Strandlines
The Strand: A Biography now in print
The first history of one of London’s most extraordinary streets, written by Strandlines editor Dr Geoffrey Browell, has been published and is now available on Amazon and from other booksellers.
Read MoreThe Life of a Cell in the Strand – an Interview
Miao Zhao is a PhD candidate at the Department of Physics, King’s College London. She was one of these students who first returned to work in the lab at Strand Campus shortly after the lift of full lockdown and witnessed a Strand unprecedented. Here, she shares with us her personal experience and memory of a…
Read MoreThe 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…
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