Notorious London: A City Tour

London when it is home to Oscar Wilde at the close of the 19th century; the details of Wilde's trial for indecency; the way London society is structured; how immense wealth and privilege, for some, leaves its imprint on the city and its history.

St. Paul's Cathedral has overlooked London from a high point in the city for generations; the history of this church that has been much more than a place of worship; it has survived fire and the ravages of war; episodes from the cathedral's past.

An evening in March 1941, when the Café de Paris is destroyed in the Blitz; the history of the café; how its destruction reflects the horrors of wartime London; the resiliency of the citizens who keep calm and carry on under the threat of war.

Carnaby Street emerges in the 17th century; a symbol of social change in the 1960s; its history; it becomes a magnet for trendsetters and youth culture in post-war London; why these changes are embraced by some and seen as a threat by others.

The history of the Tower of London and its many roles; fortress, royal residence; military garrison; zoo and, perhaps most notably, prison; days of William the Conqueror; the Victorian era; this structure plays a crucial part in London's history.

The Protestant Reformation of her father Henry VIII's reign; Elizabeth I and her successor James I rule over an England torn by religious controversy; their rules are characterized by many conspiracies; the history of religious persecution in London.

Popular with the aristocracy and the middle classes; the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens are 12 acres of woods and gravel walks on the South Bank of the Thames; the stories of social interaction, pleasure, and danger that abound around this public place.

The trial and execution of Jack Sheppard in 1724; Jack's story highlights the public display of state power and the nature of public life in 18th-century London; Jack Sheppard meets an ignominious end; the haves and the have-nots of London's past.

A vital waterway like the Thames becomes so polluted that its rancid stench disrupts the everyday life of an entire city; the Great Stink that helps Londoners conceptualize the dangers of pollution; reforms that transform the city's infrastructure.

Whitechapel's reputation as a district riddled with crime and poverty; this characterization is not entirely accurate; the grisly murder of Jack the Ripper cement its dangerous status; its real history; the trail of this infamous serial killer.

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897 celebrates 60 years of the monarch's rule; Deslandes highlights what this sort of celebration reveals about London, its royals and its citizens; what it intends to obscure about the British Empire's decline.

A series of bombings in the 1990s prompt the British government to create a ring of steel; it expands police presence and surveillance in the city; the network of CCTV devices implemented transform the way Londoners and visitors explore the city.