A fascinating aside into London business life in the 1880s is the assimilation of the telephone. Take this example: In a letter dated April 27 1885 from one large London solicitors, the firm printed its telephone number as part of its letterhead. The firm’s number was 1095 and genuinely there were another 1094 phones that… Continue reading It’s for you…
Category: Uncategorized
Royal Aquarium — no fish, a dead whale and hookers
Around the walls were 13 giant tanks for the fish. and under the floor were asphalt- and vulcanite-lined storage tanks for a total of 700,000 gallons of sea and fresh water. Not only was it to be an Aquarium, but it aimed to be a home away from home for visitors. It had a reading room with English and foreign papers, a telegraph office, cigar shop and offered even a division bell so that MPs relaxing beside the fish tanks could return to cast their votes in the House when needed.
History falls… to parking lots and shopping malls
Looking back, a chronicler of Victorian reminiscence, Donald Shaw remembered the Cremorne’s last years this way: “Cremorne in those days was a delightful resort, with an excellent band, and frequented by the most exalted of men and the most beautiful of women.”
“Her Majesty’s health was then drunk in ice water”
Early August 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition; you might be surprised the roast beef of old England was not enjoyed by absolutely everyone who could afford it and that ‘meat is murder’ was a philosophy that predated The Smiths. ‘Curious details’ of the often proximity of knackers’ yards to sausage makers is a… Continue reading “Her Majesty’s health was then drunk in ice water”
Tattooed long dog
Row, row, row your boat
It was January 100 years ago when things turned badly wrong for 28 or so British Antarctic explorers under the command of Ernest Shackleton. Nowadays people jog up Kilimanjaro for charity and text home while they are doing it, but at the turn of the century there were still mountains unclimbed and places in the… Continue reading Row, row, row your boat
Freie rede macht frei
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade… Continue reading Freie rede macht frei
Don’t eat the green ones, or any other colour!
Buying sweets could be hazardous to your health. Eating blancmange likewise, as this cautionary tale from the Medical Times of 1850 shows:-