I’m a football fan of a vintage that can remember back to a very ill thought out concept that was run by British Rail, the Football Special. We’re going back to the mid to late 1970s when the scourge of football violence was reaching it’s peak. Whoever at BR thought it was a good idea… Continue reading All your (rotten) eggs in one basket
Category: Uncategorized
That Crazy Cat/Dog/ Magpie/ Monkey Lady/Man
Friend Street in Islington is a very unassuming thoroughfare which allows you to cut through from St John’s Street to Goswell Road. Recently while writing a new audio tour I used it as just that, a cut through and didn’t pay it much attention. Over the Christmas period at a bit of a loose end,… Continue reading That Crazy Cat/Dog/ Magpie/ Monkey Lady/Man
A Little Bit of The Pharaohs In Piccadilly
Egyptian House at 170-173 Piccadilly is one of those functional early 20th century buildings that in the next hundred or so years people may well begin to love. It’s a bit of a hybrid, echoes of Georgian and Victorian architecture muddled up with just a glimpse of what was ahead in terms of Art Noveau… Continue reading A Little Bit of The Pharaohs In Piccadilly
You Dirty Boy!
If I asked you to name a famous Miser, I’m sure most of you would plump for Mr Ebeneezer Scrooge, the literary creation of Charles Dickens. It is well known the Dickens created many of his characters from an assemblage of real life people, taking traits and idiosyncrasies from several to created his fully formed… Continue reading You Dirty Boy!
A bird within a bird within a bird
Well after a slightly longer break than I had imagined this week sees me back in harness once again. Through my own ineptitude I started the New Year off with not one, but three new audio tours all clamouring for my attention like noisy children. Well you can’t have favourites can you? The upshot of… Continue reading A bird within a bird within a bird
Thursday Doors
Old Tom’s Tale
Looking back at my last couple of posts they’ve been a bit negative, so I thought I’d relay this short but heart warming Christmas tale of a character well known to Londoners who frequented the area of Gracechurch Street. The street was once described by the historian John Strype as one of the fairest streets… Continue reading Old Tom’s Tale
Invite injury and death into your home this Christmas
Probably every family in the UK that celebrates Christmas will have one such story of disaster, calamity or injury that is trotted out over the festive table to the mirth and hilarity of all those seated around it. Like the time Dad cut his finger off carving the turkey or how mum fell off a… Continue reading Invite injury and death into your home this Christmas
A Christmas tale of woe
Whenever I’m wandering around during the festive period, I like to play a little game. If I pass some sort of iconic building or structure I’ll stop and try to imagine what it or the surrounding area would look have looked like during past Christmas’. These nearly always take the form of a Victorian yuletide… Continue reading A Christmas tale of woe
Ham Yard, an apt setting
Philanthropy at Christmas comes in many forms whether it is sending money to an appeal, donating to a food bank or possibly even volunteering to serve Christmas dinner to those who find themselves homeless. I’m afraid I can only own up to one of these and its not the last one. I came across a… Continue reading Ham Yard, an apt setting
A LONDON MISCELLANY 