iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thameslink’s new advertising campaign reckons “Every stop is a story”. This one seems to be the screenplay to an episode of Casualty.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Northern Line, if it were proper Northern. (Made this a few years back, but thought I’d whippet out again.)

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I’ve been colouring in again…

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Thought of the day: can anything else be “stark” apart from nakedness, contrast, relief and Tony?

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I stumbled across Count Binface with his visor up, and this is the shocking truth

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Been working round town today. Of the four cafes/pubs I’ve been in, three played a Nick Drake track as background music. Has he been rediscovered yet again by a new generation (or did he never go away)?

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Great to see my local council are planting trees… in, um, the penalty box.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

TV. 100 years old today. I feel right proud to be invited to the original site where it happened, above Bar Italia in Soho. Got a selfie with Stooky Bill, the first face on TV.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I put together this “entanglogram” of London history, which links together famous people, places, events, lost rivers, Tube lines and cats. It’s a little bit demented but I hope you like it. open.substack.com/pub/londonis...

open.substack.com

The History of London... in one Deranged Entanglogram

Or 'what happens when I drink some whisky and let my brain tumble out'.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The Marquis Cornwallis pub in Bloomsbury is a pleasant if unremarkable pub… until you go to the toilets and notice the battle scene hanging on the north wall

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

We asked people to come up with alternative names for the London boroughs, with prizes for the best. Here are the results… and Mike’s made pretend logos for the new boroughs….

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 09/12/2025

🎺🥁 ANNOUNCING the winners of our recent Rename a Borough competition! 🏆 Each will receive a signed map of Greater London AND a copy of 'The Boroughs of London' by me and @mattfromlondon.bsky.social All of us enjoyed reading through the submissions, and here are our ten favourites: 🧵

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Blimey, my book was second only to the Booker Prize winner in Daunt bookshops last month, according to The Times. Sold out on Amazon, too! You can still track copies down in most high street bookshops though… they make excellent Christmas presents 😉

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 19/11/2025

A reminder that this time next week @mattfromlondon.bsky.social and I will be at Enfield Waterstones signing copies of our book The Boroughs of London! ✍🏻📚 If you're in north London that evening, do stop by! ⏰ 6pm, Wed 26 Nov 📍 26 Church St, Enfield EN2 6BE www.waterstones.com/events/the-b...

Image of the book The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Want to win our new book, The Boroughs of London? It’s the only competition ever (probably) where you have to pretend to be a 1960s London councillor…

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

So, so chuffed that The Boroughs of London is currently filling the window of @dauntbookspub.bsky.social in Marylebone. It’s a real honour. If you can’t get to the shop you can order from them here dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/books/t...

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 17/10/2025

The Boroughs of London by me and @mattfromlondon.bsky.social is now in the shops (out Oct 21st in North America)! 📚 Here’s a thread on what it’s about, what’s inside, and why - if you love all things London, local history, boundaries, facts, trivia and above all MAPS - you’re in for a treat. 🧵⬇️

Image of The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, a hardback book published by Batsford. It features a colourful front cover design with the title contained within a white circle at the centre, around which radiates an arrangement of 32 segments, each containing a fragment of a different London Borough map.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

I’ve been and done a book, with @thisismikehall.com It’s out now! A cartographic celebration of the 32 London boroughs (plus the Square Mile), with around 350 ideas of places to visit. It’s turned out handsomly (even if I haven’t) open.substack.com/pub/londonis...

open.substack.com

The Boroughs of London at 60

I put some words into a book.

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 15/09/2025

🚨 London lovers! Come see me and Londonist supremo @mattfromlondon.bsky.social talk about our new book THE BOROUGHS OF LONDON at Stanfords next month! 📍 Stanfords (@stanfordstravel.bsky.social) 7 Mercer Walk, WC2H 9FA 🗓️ 7pm, Thu 9th October 🎟️ £8.00 (inc 🍷) ➡️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-boroug...

Mike Hall, the cover art for The Boroughs of London, and Matt Brown

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 09/09/2025

🚨 One month to go till THE BOROUGHS OF LONDON by me and @mattfromlondon.bsky.social hits the shops! Packed with maps and illustrations, learn about London's 32 boroughs, how they came to be, the fascinating places in each, and much more history and trivia besides. Preorder today! ℹ️ bit.ly/BorosLdn

Cover art for The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing a map of the County of London in 1901 and the former Metropolitan Boroughs

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing text and illustrations including an illustration of a dog

A detail of a page from The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, showing various colourful statistical maps of Greater London

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

At the lovely Mercia Marina — supposedly the largest inland marina in Europe — in Derbyshire. Besides the obvious, it has shops, restaurants, a Norse goddess, free bikes, and a Cheese Boat that also sells novelty socks. Idyllic.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Think I’ll pass, cheers. But thanks for the offer

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

The Apple Store, Dorset style

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Mike Hall @thisismikehall.com · 30/07/2025

A reminder that the nice people at Waterstones are offering a 25% discount on preorder copies of me and @mattfromlondon.bsky.social’s new book The Boroughs of London (UK shipping only). Offer ends midnight tomorrow! ➡️ www.waterstones.com/book/the-bor...

Promotional graphic by Waterstones, text reads:
25% OFF
On Upcoming Books
Pre-order now
With code:
SUMMER25
28-31 July | Online only

Includes an image of the front cover of the book The Boroughs of London by Mike Hall and Matt Brown, published by Batsford in October 2025

Detail from Mike Hall and Matt Brown’s new book, The Boroughs of London, published by Batsford in October 2025, showing the chapter heading and map for Southwark

Detail from Mike Hall and Matt Brown’s new book, The Boroughs of London, published by Batsford in October 2025, showing various colourful maps of Greater London comparing statistics for each borough

Detail from Mike Hall and Matt Brown’s new book, The Boroughs of London, published by Batsford in October 2025, showing a page from the chapter on Wandsworth, including illustrations of a dog, a sewing machine and a bingo card

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

An explicit version of Beethoven’s Fifth? What? I thought it was the Third that was dubbed the Erotica Symphony

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

I’m pretty sure the Royal Courts of Justice in London inspired Castle Grayskull

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

The perils of naming your shop after a living person (these in Southgate and Waltham Forest)

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David Fletcher @artfletch.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

I created a scan of the whole length of the Covid Memorial Wall opposite Westminster Palace! #London #photogrammetry 3D: skfb.ly/pyuoS

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Kids got me this lovely Star Wars pint glass for fathers’ day. And now they’ve gone to bed, can anyone explain what the round blueberry thing is… because I got it in my head that it’s Darth Vader’s sphincter, but I can’t say that out loud.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Spotted in Elstree. Awful and bizarre in equal measure.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

“Ronald Reagan? The escapologist?”. The President’s statue in Grosvenor Square, London is not quite how I remember it.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Loved this whole series of Doctor Who. Triumphant, imaginative, jubilant television. The look of wonderment on my 9yo daughter’s face at the end was priceless. Hope they sort out the behind-the-scenes stuff and come back soon. #doctorwho

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Just been served my first £8 pint. In a Sam Smiths pub! It’s not even very nice.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Some interesting photo captioning in the Independent

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Reading with my six year old. His answer to this was “Using the Safari browser?”

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

I adore those AI results that Google insists on placing above traditional search results. Today I learned that Her Majesty was able to ride the London cable car a quarter of a century before it was built. Royal privilege, I guess

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London SE1 community website @se1.news · 16/05/2025

Been a while since the Anchor Bankside pub was visible from this angle

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Got a new book out soon, with the supremely talented mapmaker @thisismikehall.com

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Today, my local supermarket had no bananas, yet was well stocked with figures of Otto, a very minor character from the Simpsons. If this is a symptom of the trade war, then I’m all for it.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

I’m pretty sure that’s not Grimsby…

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

This might just be the best documentary about London I’ve ever seen londonist.com/london/video...

londonist.com

Bernard Falk's Tour Of Hidden London: Genius Documentary From 1975

Bernard Falk is our new hero.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Finally, a Daily Mail headline I can get behind

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

A map of one’s own… in this week’s Londonist Time Machine, I’ve mapped every single London location mentioned in every single Virginia Woolf novel. Surprisingly little Bloomsbury open.substack.com/pub/londonis...

open.substack.com

Virginia Woolf's London: The Complete Map

Every location from her ten novels.

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M@ @mattfromlondon.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Damnit, Woburn’s capybara are glitching again.

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