Historic England

Richard Dimbleby, 1913 - 1965, broadcaster, lived here, 1937 - 1939.English Heritage

{On the main body of the monument, above and below what was a bronze medallion portrait of King Edward, now missing:}In grateful memory of King Edward the Seventh this park is dedicated to the use and enjoyment of the people of East London for ever.Opened by King George the Fifth, 1922. {At the top, under a carved crown:}ER

The most important man on the facade of the Royal Exchange, the founder Sir Thomas Gresham, and the architect has put him high on the eastern facade facing on to a narrow precinct so you can only see him from practically underneath. The classic up-yer-doublet shot. When it was unveiled in 1845 the Art Union said it was "placed too high for any opinion of its quality to be formed."The sculptor was William Behnes, a half-German, half-English, Irish-educated artist whose financial profligacy had reduced him to penury. He was declared bankrupt half way through the commission but he successfully completed it and was paid £550 (roughly £50,000 today). Behnes made a special trip to Suffolk to view a portrait of Gresham, then thought to be by Holbein, for the likeness.

If you've ever left, or considered leaving, a comment on this site then you'll know that I moderate all comments. It's not because I don't trust my readers; rather, it's the only way to stem a deluge of spam. Much of it is just annoying, but some is full of obscenities or hate-speech, which is why I can't risk it sitting there while I'm offline - and I do have to sleep! Many spammers do try to hide their dodgy links within genuine-seeming comments. Unfortunately, as the selection below demonstrates, these are rarely convincing. 'Paragraph writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with then you can write otherwise it is complicated to write.' Although grammar, spelling and punctuation are apparently not required.'Is it only me or do some of the comments come across like they are written by brain dead visitors?' Only you, dear spammer, only you.'Hello my family member!' Er...'For most up-to-date news you have to pay a visit world-wide-web and on web I found this web page as a best site for most up-to-date updates' - and where better for up-to-date-updateness than a history blog?'My site goes over a lot of the same topics as yours.' No, I can assure you that I have never blogged on American auto insurance. Not even once.'great post, very informative. I'm wondering why the opposite experts of this sector do not understand this'. Ah yes, the so-controversial story of the Wells Conduit with its 'opposite experts'.'This is a great tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere.' No, it's a ghost sign. Image: 'Spam Museum' by Holley St Germain, shared under a Creative Commons licence.

Backward glance (1): Beyond the perimeter fence In this post last year I looked at an aircraft hangar at Hullavington and mused on my boyhood interest in airfields. As a small boy I was fascinated by airfields. Airfields (not airports, which in the 1950s and 1960s were for the rich to travel from, and therefore out of bounds) were quiet, empty places, mostly, and oddly spacious in a countryside that, even then, was quite intensively farmed. I longed to see aeroplanes taking off and landing, but hardly ever seemed to be there at the right moment. So I had to be content with the purposeful impedimenta of the airfield, most of it unfamiliar to me but not too difficult to understand from its names alone. There was a perimeter fence (chain-link), a control tower (concrete), runways (ditto), grey parked vehicles (various), and a windsock (brightly coloured). For much of the time the windsock seemed to be the most animated thing around. Also occasionally on the move was a long grey low-slung truck, a low-loader in fact, sometimes spotted on neighbouring roads, apparently for moving bits of aircraft around.And then there were hangars,† long and low, hugging the ground. Some even tried to blend into the ground with their grass-covered roofs. They had broad, sliding doors but these were usually closed and anyway were too distant for me to have seen what was inside. Still, when I see hangars, I’m fascinated by their tantalizing doors and their functional, often ground-hugging form. I’m still very ignorant of their history and complex typology – I see from a Ministry of Defence website that there are at least 56 different types in use in Britain alone, ranging from temporary portable structures to vast warehouse-like sheds that can take airliners or transport aircraft. This one is a Type E hangar at RAF Hullavington in Wiltshire. Its design was introduced in 1937 – no doubt lots of hangars were being built around this time – and has a curving steel frame supporting a concrete shell roof, covered by the all-important camouflaging grass. It’s huge, and very functional, but also rather elegant, and from a distance it blends into its surroundings so that it seems hardly there at all. Whenever I pass by the door still seems to be closed.* * *Looking back at this post, I'm struck by the many different reasons I might have found, even then, to be interested in places like this. Back in c. 1960, World War II was still recent history – it was usually referred to, without ambiguity, as 'the war', reruns of not-so-old war films appeared very often on TV, and war themes loomed large in playground games and parental memories alike. The first airfields I saw, in Lincolnshire, had played a key part in that war, and looking at them, even from the wrong side of the perimeter fence, gave me an insight into this history.I was also learning about the differences between places. The open spaces and distinctive buildings of airfields, so different from the small garden and tiny interiors of my childhood home, provided a dramatic demonstration of just how varied places could be – in the quality of their architecture, their use, their atmosphere, their sense of space. If this seems obvious, it's worth remembering the shock of the different that a five-year-old child, who'd not travelled very much, must have experienced. The fascination of what 's different, and local, and distinctive, has been holding my attention ever since.* * *† Hangar: not a self-explanatory word. Were there lightweight, World War I biplanes hanging up in there? I wondered. No, hangar’s etymology is far from certain, according to the OED, but comes from French (and probably also Germanic) words meaning shelter. Our hamlet has the same roots. The dictionary’s first example comes from Thackeray’s Henry Esmond and has nothing to do with aircraft at all: ‘Mademoiselle, may we take your coach to town? I saw it in the hangar.'

After 1820 building proceeded apace, but as late as 1853, when Harriet Beecher Stowe stayed with the Rev. Thomas Binney at Rose Cottage on the site of the present Town Hall, she found it a "charming retreat" with a view from the windows of sheep and lambs grazing in a meadow.Built in 1864–66 from the design of Henry Jarvis.I used to think these were portrait heads, but now I think it is more likely they are personifications of winter and summer.

{In the sculptured panel below his feet:}Spenser

This stone was laid by Alderman Henry Mills JP Mayor of Islington on June 16th 1906. W. F. Dewey - Town-clerk, J. Duff-Brown - Librarian, T. F. Bryen - Chairman of Committee, Henry T. Hare - Architect, C. P. Roberts - Builder.

{In the sculptured panel below his feet:}Bacon

Occasionally a character emerges in the archives which one has to follow through ... one such is Harvey Leach, an irascible dwarf comedian of the early Victorian period, best remembered as the 'Gnome Fly:ADELPHI THEATREA curious performance was attempted last night at this theatre. Mr. Yates, in his constant search after novelty, has availed himself of the services of a Milanese dwarf, and as the little man's personal merits are not much ibn his favour, he has presented him successively in the shape of a baboon and a bluebottle fly. Signor HERVIO NANO acquits himself to admiration in both characters, and it is a question whether his mischievous tricks ni the form of the ape, or his agile flight in the personification of the fly, are most amusing. The audience were equally delighted with both, and every chattering of the brute and flutter of the insect brought down thunders of applause. For the purpose of making the doctrine of the transmigration of souls on which the piece turns well understood by the gallery, Signor HERVIO first appears in his proper shape as Alnain, the King of the Gnomes. He then for the purposes of serving his friend, the son of the Grand Mogul, shoots his soul into the body of the King's baboon, and in that disguise performs every trick that a baboon can be guilty of, with a fidelity to nature that shows how closely man and the monkey are allied. Though he looks and acts becomingly in the character he is compelled to abandon it, because the Queen of the Peris counteracts his plans, and causes the Princess, whom he wishes to disenchant, to be locked up in a dreadful tower. He transfuses his spirit into the body of a fly, and buzzes about in the best bluebottle fashion. He flies on invisible wires from the stage to the lofty turret where the Princess is encased, delivers her from the enchantment, and then to prove that he is no impostor, runs up the side pillars of the stage, crosses the ceiling feet up, and descends at the other side. The Queen of the Peris cannot withstand such devotion - the lovers are united and the fly reassumes human shape. The performances are, in fact, very extraordinary. MAZURIER himself could not play the ape with more agility, and as to the fly, the personifcation was so perfect that if it were summer the flies themselves might mistake him for one of their companions. The Morning Post, Thursday, February 01, 1838FRACAS AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, BIRMINGHJAMLast night the theatre was in a state of considerable excitement, in consequence of Hervio Nano (better known as Harvey Leach), the dwarf, not appearing to sustain the character he was announced for in the bills of the day, in a new piece called the Demon Dwarf. Mr. Simpson, the stage manager, explained to the audiecne the cuase of Mr. Leech's refusal to perform, stating that he claimed unjustly 10l. which had been deducted from the receipts of the previous Saturday, as Mr. Yates' share of extra supernumeraries, &c, Leach being engaged by Yates to perform. Mr. Hooper (of the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane, who is also engaged by Mr. Yates) stepped forward, corroborated the stage-manager's explanation, and censured Mr. Leach for his conduct. The Demon Dwarf, however, declared that he would not stir until he got the 10l. and used sundry "demoniacal" expressions, such as liar, &c., jumped on the edge of the lower box circle and addressed the gallery with much emphasis. This procured him considerable applause, which was followed out by the gods, upwards of 1000 in number, tearing up the benches and hurling them into the pit (first having given notice to the pittites who scrambled into the boxes). The work of devastation then began in real earnest. Chandeliers, forms, &c. were a complete wreck; fortunately no person was injured. After some resistance the little man was taken into custody, and now remains in durance vile till responsible bail is given for his liberation.The Standard, Thursday, October 04, 1838GUILDHALLHarvey Leach, the 'Gnome