From Viscountess Boudica’s Album
A tender scene from the childhood of Viscountess Boudica
For the past seven months, Viscountess Boudica of Bethnal Green has been writing an autobiography – absurd, bawdy and magical by turns – in daily installments. Entitled There’s More to Life than Heaven & Earth, it is like nothing else upon the internet. Last week, the Viscountess and I met for a chat to take stock of her brave endeavour and select a few key excerpts.
“The blog is like justice in a way,” she confided to me. Ascribing her storytelling instincts to her Celtic roots, Viscountess Boudica is a latter-day Mother Goose, intertwining poignant tales of lost love with unexplained visionary encounters and broad comic stories to weave a mythological universe that is entirely her creation.
With an unerring instinct for the ironies of existence, Boudica reconciles herself to the painful contradictions of life by taking fearless narrative delight in personal humiliations others might choose to forget. Viscountess Boudica understands she can advance herself in actuality through becoming the author of her own story.
My clothes designing started down on the farm at five years old, when I was taking care of the pigs, Paul & Keith. When the cats were expecting, I used to hide them in the barn so my uncle wouldn’t drown them. They were all feral and interbred. I used to make clothes for the kittens and they lay in a pram which I used to wheel around the village. I tried to dress the pigs too, but it didn’t quite work out because they ripped them off and rolled in the mud.
Paul O’R, when I first met him, I asked if he was an Aries. So the second time I met him I took him a chocolate biscuit and – you know what – he said, “You look lovely,” and he bowed his head and I stroked his hair.
The Monks of Moreton. The engine of my car stopped and I saw all these monks crossing the road to the abbey. Apparently, it’s a well-known local sight.
Whatever happened to the old English sayings? They just don’t say, “What ho!” anymore, except in period films.
Paul B. said, do I fancy going to a barbecue and off we went to the wilds of Colchester. He was barbecuing sausages and there were four on the grill at one pound each. The one in the middle looked under-done and I am sure it winked at me. So I grabbed it to put some mustard on it and as I pulled it Paul’s eyes were watering.
Paul S., a white South-African, I met him in 1995 at Tesco in Tollerton. He’d had a row with his boyfriend and said, “Could you put me up for a couple of days?” As a present, he got me some flours as a joke when I expected flowers. Eventually, his boyfriend came to pick him up but they didn’t think it was so funny when I poured the flours over them.
I went into Des & Lorraine’s Shop in Bacon St and it was full of people. Then as I looked where Des was standing, I thought I’d seen this bloke somewhere before. It was quarter past three and my watch stopped and everything stopped and the man said to me, “Do you remember who I am? Do you remember that day in 1965 when you got banned from the farm?” It was Farmer Paul and recalled I used to sit on his lap as a child and I could feel something hard, and he used to put his hand on my chest and say, “It’s getting bigger.” He said to me, “Something’s going to happen, you’ll find out.” I ran out through the shop and my watch dropped on the pavement. He followed me and said, “I will come for you when you die.” So then I went home and rang Chris from Southend, and when he said his mother died at 3:15pm, I realised I had experienced some kind of vision.
One time, I went to Braintree Freeport to sell some photos and this sexy bearded train driver walked past the carriage.
There was this brickie called Eric in Braintree and he told me about this cottage on the A12, and I imagined a cottage with a thatched roof and roses round the door. But when I asked if I could come, he said, “It’s strictly for boys and we have prayer meetings.” So when I passed my driving test, I went to find this mystery building, but it wasn’t until years later that I discovered it was a public toilet.
My friend Ted in Braintree worked for the BBC and had a love of Islington, so he moved back to Finsbury Park and then Bounders Green. Four years later, after I moved to London on Halloween 1994, he was dead. Then, five years ago, I got on a train at Cambridge Heath and this guy got on at Seven Sisters and sat opposite me and smiled. He pulled out an old square mobile phone with an aerial and he kept looking at me. At Bruce Grove, he was gone, so I ran down the stairs and he was there. He said, “You remember who I was? There’s more to LIfe than Heaven & Earth.”
For thirteen years, I visited Keith at Lordship Cookers and held his hand outside the shop. That went on for years and I bought all these dodgy makes that never worked.
Now I’ve let go of the past, I’ve destroyed my diaries and got rid of my cookers but I’ll always have my memories. Since I changed my kitchen I got one of those ranges, because I’ve accepted that the Tricity 643 will never come.
The last time I saw Paul O’R from Sclater St was in 2009 on 21st December, and I went home and put his present under the tree but he never came to get it. Maybe this year?
Viscountess Boudica with the Christmas present she has kept awaiting its recipient for the past three years. Like the spirit of Christmas Present, Boudica travels with a fully decorated tree at this season.
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Viscountess Boudica’s Domestic Appliances
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Due To Popular Demand
Colin O’Brien’s Pellicci Portraits (Part Two)
Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien is becoming a weekly fixture at E. Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Rd – taking portraits of the lucky diners at London’s most celebrated family-run cafe. Yet what could be more appealing – as the temperature drops – than to escape into this cosy marquetry-lined sanctuary and feast upon meatballs, spaghetti and syrup pudding in the midst of some of the liveliest company the East End has to offer?
Stuart Faulkner with his sons Luke & Ben – “I used to work in the butcher’s next door. I came to Pelliccis when I was thirteen and now I’m forty-two.”
Shirley Pollock – “I’ve been coming her forever … since the eighties.”
Arren Baptiste – “I first came here years and years ago, when I was in my teens … at least five years. If I feel a bit down, I just come to Pelliccis…”
Henrietta Keeper – “I first came here in 1947 when my daughter Lesley was three. I remember Elide Pellicci, she was an old lady all in black.”
Albert Sadler – “I’ve been coming about fifty years, since I was Market Inspector in Bethnal Green.”
Lesley Keeper -“My mum brought me to Pelliccis when I was small and I always come once a week.”
Simon Menachy – “I’ve been coming here twenty years, I used to know old Mr Pellicci.”
Norah Nona – “I come every day. I’ve been coming here since I was twenty, about twenty years. I’m promoting this hat by Sharpeye.”
Rev Adam Atkinson of St Peter’s Bethnal Green – “If people left my church feeling as good as they do when they left Pelliccis, I’d know I’m doing my job! It’s full of the holy spirit.”
Carolyn Prior -“I’m from St Neots, this is my first time at Pelliccis.”
Norman Faw – “I’ve been coming for fifty-seven years at 7am every morning. My father brought me here when I was five years old and we had roast beef. He said, ‘Can you do that again?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’ and we did. There’s only one place to come in the Green and this is it.”
Kate Hale – “I’m from West London but I’ve been here a few times in the last five years.”
Robert Longstaff – “I’ve been coming here donkeys’ years, maybe twenty years? I come by all the time. After Hurricane Catriona, I went to New Orleans to show my Elvis tattoo in aid of the disaster fund.”
Julie Andersen – “I’ve been coming to Pelliccis on and off for a few years …”
Tony Salvatore – “I was born in Naples but I’ve been working at Pellicis in Bethnal Green since 11th July 1970.”
Photographs copyright © Colin O’Brien
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Colin O’Brien’s Pellicci Portraits ( Part One)
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Maria Pellicci, The Meatball Queen of Bethnal Green
and see these other Colin O’Brien stories
Colin O’Brien’s Clerkenwell Car Crashes
Colin O’Brien’s Kids on the Street
Travellers’ Children in London Fields
Colin O’Brien’s Brick Lane Market
A Walk Through Time In Spitalfields
Sandys Row from the north
After seeing the work of photographer C.A.Mathew published on Spitalfields Life, Adam Tuck was inspired to revisit the locations of the pictures taken a century ago. Subtly blending his own photographs of Spitalfields 2012 with C.A.Mathew’s photographs of Spitalfields 1912, Adam has initiated an unlikely collaboration with a photographer of a century ago and created a new series of images of compelling resonance.
In these montages, people of today co-exist in the same space with people of the past, manifesting a sensation I have always felt in Spitalfields – that all of history is present here. Yet those of a hundred years ago knew they were being photographed and many are pictured looking at the camera, whereas passsersby in the present day are mostly self-absorbed. The effect is of those from the past wondering at a vision of the future, while those of our own day are entirely unaware of this ghostly audience.
It is hard to conceive of the meaning of time beyond our own lifespan. But these photographs capture something unseen, something usually hidden from human perception – they are pictures of time passing and each one contains a hundred years.
Sandys Row from the south
Looking from Bishopsgate down Brushfield St, towards Christ Church
Steward St
Looking down Widegate St towards Sandys Row
Looking down Middlesex St towards Bishopsgate
From Bishopsgate looking up Middlesex St
In Crispin St
In Bell Lane
In Artillery Lane looking towards Artillery Passage
From Bishopsgate through Spital Sq
Frying Pan Alley
Montages copyright © Adam Tuck
C.A.Mathew photographs courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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The Chambers of Old London
Impending gloom at the Mansion House, c. 1910
Given the increasing volatility of meteorological conditions, as we head into another long winter in the northern hemisphere, and given the fact that rain which is falling upon the capital is falling as snow across the country, I think the only prudent course of action is to withdraw into one of the chambers of old London. Once the last meagre ray of December sunlight has filtered through the lace curtains, highlighting the dust upon the armoire, pull the brocade drapes close and bank up the fire with sea-coal. Stretch out upon the chaise langue, I shall take the sofa and my cat will settle in the fauteuil.
These glass slides once used for magic lantern shows by the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society at the Bishopsgate Institute reveal glimpses into the lavish chambers occupied by those at the pinnacle of power in old London, and I can only wonder what the East Enders of a century ago thought when exposed to these strange visions of another world.
State Room Chelsea Royal Hospital, c. 1920
Drawing Room at Lindsay House, Chelsea, former home of the Moravians, 1912
Hall at Fulham Palace, c. 1920
White Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Dining Room at Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Christians’ Sitting Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Prince Consort’s Writing Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Throne Room at St James’ Palace, c.1910
Prince Consort’s Music Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Prince Consort’s Tapestry Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Empress Eugiene’s Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Bow Saloon, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Prince Consort’s Writing Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Prince Consort’s Music Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Queen Victoria’s Dolls’ House, Kensington Palace, c. 1910
Holland House, c. 1910
Lord Mayor’s Room, Mansion House, c.1910
Drawing Room, Goldsmiths Hall, c. 1920
Drawing Room, Armourers’ Hall, c. 1920
Small Hall at Cordwainers’ Hall, 1920
Drawing Room, Goldsmiths’ Hall, 1920
Drawing Room, Salters’ Hall, c. 1910
Drawing Room, Mercers’ Hall, 1920
Drawing Room, Devonshire House, c. 1910
Ballroom at Devonshire House, c. 1910
Drawing Room, Whitehall Gardens, 1913
Prince Consort’s Dressing Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Belgian Suite Bedroom, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Prince Consort’s Study, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Bow Saloon, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Throne Room, Buckingham Palace, c. 1910
Vestry of St Lawrence Jewry, c. 1920
Glass slides copyright © Bishopsgate Institute
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City Reform Group
At the end of last week, on a winter’s day remarkable for the clarity of its light, the vestry room above the porch of Christ Church, Spitalfields, was filled with an expectant throng for the launch of the City Reform Group.
Their ambition is to restore the reputation of the City of London which has sunk to an all-time low in recent years with an endless grimy catalogue of misdemeanours exposed since the financial crash that brought the country to its knees. Grievous failings such as criminal manipulation of the markets, mis-selling of financial products, pilfering of pension funds and engineering of tax avoidance schemes on a grand scale are compounded in the public eye by a greedy bonus culture which flourishes unabated.
A year ago, the Occupy movement at St Paul’s Cathedral revealed that while the general populace recognises the City of London no longer serves the Common Good, the Corporation is complacent in its ability to serve itself handsomely. Working within the established channels, the City Reform Group endeavours to deliver change by encouraging new candidates – any citizen is eligible to stand – in the forthcoming March elections to the Common Council, and by inviting all candidates to sign up to seven pledges that outline their moral responsibility.
After a welcome by Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney, it fell to Father William Taylor (a figure well-known in Spitalfields), to introduce the speakers who represented the diverse range of social interests unified by the Group – Pula Houghton, Director of Which? The Consumers’ Association – Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors – David Davis, Member of Parliament – Giles Fraser, Ex-Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral – and David Pitt-Watson of the Royal Society of Arts.
Pula Houghton reported the results of a Consumer Association survey in which 71% of those questioned declared they did not trust the banks. Simon Walker of the Institute of Directors was eloquent in his commitment to Capitalism, Enterprise and the Free Market yet acknowledged that the concept of the Free Market must be turned back on itself so flaws in Corporate governance can be challenged. David Davis, who sat on the government’s Independent Panel on the Future of Banking, emphasised that he discovered many workers in the financial industries admitted the system forced them to do things they knew were wrong, yet had no Hippocratic oath – as other professions do – which gave them the authority to raise a challenge in the workplace.
It was Canon Giles Fraser who invoked the ancient right of Sanctuary upon the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral last year, permitting the protestors to stay and asking the police to leave, thereby becoming the catalyst for the camp which occupied the churchyard last winter. The subsequent conflict within the Church of England that led to the eviction of the camp also led to Fraser’s departure from St Paul’s. He is a passionate advocate of the need for a wider democratic involvement in the City to restore moral principles and ensure it acts for the Common Good. And, gazing from the windows of Christ Church towards the glass towers of the City gleaming in the November sunlight, Fraser confronted the audience with the harsh contrast between the vast wealth represented by the City and the deprivation in Tower Hamlets where 50% of children live below the poverty line.
The final speaker, David Pitt-Watson of the Royal Society of Arts, summed up the purpose of the gathering succinctly when he said, “This is not a protest, this is an election.” and he concluded by quoting Margaret Mead’s famous words – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world – indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
There are twenty-five thousand voters within the City of London and I understand that, even within corporations, a free vote is exercised – which means the potential is there and waiting for new candidates to reinvigorate Britain’s last Rotten Borough, where more than half the wards went uncontested in the last election. So I call upon readers to consider standing in the election next March. A non-party political organisation, the City Reform Group can offer advice to prospective candidates who wish to sign up to the seven pledges below.
Father William Taylor introduces the speakers.
Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney
David Davis MP and Giles Fraser Ex-Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral
Pula Houghton, Director of Which?
David Pitt-Watson, Royal Society of Arts
Photographs copyright © Simon Mooney
The Cats of Spitalfields
Contributing Photographer Chris Kelly is renowned for her volume of cat photography The Necessary Cat – A Photographer’s Memoir, so I asked her if she would make a survey of the cats of Spitalfields and today I am delighted to publish her pictures of local felines and their human slaves.
In the Bell Foundry Office, Whitechapel
Sooty the Bell Foundry Cat
Sooty the Bell Foundry Cat & Kathryn Hughes, Master Bell Founder
“Sooty came from a London charity called Paws for Life, they rehome elderly cats or those with medical problems. He was a fighting tom taken off the streets and is FIV positive. For the first few months here he just hid in corners, but the whole house is his domain now although heʼs not allowed in the foundry.
We got him to deal with the mice and he catches any that come out from under the cooker. He sleeps upstairs with our two girls and follows us around. Itʼs lovely to have him here, especially if any one of us is alone in the house.
We think heʼs about seven or eight. Heʼs fairly scarred and scabbed and half of one ear is missing. He likes to be king of the castle. Heʼs usually fine with girls, although heʼll give ours a nip if theyʼre a bit slow to put out his breakfast. He doesnʼt like men much, especially if theyʼre wearing big boots and he only comes down to the office when the men have gone home.
He loves listening to music but only piano music and singing, he hates the trumpet and violin. He sometimes sits on a chair near the piano when my daughter is playing.
Our previous cat Sandy walked in off the street and stayed for ten years. He was the complete feral cat, he could climb a vertical ladder in the yard and be away over the rooftops. He was never really ours. He was an excellent ratter and there were plenty of the nasty large creatures around when foundations were being rebuilt. Heʼd present them to us, of course.
We acquired the toy cat in the office when Sandy died. Itʼs very lifelike and a source of great amusement and cat jokes.”
Earl
Fitzroy & Rodney Archer
Earl & Fitzroy & Rodney Archer
“I was mourning my last cat for two years and I didnʼt want another cat. But then mice moved into the guest rooms upstairs, so I went to a cat rescue place just before Christmas last year. It was like an adoption agency – I had to be interviewed but there was no problem because Iʼve kept cats for forty years. They phoned me after a while and I had to explain that the cats were undergoing a personality change due to being renamed.
The black and white cat is Earl and the black cat is Fitzroy. Theyʼre named after good friends although one of them is allergic to cats. He does sometimes feed them when Iʼm away though. Because they werenʼt kittens, they came already formed but Iʼm beginning to love them although they do knock things off window ledges and I find vases on the floor. They get on pretty well together even though Earl tends to jump out at Fitzroy, and whereas Earl will sit on the bed, itʼs a huge honour if Fitzroy enters the room.”
Sparkly & Melanie & Harvey Denyer
Sparkly is a curious cat
Sparkly & Melanie & Harvey Denyer
Melanie – “Sparkly came from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home three years ago. Sparkly is quite famous in the area and even before we had the cafe he was always known as The Rag Factory cat. (The Rag Factory on Heneage St is used for rehearsals, filming, classes and exhibitions)
Then he became well known in the cafe too. He liked to be with the customers, and children from the local school would stop and talk to him. Unfortunately, we had a visit from the environmental health people and heʼs banned from the cafe now.
Sparkly was twelve weeks old when he came and my son Harvey was only three, but Battersea are fantastic about matching cats with families. Sparkly was a lot more forgiving then he might have been.
Our worst experience with Sparkly was when he disappeared from The Rag Factory last November. He was missing for five months. We think he must have got into a builderʼs van. He was found in Essex and taken to the PDSA but when they examined him the vet didnʼt find his chip. Then a local shelter fostered him but before he was rehomed he was scanned again and they found the chip. When he came back, he behaved as though heʼd never been away though heʼs a bit more of a homebody now.”
Harvey – “Heʼs my cat really. I named him. We were going to call him Sparkle but I accidentally said Sparkly.”
Carlos & Rupert Blanchard
Carlos & a piece of Rupert’s furniture
Carlos & Sofia & Rupert Blanchard & Polly Benfield
“Rupert Blanchard (cat person) met Polly Benford (dog person) in Swindon in 1999 and in 2003, they moved in together in Hackney.
The guys next door got a pair of cats to deal with mice, but moved to Mexico after having had the cats for only six months. Polly turned into a cat person because, she says, “Carlos is gentle and friendly like a dog” and we inherited the cats. The cats had been named Carlos and Sofia after King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. The first week we had Sofia and Carlos, they presented us with six mice. We havenʼt seen another one since, although one of the cats caught a moth recently.
They have a holiday once a year in the Wiltshire countryside with six other family cats. Just about everyone in the family has cats. Carlos always dominates.
We think they are brother and sister and are about eleven years old. Carlos is strong, healthy and very friendly but gets scared easily by the Hoover. He loves going out onto the rooftops. He also gets into every film and photo shoot possible. Sofia is always in and out of the vets, prefers life under the bed or on an Eames chair and is scared of new people. Both are much loved.”
Theodora
Theodora & Charlie de Wet
Theodora & Charlie de Wet
“Opera is my passion and Theodora is named after an opera. Maybe the next kitty will be called Aida, Nora or Maria Stuada!
Theodora, or “Dorable Dora” as she also is known, is my granny cat. She sleeps twenty-two hours of the day and night in front of the Aga dreaming. During the remaining two hours, always from 2.00am to 4.00am, she climbs three floors to tell me about these dreams. I get a swipe across my face to wake me up to listen. And then she plays like a kitten and relates every detail of her dreams. Aghhhh…but I love her dearly. When Theodora has told me everything she can remember she jumps off the bed and, if I am lucky, I get to sleep. If not, memories of all my furry family come flooding back – Puppy, Gorgeous Ginger Tom, Miss Gingerbits, Debbie & Greta, Dee Dee & Kennington. All were strays and some were in the most appalling condition, but they were all wonderful characters who shared and enhanced my life.
We were a five kitty household and Theodora is the last of that family. She and her sister Miss Fluff Bunny cost £5 each and came from Fiona Wheeler who, fourteen years ago, lived in Wilkes St. Mother Cat had several litters and so quite a few homes in the area have kitties who are related. Before Fitzroy and Earl moved in with Rodney Archer, he used to have a very fine cat called Horace who would drape himself around Rodneyʼs shoulders. He was a cousin of my girls and there must be many more of them …”
Bungy & Sammy Dobkin at Forest Reclaim
Shadow
Bungy & Shadow & Sammy Dobkin at Forest Reclaim
“Iʼve worked here for a couple of years. Itʼs a family business and Daniel the owner is my cousin. Bungy, the black and white cat and Shadow, the black cat, live on the premises. Theyʼre both good mousers and Shadow loves a pigeon. I feed them both – Shadow prefers dry food and Bungy likes wet food.
Shadow turned up about a year and a half ago. He could be from anywhere because he tends to jump into strange vans. Someone put Bungy through the fence when he was just a kitten and heʼs been here for about eight or ten years.
Customers like them and people who are passing often stop and talk to them, but theyʼre spending a lot of time in front of the fire at the moment.”
Madge in the office at Dennis Severs’ House
Madge & David Milne, Curator
The ashes of Madge’s predecessor are in the urn.
Madge & David Milne, Curator at Dennis Severs’ House
“Thereʼs always been a cat here, and the last three have been called Madge. The first Madge was buried in the back yard in September 1991, and the ashes of the second cat are in an urn in the Victorian room beneath a portrait of Dennis Severs.
The current Madge came from a rescue place in Hackney. She was a bit frightened at first but she was only a baby, so we kept her in the office then slowly took her out into the rest of the house. Now she has secret places all over the house, including the attic. We donʼt know where she goes.
Sheʼs often around during visits. Unfortunately, some people think sheʼs a prop and give her a prod. Sheʼll respond with a miaow or a nip. She often sits in the same places and the same chairs that the previous cat liked.
She knows we put food out when the visitors come and she likes licking the butter off the toast. And sheʼs been known to tip over the eggs and eat the yolk.
She likes to be outside on the terrace in warm weather. She has friends too. She goes into Tedʼs house next door. I donʼt live here but Dennis and I were good mates and I always enjoyed the house before I became Curator.
My own cat is an Oriental Havana with emerald eyes. I was on a waiting list for two years for that particular colour and her breeders said, “If she doesnʼt like you, you canʼt have her.” Luckily when I brought her home she came out of her box, had a look round and went to sleep. Sheʼs very possessive and if there are other people in the flat sheʼll bring something to me so that I notice her.”
Photographs copyright © Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly’s THE NECESSARY CAT – A PHOTOGRAPHER’S MEMOIR is available from many independent bookshops including Brick Lane Books, Broadway Books & Newham Bookshop.
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Chris Kelly’s Columbia School Portraits 1996
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