John Stow with Dan Cruikshank - 32 Londoners 2014

Dan Cruikshank on JOHN STOW - Historian, b.1525, Cornhill

On May the 1st 2014, the EDF Energy London Eye hosted a unique event where each of its 32 capsules was given over to a talk by a well-known authority on a famous Londoner. To commemorate the occasion, this podcast series has been made of all the talks.

John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian. In his day he witnessed the passing of mediaevalism and the birth of the modern capital. A moderate Protestant of the first generation, he lived through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I and witnessed the coronation of the first Stuart monarch, James I. 

His legacy to the capital is his most famous work, the 1598 Survey of London. It was based on a perambulation of the several wards of the City, which Stow accomplished with scrupulous care and verified from his ample collections. In it Stow built himself a monument for all time, and has left a record infused with life. It is at once the summary of sixty observant years, and a vivid picture of London as he saw it.

Dan Cruickshank is an art historian and BBC television presenter with a special interest
in the history of architecture. He is an Honorary Fellow of RIBA, a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group and on the Architectural Panel of the National Trust.