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
Tag: History
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
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
Band On The Run
As we progress with this story you’ll see that I had little option but to go with the title that I chose. For my generation and many around it the cover of the album is iconic and as I had decided to use it for this piece I thought I should find out where it… Continue reading Band On The Run
Political Assassination in Belgravia
Field Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson was one of the most senior British Army staff officers of the First World War and was briefly an Irish unionist politician. Wilson served as Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley, and then as Director of Military Operations at the War Office. He played a large part in drawing up plans to deploy the British Expeditionary Force to France… Continue reading Political Assassination in Belgravia
That’s one in the eye
Last week footsore and a little disheveled, finding myself on Fleet Steet I decided to take a breather in one of my favourite places in the city, Fountain Court in the Temple. I’d published an audio tour around the Temple a couple of years agovoicemap.me/temple but I must admit that I hadn’t listened to it… Continue reading That’s one in the eye
Dark times in the Kings Road
I must admit I don’t know Chelsea very well, it’s on my “to do” list to get more familiar with it. Recently I visited the Saatchi Gallery just off Sloane Square and was vaguely aware that some of the buildings that the gallery inhabits used to be the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School. The… Continue reading Dark times in the Kings Road