Tag: War
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The Peregrine of St. Pauls
The Museum of London has a fabulous Peregrine Falcon. It is however, dead. I saw this bird of prey when I visited the Beasts of London exhibition in 2019 and there was something terribly sad about seeing a creature, although long deceased, stuffed, mounted and displayed in a way that does not reflect the nature…
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Murder on the Piccadilly Line
Gloucester Road Tube Station. The eastbound platform of the Piccadilly Line. You don’t know it, but you’re actually stepping into a crime scene. Being London, that’s hardly surprising. But the crime that happened here was inexplicable in the sense that there was no known motive, no witnesses and no clue. The story starts here, but…
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Gruesome Tales, This Thursday!
The scene that met the Policemen made them collectively shudder. Robert and Nathaniel Coombes were calmly playing cards downstairs. Their mother was nowhere to be seen. But she was in the house. Upstairs, lying in bed, actually. Murdered. Her face had been largely devoured by maggots while rats had eaten her brain, heart and right…
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Scar of the Somme
One hundred years ago tomorrow, a terrible event happened that would change the face of British warfare, forever robbing the lives of men and boys, not to mention sons, daughters, nieces and nephews who would never get the chance to be born. This week, we invite Westminster Guide Charlie Foreman of London War Walks to give…
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Horror in The Dark – The Bethnal Green Tube Station Disaster of 1943 and its Memorial
by Christina It’s funny- you can live in London for years, and every so often you still come across an area of the city you have never been to and know nothing about. I have lived on the outskirts of London for most of my 32 years, and I had never been to Bethnal Green…
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Murder, War & Gore: A Trip to the Long-Gone East End
by Sheldon Ticket alert! In two weeks time we’ll be kicking off our touring schedule for 2016 with our highly popular tour of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park! Opened as the last of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ Cemeteries in 1841; Tower Hamlets wasn’t quite the success its shareholders had hoped for – the rich flocked to West…
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On Horse Guard’s Parade
by Sheldon The weather was ‘dull, but fine’ on the morning of Saturday 26th October, 1926. It was quite a sight to see. We’re familiar with Horse Guards Parade being the centre of military parades, even hosting the Beach Volleyball tournaments of the Olympic Games just under 4 years ago, but on that day, amid…
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Normandy in Colour – A Photo Post
by Christina Cemeteries can be quite bleak, somber places. Understandable, given what they are and what they symbolise. When I think about war cemeteries, this is the sort of thing I imagine – somewhere quiet and bleak and sombre. Recently I went to Normandy with Dan and we visited Bayeux War Cemetery and the…
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Look Forward, Feel Free, Rejoice in Life, Cherish the Children, Guard My Memory
by Christina The title of this post is taken from a letter written by Winston Churchill in July 1915 and addressed to his wife. He sealed the letter in an envelope and marked it ‘To be sent to Mrs Churchill in the event of my death’. This year, London is full of poppies. The moat…
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A Selection of World War One Words and Pictures
by Christina We’ve been thinking a lot about World War One this month, and looking at all the different ways there are to remember and commemorate. Sheldon has looked at the lives of some notable people that lived, worked and fought during WW1, as well as some striking cenotaphs and war memorials that can be…
Cemetery Club 