Transforming 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,…

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King's College London

If you look across to the south side of the Strand, you can see the entrance to the original Strand Campus of King’s College London. The College was founded in 1829, and subsequently joined the University of London. The original entrance looked very different; it was a small, undemonstrative gateway off the busy nineteenth-century Strand.

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'They Transformed the Quad into Piccadilly Circus' — Janice Savage, interviewed for the Oral History Project

Janice Savage; Interviewed 11 May 2012 by Max Saunders   Janice is currently Assistant Site Services Manager (soon to be Assistant Facilities Manager) for the Strand Campus for about 15 years. Started at KCL 23 years ago (i.e. c. 1989) as temporary assistant residence manager at Manresa Road in Chelsea, Lightfoot Hall; then 552 King’s…

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Digging in the Archives with Patricia Methven: An Interview

The soft-spoken yet direct Patricia Methven is no stranger to the Strand, having lived in London since 1969 and worked at King’s College since 1978 in various positions. Today she is the Acting Director of Information Service Systems, which includes IT and Library Services. Today she is the Director of Archives and Information Management, a…

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170 Strand with reflections of Bush House

Morning light, early autumn.  Before becoming part of King’s College London, this building was known as Aldwych Chambers; this floor was occupied at one time by the stamp merchant Bridger & Kay—the fixing-points for the letters of their name can be seen along the architrave at the top of the photo.  It’s a good balcony…

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The Old Watch House and Roman Bath in Strand Lane

The so-called ‘Roman’ bath, though not the buildings over it, dates from the early seventeenth century. The Watch House (the white building with the balcony) once belonging to St Clement Danes, looks early nineteenth century in its present form, but there are documents to show that there was a building of this shape (projecting over…

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Handel 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…

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Childhood days in Embankment Gardens

This is my sister, Kate, eating ice cream (or is it yoghurt?) on a September day in 1982. This was a few years before I was born, but it’s evocative of my own childhood memories of the Strand. We grew up in Kent, but our parents’ roots are further North, so we would often pass…

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Memories of the Strand: Dr Barrie Morgan

As part of the Strand Lines Project I met with Dr Barrie Morgan to talk about his associations and interactions with the area whilst working at King’s. Dr Morgan was initially a Lecturer in the Geography Department when he first joined King’s in the late 1960’s. His career spanned to become founding Director the International…

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Air raid damage 1917

Originally submitted by user: norloll “During the period of the war it was considered necessary to enforce secrecy as to the localities where damage was done in the 25 air raids which took place over London from May 31, 1915 to May 19, 1918. The Press Censor has now released the official details as compiled by…

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