Homerton – Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder

Mechanical musical instrument invented for the 1851 London Great Exhibition by Henry Mayhew

He also coined “flaxen Saxon.” With other absurdities.

Is the Cibber piper in the V&A a notorious plague-pit drunkard?

Featuring O du lieber Augustin, the Thomases Dekker and Middleton, Daniel Defoe and various disreputable beggars and foreigners.

Cibber's blind(?) piper (dog bottom left) in the V&A.

Brenda strikes back

“Don’t waste your time on obscure contemporary composers, John,” she said.

Barrel organ available for losing bettors on the Iowa caucuses

Exemplary punishments from the 1892 US presidential election.

Seniorita’s sauna and massage parlour, Chatsworth Road, Clapton, London

Google Brain is rounding off this blog’s already manifest redundancy, so let’s treasure the linguistic ineptitude of Seniorita’s while we may: Seniorita’s is of course advertised on pimpsites as a brothel (grab). This supposed punter lacks the apostrophes to make it in the grocery trade: Senioritas At 2 chatsworth rd london E5 you will find…

Hackney Brook restoration scheme

Iain Sinclair wrote of when “global warming rolls a warm sea [up] the course of the old Hackney Brook.” The flow’s going to be the other way. Let me explain.

Tag: Homerton

Mechanical musical instrument invented for the 1851 London Great Exhibition by Henry Mayhew

Tweets for February 2016

Is the Cibber piper in the V&A a notorious plague-pit drunkard?

Brenda strikes back

¡A por los títeres!

Barrel organ available for losing bettors on the Iowa caucuses

Tweets for January 2016

Seniorita’s sauna and massage parlour, Chatsworth Road, Clapton, London

Hackney Brook restoration scheme