Strandlines
The Pathway of the Imaginary
This article translation into English by Katie Webb from the original Italian, ‘Il sentiero dell’imaginario’ by Loris Ferri, was published in El Ghibli magazine on 10th December 2021 http://www.el-ghibli.org/il-sentiero-dellimmaginario/#sdfootnote2anc. El Ghibli is an international literary magazine for migration. The poem ‘Wanderer’ appears in the original English taken from the pamphlet Wanderer published by The Pottery…
Read MoreSimpson’s-in-the-Strand – In literary, in historical, and in contemporary London
Why write about this? Though the website of Simpson’s-in-the-Strand advertises itself as the “Home of Chess,” this is not what drew me to writing about this almost-two-century old restaurant. I was reading a novel by J.G. Farrell, The Singapore Grip, when I stumbled upon the following passage. “But then, one day in 1925, on a…
Read MoreFreedom Narratives
The Freedom Narratives project is an open-source digital repository that includes biographical accounts of individuals born in Africa between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. This mostly comprises people who were born free but later became enslaved and who many times regained their freedom later in life. This project contributes in original ways to the…
Read MoreMoney, Money, Money…
The recent 3-day strike over university teachers’ pay has begun a new debate over why women are not paid as much as men, is there real equality within university pay, and pen- sion-related issues. On December 1st I received a number of auto-emails in my inbox telling me that my messages wouldn’t be read by…
Read MorePeople on the Strand: John Nourse and Francis Wingrave, booksellers
Nowadays, tracking down out of print books involves a quick email or checking booksellers’ websites. Two or three centuries ago, anyone hunting rare volumes wrote to booksellers and other collectors although few examples of this correspondence survive. During the 18th century the Strand was a flourishing centre for London’s book trade and associated industries, including…
Read MoreThe Right to Protest
It’s incredible what you come across on a small walk along the Strand. I was walking towards the Temple tube station after finishing an interview with the India Club’s Phiroza Marker, when I came across a small gathering of 6 people outside a gated building. I didn’t know what the building was or who the people…
Read MoreThe Strand’s Arisings
Like many Strandliners I was away from the Strand during Covid-19 lockdowns. A long absence! Seventeen months! What would it be like after so long? On my first day back in London, I thought a stroll along the Strand was in order, to catch a little of the atmosphere of cautious reanimating and contribute to…
Read MoreTemple Church: Magna Carta and the Knights Templar
The filming location of the Da Vinci Code [2006], survivor of the Fire of London and WW2 bombing, a secret meeting place of a back-stabbing king, the core of the City’s major legal district, and London’s first bank – Temple Church has witnessed milestones in English history. In medieval London there were ‘more churches than…
Read MoreIndigenous actors at the heart of empire: A letter from the Strand to Buffalo Creek
In 1818, seven members of the Seneca nation were in London performing in the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. The Hartfort Courant, an American newspaper that ran in Connecticut, published a letter they intercepted from the performers to their families and friends. Through the words of the performers themselves, this article hopes to highlight their…
Read MoreVoices from the Strand – Dr. Geoffrey Browell @ King’s College Archives
A week in the life of an archivist I sometimes get asked what an archivist does, exactly? That’s if it’s not confused with the job of an archaeologist or architect! Archivists come in different shapes and sizes depending on the sector and the type of information that they curate: I am a university archivist at…
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