So what do you think you know about Dick Whittington, Lord Mayor of London? The story goes that an impoverished Whittington made his way into the City of London to seek his fortune on hearing that the streets were paved with gold. Failing to make enough money to live on as a scullery worker in… Continue reading The Cat And The Skull
Tag: History
“We are not amused”
The phrase is often attributed to Queen Victoria and has passed into common usage to note perceived strait-laced stuffiness, bolstering the perception that Victoria was a dour woman living a melancholy life after the death of her husband Prince Albert. However, during an interview in 1976, Victoria’s granddaughter, Alice, Countess of Athlone, said that Victoria… Continue reading “We are not amused”
Its all in the pronunciation
Doing what I do, walking around and looking at a London that in parts doesn’t even exist today there has to be an element of imagination to try and conjure up what a particular area, street or building might have looked like. There are usually enough sources out there for you to put an image… Continue reading Its all in the pronunciation
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
Searching For Old King Lud
Ok, let us start with the supposition of Geoffrey of Monmouth the 12th century chronicler of the British Isles. King Lud was a pre-Roman King of the Britains. He founded the city of London and when he died he was buried close to the site of where the main western entrance to the city was… Continue reading Searching For Old King Lud
The Strange Tale of Mr Fribourg and Mr Treyer …….. and Mr Fribourg and Mr Pontet
Friborg and Treyer were fashionable snuff sellers in the 18th century. Based at 34 Haymarket their clientele included King George IV, the actor David Garrick and all-round dandy Beau Brummell. The Fribourg’s had originally come to England from Switzerland and the claim is that the firm was started in 1720 by P. Fribourg, although the… Continue reading The Strange Tale of Mr Fribourg and Mr Treyer …….. and Mr Fribourg and Mr Pontet
High
One Word Sunday
The Affair Of The Brown Dog
Recently I visited Battersea Park for the first time in about fifty years. I can remember being taken as a small child to see the Guinness Clock that once stood in the park and remember that some of the remains of the Festival of Britain were still on view. Having walked towards the river I… Continue reading The Affair Of The Brown Dog
Clerkenwell
Today’s Clerkenwell is popular with creative firms and dotted with smart apartment blocks in converted warehouses. It has many good restaurants and a great street food market held in Exmouth Market. Clerkenwell is quite a large area, running from Pentonville in the north to Smithfield Market in the south. So for this piece, I’m going… Continue reading Clerkenwell
A tale of two halves
Do you sometimes get that feeling? The one where you know something is just not quite right, but you can’t put your finger on why. It happened to me last week while wandering the streets. I was out doing some research on a project I’ve undertaken, to catalogue all the pubs within the City boundaries… Continue reading A tale of two halves
A LONDON MISCELLANY 