Cruikshank’s London Almanack, 1835
CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET . In 1835, George Cruikshank drew these illustrations of the notable seasons and festivals of the year in London for The Comic Almanack published by Charles Tilt of...
View ArticleMy Pilgrimage Along The Black Path
CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET . ‘Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote… Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages’ Taking to heart the observation by the celebrated poet & resident of Aldgate,...
View ArticleThe Oranges & Lemons Churches
Click here to book for my next tour of the City of London on Sunday 21st April . St Clement’s, Eastcheap “Oranges and lemons,” say the bells of St. Clement’s. . . Site of St Martin Orgar, Martin Lane...
View ArticleAt Chu’s Garage
Click here to book for my next tour of the City of London this Sunday 21st April . Quang Chu of Chu’s Garage Chu’s Garage under the railway arches in London Fields has become a reliable institution...
View ArticleIn The Roof Of St Paul’s
Click here to book for my next tour of the City of London this Sunday 21st April . On the right of this photograph, taken in the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral, is the concave wall of the outer dome and...
View ArticleErnest George’s London
Click here to book for this Saturday’s tour of Spitalfields . Aldgate Stefan Dickers, Archivist at Bishopsgate Institute, introduced me to these fine copper plate etchings by Ernest George...
View ArticleWilliam Kent’s Arch In Bow
Click here to book for this Saturday . ‘a curious vestige from a catalogue of destruction’ This fine eighteenth century rusticated arch designed by the celebrated architect and designer William Kent...
View ArticlePeta Bridle’s City Churches
BOOKING NOW THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER . Peta Bridle introduces these splendid drawings from her most recent sketchbook “If you take a stroll around the City of London you might catch the glint of a...
View ArticleAt The Punch & Judy Festival
BOOKING NOW THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER . One of my favourite annual events in London is the Punch & Judy Festival which is always held on the second Sunday in May at the churchyard of St Paul’s Covent...
View ArticleAt The Ragged School Museum
NEXT TICKETS AVAILABLE SATURDAY 11th MAY . The Ragged School Museum by Doreen Fletcher, 2017 On a recent bright spring morning, Contributing Photographer Rachel Ferriman and I paid a visit to the...
View ArticleAmong The Pagans At Beltane
NEXT TICKETS AVAILABLE THIS SATURDAY 11th MAY . . When my friend Geraldine Beskin, the witch, who runs the Altlantis Bookshop invited me to attend the Pagan Pride Parade at Beltane, I knew it was too...
View ArticleHow Mile End Place Was Saved
SOME TICKETS AVAILABLE SATURDAY 18th MAY . Philip Cunningham sent me his account of living in Mile End Place in the seventies when it was under the shadow of redevelopment In the sixties and...
View ArticleAt Eastbury Manor House
Some tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour this Saturday 18th May If you are seeking an afternoon’s excursion from the East End, you can do no better than visit Eastbury Manor in Barking,...
View ArticleRemembering London’s Oldest Ironmonger
Tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields on Saturday 25th May The frontage at 493-495 Hackney Rd The factory at the rear of the shop London’s oldest ironmongers opened for...
View ArticleAt The Fan Museum
Tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields on Saturday 25th May The Fan Museum in Greenwich is the brainchild of Helene Alexander who has devoted her life with an heroic passion...
View ArticleAt The Charterhouse
Tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields on Saturday 25th May . Brick buildings of 1531 in Preacher’s Court with the Barbican beyond Desirous of an excuse to view the...
View ArticleWhat The Gentle Author Did Next
. Regular readers will know that it is not my custom to speak about myself too much, but I was persuaded to give an interview at some length to the estimable Albion Magazine which devotes itself a...
View ArticleRaphael Samuel’s Farewell To Spitalfields
Tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields throughout the summer . . In 1988, the Bishopsgate Institute staged an exhibition entitled A Farewell to Spitalfields curated by John...
View ArticleThe East End Suffragette Map
Click for tickets for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields on Saturday 1st June . . The central contribution of women in the East End to the Suffrage Movement is not always recognised, so we...
View ArticleThe War On Vice In The East End
Click for tickets for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields on Saturday 1st June . The Brown Bear, Leman St ‘well known as being frequented almost exclusively by homos’ . Peter Parker, editor of...
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