The lost house in the woods

I started this blog post last September and for some reason it has languished in my drafts folder since then. In the past few weeks so many questions about this house have popped up on my Facebook timeline as a result of more than the usual amount of people stumbling...

Doing my (little) bit to help the homeless

I have a confession to make. Before I started buying the Big Issue from the same person every week I was quite ignorant about homeless people. Shamefully I had never considered that there were many different reasons why people had ended up without a home because I had...

The Welhams of Walthamstow

Update: A more up-to-date version of this post was published in the Waltham Forest Echo in May 2020 and can be read on the following link. However although it was correct in the version I sent to the paper an error crept in after editing: ‘cheap workmen’...

Rat Killing at the Old Queen’s Head, Soho

I have a dilemma. Last night at London Historians’ excellent History in the Pub where 8 speakers talk for 8 minutes each on a pre-determined theme I gave my talk on rat killing matches in London pubs. This may appear to be a strange subject to talk about but as...