Mom’s the Word

Season of mists, etc. – thank you Keats. What with Southern Rail’s autumn timetable that leaves a forty-five minute gap between trains from Victoria to Gatwick and those mists I had a longish day yesterday.

Do You Remember … ?

Do you remember the Great Eastern Hotel beside Liverpool Street station? Not the swanky one that Conran opened in 2007 – the original one that opened in 1884.

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Categorised as Business

Fortress Fulham

I have noticed in the last few years a proliferation of wooden louvre shutters in Fulham, replacing the good-old net curtain.

An Evie Hone Window or Two

Last week I mentioned visiting old haunts in Highgate (Highgate Revisited). The primary purpose of my return was to go to St Michael’s which has perhaps Evie Hone’s third best window.

Cricket and Opera

  Camille Pissarro painted this picture of a cricket match in Bedford Park in 1897. He came to live in England in 1870 and the reason surprised me.

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Categorised as Art, Music

Norman Murphy – Part One

Every two years the PG Wodehouse Society holds a dinner to celebrate his birthday. Demand for places outstrips supply so I often don’t go, to give other members a look-in. This week I  did attend but the evening was over-shadowed with sadness.

Living On Own Means

When the 1841 census was taken my ancestor, Richard Montesquieu Bellew, was living alone in New Burlington Street. His wife had died in 1828, a year after their marriage, and he never re-married.

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Categorised as Family

Highgate Revisited

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.

Toby on Tuesday

Today’s post is written by Toby Horton. Toby was the UKIP candidate for Thirsk and Malton in the 2010 and 2015 General Elections and is currently Chairman of UKIP up there on the moors. He writes a weekly blog, Toby on Tuesday, that tries to make sense of the issues facing UKIP and the direction… Continue reading Toby on Tuesday