Random blogs, photos and features
On my way to check out the Serpentine Gallery, I took a pleasant leisurely stroll around Kensington Gardens in central London. Here’s some photos from my perambulations:
In photos: a late summer walk through the Italian Garden and Kensington Gardens, central London Read More
We first visited this splendid traditional West End café exactly fifteen years ago, back in January 2005 and would regularly pop in before its inevitable closure in December 2007. We …
Remembering the New Piccadilly Cafe in central London Read More
Given that it’s one of those privately owned faux ‘public’ spaces with security guards lurking in every doorway, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy my trip to Coal Drops Yard, a large, …
King’s Cross Coal Drop Yards, The Lighthouse and Regent’s Canal: fifty photos Read More
Here’s the story of how the punk revolution changed everything for this Welsh boy living in Cardiff in the 1970s, and how the dreams of rock’n’roll stardom took a blow when …
From the Valleys to the Roxy: Welsh punk rock dreams from the 1970s Read More
Today, Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters took part in a major demonstration across central London. Roads and bridges were blocked as campaigners parked a boat at Oxford Circus and blocked Marble …
In photos: Extinction Rebellion direct action protests in central London, Mon 15th April 2019 Read More
My east London wanderings along the River Lea Navigation took me to the Here East tech park in Stratford, which was completely deserted at 7pm on a Sunday night. Here’s some …
Hubs & clusters. A walk around a deserted tech park at night: Here East, Stratford, east London, Feb 2019 Read More
Here’s a listing of the most popular posts on this blog over 2018 – and it makes for quite an eclectic collection of articles covering a diverse range of topics …
The Top 12 posts of 2018 – dangling sneakers, fake houses, festival searches, turbines, drums, pyramids and recording studios Read More
I’m not entirely sure why I got sent this press release from BT, but it’s quite interesting stuff, with loads of facts about the almighty surge in 999 calls caused …
New Year’s Eve in the UK: The 999 service’s busiest night of the year – and stupid calls listed Read More
Here’s some photos from a recent visit to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in north Wales, with our day trip taking in a journey on the Ffestiniog Railway to Tan-y-Bwlch and back.
In photos: Blaenau Ffestiniog and a narrow gauge steam journey to Tan-y-Bwlch in Snowdonia, Aug 2018 Read More
Serving its last customer in early 2011, The Old Rose was a traditional old dockworkers pub situated on the once-notorious Highway in London’s East End. With redevelopment and demolition leaving …
Lost Pubs of London: The Old Rose, The Highway, Wapping E1 – ‘vinegar beer, green interior and odd locals’ Read More
This year’s Boomtown Fair in Winchester, England, was once again a bloody amazing experience, and here’s the first batch of photos from the festival. Hopefully I’ve managed to document some …
Faces of Boomtown 2017: Seventy photos taken around the festival site Read More
If you’re desperate for a bit of relaxation, meditation, study and sleep, perhaps this ten hour treat of Arctic ambience might be the ticket. Pull the bedclothes up tight and …
Relax to the chilly ambient sounds of a frozen icebreaker in the Arctic Read More
Suburbia has always filed me with fear: growing up in north Cardiff I used to dread the silence and monotony of suburban Sundays, where every shop was closed and the …
Braintree: a look at deepest, dullest suburbia in Essex where modernism unexpectedly lurks Read More
Here’s a short series of photos taken around Cologne/Köln, the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich).
Photos of Cologne, Germany: The Rhine, King Georg bar, pipes, bins and a near-arrest for a heinous crime Read More
There’s a cracking collection of work currently on show at the Photographers’ Gallery in London, including a wonderful retrospective on East London snapper Terence Donovan, a series on ‘black dandyism’, and …
What Soho Wore, Black Dandyism and Terence Donovan at the Photographers’ Gallery, London Read More
I visited the Tate Modern recently. Here’s what I saw.
In photos: people looking at art, doors, films and workmen, Tate Modern, London Read More
I spotted this old Amstrad amp in the window of a Cardiff comic shop recently, and was instantly reminded of the bitter-sweet times I had when I owned one. With its …
Behold the audio majesty of the 1970s Amstrad Integra 4000 Mk II amplifier Read More
File this one under ‘M’ for ‘Mindblowing.’ NASA has assembled the largest ever Hubble Space Telescope image showing a portion of the Andromeda galaxy – and it is truly astonishing.
Hubble’s mind-blowing high-def view of the Andromeda Galaxy shows over 100 million stars Read More
A newly released six-minute timelapse video shot by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst provides a beautiful and humbling view of Planet Earth.
Watch this incredible 4k video created by an International Space Station astronaut Read More
It’s been bad enough having irrelevant, commercialised American rubbish like Black Friday and Cyber Monday thrust upon us Brits, but I really draw the line at this ludicrous Christmas Coca Cola …
It’ll be Christmas when I see the Coca Cola lorry looking like this Read More
If you’ve got a spare 20 minutes or so, I warmly recommend you watch this fascinating video, which talks to astronauts about their time in space, and features some stunning …
Astronauts talk about seeing Earth from space – fantastic video Read More
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been circling the Moon for over years, gathering an unprecedented amount of data about our nearest neighbour.
NASA releases stunning video footage of a rotating Moon Read More
These two fascinating videos show what life is like 220 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station – and also explains how astronauts get to sleep in space.
How astronauts sleep in space and a fascinating look around the International Space Station Read More
There was a short-lived but suitably outraged reaction from some members on the busy urban75 forums early this morning, when the site’s font switched to the monstrosity that is Comic Sans.
April Fools on urban75: an attack of the Comic Sans Read More
Just eleven months after the urban75 forums registered its 11,000,000th post, the Brixton-based, community-funded bulletin board has now notched up its 12 millionth user post.
Community website urban75 notches up 12,000,000 forum posts Read More![Here's why Octopuses are some of the coolest creatures on the planet [video]](http://www.urban75.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/octopus-disguise-1.jpg)
To start off, with octopuses are mighty weird things. They have two eyes and four pairs of arms and are bilaterally symmetric, with a hard beak around its mouth at the centre point …
Here’s why octopuses are some of the coolest creatures on the planet [video] Read More
I’m not going to get any work done today as I keep getting distracted by seeing fabulous, brilliantly clever and funny creations online.
How to make your bike sound like a horse, GPS shoes and a crisp man balloonist Read More
When this magnificent rant appeared on the urban75 forums, I felt duty bound to immediately share it with the world. So with thanks to the author ‘dylans’, here’s what I consider …
In response to the news of Will & Kate’s new baby: the greatest anti-royal rant ever Read More
Today is St. Catherine’s Day, which marks the arrival of winter and commemorates the martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria who was was unfortunate to have her head chopped off by …
November 25th – Happy St. Catherine’s Day Read More
This incredible movie from NASA’s Curiosity rover shows most of the high-resolution frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager as it headed towards the surface of Mars.
High resolution footage shows the descent of NASA’s Curiosity rover on to the surface of Mars Read More