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Thirteen Lions
The work of illustrator, graphic designer and game maker Maz Hemming, Thirteen Lions is a webcomic retelling the story of the Gunpowder Plot. It’s now being published online in instalments. While the conspiracy is currently in its infancy, there’s already been a pivotal cameo for the Duck and Drake – the pub on the Strand…
Read MoreAnthony Heap’s Strand
Anthony Heap (1910-1985) kept a daily diary for nearly 57 years – from just before his 18th birthday in 1928 until 36 hours before his death in University College Hospital in October 1985. He was a Londoner who lived until 1932 with is parents in Gray’s Inn Road. Anthony attended St Clement Danes Grammar School…
Read More‘that Strand which is lost as Atlantis’: Arthur Machen’s memories of the Strand
Mystic, theatre critic, teller of weird tales and tramper of London’s obscurer byways and thoroughfares, Arthur Machen was also very fond of the Strand. Available through the Internet Archive (courtesy of the University of California libraries) his memoir of the 1870 and 1880s, Far Off Things (Martin & Secker, 1922) recounts ‘the first time I saw the Strand, and…
Read MoreBalloon on the Strand
The history of crazes is an enormously rich subject. We seem to be in the middle of a craze for fidget spinners, of which all sorts of varieties are on sale in the Strand. In 1784, the Strand was a key location for what became, for two or three years, a mad craze for balloons…
Read MoreSouvenirs on the Strand
A recent walk along the Strand in search of fidget spinners led me to start thinking about souvenirs. Sadly the Strand doesn’t feature in London-themed merchandise – it’s not as cool as the other big streets. A couple of years ago I asked a souvenir seller why he didn’t have items with the Strand? He…
Read MoreLight hearted
Today I walked down the Strand with two things under my arm: a loaf of artisan bread, destined to accompany weekend soup, and Paul Virilio’s book Lost Dimension. There was something pleasing in the conjunction: man does not live by bread alone; we need food for thought. The day holds significance for Strandlines because, after…
Read MoreTransforming the Strand: A Virtual Walking Tour
22 October 2012, 19:30-21:00; Anatomy Museum, King’s College London An exciting evening event run by the Centre for Life-Writing Research: the Cabinet of Artists will be leading an imaginative tour of London’s busy thoroughfare, the Strand. The tour will bring the Strand to the Anatomy Museum at King’s College London. Not only transforming the museum space,…
Read MoreHandel in the Strand
‘Handel in the Strand’ by Percy Grainger was originally composed in 1911-12 ‘for piano and two or more strings, or for massed pianos and string orchestra’; it was arranged for piano solo in 1930. The Kennedy Centre tells me that this piece of music was written as a clog dance; Percy Grainger offered a brief…
Read MoreMrs Holt’s Italian Warehouse
In the 1720s, Mrs Holt’s Italian Warehouse (a warehouse was a sort of 18th-century department store) in the Strand opposite Exeter Change. According to the trade card that William Hogarth engraved for her, she stocked ‘all sort of Italian silks as Lustrings, Sattins, Padesois, Velvets, Damasks, &c, Fans, Leghorne Hats, Flowers, Lute and Violin Strings,…
Read MoreDickensfest
On Saturday, Dickens came to the Strand – in the ambitious form of Dickensfest! ~ an event co-organised by The Centre for Life-Writing Research at King’s (where Strandlines lives) and Westminster Archives. Many thanks to Ruth Richardson and Judith Bottomley for inspiration and organisation. Dickensfest lined up all sorts of scholars and writers to talk…
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