Category Archives: History

The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life

By tim | Published: 02/02/2012

‘In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London.’ With these words the Spitalfields Life blog was born, back in August 2009.

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Comfortable among the clouds

By tim | Published: 24/01/2012

Joseph Roth’s What I Saw captures his impressions and observations as he wanders Berlin in the years between the two World Wars. He re-constructs the city before the reader’s eyes. But it’s very much his Berlin – one moment a hard reality of stone and traffic, the next a floating world of dizzying shapes and elusive symbols.

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Buskers told to Foxtrot Oscar

By tim | Published: 22/01/2012

‘Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.’

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Consider yourself at home

By tim | Published: 16/12/2011

This is one of my favourite customer service signs, complete with seasonal make-over. You’ll find it in Gaddis & Co, in Luxor, Egypt.

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Mad in America

By tim | Published: 25/11/2011

From Bedlam to chemical lobotomies; this is a harrowing history of the way people with mental illness have been treated in the US and other developed countries.

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WORDSTOCK – One Amazing Day

By tom | Published: 14/10/2011

WORDSTOCK began as a twinkle in our collective eyes at a 26 Board meeting: Could it be possible to attract 70 people who are mad about writing and communications to a wordstorming Saturday somewhere in central London? And if so, who so, where so, when so? Approaching likely punters was the easy bit because 26 [...]

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Writer’s block

By tim | Published: 13/09/2011

The Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown was sculpted by Arthur Fleischmann, who pioneered carving in Perspex. It is the largest solid block of Acrylic in the world. It was originally made in 1968 for Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001 – A Space Odyssey”

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Fighting for life

By tom | Published: 02/09/2011

Just back from Copenhagen with this interview of Leena Alam by the Danish journalist Lise Thorsen. Leena is an Afghan phenomenon; actor, director and human rights campaigner in a country where the Taliban terrorise anyone involved in dance, music, theatre and film. Lise was visiting Afghanistan on behalf of the Danish Centre for Culture and [...]

Also posted in Art, Campaigning, Free speech, Politics, Writing | 1 Comment

A brief sunshine

By tim | Published: 30/08/2011

So, the installation you can see in the image above is by Joseph Kosuth, and you’ll find it in Southwark. The words are from the closing chapter of Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.

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Postcards from Paradise

By tom | Published: 07/07/2011

Who needs the hassle of traffic jams, rammed airports, heaving ferries and bloated beaches when you can hang out at the Southbank. This glorious rolling festival has been the hit of the summer with thrilling exhibitions, ambush fountains, curious pavilions, an allotment in the sky, and an intriguing language installation that has set everyone talking [...]

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