please empty your brain below
If you really haven’t blogged about Alexandra Palace, then this is my vote

Greg S | 06.01.26 - 12:35 a.m. | #

Could've flown British Airways flight 26, that would be a change of pace.

Lmm | 06.01.26 - 3:54 a.m. | #

Maybe revisit/enhance your 2018 article on antipodes

DavidC | 06.01.26 - 6:43 a.m. | #

ABCDE are relatively easy. It is filling in JK and XYZ that are trickier. Q is easier due to Her Late Majesty and her predecessors.

There must be an A to Z of London statues - or public artworks if you prefer.

Andrew | 06.01.26 - 7:16 a.m. | #

We hear a lot about bus stop M, what about the other bus stops?

Pete W | 06.01.26 - 7:54 a.m. | #

Surprised you didn't do 26 miles from... (probably Trafalgar Square).

N26 - you could have started from Chingford (just saying).

A is also for abandoned, absconded, arterial, artificial, attacked etc., things in London that fit the criteria for words starting with different letters of the alphabet.

Still Anon | 06.01.26 - 7:57 a.m. | #

You haven’t blogged about Anerley???

I would have thought that would have been high on your list(s).

Southern Heights (Light Railwayj | 06.01.26 - 8:07 a.m. | #

There is the fairly short H26 bus route

John | 06.01.26 - 8:23 a.m. | #

A-Z of places sounds a good idea and plenty of scope.

Brian | 06.01.26 - 8:25 a.m. | #

The Abbey Roads - as someone who likes a count, see the proportion of people who arrive on the DLR turn around and go back (say in the space of half an hour) and then go to the other Abbey Road and see how many people cross the road in half and hour, and then come up with a statistic for a proportion of visitors who will have gone to the wrong place first out of all those who picked the right place.

dg writes: no need

NickW | 06.01.26 - 8:29 a.m. | #

How about embassies of countries beginning with each letter? Several could be doable on some days.

Ian | 06.01.26 - 8:40 a.m. | #

I recall Anerley has had several mentions in this blog.

Perhaps give unusual Blue Plaques in London a go. There are even options for X,Y and Z.

Keith the Kraut | 06.01.26 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I vote Alexandra Palace, too.

Steve | 06.01.26 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I need a theme, not a place.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 06.01.26 - 8:51 a.m. | #

Given my name Andy's sandwich bar stood out. Could you use alphabetical sandwich bars/cafes as a start point & blog about what is within a certain distance of them. Would give you a sort of 'random borough' feel to the exercise.

Andy S | 06.01.26 - 9:04 a.m. | #

"a food entrepreneur inspired by Danish oats" - no wonder it's so popular

MKIan | 06.01.26 - 9:05 a.m. | #

An A-Z of people associated with London rather than places? Gives a lot of scope for interpretation, not sure of that is good or not?!

Simon | 06.01.26 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Thanks for asking us for ideas. But it's a bit like family members asking me what I would like as a present. Anything which I know I want (that isn't too expensive), I have already bought for myself. The best presents are things that I didn't know I wanted.

Malcolm of Kent | 06.01.26 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Have you done an A–Z of shops, defunct or extant? You could start with Arding & Hobbs, whose history runs the gamut from devastating fire to Mr Bean.

Jonathan Wadman | 06.01.26 - 9:59 a.m. | #

Of the suggestions so far, I'm liking A-Z of bus stops: how many of each per borough, is there an even distribution, etc etc. Roughly one letter a week showcased with a year end stats round up?

A-Z of public statues could be interesting. First name or surname? A bit of a challenge to get the full set, I suspect.

Louise | 06.01.26 - 10:15 a.m. | #

I vote Ally Pally too.

MOTB | 06.01.26 - 10:33 a.m. | #

The thing that occurs 26 times a year is a fortnight, so how about anything that has fort or night in its title?

SimonP | 06.01.26 - 10:40 a.m. | #

The London Marathon is 26.2 miles long so if you don't settle on an Alphabet option what about each mile of the marathon route?

Mark | 06.01.26 - 10:56 a.m. | #

A-Z of churches and places of worship?

South London Lad | 06.01.26 - 11:22 a.m. | #

An A-Z of sporting venues might offer considerable scope for variety.

Hugh Jorgan | 06.01.26 - 11:42 a.m. | #

An A to Z of people buried in one of the Magnificent Seven burial grounds? X would still be a toughie, but I'm sure you could find 25 interesting people resting in Highgate or somesuch. There are better A to Zs, but I think you've done them all!

Chz | 06.01.26 - 11:53 a.m. | #

There's also the London A-Z. Pick 26 streets, evenly spaced in the index? My edition has no streets starting with X...

Series suggester | 06.01.26 - 12:00 p.m. | #

There is no way you, DG, would have had brunch at 26 Grains or anywhere else for that matter, when you could have gone home and had beans on toast (Chorleywood process bread, of course).

sheepdog | 06.01.26 - 12:04 p.m. | #

Apples and Pears…..a theme of Cockney rhyming slang expressions working through the alphabet once a fortnight.

VeeJayEm | 06.01.26 - 12:19 p.m. | #

Cheeses. Appenzeller-Zartschmelzend. Make us hungry! Not exactly London-centric, that would be a little more challenging. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, etc.

Strabismus | 06.01.26 - 12:24 p.m. | #

I came up with a few A-Z's but so often they don't make 26. Closed London stations for instance fails at I,X and Z.
In fact I sense most ideas fail at X.
Open stations reaches Z but misses J and X.
There isn't even an X... named bus stop.
Yes there are bus stop X's but that's not their place name.

ap | 06.01.26 - 12:37 p.m. | #

My first thought was trees, but there are a few letters that might cause some issue...

Gunnersaurus | 06.01.26 - 12:46 p.m. | #

A blog on each mile of the London marathon?

Gunnersaurus | 06.01.26 - 12:55 p.m. | #

First and last street under each letter in the A-Z, that has the added bonus of resulting in 52 locations so one a week for ease of planning. For more of a theme it could be the first and last person/place entry under each letter. Or some other criterion suggested above.

Anon | 06.01.26 - 1:30 p.m. | #

Maybe something loosely build around the fact that
26 = 13 x 2 = doubly unlucky?
Could be indexed by person or place (or either/both)
Just a thought.

rogergh | 06.01.26 - 1:31 p.m. | #

When you throw it open for ideas it hits home just how difficult it is to come up with something different - yet you've been managing it for what, 23 years now?!
Amazing!
Looking forward to whatever you come up with.

Cornish Cockney | 06.01.26 - 2:04 p.m. | #

I suggest purchasing a children’s A-Z book that teaches them the alphabet then seeking out the object corresponding to each letter, wherever it takes you. A is for Apple for example could take you to an interesting orchard, B for Boat to somewhere on a river or even a museum?

Wild Edric | 06.01.26 - 2:23 p.m. | #

Maybe something related to cards? 13 cards in a suit, 52 cards in total, half of that's 26. Admittedly not clean at all, but 26 isn't that nice of a number for things like these imo.

Unrelated, but I'd love a DG post on Avenue Road (I assume you mean the tram stop). I'd love to see how you write about that place!
(That would be my vote for the "contact every reader whose name starts with a letter" option if you go for it!)

dg writes: done and done

All Over 2a | Homepage | 06.01.26 - 3:32 p.m. | #

Perhaps a series of articles that relate London to the phonetic alphabet? An Alpha article, a Bravo article and so on.

RSM | 06.01.26 - 3:45 p.m. | #

Re Arizona Fried Chicken: it has been a subject of occasional discussion among friends if a full alphabet of "_FC"s can be eaten in London - a rather greasy way to spend the year, though, and while QFC seems surprisingly doable I have my doubts about XFC.

heath-rennf | 06.01.26 - 4:45 p.m. | #

A-Z of musicians/bands who have lived or worked in London?

Mikey C | 06.01.26 - 4:56 p.m. | #

I love a couple of the ideas here, the musicians one I was going to suggest plus the idea of an an A to Z of London villains. I also like the idea of an A to Z of interesting people in the 7 cemeteries.

I think there would be more latitude for new stuff if the A to Z was not place based so I was a bit downhearted with the idea you came up with at the end of the blog.

MO | 06.01.26 - 6:04 p.m. | #

London sporting venues: Alexandra Palace, Battersea Park, Crystal Palace, Dulwich College etc.

James | 06.01.26 - 7:14 p.m. | #

A-Z of the London A to Z maps, or is that stretching it? A-Z of London businesses intrigues me the most as a non-typical theme for you.

SJM | 06.01.26 - 7:56 p.m. | #

I second an A-Z of locations you haven't visited starting with Anerley. On the surface a bit boring, but there are connections to Sherlock Holmes, a pleasure garden, a canal, the home of an Author of hard-boiled American detective fiction and lots and lots of murals. I have been told that Penge and Anerley have more murals than any other location in the UK.

Graeme | 06.01.26 - 10:59 p.m. | #

Ally Pally would be good.

A really huge challenge would be to find something slightly interesting in, or about, Ardleigh Green.

Herbof | 06.01.26 - 11:28 p.m. | #

Similar to Graeme (or maybe the same) i like the idea of locations related to authors or books. You could pick a series you like and visit places, even join a guided tour or two.

I like Rivers of London

Other thoughts I had would be
- movie locations (should cover x-z e.g. X-men had a scene filmed at Somerset House)
- Amateur sporting locations
- schools
- NHS services / locations
- Oldest buildings (porbably too much cross over with National Trust posts)

Tim M | 07.01.26 - 9:44 a.m. | #

Suggested title: "Anerley, probed"

John Styles | 07.01.26 - 10:54 a.m. | #

There are a few London alphabets online. Example. The city is big enough that most letters are doable - Z can be Zoo for example - but like that one I linked, they tend to cheat for X - eg OXO tower or King’s Cross or Exmouth Market.

There must be a statue of Francis Xavier somewhere.

Andrew | 07.01.26 - 11:03 a.m. | #

+1 for movie locations.

Especially if M could be "Make Mine Mink" (St. John's Wood High street and the then newly built multistory flats near the station; Kensington gore; Hampstead fountains).

Military barracks/buildings etc. (historical and current) might also give scope with the usual problematic letters.

MilesT | 07.01.26 - 11:37 a.m. | #











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