Monday, August 8, 2011
The London Nobody Knows
BBC Radio 4 broadcast an interesting short programme tonight by Dan Cruickshank, in which the writer and broadcaster celebrates the work of Geoffrey Fletcher, author and illustrator of such as books as The London Nobody Knows. Fletcher's books, published between 40 and 50 years ago, explored and vividly evoked unregarded bits of London – pubs, markets, public lavatories, hostels, and other dark but lively corners – many of which have vanished now. Cruickshank visited some of the survivors (including a Deptford pie and mash shop, Wilton’s Music Hall, and Ridley Street Market) and talked to Iain Sinclair about Fletcher and his need to go “off-beat”. The short programme is worth catching on BBC’s iPlayer where it will be for about a week. In addition, my earlier post about Fletcher is here.
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6 comments:
I became unemployed in London when my first son was born, so money was even tighter than it was when both of us were working. I crawled around the streets and lanes of London, pushing the baby in his pusher. We found the most amazing pubs, markets and shopping arcades tucked away in places not advertised in the big guide books.
Alas that was in 1972... those places have probably been pulled down or tarted up since then.
oh dear, I do hope he didn't eat in Deptford's pie and mash shop. The interior is fabulous but the food is not up to much.
Hels: London is inexhaustible and you caught it at an interesting time, before the 1980s, when a lot of rampant "development" consigned many of these places to history. I'm grateful that I caught some of it in the mid-1970s. But there's still a lot still there, if you go off the beaten track.
Deptford Dame: I think he did, and made polite appreciative noises. But radio is a wonderful medium - you can't see the expressions on people's faces!
I visited Deptford a lot when I lived in SE London in the 19080s and early 1990s - went to shows at the Albany Empire and bought stuff in the market. I was never a fan of pie, mash, and liquor, though: my loss I suppose...
I remember seeing Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer performing in a pub in Deptford just before they 'made it' on TV. The place was packed and the show completely bonkers, with stuffed animals aplenty. I was living in Greenwich at the time (late 80s), with Canary Wharf taking shape across the river...
James: Wish I seen that Reeves and Mortimer show.
I too remember the relentless rise of the towers of Canary Wharf, observed from various points South of the River - especially from a friend's flat on the edge of Blackheath and from my regular rail journey to town from New Cross Gate, past the factories of the industries of a former age - paper bags, biscuits (fragrant with melted chocolate), malt vinegar, flags - all gone now I think.
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