Bob Mazzer On The Tube Again
Today it is my pleasure to publish some of Bob Mazzer’s tube photographs which did not make it into the book, accompanying an invitation to his forthcoming lecture at Rich Mix next Monday 30th at 7pm. In the meantime, Bob’s debut exhibition runs at Howard Griffin Gallery, 189 Shoreditch High St until July 13th and copies of UNDERGROUND can be ordered online here
Photographs copyright © Bob Mazzer
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East End Lollipop People
Let us now praise the Lollipop People. Those benign spirits who arrive miraculously twice a day, like guardian angels or fairy godparents, glowing fluorescent, wielding their wands and shepherding their flocks safely across the road to and from school.
When the City of London & Cripplegate Photographic Society approached me offering their services to collaborate with Spitalfields Life, I knew at once that the Lollipop People would be the subject – to my eyes, they are unacknowledged, universally-loved, heroes and heroines who deserve to be celebrated and photographed.
Yet, getting to the right place at the right time and capturing these timid fleeting spirits, proved more challenging than we had anticipated. We discovered that, due to the Education Cuts, the Lollipop People are an endangered species and, such is the unassuming nature of these modest folk, some shunned the lens while others would not give their names.
Thankfully, through tenacity and charm, Cathryn Rees and Jean Jameson were able to produce this slim portfolio of elegant portraits that must serve as the historical record of these hardy, altruistic souls.
Frank Smith at Cubbitt Town School, Isle of Dogs (Photo by Cathryn Rees)
Sabah at Bigland Green School, Limehouse (Photo by Jean Jameson)
Abdul Rif at Caley Primary School, Bow (Photo by Jean Jameson)
At Cyril Jackson Primary School, Limehouse (Photo by Jean Jameson)
Jackie Clarke, St Peter’s School, Wapping (Photo by Cathryn Rees)
At Cyril Jackson Primary School, Limehouse (Photo by Jean Jameson)
Julie Hutchinson at Mayflower School, Poplar (Photo by Cathryn Rees)
Sabah at Bigland Green School, Shadwell (Photo by Jean Jameson)
At Redlands Primary School, Stepney (Photo by Cathryn Rees)
Photographs copyright © Cathryn Rees & Jean Jameson
Learn more about City of London & Cripplegate Photographic Society, London’s oldest photographic society, founded in 1899
Colin O’Brien’s London Life
There cannot be many photographers who have created the expanse of work that Colin O’Brien has done, documenting the changing life of London over seven decades – beginning as a child with a Box Brownie in Clerkenwell in 1948 and continuing today as a regular Spitalfields Life Contributing Photographer, taking the digital photos of the Druids for yesterday’s story.
A retrospective of Colin’s photography entitled London Life opens at Hackney Museum this week and today we preview a small selection of pictures from the show.
Car Breakers, Hackney Wick
Fish Shop, Chatsworth Rd in the eighties
Finsbury, 1951
Hackney, 1998
Old Dalston Station
East Enders Cafe, Hackney
Brick Lane in the eighties
Cafe, Battersea Park
Chatsworth Rd in the eighties
The Griffin, Shoreditch, on the last day of smoking in pubs
Tapping Harlem, Hackney Empire
Regents Canal, Hackney
Victoria Dwellings, Clerkenwell, in the fifties
Hackney, last day of the Routemaster on the 38 bus route
Old Kent Rd
Covent Garden, 2004
St Martin’s Lane
Battersea Power Station
Median Rd, Hackney
Rag & Bone Man, 1959
Colin O’Brien (left) at Sir John Cass School, Aldgate 1954
Raymond Scallionne & Razi Tuffano, Hatton Garden in 1948
Photographs copyright © Colin O’Brien
London Life runs at Hackney Museum until 30th August, Admission Free
Take a look at more pictures by Colin O’Brien
Colin O’Brien’s Clerkenwell Car Crashes
Travellers’ Children in London Fields
Colin O’Brien’s Brick Lane Market
Among The Druids On Primrose Hill
In the grove of sacred hawthorn
At Midsummer, Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien & I joined the celebrants of the Loose Association of Druids on Primrose Hill for the solstice festival hosted by Jay the Tailor, Druid of Wormwood Scrubs. As the most prominent geological feature in the Lower Thames Valley, it seems likely that this elevated site has been a location for rituals since before history began.
Yet this particular event owes its origin to Edward Williams, a monumental mason and poet better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg, who founded the Gorsedd community of Welsh bards here on Primrose Hill in June 1792. He claimed he was reviving an ancient rite, citing John Tollund who in 1716 summoned the surviving druids by trumpet to come together and form a Universal Bond.
Consequently, the Druids began their observance this year by gathering to honour their predecessor at Morganwg’s memorial plaque on the viewing platform at the top of the hill, where they corralled bewildered tourists and passing dog walkers into a circle to recite his Gorsedd prayer in an English translation. From here, the Druids processed to the deep shade of the nearby sacred grove of hawthorn where biscuits and soft drinks were laid upon a tablecloth with a bunch of wild flowers and some curious wooden utensils.
Following at Jay the Tailor’s shoulder as we strode across the long grass, I could not resist asking about the origin of his staff of hawthorn intertwined with ivy. “It was before I became a Druid, when I was losing my Christian faith,” he confessed to me, “I was attending a County Fair and a stick maker who had Second Sight offered to make it for me for fifteen pounds.” Before I could ask more, we arrived in the grove and it was time to get the ritual organised. Everyone was as polite and good humoured as at a Sunday school picnic.
A photocopied order of service was distributed, we formed a circle, and it was necessary to select a Modron to stand in the west, a Mabon to stand in the north, a Thurifer to stand in the east and a Celebrant to stand in the South. Once we all had practised chanting our Greek vowels while processing clockwise, Jay the Tailor rapped his staff firmly on the ground and we were off. A narrow wooden branch – known as the knife that cannot cut – was passed around and we each introduced ourselves.
In spite of the apparent exoticism of the event and the groups of passersby stopping in their tracks to gaze in disbelief, there was a certain innocent familiarity about the proceedings – which celebrated nature, the changing season and the spirit of the place. In the era of the French and the American Revolutions, Iolo Morganwr declared Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Association. Notions that retain strong resonance to this day.
Once the ritual wound up, we had exchanged kisses of peace Druid-style and everyone ate a biscuit with a gulp of apple juice, I was able to ask Jay the Tailor more questions.“I lost my Christian faith because I studied Theology and I found it difficult to believe Jesus was anything other than a human being, even though I do feel he was a very important guide and I had a personal experience of Jesus when I met Him on the steps of Oxford Town Hall,” he admitted, leaving me searching for a response.
“When I was fourteen, I went up Cader Idris at Midsummer and spent all night and the next day there, and the next night I had a vision of Our Lady of Mists & Sheep,” he continued helpfully,“but that just added to my confusion.” I nodded sagely in response.“I came to Druids through geometry, through studying the heavens and recognising there is an order of things,” he explained to me, “mainly because I am a tailor and a pattern cutter, so I understand sacred geometry.” By now, the other Druids were packing up, disposing of the litter from the picnic in the park bins and heading eagerly towards the pub. It had been a intriguing afternoon upon Primrose Hill.
“Do not tell the priest of our plight for he would call it a sin, but we have been out in the woods all night, a-conjuring the Summer in!” – Rudyard Kipling
Sun worshippers on Primrose Hill
Memorial to Iolo Morganwg who initiated the ritual on Primrose Hill in 1792
Peter Barker, Thurifer – “I felt I was a pagan for many years. I always liked gods and goddesses, and the annual festivals are part of my life and you meet a lot of good people.”
Maureen – “I’m a Druid, a member of O.B.O.D. (the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids), and I’ve done all three grades”
Sarah Louise Smith – “I’m training to be a druid with O.B.O.D. at present”
Simeon Posner, Astrologer – “It helps my soul to mature, seeing the life cycle and participating in it”
John Leopold – “I have pagan inclinations”
Jay the Tailor, Druid of Wormwood Scrubs
Iolo Morgamwg (Edward Williams) Poet & Monumental Mason, 1747-1826
Photographs copyright © Colin O’Brien
The next Pagan ritual on Primrose Hill will be held at Lammastide, 1pm on Sunday 10th August – more information from the Loose Order of Druids
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In Old Clerkenwell
In St John’s Path
At weekends, when the crowds throng in Spitalfields, I sometimes walk over to Clerkenwell. Apart from those carousing in Exmouth Market, the place is like a ghost town on Saturday & Sunday, leaving the visitor free to explore the streets in peace – as I did yesterday with my camera.
There is a particular ramshackle quality to this quarter of London that especially appeals to me, where every street is either winding around a corner or sloping away down the hill, or both. Many of my formative experiences as a writer occurred in Clerkenwell, since from 1990 I rented a tiny office in Clerkenwell Close for ten years or so, and went there every day to write. When I could not write, I wandered the streets which became familiar to me as the urban landscape of my contemplation and, over time, I learnt something of their history too.
I wander around Clerkenwell and I think about the Mystery plays performed by clerks on the Green in the medieval era, about how the Close still follows the former cloister of the Priory of St John, about Wat Tyler addressing his rebel force upon the Green, about Oliver Cromwell’s house in Clerkenwell Close that had orchards down to the Fleet River, about the monstrous Middlesex House of Detention where thousands met their deaths, about Joseph Grimaldi playing at Sadler’s Wells, about Charles Dickens sitting with his reporter’s notebook in the Court House, about Vladimir Ilyich Lenin having a drink in the Crown, about Arnold Bennett’s Riceyman Steps and George Gissing’s The Nether World – two magnificent Clerkenwell novels – and, more recently, I think of Colin O’Brien photographing car crashes in the Clerkenwell Rd.
In Britton St
St John’s Gate, where Hogarth’s father ran a Latin-speaking Coffee House
Old Court House, Clerkenwell Green, where Dickens served as a cub reporter
Door at the rear of the Court House
On Clerkenwell Green
St James, Clerkenwell, by James Carr 1792
At the rear of the church
The church gates
In Pear Tree Court
In Amwell St
In Wilmington Sq
In Clerkenwell Close, where Oliver met the Artful Dodger in ‘Oliver Twist’
The old wall of the former Middlesex House of Detention
St James Clerkenwell
Farmiloe Building, St John St
In Passing Alley
Finsbury Savings Bank, Sekforde St since 1840 – customers included Charles Dickens
Sekforde Arms, since 1838
Sekforde St
Sekforde Arms
In Hayward’s Place
Woodbridge Chapel
Gleave & Co, Watch Repair Supplies, Albemarle Way
In Herbal Hill
In Back Hill
The Castle in Cowcross St since 1830
Coach & Horses in Ray St since 1808
Clerkenwell Fire Station, formerly Britain’s oldest 1872- 2014
Our Most Holy Redeemer, Exmouth Market
In Exmouth Market
Exmouth Arms since 1825
In Cafe Kick
Farringdon Tool Supplies, Exmouth Market
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Hazuan Hashim’s Summer Whitechapel Skies
On Midsummer’s Day, we bring you up to date with Hazuan Hashim‘s latest meteorological photographic surveys from the eleventh floor of the tower block in Whitechapel where he lives. Recent months have been characterised by the prevalence of clouds overhead – yet Hazuan’s photographs encourage us to not be oppressed by overcast skies but to become connoisseurs of cumulonimbus.
22nd March, 6:14pm
23rd March, 12:51pm
4th April, 7:23pm
6th May, 9:53am
6th May, 9:54am
10th May, 4:46pm
10th May, 5:51pm
12th May, 2:09pm
12th May, 2:10pm
12th May, 7:59pm
13th May, 12:21pm
14th May, 3:54pm
20th May, 12:40pm
23rd May, 6:26pm
24th May, 1:54pm
1st June, 4:47pm
4th June, 12:49pm
5th June, 11:52am
5th June, 9:22pm
8th June, 8:49pm
9th June, 8:48pm
9th June, 9:19pm
11th June, 6:34pm
12th June, 6:42am
Photographs copyright © Hazuan Hashim
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The Summer Of Love 1814
Click Adam Dant & Jean-Baptiste Marot’s map to spot Prince Charles, The Beatles, Jane Birkin, Barbara Cartland, Georges Meliès, Marcel Proust, The Montgolfier Brothers, Pepé le Pew, Gerard Depardieu, Marcel Marceau, Béccasine, Serge Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve, José Bové, Brigitte Bardot, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Ubu Roi & Femen
In the Centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, Sir John Soane’s Museum celebrates the Bicentenary of the end of the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and France with an exhibition entitled Peace Breaks Out! which opens today.
Complementing the show, the Museum asked me to introduce them to some of the artists of Spitalfields Life, who have created new works to be shown alongside the historic artefacts and today I am publishing some of these creations with a few original items that inspired them.
Cartographer extraordinaire Adam Dant collaborated with his Gallic counterpart Jean-Baptiste Marot on a map in which each portrays the other’s culture. Alice Pattullo & Laura Knight have created prints inspired by objects in the exhibition, while Paul Bommer has made a series of themed Delft tiles. Romilly Saumarez Smith & Lucy Gledhill working as Savage & Chong are showing their jewellery and Bridie Hall is making a selection of decoupage using images from the show.
The English Family in Paris, Anon c. 1814
The English Family at the Museum in Paris, Anon c.1814
An Englishwoman tears her husband away from the attractions of Paris, Anon c.1818
The Englishman arrives in France, Godisart de Cari c.1814/5
The Englishman returns from France, Godisart de Cari c.1814/5
Frenchwoman after a meal in England, Anon c.1814
Frenchman after a meal in England, Anon c. 1814
Screenprint by Alice Pattullo, 2014 – “Many of the items in this exhibition are souvenirs celebrating the peace brought about at the end of the War. I thought it would be interesting to record these as a print, which in itself can become a souvenir of this exhibition, and commemorate the stylistic influences that crossed the newly-reopened channel from Paris.”
Peace of Paris jug, Bristol Pottery 1814
Mourning ring with lock of Napoleon’s hair presented to John Soane, 1822
Inscription on the ring by Elizabeth Balcombe who presented the ring to Soane
Plate from a Peace of Paris teaset, Coalport Pottery 1814
Brisé Opera Fan with a panel representing Peace, c. 1814 – made in China for European market
Purse given to Pugilist Gentleman John Jackson for sparring for the Emperor of Russia, 1814
Commemorative cup, transferware c. 1814
Screenprint by Laura Knight, 2014 – “The Napoleonic period is a huge subject of which I have only touched the surface,but the uniforms stood out immediately for me as highly decorative,theatrical and impractical,reflecting the many ways in which these wars were choreographed,staged and played out.”
Pages from Laura Knight’s sketchbook, 2014
Medal for the disbanding of the Bethnal Green Volunteers, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of the Pagoda at the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of Sadler’s Balloon Ascent at the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of the Royal Booth at the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of the sham fight on the Serpentine at the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
John Fairburn’s illustration of the sea battle on the Serpentine at the Grand National Jubilee, 1814
Jubilee Trunk made in Hyde Park during the fair, 1814
View of the Excise Office as illuminated on 9th, 10th & 11th June 1814
Card by Laura Knight, 2014
PEACE BREAKS OUT! runs at Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lincoln’s Inn Fields from today until 13th September
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Adam Dant’s Map of the Coffee Houses
