Historian, author and popular prize-winning Blue Badge Guide, Rachel Kolsky has one of the widest range of walking tours and visits in London. BOOK YOUR OWN PRIVATE GROUP TOUR for as many people as you want or BOOK INDIVIDUAL TICKETS for the pre-arranged PUBLIC TOURS.

Summer finally arrived ... but all of a sudden autumn approaches!

 
… and I hope that you have all had a wonderful summer whether at home or abroad.
My two month break from Rachel Tours continued the fun that began with the QM2 crossing and the Queen Anne UK Festival Voyage. It included a stupendous sunny week on the Queen Victoria sailing (it is work you know!!) The Med with each port being a joy –  with Caravaggio, ice-cream, the birthplace of the tie, the sculptures of Ivan Mestrovich and the film location where Sophia Loren danced the Mambo Italiano, I was very happy. But there was so much to enjoy in the UK with every visit a mega hit. Here goes in alphabetical order – Ashridge, Beamish, Birmingham, Bishop Auckland, Bournemouth, Broomhill, Chichester, Godalming, Hastings, Hertford, Ledbury, Lewes, Littlehampton, Malvern, Margate, North Shields, Overton, St. Leonards, Sunderland, Westgate, Whitstable and Worcester. In between there were fabulous exhibitions in London and beyond – some linked to fashion with Vivienne Westwood, Folk Costume in Britain, John Singer Sergeant and Biba where I was convinced that the buttons on the green dress were made by Pa as Biba was a client, some arty visits for Laura Knight at Worcester, the last Caravaggio at NG, Beryl Cook with Tom of Finland at Clapham and discovering another new favourite artist – Albert de Belleroche who I came across at the Russell-Cotes in Bournemouth. So many favourites!! One mega smile inducing moment was at Beamish where I sat in the Ryhope cinema which had been rebuilt for the 1950s Town watching the most delightful little film ever made of a glove puppet called Alan visiting the doll hospital to repair his inured eye but done in the style of the 1950s. 
There was also lots of fab theatre – indoors and outside – and bingo with Ida Carr too (what a silly but fun night out that was), house guests and some private tours to lead as well. 
Thank you everyone who hosted me and shared so many of these super experiences and discoveries.
In  the year of the Olympic Games here are Rachel’s Summer Gold Medal Winners but hey it is the taking part that counts!!
For bringing a beaming smile to my face – the film of Alan’s journey to the Doll’s Hospital at Beamish
Prettiest station – Malvern 
Newly discovered artist – Albert de Belleroche in Bournemouth
Newly discovered sculptor – Ivan Mestrovich in Split
Frock – Mrs Hugh Hammersley by John Singer Sargeant (brings to mind ’that’ dress worn by Scarlett in GWTW)
Film location moment – Scandal in Sorrento in Marina Grande, Sorrento (check out the Mambo Italiano scene)
Ice Cream – a tie between Donat and Bob Rock’s Ice Cream Parlour, both in Zadar 
Newly discovered brownie or cake – Eagle Eats at the South Bank Weekend Food Market (try the peanut butter sandwich cookie – it was so good I went back for a second in case he ran out!!)
That special memory moment – being allowed to enter our self-catering attic holiday home in Westgate and be eight years old again!
Best decorated town – Hertford for the amazing Yarnlympics adorning the post boxes with knitted athletes and medals
Shameless merging of capitalism and public transport – the transformation of Old Street to Fold Street with signs and sculptures purely to advertise a new fiolding phone 
Bonkers moment – the parade of school children in Lewes all dressed up as different foodstuffs – the Jammy Dodgers win but it was a close call with the Nachos
A new favourite place for me oop north – North Shields, an ex herring and fishing port filled to the gills (ha ha, no pun intended) with fab history and also Stan Laurel who lived there for a time. Here I am doing my first one-handed selfie! Clever me!!

 
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has both detractors and supporters but gosh a Birthday Card from a friend was generated by key words he associated with me and it resulted in this rather FABULOUS card … complete with ‘every day is a bad hair day’ hair, little cup cakes as my group and my guiding Blue Badge. 

FASHION and ART …  me with one of the stupendous designs by the late and very great Vivienne Westwood which were on display at Christies before being sold to raise funds for her favourite charities. The other photo is of Jonathan Yeo with his fabulous new portrait of King Charles III. I know it divides both critics and the public but I think it is rather wonderful and it was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to hear the artist speak about the portrait and the process behind it. Thanks go to the Philip Mould Gallery who gave the public a chance to meet the artist and the portrait before it goes on display at Buck House before returning The Drapers who commissioned it. 

MORE FASHION! MORE ART! I managed to get to the BIBA exhibition before it closed. It was small but filled with memories. This green dress has lots of BUTTONS and you all know how buttons were part of my childhood as Pa made them! Biba was a client of his and I remember him sighing over how fiddly the small buttons were to make. Onto another B … Bournemouth and at at the Russell-Cotes Museum there was an exhibition of de Belleroche who I am ashamed to say I had never heard of. Gosh, his works were amazing and just had Rachel written all over them … he did lots of lithographs too. This is Leone from 1910.

Funny the things that people notice and I do not. Thank you Jeremy for noticing the street sign I was standing alongside near  Barnes Bridge station while the group was assembling for the new tour of Barnes village

Another favourite place is Beamish. I visit every two years but this year was special as the 1913  Grand Cinema from Ryhope has been rebuilt there brick by brick and opened in the new 1950s town just ten days before my visit. It is fabulous and they show the most delightful pastiche 1950s ads, trailers and a short about Alan the glove puppet going to the dolls hospital. Do go!! For anyone who loves cinema it is a must!

Could Fortnum & Mason have named a chocolate bar any better for me? Thank you Fortnum’s and thank you Deborah for finding it. I love the way it uses an * in M*lk as it is a vegan version so not really milk!! I am going to use that as my tagline from now on – IN HER FOOTSTEPS WE FOLLOW

OUT AND ABOUT and TOUR NEWS

A NEW BOOK BY RACHEL AND LOUIS
WILL BE ARRIVING IN THE SHOPS ON 15th NOVEMBER 2024
£10.00 will be your special discounted price when ordered directly via Rachel, instead of the rrp of £15.99 

London’s North Bank in 50 Buildings is due to be published in mid-November! Complementing South Bank in 50 Buildings the new book profiles our favourite buildings along the north side of the Thames between Vauxhall Bridge and Tower Bridge. Interspersed with instantly recognisable landmarks we hope to reveal many overlooked or under-known architectural treasures including ICI and Unilever HQs, Millbank Tower, ‘Big Benzene’, Trinity House, a Christian Mission, Carmelite House and Sion Hall.

Eagle Eats is one of my new eatable finds. He is a musician from south London who bakes in his spare time and I found his wares at the weekend food market outside the Royal Festival Hall. His brownies are fabulous but his peanut butter sandwich cookies were divine. You cannot just buy one, trust me!! 

Westgate was my childhood holiday home from 1963 to 1971 and it was glorious to revisit this summer with my sister and cousins for a trip down memory lane. The beach huts are all brightly decorated now and a bistro on the promenade plus one of the best bakeries – Staple – but basically Westgate is exactly the same as we left it – the Carlton Cinema, the shops, the awnings, the perfect beach and even our self-catering holiday flat which is now a care home. 

I was treated to a day out in and around Overton where the first top at 11.00am in the morning was a gin neat on the rocks followed by a tour of the Sapphire Gin distillery housed in the ex- Portals paper mill and printing works. It is a super visit and the glass houses were designed by the genius Thomas Heatherwick to look like distilling stills.

A HIGHLIGHT FROM THE ZOOMING WHICH I JUST DO NOT WANT TO DELETE FROM THE SITENB50 – COVER! Check out these yellow arrows! One points to Sidney Ruback as an 18 year old watching the Beatles last live concert on the top of the Apple offices on the 30th January 1969 and the other points to the Zooming version of Sidney as he told his story to everyone at Beatles’ London on 21st May 2020. Thank you so much for coming along Sidney.  BEATLES’S LONDON  was the Zoom presented most often … both for my public Zooms and also for  private groups too. 

Louis and I kept busy during Lock-Down preparing our new LONDON GUIDE BOOK. But very frustratingly the publication date has been put on hold – indefinitely –  but that will not stop us trying to make it  happen – we just do not know when it will be in bookshops. It is called London Stations: Tours Behind the Termini. I met so many of you on my Behind the Termini tours when I first devised them ten years ago and now, just like my Jewish-themed and Women-themed walks, they were to be put into print. My co-author is photographer Louis Berk whom you know through our series of Whitechapel books. Look out for more news as and when we have it. 

Please save this page as a favourite to keep up to date with new tours
and the public walk schedule.

BOOKS BY RACHEL

Women’s London continues to sell well – thank you so much!  I always keep some stock too for those who who would like a signed copy for someone. Please email me to order copies.
IMPORTANT NEWS: It has come to my notice that many shops, even well known and respected bookshops are selling the old version of Women’s London. If you buy from a bookshop please check that the edition is the Reprinted and Updated version of 2019.You know it is the right version if it has the wonderful soundbite review in the bottom left hand corner (see image). If that is not there … the bookshop is selling the old version and advise them of this and contact me with the name of the shop so that the publishers can rectify this. I can assure you that the publisher is not distributing the old version but that bookshops have obtained them from a different source. Apparently this happens a lot in the book selling trade. If you need a copy urgently then please email me as I keep some in stock

 

Many of you have written to me saying how much you are enjoying reading this book. Thank you …  and if you can find a moment or two do please pop a review on Amazon. It really does help spread the word.

There were such wonderful Meet the Author events linked to Women’s London. You came and heard me speak several times for  International Women’s Day / Month soon after the launch at the LSE. Since then events have been held by Camden Historical Society, Guildhall Library, Jewish Book Week, In Conversation with Inspirational Women, Limmud After Darkand even on Cunard’s Queen Victoria! Book themed tours include – Suffragette City Routemaster Bus Tour, Women of Worth, Hampstead Ladies, Westminster Women, Hackney Heroines … and MORE!!!

Jewish London, my first book continues to sell and is now in its Third Edition! It has proved a real success for the publisher so thank you everyone for continuing to buy copies. It is available in all good bookshops … and in the libraries on all the Cunard Queens too,  QM2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth! Click on the book cover left for reviews and book events.

STOP PRESS NEWS! I now have some stock so if you would like a signed copy please contact me