The London Nobody Knows

James Mason in Spitalfields 

Flower and Dean Street

A few years ago I wrote a short blog about a film called Glasgow 1980, a surreal documentary about what Glasgow would look like once the council bulldozed the history and built ‘cities in the sky’. Fortunately, although they did succeed in ruining much of the city’s heritage, their full vision remains incomplete. The film is mostly forward looking; there’s not much history.

In contrast, The London Nobody knows, which you can watch here, is an equally chilling film, presented by James Mason, which tells the story of London’s past and present, as it was in 1969. There’s something so unsettling about this film.The scene showing where the second of Jack the Ripper’s victim was found deserves a special mention. As does the scene with the meths drinkers. Every time I come across it online I watch it and it never fails to leave me feeling a bit haunted.

I’m fascinated by London history (as you might have guessed). Fortunately for me, there are so many brilliant blogs online dealing with different aspects of the city’s history. My favourites, in no particular order are:

The MASSIVE Victorian London website written and  maintained by Lee Jackson, which you can find here.

Another Nickel in the Machine, which mainly deals with the underbelly of the twentieth century metropolis,written by Rob Baker which you can find here.

Georgian London, written by Lucy Inglis which you can find here.

Spitalfields Life, written by The Gentle Author which you can find here.

I’ll be in London for five days when I attend the Monarchy symposium and I’ll have two of those days to myself. I LOVE traipsing around London on my own, or with people who have equal stamina and enthusiasm, it’s a complete luxury and every time I visit I try and sneak in a day just to walk. I’m furious with my 18 year old self, who was a student in London for three years and spent all three years hanging around pubs talking crap.