Everybody in the world has heard of Buckingham Palace. The official London residence of the British monarch, it stands at the western end of St James’s Park, very near St James’s Palace. 

The Monument, rising above the streets near London Bridge, is one of the City of London's most striking historical landmarks - a soaring Doric column erected to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666.

As a great expert on the English castle, John has been thinking about one of the great icons of England: Warwick Castle.

Clive has taken the riverboat to Greenwich, one of the most spectacular sites of London.  ‘Good Duke’ Humphrey, brother of Henry V, built a retreat here in the 15th century, which Henry VII developed into a palace.

Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire is one of those country houses you find only in Britain. 

Clive and John have both been to Stansted Park, outside Chichester, though at different times. 

John has been to Cambridge to see the castle, the mound of which still survives.  Although a graduate of Peterhouse and now a Visiting Professor of Architecture, associated with the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture at Downing College, Clive comes new to this early history but many stories of more recent times.

Clive is writing a book for Yale University Press on the Story of the American Country House. John indulges him by discussing an introductory overview of the subject, with which Clive has been engaged since Yale published his The American Country House in 1990. 

When the German Prince Puckler Muskau visited England in 1826, he told his divorced wife that it would take her ‘at least 420 years to see all the parks of England, of which there are undoubtedly at least 100,000, for they swarm in every direction.’ 

‘Let’s all go down the Strand!’ ran a popular music hall song.  But what sort of street were they singing about?  The future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli called it ‘perhaps the finest street in Europe’ in 1847. 

The Laskett in Herefordshire is one of the most remarkable gardens to have been created in the 20th century but now it’s future is threatened.

The fascinating city of Norwich, capital of Norfolk, was one of the richest town in England during the Middle Ages. 

Alnwick Castle in Northumberland is one of the most spectacular castles in England, an immense fortification that guarded the border with Scotland for centuries. 

Detmar Blow was one of the brightest stars of the Arts and Crafts Movement – but his story is also dark and mysterious.

This week John takes Clive through Windsor Castle, a creation not just of the Middle Ages (subject of part 1 of this series) but of successive monarchs since the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

This week John and Clive are frothing with disapproval at Network Rail’s plan to upgrade Liverpool Street Station.

This week John and Clive present their long-awaited podcast on one of the most essential but least discussed rooms in any dwelling – the lavatory.

Sir Francis Dashwood, who used to dress as a Franciscan monk and allegedly took part in orgies in the ruins of Medmenham Abbey, was one of the most notorious libertines of the 18th century.

2025 celebrates the rebuilding of the Bank of England by Sir Herbert Baker – if celebrate is the right word.

This is the time of year when thoughts turn to mince pies, Christmas shopping, mulled wine – and chimneys, whether it is to settle around a roaring hearth or hope that Father Christmas pays a visit.