Mammoth Tree

This may be the biggest tree I’ve ever seen, but its absenc e of bark, leaves etc make it look more like an archaeological exhibit. Huge, ghostly, beautiful. I think it’s a former oak.

Lollapalooza

This strange word has done a lot of travelling in the past century. This is from Bob Stanley’s Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. It was chosen as the title for Janes’s Addiction’s farewell tour in 1991, which was more like a festival, with a wide selection of guest performers such as Siouxie and the Banshees, Nine Inch … Continue reading →

Nixon and Breeding Pandas

President Richard M Nixon was a world leader who had to keep on top of many things but his interest in pandas comes as a surprise. http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/richard-nixon-explains-how-to-get-pandas-to-have-sex.html

Something to Smile About: Judith Leyster Turns 405

Something to Smile About: Judith Leyster Turns 405. Yet another overlooked female

Miss Murray

This painting by the brilliant but largely neglected painter Sir Thomas Lawrence is the epitome of chocolate box art, but is, like all Lawrence’s images, dull of life and character. Gorgeous!

Abney Park

This was the first of the big London cemeteries to be entirely for non conformist, so open to all non Anglicans, with the ground not consecrated, though there is a big ruined Gothic chapel in the centre. This is lovely, includes a sundial, just in case. This one is full of water, topped with broken … Continue reading →

Don’t Mess With Her

Many 19th century graves have angels in various forms on them, or women in classical garb grieving over urns, but this woman in Abney Park stands out. She looks like she’s about to thump someone. Maybe a grave robber.

Still Robbing Graves?

Here’s an oddity. After the Anatomy Act was passed in 1832 allowing for the legal dissection of corpses, body snatching should have ceased. But few people willed their bodies to science, so the shortage of bodies to train surgeons continued. This is a very overgrown grave in Abbey Park cemetery, with what seems to be … Continue reading →

Bunhill Fields

Bunhill Fields, London history, non conformists, famous graves, graverobber stone, Defoe, Blake, Bunyan, Continue reading →

Learning From Herring Gulls

I really hate these creatures, or at least I hate what pur overfishing has made them. A while back I did a post on an injured one in Penzance. A few days back I had a strange encounter. Of was late and I was watering my plants when a noisy group of gulls swept in … Continue reading →