8 posts tagged with london by Paul Slade.
Displaying 1 through 8 of 8.
Scorned by every other graveyard? Welcome to Cross Bones
Today I published PlenetSlade's third paperback book (Amazon link), and it's an updated version of my 2013 e-book telling the tale of South London's Cross Bones Graveyard. This tiny patch of unconsecrated ground just south of the Thames has sheltered the remains of London's most despised citizens for over 400 years. Today, it's a shrine to our own era's outcast dead, where thousands of people a year attend the monthly vigils created by a shamanic local writer and attach their own heartfelt offerings to the site's gates. It's one of the most fascinating graveyards in London, and a vivid lesson in what the poor of this city have always had to endure. [more inside]
London's Ukraine War street art
The first bit of London street art I saw addressing Putin's war against Ukraine appeared on Day Two of the war itself. More and more examples followed as I wandered round London over the next few weeks, including graffiti murals, home-made posters and protest stickers. I've stitched together 26 photographs of the best witty, angry and inventive pieces I've found so far into a couple of PlanetSlade collages here. [more inside]
London is Stranger than Fiction
… was a 1950s newspaper cartoon strip by the artist and historian Peter Jackson (not that one). Appearing weekly in London’s Evening News and modelled closely on Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Jackson’s strips recounted the true stories and fascinating trivia of London’s bizarre past. They’re as eye-opening today as ever, and still an excellent guide for anyone with a sense of curiosity about the city. In one 1950 strip alone, Jackson covers London’s earthquake panic of 1750, the reinforced hats worn by Billingsgate fish porters, a remarkable tomb in Bunhill Fields and where to find the West End’s clock in a barrel. Elsewhere in his career, he succeeded the great Frank Bellamy on Eagle’s Marco Polo strip and painted dozens of historic scenes for the British educational comic Look and Learn. You can see a handful of my own favourite LISTF strips in this Twitter thread and read my full PlanetSlade essay about the series and Jackson’s other work here. [more inside]
North London's angry & witty protest stickers: a gallery of lamp-post art
I've been out photographing the street art of my North London neighbourhood again. This time, it's the wide range of angry, witty and often very creative protest stickers adorning every lamp-post and traffic sign round here. Targets of the 50+ stickers in my online gallery include climate change, male violence, NHS austerity, Brexit and increased police powers. Others I've chosen aren't protest stickers at all, but earn a place anyway simply because they made me laugh. [more inside]
London charity shops treasure hunt.
Just before Christmas I visited 30 different London charity shops, anonymously donating a signed and numbered copy of my murder ballads book to every one. My online photo clues are there to help people find the shops involved and snap up these moderately-attractive collectors’ items at a bargain price while also supporting the charity's work. The headline link here gives full details and this Twitter account has news of the results so far. [more inside]
The Outcast Dead: London's Cross Bones Graveyard
Southwark’s Cross Bones graveyard began life as a dumping ground for the medieval Bishop of Winchester’s dead whores. Today, it's a shrine to our own era’s outcast dead, where 50,000 people a year attend regular vigils led by a shamanic local writer and attach their own offerings to the site gates. PlanetSlade's latest free book is the most comprehensive history yet of this fascinating burial ground, and you can read it all at the link above. [more inside]
The Borough Mystery: Death of Dr William Kirwan (London, 1892)
For the past couple of months, I've been researching the final hours of Dr William Kirwan, a Victorian doctor strangled to death as he wandered the slums of London's notorious Southwark. Kirwan turned up there in the small hours with an alcoholic street whore one October morning in 1892, seeming barely to know who he was. He'd left a Canning Town pub perfectly sober the previous night, but never made it home. We don’t know what happened to him during that missing night, but we do know it got him murdered just a few hours later. [more inside]
The Ballad of Nasra Ismail
Since May 2009, PlanetSlade has been bringing you the true stories behind classic murder ballads like Stagger Lee, Knoxville Girl and Hattie Carroll. The site’s latest essay details my efforts to write a fresh set of lyrics in this old tradition, describing a real 2004 murder near my home in North London. The victim was a young Somali prostitute, picked up by her killer while working the streets around King’s Cross. Her death was barely reported at the time, which is one reason I decided to try and commemorate her in song. The folk singer Pete Morton liked my first set of lyrics enough to add some music and record them for me (free download here), and Iowa’s own Scott Riley shot some YouTube footage of himself performing my second version of the song – again, with his own music. PlanetSlade previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
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