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Featured Posts

The story of London Tweed

So this is how the story goes. In 1826 a London merchant decides to buy some cloth from a weaver in Hawick, a town in the Scottish borders famous for its cloth production. Very happy with his order, he decides to get some more but – crucially – misreads the weaver’s dashed handwriting. Instead of ‘twill’ this Londoner reads ‘tweed’, and assumes this new cloth must take after the River Tweed which runs fast and clear through the textile areas of lower Scotland. ‘Tweed’ and not ’twill’ has been the term used ever since.

Bomber Jackets

A few weeks ago I found myself surrounded by fascists. I was on my way to the West End when at Tower Hill station a large group of French-speaking men with assorted girlfriends and wives (I presume) entered my tube carriage.

Christina Broom: A pioneering photographer

It is almost a year now since I first laid eyes on an extraordinary private collection of photographs by Christina Broom.

Heroism on display at the Museum of London Docklands

By acollinson on 22 Sep 2016

Richard Moore, George Cross winner, runs towards an exploding German parachute bomb.

A new display at the Museum of London Docklands tells a story of extraordinary bravery in east London during the Second World War. Vyki Sparkes, curator of social and working history, and Nick Moore, son of the man awarded a George Cross for his heroism, discuss the medals and the man awarded them.