Once again, a full house at The Bell in Spitalfields were subjected to – I think it’s safe to say – a superb evening’s historical entertainment. Nigel Jones, author of a new book on the Tower of London, kicked off proceedings with some highly amusing anecdotes about escapees over the centuries from what most people [...]
Archive for November, 2011
History in the Pub II: Report
Posted in Events, London Historians, tagged history, history in the pub, london, londonist, matt brown, Nigel Jones, Ruairidh Anderson, songs from the howling sea, tim hitchcock on 30 November, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Steaming Through Brentford
Posted in 20th Century, Public Transport, tagged brentford, history, london, Steam locomotive on 26 November, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Forgive me for train geekery of late! Thanks to a tip-off via IanVisits, about half an hour ago I raced down the road to Brentford station to witness this 1947 Battle of Britain class steam train pass through on its way to Euston. The loco wasn’t particularly noisy and it smelled lovely. The passengers, steam [...]
Ghost Stations: Aldwych
Posted in 20th Century, Public Transport, tagged history, Leslie Green, london, London Transport Museum, Underground on 25 November, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Most Londoners know that there are “ghost stations” on the Underground network. There are probably several dozen of them in all, most of which have been closed for reasons of economy, the fact that they simply weren’t pulling their weight financially. One of the more recent, perhaps the most recent, is Aldwych Station in the [...]
History in the Pub II
Posted in London Events, London Historians, tagged history, history in the pub, london, london historians, Spitalfields on 23 November, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Following the great success of our inaugural, experimental History in the Pub on 21 September, we have decided to squeeze one in before the year draws to a close, and then put together a fabulous programme for 2012. History in the Pub II is next Tuesday, 29 November, again upstairs at The Bell in Middlesex [...]
Concorde
Posted in 20th Century, Public Transport, tagged aviation, British Airways, Concorde, heathrow, history, london, New York-JFK, Speedbird on 22 November, 2011 | 12 Comments »
The other day Demos announced the results of a poll of what symbols made us proud to be British. Shakespeare came out top, followed by stuff like the Pound, the Beatles, the Union Jack, our armed forces etc. Missing from the list, some eight years after her demise, was Concorde, a symbol which – had [...]
Christmas Fairs
Posted in London Events, tagged banqueting house, charity, Christmas, christmas fairs, drapers' company, history, livery halls, london on 21 November, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Charity Christmas Fairs are a good way to gain access to historical buildings while getting some Christmas shopping sorted out. There is normally an entrance charge which is the equivalent of what you would have to pay anyway, and you may get a glass of mulled wine or similar thrown in. A particularly good one [...]
Review: Mr Briggs’ Hat
Posted in Book Reviews, Crime, Literature, Public Transport, Reviews, Victorian period, tagged crime and punishment, history, london, murder on 18 November, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A murder, an investigation, a chase, a court case, an execution. That’s what this book is about. On 9 July 1864, Mr Thomas Briggs – a senior bank official in the City – was murdered while travelling home to Hackney on a train from Fenchurch Street. It was the first ever murder on Britain’s railways [...]
The London History Festival 2011
Posted in Archaeology, Events, Literature, London Events, tagged history, leo hollis, london, London History Festival 2011, Nigel Jones, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on 16 November, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The third London History Festival, which opened on Monday, is off to a flying start. Last night I went to the History Girls talk at Waterstones in Kensington. Excellent turn-out and really insightful discussion by the panellists, all successful history writers. Plenty of good audience Q & A afterwards too. On Wednesday 23rd, it’s the [...]
“One of the most God-forsaken places I have ever struck”: George Orwell in Hayes
Posted in 20th Century, Literature, Local History, People, tagged George Orwell, Hayes FM, Hayes Middlesex, history, literature, london, Orwell on 16 November, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Most Wednesday mornings, Hayes FM are kind enough to have me on to talk about local history. Today we discussed George Orwell’s time in Hayes from April 1932- July 1933. It got me suitably fired up to jump in the car and go for an explore, accompanied by Mark Machado from the radio station. Being [...]
Guns and Horses: King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery
Posted in 20th Century, London Events, War, tagged ceremonial, Field gun, gun salutes, Hyde Park, King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, london, Royal Horse Artillery, Troop, World War I on 14 November, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Today being the Prince of Wales’s birthday, the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery fired a 41 gun salute in Hyde Park. The Troop, dating from 1793, is nowadays a mostly ceremonial unit. It comprises six World War One vintage 13 pounder field guns which are drawn by teams of six horses each. In support of [...]
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