Well well well...

Many places in London have the name well in their name. Most are so named because there was indeed a well there in times past. Some have changed their name or been lost completely, as in the case of New Tunbridge Wells, which became Islington Spa and was buried underneath Lubetkin's Spa Green Estate.

But The Clerk's Well can still be seen in Farringdon Lane to the south of Clerkenwell Green which, despite its name, isn't green and has no grass. Clerkenwell is rich in history so click here for more.

Top: Amwell St, Benwell Road, Camberwell, Chiswell St.

Middle: Clerkenwell, Cromwell Rd, Goswell Rd, Muswell Hill.

Bottom: Newell St, Stockwell, Wellclose Sq, Well Court.

Cruising the Canals

No that's not part of a Carry On or a porn film!
Though you all know I do like to be puerile every now and then!
Continuous cruising means a boat owner can avoid paying for moorings as long as he doesn't stay in one place for more than 14 days. But I just read that British Waterways, who manage 80% of the UK canal system, are reviewing this practice, and along the River Lea the period may be reduced to just 7 days. Ooh dear, those cruisers won't be happy with that! There is definitely a "them and us" thing between the cruisers and those with fixed moorings; the former thinking the latter aren't doing it properly.
A friend recently pointed out to me that a lot of people who live on boats think they are so damn special. He's right; they do! Many of them will tell you, within minutes of meeting you, that they live on a boat, as if it's some kind of badge. You don't get someone at a party introducing themselves by smiling smugly and saying, "Hello I'm Fred, I live in a bungalow/house/converted shop" do you?
A case in point: I gave my business card and an A6 postcard to someone, and he gave the postcard back to me saying he lived on a boat. Eh? I am assuming it must be a really teeny tiny boat.
And what's with all the waving? When I go out of my front garden gate I don't wave at other people in the street, even though they must thinking "ooh look, she lives in a house; wave George, wave!"
Where was I?
Ah yes canals... I love walking along the canals in London. It's so peaceful. It's like another (under)world. Lovely.

Inspirational

Spires.

This is inspired by a comment on a post I did recently.

One little word and I've got another picture collection...

Clockwise from top left: St Peter upon Cornhill; Battersea Village; St James, Clerkenwell, shadow of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside; St Mary's, Upper St (one of my favourite spires); St Barnabas, Pimlico; St Giles in the Fields (now surrounded by plastic rather than fields, and what's with the different coloured clocks – does anyone know?), and St George's, Bloomsbury.

Lend Me a Tenor

Last week I went to see Lend Me a Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre.

What fun! I really enjoyed it and, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I can sometimes be hard to please, noticing, without hunting for, little faults all over the place. On this occasion I can only complain that a couple of numbers went on too long so I started to look around at the theatre's lovely ceiling... but even that was a pleasure.

The production is a joy... the stage set, created with pages and pages of gold leaf is gorgeous, and the costumes are wonderful, especially the ladies' bias-cut dresses.

Oh, and the singing and dancing and acting and all that stuff was very good aswell!

I think I liked it a lot. It put a huge smile on my face, so thanks to London Theatre Guide for the tickets.

The Gielgud is offering a special 'buy one get one free' ticket offer for Monday to Thursday performances at the until August 11th – just call the Box Office on 0844 482 5130 and quote '2 for 1'.

No pics, sorry.

Hugenot houses and hidden gems

Spitalfields is a constantly-changing layer cake of London history. Over the centuries many different ethnic groups have lived in the area including Hugenots, Jews, Irish and Bangladeshis. Today the area is buzzing with markets and bars and is also known as Banglatown.

Back at the end of the 17th century the Hugenots fled from their native France, settled in Spitalfields where they built some wonderful houses in which they created and sold their much sought-after silk textiles.

Centuries passed and by the 1960s these marvellous houses had become very delapidated and were due for demolition but, thanks to a group of conservationists which included Dan Cruikshank, a few streets of these old terraces were saved and still remain today.

One particular house, 19 Princelet Street, is not just a Hugenot survivor, but also has a Jewish syangogue 'hidden' within it. The story goes that the synagogue, which occupies the garden area at the back of the house, was boarded up around 1960 and subsequent tenants didn't even know it was there. I find that hard to believe, but hey. The building is now a kind of time capsule and it is managed by a team of volunteers who open it up to the public for a few days every year. I went there last month and found it to be an amazing place. Future opening dates here.

The pics below show some of the wonderful details to be found on these Hugenot houses. Most are probably reproduction/replacements but they are still lovely. Note especially the lovely little window shutter fixings – I found many more similar ones in western France.

Holloway Arts Festival

Like it says above, there's an arts festival Holloway happening in Holloway 8-17th June organised by Rowan Arts.

Lots to see and do. Shame I will miss it.

Here are some pics taken along the Holloway Road.

The Fabulous Mr Bridges

Ooh... I should have noticed this earlier... The British Film Institute is putting on a retrospective of one of my favourite film actors.

Not only is the man gorgeous and talented (yes please!), he has been in some brilliant movies... he acted Clint off the screen in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, was superbly understated in The Fabulous Baker Boys, survived in the wonderful Fearless, managed to make pony tails acceptable in The Fisher King and turned dressing gowns into daywear in The Big Lebowski.

I've only just discovered Jeff's website... it's fab... full of music and photos and clips... he just gets more appealing by the minute!

I could have easily put together a collection of bridges but I decided to have more fun with this one... see if you can get identify these 12 films he's been in...

Top: Edgware Rd, Billingsgate, Essex Rd, Millwall Docks.

Middle: Stroud Green, Leytonstone, Crouch End, Walthamstow Village.

Bottom: Kew Gardens, Camden, Westminster, Hackney.

Electric cars – are they our friends?

See what I did there? Two Gary Numan songs for the price of one.

But to the point... what's all this nonsense about electric cars needing a noise? Are we all expected to go blind some time soon?

Do humans have motion noises? Ditto dogs and cats? Do pushbikes make any sounds? Well, yes, riders are supposed to have and use a bell, but they don't.

We have eyes at the front of our heads with which to see if there is traffic coming – has no one learned how to use or cross a road?

So who are we/they 'protecting' this time?

Oh yes, those jaywalking numpties who are far too busy twittering and listening to their iPods to be arsed to learn the difference between road and pavement.

Whatever noise is chosen it's going to be awful... nee-nah nee-nah, ding-a-ling, whoosh, parp parp, vehicle reversing, vehicle reversing... ker-thump!

And where do people think all this electricity is going to come from? Will it be magic'd out of thin air? A lot of energy goes into making energy, you know.

Top: Bermondsey, Bloomsbury, Lambeth, Brompton

Middle: Southwark, Hoxton, Dalston, Bloomsbury (RIP)

Bottom: Lambeth, Battersea, Hackney, Vauxhall

The Foundling Museum

Ooh, should have posted this months ago... just found it in 'drafts'...

I had been meaning to go to The Foundling Museum for years. But when I finally did go there towards the end of last year, I found it to be really disappointing in many ways.

First of all the admission fee is a whopping £7.50. So good job I am an Art Fund member and can get in for free.

The museum is lovely, but it's a mess. It's badly laid out and confusing. Visitors really do need some prior knowledge of the history of the building and its patrons before they go there or else they will be flummoxed. A good idea would be for the museum to install an introductory welcome board with basic info on it for the uninitiated, somewhere near the main entrance/ticket booth. I was well-aware of the building's history but still found I needed to ask questions that really should not have been necessary.

Basically, in 1741 Thomas Coram set up an institution, funded by patrons such as Hogarth and Handel, where unfortunate women could bring their unwanted babies. Spaces we limited, so if they chose the right coloured ball out of a bag, their child could be schooled and cared for. The house has changed many times over the centuries, and these days it is used for a variety of things including recitals, concerts, workshops and talks, plus some of the lovely rooms are available for hire.

On the day I went to the museum we were advised to start out tour in the first room on the ground floor to the right of the entrance. This room attempts to be an historical overview – it contains a mish-mash of interesting items but we really had to search hard to work out what we are looking at. For instance, there is a collection of charms and objects left by the mothers, but there is no explanation or information card to explain this. And a wall of strange and silly names meant nothing to us until we found the caption buried within it, in the same typeface! – we would have been none the wiser had we not overheard someone else pointing it out to a friend.

After wandering around the upper floors, we ended up in the 'Threads of Feeling' exhibition in the basement room (this is now finished) where we finally started to understand and piece together the full sad story of these poor woman and children. This exhibition was also badly thought through... we entered the room to be confronted by the backs of all the cabinets, and the explanatory information was scattered all over the place.

Oh, and architecturally, the whole building is confusing.... demolition, rebuilds, extensions – it made no sense! We had to ask the staff about so many things. Again, some information explaining that many of the rooms are actually reproductions of Georgian interiors within a 1936 house would have really been helpful.

So my advice is... it's full of lovely interesting gems, but read up on everything you can about the place before you go... here on Wikipedia!

Sorry, no photos this time.

Inside the Human Body

That marvellous Michael Mosley has done it again and made some more wonderfully informative TV programmes called 'Inside The Human Body'.

If you missed them, hunt them out on replay or find selected excerpts on the web.

Our bodies are magnificient machines and we take them for granted. I have learned that we effectively get a new skeleton every 10 years, new skin every month and our stomach lining replaces every 3 days. And we don't even notice that all this is happening. We really are amazing.

Hunting for these pics, some of which may appear to make no sense at all unless you have seen the programmes, reminded me that I put together some collections of body parts a while back... here and here.... and in December my own body was letting me down. But my personal mini-army of repair bugs fixed me... Wow!

Top row: Paddington, Stepney, Wapping, Homerton

Middle row: St James's, Gray's Inn Rd, Caledonian Rd, Bloomsbury Sq

Bottom row: Smithfield, Bloomsbury, Haymarket, Highgate

Free London Walks

Well, yes, you can go for a walk yourself – I do it myself all the time. And every now and then I go on a guided walk to hear about a certain area or specific things. Some are good, and some are all walk and no information – it all depends on the tour guide – but I've always come away form a walk having learned or discovered something new.
This weekend, 28th and 29th May, Walk London are putting on lots of free led walks all over the Capital.
There are more walks to go on then just the Jack The Ripper and ghost ones, you know. Get your comfy shoes on and get out there!
Fingers crossed that the weather is nice...
Some walk-themed pics:
Clockwise from top left:
Lambeth, Newington, Fulham, Hampstead, Trafalgar Sq, Lambeth, Harlesden, Waterloo

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

Mr Zimmerman turns 70 today. Wow!
Probably one of the most hardest working musicians around (he was doing 100 shows a year in the 90's and noughties), he is still touring worldwide and next month he headlines at the Feis in Finsbury Park. What a truly gifted and amazingly prolific man he is.
I am reminded of that [urban myth?] story about how in the 80s he was supposed to have knocked on a door in Crouch End thinking it was Dave Stewart's house but he'd got his road names wrong and it belonged to a plumber called Dave whose mother drank tea with Bob whilst they waited for 'Dave' to come home. More here. (In my less than humble opinion, I think the best thing Mr Stewart ever did was Vegas, his collaboration with Terry Hall, who, in my eyes, can do no wrong.)
So I thought I'd put a collection of Crouch End images together.
Crouch End = the end of the Crouch river. I do like that if you use pre-emptive text it's Crotch End.
In the past Crotch End was the site of the first gold rush in England. Later it became a busy Victorian suburb. These days it's almost impossible to go to up there without bumping into a minor TV celeb or actor pushing a baby buggy.

Faust at The Coliseum

Terry Gilliam has made a few of my favourite films; Brazil, Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys. Some of his other ones are just plain silly. He has never understood the term ‘less is more’. Bless him for that.

So I thought his OTT style would be well-suited to the opera stage, and when a friend offered me a ticket I jumped at it. This latest production by the ENO is in English and set in Nazi Germany.

I must admit I didn’t know the story before I went. I had a rough idea about faust selling his soul to the devil and all that, but no more. So, here is my own personal understanding of what took place on the stage in front of me last night (bear in mind a lot of this may be incorrect; it’s only my interpretation):

Baldy devilly man Mephistopheles introduces us to the story. Cut to Faust having a nice time in the forest writing on some strange unfolding blackboard (why?), singing badly. He is accosted by 3 young people and then moves to higher ground where later he sees a load of forest people come out to play at night. One is a man with a beard dressed as the May Queen who gets a bit fresh with F.

Then a handful of kings and heads of different Euro lands try to carve up the map but it turns into war... Faust stumbling through fields of dead people, and he ends up performing surgery on the wounded. (Oh, so he’s a doctor? Was I supposed to know that?).

Meph takes F to a beer keller full of horrible bad people. F not impressed. F leaves disgusted, and sleeps.

Meph takes him to a big party of toffs in the forest. Faust thinks one woman is his true love Marguerite (who hell she? Where did she pop up from? Had I missed something?)

F and Meph in Marg’s flat. F sniffing her pillow and being weird and creepily obsessed. He hides behind curtain. She comes back, puts on a blond wig to hide her Jew-ness and sings about some old King bloke. Later F appears, she is really pleased to see him and they dry hump on the bed urged on my Meph. Outside Jews being beaten and put on trains. Marg arrested too and somehow everyone knows what she’s been up to.

F goes back to the forest and sulks. Meph says if F will serve him forever he will take F to Marg. Great scene with bike journey. Meph has lied – bike crashes. F dies and goes to hell. Turns out Meph only wanted F’s soul. Never trust a devil eh?! Final scene lots of dead people heaped up in a pile reminicient of Belson.

Many of Gilliam’s visuals were really clever. And just as well, as I needed the them to get my mind off some of the dreadful music. In fact I was rather bored by it in many places esp as in this promo Gilliam talks about Berlioz’s loud dramatic score; that you 'resonate' when you hear his music. Not so for me. I had been looking forward to losing myself in the loud and powerful… I cannot recall a single refrain.

And then there’s the singing. Opera is often maligned by many people for it just sounding like someone is just giving us a bad running commentary about what they are doing in the ‘I am singing what I am doing' style. It's sort of like Facebook on stage.

Perhaps I should start singing, “I am sitting AT my comPUterrrr…. I am writing a blog POST… the weather outside is sUnny…”? The caps are there for emphasis/loudness to highlight the parts that this style of singing highlights – the wrong, most meaningless, word in almost every instance.

My conclusion as to how all this happens is that this may not have been a problem sung in the original French… perhaps the words that need emphasis fall in the correct place/ on the right note? But then that doesn’t solve my other observation that in many cases what is being said-sung seems to be completely at odds with the what the orchestra is playing.

Oh I dunno. It looked good though. And I am glad I went.

And a good thing is I now have this on my brain.

Pics above include devils from Cornhill and Praed Street

Late night museums and a London quiz

Last night five of us blogger types met at the wonderful Hunterian Museum and took part in a quiz about London at organised by M@ at Londonist as part of Museums at Night.

Well, can you bloody believe it? We won!

I am still in shock.

It was nothing to do with me.... Ian and Caroline were our star players. I am blessed to know such knowledgeable people. Tom, Malcolm and I did a lot of agreeing with them whilst nodding our heads sagely. Or we asked them, "really?" or "was it?" or "did he?"... "oh, OK, put that down then. Oh... you have".

Tom tried to draw attention to my jewellery but the Hunterian people weren't too pleased about that! Oops. Sweet of him to try though.

I am embarrassed to admit that I'd never been to the Hunterian Museum before. It's been on my list for ages and probably because it's so central and easy to get to I haven't made the effort and keep putting it off. I did the same with the John Soane's Museum on the opposite side of the square until about 6 years ago. Both are well worth a visit and stuffed full of fabuolusly interesting stuff (stuff?!). And they are free too.

Lincoln's Inn sits within Bloomsbury/Midtown(!)'s Museum Mile... click here for more.

And many of London's major and larger museums are also open late on certain evenings of the week or once every month. See here and here for more info.

I think 13 links is more than enough for one post, so I'll stop now.

Elizabeth II is now the second longest serving UK monarch

As I mentioned the other week, Liz has just reached a milestone.

She'll have to stick it out another 52 months or so to take Victoria's title.

Top row: Black Prince Road, Vauxhall Walk, Brewer Street, Gt Titchfield Street.

Middle row: Mortlake Road, Dalston, Leather Lane, Marylebone High St.

Bottom row: Oxford Street, Crouch End, Essex Road, Theobalds Road.

Urban foxes in Holloway

Scarcely a evening goes by now that I don't see a fox or two trotting along the street to who knows where.

Last September I found a handsome young male lounging on my deck – he practically posed for photos (see below).

This morning I look out of the window and find that there's a vixen and four cubs at the end of the garden (second row of pics). And they have cleverly dug away the slate chippings to access the space under the deck so that the cubs are safe whilst she and daddy fox scour the streets of N7 for KFC left-overs.

Friday 29th April 2011 is a special day

This Friday is the anniversary of Hair opening on Broadway, James Cook arriving at Botany Bay, and 6 years since Syria pulled out of Lebanon.

29th April is David Icke's birthday. Daniel Day Lewis' too. And Michell Pfeiffer's, Uma Thurman's and Phil Tufnell's, to name a few more.

It's also International Dance Day and the start of Golden Week in Japan.

Oh, and there's wedding going on somewhere in central London.

I'd have written more about it but it's hard to find any info.

And here's a fact I just heard; in 2 weeks time, on May 13th, the Queen will become the second-longest reigning monarch in British history, having by then been on the throne for 21,645 days, knocking George III into 3rd position. Our longest reigning monarch was Victoria. Liz'll have to put in another 1,577 days to steal the title. 4 years and 4 months and counting...

Top: Spitalfields, Clerkenwell, Southwark, Soho

Middle: Upper Holloway, Kentish Town, Lambeth, Fleet Street

Bottom: Marylebone, Highgate, Bayswater, Belgravia

Greyhounds

My sister has a retired racing greyhound. He's an absolute darling. She got him earlier this year from Whittingham Kennels just north of Waltham Abbey. So yesterday we went there for their Easter event along with many other owners of ex-WK dogs. There were stalls, cakes, bric-a-brac and raffles, and prizes were awarded for best dog, best bitch, waggiest tail, best Easter dog bonnet(!) etc.

Missing out on the fun, in the comfy kennels, were the dogs who are waiting to be re-homed, and others that are 'on holiday' so we were encouraged to take one of the un-homed dogs out for a walk in the adjacent fields and woods. I chose the lovely Nina (top left). Had she been entered in the the waggiest tail competition I think she might have won. I was falling in love. I really like dogs, but my lifestyle just doesn't suit one – I like to be spontaneous and I don't have a regular routine. But Freddie comes round a lot these days anyway, so it's like being an auntie!

Greyhounds make fabulous pets – they are so affectionate – if you'd like to give a one a new home, or have time to go and walk one occasionally, then do go and meet them and perhaps you'll fall in love too.

I just remembered that wonderful news item about Red the lurcher at Battersea Dogs Home. Bless him.

Top: Nina, Kensington, 'on holiday', Peckham

Middle: Isle of Dogs, Old Compton St, Frith St, Floyd

Bottom: kennels, Battersea, greyhounds, Upper St.

World Photography Festival

26th April sees the start of this Sony sponsored festival happening at Somerset House. As well as exhibitions of the winning photos there'll be lots of seminars, workshops, presentations, and an interview with Bruce Davidson, the highly-regarded Magnum photographer.

The Sony World Photography Awards will be given out on 27th at a ceremony at the Odeon Leicester Square.

More info and tickets here.

Ooh this reminds me... The Summer Series of gigs in the courtyard starts on 7th July (that pic shows BRMC in 2006)... Eels is sold out :–( ... so if anyone has a spare ticket please do let me know.

Shoes (for want of a better title)

I was recently commenting how women's shoes these days are so varied and OTT, going higher and higher and sillier and siller by the day that to find a pair that is really different yet interesting is hard. So I gave up ages ago and stick mostly with Clarks... well designed, mostly leather and there's a convenient factory outlet shop here in Holloway.

But then I was just sent a link to this guys work... blimey, now that's art!

Top: Acton, Hackney, Kings Cross, Fulham.

Middle: Leytonstone x2, Harlesden, W2.

Bottom: Stamford Hill, Kensington, Hornsey, WC2.

Designer Makers Market in Hackney

Yesterday saw the start of a new Saturday market. It's specifically set up for designer/makers and I was interested to go and check it out because I will be doing a stall there myself on 23rd April. It's hidden behind The London Fields pub, on the corner of Mare Street and Warburton Street, E8.

So, if your idea of good Saturday includes hanging around Broadway Market, why not take a three-miniute stroll around the corner and check out this new venue. Pretty please.

Here are some pics of bits of Hackney:

See more here.

Time Out printed my letter!

This relates to the post below.

Click here

Time Out – a magazine about London?

I've been reading Time Out for decades and get it delivered every week. I use it mostly for its art, exhibitions and films listings, plus the TV guide.

I used to love Peter Watts' 'Big Smoke' section which was all about the quirkier and murkier and hidden things about London, but the bosses at TO decided to ditch all that and have since turned the it into a consumer magazine. It's all shops and food now. The only good thing I can think of that they have introduced in recent times are the section tabs at the edges of the pages.

But my main gripe is when the editorial pages are full of stuff that is not really about London.

A few years back they printed a short letter I wrote to them; as I recall it read something like this, "What are articles about Florida and face creams doing in a London listings magazine?".

Last week it was all about sex (again)... you can get that anywhere! This week it's all about Paris. And this is the letter I have sent them about it (sorry in advance for the swearing):

Again... you've done it again...

How would you feel if you were from Paris and you came London for the week and bought Time Out London only to find it full of (probably) ill-informed crap about your home city?

Ten pages about Paris, yes ten – count them – plus 2 whole page ads. Then, phew, back to normal... oh no, hold on, I spoke too soon... six pages on we're back in Paris again for the shopping section.

What the fucking fuck are you playing at?!

And here are some pictures where you will find Paris in London:

Top: Hammersmith (RIP), Leicester Sq (RIP), St Martin's Lane (RIP), Parsons Green

Middle: Highgate (RIP), Bloomsbury, Bibendum, Hampstead

Bottom: Lisson Grove, Borough, Bloomsbury, Holloway

James Watt's 'magical retreat' at the Science Museum

This morning I went along to the Science Museum for the Press Launch of "James Watt and our world".

Adam Hart-Davis left his toilet obsessions at home and gave a short speech about the exhibition. Boy, that man's colourful – instead of sporting multi-coloured cycling gear he was wearing a natty green corduroy suit with a bow tie and odd matching shoes.

But I digress... this is not meant to about Mr A H-D; it's about James Watt, an amazingly talented and clever man who is known as the first hero of the Industrial Revolution. Talk about prolific! The list of his achievements is too long for me even start here, so go google. Or better still, go to the museum and see the exhibition for yourself.

On show again after a long absence, is Watt's attic workshop – a time capsule that contains everything as he left it when he died in 1819. I was lucky to be able to go behind the curved glass wall and see up-close some of his possessions, tools and furniture, all complete with nineteenth century dust! Wonderful.

And the rest of the Science Museum is wonderful too... cars, space travel, plastics, metals, machines, buttons to press, and one of the best gift shops ever...

I've got a kazoo and I'm not afraid to use it

Last night I went to the Royal Albert Hall to watch the recording of Radio 3's Big Red Nose Show which will be aired this Friday eve from 7pm as part of Comic Relief. It was really good.

Everyone was given a red kazoo on the way in. I'd never played (if that's the right word) one before and, at first, I was convinced that the thing didn't work. But there's a knack to it that doesn't involve blowing. Led by the Masters of the Kazooniverse, almost 4,000 of us took part in a Guinness World Record -breaking attempt to get the most people playing a kazoo for five minutes. We had two goes at it; first to Flight of the Valkyries and then to The Dambusters theme. What a row! The players were counted and adjudicated and all that. Find out on Friday if we broke the record.

It was a good night all round. Presented by Katie Derham and Basil Brush (a hand-puppet on radio, boom-boom!), we were treated to some really lovely classical music especially from Nicole Bendetti, and Sue Perkins conducting pieces by Elgar and Bernstein. Plus genius comedy from Tim Vine and not-so-genius stuff from Marcus Brigstocke (he'd agree!).

Top: Royal Albert Hall, Pimlico, Walthamstow, Highbury

Middle: Covent Garden Camberwell, Holloway, Edmonton

Bottom: Hammersmith, Dalston, Highbury, EC4