Tube map plots life expectancy

It is an iconic design and has been used by Londoners and tourists alike to navigate their way around the capital for more than 80 years.

But now a version of the Tube map has been put to a very different use - to show how life expectancy varies from station to station. 

Read my BBC News article on the map's findings.

Team GB gymnast becomes stuntman

He has fallen off glaciers, jumped out of speeding cars and leapt from a 10-storey building to avoid a flurry of gunfire.

 

It might sound like Nicholas Daines has had an extraordinary run of bad luck.

But no... he is in fact a former Team GB gymnast who, after hanging up his tracksuit, chose the rather unconventional career path of training to become a Hollywood stuntman.

Here's my BBC News feature on his tale.

Heygate Estate’s last stand

"Unpopular social housing." 

"An arrangement of monolithic land uses."

"Out of place in a city fringe location."

These are just a few of the phrases Southwark Council uses to justify its plans to knock down the Heygate Estate, a sprawling 1970s housing labyrinth in south-east London's Elephant and Castle.

Yet, on the estate, resides an 82-year-old woman who shares her flat with her husband, who is 83.

Here is my BBC News feature on why she and a handful of other residents have vowed to fight the council's compulsory purchase order of their homes.

The River Thames’ remarkable tale

If you are on the banks of the Thames, enjoying one of the many extraordinary events London has to offer this summer, spare a thought for the river itself, which was once the capital's principal transport artery.

The Thames was once the "noblest river in Europe", according to The Spectator's Joseph Addison in 1712.

Yet by 1858 it had become "a Stygian pool reeking with ineffable and unbearable horror", as described by former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in 1858.

Here's my BBC News feature on the remarkable history of a river.

Luol Deng success is 'a miracle'

He is the first British basketball player to have appeared in the NBA's annual All-Star Game.

He is one of Britain's highest paid international sportsmen. 

He has been invited to the White House by Barack Obama, who called him "an inspiration".

Yet when 27-year-old Chicago Bulls star and Team GB player Luol Deng walks down his local high street in Brixton, he is barely recognised - despite his 6ft 9ins frame.

Here’s my BBC News feature on his unlikely rise to success.

More police complain of racism

I discovered that allegations of racism made within the Metropolitan Police have nearly trebled over five years.

In this article I investigate potential reasons behind this alarming rise.

London 2012 Festival on a shoestring

A virtual orchestra. A literature labyrinth. A water-bound opera. A pop-up puppet workshop.

Just a few of the events offered by London 2012 Festival organisers.

But how much culture can a person soak up in the city in a single day, for nothing?

Wearing my most sturdy footwear, I armed myself with an umbrella for that unpredictable British summer and traversed the capital from the west to east to find out.