Carolineld

LATEST ARTICLES ( 790 )

• Festival of Britain (4): Pleasure Gardens

  

  My mum was among the millions who visited the Festival of Britain. Aged six, she travelled up from south Wales and still has vague memories of looking around... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Festival of Britain (3): Museum of 51

  

  For most Londoners, the 1951 Festival of Britain is intimately associated with the South Bank complex, so it's appropriate that a temporary museum of the event... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Festival of Britain (2): Concrete London

  

  The best-known London architecture from the early 1950s is probably the Festival complex on the South Bank. However, they were just one example of concrete... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2011 ARCHITECTURE, CULTURE, HISTORY

• Festival of Britain (1): the Vintage Bus

  

  It's the sixtieth anniversary of the Festival of Britain this year, and its most lasting legacy - the South Bank Centre - is hosting various events to... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• From the Archives: Chunee, a Tragic Story

  

  The Royal College of Surgeons' Hunterian Museum lost many of its exhibits thanks to a World War II bomb. Among these was the skeleton of a once-beloved London... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Printer's Devil, Minerva's Owl

  

  No one is quite sure why an apprentice printer was called a printer's devil, although there are a number of theories. Perhaps the most popular is that of the... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (61): List of Visitors

  

  If you made a visit to the fashionable spa town of Harrogate, you would want to know who else was in town. (Good company might distract you from the taste of th... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Light Relief

  

  If you want a few minutes' London-themed silliness, why not try Race Against Chime? In this game on the Parliament website, you clean the face of Big Ben and... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Cleaning London's Streets

  

  This morning, London's attention turned to clearing up the mess left by riots. Many volunteers have brought gloves, binbags and brooms to affected areas, a... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2011 CURRENT, SOCIETY

• London Riots: a Long History

  It's impossible to be anything other than miserable about the current London riots. Whatever the causes and context might be, the worst results are being felt b... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• From the Archives: France's First Woman Lawyer

  

  While England's first women solicitors and barristers qualified in 1922, it was in 1799 that a Frenchwoman first argued a court case. The circumstances were... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Prize-fighting Rules and Unsuitable Epitaphs

  

  In discussing the extraordinary gravestone of George Taylor, pugilist and master of the cross-buttock throw, I mentioned his dispute with fellow prize-fighter... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Hogarth, Prizefighting and a Gravestone Scandal

  

  An intriguing anecdote is related by Thankfull Sturdee in his Reminiscences of Old Deptford. He explains why this watercolour of the New Cross Road from 1840... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (60): Bath Butchers

  

  I really like the lettering on this ghost sign in Bath city centre, which is actually a palimpsest. One advertisement read 'E Dillon Son, Purveyors of Prime... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Story of London 2011

  

  The Mayor's Story of London festival has always been a mixed blessing, involving much rebranding of existing events and a hard-t0-navigate website. Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• From the Archives: Deptford's Corsair Connection

  

  As the Museum of London Docklands explores London's pirate links, here's the story of Deptford's privateer connection.Deptford, like Saint Malo, has its... Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Bradshaw, Railway Pioneer

  

  210 years ago today, George Bradshaw was born in Lancashire; he spent most of his life in Manchester. His work would have huge impact on the Victorian... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Underground Listed

  

  Sixteen London Underground stations have just been listed on the advice of English Heritage - the BBC have some good vintage photographs. Read more

  Posted on 27 July 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• Weird Waters

  

  Harrogate was transformed from a couple of hamlets into an elegant town because of its mineral waters. Its motto spells that out: arx celebris fontibus, 'a... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY

• From the Archives: Deptford Dockyard Chips

  

  Not the potato sort - 'chips' were offcuts of wood. A valuable perk for shipyard workers, they were often substantial in size. Read more

  Posted on 24 July 2011 CULTURE, HISTORY