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Eleanor Crow’s East End Bakers
Beigel Shop, Brick Lane Illustrator Eleanor Crow sent me this richly-hued baker’s dozen of watercolour paintings of favourite East End Bakers, which set my stomach rumbling just to look at them . “I...
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Soerditch by Dant (Chapter Four)
Time for this week’s instalment from SOERDITCH, Diary of a Neighbourhood, Adam Dant’s ascerbic cartoon satire of the culture of our dearly-beloved Shoreditch – each picture a beautifully rendered view...
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More Of Samuel Pepys’ Cries Of London
It was a startling delight when I discovered that Samuel Pepys shared my own interest in the Cries of London and made a collection of these prints which still exist in his library, preserved at...
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Soerditch by Dant (Chapter Five)
Another instalment of SOERDITCH, Diary of a Neighbourhood, Adam Dant’s satire upon the ironies of life in the “New” East End – each cartoon a beautifully rendered view of the neighbourhood, captioned...
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Phyllis Bray, Artist
David Buckman author of From Bow To Biennale: Artists of the East London Group recalls the forgotten name of Phyllis Bray. Celebrated for her murals at the People’s Palace in Mile End, Bray was a...
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Barn The Spoon’s London Spoons
Barn the Spoon examines a two-thousand-year-old spoon When I first met Barn the Spoon, the professional spoon carver, he told me he wanted to make London spoons – but he did not know what they would...
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Soerditch by Dant (Chapter Six)
Time for this week’s dose of SOERDITCH, Diary of a Neighbourhood, Adam Dant’s sly satire upon the social ironies of the “New” East End – each cartoon a beautifully rendered view of the neighbourhood,...
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At Anna Maria Garthwaite’s House
Anna Maria Garthwaite, the most celebrated texile designer of the eighteenth century, bought this house in Spitalfields when she was forty years old in 1728, just five years after it was built. Its...
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Nicholas Borden’s East End View
Brick Lane, looking north You may recall Nicholas Borden, the artist I came upon painting in the street last year in Bethnal Green. As a consequence of the tremendous response that his work received,...
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Here’s Willy Moon
Celebrating the release of Willy Moon’s first album Here’s Willy Moon tomorrow, I republish my interview from 2010 as a testimony to the years of perseverance it has taken this talented songwriter to...
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Phil Maxwell on Wentworth St
Spitalfields Life Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell is taking street photography back to the street - a vast wall of his photographs has been installed on Wentworth St and will be there for the...
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Matchbox Models by Lesney
Continuing my series of the great hardware and trade catalogues of the East End, it is my pleasure to publish the Matchbox 1966 Collector’s Guide & International Catalogue by Lesney Products &...
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Whistler in Limehouse & Wapping
W.Jones, Limeburner, Wapping High St American-born artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, was only twenty-five when he arrived in London from Paris in the summer of 1859 and, rejecting the opportunity...
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At Embassy Electrical Supplies
Mehmet Murat It comes as no surprise to learn that at Embassy Electrical Supplies in Clerkenwell, you can buy lightbulbs, fuses and cables, but rather more unexpected to discover that, while you are...
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D-Day For The Marquis of Lansdowne
In response to the notorious comments by Geffrye Museum Director David Dewing at the recent public meeting to discuss his controversial development plans that include demolishing The Marquis of...
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The Pub That Was Saved By Irony
A new dawn for The Marquis of Lansdowne Thanks in no small part to the passionate campaign waged by you, my esteemed readers of Spitalfields Life, The Marquis of Lansdowne is saved. Yesterday, I asked...
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At Jocasta Innes’ House
The first house I ever visited in Spitalfields was Jocasta Innes’. A quarter of a century ago I came here, one bitterly cold winter morning, with my friend Joshua Compston to visit Brick Lane Market,...
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Henry Silk, Artist & Basket Maker
Of all the painters that comprised the East London Group, I rate none more highly than Henry Silk and so I am delighted that I was able to persuade David Buckman, author of the authoritative history...
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In Search Of Other Worlds
Parallel worlds in Bethnal Green On Sundays, when the crowds throng Brick Lane, I commonly go roving beyond beyond my familiar streets. Upon other occasions, I have gone off to seek snowmen or cherry...
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At 37 Spital Square
Drawing of 37 Spital Sq by Joanna Moore What could be a better showcase for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings than the fine eighteenth century house they restored in Spital Sq which...
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