   too many tourists and didn’t say 
anything of any particular substance. Or maybe I’ll look back at it and think, oh 
no, it’s all right. It’s quite a pleasant   little stroll through some parts of 
London. So we’re now in the Soho area. Okay. What street is this? Bedford Street 
in Soho. Approaching Leicester Square. Someone’s left their bike like that. 
That’s no good, is it? There we go. Better. Because that was blocking the pavement,   you see. Just trying to help out in 
the community. Covent Garden, okay. So we are in the Covent Garden area, heading 
towards, hopefully heading towards the Apple store, Apple shop. I used to teach at a language 
school in Covent Garden as well. Memories. Such sweet memories. Spending 
time in London town. Oh God. I love London. I’ve spent many, many happy times 
in my life on these streets, wandering. And those days that I mentioned before when I used to teach 
one-to-one lessons, I didn’t have a lot of money. Didn’t have a lot of spending money. I 
couldn’t afford to you know, eat nice meals all the time and I was living 
on a budget, walking around, you know, just sitting on benches to rest and whatever. 
But I just, I got to know the city so well. This is a church. I thought we’d 
have a look inside. Which church   is it? Let’s go in and have a look first. Yes. Oh, the lovely smell of incense. Is that David Hasselhoff? I don’t think it is. Corpus Christi Catholic Church. There you 
go. A little oasis of calm and tranquilly in the heart of an otherwise very 
busy and bustling city centre. There you go. I sound like a 
tour guide, don’t I? I mean, in the book I sound like I could have 
written The Rough Guide to London. Why not? Are you interested in you know, Covent Garden 
is the bustling heart of Soho where shoppers eager to go on a spending spree have got 
a plethora of choices at their disposal. But if you’re keen for a bit of peace and quiet 
in the heart of your shopping extravaganza, why not visit Corpus Christi Catholic Church,   an oasis of calm in an otherwise vibrant 
and lively commercial centre. Here we are, Covent Garden. Used to be an old market, used 
to be a flower and fruit and vegetable market. These days it’s just like 
shops and cafes and stuff. The Apple Store is on the other side of Covent 
Garden. London Transport Museum over there. One of the better museums in London, you’ve 
got to pay for it. But it’s really good,   really interesting history of transport in 
London, including the history of the Underground, which is the oldest underground train network 
in the world. First ever underground train system that the Metropolitan Line in 
London don’t remember exactly the date. I think it’s 18th century. I might be 
wrong. I’ll have to fact check that. Yes, the world’s first underground railway 
line, called the Metropolitan Railway, was opened in London on the 10th of 
January 1863. It ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street. So, not the 18th 
century, but the 1800s, in fact 1863. My path has been blocked by tourists. Was this 
you in the past? Have you ever been a part of a group of young tourists with red lanyards and 
waistcoats on, following a tour guide holding a yellow umbrella? Maybe that was you, just there. 
Imagine if you spotted yourself in this video. By the way, I was in London on the 23rd of 
July. Wait a minute, that was me! If you see yourself in this episode, let me know. 
OK, so we’ve arrived at the Apple store. Let’s see if I can find a battery 
pack. And let’s hope that there’s   some power in it as well. I don’t 
know how this is going to go. Just making this up as I go 
along. Is this open? No. OK. An oasis of calm in an otherwise bustling 
commercial centre. Oh my God, look. Vision Pro. No thanks. I’m not quite ready for 
that yet. Those look like hard drives. Is this what I’m looking for? Aha! 
See? Power station. 50% charge in 30 minutes for iPhone. You know 
what? I’m going to get that. Useful for the holiday as 
well, this summer. Right, look at this. I’m going to splash some cash here. Now, if I can just get one of 
these Apple guys. C3PO. Oi, C3PO. I need to buy some stuff. Normally, if you walk 
around a shop like this holding some merchandise, someone pounces on you because they’re 
so ready to take your money. Hi. I’d like to buy these, please. By the end of 
the table there are two of my colleagues there. Thanks. Thank you. Hello. I’d like to buy these, please. Yes. That’s alright. No, I’ve got one. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, please. You can email it, yeah. Sure. Alright. Do you want a bag? No, it’s 
fine. Thanks very much. Bye. Alright, mission accomplished. 
Now it’s time to leave the shop   before I get tempted to buy something 
else. But what would I buy? I mean, really, this Vision Pro thing? It’s 
a sort of virtual reality headset. Apparently it’s amazing. But do I need 
that? No. I mean, it’s apparently like a totally immersive way to watch film and surf 
the internet and stuff, but I don’t need that. It looks sad, doesn’t it, to sit on your 
sofa with a headset strapped to you. I mean,   it’s just one step further towards the 
Matrix, isn’t it? Eventually, in ten years, they’ll be like, don’t waste your time with 
an uncomfortable headset, which might lead   to spinal bending. Just plug the Apple BrainPort 
straight into the back of your skull from £999. You know, that’ll be next. Right, I 
think we’re going to wrap this up now,   because now I’ve got my battery 
pack, completed my mission, I’m now going to make my way to 
Marleybone. Maybe I can get on a bike. Just keep on trucking. I like riding the 
bikes in London. Oh, has my phone died? Yes. Literally get my phone out and it just dies 
instantly. I think it’s wise to just take the underground at this point. I can go 
from Covent Garden to… where can I go? If I need to get to Baker Street or 
Marleybone, I can walk from Baker Street. Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes. 221B Baker   Street. I think there’s a little 
Sherlock Holmes museum there. Not that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, of 
course, he was a fictional character. But such a popular character, that of course there’s going 
to be some sort of little monument to Sherlock Holmes at that address, 221B Baker Street. I think 
it’s like a Sherlock Holmes merchandise shop or a little Sherlock Holmes museum where I think 
they’ve got mock-ups of Sherlock Holmes’ room. And you can see a mannequin of Holmes 
smoking his pipe and discussing a case with Watson. I just love Sherlock 
Holmes stories so much. Which reminds me,   I must record another one for this podcast. Right. I’ve been trying to work out which   story I should do next. I’m just 
trying to find the right story. I need one that’s not too long and also one 
that has the right kind of elements in it. But, to be honest, any of the short 
stories from the… there’s three   books of short stories that are the best 
ones. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 
and The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Those three books, every story, brilliant. 
So I just need to pick one and do it. I will. Oh God, even more. Where are these guys from? 
What do you reckon? Italian? Spanish? French? Shall I try and listen in? … … … 
Spanish, I think. … … … Right. I need that tube map. 
Underground map. … Excuse me. Right. Let’s have a look at this. We are here. We need to be here. I should probably 
just walk to Piccadilly Circus and get on the Piccadilly line. I think I will do that. Time to walk to Piccadilly Circus. 
This way. We’re not over yet. It’s not over yet. We’re not done yet. I’m going 
to walk along this road which is called Longacre. I’ve walked down this road so many times. 
Like I said, I used to work just around the   corner in Covent Garden at a language school. 
What are the chances that someone watching or listening to this was one of my students in that 
school in Covent Garden? Listeners, viewers, did you ever study English at the Mayfair 
School of English in Covent Garden? Did you have a fresh-faced English teacher called 
Luke? If you did, that might have been me. But I’m not as fresh-faced anymore. But 
I’m still called Luke. Just keep going. I wanted to do some shopping in London but 
I think I’m going to have to do that next Saturday when I come back. I’m going to spend 
the day in London again next Saturday before I go back to Paris. So maybe then I can pop into 
Uniqlo or whichever stores I want to look in. Although, to be fair, Uniqlo 
is just the same everywhere,   isn’t it? Right? They’ve got Uniqlo in 
Paris. They’ve got several Uniqlo’s just the same stuff. So I don’t know why 
I have to do my shopping in London. But, you know, like I said before, I’m 
on my own and I sort of don’t have to follow my wife and kids around because I’m not 
accompanied by them. I feel a sense of freedom, liberty to just do whatever I want. 
So I could do some shopping but no, now’s not the time because I’m 
already about an hour late, I think. I probably won’t get on a train. 
I’ll probably arrive at my parents   at least an hour later than I said 
I would. I hope they don’t mind. But I need to get onto the Bakerloo line 
at Piccadilly Circus and find my way to Marleybone. Visit that hotel where my suitcase 
is being kept. I’m not staying in a hotel. I just left my suitcase at a hotel. They have   a service there. They’ll hold 
onto your suitcase for the day. I need to get my suitcase, get on 
a train and Bob’s your uncle which is an expression which just means like, and 
there you go. And that is that. So this is, we’re just approaching Leicester Square, 
another incredibly touristy spot. Just taking you through the most crowded 
parts of the city today. More merchandise, London buses and Big Bens and 
telephone boxes. All the stuff. All the touristy knickknacks. Souvenirs. 
This is Leicester Square Underground Station. Nice building. I like these red 
tiles on the front. Oh look, it’s the Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse. These restaurants have been here for decades. I’ve never eaten in one of them 
and I never will. Probably. They’re all over the city, those Angus 
Steakhouses. Scottish beef, isn’t it?   I think, Angus Steakhouse, yeah. Leicester Square. The entrance to Leicester Square. 
Which is where all the big movie   premieres take place. Trying not 
to get run down by a black taxi. Look at me. Look at Maverick Thompson 
crossing the lights when the Red Man is   lit. The Red Man was lit, man! Um… Yeah, look 
at the tourist hell that is Leicester Square. To be honest, when people ask me, for example, 
my students or friends of mine are going to go   and visit London and they ask me for my advice 
on what they should do here, I usually say, you know what? Avoid the touristy spots. 
Avoid Leicester Square. Avoid Oxford Circus. Avoid Oxford Street. Piccadilly 
Circus. No, just avoid them. It’s a nightmare. It’s horrible. It’s just like, tourists everywhere, the 
smell of ketchup in the air. All the worst food. You know, like people they 
come back from a trip to England and they’re like, yeah, it was nice and everything but the 
food, ugh. I thought, well yeah, of course. We went to Leicester Square. What did 
you expect from Pizza Italia? From Bella Italia in Leicester Square? 
More crowds of people. Cinemas. Loads of cinemas here. Cinemas and 
casinos. Another busker singing Coldplay. Who’s this? Tumascurota, I think his name was. 
So, Leicester Square used to be a much seedier place I mean, the sort of place in the 1960s or 
70s that you would come and then, you know, there would be various dodgy people around. It’s the 
sort of place where drug dealers would congregate in the corner and the buildings nearby may have 
housed prostitutes and illegal gambling venues. Dodgy casinos and gangsters. It’s 
the sort of place that you would go if you wanted to buy some hash and some 
amphetamines. You’d go to Leicester Square. These days, Lego store, M&M’s store, 
Greg’s, Pret a Manger. What do you want, mate? What do you want? Some yellow 
M&M’s? Yeah, man. M&M’s store. Is that the M&M’s store? Are these M’s or E’s? 
Put them on the side. They’re E’s, aren’t they? There’s loads of Swiss clocks donated by the 
Swiss. Thanks, Switzerland, for the clock. Little monument there to Switzerland. They   generously donated some of their 
clocks to us. Nice one, guys. Oh, my God. Right. Here we go. Another very touristy spot as I cross 
the road where the red man is lit. More souvenir shopping to be done. Another 
little casino that I’ve never been inside. No thanks. A whole shop devoted to Union Jack 
posters and London Underground T-shirts and that sort of thing. This looks like a kind of 
vaguely Harry Potter-themed shop, although they can’t actually use the words Harry Potter, 
because that’s probably under copyright law. They’re not allowed to, but it’s called 
Wizards & Witches and it’s got a vaguely Harry Potter feel to it, including a train at 
what looks like maybe King’s Cross Station. It’s not an official Harry Potter store, 
just like similar. They probably make loads of money from tourists looking for that 
sweet, sweet Harry Potter merchandise. Nice. Some of that Harry 
Potter dollar. Bubble tea. Platinum lace. That’s a strip 
club. An interesting mix of things, like gambling, strip clubs 
and candy shops for kids. What on earth? But it’s all just a bit of fun, 
isn’t it? It’s all good. Just in case you didn’t have enough souvenirs of London, there’s 
a whole shop full of them. More souvenirs. Just in case you couldn’t remember 
whether you visited London. Did we   ever visit London? I don’t know. I can’t remember. You didn’t buy a little mini bus, that’s why. 
Damn it, if we’d bought a little red bus,   we would have remembered the whole experience. So, 
I’m now heading into Piccadilly Circus Station. Is the battery still running? Yeah,   it is still recording. Unbelievably. 
As we head down into the underground. Okay. Sad sight, there’s a guy 
sleeping on the floor. That’s sad. Homeless guy. I mean, I didn’t give them 
any money. I could have done, maybe. I don’t actually have any cash on me. I 
haven’t got pounds sterling. Honestly, sometimes I give money to homeless 
people, sometimes I don’t. You know, sometimes you think by 
giving money to homeless people, it sort of somehow makes being homeless 
a possibility. You kind of think really there should be places for these people to 
go, you know. Like, the government should   be sponsoring hospices and stuff, and there 
should be programmes to deal with this stuff. By giving people money directly in the street,   they perhaps might not spend it wisely. They’re 
just going to buy crack with it. Although, to be fair, if you are addicted to 
crack, then you really do want some. And if someone gave you some money to get some,   it would certainly make you feel a lot better for 
a while. Anyway, here we go. Stand on the right. Let people pass on the left. Very 
important principles of how to   use the London Underground. Hold 
the handrail, stand on the right. And don’t congregate in the corridors,   because you’re going to hold up the entire 
city. He heard me. He heard me, listeners. Bakerloo line. Northbound. Wait a minute. Bakerloo line. Yes. We need to go here. Northbound, Bakerloo line, please. I’m going to 
go down the escalator again. Another escalator. Deep into the bowels of London. 
I like these iconic designs, though, for the London Underground. 
I like the round, curved walls. This is why it’s called the Tube. Because 
all the tunnels look sort of round. We saw David Beckham. Did you see David Beckham on the poster? Go 
on, Max. Here we go. Crowded Piccadilly line. Take my rucksack off. All right. So, that’s the end of this video. Because now I need to focus on 
getting myself to the station. Getting on a train to the Midlands. So, yeah. That’s the end of this trip to London today. 
Thanks for joining me. Hope you enjoyed it. It’s been very crowded. But I like the 
energy of London. All right, everyone. Catch you next time. Sherlock 
Holmes. There he is, the man himself. This statue, commissioned by the Sherlock Holmes 
Society of London, was sponsored by Abbey National   PLC, a bank, to commemorate its 150th anniversary 
in 1999. All right, Sherlock. There you go. Right, that really is the end 
now. Pigeons. Pigeons everywhere. Oh, just one more thing. Let’s 
have a little look. Bloody pigeons. Please do not feed the pigeons. They are a 
health hazard and a nuisance. Bloody pigeons. Bloody health hazard and a nuisance, aren’t 
they? Yeah, let’s just round them all up,   get rid of them. That’s what I 
say. I don’t really mean that, see? Speaking in the voice of 
a different character there. Uh-huh. All right. So, thank you very much 
for joining me on this trip through London. I hope that you enjoyed spending the time with   me. Leave your comments in the 
comments section. Get involved. Tell us what you thought of this episode. 
Did you spot anything interesting as I was walking along? Have you ever been to 
London? If you have been to London, tell us about it. What were some of your 
favourite things? Did anything happen to   you when you visited London? What was it like 
for you? Did watching this video bring back any memories? Did you go to London as a tourist, 
as a student? Did you live there? In fact, do you still live there? Did you appear in this 
video accidentally? If that’s you, get in touch. Sorry if you didn’t actually want to be included 
in the video but you’re famous now. Okay, you are now famous. You can leave your Instagram in 
the comments section if you want more publicity. Feel free. Okay? Everyone, don’t forget to listen   to the audio version of this episode. I 
say the audio version of this episode. I mean the episode of the audio 
podcast which has been published at   the same time as this video. It’s totally 
different to this but it is about London and as I said at the beginning, the concept 
for the audio version of the podcast today is that you can listen to recordings of 
some of my friends and family talking about what they like to do when they’re in 
London. So some of their favourite things. So if you’d like to hear what Londoners like 
to do in their city, if you want to get some really good bits of advice if you’re visiting the 
city and there are things that you’d like to do,   things you’d like to see and you’d like to know 
what it’s like for the people who actually live there or have lived there, then listen 
to the audio version of this episode. And you’ll find that wherever you get your podcasts, 
just search for Luke’s English Podcast. Also, there’s a link in the description 
with some podcast links so you can   subscribe to Luke’s English Podcast 
wherever you get your podcasts. Whether it’s Apple Podcasts or Pocket 
Casts or Spotify, whatever you want, yes, you’ll find links in the description. 
The music in this episode was all made by my brother James and if you’d like to hear 
more of his stuff you’ll find a link in   the description for his Bandcamp page. Most of 
the time he makes techno, ambient techno music but he has some side projects that sound 
a bit more like the music in this video. Anyway, you’ll find links in the description. 
Thank you everyone for watching this episode and I will speak to you again on the 
podcast in some form or other. Okay, let us know your thoughts in the comments section. But for now it’s just time 
to say goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.