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Ed Jefferson

edjefferson.com

Hello, I'm Ed and I do a bunch of different stuff including making internet-powered interactive things (e.g. comedy karaoke), and writing for places like The Guardian, Time Out and the New Statesman. I also work…

GeneralTV / filmTravel

’05’10’15’20’25
Posts
335 from 7 Aug 2004 to 26 Oct 2026
Posting
monthly (13 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://edjefferson.com/feed/

2026 11

  1. Minecraft, Lima and the end of the world: why I locked down Wikipedia
  2. Could Hannah Fry have predicted what would happen in The Traitors using data?
  3. Can you predict what happens in The Traitors using data?
  4. UpThames #2b: Walton-on-the-Naze to Clacton-on-Sea
  5. STREAMING WARS: The Stone Roses VS Michael Jackson
  6. UpThames #2a: Walton-on-the-Naze to Walton-on-the-Naze
  7. UpThames #1c: Little Oakley to Walton-on-the-Naze
  8. UpThames #1b: Dovercourt to Little Oakley
  9. UpThames #1a: Harwich to Dovercourt
  10. I went to the best and worst McDonald’s In London because I place no value on my time even though I will be dead one day
  11. UpThames #0: I Did Not Mean To Go To Sea

2025 2

  1. Maraoke Wrapped 2025
  2. Is Christmas A Movie Die Hard?

2024 24

  1. The Mews Letter:#22: THE SWEENEY… THE SWEENEY… THE SWEENEY…
  2. The Mews Letter:#21: ALL THE MEWS YOU CAN NEWS
  3. The Mews Letter:#20: The information I have collected about Chessington World Of Adventures
  4. The Mews Letter:#19: Barnet, Barnet, so good they named it in several contradictory ways
  5. The Mews Letter:#18: The Day The GLC Was Invaded By Goats
  6. The Mews Letter:#17: And did those feet in ancient times, walk on a Mews?
  7. The Mews Letter:#16: Click On This If You Wish To Learn Things About Mewses
  8. The Mews Letter:#15: PEDESTRIANISE THIS!
  9. The Mews Letter:#14: Competitive Consecutive Bus Catching For Beginners
  10. The Mews Letter:#13: What’s London’s longest road name and CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH??
  11. The Mews Letter:#12: Up the Junction
  12. The Mews Letter:#11: BRRM! BRRM!
  13. The Mews Letter:#10: An Accidental Mews Pub Crawl
  14. The Mews Letter:#9: You’ve Never Seen Anything Like It
  15. The Mews Letter:#8: Horse Manure Fake News
  16. The Mews Letter:#7: Prambulation
  17. The Mews Letter:#6: Ghosts Of Airports Future
  18. The Mews Letter:#5: Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Mews
  19. The Mews Letter:#4: Where The Streets Change Their Names
  20. The Mews Letter:#3: APOSTROPHE CATASTROPHE
  21. The Mews Letter:#2: Open this e-mail to see a donkey drinking a pint of beer
  22. The Mews Letter:#1: I am just going outside and may be some time
  23. How to avoid awkward silences (at video game themed comedy karaoke nights)
  24. Why do London buses keep disappearing? (And how I’m trying to find them again).

2023 3

  1. Bus Stops With Friends
  2. An Incomplete History Of Finding Things
  3. Journey Planner Challenge

2022 5

  1. What 9 Whos
  2. Probable
  3. Letterle
  4. Battling the Bugs / Bash the Bacteria / Dicing with Death
  5. Why train travel is going to be on your 2022 bucket list (Time Out)

2021 7

  1. Green City Report (NatWest)
  2. Most Featured Careers on TV (Rovva)
  3. UP:RISE: The Game
  4. The Best Cities To Be A Pedestrian In The UK (Novotel)
  5. The Lions Selection (Content Hubble)
  6. Can You Get The Boat Free?
  7. How Patriotic Are You

2020 18

  1. #89: 211 (2018)
  2. #88: Looking Glass (2018)
  3. Musical Motivators (Barratt Homes)
  4. Tackling ageism in the workplace head on (Raconteur)
  5. #87: Mandy (2018)
  6. #86: Dark (2017)
  7. #85: The Humanity Bureau (2017)
  8. #84: Mom and Dad (2017)
  9. Podcast appearance: Caged In
  10. #82: Vengeance – A Love Story (2017)
  11. The world’s 15 most spectacular train stations (Time Out)
  12. Website Speed League (Uswitch)
  13. Trailer Time Machine
  14. How to run a Karaoke night in Lockdown
  15. How to escape quarantine without going outside
  16. Maraoke: Ed VS small paper cards
  17. Your personalisation strategy needs a shake-up (Raconteur)
  18. I decided to set the record for travelling on the most London buses in numerical order, for some reason

2019 23

  1. Here’s everything we learned from this election-themed tube map we just made
  2. What would a fairer version of the TfL fare zones look like?
  3. Which London borough has the worst pubs? (CityMetric)
  4. Which London borough has the worst pubs? An important CityMetric investigation
  5. Here’s the longest you could get trapped in the train doors for on every London Underground line (CityMetric)
  6. Urban Footprint (Geotab/Distilled)
  7. Here’s the longest you could get trapped in the train doors for on every London Underground line
  8. Time To Commute (Geotab/Distilled)
  9. Of course the Victorians walked faster. They didn’t have Instagram and map apps (The Guardian)
  10. 13 things I learned from reading a list of 1,669 historically important English parks
  11. Park Life: A brief history of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
  12. 22 other skyscrapers that we assume will be joining the Tulip on the London skyline
  13. Park life: Where are the world’s smallest and largest parks?
  14. Park Life: on John Claudius Loudon, the father of the modern park
  15. Park Life: Nudity, death and bears in West Hendon
  16. Park life: What’s the best park in London to hold a duel?
  17. Park Life: On the repeated incineration of Alexandra Palace
  18. Park Life: On Burgess Park, the ever growing open space in south London
  19. Park Life: The Zürich park which decriminalised heroin
  20. The Oscars last went hostless in 1989. It ruined a man’s career (New Statesman)
  21. Park Life: In search of the lost palace of Wanstead Park
  22. 11 things I’ve learned as a pre-Crossrail Crossrail commuter
  23. The rise and fall of the point-and-click adventure game (New Statesman)

2018 32

  1. A brief history of airline booking systems
  2. America’s Highest Roads (Geotab/Distilled)
  3. “Lord of the Rings is racist about orcs” is not an important new front in the Culture War (New Statesman)
  4. Just a big map of the cost of a return ticket from London to almost everywhere else in the country
  5. Are budget airlines really charging families to sit with their own children? (New Statesman)
  6. Which cities have appeared the most in Doctor Who?
  7. Maraoke
  8. Bites of the Big Apple (Crimson Hexagon/Distilled)
  9. Do British cities have grid systems? We used science to find out (CityMetric)
  10. Do British cities have grid systems? We used science to find out
  11. Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America is a fitting metaphor for the US, but unsatisfying TV (New Statesman)
  12. How (not) to write a sequel to Lord of the Rings (New Statesman)
  13. 14 things we learned from a list of every bus stop in London (CityMetric)
  14. 14 things we learned from a list of every bus stop in London
  15. The Best Day For Your Big Day (Distilled/Bloomingdale’s)
  16. A celebration of 70 years of Walkers trying to sell you crisps in truly bizarre ways (New Statesman)
  17. How a 17th century war, the Queen and a desperate Swiss TV executive led to Eurovision (New Statesman)
  18. Nine ways to keep The Wright Stuff going without Matthew Wright (New Statesman)
  19. No, China isn’t Black Mirror – social credit scores are more complex and sinister than that (New Statesman)
  20. A Load Of Old Bollards (Skylines Podcast)
  21. Westworld tricked its fans with a spoiler prank – but is the show even worth spoiling? (New Statesman)
  22. Bollards (City of London Showoff)
  23. Can sleep really make you fitter? (Hyde & Sleep)
  24. How (Not) To Write A Sequel To Lord Of The Rings (The Over-Analyser’s Book Club)
  25. 12 things we learned by reading every single National Rail timetable (CityMetric)
  26. 12 things we learned by reading every single National Rail timetable
  27. How does the humble street bollard connect Napoleon to Carillion via Welsh devolution? (CityMetric)
  28. How does the humble street bollard connect Napoleon to Carillion via Welsh devolution?
  29. 16 things we learned from a list of every single road name in Great Britain (CityMetric)
  30. 16 things we learned from a list of every single road name in Great Britain
  31. 21 TfL bus announcements that would improve Londoners lives more than ‘Hold on, the bus is about to move’ (CityMetric)
  32. 21 TfL bus announcements that would improve Londoners lives more than ‘Hold on, the bus is about to move’

2017 41

  1. Who’s had sex with the most British monarchs (on screen)? (New Statesman)
  2. Whisky Cheat Sheet (The Overtake/Cooper King Distillery)
  3. #81: Arsenal (2017)
  4. #80: Army Of One (2016)
  5. #79: Dog Eat Dog (2016)
  6. After Harry weds Meghan, who is the most eligible prince of them all? (New Statesman)
  7. #78: USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)
  8. #77: Snowden (2016)
  9. The decline of the Today programme: How bust-ups replaced debate (politics.co.uk)
  10. Apparently I am a xennial now – where will this end? (New Statesman)
  11. Where are the best and worst cities in the UK to make films? (CityMetric)
  12. Where are the best and worst cities in the UK to make films?
  13. Is Star Trek stuck in the past? (HeroCollector)
  14. Star Trek’s Deadliest Captains (HeroCollector)
  15. From Princess of Wales to Queen of Tat – the peculiar commercialisation of Diana (New Statesman)
  16. Where actually is South London? (CityMetric)
  17. Where actually is South London?
  18. Star Trek 25th Anniversary – still the best Trek game (HeroCollector)
  19. A man in a iron mask spent most of 1908 pushing a pram around England. Nobody knows why (CityMetric)
  20. A man in a iron mask spent most of 1908 pushing a pram around England. Nobody knows why
  21. Ill-judged and random – why Britain’s system for saving old buildings is a farce (The Guardian)
  22. Star Trek: Who are the true stars? (HeroCollector)
  23. “The absolute dogs in office skills”: why aren’t millennials queuing up for this amazing job? (New Statesman)
  24. Dead Men On Dollar Bills (Advisa/Distilled)
  25. A considered critique of an attempt to predict the future of the emergency vehicle (CityMetric)
  26. A considered critique of an attempt to predict the future of the emergency vehicle
  27. What’s the best way to cross the Thames in London? We’ve ranked all 63 options (CityMetric)
  28. The Most Dangerous Days to Drive (Geotab/Distilled)
  29. What’s the best way to cross the Thames in London? We’ve ranked all 63 options
  30. Productivity tips from scientists (Mendeley/Distilled)
  31. Where exactly are the Wombles named after? We made a map (CityMetric)
  32. Where exactly are the Wombles named after? We made a map
  33. Lord Buckethead vs Theresa May – meet the UK’s weirdest political parties (New Statesman)
  34. The Most Dangerous Highways in America (Geotab/Distilled)
  35. How To Win An Olivier Award (London Theatre/Distilled)
  36. The worst Oscar-winning films of all time (New Statesman)
  37. Come see me do comedy at Book Showoff, 28th Feb
  38. What’s new in Wetherspoon News? A close reading of the political magazine of our times (New Statesman)
  39. Check Me Out (Yours clothing/Distilled)
  40. CageClub: Arsenal
  41. Why I’m sick of fake theorists lamenting the “millennial problem” (New Statesman)

2016 108

  1. Talking about walking on the CityMetric Skylines podcast
  2. Lost Eiffel Towers and Euston Arches (CityMetric)
  3. Protecting the view: how St Paul’s Cathedral has been shaping the rest of London for centuries
  4. 12 of the worst slogans ever used to promote cities
  5. What happens when urban development corporations inexplicably decide to make terrible pop music?
  6. #83: Inconceivable (2017)
  7. How London lost its Eiffel Tower
  8. 7 other things we should consider building in front of Euston station for no particularly good reason
  9. Is this the most vile act of tube map trolling ever committed?
  10. The Changing Face Of The BBC (GoCompare/Distilled)
  11. The central London airports that (mostly) never were
  12. How likely are the plots of each Black Mirror episode to happen? (New Statesman)
  13. PodCage interview
  14. The most misunderstood man in Hollywood? What I learned from watching every Nicolas Cage film (New Statesman)
  15. #76: The Trust (2016)
  16. #75: Pay The Ghost (2015)
  17. #74: The Runner (2015)
  18. “He died in a wheelbarrow, for gin-related reasons”: the strange tale of London’s Mayors of Garratt (CityMetric)
  19. “He died in a wheelbarrow, for gin-related reasons”: the strange tale of London’s Mayors of Garratt
  20. #73: Dying Of The Light (2014)
  21. #72: Left Behind (2014)
  22. #71: Outcast (2014)
  23. #70: Rage (2014)
  24. Message from the Unseen World (UVA/Futurecity)
  25. Learn all 22 sex positions, with the Us Vs Th3m totally work-safe guide to sex! (UsVsTh3m)
  26. Ventures of the PayPal Mafia (Fleximize/Distilled)
  27. #69: Joe (2013)
  28. #68: The Frozen Ground (2013)
  29. #67: The Croods (2013)
  30. #66: Stolen (2012)
  31. Want a Blue Plaque? Here’s how to guarantee you’ll get one (CityMetric)
  32. Want a Blue Plaque? Here’s how to guarantee you’ll get one
  33. #65: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
  34. #64: Seeking Justice/Justice (2011)
  35. #63: Trespass (2011)
  36. #62: Drive Angry (2011)
  37. #61: Season of the Witch (2011)
  38. #60: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)
  39. #58: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
  40. #59: Kick-Ass (2010)
  41. #57: Astro Boy (2009)
  42. #56: G-Force (2009)
  43. #55: Knowing (2009)
  44. #54: Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
  45. From Platform 0 to Platform 9¾: The strange world of British Rail mathematics (CityMetric)
  46. From Platform 0 to Platform 9¾: The strange world of British Rail mathematics
  47. #53: National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (2007)
  48. #52: Next (2007)
  49. #51: Werewolf Women of the SS (2007)
  50. #50: Ghost Rider (2007)
  51. We Used The New Nicolas Cage Film To Choose Our Lottery Numbers (Comedy Central)
  52. #49: World Trade Center (2006)
  53. #48: The Wicker Man (2006)
  54. #47: The Ant Bully (2006)
  55. #46: The Weather Man (2005)
  56. #45: Lord of War (2005)
  57. #44: National Treasure (2004)
  58. #43: Matchstick Men (2003)
  59. A complete survey of the available Nicolas Cage-related biographical literature (Book Showoff)
  60. #42: Sonny (2002)
  61. #41: Adaptation (2002)
  62. #40: Windtalkers (2002)
  63. #39: Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001)
  64. #38: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001)
  65. #37: The Family Man (2000)
  66. #36: Gone In 60 Seconds (2000)
  67. #35: Bringing Out The Dead (1999)
  68. #34: 8mm (1999)
  69. Who are the most important British monarchs, as judged using pub names (CityMetric)
  70. Who are the most important British monarchs? (As judged using pub names)
  71. #33: Snake Eyes (1998)
  72. #32: City Of Angels (1998)
  73. #31: Face/Off (1997)
  74. #30: Con Air (1997)
  75. #29: The Rock (1996)
  76. #28: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
  77. #27: Kiss Of Death (1995)
  78. #26: Trapped In Paradise (1994)
  79. #25: It Could Happen To You (1994)
  80. #24: Guarding Tess (1994)
  81. #23: Red Rock West (1994)
  82. #22: Deadfall (1994)
  83. The Ianto Shrine: The Cardiff landmark that commemorates a man who never was (CityMetric)
  84. The Ianto Shrine: The Cardiff landmark that commemorates a man who never was
  85. #21: Amos & Andrew (1993)
  86. #20: Saturday Night Live (1992)
  87. #19: Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)
  88. #18: Zandalee (1991)
  89. #17: Wild At Heart (1990)
  90. #16: Industrial Symphony No. 1 (1990)
  91. Winning The Lottery With Nicolas Cage
  92. #15: Fire Birds/Wing Of The Apache (1990)
  93. #14: Tempo di uccidere/Time to Kill (1989)
  94. #13: Vampire’s Kiss (1989)
  95. #12: Never on Tuesday (1989)
  96. #11: Moonstruck (1987)
  97. #10: Raising Arizona (1987)
  98. #9: Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
  99. #8: The Boy In Blue (1986)
  100. #7: Birdy (1984)
  101. #6: The Cotton Club (1984)
  102. #5: Racing With The Moon (1984)
  103. #4: Valley Girl (1983)
  104. #3: Rumble Fish (1983)
  105. #2: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
  106. #1: The Best Of Times (1981)
  107. Explanation
  108. The Careers Of The Founders (Fleximize/Distilled)

2015 11

  1. My Film Reviews Of Films 2015 Edition
  2. S Club 7 are reuniting: but do they actually like each other? We found out, using Twitter (UsVsTh3m)
  3. I conducted Myers-Briggs personality assessments of London’s 11 tube lines. Here’s what I learnt
  4. I built 5 stupid Twitter robots and they failed to fill the void in my heart
  5. Shut up, ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ isn’t about the afterlife
  6. Will the result of the election affect our chances at Eurovision? (Mirror Online)
  7. The best reason to vote Labour: Doctor Who is better under Labour governments (Mirror Online)
  8. Here’s why Vin Diesel is 100% correct that Fast & Furious 7 should win an Oscar (Mirror Online)
  9. 17 strange things that happened in kids’ TV show Rainbow (Mirror Online)
  10. Neighbours is turning 30: How many of these crazy storylines do you remember? (Mirror Online)
  11. Here’s the definitive list of the 9 worst Doctor Who stories of all time (Mirror Online)

2014 7

  1. My Film Reviews Of Films 2014 Edition
  2. Taylor Swift Fan-Fiction Fridays 1-5
  3. Myers-Briggs Testing The Tube @ Wikimedia Conference 2014
  4. Why is the House of Commons often so empty, and how angry should we be about it? (UsVsTh3m)
  5. Wikipedia: autofellatio selfies and one man’s quest to become the Face of Ambivalence (UsVsTh3m)
  6. 30 Things To Do Before You’re 30
  7. Twitter Alphabet Power Illuminati – inside the world of single-character usernames (UsVsTh3m)

2013 5

  1. Where does Eric Pickles buy his pickles?
  2. Executive Class
  3. The 10 Numbers You’re Most Likely To Read In A Buzzfeed Headline
  4. Excerpt
  5. Cheapskate Zeitgeist: Wait For Me by Elisabeth Naughton

2012 23

  1. Small World Syndrome
  2. Ambivalence
  3. Taylor Swift Gets Lost
  4. Colour swatch for Taylor Swift’s “Red”
  5. TfL #10
  6. One Life Left: Our Game
  7. Get Ahod Of The Goms
  8. TfL #9
  9. TfL #8
  10. TfL #7
  11. TfL #6
  12. TfL #5
  13. TfL #4
  14. TfL #3
  15. TfL #2
  16. Paper tweets
  17. TfL #1
  18. Jelly
  19. North (4)
  20. North (3)
  21. Talking about fish paste and eating out-of-date snacks on Shift Run Stop
  22. North (2)
  23. North (1)

2011 10

  1. I was Ben, the unofficial face of Shippam’s paste (The Guardian)
  2. My review of The Third Man
  3. A Million Words
  4. Water For Elephants: A Novel
  5. The Pregnant Widow
  6. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  7. Streetchild (Markthree Media)
  8. Christos Tsiolkas – The Slap
  9. The Echo Man – Richard Montanari
  10. One Day – By David Nicholls

2010 4

  1. While The Clock Ticked – Franklin W. Dixon
  2. Francis Fukuyama – The End Of History And The Last Man
  3. War And Peace – Leo Tolstoy
  4. Robertson Davies – The Deptford Trilogy

2004 1

  1. Personality testing the Waterloo & City Line