THE LONDON PAPER
A wander on the wild side

http://www.thelondonpaper.com

By Tracey Petherick
2nd October 2007

Walking tours of London have been around for ages and are usually a highly entertaining way to see the city. But if you don’t fancy turning up at an allotted time and listening to an out-of-work actor, you need Soundmap.

Soundmap walking tours are similar to those audio guides you carry around at art galleries, only cooler. Downloadable from a website onto your MP3 player, they are narrated by Londoners who are passionate about their favourite parts of the city, and include sound effects, musical interludes, plus interviews with famous people.

Pioneering agony aunt and writer Irma Kurtz takes you around Soho, award-winning BBC London DJ Robert Elms tours Camden and musician Max Decharne guides you down Kings Road.

These are not historical tours showing you Charles Dickens’ London or Jack the Ripper’s favourite pubs. They’re all about popular culture, the buzz of modern life and the people and places that got London swinging from the 1960’s onwards.

I start off in Camden, with Elms’ dulcet tones in my ears. If you’ve never listened to his radio show, don’t – it might put you off. But his passion for Camden is infectious. It is where he has hung out for many years, so he knows what he’s talking about.

Some of it is a bit obvious – but lots of it is fascinating. For every monologue about the impact of Madness, there’s a description of a “homeless gentlemen’s hostel”, Arlington House, which has been a shelter since Victorian times, or an underground river that runs beneath Hawley Crescent.

It’s a great mix of modern culture and quirky history, broken up by interviews with Camden folk – the owner of legendary record shop Sounds that Swing, or the manager of super club Cyberdog. By the end even Elms’ self-satisfied commentary about the joys of Camden sucked me in.

Kurtz waxes lyrical about “the last resort of diehard bohemians” in Soho in an honest, intimate and saucy way. There’s no sugar coating on her story- she’s as enthusiastic about sex, drugs and violence as she is about the parish church and the fruit and veg market.

Decharne employs a different style. A King’s Road expert, his laid-back drawling narration is in keeping with the walk.

Once the epicentre of “Swinging London”, Kings Road is now just a posh high Street. Mary Quant’s first boutique is a pastry shop, the Markham Arms is a bank and the Fantasy Coffee Shop is now a Café Nero.

While Max’s tour tells you about all the rocking things that happened here, the visual references have mostly gone. It’s more a history lesson, but a pretty hip one.

Going around London on a personal walking tour may seem odd, but it’s a pleasantly soothing experience.

And if you think you know your town, think again.