Ian McDiarmid
Qualified City of London Tour Guide & Lecturer
Ian qualified as a City of London tour guide in 2017 and has a particular passion for Roman and Medieval history, having in an earlier incarnation studied history at Cambridge and London universities.
He began working life in the early 80s in the City, and has since written extensively on the share and bond markets as a journalist. He loves talking finance and taking people around the narrow alleys where today’s massive trading centre was born.
When not walking and talking, Ian enjoys pottering about in the garden. His expertise is such that he often spends several hours doing this.
Ian’s private walking tours explore hidden places which many guidebooks simply just don’t cover.
Book your guided walks tickets with Ian
Private Tours with Ian
Blog posts:
London History Podcast Episodes:
- Episode 1: Roman London – An Introduction
- Episode 8: The Monument to the Great Fire of London
- Episode 11: London’s Coffeehouses and Commerce
- Episode 20: The Great Fire of London – How It Began
- Episode 19: London Coffeehouses
- Episode 21: London Area Names – Animal Edition
- Episode 22: The Havering Hoard
- Episode 24: The Walbrook in Roman London
- Episode 25: The British Museum
- Episode 27: The South Sea Bubble
- Episode 32: Medieval Guilds
- Episode 36: Brexit in the City
- Episode 38: The Black Death: London’s First Plague
- Episode 41: London’s Medieval Friaries
- Episode 44: Tudor London and John Stow
- Episode 48: Leper Houses in London
- Episode 58: Greenwich Palace and Hospital
- Episode 61: Medieval London at the Museum of London
- Episode 72: Drs William and John Hunter
- Episode 81: Voltaire in London
- Episode 91. Radical MP John Wilkes
- Episode 92. Public Executions
- Episode 95. The Port of London in the Tudor Period
- Episode 101. Henry VIII’s Navy
- Episode 105: St Pancras Station
- Episode 110: Crossness Pumping Station
- Episode 126: Transatlantic Slave Trade and London
- Episode 135: William Beckford
Read Ian's Reviews
Jacqui
August 2025
This is a company which is not touristic. The company specialises in the quality of the guides whose depth of information is more academic than touristic. Concentrating on historical evidence. Interspersed with amusing anecdotes, Ian’s tour was full of invaluable information. Totally recommend Roman London and look forward to another walking tour.
Diana
August 2025
This Medieval London Walk was led by Ian McDiarmid. He is extremely knowledgeable having studied History at Cambridge University. As we walked through the narrow streets we learnt about the lives of people in medieval times. How they made their living and heard about those with a lot of wealth and those with extreme poverty.
Many of the women having to resort to prostitution. Religion played a big part in the lives of people in those days and Ian spoke about the numerous churches and those attending.
Ian had a great sense of humour and spoke in detail about the awful smells in the streets in medieval times due to the open sewers and he detailed how the rich disposed of their excrement compared with the poor and how the men whose job was to dispose of the excrement got paid very well.
Overall an excellent walk with an excellent guide. I highly recommend this walk.
Patricia
August 2025
The walk was both informative and very entertaining. Ian, the guide pitched the story just right, with the breath of information interspersed with very amusing anecdotes. All centered on the City of London, as we learnt the heart of medieval London with its guilds, markets and churches populated by a surprising variety of people. Ian made sure we could all hear despite some surrounding noise. Do go.
Paula
August 2025
I’ve been on a few of the London guided walks and this walk was equally as enjoyable as the previous walks. Lots of interesting facts and sights to see with humour included. Highly recommended and Ian was a great knowledgeable guide.
Cora
August 2025
I really enjoyed the walk – it was informative and fun, just the right balance of facts and human interest and has made me want to find out more about the period.
Boris
April 2025
Ian was fantastic! I shall consider more walks with him in the future.
Caroline O
April 2025
Our Roman London Walk was very informative and interesting. Ian is very knowledgeable and gave an excellent insight into London in Roman times, as well as other places to visit in the City, publications etc. We hope to be able to book another walk in the near future.
My husband and I booked our Roman Tour with Ian. It was in May of 2024. We still regard this as one of the best experiences we had in London. We wanted to dig deep into the history of the city. Ian’s knowledge of history made it possible to visualize a city within what would appear to be an old brick wall. His knowledge and ability to convey visual imagery made Londinium come alive.
Janet E
October 2023
A fascinating walk round an area that we thought we knew fairly well already. The depth of knowledge and personal insights given by Ian greatly enhanced our understanding of the long history that has contributed to creating London’s Financial district. We’ll definitely be joining more walks in the future.
Katherine
August 2023
Brilliant. Hazel was super helpful in booking this tour. What we wanted wasn’t the norm, but she couldn’t have been more accommodating. Our tour guide Ian McDairmid was so interesting, explaining to us various road names, buildings and old laws in such a way you hung on his every word. Our group nearly all worked in the city at some time or another and there wasn’t one of us who didn’t learn something new. We will definitely be booking with London Guided Walks again. Thanks for a really different and enjoyable morning.
Janet
July 13, 2022
A fascinating walk round an area that we thought we knew fairly well already. The depth of knowledge and personal insights given by Ian greatly enhanced our understanding of the long history that has contributed to creating London’s Financial district. We’ll definitely be joining more walks in the future.
Rosaleen W
Excellent informative Kings Cross walk with Ian today, learnt loads and Ian is a really pleasant guide with a good sense of humour
Janet
A fascinating walk round an area that we thought we knew fairly well already. The depth of knowledge and personal insights given by Ian greatly enhanced our understanding of the long history that has contributed to creating London’s Financial district. We’ll definitely be joining more walks in the future.
I think this is a new walk. As usual, it was informative, entertaining and well worth attending. Ian, the guide, is extremely knowledgeable about financial matters and was able to explain complex issues in a plain, straightforward way to a financial ignoramus like me. It also had a lot of human interest and social history aspects underlying the subject. Highly recommended.
You always learn so much with these walks, with Ian who is good in transmitting his encyclopaedic knowledge. I’ve been so many times in Greenwich, thought I knew everything about it. And yet, discovered plenty of places. All tours are wonderful, and I’ve been in almost all of them. More than willing to returning…
Ian, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and responded to all our questions. He far exceeded his allocated time and not one person left on time as we were all enthralled and gripped with the knowledge that he provided about cash, coffee and commerce. A must for all to have a greater understanding of financial services, the traders and how they are governed and how the success of London impacts on our everyday lives.
Euston to Kings Cross Walk
Ian’s stories illuminated more about the history of the area around Euston Station and Kings Cross than I was expecting and have inspired me to return to visit the locations again when the weather is a little warmer. It was nice to meet other people on the tour also, and there was time to chat as we strolled around. Although we didn’t cover a huge distance, I think a comfortable pair of walking shoes is a must.
Euston to Kings Cross Walk
Ian, our guide, was very informative. I thought I knew the area quite well but there are hidden areas that are just delightful. He covered the history of the area. It’s amazing how you can walk around an area on your own and actually miss these ‘gems’. Well worth doing. Not a strenuous walk at all. Would recommend.
Wonders of Whitehall Walking Tour
Although the Wonders of Whitehall Guided Walk was down to be presented by its designer, Hazel, this particular outing was done by Ian McDiarmid. Despite this being Ian’s first gig guiding the Wonders of Whitehall it was immediately clear he was not only a very experienced guide but a highly qualified ‘domain’ expert on many aspects of English political and social history.
After the usual run-through of the standard dos and don’ts of an urban guided walk we were off. Ian set a sensible pace for the size of our group (about a dozen or so) and demographic. This was later proved when we completed our Tour of Whitehall’s Greatest Hits bang on time! 1000 years of selected history highlights in a mere 90 minutes is no small achievement. Not a minute was wasted.
His accompanying commentary was a well-judged mixture of facts (historic events, dates and leading personnel), anecdotes and (some) opinion. Fire featured a lot!
His delivery was clear and the content consistently engaging and focussed. Ian was also happy to chat (generally and specifically) to the various members of the group and answer questions (there weren’t many) as we walked.
I liked the way we sometimes had to use not just our eyes but our imagination. The sheer size and scale of the Palace of Whitehall took a great deal of imagination! Also, considering its unique significance, I’d have liked just a little bit more on the execution of Charles I, but, hey, maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, Hazel can relax. The Wonders of Whitehall Guided Walk is in safe additional hands with Ian.
Very enjoyable walk. I was born in the area but there were a couple of places that Iain took us to that were new to me. He is extremely knowledgeable on the subject of architecture and history.
Would have liked to have seen more of the old impoverished parts but really enjoyed what we saw. Thank you.
Ian was most welcoming and encouraging, with a very solid knowledge of the subject that was presented in a way engaging and entertaining. He demonstrated a concern for both traditional interpretations and what new archeology and historical interpretations have brought into the student Londinium and the period that followed. I would recommend this tour for anyone seeking a grounding in the origins of London and to understand the long impacts of Rome’s empire on the shaping of the city and of Britain more broadly.
The tour both satisfied our immediate curiosity and introduced us to new questions in the work being done to piece together the history of Roman London. Well done.
This was an excellent experience for us.