Named after Sir Flinders Petrie, who held the UK's first chair in Egyptology and the most phonetically pleasing name for a Victorian, gentleman-adventurer, since Sir Rider Haggard. As a child he was disturbed to hear how a Roman Villa was excavated, by crude shovelling - offering his opinion that the earth should be pared back, exposing how the contents lay in their natural state. Lofty thinking for an eight year-old. In his early career he travelled to Egypt and investigated theories about the Great Pyramid at Giza's construction. Petrie produced a raft of practical principles and the basic data he recorded still provides much of the information about the site today. In addition he mentored successive generations of archaeologists in his methods, which later became de facto standards (including seriation: the dating of objects in a serialised manner). Seems obvious, but Petrie got there first - "in like Flinders", springs to mind. Howard Carter, who uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, was heavily influenced in his formative years by Petrie's close tutorship.

Most importantly, he rolled up his sleeves and got involved in the digging - an early adopter of a "back to the floor" policy of management. At an excavation of the New Kingdom site in Tanis, Egypt, he took over the role of foreman and removed the pressure on his diggers to find items as quickly as possible. As such, the earth was 'pared back', as his former, pre-teen self had precociously suggested. This made him popular with his digging crews. It's also pleasing to note that throughout the Petrie Collection in the museum, sepia photographs of his local digging supervisors are placed amongst the finds. He strikes you as someone who shared credit and responsibility among his workforce, rather than simply providing a chest to pin medals to. The chair at University College, London was created in 1892 and Flinders Petrie was the first to hold it. In 1913 he sold his collection to UCL, which is why it's now housed in The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.

Ham House, just beyond the busy part of town, is one of few grand houses in London from the 17th century to remain intact. Beside the Thames, Ham House and Garden retain the timeless quality certain historic buildings manage effortlessly (Hampton Court is another), where it feels as if the former residents moved out a few hours earlier. Elizabeth Murray was the person who developed the house into the impressive spectacle you'll find today. A mover and shaker during the English Civil War and instrumental in the restoration of the monarchy, plotting, intrigue and general shenanigans emanated from this Royalist pile.

Elizabeth was a noted beauty and although the house was built at the beginning of the Stuart period, during James I's reign (for Sir Thomas Vavasour - Knight Marshall to the king), she was the one who breathed life into Ham House. Elizabeth inherited the property from her father and though she was no doubt intelligent and beautiful, she also possessed 'Lady Macbeth-ian' levels of political ambition and an unfetching, greedy glint in her eye. Elizabeth Murray married into titles which elevated her up the pecking order of British society. Love was never mentioned. After Charles II's ascension via the Restoration, she enjoyed considerable favour and influence in Stuart court life (she backed the winning team, which always helps). To discover more about the Stuarts - see The Banqueting House in Westminster.