Diving suit man denied London Marathon farewell

What do Indiana Jones, St George and Brian the Snail from the Magic Roundabout have in common?

They are just a few of the characters Lloyd Scott has adopted as his guise to complete the London Marathon over the years.

This year, the 50-year-old extreme charity fund-raiser planned to repeat the feat he is most famous for - walking the course wearing a 1940s deep-sea diving suit.

But marathon organisers have rejected his plans because a rule-change has meant competitors must complete the course within a day.

Here's my BBC News article.

Tube ghost station resurrected

"When we first went in with torches, the place was crackling with atmosphere," said entrepreneur Ajit Chambers. 

"We are holding this feeling, bottling it and showing the world's tourists just how amazing the history of London is."

Then Prime Minister Winston Churchill watched over the Royal Artillery's anti-aircraft operations during World War II from a secret command centre at Brompton Road Underground station.
 
Now I report on plans to develop the abandoned Tube station into a tourist attraction some say will be "comparable" to the London Eye and Madame Tussauds.

The riots factor

It was "the worst disorder in current memory" according to Scotland Yard while London Fire Brigade said fires had spread "almost pan-London" as it faced its busiest night in recent history.

The riots in the capital between 6 and 9 August have led to more than 1,000 people being sentenced for crimes including 591 burglaries, 199 instances of theft and 150 cases of violent disorder.

I interviewed London's mayoral election candidates Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Jenny Jones and Brian Paddick, and asked them how the riots had affected their manifestos.

Here's my BBC News article published before the mayoral election.

Mayoral rivals talk tough on crime

"London is one of the safest capitals in the world."

It is a claim that might surprise some of the city's residents, but one that has been made by the current and former London mayors, as well as Scotland Yard.

By comparing London's crime and murder rates with the likes of Washington DC, Bangkok and Guatemala City, the claim rings true. London had the 21st lowest homicide rate out of 112 of the biggest cities surveyed by the United Nations in 2009 - that is 1.6 murders per 100,000 people.

Nevertheless, crime remains a concern for many Londoners and a key battleground in the mayoral election.

Here's my BBC News article written before London's 2012 mayoral election.