The Daily Express Building

I took the opportunity of this last weekend's "Open House" to visit one of the most significant Art Deco sites in London, the old Daily Express building at 120 Fleet Street. Other bloggers went elsewhere, but for me, the lure of being able to see inside outweighed all else.

Are you wondering what you are looking at? It's the view of the staircase, not often photographed because of the delights in the hallway. I like it, though.

Cornucopia

Not what you might expect in London. I took this picture today at my local Wanstead Festival, not a country village produce show. Lots of stuff and stalls to see, music to hear and Stan's guided tour around was fascinting and informative.

Postcard prize goes to whoever can identify the most different items of produce in the display.

The Thames Festival

Today was the first day of the Thames Festival which is one of the best free events of the year. What should I use as the picture? A flowery sculpture? A penguin? A barbecue? No, I thought, the German Beer Tent. Not sure why....

Public service announcement: Anyone living near East London can come along today, Sunday 17th September at 14:00 hrs at Wanstead station for a FREE Blue Badge guided walk in celebration of National Walking Day. Should be fun!

A small shrine

London streets are dangerous, like any other city these days. After each accident, flowers seem to blossom overnight, and then slowly wither over the ensuing years. Strapped to lamposts and railings they look like sacrifices to the unheeding gods.

This one is a little different. Paper boy William was knocked off his bike and killed three years ago, but every time I go past there are always fresh flowers. Tonight as I drove by, there was a lit candle as well so I stopped to capture it for you. As I was taking the photo a stranger came up and shared the story of his young nephew, who died in a road accident in Liverpool. So spare a thought for William and his story, and take care.

Mr or Miss Whiplash

Today, we're back in the East End, in one of the "Ragged Schools", the building was recently saved and opened as a museum. This is where the kids without shoes went to learn, so they could better themselves from the deperate existence of their parents.

The museum is open to the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays (some Sundays) and worth a visit, if only to talk to the volunteers who staff it. Here are two more pictures from inside, that may stir one or two memories.

That cane wan't just for show. People say "I was given the cane in school and it did me no harm" (I was too, and I don't think it did). On the other hand, it may not have done much good. Do you think we're better off without corporal punishment?

Along Hatton Garden

These figures can be seen as you walk down Hatton Garden, London's gold and jewelery sector. The building has quite a history. Built as a church after the Great Fire in 1666, it became a charity school around 1700, from when these children in 18th Century costume date. The building was damaged in WWII, but the statues had been sent away for safe keeping. the building has been restored, and the statues returned. I don't know if you'll be able to make out in the large photo, but the boy is holding a bible and the girl a piece of writing. The building is now offices.

Another take on charity schools tomorrow.

Dah'n the Roman

The Roman Road market is in the heart of the East End,and used to be THE place to buy cheap fashion. These days, it's about as good as its website - nothing much there. You'll find few stalls as long standing as this one, when a while ago it used to be normal for father to hand over to son. The other thing that surprised me on Saturday, was that there were no market cries. Times change.

Poking around for this post, I did find Barry Oneofff's site blog and East End Forum. He seems to be the real thing, an old time East Ender.

Multicultural London, No 2 in a series

I have no idea what this shop does, or what it sells. I know some of you speak Russian - put me out of my misery. Do other cities have shops that are signed completely in a foreign language?

A striking picture

I don't suppose that I'm the only one to be amused that one of the first strikes was at a match factory.

Only, if you worked there, you didn't have much to laugh at. You earned around 6 shillings (less than £15/$20 at TODAY'S rates) and you worked in filthy and dangerous conditions. You may have been one of the outworkers who made matchboxes, in which case you had to make around 1,000 a day for that money. The story is told of a mathbox maker giving evidence in court - she couldn't stop her hands going through the motions of making the boxes, folding and folding. This page has an image of a family making matchboxes.

So, here is the old Bryant & May match factory in Fairfield Road, which finally closed down in 1979. It has now been converted into luxury flats. With a "leisure Centre". How times have changed.

As ever, the Diamond Geezer got there first and has written a good precis, and has some interesting links, I'd urge you to read some.

Here is a picture of the girls from that time. Notice their hats. One lovely bit of London Trivia is that for all their poverty these girls used to join what were called "Feather Clubs", into which they would pay. When the fund had enough money, they would buy a hat which would then be shared around. And not just ordinary hats, but grand, flowery ones. I like that. Read about the Match Girls here.

Two more pics.

Covent Garden, some years on

In one of my very first posts on this blog, I used a picture I had taken in Covent Garden about twenty years ago. I went back recently and tried to recreate it, here is the result. I prefer the old one - what do you think?

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside

Or, Doing the Lambeth Walk, or Following the Van - you name it. Tonight, Mrs Ham & I went to our local amateur dramatic society (the Aldersbrook Players) Old Time Music Hall night. A good time was had by all and I have posted all the pictures here

How to park your police car

Riding to work this morning I came across this scene and had to share it with you. The police car was driving down the wrong side of the road when the woman in the blue car turned right in front of it. You can see what happened next.

What's it like to own the world?

Or to be known as Britain's richest individual? The Duke of Westminster is the only one who knows. The following is on the plaque of his ancestor's statue in Grosvenor Square.

In the seventeenth Century, Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies, a London Heiress. Her dowry was part of the manor of Ebury - the land devloped by their successors as Mayfair in the Eighteenth Century, followed by Belgravia and Pimlico in the nineteenth century.

In 1979 Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor became the 6th Duke of Westminster. He comissioned this statue in 1997.

The hounds on the monument are talbot dogs, introduced to this country by the Normans as hunting dogs. Now extinct, they were the ancestral stock of the modern bloodhound.

Talbot dogs were added to the Grosvenor coat of arms in the seventeenth century. The gold wheatsheaf, known in heraldry as a 'Garb' appeared on the coat of arms for the first time in 1398.

Victoria and Albert

Yes, this is the Albert Memorial. Queen Victoria went in for grand gestures in a big way, and her love for her cousin and husband is marked in many places throughout London.

This memorial summarises the whole of the Victorian era, with its obsession with image and with Empire. The statue groups on each corner are representative of Europe, America, Africa and Asia (the Elephant)To put the perspective on this, Asia and the elephant is one of the outer groups of staues,in this picture on the far right.

Oh yeah, this is right in the heart of London.

London's Elephants - No 9 in a series

Todays elephant post is going to be a small quiz as well. If you are a Londoner, or even if you have visited London you have probably seen this elephant without realising it. But where is it, do you know? A London Daily Photo Postcard Prize to the first with the right answer. A second Postcard prize to anyone who knows the four letter word associated with this. More general pic and info tomorrow.


Click for No 1 in the series.
Click for No 2 in the series.
Click for No 3 in the series.
Click for No 4 in the series.
Click for No 5 in the series.
Click for No 6 in the series.
Click for No 7 in the series.
Click for No 7 1/2 in the series.
Click for No 8 in the series.

Now that's what I call a back garden

If you are the Queen, St James' Park is your back garden. Often overlooked by visitors and Londoners alike, it is the most peaceful and pretty of London's Parks. I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Somewhere, anywhere, in London

Round the corner from the demo, across from the Houses of Parliament, were these two Sudanese gents. I thought it made a good photo.

Have you seen this criminal?

Because he started his protest before the time on his permit. Makes it sound as if I live in a tin-pot dictator state, doesn't it? Friday night I joined in the first Mass Lone Demonstration in Parliament Square. Under a new law, anyone who protests within a kilometer of the houses of Parliament, without a permit, can be arrested - and people have been. It would appear that the Police also deemed a cake with "Peace" on it a political statement and insisted it be removed. So, to highlight its absurdity and the erosion of our civil liberties, over a hundred people turned up at a police station and applied for individual permits to demonstrate between 6 and 7 last night.

The comedian Mark Thomas started this campaign against SOCPA legislation, I saw it picked up by Rachel, and there are many others who also feel strongly about this.

I have a series of pictures from the event here, but there are quite a lot. A small selection of the more interesting ones are on My Other Stuff

Theme Day - Doorways!

(Anyone looking for the Mass Lone Demo stuff, come back tomorrow or visit Gub Gub's Blog

Today's theme for the City Daily Photobloggers is Doorways.

I thought about what to do for this theme day, and suddenly it came to me - I had to show you the Famous London Doorway I couldn't photograph - 10 Downing Street! I think I must be showing my age by remembering when you could walk right up to it.

(Later: Realising that some may not know where No. 10 Downing Street is, here is the view along the street. This is just the barrier that stops you entering the road.)


44 ummm 45 Awww.... Lots and lots of Daily Photo sites are participating in the 1st September theme, please use the links to below to visit them.

Due to time zone differences and other factors, the theme photo may not be displayed until later if you are viewing early in the day.

1 Porto - 2 Copenhagen - 3 Trier - 4 Hyde - 5 Greenville - 6 Trondheim - 7 Manila - 8 Stayton - 9 St Paul - 10 Alexandria - 11 Kuala Lumpur - 12 Guadalajara - 13 Szentes - 14 Sydney - 15 Buenavista del Norte - 16 Sharon - 17 Albuquerque - 18 Washington - 19 Chattanooga - 20 Antigua - 21 Rotterdam - 22 Portsmouth - 23 Ryde - 24 Saarbrücken - 25 London - 26 Newcastle - 27 Singapore - 28 Aliso Viejo - 29 Seattle - 30 Delta - 31 San Diego - 32 Jakarta - 33 Vallauris - 34 Brussels - 35 Freemont - 36 Stavanger - 37 Paris - 38 Sainte Maxime - 39 Hong Kong - 40 Oulu - 41 Trujillo - 42 Berlin - 43 Vanta - 44 Melbourne - 45 Edinburgh - 46 Nottingham - 47 Dubai - 48 Budapest - 49 Santiago

I really should stop drinking....

From some angles this building looks like a headlamp, which is why it has earned that nickname. Personally, from this angle I think it looks like a lop-sided pile of plates, pushed over. But what if it's us that can't see straight?

This is the building for the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London, in More London.

A dramatic figure

The Royal Acadamy for Dramatic Arts (RADA) is one of those places everyone knows is in London, but few know where to find it. Well, here it is in Gower Street. I've tried to make the photo suitably dramatic.

Multicultural London, No 1 in a series

I'd like to start a short series to celebrate the multicultural nature of London; there are few areas more diverse than the one I live in.

To start, here is one of my favourite restaurants, Chennai Dosa in East Ham (really, that's what it's called). This is possibly one of the most authentic Indian restaurants you will eat at. Don't expect tastelss salty curries, instead your tastebuds will be assaulted by an explosion of spice and flavour. Check out this page of customer comments if you think I'm exaggerating. It helps that you can fill your face for less than £5. My recommendations? Their chilli iddly and a special dosa.

This gent was knew why he was there, but was less sure why I wanted to take a photo.

Understated London

If you want to go celeb spotting in London, The Ivy restaurant in Covent Garden is one of the best places. Of course, if you aren't on the right list then you may have to wait six months for a table, but that's part of the cachet. It is entirely understated, though, and so typical of London.

Help me I think I'm falling

Don't you just love the way Joni Mitchell stopped at that point? Somehow, that part of the lyric makes me think of people jumping into the Thames, but then I'm a Londoner. These are the guys who might pull you out.

I was very annoyed a while back when a motoring organisation advertised themselves as the "fourth emergency service". Sorry, but that's always been the lifeboats/.

London Motorcycle Couriers

Most of the time, you are likely to get mown down by these fellas if you waver. They're not always in motion, though. To be honest, most of them are reasonably skilful riders: otherwise, they don;t last long. And it's tough on the streets, they deserve a rest.

London City Life

New York has its Brownstones, Paris has its lofts. And London? A random collection of buildings thrown up haphazardly over the last three hundred years. I do love 'em, all the same.

Hackney City Farm

As far as I know, London must have the closest farm to a city centre of any city. This cow in in Hackney City Farm which, although only a mile from the City, doesn't take the record because of Spitalfields City Farm, only yards from the city. In all, London has around 17 City farms, mostly in deprived areas like this. Is this a particularly British thing?

Discovered Art

Following from yesterday's post, I took this at low tide on the Thames, when I was taking the photo of the beach. Hope you like it as much as I did.

Street Art

Riding home through the City the other day I saw markings on the road for roadworks, which caught my eye. It's almost as if they were preparing for a witches meeting later that night. Maybe they were.

How far is it to London?

Another llittle bit of London Trivia for you - all distances to London are measure to Charing Cross. The monument you see here is a replica of the original built by King Edward I around 1291, to mark the procession of his wife's body. Wikipedia has a good article if you'd like to read more.

Telecom Tower

The Telecom Tower is visible from most of London.

I suspect that there are many others like me, who still think of this as the Post Office Tower, which it was until British Telecom was spawned from the Post Office. Although public access has been restricted to the tower since the bomb in the early seventies, and stopped in the eighties, the revolving restarant is still used by BT for corporate hospitality (I got invited once!).

The communications dishes are mostly unused these days, but they can't be taken down (or added to) without permission, because it would change London's skyline so much. This site has a great history and virtual tour.

A Monument

This is a detail of a statue on the Embankment. Donated "To the British Nation from the Grateful People of Belgium" 1914 - 1918. For those who were unaware, formally it was the alliance with Belgium that brought the UK into the carnage that was WWI. Makes you think, maybe.

The British Museum

The British Museum is a truly great place to visit. Apart from the amazing quantity or artefacts that we managed to pillage from around the world, it is free! And, you can take photographs! How good is that? The newly opened Great Court, designed by Norman Foster has quickly become a photographic favourite, this is my shot for you; the sculpture is part of Word into Art.

The Comedy Cafe

This may not mean that much to people not brought up on the Dandy and Beano, but it is the doorway to the Comedy Cafe in Rivington Street, which is a great place for a fun night out. A more general view of the door is here

Folded London

This statue is from one of my favorite areas of London, Holborn Viaduct. It is one of the oldest parts of London, the Diamond Geezer did a great piece following the course of the River Fleet, at this point it has long gone underground.

To me, this is where London seems to fold over itself in layer after layer. The viaduct links the financial city to the commercial heart, the statues to science art and so on are entirely typical of Victorian aspirations and ideals.

I'll be back to tell you more about the area soon.

Hit me with your rhythm stick!

Me Tarzan. It's odd what you see in London sometimes.

Odd Street Names

There are a lot of odd street names in London, I'd like to nominate this for the strangest. Cannon. Street. Road. Nowhere near Cannon Street. Yes I know we've got an Avenue Road, not quite the same. Any other worldwide Stree Road Avenues?

I'm back but not yet compos mentis. Cach up later.

Guns and Roses

This eclectic window display is from Purdey, the Queen's gunmaker. But I prefer its namesake (hence the roses)

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Ah-oo-oo-oo! were wolves in London

....here wolf in London! I really wanted to use that line with a photo of the wolves that used to be in London Zoo, but they are no longer there so I've had to make do with this. Sorry!

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Carnaby Street

Carnaby Street went through a period when it was just a tourist trap, but it has become more trendy again over recent years, as this photo shows.

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Centre Point

Here is Centre Point, which has been a London Landmark for some time, history is here. I remember the first time I saw it as a child looking up and getting hte sensation that the building was moving. I assume that my eye has got used to the spectacle by now.

Some people think it is one of the ugliest London buildings and I can understand why, but I quite like it.

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Poppies Diner

This is Poppies Diner, that the car was adverting. Basically a british caff with a transatlantic makeover.

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Big Car!

This ford Fairlane is a little out of place on London's narrow streets, but you can't miss it, for sure, so I suppose it's a good advert.

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LSE Statues

Keeping with the LSE, the story of the sculptures is here, and the photo is equus. I think I really need to collect them all for you!

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LSE Campus

On the subject of the LSE, I'd like to show you one of their buildings. I like the LSE, because it always seemed to me to have one of the best campus atmospheres of any of the London colleges.

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London's Penguins....

This jolly penguin is a companion to the elephant, by the LSE. Rather suitbale, outside a bookshop.

No, I'm not going to start a penguin series!

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London's Elephant's - No. 8 in the series

The elephant series again! This is one of a pair in Thomas Goode's shop in Mayfair, and they are extremely special.

This magnificent pair stand over six feet tall and were created by Minton
for the Paris Exhibition of 1889. They are the largest majolica items ever made; London Cabbies know these elephants as a landmark.

You can buy your own candlesticks inspired by these elephants for £3,045 here.


The price tag? £6,000,000. I don't think they want to sell them.



Click for No 1 in the series.
Click for No 2 in the series.
Click for No 3 in the series.
Click for No 4 in the series.
Click for No 5 in the series.
Click for No 6 in the series.
Click for No 7 in the series.
Click for No 7 1/2 in the series.

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The Drill Hall

Bear with me for this one - you need to be able to read the inscription, effectively dedicating the building to god, and finishing "God Save the Queen"

You see, this is the Drill Hall, a Gay theatre/dance venue. God save the queen!!!


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Reflections

While I was taking the picture for yesterday's post, I saw this opportunity: the sunlight reflecting off the gherkin and couldn't resist posting.

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Theme - A self portrait in a favorite place

This is my self portrait at the bottom of the gherkin.

Twenty four daily blog sites worldwide are posting on the same theme today - click a number to visit.
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I'm on holiday for the next two weeks, posts continuing by magic, but I will not be able to answer comments.