Where to start? London’s history features colourful characters from all walks of life: royalty and rebels, heroes and hooligans, diarists and dramatists, all with a life well or badly lived, a story to tell, a place in history…

This section will be updated, but it would only be logical to begin with at least a mention of some of the people who not only feature in the history of London, but also chronicle it.

For instance, the wonderful historian John Stow, who wrote the charming and informative 1598 Survey of London, providing a wealth of information for centuries of London researchers.

Samuel Pepys, perhaps the most famous of diarists, who showed us glimpses of London life in the 17th century.

More on these London figures and others to follow.

For more on famous Londoners, the London Historians have put together a comprehensive list, ‘Londoners of Note‘.