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Elegy For Upton Park
The departure of West Ham football team from the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park after more than a century, prior to a move to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, is an event of such momentous import that...
View ArticleHousing Problems
Writer David Collard introduces HOUSING PROBLEMS (1935) as part of a programme of East End related documentary films, including FIRES WERE STARTED (1943) directed by Humphrey Jennings and filmed around...
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David O’Mara’s Spitalfields
I have published many pictures of renovations of old houses in Spitalfields but David O’Mara‘s candid photography reveals the other side of these stories, recording the back-breaking labour and human...
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George Cruikshank’s London Summer
JULY 1838 - Flying Showers in Battersea Fields Should you ever require it, here is evidence of the constant volatility of English summer weather, courtesy of George Cruikshank’s Comic Almanack...
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A London Bestiary
Contributing Artist Adam Dant has created this splendid portfolio of chiaroscuro wood cuts of Ten Creatures of London Legend The Vegetable Lamb Of Tartary, Lambeth Palace This was believed to be a...
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At Central Books
Do you wonder where Spitalfields Life Books come from? Perhaps you thought I keep them in my attic in Spitalfields and I climb a rickety ladder every time someone wants one? In fact, they have...
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Viscountess Boudica At The Society Club
In her ongoing attempt to prevent eviction from her council flat, Viscountess Boudica of Bethnal Green is exhibiting her drawings for sale at The Society Club, 12 Ingestre Place, Soho, W1F 0JF. All...
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Danny Fields, Manager Of The Ramones
As part of this summer’s celebration of forty years of punk, I interviewed New Yorker Danny Fields at Leila’s Cafe last week about his enduring relationship with London and the crucial events of July...
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Matyas Selmeczi, Silhouette Artist
With his weathered features, grizzled beard, sea captain’s cap and denim bib overalls, Silhouette Artist Matyas Selmeczi looks like he has just stepped off a boat and out of another century. For...
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Haymaking On Walthamstow Marshes
Raf Szafruga, heroic scyther Last summer, in celebration of Lammastide which marks the beginning of the grain harvest, Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien & I went along to join the mowers...
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Robson Cezar At St Katharine’s Precinct
Spitalfields resident, artist Robson Cezar known as ‘King of the Bottletops’ is currently cycling down to St Katharine’s Precinct at the end of Cable St in Limehouse each day where he is undertaking a...
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Adam Dant’s London Riot Map
When temperatures rise in the city, volatile emotions frequently reach combustion – Londoners take to the streets and lawlessness prevails, as it did last week in Hyde Park. Contributing Artist Adam...
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At Doggett’s Coat & Badge Race
Sculling under London Bridge It might have been the hottest day of the year but that was not going to stop six young apprentice watermen rowing from Southwark to Chelsea in the Doggett’s Coat &...
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Under The Pedley St Arch
Pedley St Arch by John Claridge, 1968 The Pedley St Arch is one of Spitalfields’ most disreputable corners and has been for more than a century, evidenced by this description of it by Emmanuel...
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Save The Algha Spectacle Works!
Algha Works is the only historic industrial building still in use in the Fish Island Conservation Area and Britain’s last hand-made spectacle factory, but it is now under threat as the owners have...
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At The Still & Star
Still & Star, 1 Little Somerset St, Aldgate There is very little left of old Aldgate these days – though the Still & Star, just opposite the tube station yet hidden down Little Somerset St, is...
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Music Hall Stars Of Abney Park Cemetery
When the summer heat hits the city and the streets get dusty and dry, I like to seek refuge in the green shade of a cemetery. Commonly, I visit Bow Cemetery – but recently I went along to explore Abney...
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Drink-In At The Still & Star
Please join me & The Victorian Society for a drink-in at the Still & Star, Aldgate, from 6:30pm next Tuesday 16th August to celebrate this historic pub and learn how to stop its demolition....
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The Weathervanes Of Old London
I can think of no more magical sight to glimpse in a London street than that of a gilded weathervane glinting in sunlight high above the rooftops. At once – in spite of all the changes that time has...
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In Denmark St
Manager Leon Powell strums his guitar at Regent Sounds in the space once occupied by the studio where the Rolling Stones recorded their first album. This was just one of many wonders that Contributing...
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