Here's a photo I took recently of one of my favourite spots in London — it's looking up river from the Hungerford Bridge, towards St Paul's and the City. There are few open spaces in London where your gaze can wander uninterrupted. That's one of the joys of the river — the absence of clutter and busyness makes it feel a bit like a visual breathing space. And the curve of the river presents a sweep of striking (and not-so-striking) buildings. I like standing on this bridge and feeling the pulse of London all around me, feeling at the heart of it all.

The Periwig Maker

The Periwig Maker is a combination of beautifully crafted animation and desolate subject matter, made in 1999 by brother-and-sister team Steffen Schäffler and Annette Schäffler. They adapted it from Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, written in 1722. A solitary wig maker seals himself up in his shop as the pestilence spreads across London, filling its plague pits. Across the street from his shop he watches its particular effects on the Angel Tavern. Its sophisticated stop-motion puppetry is used to great effect, with the wig maker's voiceover, reading from his journal in an authoritative voice, contrasting with his fearful isolation.

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