This being the 100th anniversary of the death of Francis Galton (1822 – 1911), and having discovered that UCL‘s Galton Collection is not currently open to the public (due to staffing & relocation issues), I’ve delved into my photo album to bring you some pictures from my own visit to the archive a few years ago. Francis… [Read more…]
June 5, 2011
I am very excited at the prospect of a new college coming to Bloomsbury, powered by a team of international, academic all-stars. The New College of the Humanities will be based at the University of London, and will have the wonderful A. C. Grayling presiding as Master of the College. Anthony Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College (University of London),… [Read more…]
June 3, 2011
After a six year, £200 million restoration project by the Manhattan Loft Corporation, the former Midland Grand Hotel building has finally re-opened to the public as the 5-star St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel, part of the Marriott hotel group. Locals and commuters know the imposing Gothic Revival edifice, straddling Euston and Midland Roads in Kings Cross, as the gatekeeper… [Read more…]
May 28, 2011
Once home to the British Government’s Ministry of Information during WWII, architect Charles Holden’s 1930′s Art Deco structure now houses the School of Advanced Studies, administrative offices for the University of London, and the Senate House Library. Surrounded by Birkbeck College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the Institute… [Read more…]
May 6, 2011
For the homesick Australian, or the botanically curious, head to the forecourt of the British Museum for a pick-me-up dose of antipodean greenery and the scent of gum leaves. The Australian Season has kicked off with the opening of “The Australian Landscape”, put together with the help of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The garden is free, open daily… [Read more…]
April 27, 2011
What is a caryatid? If you’ve ever walked along Euston Rd, just past the northern edge of Bloomsbury, you will have probably seen them adorning the north side of St Parish Pancras Church. They can also be found on the south side. The church itself sits roughly midway between the British Library to the east, and… [Read more…]
April 16, 2011
The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour has become something of an institution in London. Running for many years in various locations and guises, it settled into its current home at the British Library in 2004, where readings are now held roughly once a month. Josephine Hart (above), an author with a background in the publishing world, hosts each event and provides thoughtful… [Read more…]
April 12, 2011
In the South Cloisters of the main building at University College London (above), is an unassuming wooden cupboard. Inside is the auto-icon of a philosopher. Dressed in his own clothes, and topped with a wax head (the original is preserved elsewhere in the college collections), he has proudly occupied the site since 1850, as specified in his will. The… [Read more…]
April 2, 2011
On the corner of the lovely Gordon Square and Byng Place in Bloomsbury is the imposing 19th century neo-Gothic Church of Christ the King. Built between 1851 – 1854 out of Bath stone, its cruciform-plan interior was designed by John Raphael Rodrigues Brandon (1817 – 1877), a British architect and author. The church was Grade 1 listed in 1954. Originally… [Read more…]
March 29, 2011
Question: What do Sydney, New Zealand, the antipodean novelist Katherine Mansfield, Prussian aristocracy, Bertrand Russell’s brother, Bloomsbury, Bette Davis, H. G. Wells and Hollywood all have in common? Answer: Elizabeth von Arnim. The woman who links all these things was born Mary Annette Beauchamp (1866 – 1941), in the New Zealand township of Kiribilly Point. Her parents, Henry Herron Beauchamp… [Read more…]
London Bytes
September 16, 2011
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