2022-09-30 23:01
Tickets are available for my Spitalfields tour throughout October & November
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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by Rob Ryan
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As one of those who co… Read More
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Spitalfields Life | In The Midst Of Life I Woke To Blog
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in the midst of life i woke and found myself living in an old house beside brick lane in the east end of london.
2022-09-28 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields THIS SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Sue Hadley returned recently for a… Read More
2022-09-27 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields THIS SATURDAY 1st OCTOBER
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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The Gentle Author’s Tour Of Spitalf… Read More
2022-09-26 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields this Saturday 1st October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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What better way could there be to enjoy… Read More
2022-09-24 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields throughout October & November
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Colin Ross has always been drawn… Read More
2022-09-20 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields throughout October & November
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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As work commences on the demoliti… Read More
2022-09-19 23:01
We are taking bookings for my Spitalfields tour through the October & November
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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In collaboration wit… Read More
2022-09-18 23:01
We are taking bookings for my Spitalfields tour through the autumn.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Monument to Lady Elizabeth Nightingal… Read More
2022-09-16 23:01
We are taking bookings for my Spitalfields tour through the autumn.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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The two major destination for Hugueno… Read More
2022-09-15 23:01
We are now booking for my Spitalfields tour through the autumn.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Spitalfields resident Harry Landis died t… Read More
2022-09-13 23:01
Tickets are available for my Spitalfields tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Betty
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One of Spitalfields’… Read More
2022-09-12 23:01
Tickets are available for my Spitalfields tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey at… Read More
2022-09-06 23:01
Tickets are available for my Spitalfields tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
My interview with master upholstere… Read More
2022-09-05 23:01
Tickets are available for my Spitalfields tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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I have walked past William Morris&r&hell…Read More
2022-09-04 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
I consulted my copy of Thomas Bewick’s Gene… Read More
2022-09-01 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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In Sclater St, Spitalfields
“In the autumn… Read More
2022-08-31 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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(Click to enlarge this image and study it in det… Read More
2022-08-29 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Two young men from Ilfracombe
A small cache of g… Read More
2022-08-28 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour throughout September & October
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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I am delighted to republish this review by P… Read More
2022-08-26 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Portrait by Francis Kyte, 1740
Double-click to enlarge William Caslon… Read More
2022-08-25 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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This year, it has been a pleasure to welcome so many readers to Spital… Read More
2022-08-23 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour this Thursday & Saturday
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Next time you pass through Widegate St… Read More
2022-08-21 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour this Thursday & Saturday
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Courtesy of Mike Henbrey, it is my pleasu… Read More
2022-08-19 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour tomorrow Sunday 21st August
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Architectural historians, Mark Girouard and&nbs&hell…Read More
2022-08-18 23:01
Next tickets available for my walking tour this Sunday 21st August
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Mark Girouard
Architectural Historian, Mark Giroua… Read More
2022-08-15 23:01
Next tickets available for my walking tour are on Sunday 21st August
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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When Tower Hamlets Community Housing staged a Hop… Read More
2022-08-14 23:01
Next tickets available for my walking tour are on Sunday 21st August
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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This selection of hop picking photographs is from… Read More
2022-08-12 23:01
Next tickets available for my walking tour are on Sunday 21st August
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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William Jones, Limeburner, Wapping High St
Ameri… Read More
2022-08-11 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Portrait by Lucinda Douglas Menzies
When artist Ricardo Cinalli graduat… Read More
2022-08-07 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour from next Saturday
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Any readers from out of town who are preparing a vi… Read More
2022-08-05 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour next week
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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The scourging
There is a fine house in Fournier St wi… Read More
2022-08-04 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour next week
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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St Botolph’s Without Aldgate, 1963
The facts of… Read More
2022-08-02 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour next week
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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“I’ve worked seven days a week for forty… Read More
2022-07-31 23:01
So many people have asked if I will be teaching another writing course that I have chosen to acquiesce to popular demand …
HOW TO WRITE A BLOG THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ: 12th-13t… Read More
2022-07-30 23:01
“In the flesh, The Gentle Author is an even better storyteller, a magician of social history, who not only brings the past alive but reanimates the present.” Thank you to Patrick… Read More
2022-07-29 23:01
“In the flesh, The Gentle Author is an even better storyteller, a magician of social history, who not only brings the past alive but reanimates the present.” Thank you to Patrick… Read More
2022-07-27 23:01
“In the flesh, The Gentle Author is an even better storyteller, a magician of social history, who not only brings the past alive but reanimates the present.” Thank you to Patrick… Read More
2022-07-26 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
Schrodinger on the dresser, where he is not allowed
My cat… Read More
2022-07-24 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Peter Gadsdon
If you look carefully, can you decipher the w… Read More
2022-07-23 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Andy Strowman, poet of Stepney, sent me these photos and the… Read More
2022-07-22 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Fredson’s Cafe, Alie St
David Johnson took these magn… Read More
2022-07-21 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Liverpool St Station
Shall we take a tour around the East E… Read More
2022-07-20 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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1. Radio communications and television
Wandering down under… Read More
2022-07-19 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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These portraits were taken around 1900 at the Working Lads… Read More
2022-07-17 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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While Londoners luxuriate in the warmth of high summer, I… Read More
2022-07-15 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour now
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Cliff, HMS Gannett
Behold the ancient mariner I met at Chat… Read More
2022-07-14 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Dr Syntax & his Spouse plan their trip to… Read More
2022-07-09 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking today and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
I set out in the footsteps of Alan Stapleto… Read More
2022-07-08 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour this weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
The George Tavern, Commercial… Read More
2022-07-07 23:01
Tickets are available for my walking tour this weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
Reflections at Dennis Severs… Read More
2022-07-05 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour this weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
Yesterday a blue plaque was unveiled… Read More
2022-07-03 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour this weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
.
The Daily Message in E3, 1972
Taken b… Read More
2022-07-02 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour this weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
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Guest Writer Jonathan Moules celebr… Read More
2022-07-01 23:01
Danny Tabi is one of the many local people you will meet on my tour. Tickets are available this weekend and throughout July, so come along and let me show you Danny’s old haunts.
Click… Read More
2022-06-30 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour this coming weekend and throughout July.
Click here to book your ticket for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
Custom House by Robert Smirke, 1… Read More
2022-06-29 23:01
Neville Turner is one of the many local people you will meet on my tour. Tickets are available this coming weekend and throughout July, so come along and let me show you Neville’s old… Read More
2022-06-25 23:01
Tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour of Spitalfields next Thursday 30th June and throughout July
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It is my pleasure to introduce Adam Dant’s map of Chaucer&rsqu&hell…Read More
2022-06-24 23:01
Tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields next Thursday 30th June and throughout July
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We are looking forward to welcoming you to the Bloomsbury Jamboree at the Art Workers Guild… Read More
2022-06-22 23:01
Some tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields next Thursday 30th June
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I have been regularly publishing the work of painter Nicholas Borden since we first met, when he was painting… Read More
2022-06-21 23:01
Tonight is the benefit concert at Rich Mix to raise money for next week’s Judicial Review at the High Court
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CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS FOR TONIGHT
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The Judicial Review of Tower Ha… Read More
2022-06-20 23:01
Book now for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
Installation at the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy Summer Show opens today which features the public debut of Grayson Perry&rsqu&hell…Read More
2022-06-19 23:01
Some tickets are available for my tour of Spitalfields next Saturday 25th June
Brick Lane 1966
“Sometimes there is no reason, but you have to do it and that’s what makes magical… Read More
2022-06-18 23:01
Click here to book for my tour and visit Culpeper’s Spitalfields with me!
Ragwort in Hanbury St
(The concoction of the herb is good to wash the mouth, and also against the quinsy and… Read More
2022-06-17 23:01
Book now for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS
A few tickets remain for Rob Ryan at the Bloomsbury Jamboree next Sunday 26th June 3:45pm at the Art Workers’ Guild
Click h… Read More
2022-06-14 23:01
Some tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour this weekend, 18th & 19th June
Meanwhile, Doreen Fletcher‘s new exhibition, TRACES opens at Townhouse, Spitalfields, t… Read More
2022-06-13 23:01
Some tickets are available for The Gentle Author’s Tour this weekend, 18th & 19th June
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Meanwhile, it is my pleasure to announce the programme of Bloomsbury Jamboree lectures on S… Read More
2022-06-11 23:01
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In gleeful collaboration with my fellow publishers Tim Mainstone of Mainstone Press and Joe Pearson of Design for Today, I am hosting the MIDSUMMER BLOOMSB… Read More
2022-06-10 23:01
These pictures are the result of a remarkable collaboration between a photographer and his subjects, in which the children command the frame with natural authority and strength of personali… Read More
2022-06-08 23:01
Click here to book THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS for June & July
The march behind Altab Ali’s coffin from Whitechapel to Hyde Park, 14th May 1978
A new exhibition opens tomorrow… Read More
2022-06-07 23:01
Click here to book THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS for June & July
Inspired by the example of her illustrious namesake in standing up for oppressed people, our beloved Viscountess Boudi… Read More
2022-06-06 23:01
Click here to book THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS for June & July
Mavis at Dennis Severs’ House
The Spitalfields Trust hosted a ninetieth birthday party for Mavis Bullwinkle in t… Read More
2022-06-05 23:01
Bookings are open for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR until the end of July
Learning the sad news that 2022 is to be the final season for Carters Steam Fair led me to recall when photog… Read More
2022-06-04 23:01
Some tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR on 11th & 12th June
Groundsman, E.15 (1965)
“This is the groundsman at the Memorial Ground where I played footb… Read More
2022-06-03 23:01
Some tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR on 11th & 12th June
A time-travelling adventure escorted by our old friend Detective Constable Lew Tassell of the Fraud Squ… Read More
2022-06-03 00:03
Some tickets are available for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR on 11th & 12th June
If you should pass by St James Garlickhythe on a Thursday when the bellringers are practising between s… Read More
2022-06-01 23:01
BOOKING FOR THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS NOW OPEN FOR JUNE & JULY
Stan Jones (1929-2021)
Only yesterday, I learnt the news of Stan Jones’ death last December aged ninety-two. Y… Read More
2022-05-30 23:01
BOOKING FOR THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS NOW OPEN FOR JUNE & JULY
This Staffordshire figure of Shakespeare stands on my dresser in Spitalfields to remind me of the writer I love best… Read More
2022-05-29 23:01
After seven weeks of sold-out tours, we would like to thank all our guests! We look forward to welcoming more of you in June & July. www.thegentleauthorstours.com
Boy, E7 1961 – … Read More
2022-05-28 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
In Narrow St, Limehouse
Charles Dickens’ godfather Christopher Huffam lived and ran his sailmaking, block… Read More
2022-05-24 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
Novelist & Historian of London Gillian Tindall, author of A Tunnel Through Time, A New Route for an Old Lon… Read More
2022-05-23 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
The Elizabeth Line opens today and it will change the capital in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Here is my ac… Read More
2022-05-21 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
Self-Portrait with Keith (standing behind with cigarette), E7 (1961).
“We still meet up for a drink… Read More
2022-05-17 23:01
From June, THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are also happening on Thursdays to coincide with the Spitalfields Antiques Market
Mavis Bullwinkle
Today we are celebrating the birthday of one of… Read More
2022-05-15 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
E2, 1962
“It could almost be a metaphor of the East End, parts of it were hanging in tatters but it was a… Read More
2022-05-14 23:01
Bookings for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOURS are now open for June & July
The recipe is old but the cakes are fresh
This is Harry Thomas, baker at Townhouse, who makes all the cakes for… Read More
2022-05-12 23:02
George Dodd came to Spitalfields to write this account for Charles Knight’s LONDON published in 1842. Dodds recalls the rural East End that still lingered in the collective memory and… Read More
2022-05-11 23:01
Next time you visit Columbia Rd Flower Market, once you have admired the infinite variety of plants on display, walk West until you come to the Hackney Rd. Directly ahead, you will di… Read More
2022-05-07 23:01
Commercial Cafe, Commercial Rd 1965
“This was one of those places you could just pop in from the cold and warm up,” photographer John Claridge recalled affectionately… Read More
2022-05-06 23:01
113 & 115 Redchurch St
Do you imagine that a listed building is safe from demolition? Then you are wrong, because this is the fate of an important grade II listed 1735 weavers’ ho… Read More
2022-05-05 23:01
Mr Punch’s 360th Birthday is celebrated this Sunday at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, with a procession at 11am, a service with Mr Punch in the pulpit at noon, followed by maypole dan… Read More
2022-05-04 23:01
Join the celebration of Mr Punch’s 360th Birthday this Sunday at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, with a procession at 11am, a service with Mr Punch in the pulpit at noon, followed by m… Read More
2022-05-02 23:01
In Silvertown, 1964
These atmospheric photographs of the Thames by John Claridge offer a poignant vision of the working river that was once a defining element of the East End. Within l… Read More
2022-04-30 23:01
Street Strolling Clowns by John Thomas Smith, 1816 (courtesy Bishopsgate Institute)
Sweeps on May Day in the City of London c. 1920 (courtesy Bishopsgate Institute)
On May Day, a tradition… Read More
2022-04-28 23:01
Even though Twickenham is a suburb of London these days, it still retains the quality of a small riverside town. The kind of place where a crowd forms to watch a crow eating a bag of crisps… Read More
2022-04-27 23:01
Accident, daytime 1957
When Colin O’Brien (1940-2016) was growing up in Victoria Dwellings on the corner of Clerkenwell Rd and Faringdon Rd, there was a very unfortunate recurrin… Read More
2022-04-26 23:01
For good reason John Thomas Smith acquired the nickname ‘Antiquity Smith’ – while working as Keeper of Drawings at the British Museum, between 1790 & 1800, he produced… Read More
2022-04-23 23:01
Robson Cezar
At Christmas, we featured the wooden houses made by Spitalfields artist Robson Cezar out of fruit crates from Whitechapel Market. Since then, Robson has been busy through these… Read More
2022-04-22 23:01
Much of May is sold out, but some tickets are available this weekend and next Saturday for thegentleauthorstours.com
A contemplative moment at the Tower
Rummaging through the thousands of g… Read More
2022-04-21 23:01
A few tour tickets are available this weekend: thegentleauthorstours.com
Kevin O’Brien at Tyers Gate in Bermondsey St with Gardners’ Chocolate Factory behind
One bright morning… Read More
2022-04-19 23:01
Have you ever wondered what goes through the minds of those implacable silent invigilators who stand sentinel, presiding over the rooms at Dennis Severs House? I spoke with some of them rece… Read More
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