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Passmore Edwards in the East End
At the time of cuts to libraries and other vital social resources, Dean Evans author of Funding The Ladder – The Passmore Edwards Legacy takes a timely look at the forgotten benefactor who shaped the...
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Fire Attack at The Freedom Press
“a copy of William Blake burnt by fascists” Last Friday at 5:30am, CCTV at the Whitechapel Gallery recorded two men break the metal shutter next door at The Freedom Press in Angel Alley and pour a...
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The Drypoint Etchings of Peta Bridle
Illustrator Peta Bridle sent me these beautiful drypoint etchings of some of my favourite people and places in the East End, which she has been working on over the winter. I love all the detail, and...
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John Claridge’s Clowns (Act One)
I invited Contributing Photographer John Claridge along to the 67th Annual Grimaldi Service at Holy Trinity Church in Dalston last weekend to take a set of clown portraits, as a complement to his fine...
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At The Rochelle Infants’ School
On the day that the fate of the Rochelle Infants’ School Building at Arnold Circus on the Boundary Estate will be decided by Tower Hamlets Council, I trace the origins of this modest yet beautiful...
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Allen & Hanburys’ Surgical Appliances
Continuing my series of the great hardware catalogues of the East End, it is my pleasure to publish these pages from Allen & Hanburys’ 1938 catalogue of Surgical Instruments & Appliances...
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John Claridge’s Clowns (Act Two)
A fortnight ago, Contributing Photographer John Claridge & I attended the 67th Annual Grimaldi Service at Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, as guests of Clowns International, the world’s oldest clown...
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At The George
Pauline Forster, publican at The George in Commercial Rd Let me admit, The George in Commercial Rd is one of my favourite pubs in the East End. From the first moment I walked through the door, I knew...
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At Clerkenwell Fire Station
Clerkenwell Fire Station is the oldest operating fire station in Europe, serving the people of London continuously from its handsome red brick tower at the junction of Rosebery Avenue and Farringdon...
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Samuel Pepys’ Cries Of London
What a man’s mind is, that is what he is For a while now, I have been collecting sets of Cries of London down through the ages and I am fascinated by the diverse permutations of these cheaply-produced...
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Nicholas Hawksmoor’s Churches
St George’s, Bloomsbury 1716 – 1731 In 1711, Nicholas Hawksmoor was fifty years old and although he had already worked with Christopher Wren on St Paul’s Cathedral and for John Vanbrugh on Castle...
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John Claridge’s Boxers (Round Eleven)
Just in case you feared Contributing Photographer & Ex-Boxer John Claridge had substituted slap for punches, swapped the boxing ring for the circus ring and run away to join the Clowns, I am...
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Soerditch by Dant
Working under the assumed identity of Dant, Spitalfields Life Contributing Artist Adam Dant has drawn one hundred and twenty-five cartoons, satirising the culture of our dearly-beloved Shoreditch, all...
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John Claridge’s Clowns (The Final Act)
So this is where we bring down the curtain on John Claridge‘s Clowns photographed at the 67th Annual Grimaldi Service at Holy Trinity Dalston last month, courtesy of our friends at Clowns...
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The Modern Cries of London
This comic series of The Modern Cries of London from the Bishopsgate Archive are the first I have discovered that are seasonal, illustrating produce to be bought upon the streets of Georgian London in...
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Somali Portraits
Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie has been working on a series of Somali portraits in recent months and we publish a first selection today, accompanied with testimonies dictated by the subjects....
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Soerditch by Dant (Chapter Two)
Please join me tonight from 6:30- 8:30pm at Eleven Spitalfields Gallery for the opening of Adam Dant‘s exhibition of cartoons SOERDITCH, Diary of a Neighbourhood, satirising the culture of our...
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Albert Turpin, Artist
As the first exhibition of the East London Group in eighty years opens next week, David Buckman author of From Bow To Biennale: Artists of the East London Group recalls the forgotten name of Albert...
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Soerditch by Dant (Chapter Three)
It is my pleasure to publish this week’s instalment of Contributing Artist Adam Dant’s cartoons from SOERDITCH, Diary of a Neighbourhood, satirising the culture of our dearly-beloved Shoreditch – each...
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The Oranges & Lemons Churches
Upon an inspired suggestion from one of my dearly-beloved readers last week, I set out to photograph those churches featured in “Oranges & Lemons” and here you see the results of my endeavour. St...
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