"Most travellers arrive in London looking for history, but it’s also there on your way out. I’m sipping great coffee within the cavernous interior of Caravan, a sleek modern cafe on Granary Square at Kings Cross. The huge brick building it’s located in was once a storehouse for grain brought in by rail and barge. With that transport history, it seems the right place from which to set off on a grand rail journey to the Continent..."

This book can be purchased online from Amazon.com.

Not available for republication.

[Read the full article here]

A guide to the literary highlights of the Irish capital, within this book profiling a variety of travel escapes around the world.

This book can be purchased online from Amazon.com.

Not available for republication.

"It takes a bit of deductive brainpower to find Speedy's Cafe. As it's north of busy Euston Road, with its drab modern office buildings and heavy traffic, I have to put in some fancy footwork to avoid getting run down by a red bus. Safely on the other side, I tap The Game is On on my phone and pick up my walking pace as the music plays. The signature tune from the recent hit BBC TV series Sherlock is a lively, action-packed number, and I'm getting into the mood for investigation..."

Deducing the London of Sherlock Holmes, both classic and contemporary incarnations.
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Images available.

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"'We call him "the prick with the stick",' says tour guide Pat Liddy, cheekily referring to a statue of the writer James Joyce which stands proudly in O’Connell Street. It's all in good fun though, he adds, smiling as he returns to his pint of Guinness in an atmospheric old pub which is a former haunt of Joyce’s. It seems somehow fitting that we should be on a literary walk that’s immediately ended up at the pub, given the central role of such establishments in Ireland’s social and cultural life..."

Walking in the footsteps of the great writers of Dublin, Ireland.
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"On one side of a busy flyover are the huge tower blocks of the kind of housing estate I’ve glimpsed on The Bill. On the other side is a wasteland of disused industrial buildings. It may only be 25 minutes from the West End by Tube, but East London feels like an entirely different and bleaker world. But there are rays of sunshine on the horizon, courtesy of the 2012 Olympic Games..."

Discovering the industrial history of East London via an Olympics walking tour.
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Images available.

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"Thanks to animators over the years, the leprechaun has become a well-known figure; we can all recall his buckled hat, beard, pipe, beguiling accent and pot of gold. 'Everyone who comes in here gives the same description,' says Mark. But he’s here to put me straight on the little people and their many other mythical colleagues. Despite the name, it’s actually a museum devoted to all of the island nation’s rich folklore..."

"'He was like all troublemakers - they were disenfranchised, angry young men with no jobs, no future at all, they were the bottom of the pile," says Terry Cunningham, as we chat in McCarthy's Hotel, an atmospheric old pub in Fethard, deep in Ireland's County Tipperary. The particular angry young man we have in mind is John 'Red' Kelly, a poor local tenant who stole two pigs in 1840 and was sentenced to transportation to Australia..."

"Things are gradually improving, thanks to a disparate band of cafe owners and baristas from Australia and New Zealand. Little by little, antipodean-style cafes have been popping up across inner London, including April's opening of a branch of Melbourne's St Ali. The British media have noticed the trend - the afternoon I flew into London on my latest visit, The Evening Standard ran a story with the headline 'Aussie rules coffee in London'..."

"A hundred years ago this building was the centre of activity, as thousands of workers swarmed over the nearby slipway where the Titanic and its sister ship Olympic were built. Now Harland and Wolff has moved its operations away, and the quiet dockside area stands as a monument to past glories. However, with the centenary of Titanic's maiden voyage next year, there's new life bobbing up in the doomed ship's wake..."

"It looks like the end. I’m trapped in a small room with a bunch of other people off the street, feeling a jolt of fear as three Daleks close in around us. The metal villains from the popular BBC science fiction series Doctor Who are convinced we’re in league with their enemy the Doctor, and before we can react, their trademark cry of “EXTERMINATE!” rings out..."

"'St James for the gentlemen, Mayfair for the ladies,' says tour guide Simon Rodway. The dapper tour guide brandishing a silver-topped cane is leading us on his London of James Bond walking tour, the first of three tours I’m taking in connection with 20th century British fictional characters. He’s right on the money as he recites the old expression about these neighbouring London locales..."

"No amount of historic circumstance can top Stoker’s evocative description of the Russian schooner Demeter blown across Whitby’s harbour with its dead captain lashed to the helm, crashing beneath the East Cliff before disgorging the vampire in the guise of a huge dog. As a result, Whitby has become a popular destination for vampire-fanciers."

This book can be purchased online from Amazon.com.

Not available for republication.

"Even though it’s very Off West End, I still have the common London experience of going to the theatre and realising I’ve seen some of the actors on the telly or at the cinema. Outside on the wet streets, people are bustling through the rain toward Kilburn Tube station, or stepping into the welcoming pub opposite. There’s something both very British but very international about the scene."

Stepping outside London's theatrical mainstream to go 'Off West End'.
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"Shad Thames is a curious laneway running parallel with the Thames, between a set of large brick warehouses. Above the street a series of walkways runs back and forth between the buildings. It’s an atmospheric sight; and it’s also, I remember, where Daleks were seen to roam when it was a dilapidated, rain-drenched strip in the 1980s. Which just goes to show - even metallic alien invaders can’t stop gentrification."

Taking three walking tours based on fictional characters in London.
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Images available.

"A stay at one of London’s great hotels, such as the Savoy, will set you back a mere $1000 a night. But cheaper lodgings are available..."

I investigate relatively inexpensive accommodation in London, as part of a survey of budget options around the world.
Available for republication (print and Web).

"The power, the power! I’m standing at a computer console in London, selecting missions undertaken by a well-known secret agent. As I touch each icon, an impressive digital globe rotates on the giant screen above me, indicating the locations in James Bond’s adventures. Yes, I am a Bond villain and I hold the fate of Agent 007 in my very hands. Nyah-ha-ha!"

On the London trail of James Bond 007, and his creator Ian Fleming.
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Images available.

"Dodging part of a fast-moving actor’s costume is not one of the usual rituals of going to the theatre. But I’m at the Globe Theatre, and here the rules are quite different. There’s no real danger of losing an eye, of course - the actors know exactly where they’re treading - but there’s a great sense of energy and excitement when they wheel in your direction to spout Shakespeare’s famous lines."

Taking in the entertainment at London's more stimulating theatrical venues.
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Images available.

"For a truly English experience, you can’t go past the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, which invites the visitor to sample the 'extraordinary history of garden machinery'. The exhibits include fast mowers, solar mowers, robot mowers and tiny mowers. There are even 'Mowers of the Rich and Famous', allowing you to discover what Princess Diana used on the lawns of Kensington Palace."

Ranges through the world's oddest museums, exhibiting everything from sulphur to Spam.
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"There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Or indeed, to visit Britain. The Romans came to conquer the place, the Vikings to plunder, and most modern visitors have images of castles, pomp and pageantry whirling in their heads. But some of the best English language TV and film has come out of the UK, and an increasing number of tourists make a different kind of pilgrimage – to the location of their favourite Brit flick."

Guide to travelling through the UK in search of TV and film locations.
Available for republication (print and Web).

I also have a selection of high-quality digital images available, depicting a variety of international locations. 
See examples of my travel photography.

If you'd like to republish one of these pieces, or would like a new piece written about the same location, please get in touch via the contacts below:

articles by subject:
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postal:
Tim Richards
507/225 Elizabeth St
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia

email:
tim@iwriter.com.au

phone:
0411-242327
(international +61-411-242327)

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