VoiceMap travel app has launched two self-guided audio tours created by Stephen Fry and the QI elves

Want to find out which icon the Suffragettes nearly blew up with a wristwatch? Or what was hiding under King George V’s shirt? Then download the two new tours launched on VoiceMap this week, which take walkers through prime London spots to divulge a fascinating past, voiced all the way by Jewish author, actor, comedian and national treasure Sir Stephen Fry.

Taking around 60 minutes each, the guided walks have been compiled in collaboration with the QI ‘elves’, the team that gathers all the facts for the hit TV show. Starting at St Paul’s Cathedral, Stephen Fry’s Quite Interesting Tour of the City and Bankside crosses London Bridge, passes the Tate Modern and finishes at the London Stone, while sharing riveting tidbits such as the prank John Cleese played on Michael Palin at Shakespeare’s Globe and why Londoners used bathe with geese.

For a more political look at London, follow Stephen Fry’s Quite Interesting Tour of Westminster, which begins at Westminster Pier and ends at Cleopatra’s Needle. Along the way, listeners will learn about the secret rooms at the Houses of Parliament, the motorbiking women who rode through bombings during the Blitz and the surprisingly spooky inspiration behind the innocent-seeming red phone boxes.

“You notice things when you walk and it stirs the imagination,” said Fry in the press statement. “London inspires the curious – and the wonderfully curious minds behind QI have created tours that will keep you wondering at the world around you.”

Also launching this week are two tours by Dan Snow, the historian and founder of online channel History Hit; one about the execution of Charles I and another about the Great Fire of London. These add to the wealth of walks already available on VoiceMap, which has almost 400 self-guided audio tours in the UK and more than 2,000 available worldwide.

By Danielle Goldstein

Header photo by Claudio Raschella

Stephen Fry’s Quite Interesting Tours cost £11.49 each and are available now through the VoiceMap app. voicemap.me