Ham Yard, an apt setting

Philanthropy at Christmas comes in many forms whether it is sending money to an appeal, donating to a food bank or possibly even volunteering to serve Christmas dinner to those who find themselves homeless. I’m afraid I can only own up to one of these and its not the last one. I came across a…

“We are not amused”

The phrase is often attributed to Queen Victoria and has passed into common usage to note perceived strait-laced stuffiness, bolstering the perception that Victoria was a dour woman living a melancholy life after the death of her husband Prince Albert. However, during an interview in 1976, Victoria’s granddaughter, Alice, Countess of Athlone, said that Victoria…

Under is as elaborate as over

Six Word Saturday

Learn to talk proper

I recently came by a fascinating old book called Passing English of the Victorian era, a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase (published 1909) written by James Redding Ware, the pseudonym of Andrew Forrester a British writer who created one of the first female detectives in literary history in his book The Female Detective (1863). The…

Fancy a dip in the Thames?

Although the river is a lot cleaner today than in previous years, the stretch that flows through the environs of Central London is not immediately the first place you’d think of for swimming. The completion of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s London sewer system in 1870 meant that the quality of water in the River Thames was…

Who?

Stephen Geary? ……………………………. Anyone? No, I must admit it wasn’t a name that I was familiar with, but Mr Geary definitely left his mark on both the advancement of mankind and also London, although probably more so for the latter. Over 160 years after his death, Geary is tucked away right at the back of…