Tag Archives: London history

Old, New, and Wonderful: Spitalfields

Finding something old, something new, and something wonderful in this fantastic corner of East London.
Think of it as basically a mini self-guided tour, plus ideas for where to eat, which you can enjoy next time you’re in the area!

Mary Fillis and Dido Belle: Black Women You Should Know About

First of three blog posts featuring Black women who have lived in London over the centuries.
Part one looks at Mary Fillis, a sixteenth century servant, and Dido Elizabeth Belle, an aristocrat in the eighteenth century.

Memoirs of a Londoner: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Recounting the story of one Britain’s most famous composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a Croydon local, who went on to study at the Royal College of Music, visited the White House, and conducted his pieces to huge audiences at the Royal Albert Hall.

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bloomsbury

Amazing women, dystopian strongholds, and aristocratic estates – a few quirky facts with which to impressive your friends and family next time you’re in Bloomsbury.

Noor Inayat Khan

Noor Inayat Khan was a British secret agent during the Second World War. She went into Nazi-occupied France as a radio operator. These operatives, on average, had a life expectancy of only six weeks. Noor managed seventeen.

The Bells of London Town

On this day (11th July) in 1859, Big Ben rang for the first time because (spoiler alert!) Big Ben is a bell not a tower. I used this anniversary moment to shine a light on some of London’s most exciting bells.

Memoirs of a Londoner: Olive Morris

It was only today that I learned of the existence of Olive Morris. A campaigner and activist, a radical Black feminist, an inspiring young woman, who fought for racial and social equality in South London in the 1960s and ’70s.
Today would have been her 68th birthday.

Thoughts On… Three Years Ago

I wasn’t planning to write anything today. It’s an emotional time for all of us in North Kensington. But I think it’s even more important to keep the conversation going.
I wrote a blog post six months after the fire and I’ve written another one now. What’s heart-breaking is to try and spot what’s changed.
Despite everything, we continue to stand together.

A Little Bit More Lockdown Art

This is Part Two of my jaunt through the Royal Academy, bringing you some beautiful art and its relation to the general lockdown experience.