Nigel Smith - Guided Walking Tours

31/08/2024

I’ve had a tremendous day researching the history of London’s cinemas at the archive. Stay tuned for the end results!

24/08/2024

Cheap cinema tickets all day next Saturday!

On Saturday 31st August, hundreds of cinemas across the UK will come together to celebrate National Cinema Day, offering cheap entry to see many of the films being screened at the moment.

24/08/2024

We had to dodge some rain showers but I had a great time this afternoon with this wonderful group on my Cultural Clerkenwell tour. I’m doing it again in November - you should come!

21/08/2024

This is great

Artist spends 1,000 hours creating a new map of cultural London.

19/08/2024

I’m reading about pulp artist HJ Ward, who painted some of the earliest depictions of the Lone Ranger in the 1930s.

The Lone Ranger started life as a radio character and I’ve only just learnt that they used used the William Tell Overture as the theme tune as a cost-cutting measure because it was in the public domain!

19/08/2024

My second tour of the weekend was ‘Evolving Islington’ with this great group (pictured next to St Mary’s Church on Upper Street).

I’m doing this on again on Saturday 19 October or join me next Saturday afternoon for ‘Cultural Clerkenwell’.

Ticket link in bio.

17/08/2024

Pets welcome on all of my tours. This morning for Islington’s Big Screens it was fun to be joined by Lena, Orsino and Mumu.

16/08/2024

A rare treat to get a peak into the projection box at one of my favourite cinemas .soho. Thank you for organising the visit and manager Daniel (here next to the 35mm platters) for being such a wonderful host.

11/08/2024

Thank you for recommending the two walks I’m leading in Islington next Saturday. In the morning discover 900 years of history in the area; in the afternoon it’s ’Islington’s Big Screens’ - an exploration of more than 100 years of cinema-going.

Link in bio to find tickets for both tours or search on Eventbrite.

11/08/2024

Continued walking the Kent Coast Path yesterday - some snaps between Margate and Whitstable.

09/08/2024

A rare 21st-century ghost sign in Margate.

05/08/2024

Upcoming tour dates and recommendations for London and New York! - https://mailchi.mp/nigelsmithwalks/cinejan24-14172290

02/08/2024

Final few photos from my holiday in New York the other week.

24/07/2024

I ‘discovered’ Nyack, the small town on the Hudson River when I visited writer Carson McCullers’ house in Columbus, Georgia back in 2016.

On display there was a wonderful photo of McCullers hosting a lunch at her Nyack home in 1959 for Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller and Isak Dinesen. I subsequently found out Nyack was also the birthplace of Edward Hopper.

Last week me and took a break from our trip to NYC to visit the town, Hopper and McCullers’respective houses (his a great little museum, hers seemingly being renovated) and their graves.

20/07/2024

I first ate at in 1997* and always try to visit this Brooklyn diner when I’m in New York. The pancake big breakfast is as good as ever! 🥞🥓🍳

*I was probably wearing an t-shirt back then too!

20/07/2024

This is the former Barbizon Hotel in New York which from 1927 (when the building opened) until 1981 was a residential hotel exclusively for women. Sylvia Plath (once a resident) immortalised it as the Amazon in The Bell Jar. Other famous residents include Grace Kelly, Joan Didion, Phylicia Rashad and the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown.

I didn’t know any of this until I started reading Paulina Bren’s excellent book ‘The Barbizon: The Hotel that Set Women Free’ just before my trip to New York.

It’s a fascinating story and although now the building is an apartment block there may be a few hold-outs from its earlier incarnation still living there. (Read this for more https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/08/when-the-barbizon-gave-women-rooms-of-their-own)

18/07/2024

Pop culture pilgrimage to the Daily Planet.

16/07/2024

I love the and their current exhibition ‘This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture’ is full of fun film ephemera. Here’s the diamond-encrusted Furby pendant from ‘Uncut Gems’, Susan Seidelman’s clapper board from ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’, the tiny 35mm camera Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin used to shoot one of my favourite NYC films ‘Little Fugitive’ and finally Martin Scorsese’s storyboards for ‘Taxi Driver’.

If you’re in New York it’s only open for a few more days so get your skates on.

15/07/2024

A great ‘new-to-me’ New York museum has two terrific exhibitions on very much up my street - New York travel posters and the film posters of Dawn Baillie.

13/07/2024

First day in New York. City Island, the Bronx.

The 1.5 mile long island sits at the western end of Long Island Sound and has an excellent little maritime museum and plenty of seafood.

13/07/2024

Former Salvation Army hostel on Old Street, EC1.

The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth in East London. Their ‘Christian Mission’ practised a self-proclaimed doctrine of “soap, soup and salvation.”

Today the building is the HQ of Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

09/07/2024

Boston Arms, Tufnell Park

08/07/2024

Tripadvisor award 🏆 More tour dates added 🚶‍♀️ - https://mailchi.mp/nigelsmithwalks/cinejan24-14171645

06/07/2024

On Wednesday evening my Islington's Big Screens walking tour returns, exploring the stories behind the numerous cinemas that once stood between Angel and Essex Road staitons.

Get your tickets here. There's free popcorn for everyone on the tour!

Islington Guided Walks Cinema Theatre Association Islington Archaeology & History SocietyEveryman Screen on the GreenEveryman Cinemas

Join me for a guided walk through more than 100 years of cinema-going in Islington, taking in cinemas past and present.

06/07/2024

This Wednesday evening at 6.30pm join me to explore the history of these wonderful cinemas on my Islington’s Big Screens walking tour. From the silent era to the present day they each have fantastic stories. Free 🍿for all!

Ticket link in bio.

23/06/2024

If Days of Heaven had been shot in Acton…

21/06/2024

There are just 2 tickets left to my event on Sunday 'Acton Screen Revisited' at ActOne Cinema & Café. Let's make it a sellout!

And for more Acton cinema history come along on my guided tour in the morning (link in coimments)

PLEASE NOTE that the show will start promptly at 3pm, there will be NO ADVERTS OR TRAILERS. Our cafe and bar will be open before the event starts. When ActOne opened in 2021 Acton hadn’t had its own cinema for 30 years. Its predecessor was a truly unique establishment. Housed at the back of...

12/06/2024

This evening join me to explore 900 years of history all within a leisurely stroll in Islington.

Discover how Islington developed from a rural centre for dairy farming to the bustling, diverse area it is today.

The walk starts at 6.30 and lasts 2 hours

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ TripAdvisor & Google Reviews

Discover how Islington developed from a rural settlement and centre for dairy farming into the diverse, bustling area it is today.

11/06/2024

Great evening last night with this group from who booked my Evolving Islington walk as a private tour.

10/06/2024

I wrote this for Londonist ahead of our Acton Screen Revisited event at ActOne Cinema & Café on Sunday 23 July. https://www.actonecinema.co.uk/movie/acton-screen-revisited-live-event-surprise-film-2

Ever heard of the Acton Screen?