Awesome London

This documentary short film by Matthieu Livingston introduces us to Robert Pammen, who paints London’s famed red telephone boxes. But nobody pays Robert to do this – he volunteers his time to help keep a tradition alive. He talks with reverence for those who built the boxes and the purpose they once served and shares a glimpse into his life.

After these Christmas decorations were set up in London, England, strong winds took hold of some of the giant metallic baubles decorating Tottenham Court Road, and the balls went rolling down the street, resulting in a wonderfully surreal scene. We half expected the music from Katamari Damacy to start playing.

The Romans built the first bridge across the Thames River in the 2nd century. Over the years, the structure has been replaced several times. In this episode of Unfinished London, host Jay Foreman provides an informative and entertaining exploration of the history of London Bridge, and why one of them is now located in Arizona.

Artist Will Storey of Life in Layers makes incredibly detailed and deep works of art by layering together pieces of laser-cut wood. This large-scale work titled Reflections of Perspective is truly a masterpiece. This time-lapse video shows how it came together. You can request custom commisions on his website.

While visiting London, historian and storyteller CGP Grey stumbled onto a quirky sculpture of sharks floating in a canal. Not one to ignore something so unusual, he decided to dig into the backstory of this floating artwork and discovered the piece has been mired in a battle between artists, bureaucrats, and conservationists.

Today we learned how in the 1800s, entrepreneurs in London, England built a special railway strictly for the dead. With the big city overflowing with corpses, the Necropolis Railway was born, hauling bodies out to the countryside on one final train ride. Infrequently Asked Questions shares more of this strange history lesson.

London’s iconic hotel, The Savoy partnered with LEGO to create the Twelve Rebuilds of Christmas, a dozen installations made from 372,931 bricks. It took 2,200 hours to snap together a castle, a dapper tea-drimking lion, and a motorcycle fit for Santa. The massive centerpiece? A dragon-shaped Christmas tree made from 150,000 bricks.

Pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester and his bicycling buddies return with another immersive POV journey, as he tears through the streets of two of Europe’s biggest and most vibrant cities, popping wheelies, playing goalie, and chomping croissants along the way.

Another fantastic LEGO kit, this 1686-piece CREATOR set lets you build a model of one of London’s iconic double-decker buses. It’s got detailed signage, plenty of interior seating on both levels, a removable roof, a spiral staircase, and little objects left behind by passengers.

Musician Miguel Montalban turns in an epic lead guitar performance on his cover version of the Dire Straits classic Sultans of Swing as he plays for a crowd of bystanders in London. His Sweet Child O’ Mine and Stairway to Heaven are equally enthralling.

Soccer legends Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville bought the former Manchester stock exchange building, intending to turn it into a hotel. When homeless people and activists moved in seeking shelter from the coming winter, Giggs and Neville allowed them to stay.

It takes a couple of minutes for the action to really kick in, but once it gets going, you’re in for 5 minutes of epic freestyle parkour action shot in and around London. Impatient? Jump to 2:25.

Located along Hoxton Street, London, the Ministry of Stories was inspired by the 826 National writing organization. Like 826 branches, the Ministry also has a specialty store stocked with fantastic items.

London mayor Gary Busey Boris Johnson recently unveiled the updated version of the city’s iconic double-decker bus, aka the Routemaster. It seats 87 passengers and has an open platform in back.

Last year, Red Bull had a NASCAR racer take a pit stop at Times Square. This time Londoners were treated to an exciting morning when F1 driver Mark Webber made a pit stop in front of Big Ben.

Strata SE1, the largest residential tower in central London, is the first major building in the world with integral wind-turbines, which will generate at least 8% of the energy needed to power the units inside.

Elevator passageways at London Underground’s Notting Hill Tube Station were sealed to modernize in the 1950’s; recent work at the station has revealed a rich time capsule filled with vintage ads.

In this looks-too-cheesy-to-be-good thriller, a college student traveling in London is hit by a cab and wakes up in a seamy underworld filled with strange and disturbed individuals.