Spitalfields Life

I believe I was born with a medieval imagination.

This is the face of the dead man in Clerkenwell.

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We remember the late and much-loved Malcolm Johnson, author of Crypts of London, who wrote this brief history of crypts.

More than twenty years have passed since my father died at this time of year and thoughts of mortality always enter my mind as the nights begin to draw in, as I prepare to face the spiritual challenge of another long dark winter ahead.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Roger Clarke tells the tale of Georgiana Eagle, Wizard Queen and Mesmerist, and Curse of Vicky’s Ticker .

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The temperature is plunging and I can feel the velvet darkness falling upon London.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours East End Riverside As you will have realised by now, I am a night bird.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The rain is falling on Spitalfields, upon the church and the market, and on the streets, yards and gardens.

An exhibition, Black Limehouse Lives, The Black Experience and Parish Life through the Lens of St Anne’s Records (1730-1830), runs at St Anne’s Limehouse on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-4pm until 20th February.

In my imagination, Joan Lauder (1924-2011) was a mysterious feline spirit in human form who prowled the alleys and back streets, a self-appointed guardian of the stray cats and a lonely sentinel embodying the melancholy soul of the place.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours G.Kelly in happier days This week, I was so saddened to confront the long-closed-up premises of G.

I am proud to publish these excerpts from THE SILVER LOCKET by a graduate of my writing course.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours If you are looking for TV repair in the East End, I recommend you visit Master Tech in Heneage St off Brick Lane – where, not only will the job be done expertly and at a fair price, but most importantly you…

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Click to enlarge Sometimes in London, I think I hear a lone dog barking in the distance and I wonder if it is an echo from another street or a yard.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Favourite illustrator Alice Pattullo has just completed two projects on the subjects of fire and ice in the history of the City of London.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Now that Whitechapel Station has been completely rebuilt and the new Elizabeth Line is fully operational, few remember how it used to be half a century ago but photographer Philip Cunningham recorded the va…

I am proud to publish these excerpts from GRAVE STORIES by a graduate of my writing course.

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Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours In my opinion, Jim Howett is the best dressed man in Spitalfields.

Readers may recall that I visited Brunswick House in Vauxhall to interview Adrian Amos, the founder of London Architectural Salvage & Supply Company (LASSCO), earlier this year.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Years ago, I became enraptured by a hundred-year-old collection of four thousand lantern slides.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The poet Andy Stroman sent me these reminiscences of his childhood in Whitechapel in the nineteen-fifties Andy Stroman aged four on the doorstep in Milward St My brothers Paul, Howard and myself occupied one

Photographer Lucinda Douglas-Menzies has published a limited edition monograph of her portraits taken between 1978 and 2025, including some distinguished cultural luminaries alongside Spitalfields stalwarts.

I am proud to publish these excerpts from CHERRY’S CACHE by Cherry Gilchrist, a graduate of my writing course.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The kiln Brick Lane takes its name from the brick works that once filled Spitalfields and I always wondered how it was in those former times.

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The Drawing Room As long ago as 1180, the Drapers in the City of London formed a Guild to protect their interests as small traders and help members who fell into distress.

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Last City of London tour of the season tomorrow.

Police disperse anti-fascist protestors at the Battle of Cable St, 4th October 1936 Commemorating the ninetieth anniversary of the Battle of Cable St, Solidarity on the Streets an exhibition documenting East Enders’ enduring resistance to racism and fasci…

I am proud to publish these excerpts from THE OXFORD SAUSAGE by a graduate of my writing course.

Click here to book for my tours Often when I set out for a walk from Spitalfields, my footsteps lead me to the crossroads outside the Bank of England , at the place where Richard Jefferies – a writer whose work has been an enduring inspiration – once stoo…

Click here to book for my tours In response to the nights closing in, I have been spending more time under my quilt.

Click here to book for my tours Vivian & Toto outside The Primrose You will not meet many who can boast the distinction of being brought up on the teeming thoroughfare of Bishopsgate but Vivian Betts is one who enjoyed that rare privilege, growing up above

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Click here to book The door to Parliament Look at all the doors where the dead people walked in and out.

Yesterday, I cycled over Tower Bridge to join the happy throng at Surrey Docks Farm in Rotherhithe where Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project have installed three new mosaics.

Regular readers will be aware of the superlative work of Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project and the book we published last year celebrating their achievements.

Click here to book Delwar Hussain writes about his mother’s horticultural activities in Puma Court Arful Nessa in her garden in Puma Court My mother is the first to admit that when it comes to growing anything, the success rate cannot be predicted – some…

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours of Spitalfields, Whitechapel & The City By coincidence, two readers – Christine Osborne & Janice Oliver – both sent me photographs of their ancestors who produced and sold soft drinks in the East End – Bran…

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CLICK HERE TO BOOK Near Battlebridge, Middlesex As the equinox approaches and autumn closes in, I get the urge to go to ground, hiding myself away in some remote cabin and not straying from the fireside until spring shows again.

Click to book Here is Tom Fellows at eighty-six years old, squinting into the light with a half-smile that betrays a circumspect nature honed by a lifetime driving a cab around London.

Click here to book Today we preview the annual Pearly Kings & Queens’ Harvest Festival, gathering in Guildhall Yard this Sunday 20th September at 1:30pm followed by a service at St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside On the last Sunday afternoon in September, the Pe…

It was my pleasure to cycle down to the Cinema Museum in Lambeth recently and meet one of the founders, Martin Humphries, to write a feature for The World of Interiors about the campaign to buy the former workhouse where Charlie Chaplin was confined as a…

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Roman London is still under construction From Spitalfields, you have only to walk down Bishopsgate to find yourself in Londinium, since the line of Bishopsgate St follows that of Ermine St which was the maj…

Click here to book One of these streets’ most-esteemed long-term residents summoned me to view an artefact that few have seen, the fabled Spitalfields Bowl.

Click here to book Detective Constable Tassell of the City of London Police Serious Fraud Squad magically escorts us forty-three years back in time and onto the roof of Britannic House in Ropemaker St to enjoy the view “In the summer of 1983, I was part of

Click here to book My attention has been drawn to this collection of specialist lingo associated with an area of passionate interest – pubs and beer – and so I offer this selection today lest it may be of use to any of my readers who might be planning to…

Tours include tea and freshly baked apple strudel at the Whitechapel Gallery.