This is where I lived in August 1976. I had a job but nowhere to live. Fortunately a university friend was away on holiday and I borrowed his flat for my first month in London. I was reminded of this when I walked down Dartmouth Park Hill this week; a Brideshead Revisited moment.
I was back in Highgate to visit the cemetery where Karl Marx is buried. I had never been before and it surprised me how many headstones commemorated famous people. I’m going to restrict myself to those that have appeared in posts here. First, Felix Topolski, who was the subject of Peace in Our Time.
Then the prolific architect with a Wodehouse connection, Frank Matcham who features in No, No, No, – Eno.
Rather harder to find was bootmaker Eric Lobb, of the esteemed family firm in St James’s that appears in Duel Purpose.
Next Patrick Caulfield whose headstone is rather unusual. He appears only fleetingly in My Local Art Gallery.
The cemetery is still very overgrown in parts although there was plenty of evidence of it being tidied up. A charge of £4 to visit presumably finances this work. This view gives some idea of the feel of the place.
Adjacent to the cemetery is Waterlow Park, another bit of London new to me. It is a much more attractive part of London than I remember it being forty years ago and rather a desirable area to live in now that the Northern Line has lost its monicker – the Misery Line.
I much enjoyed my visit and, strangely, the reason for it was none of the things mentioned above. I will tell you about it another day.
Let’s finish off with a few rants that are so efficacious at raising the blood pressure. First, last week I noticed that the flags at Clarence House, Marlborough House and Buckingham Palace were flying at half-mast out of respect for the late King of Thailand. On Hyde Park Corner the Duke of Wellington’s standard above Apsley House was not. I remonstrated (also known as ranted) with the English Heritage man at the door.
Next rant is about Hotmail. Since it became part of Outlook it has become rather unfriendly. The latest development is that they only permit me to send a hundred e mails each day. In future, if you get an e mail notification of new posts, it will come from my gmail account that I hope has a larger daily limit.
Highgate Cemetery was extremely close to my childhood home and I remember jumping over the steep wall number of times in order to save the pocket money.
It is particularly notable as it is the only cemetery that has both Marx ( Karl ) & Spencer ( Andrew ). This tired quip is well known around the many pubs in Highgate and it is more likely they will throw you out as opposed to give a free pint.