Mapping London: Creative Ways To Explore History

For over 20 years, Matt Brown has been exploring and writing about London. But he's also been mapping it. In this talk, Matt will describe how maps can provide fresh insights into the city's history and culture: from a retrospective map of Anglo-Saxon London, to a complete map of every location mentioned in Dickens's novels, to his new best-selling book about the Boroughs of London. He'll also reveal what he's learned about the capital by spending hundreds of hours colouring in the John Rocque map of 1746.

Biography

Matt Brown is editor-at-large of Londonist.com, and the main contributor to Londonist: Time Machine, a newsletter about the history of London. In his 20 years as a 'professional London explorer', Matt has waded along the buried River Fleet (twice), spent the night in a 'haunted' plague pit, crawled through the little-known tunnel beneath the deck of London Bridge, and walked along the tracks beneath Leicester Square at 2am. Matt is also author of 13 books, including London Night and Day (2015), Everything You Know About London Is Wrong (2016), the bestselling/award-winning Atlas of Imagined Places (2021) and its sequel Atlas of Imagined Cities (2023). His latest book The Boroughs of London (2025) explores the history and peculiarities of London's 32 boroughs.

Matt particularly enjoys Q&A, and invites you to come armed with any "I've always wondered..." questions about London (map-related or otherwise).

The evening is open to members, guests and the public. Tickets cost £25 and include wine, soft drinks and nibbles. Space is limited to 50 people so early booking is essential.

The event will also be streamed live on YouTube around the world! The code for the one-hour stream costs £10 and this is open to anyone.

Matt will be signing copies of his fascinating new book after the lecture.

Tickets:

£25 includes the lecture, wine, soft drinks and nibbles

£10 online / virtual only

Schedule:

6.30 PM Drinks reception

7.00 PM Lecture begins in 3rd Floor Meeting Rooms

7.50 PM Q&A

8.00 PM Drinks& Nibbles

8.30 PM Event Ends

Dress code: Smart Casual

Email: events@apothecaries.org