Some moments in history feel inevitable when we look back on them. The Battle of Cable Street wasn’t one of those moments. On Sunday 4 October 1936, nobody knew exactly how the day would end. What began as a planned political march became a remarkable display of community solidarity, as tens of thousands of Londoners… Continue reading The Battle of Cable Street: When Ordinary Londoners Stood Their Ground
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The quack will see you now
Medieval medicine and it’s practitioners get a rather bad press, Quackery neatly wrapping the whole issue into an understandable term. History, it is said is always written by the victors and the same can be applied to the history of medicine. Looking back to Tudor and Elizabethan times there was a small thriving elite of… Continue reading The quack will see you now
How Curious
There is a small area of central London crammed in between Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the Strand and Aldwych. The area is known as Clare Market and is taken up in the most part by the London School of Economics (LSE). The area of Clare Market was originally centred on a small market building constructed by… Continue reading How Curious
Now you see it, now you don’t
I’ve been undertaking a very bad and dangerous habit this week, that of thinking, well musing actually. This all came about because of a series of programs on BBC4 celebrating a hundred and twenty five years since the birth of poet John Betjeman. I’ve posted several times about JB as he’s one of my hero’s,… Continue reading Now you see it, now you don’t
Can you smell smoke?
Because if you had been standing in the City of London on the second day of September 1666, exactly three haundred and sixty years ago today, you would not have needed to ask. The air was practically waving at you. A warm toasty smell drifted through the streets, the sort of smell that makes you… Continue reading Can you smell smoke?
Gog and Magog Giants of Albion
These two figures adorn the clock of St Dunstan’s in the West, Fleet Street. They are meant to represent the Giants that inhabited the land of Albion (Britain) and who were discovered by Brutus of Troy. This story is all down to Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote a history of Britain around 1136, he’s the… Continue reading Gog and Magog Giants of Albion
Is There A Doctor On The Train?
I recently read an article regarding a baby that was born on a London Bus in Hackney, which made me wonder how much of a regular occurrence this was. I couldn’t find any documented numbers, although the search did turn up several instances. However, there is documentation regarding babies born on London Underground. This comes… Continue reading Is There A Doctor On The Train?
Sorry, no fish today
Had the luxury of travelling on a bus a few weeks ago from Victoria to Charing Cross. I call it a luxury because it gives a different perspective from pavement level when you sit upstairs (at the front pretending to be the driver obviously). Instead of sitting on the Westminster Abbey side I went for… Continue reading Sorry, no fish today
The Downfall Of A Victorian Fraudster
If today you stand on the confluence of Cannon Street, Walbrook and Bloomberg Arcade, you’d be roughly inside The Coopers Arms. highlighted below. In the 1890s when Samuel Heibuth was Mine Host, the Pub stood at 19 Budge Row EC4N now buried under steel and glass, a result of the devastation caused during the Blitz.… Continue reading The Downfall Of A Victorian Fraudster
Eastcheap, the road to the pyramids
I was standing on the corner of Eastcheap and Lovat Lane the other day, when I happened to see a Bedouin tribesman and his three camels heading in the direction of Dover, presumably enroute for Cairo. Obviously I’m being economical with the truth, but I have seen stranger things in the area. Is a man… Continue reading Eastcheap, the road to the pyramids