Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank’s guide to five hundred years of Soho

Soho’s history is written in its surviving architecture, and as part of our Curtain Up! collection of on-demand shows, one of Britain's best-loved historians, Dan Cruickshank, grants us intimacy with centuries of rich and varied history as he guides us around the Soho of the last five hundred years. 

‘Cruickshank points out the streets that were the stamping grounds of criminal dynasties and directs our attention towards the homes of renowned prostitutes, revealing Georgian sexual mores and surprising visitors - amongst them eighteenth-century painter Joshua Reynolds, whose peculiar 'caprice' was simply drawing the girls. Soho has been home to characters as diverse as Mrs Goadby's girls to the Maltese mafia, and Cruikshank draws these threads together with kaleidoscopic verve.’

Although he mourns the changes that have taken place over the centuries, Cruickshank pays testament to the district’s resilience. 

If you would like a tour of Soho’s history with Dan Cruickshank, purchase your on-demand ticket by clicking here.