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Good Friday At St Bartholmew’s
2024-03-27 00:01
If you are at a loose end over the forthcoming Easter holidays, why not join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on Easter Thursday 28th March at 2pm or THE GENTLE AUTHOR… Read More
The Coal Holes Of London
2024-03-23 00:01
If you are at a loose end over the forthcoming Easter holidays and looking for an excuse for a walk, why not join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on Easter Thursday 28… Read More
Older Women Of Whitechapel
2024-03-22 00:01
. Join me on Easter Monday, April 1st, for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF THE CITY OF LONDON. Meet me on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral at 2pm. We will walk eastward together thr… Read More
The Artists Of The East India Company
2024-03-20 00:01
. The shadow of the East India Company looms large over Spitalfields. For it was to bring goods from the East India Dock that Commercial St was cut through the neighbourhood in the nineteen… Read More
The Gentle Author’s Coin Collection
2024-03-19 00:01
. Join me on Easter Monday, April 1st, for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF THE CITY OF LONDON. Meet me on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral at 2pm. We will walk eastward together thr… Read More
2024-03-17 00:01
On Sunday – when I was a child – my father always took me out for the morning. It was a routine. He led me by the hand down by the river or we took the car. Either way, we always… Read More
Smithfield Slang
2024-03-16 00:01
Click here to book your spring walk through Spitalfields Click here to book your walk through the City of London . Jonathon Green, the foremost lexicographer of slang, introduces his predec… Read More
Along The River Lea
2024-03-13 00:01
Click here to book your spring walk through Spitalfields Click here to book your walk through the City of London . Taking advantage of recent spring sunshine to escape the city and seek som… Read More
The Bold Defiance
2024-03-11 00:01
Click here to book your spring walk through Spitalfields Click here to book your walk through the City of London . Rupert Cole tells how he uncovered the story of John Doyle and John Valloi… Read More
Remembering Helen Taylor-Thompson
2024-03-09 00:01
Click here to book your spring walk through Spitalfields Click here to book your walk through the City of London . On International Women’s Day, we remember the inspirational Helen Ta… Read More
So Long, Bernard Kops
2024-03-05 00:01
Poet, playwright and novelist, Bernard Kops, died on 25th February aged ninety-seven years. Bernard Kops (1926-2024) . “It’s amazing I have lived so long, after all the drugs th… Read More
Here We Go Round The Mulberry Cuttings
2024-03-04 00:01
On Saturday, the East End Preservation Society sent this report to all those who contributed £100 or more to the legal fund for the successful campaign to Save the Bethnal Green Mulber… Read More
So Long, Michael Myers
2024-03-02 00:01
Michael Myers, Spitalfields’ oldest resident, died on 13th February just a few weeks short of his ninety-fifth birthday. Growing up in Petticoat Lane, Michael only moved a quarter of a… Read More
At Holy Trinity Church, Bow
2024-03-01 00:01
. Holy Trinity in Bow is one of those churches that I often passed by and wondered what it was like inside. The answer is that it is a wonder. You step through the unadorned entrance to dis… Read More
The World Of The Saree Shops
2024-02-28 00:02
. JULIE BEGUM is giving an illustrated lecture outlining the long history of the presence of Bengali people on this side of London. IMAGES OF THE BENGALI EAST END is at 7pm on Tuesday 5th M… Read More
A Walk Through Dickens’ London
2024-02-22 00:01
An occluded winter’s day when sunlight barely glimmered offered the ideal opportunity for a ramble through Charles Dickens’ London. Employing a set of cigarette cards from 1927 w… Read More
Tower Hamlets Adverts From 1967
2024-02-16 00:01
Stefan Dickers, Archivist at Bishopsgate Institute, kindly sent me these wonderful advertisements from a History of Tower Hamlets produced by the council in 1967 and I could not resist showi… Read More
In Praise Of Older Women
2024-02-15 00:01
Contributing Photographer Chris Kelly sent me this glorious collection of  her pictures of older women from the East End and elsewhere, entitled In Praise Of Older Women after the book… Read More
Joe Lawrence, Butcher & Novelist
2024-02-10 00:01
Joe Lawrence There is a legend that Dick Turpin started out as a Butcher’s apprentice in Whitechapel before graduating to the role of Highwayman. Yet only now that I have read Joe Law… Read More
Vinegar Valentines For Bad Traders
2024-02-07 00:01
Only a couple of tickets left for the VALENTINE’S CARD WORKSHOP next Saturday 10th February 2:30pm – 4:30pm at Townhouse, Spitalfields. Introduced by Rupert Thomas, Director of D… Read More
Pellicci’s Celebrity Album
2024-02-03 00:01
This month’s talk in the Spitalfields Series at the Hanbury Hall will be local resident Dame Siân Phillips interviewed by Basil Comely about her life and career, next Tuesday 6th… Read More
The Interregnum In Spitalfields
2024-02-02 00:01
This month’s talk in the Spitalfields Series at the Hanbury Hall will be local resident Dame Siân Phillips interviewed by Basil Comely about her life and career, next Tuesday 6th… Read More
In The Winter Garden
2024-02-01 00:01
. A few years ago when the city was shut down and empty, I used to take long lone cycle rides in parts of London that were unknown to me, seeking an escape. One day at January’s end… Read More
At Beppe’s Cafe
2024-01-31 00:01
Guest writer Julia Harrison celebrates Beppe’s Cafe in Smithfield, accompanied with photographs by Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie Daniella Papini . One of my favourite mornin… Read More
At Glamis Adventure Playground
2024-01-28 00:01
Guest Writer Jonathan Moules describes his visit to a much-loved Shadwell institution, accompanied with pictures by Contributing Photographer Rachel Ferriman . It is Friday night on a… Read More
Elwin Hawthorne, Artist
2024-01-26 00:01
Trinity Almshouses, Mile End Rd, 1935 Elwin Hawthorne (1905–54) was the nephew of the artist Henry Silk, with whom the family of six shared a small house in Rounton Road, Bow. When El… Read More
First Signs Of Life
2024-01-25 00:01
First Snowdrops in Wapping Even now, in the depths of Winter, there is plant life stirring. As I travelled around the East End over the past week in the wet and cold, I kept my eyes open fo… Read More
Costume Of The Metropolis
2024-01-21 00:01
Despite the patronising pseudo-ethnographic tile, Thomas Lord Busby’s ‘Costumes of the Lower Orders of the Metropolis’  offer an evocative glimpse of London street lif… Read More
Matchbox Models By Lesney
2024-01-16 00:01
It is my pleasure to publish the Matchbox 1966 Collector’s Guide & International Catalogue by Lesney Products & Co Ltd of Hackney Wick, courtesy of the late Libby Hall. The com… Read More
Philip Cunningham’s Portraits
2024-01-15 00:01
In the seventies, while living in Mile End Place and employed as a Youth Worker at Oxford House in Bethnal Green and then as a Probationary Teacher at Brooke House School in Clapton, Photogr… Read More
William Anthony, The Last Of The Charlies
2024-01-12 00:01
William Anthony 1789-1863 Behold the face of history! Photographed in 1863, the year of his death, but born in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, seventy-four-year-old William Anthony… Read More
Oranges & Lemons Wrappers
2024-01-10 00:01
This is the season for oranges and lemons, so I was more than delighted when Keren McConnell kindly sent me her glorious fruit wrapper collection from the seventies to share with you. If any… Read More
At The Ceremony Of The Baddeley Cake
2024-01-07 00:01
. Archivist Stefan Dickers will be giving a lecture at the Hanbury Hall in Spitalfields next Tuesday 9th January at 7pm entitled THE TREASURES OF THE BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE. As well as its c… Read More
The Boundary Estate In Winter
2024-01-02 00:01
Arnold Circus The Boundary Estate is one of the commonplace wonders of the East End. Hundreds live there and thousands pass through, so that over-familiarity may have rendered it invisible… Read More
The Gates Of The City
2024-01-01 00:01
There is still time to join THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS this afternoon at 2pm . For a while, I have been seeking a set of prints of the City gates to show you and, over th… Read More
My Flowers Of 2023
2023-12-31 00:01
Tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS tomorrow . Each Sunday, if I can afford it and have the time, I visit Columbia Rd Market to buy a bunch of flowers, s… Read More
Night At The Biegel Bakery
2023-12-30 00:01
Join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day . New Year’s Eve is always the busiest night of the year at the Brick Lane Beigel Bakery, so a few y… Read More
The Spitalfields Parties Of Yesteryear
2023-12-27 00:01
Join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day . Click here to buy GIFT VOUCHERS for The Gentle Author’s Tours – the ideal present for friends… Read More
On Christmas Day
2023-12-25 00:01
If you need an excuse to escape, why not join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day? . Click here to buy GIFT VOUCHERS for The Gentle Author’s T… Read More
The Spitalfields Nativity Procession
2023-12-20 00:01
If you fancy a bracing walk as a respite from the forthcoming festivities, tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day. . Click here to… Read More
Christmas Ravioli At E Pellicci
2023-12-19 00:01
If you fancy a bracing walk as a respite from the forthcoming festivities, tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day. . Click here to b… Read More
My Winter Walks In The City
2023-12-17 00:01
Many years ago, when my last relative died, for the first time in my life I had no longer any obligations at Christmas so, in recognition of this, I decided to walk all night through London… Read More
The Smithfield Christmas Eve Meat Auction
2023-12-15 00:01
If you fancy a bracing walk as a respite from the forthcoming festivities, tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day. . Click here to o… Read More
The Whitechapel Mission At Christmas
2023-12-14 00:01
If you fancy a bracing walk as a respite from the forthcoming festivities, tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day. . Click here to o… Read More
My Old Christmas Decorations
2023-12-13 00:01
If you fancy a bracing walk as a respite from the festivities, tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS on New Year’s Day. . Click here to buy GIFT VOUC… Read More
Books For Christmas
2023-12-12 00:01
If you are seeking Christmas presents for family and friends, you need look no further because Spitalfields Life books make ideal gifts which you can have personally inscribed… . CLI… Read More
At The Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club
2023-12-09 00:01
Click here to buy GIFT VOUCHERS for The Gentle Author’s Tours in 2024 Click here order a signed copy of The Gentle Author’s ON CHRISTMAS DAY for £10 . Dominic Patmore, Po… Read More
Eleanor Crow’s East End Ironmongers
2023-12-02 00:01
Click here order a signed copy of The Gentle Author’s ON CHRISTMAS DAY for £10 . Daniel Lewis & Son Ltd, Hackney Rd As you can see, illustrator Eleanor Crow shares my love… Read More
George Fuest, Baker
2023-12-01 00:01
I am reading my short story ON CHRISTMAS DAY this Saturday 2nd December at 11am as part of the BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE at the Art Workers’ Guild in Queens Square, WC1N 3AT. . CLICK HERE FO… Read More
Joan Lauder, The Cat Lady Of Spitalfields
2023-11-30 00:01
I am reading my short story ON CHRISTMAS DAY next Saturday 2nd December at 11am as part of the BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE at the Art Workers’ Guild in Queens Square, WC1N 3AT. . CLICK HERE F… Read More
No Longer The Last Derelict House
2023-11-27 00:01
. I am reading my short story ON CHRISTMAS DAY next Saturday 2nd December at 11am as part of the BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE at the Art Workers’ Guild in Queens Square, WC1N 3AT. CLICK HERE F… Read More
Bloomsbury Jamboree Readings & Talks
2023-11-26 00:01
. You are invited to our annual BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE which runs from 11am-5pm on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd December at Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Sq, WC1N 3AT. We are showing the… Read More
Bloomsbury Jamboree 2023
2023-11-25 00:01
. In gleeful collaboration with Tim Mainstone of Mainstone Press and Joe Pearson of Design for Today, I am hosting our annual BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE, a festival of books and print, illustratio… Read More
Thomas Onwhyn’s London
2023-11-24 00:01
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF ‘ON CHRISTMAS DAY’ FOR £10 . . Born in Clerkenwell in 1813 as the eldest son of a bookseller, Thomas Onwhyn created a series of cheap… Read More
Edward Bawden On Liverpool St Station
2023-11-20 00:01
Jonathan Pryce will read my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ at the launch at Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston this Thursday 23rd November at 6:30pm. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS CLICK… Read More
Lost In Long Forgotten London
2023-11-16 00:01
Jonathan Pryce will read my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ at the launch at Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston on Thursday 23rd November at 6:30pm. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS CLICK HE… Read More
Firefighter Artists Of The Blitz
2023-11-14 00:01
Jonathan Pryce will read my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ at the launch at Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston on Thursday 23rd November at 6:30pm. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS CLICK HE… Read More
On Armistice Sunday
2023-11-12 00:01
On Armistice Sunday, we remember the eighty-three men whose names are commemorated upon the war memorial in the churchyard at Christ Church. Vicky Stewart researched their lives and designer… Read More
The Launch For ‘On Christmas Day’
2023-11-09 00:01
. . I am thrilled to announce that Jonathan Pryce will read my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ at the launch at Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston on Thursday 23rd November at 6:3… Read More
At The Eagle
2023-11-08 00:01
. It was my great delight to come across this precious scrapbook of playbills from the Eagle Theatre & Pleasure Gardens in the City Rd at the Bishopsgate Institute. Old playbills h… Read More
Save Liverpool St Station
2023-11-07 00:01
Please come to our SAVE LIVERPOOL ST STATION campaign event at 7pm tonight, Tuesday 7th November at Hanbury Hall, 22 Hanbury St, E1 6QR. Speakers include Griff Rhys Jones, Eric Reynolds and… Read More
In Old Liverpool St Station
2023-11-05 00:01
I am delighted to announce publication of my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ in collaboration with Burley Fisher Books CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY FOR £10 . The Gentle… Read More
Publication Of ‘On Christmas Day’
2023-11-04 00:01
I am delighted to announce publication of my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ in collaboration with Burley Fisher Books CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY FOR £10 . The Gentle… Read More
200 Years In Rhondda Grove
2023-11-02 00:01
Rhondda Grove resident Naman Chaudhary has written this history of the street in celebration of two centuries of a cherished East End backwater, constructed in 1823 Rhondda Grove was origin… Read More
Marie Lenclos’ Walk In Stoke Newington
2023-11-01 00:01
Blue Gate . A Walk in Stoke Newington is an exhibition of new oil paintings by Marie Lenclos opening on Monday 6th November. Marie walked for days exploring the streets, enjoying the shortc… Read More
Save Liverpool St Station Event
2023-10-28 23:01
. In the foreground of the developers’ visualisation, you can see how their nightmareish scheme for Liverpool St Station will look if built. Note the eleven storey tower block on top… Read More
At The German Church In Aldgate
2023-10-26 23:01
Click here to book for my last Spitalfields tour of the year . . The Altar and Pulpit at St George’s German Lutheran Church, Alie St In Aldgate, caught between the thunder of the tra… Read More
Fogs & Smogs Of Old London
2023-10-25 23:01
Click here to book for my last Spitalfields tour of the year . . St. Martin, Ludgate with St. Paul’s Cathedral, c. 1900 At this time of year, when dusk gathers in the mid-afternoon… Read More
Modern London, 1888
2023-10-24 23:01
Click here to book for my last Spitalfields tour of the year . . “The attention of our readers is now directed to the history of the rise and progress of leading business houses of Lo… Read More
The Gentle Author’s Pub Crawl
2023-10-22 23:01
Click here to book for my last Spitalfields tour of the year . . Feeling in need of exercise and refreshment, I set out on a walk to visit some favourite pubs along the way and I took my ca… Read More
Planting Diaries
2023-10-21 23:01
Click here to book for my last Spitalfields tour of the year . . I am proud to present these extracts from PLANTING DIARIES, Gardens, planting styles and their origins by Siân Rees, a… Read More
A London Inheritance
2023-10-20 23:01
Thank you to our over 300 donors who contributed £35,000 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. We will be in touch with patrons, supporters and friends to arrange delivery of rewards in… Read More
The Oxford Sausage
2023-10-19 23:01
We are getting very close to our target now after raised an astonishing £33,960 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. The crowdfund page remains open until we reach £35,000… Read More
So Long, John Dolan
2023-10-17 23:01
We are within £2,000 of our target after raised an astonishing £33,093 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. The crowdfund page remains open until we reach £35,000. YOU CAN… Read More
The Bread Cake & Biscuit Walk
2023-10-16 23:01
We may not have quite hit our target, but we have raised an astonishing £32,1113 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. Meanwhile, our crowdfund page will remain open until we reach… Read More
On The Beat With PC Lew Tassell Again
2023-10-15 23:01
We may not have quite hit our target, but we have raised an astonishing £32,033 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. Meanwhile, our crowdfund page will remain open until we reach… Read More
Ed Gray’s Innocence & Experience
2023-10-14 23:01
We may not have quite hit our target, but we have raised an astonishing £31,703 to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books. Meanwhile, our crowdfund page will remain open until we reach… Read More
Our Crowdfund Report
2023-10-13 23:01
We may not have quite hit our target, but – thanks to 265 donors – we raised an astonishing £29,100 which is enough for us to work with creatively and relaunch Spitalfield… Read More
David Hoffman’s East End Jewish Shops
2023-10-12 23:01
We have raised £27,000 to RELAUNCH SPITALFIELDS LIFE BOOKS and we have UNTIL MIDNIGHT to reach our target of £35,000. . CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR CROWDFUND PAGE & CONTRIBUTE … Read More
Sarah Ainslie’s Wardrobe Portraits
2023-10-11 23:01
We have now raised nearly £26,000 to RELAUNCH SPITALFIELDS LIFE BOOKS and we have 2 DAYS LEFT. We can reach our target of £35,000 if 9 readers step forward to support us as… Read More
Nicholas Borden’s New Paintings
2023-10-09 23:01
We have raised nearly £23,000 to RELAUNCH SPITALFIELDS LIFE BOOKS and now we have 4 DAYS LEFT! With your help, I am hoping we can reach the target of £35,000 by next Saturda… Read More
Marion Elliot’s Tea Towels
2023-10-07 23:01
We have raised over HALF of our target to RELAUNCH SPITALFIELDS LIFE BOOKS and now we have SIX DAYS LEFT! With your help, I am hoping we can reach the target by next Saturday 14th October. C… Read More
Our Three Authors Introduce Themselves
2023-10-06 23:01
In the final week of our crowdfund to relaunch Spitalfields Life Books, let me introduce the authors of the three books speaking in their own words. THANKYOU to the 164 people who have… Read More
David Hoffman At St Hildas
2023-10-03 23:01
. We are in the third week of our month’s crowdfund campaign and I am grateful to the 139 people who have contributed so far, and touched by your messages of encouragement. I am… Read More
The Hoxton Varieties Mosaic
2023-10-03 15:31
. We are in the third week of our month’s crowdfund campaign and I am grateful to the 132 people who have contributed so far, and touched by your messages of encouragement. I am… Read More
Gillian Tindall At St Brides
2023-10-01 23:01
. We are in the third week of our month’s crowdfund campaign and I am grateful to the 108 people who have contributed so far, and touched by your messages of encouragement. I am… Read More
Eleanor Crow’s Everyday
2023-09-30 23:01
. Yesterday, we passed the midway point of our month’s crowdfund campaign and I am grateful to the 99 people who have contributed £10,755, and touched by your messages of encour… Read More
The Midway Point
2023-09-29 23:01
CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR CROWDFUND PAGE & CONTRIBUTE . After two weeks, we have now reached the midway point of our month’s crowdfund campaign and I am grateful to the 84 people wh… Read More
The Mosaic Makers Of Hackney Downs
2023-09-27 23:01
. Starting in 2013, Spitalfields Life Books published 15 books over 6 years until the pandemic shut us down. Now we are ready to begin again and are crowdfunding to raise enough money to co… Read More
Walter Crane’s Windows In Clapton
2023-09-25 23:01
. Starting in 2013, Spitalfields Life Books published 15 books over 6 years until the pandemic shut us down. Now we are ready to begin again and are crowdfunding to raise enough money to co… Read More
The Brady Girls
2023-09-24 23:01
. Starting in 2013, Spitalfields Life Books published 15 books over 6 years until the pandemic shut us down. Now we are ready to begin again and are crowdfunding to raise enough money to co… Read More

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