London Cross: "If you walk across a great city such as London in two straight lines, south to north and east to west - a cross-section - what do you find?"
posted by Falconetti
on Apr 14, 2008 -
34 comments
Collage is an online image database from the collections of the City of London Libraries and the Guildhall Art Gallery. Images cover the last five centuries. You can search by key word or browse by theme, artist/engraver, person or place.
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posted by paduasoy
on Dec 22, 2007 -
7 comments
Jason Lewis has become the first man to
circumnavigate the Earth using human power alone. It only took him 13 years: he set off from London in July, 1994 and ended his expedition in October, 2007, having travelled 46,505 miles (on foot and by pedal boat, roller blades, kayak, and bicycle). [via
QI]
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posted by chuckdarwin
on Oct 12, 2007 -
31 comments
The first
OzBus left
London last night. A latter day
Magic Bus, the new service will cover 15 000 miles in 12 weeks and cross 20 countries before reaching it's destination. Follow one pasenger's journey
here.
posted by brautigan
on Sep 17, 2007 -
49 comments
Gun crime on the streets of London? It's not new. Here's a tale of robbery, murder, revolution, and
Churchill in a topper. First, the
Tottenham Outrage, a factory robbery resulting in two murders, 27 injuries, and a bizarre chase. The villains are Latvian anarchists, a group who are trying to finance their revolutionary aims through crime. The next year, a plan to
tunnel into a jewelers is botched, and attempted burglary becomes the
Houndsditch Murders . The police investigate, and on locating the gang,
The Siege of Sidney Street begins. The army is called in, and the
Home Secretary pops by and assumes control.
After much shooting, a fire breaks out, and two men burn to death. But neither of them is the mysterious gang leader, Peter the Painter, and the five later tried are all acquitted. Churchill, however, is guilty of
showing off a bit.
posted by liquidindian
on Jun 18, 2007 -
19 comments
The
Cutty Sark burns. Nineteenth century tea clipper, preserved as a museum-ship in Greenwich since the fifties, is currently ablaze.
posted by hydatius
on May 20, 2007 -
48 comments
Planed - a new work by Gilbert & George, available for download until 11:35pm on the 10th of May.
posted by jack_mo
on May 8, 2007 -
13 comments
Youtube user davebones goes to London demos, protests and gatherings.
His videos demonstrate the complexity of issues, calling into question the credibility of television news which tends to portray the same events in black and white terms. While his
blog sets a clear agenda, his commentary-free videos are accessible to people regardless of their viewpoint.
posted by nthdegx
on Mar 31, 2007 -
2 comments
London calling to the faraway towns. James Harding of the London Times thinks that London is fast eclipsing New York as the world's favourite city. At least for business. He's only echoing
earlier comment, but is he right?
It’s hard to say which personality, New Yorker or Londoner, is preferable — the ballsy versus the stoic, the gruff versus the curmudgeonly, the sharp-tongued versus the quick-witted. But the real difference between the two is this: New Yorkers come from the five boroughs; Londoners from the five continents. They are Poles, Pakistanis, Brazilians, Americans, Nigerians and more. There are, it is said, 300 languages spoken in London.
posted by Duug
on Mar 13, 2007 -
230 comments
Eel Pie Island: the early 1960s incubator and catalyst of the burgeoning R & B scene in Twickenham and Richmond, The young musicians who played there included members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, the Small Faces, to name but a few. BBC Radio documentary on Radio 4
(30 minutes). Plus, from about 1964 (?): pre-Wheels on Fire Brian Augur and the Trinity with three-quarters of Steampacket (Long John Baldry, the delicious Julie Driscoll, and Rod "the Mod" Stewart) I guess what with Augur on keyboard, the Steampacket didn't need their pianist, Elton John.
youtuber
posted by Mister Bijou
on Feb 1, 2007 -
10 comments
Metro-land: Railways Around Amersham & The Metropolitan Line. 'The name "Metro-land" was created in 1915 by the publicity department of the Metropolitan Railway. "Metro-Land" became the name of the annual publication of the railway's booklet which described the area the railways served through north west London, into Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The Railway set up a separate company to develop housing and shops along the Metropolitan's line. Much of the area was extensively developed between the World Wars and created a distinctive atmosphere...'
A guide to the Metropolitan Line (prefaced by John Betjeman's poem 'Metro-Land') is
here. The London Transport Museum website has
an article on London Underground and 'Metro-Land'.
posted by plep
on Jan 13, 2007 -
4 comments
The Mayfair Set [Google Video]. A BBC Documentary series on how City of London bankers systematically dismantled British industry from the 1960s-90s and removed the power of the state to protect people from the greed of the market
A thought provoking documentary from
Adam Curtis whose other documentaries The Power of Nightmares and The Century of the Self have been
previously discussed and well received on Mefi.
It is almost four hours long but well worth the effort.
posted by ClanvidHorse
on Dec 2, 2006 -
24 comments
The
UBS Bank calculated
how long it takes an average worker around the world to earn enough to buy a Big Mac. Workers in Tokyo were the fastest:
Tokyo 10 minutes,
New York 13 minutes,
London 16 minutes,
Hong Kong 17 minutes,
Paris 21 minutes,
Moscow 25 minutes,
Rome 39 minutes,
Beijing 44 minutes,
Manila 81 minutes,
Jakarta 86 minutes.
Is this a fair comparison? Is it something that will change people's perspective about the rest of the world?
posted by PetBoogaloo
on Nov 17, 2006 -
53 comments
Walk It is a website for planning walking journeys. It gives you a map and directions for the best route, and info on distance, walking time, calorie burn and even CO
2 potentially saved by avoiding the car, taxi or bus. London only, at present, alas.
posted by nthdegx
on Nov 7, 2006 -
21 comments
Today is the 70th anniversary of
the battle of Cable Street. On Sunday October 4th 1936,
Oswald Moseley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, attempted to lead a march through Stepney, at that time a predominantly
Jewish area. As the fascists met at
Royal Mint Street, around
300,000 people barricaded the roads of the East End, chanting
"No Pasaran" and
"They Shall Not Pass". When the police attempted to
break through the corden at Cable Street a riot ensued.
The police were repelled and Moseley and his acolytes were forced to march in the opposite direction, into the
empty streets of the City. With the Spanish Civil War at its peak, Cable Street saw
communists,
anarchists,
Jews, dockers and many other ordinary
eastenders fighting
the fascists together and has a
mythological place in
East London folklore. Celebrations will be held
this Sunday.
posted by criticalbill
on Oct 3, 2006 -
26 comments
