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John Claridge’s Boxers (Round Five)
Photographer and Ex-Boxer John Claridge has been making regular trips to the East End to take on members of London Ex-Boxers Association. John distinguished himself with some fine shots in Round One,...
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Together We Are Stronger
Click to enlarge Martin Usborne’s photograph These are the founder members of The East End Trades Guild who gathered at Christ Church, Spitalfields, on Monday night to summon their new organisation...
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Tony Hawkins, Retired Pedlar
Tony Hawkins & Paul Gardner Tony Hawkins was a pedlar selling peanuts and roasted chestnuts in the West End streets for ten years, but after getting arrested and roughed up by the police...
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John Claridge’s Boxers (Round Six)
Photographer and Ex-Boxer John Claridge has been making regular trips to the East End to take on members of London Ex-Boxers Association. John distinguished himself with some fine shots in Round One,...
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Jock McFadyen, Landscape Painter
Aldgate East by Jock McFadyen Hidden behind an old terrace facing London Fields is a back street with a scrapyard and a car repair garage, and a row of anonymous industrial units where painter Jock...
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City Reform Group
At the end of last week, on a winter’s day remarkable for the clarity of its light, the vestry room above the porch of Christ Church, Spitalfields, was filled with an expectant throng for the launch...
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Colin O’Brien’s Pellicci Portraits (Part Two)
Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien is becoming a weekly fixture at E. Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Rd – taking portraits of the lucky diners at London’s most celebrated family-run cafe. Yet what...
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John Claridge’s Boxers (Round Seven)
Contributing Photographer John Claridge & I joined our boxer pals of the London Ex-Boxers Association for their Christmas shindig at the William Blake in Old St last weekend. John set up a booth in...
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The Return of David Power
David Power at The Golden Heart where he played the piano in 1946 By chance, I bumped into David Power, the Showman & Ex-Musical Prodigy at the London Ex-Boxers Christmas shindig recently, where I...
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Charlie Amarnath, Post Master
Charlie Amarnath, Star Post Master Almost every day, I go to the Post Office to mail parcels of books that readers have ordered. And, over the past year, I have visited many of the Post Offices in the...
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Return to Whitechapel
It is my great delight to welcome Rosie Dastgir as guest writer for the next seven days, celebrating the paperback edition of her wonderful novel A Small Fortune by Quercus. Rosie is a resident of...
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Gulam Taslim, Funeral Director
“We’re all human beings, we all live and die, whether we’re Jewish, Muslim or Christian.” Gulam Taslim, the funeral director of Haji Taslim Funerals is in a rush. Dashing into the office, he explains...
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At the Barkantine Birth Centre
In 1998, when I was pregnant with my first child, I took a look around the Royal London Hospital Maternity Ward and decided promptly on a home birth. I lived close-by and so that was my backup plan:...
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Phil Hewson, Tai Chi Master Of Stepney
Phil Hewson, Tai Chi Master of Stepney On a brisk, sunny morning, light streams into the Stepney Scout Hall where a group of men and women dressed in softly shaded loose clothing are moving gracefully...
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A Walk in Whitechapel
One Sunday, I came across the Zoar Chapel of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland tucked between a row of houses along Varden St. It was the Sunday before Christmas and I could hear the minister’s...
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So Long, Marge Hewson
Marge Hewson died yesterday, and today I am republishing my pen portrait of her as tribute to a woman who lived her life on Brick Lane and was loved by generations of pupils at Christ Church School,...
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John Claridge’s Boxers (Round Ten)
Contributing Photographer John Claridge and I were back at the first London Ex-Boxers Association gathering of the New Year to add to John’s mighty roster of heroic pugilists which now stands at well...
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Nicholas Borden, Artist
I came across Nicholas Borden, standing with his easel in the cold, painting on the corner of Three Colts Lane before Christmas and, even at first glance, I was captivated by his work. But I was...
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Harry Levenson, Bookmaker
These are just some of the bouncing cheques presented by inveterate gambler Sidney Breton to Spitalfields’ first Bookmaker Harry Levenson and preserved today by his son David Levenson as momentos,...
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The Gentle Author’s Diary 2
On a winter’s night in Spitalfields It was two years ago, when someone asked me if I had been standing next to a bonfire, that I discovered my clothes reeked of wood smoke like an old tramp who slept...
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