please empty your brain below
I've looked forward to and enjoyed every single one. Even those about places I've never been to, and will never visit.

So - as ever - thank you for taking the time to entertain us.

Frank F | 21.12.17 - 7:11 a.m. | #

Those cards bring back some memories, bought a round set for my grandfather many years ago when I was a kid. What I didn’t realise was that he never used them because he found them too difficult to shuffle, deal or hold.

Chris | 21.12.17 - 7:16 a.m. | #

I also second Frank, some enlightening articles about places in London.

Are you open to suggestions? Playing cards again, the A-Z of the A-Z

A card for each First road of each letter in the A-Z and a card for each last road of each letter.

Chris | 21.12.17 - 7:27 a.m. | #

Future visits could be a cemetery in each borough - often in out of way places and full of historic and wildlife interest

Visits to rail stations and surrounds that you have never been to before - in London - if there are any left

Go to a theatre production in every borough- which could be an expensive challenge

challenge readers to come up with a place to visit in thier own borough which you have not been to

Visit the oldest building in each borough

go to somewhere associated with a particular foreign country - list 52 on playing cards and see what ideas that generates

What ever you do it will generate some amazing blogs

All the best for 2018

John | 21.12.17 - 7:28 a.m. | #

Instead of something macro how about something a bit more micro? break London up into very small pieces, throw a dart to select one (or a few) and then walk down EVERY SINGLE street within that area to see how the fabric fits together? or, even more micro, stand (or sit) at that position for an hour or two to try to understand how the dynamic parts of the city (people, traffic etc) interact with that static piece?

Brendan | 21.12.17 - 7:31 a.m. | #

An enjoyable series, the pedways post was one of my favourites, as its something you see - but don't look at.

Still Anon | 21.12.17 - 7:33 a.m. | #

This is one idea you probably won't wish to do, but maybe others will....visit every football ground in the non-league pyramid within London. Start at Level One, The National Conference and work downwards to level 4. There are still plenty, despite lots of grounds being bought up and built on. Or perhaps less challenging, every rugby ground, union and league.

Doug Robinson | 21.12.17 - 7:40 a.m. | #

This has been an interesting and enlightening series - I've looked forward to these posts.

Mike Newman | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 7:46 a.m. | #

A visit to each postcode in the London area?

dg writes: There are 242 postcodes in London. I'd have to do 5 a week!

Simon Guy | 21.12.17 - 7:58 a.m. | #

For your next project take the major roads out of London and look at their beginnings and endings - the A3 starts at London Bridge and ends at the Still & West in Portsmouth, the A24 starts at Clapham Common Station and ends at Worthing Pier, and so on.
Plenty of opportunities to show up the contrasts and to get out and about. Plenty of ways to tickle your readers interests.

RayL | 21.12.17 - 8:01 a.m. | #

I hope your jam jar will be brought back into use for random selection!

Nick | 21.12.17 - 8:02 a.m. | #

A very interesting and informative year of blogs.
We are looking forward to reading next year's journey.

Sara | 21.12.17 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Always enjoy your posts and I found this series particularly interesting. Being old enough to have lived in the old County Borough of East Ham it has been fascinating to see both what has, but also what has not changed since the creation of the GLC all those years ago.

I find it interesting seeing how, over time, London has snaffled more and more places that in earlier times were all parts of the South-West Essex.

Ian D | 21.12.17 - 8:19 a.m. | #

A thoroughly interesting series of posts; well done DG and happy Christmas.

CG | 21.12.17 - 8:25 a.m. | #

A great series set of posts, thanks DG. Like the playing cards too...

Kevin | 21.12.17 - 8:58 a.m. | #

Give each of the Busiest and Quietest stations a number from 1 - 12 and roll a dice to see which one you'll visit next

Euan | 21.12.17 - 9:21 a.m. | #

Just wanted to comment to say thank you for a truly excellent series. It's been clear from your writing how much you enjoyed this, passion always shines through.

Al__S | 21.12.17 - 9:27 a.m. | #

Legend. The amount of effort you put in is staggering.

DG Can you write an article about how to start a blog, how you keep inspired...pro's and pit falls you have come across and how you take photos ( as you seem to be a good photographer).

Going back to work anytime soon?

Thanks

BW

Bruce Wayne | 21.12.17 - 10:24 a.m. | #

Well done on all your excursions and write-ups. Fascinating as ever.
Has anyone 'done' boating', recreational or other bodies of outdoor water in London boroughs?

b | 21.12.17 - 10:25 a.m. | #

How about circumnavigating each London Borough (think you've previously done Tower Hamlets, so you've already made a start), using mix of walking and public transport?

Or, looking further afield, a pick n mix random tour of all English counties, stopping off at places including: highest point, largest/county town, oldest settlement, richest/poorest ward, sporting venue, quirky tourist attractions, longest bus route, etc.

Could also do something based on historic county boundaries, similar to recent tour of London Boroughs.

Bill | 21.12.17 - 10:43 a.m. | #

Hi DG,

Another great series to keep us entertained this year.

I like RayL’s idea for next year. Borough High Street to Dover?

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 21.12.17 - 10:48 a.m. | #

A fantastic series, thanks DG.

My favourite posts are always those which visit the very edge of London, such as September's visit to Riddlesdown or the trip around the extreme south east on the R10 bus. I'm always fascinated by what makes London, 'London' so any posts on that topic would be warmly welcomed.

Look forward to reading your blog in 2018!

James Armitage | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 10:49 a.m. | #

What an achievement, well done! I'm sure this blog will serve as a cultural artifact of some kind in the future...

yman | 21.12.17 - 10:51 a.m. | #

DG is an excellent photographer, in my (very uneducated) opinion. And of course, if he is able to pass on any tips, they would be appreciated. But he may well not be able to do so - all the good photographers I have met in person seem unable to explain how they do it. It seems to be an unteachable knack. (I may be wrong).

Malcolm | 21.12.17 - 11:12 a.m. | #

Thank you, DG, for a year of entertaining and informative blog posts. Heavens! I can't believe it is almost a year since you did the walk between the Heathrow terminals. Time seems to fly even faster. I look forward to reading many more fascinating posts. Have a good Christmas.

baldrick | 21.12.17 - 11:28 a.m. | #

Thanks for the Herbert Dip series - your ability/hard graft at turning up new aspects of London is to be admired and the reason why this blog is still one of the first things I look at each day on the phone.

An idea for next year? How about visiting somewhere significant for each decade of London / UK history from 1490 (for fifty two posts) or 1750 (for a fortnightly series).

Marc | 21.12.17 - 11:31 a.m. | #

I just wanted to add my thanks here for the extremely interesting and unique content you produce on your blog. I make sure to pop by each day to see where you have been, learn some esoteric London public transport facts, or what the latest TfL mistake is in East London!
It may be a bit early but Merry Christmas and a Happy New year :)

daily reader | 21.12.17 - 11:36 a.m. | #

I did a double take at the first sentence - for some reason my brain read "Sherbet dip" and that gave me further happy memories! Have a well-earned rest for a few days!

Tim W | 21.12.17 - 11:46 a.m. | #

It would take a while (6 years at 1 a week), but how about picking each of the "Runs" from the Taxi Knowledge, and visit somewhere along it?

dg writes: I've managed one.

Nick Burch | 21.12.17 - 12:58 p.m. | #

It could be a bit similar to this year, but 2018 marks 100 years of women getting the vote. You could visit each of the 1918 London constituencies.

dg writes: It seems there are 88 of these.

Jimmy | 21.12.17 - 1:49 p.m. | #

We await the new fresh idea with interest!

Mitch | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 1:57 p.m. | #

Congratulations on finishing the set. Achievement unlocked.

To follow on from "votes for women", it is also the centenary of the end of the Great War. How about visiting all of the listed war memorials in London? You've probably done a fair bunch already. The advanced search on Historic England website reckons there are 278 freestanding war memorials in the London government region, five at Grade I and 24 at Grade II*. Perhaps limit to a few boroughs. There are 14 in Tower Hamlets, for example.

Andrew | 21.12.17 - 2:20 p.m. | #

Another thanks from me. I'll be eternally grateful for you reminding me to make more of Stanmore Common which is almost on my doorstep.

How about a series of Pagan Places in London - or, at least those associated with ancient cultures, eg Herne Hill, Penge, Harrow Hill

Cornish Cockney | 21.12.17 - 2:40 p.m. | #

It's probably silly for me to suggest things as you will no doubt come up with an original idea.... but I'll suggest three ideas anyway.

1. RayL suggested roads above - I like this idea but what about railway Termini as the basis instead? E.g. the "London Group" has 18 stations in it- you could do 3 posts about stations on the line from each (54 total). E.g. one about the last point within London where a train going from there stops, one about the end of the line and one about the first stop from there

Or something.... Gives a good mix of inner / outer / out of London.

Reading that back it all sounds terribly specific though!

2. Look at the alphaetical station index for the London Tube and Rail Map. Do the first and last entry for each letter? (So for L that would be Ladbroke Grove and Lower Sydenham)

3. Your fantastic flightpath post, where you followed an invisible line has a lot of mileage. What other invisible lines could you follow across a map? You;ve already done lost rivers. The lines of the never built london ringways?

Anyway, I had fun thinking these up, but thanks for all your fantastic posts this year- they have been excellent reading.

Espadrilles | 21.12.17 - 2:51 p.m. | #

I enjoyed the boroughs for all the reasons the other correspondents have mentioned.
I am confident you will come with another idea yourself or base it on one of the suggestions. It won't matter though because I will enjoy your blogs daily whatever the subject.
Have a very Happy Christmas DG

MikeK | 21.12.17 - 3:18 p.m. | #

Congratulations on completing the challenge and finding so many, different imaginative things to write about.
One obvious theme for next year would be Crossrail; you could maybe visit each of the 40 stations but it might be a struggle to think of anything new to say about the central ones or anything at all about places like Maryland or Hanwell.
A left-field suggestion would be to visit each of London's park stations, of which I think there are 50.

whiff | 21.12.17 - 3:31 p.m. | #

This has been a great series, thanks DG.

How about finding disused railway stations in each borough? Nick Catford's site has a good catalogue of these, but is of course strictly interested in the rail aspects. A visit from you would go further, finding out what replaced them, who's hanging around outside the local Londis, and all sorts of other interesting titbits from the vicinity.

Matt | 21.12.17 - 3:54 p.m. | #

European London: There will be 27 member states left in the European Union after the UK leaves. Find something in London that's important to the people of each country, a centre of that country's community, or an item (foodstuff? statue?) that country has given to London.

27's a good number (just over one every two weeks), and you've got a combination of some fairly obvious sites (like the Lycée Française Charles de Gaulle) and some real hunting/creativity to complete the list -- for example, what could you consider the centre of Bulgarian culture in London?

Might be one to consider for Brexit year in 2019, though.

Quin | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 4:06 p.m. | #

Visit all approx 900 thousand of prime number telephone numbers between 02,070,000,000 and 02,089,999,999.

| 21.12.17 - 4:20 p.m. | #

It’s been fun to read along with your adventure! With a year until crossrail, it would be interesting to a “Where can CrossRail take you” journey where you talk about what’s at each stop, now flung into fame by being on the tube map.

Or maybe places in London with a namesake outside the capital (and then in 2019 you visit the namesake)

Jerome H | 21.12.17 - 4:59 p.m. | #

Fascinating series. Admire your attention to detail & your photographs. Here's to 2018 & more discovery

Fiona S | 21.12.17 - 5:15 p.m. | #

I was toying with the various ringways (with suitable artistic license to avoid but loosely parallel the parts that were actually built and / or are already huge roads), but Espadrilles beat me to it!

Or maybe something drawing from this CDRC Country of Birth map, that's a reminder of why London is such a world city - https://maps.cdrc.ac.uk/#/metrics/countryofbirth/default/BTTTFTT/10/-0.1500/51.5200/

But above all, thanks for the series - it's been a great read.

David | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 6:32 p.m. | #

Thank you for all you do DG - it makes me wish I still lived in London, then I could follow in your footsteps!

Kim | 21.12.17 - 6:38 p.m. | #

What about Roman roads? Or something like that (following on from the invisible line suggestion) where there did actually used to be something but it's all but disappeared?

Leo | 21.12.17 - 6:58 p.m. | #

How about visiting all the town halls in Lodnon?

ganching | Homepage | 21.12.17 - 7:25 p.m. | #

Wikipedia says there were 51 Zeppelin raids on England during the Great War, including one in Hull. Maybe a bit too Non-London though?

Jimmy | 21.12.17 - 7:50 p.m. | #

Thanks for years of interesting pieces.
How about holy wells. Non christian places of worship. Lesser known cemeteries. Murder venues.
Thames islands. Estates

MikeS | 21.12.17 - 7:50 p.m. | #

using the list of all London postcodes allocating each a number and then using random number generator in excell select 12 and visit one a month - will definitely send you to places you have never been

Visit a random estate agent in each borough and select a property to view to rent or buy and see how well the estate agent knows the local area and describes the property

Using Eventbrite select a random free talk/seminar to attend each month - ideally one that serves canapés and in a building you have never been in before

Visit 12 boroughs and then using Tinder see if you can find a date within an hour and persuade them to do a typical DG activity

Using Booth's 1889 map of London poverty select a couple of areas in each of the 7 categories and see if they have changed in last 130yrs

Visit the site of every London Woolworths to see what has happened to them

Go skip diving and see what you can find

Visit each borough's major centre in the middle of the night to see how different the atmosphere is compared with the day - you might not want to do this alone

Have a competition where you invite a DG blog reader to go on a walk with you - could be done as a raffle with donations to your favourite charity

The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination

While probably not attractive to you given your wonderful eye for details and photographs would be to visit the same location at the same time once a month and describe and photograph what you see - ideally works best in a relatively busy but ordinary place

Best wishes and have a good Christmas

John | 21.12.17 - 10:00 p.m. | #

It might be too similar to your 2017 theme, but the boundary commission process comes to an end in 2018.

68 Westminster constituencies have been proposed for London in the revised proposals - and unlikely to change much in final.

(You would also need to deal with the disappointment when Parliament inevitably fails to adopt the proposals.)

Madison | 21.12.17 - 10:09 p.m. | #

Congratulations on completing this project. For a new challenge I think anything that requires travel outside London would end up being quite expensive. It would be interesting to see your reports from further afield though. Have you considered a crowd funding appeal? It would have to be done so that your anonymity is still preserved though.

Dave | 21.12.17 - 11:14 p.m. | #

Well!! You now have enough suggestions to take care of the next 100 years. Take your pick and I know I will enjoy reading the result. It's been a Good Year and I wish you many more of them.
Have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
PS: When will the 2017 work be published as a book??

Colesville Garth | 21.12.17 - 11:22 p.m. | #

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life".....?

Gordon | 21.12.17 - 11:56 p.m. | #

Thanks DG for a fascinating series!

The idea about the Ringways stands out to me if only because one of them (Ringway 2 IIRC) would have gone through South Norwood just south of where I lived as a child/teenager.

Have a very Happy Christmas and another great year of blogging!

John Simmons | 22.12.17 - 12:08 a.m. | #

Congrats, I have enjoyed your travel blog throughout the year. How about using the road number map of Britain to go to a road, river, railway and city in each numbering zone starting from London. It looks like Geoff and Jay's collaboration is going to be doing something similar, although it may cost a fair bit for the travel.

Uy Hoang | Homepage | 22.12.17 - 12:09 a.m. | #

I've enjoyed your travels this year as always - glad you visited Hacton where my first school was. Have a great Xmas and all the best for 2018. Look forward to reading your blog each day.

Dave B | 22.12.17 - 12:17 a.m. | #

How about visiting a selection of bus stops M?

dg writes: Done that.

gt | 22.12.17 - 3:23 a.m. | #

How about you draw a line across a map of London from the eastern most part to the western most part and walk that trying to keep on the line as much as possible? You can split it up into different sections as you see fit. You could also do it north to south.

Barry | 22.12.17 - 7:37 a.m. | #

what would I do without a daily dose of DG - thank you for all your blogs and I hope there's many more to come

one subject that might interest you is charitable bequests made centuries ago but which are still alive and kicking today - Dick Whittington, Richard Cloudesley, Bridge House Trust spring to mind - I'm in the middle of reading this excellent report on Cloudesley http://www.cloudesley.org.uk/media/1210/cloudesley-500-years-in-islington-1517-2017.pdf

have a happy Christmas

Caz | 22.12.17 - 10:09 a.m. | #

I'm going to second (or third!) the ringway idea. Would be incredible to find out exactly what parts of London would have been lost had this idea been implemented.

Thomas | 22.12.17 - 12:48 p.m. | #

How about streets / roads in London that no longer exist having been re-developed , destroyed by ww2 bombing etc.

HenryB | 22.12.17 - 2:10 p.m. | #

How about 'London's Lost Telephone Exchanges'?

Many London numbers still have buried clues about their original exchange names (e.g. 020 7629 is MAYfair and 020 7930 is WHItehall). The geographic names would make an interesting series in their own right, but the really fascinating ones originated because there were limited numbers of meaningful combinations of letters. The GPO had to resort to using names of local features (e.g. CLOcktower, FOUntain), poets (BYRon, KEAts), painters (SCOtt, VANdyke), trees (LABurnham, MULberry), plants (SILverthorn, SPEedwell), local industry (ANVil, DOMinion) or were sometimes entirely arbitrary (LOCkwood).

Some allocated names (EDWard, INWood) never made it into the directory because they were overtaken by All Figure Numbering which was introduced 50 years ago. Others didn't appear because they were government exchanges or used for engineering and other purposes (FEDeral, LTK, ADO). Some exchanges or subscribers were given new names (ADVance, KEYstone) because the original names (guess what they were, same holes in the dial) were considered unfashionable.

So where are all these mystery exchanges and why were they so named? I hope a new DG series in 2018 will reveal all !

Gerry | 22.12.17 - 6:17 p.m. | #

You could visit every pedestrian street in London, as Oxford Street will be pedestrianised at the end of 2018.

| 22.12.17 - 9:16 p.m. | #

A little late to the suggestions but the new London plan came out a few weeks ago which has identified 47 opportunity areas which will be the focus of new development in London over the next 25 years. They are pretty scattered about and have lots of interesting contrasts between past, present and future London.

Flare | 23.12.17 - 12:42 p.m. | #

I just wanted to write and say thank you for writing such a varied but fascinating feature that has entertained and informed me throughout the year, despite living nearly 200 miles from the capital. I'm sure you will pick an excellent topic even without our input but if I may, I'd like to make two suggestions not already made by others:

1) 2018 is the 110th and 70th anniversaries of London's first two Olympiads. This could be used to revisit the locations where Olympic events were hosted in 1908 and 1948, including retracing the routes of the marathons and cycle races plus the few venues for each Games outside of London. [English Heritage's book "The British Olympics: Britain's Olympic Heritage 1612-2012" is an excellent resource for this]
Your blog also rightly made much of following the preparation and construction in the run up to the 2012 Games, so 6 years on, these two anniversaries could also act as an optional extra reflection on the 2012 Games and how things have fared since - from Earls Court having been demolished, and the Basketball Arena now being the site of a housing estate to a summary of the many changes the Olympic Park has already seen since the Games.

2) A much simpler suggestion, but why not repeat Herbert Dip, just going to another set of locations in each borough? While I'm aware this may further stretch your imagination of places to visit, it is also clear from reading these comments that it's been a very popular feature with your readership!

Regardless of what you choose, I hope you have a happy holidays, and I look forward to reading more of your blog entries in 2018 :-)

Philip Brown | 23.12.17 - 1:19 p.m. | #

This isn’t fully thought through, but how about an exploration of the City? There’s a lot of geographic spread and potentially interesting places - the various commons and green spaces they run such as Epping Forest, Burnham Beeches and Farthing Downs, markets like New Spitalfields, the Old Bailey, the 25 city wards.

Simon W | 25.12.17 - 10:16 p.m. | #

Simply awesome - Christmas has come early for me this year. You are incredible, DG!

Cau1khead | 27.06.20 - 8:07 p.m. | #











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