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'Living London: its work and its play, its humour and its pathos, its sights and its scenes,' edited by George Robert Sims , is a remarkable attempt to give an overview of London life at the turn of the 20th century (it was first published in 1901). All the volumes can be browsed on archive.org , and provide a great resource for historians of this period. There are a number of chapters dealing with London nightlife. One on 'Midnight London' ( in this volume ) by Beckles Wilson concludes: 'Such, then, is Midnight London. In all the world's capitals is dissipation found under the name of pleasure; Britain's Metropolis is no exception. The gaudy and glittering throngs swarm over the pavements; and to the midnight sightseer there is a novelty in the spectacle of brilliant toilettes and ravishing complexions now visible at the tables of the brilliantly-lighted salons, which are crowded to the doors by Pleasure's laughing votaries. To such as these mid-day Lon...

There's an interesting free display at Tate Britain gallery of material from radical movements and associated artists from London in 1968. It includes film and press cuttings from the Hornsey art school and London School of Economics occupations and a selection of posters produced by the Poster Workshop in Camden. King Mob 'General Ludd' poster printed at Poster Workshop Posters from the London School of Economics occupation printed at Poster Workshop - 'we are all foreign scum' - this was a response to a 1968 speech in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Tom Iremonger who declared that  'The British people are fed up with being trampled underfoot by foreign scum' (the context was the supposed involvement of 'foreign' 'agitators' in anti-Vietnam war protests) Also included are some materials from English situationist influenced group King Mob which were very critical of the mainstream student left.  London 1968 is on until 31 October 1...

Brixton has seen many parties, but none quite like the Reclaim the Streets event on Saturday 6th June 1998 when thousands of people brought traffic to a standstill by partying in the main road without the permission of the police, Council or anybody else. Reclaim the Streets brought together the politics of the road protest movement with the sounds and energy of the free party scene to stage a series of  spectacular actions from the mid-1990s onwards, basically involving a crowd of people turning up, blocking the road and occupying it for a party. It started out in May 1995 with a party in Camden High Street and another north London party in  Islington's Upper Street in July 1995 (I remember dancing to a sound system mounted in an armoured car there, which I think belonged to Jimmy Cauty of KLF). The idea soon spread around the country and indeed internationally. In one of the biggest actions, 6,000 people took over part of the M41 Motorway in West London in July 1996 with sof...