I think anyone would be hard pressed to think of a better candidate to be memorialised in Theatreland than Agatha Christie. Of course, her enduring association with Theatreland is her murder mystery play, The Mousetrap, which has been running here continuously for 65 years (2017), or 60 years and 25,000 performances of the play when this memorial was dedicated in 2012. Continue reading “Agatha Christie Memorial”
It is amazing, in some many ways, to think that in a city the size of London with so many things to see and do that I would actively seek out and write a review on a coat hook. Well I did and here it is! Continue reading “Where Does One Hang Ones Cape?”
My review on the Great Dangaroo Flood introduced my reader to a memorial plaque in Old Compton Street, Soho commemorating a totally fictional flood. This review covers another great London flood which, while sounding equally fanciful, was a real event. I refer to the Great London Beer Flood.
At around 6pm on 17 October 1814 a 15 feet high tsunami of around 1.5million litres of beer unleashed itself from the Horse Shoe Brewery (depicted above in the mid 1800s), owned by Messrs Henry Meux and Co, in the St Giles district of London – the present day site of the Dominion Theatre. Continue reading “The Great London Beer Flood”
While probing the east end of Old Compton Street in search of evidence of the former Little Compton Street I happened to look up and spy a brass plaque, attached about 4 metres from the ground, on Number 7.
Squinting my eyes somewhat I was able to ascertain that the plaque marked the high water mark in the Great Dangaroo Flood, an event that heretofore I had never heard of. The plaque left me somewhat mesmerised and further investigation ensued. Continue reading “The Great Dangaroo Flood”
Two signs in a utility tunnel under Charing Cross Road are the only visible evidence of the existence of the former Little Compton Street. To see the signs you need to look down through the metal grating on the traffic island at the intersection of Old Compton Road and Charing Cross Road. Continue reading “Where Has Little Compton Street Gone?”
This small, and as its name might suggest, mainly freshwater aquarium is located on the outskirts of the city just a few minutes drive from the Craigavon Bridge, heading towards Strabane. Continue reading “The Riverwatch Aquarium and a Dugout Canoe”
In choosing a feature picture for my introductory Derry review I choose a picture of this sculpture (the one above) as it is a memorial to nothing, a commemoration of nothing but rather a work that sides with nobody and asks one to look forward to the future with hope and high expectation. Continue reading “Hands Across the Divide”
Fountain Estate (or The Fountain) is the last remaining Protestant community on Londonderry’s (as the approximately 500 Loyalist residents most assuredly call it) cityside. A Unionist island in a Nationalist sea, if you will. Continue reading “An Angel in The Fountain”
While this review is about a department store I have rarely had cause to shop here – my interest is in its history. I detest shopping.
Very few of my readers will have heard of Austins Department Store. Continue reading “Austins – The World’s Oldest Department Store”
The square at the centre of the walled City of Derry, the point at which the four main streets from the four original city gates converge, is called the Diamond and is the former location of various civic buildings and a market. In fact, three former town halls were located here. In 1904 a fire in Austin’s Department store on the Diamond (the building behind the war Memorial in picture one attached) also destroyed the town hall from which point the Diamond then hosted a small garden. Continue reading “War Memorial – On the Diamond”
The Rambling Wombat 