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Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace. Photo: my own. Well, I finally made it inside Buckingham Palace. It was getting to be a bit weird that I’ve visited Versailles umpteen times now but have never set foot inside our...
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Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde
Monna Vanna, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Photo: Tate Britain. After my amazing visit to Buckingham Palace, I decided to walk down to Millbank to view the new Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde...
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A look at the Ripper Centenary in 1988 by John Bennett
Still from From Hell, 2001. This is a guest piece by Ripperologist and historian, John Bennett, who gave such a wonderful talk about his experiences as an East End tour guide at the recent Jack the...
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Mumsnet Blogfest 2012
Caitlin Moran at Blogfest. Photo: Mumsnet Bloggers Network I have returned from a rather amazing, often surreal but always inspiring two days in London and, as always, have hastened here to spill the...
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CSI: Whitechapel
There are some superb new books about the Whitechapel murders of 1888 this year, including Rob House’s Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard’s Prime Suspect and Neil R. Storey’s The Dracula...
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The Bletchley Circle
I watch very little television all things considered and tend to limit my viewing to films on DVD or BLu-ray, old crime series on Netflix and the occasional drama. It’s very rare that I will watch...
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Elisabeth Stride, 27th November 1843-30th September 1888
Graffiti on Henriques Street. Photo: my own. On the night of the 29th September 1888, forty four year old Elisabeth Stride, a slight woman of 5ft 5ins with blue eyes and curling brown hair, familiarly...
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It’s War (part one of my grandmother’s war stories)
Photograph of my grandmother in Trafalgar Square, c1953. Photo: my own. I went to visit my grandfather in Winchester at the weekend and was thrilled to find a folder containing the short stories that...
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Eric
My grandmother in Trafalgar Square c1950, about five years after the events in this story. Photo: my own. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! As a bit of a treat, here’s another story from my...
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Ripper Street
Well, after months of hype and much speculation, we were finally treated to the first episode of Ripper Street on BBC1 this evening. I’ll be honest that I didn’t have very high expectations of the...
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A Humble Companion
Even though my interest tends more towards eighteenth century France, I still have a certain fondness for shenanigans across the Channel in my own rather less than sunny England and in particular the...
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The Royal coronation dress
Photo: Royal Collection. Excitingly, the Royal Collection has just announced that as well as the frankly fabulous In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion exhibition, the gorgeous dress and...
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Why I love Ripper Street
I know that I wasn’t all that impressed with Ripper Street (and I’ll admit that as a Ripperologist I was probably looking for reasons to carp and grumble to be honest) at first but as the series has...
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Frances Coles
Today marks the anniversary of the murder of Frances Coles on the 13th of February 1891, which is generally held to be the last in the cycle of grisly crimes against women known as The Whitechapel...
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Winter at Death’s Hotel
Oh gosh, I have been neglecting this blog, haven’t I? How have you all been? I’ve been moving house, which has been by turns triumphant and also hideous. Mostly hideous, to be honest. However, it’s...
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Save the Marquis of Lansdowne!
SAVE THE GIN! Wearing my Cockney necklace with PRIDE here – I may not have been born in the East End but I was raised by a bone fide Cockney and have always considered myself one culturally. As you...
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Book Five
Christ Church Spitalfields. Photo: my own. I’ve had some really really bad news this week about a family member that I’m very fond of and am having a bit of trouble digesting it. It’s been a time for...
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Meet the heroine – Clara Lee
I thought I would take a break from weeping over the seventh chapter of The Ripper Book in order to chat a bit about my other heroine, Clara Lee whose life in Whitechapel is rather less fancy than...
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The Banqueting House
After feasting my eyes on the delights of In Fine Style in the Queen’s Gallery, I headed off by foot to Whitehall in search of the Banqueting House, where I intended to continue my day of Stuart...
View ArticleWriting update – The Ripper Book
The women of Whitechapel arming themselves against the Ripper. Nice work ladies. Photo: The Museum of London. I’ve been neglecting this blog a bit, haven’t I? Sorry about that. The fact of the matter...
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