Richard the Third, Prince Charles, Magna Carta: Institutionalised Deference
It’s a Marcusian unification of opposites thing yet again, I suppose, The ‘One Dimensional Man’ state of neutered beatitude That arises from an appearance of liberty and illusion of freedom: For example, everyone beyond the ‘Mail, UKIP, the Sun and Telegraph Is at...
‘Landmarks’ and the Stroud Valleys (a local perspective on Robert Macfarlane’s new book)
Robert Macfarlane writes of topograms, Descriptive signifiers of the landscape That act as tiny poems, conjuring ‘scenes’, With words that act as ‘Landmarks’, Nuanced terms that evoke the uniqueness And particularity of a landscape, A lexis both descriptive and...
Oral History: Stratford Park Trees (and beyond)
I interviewed Ron about late twentieth century and early new millennium history in October 2011, at J Rool café. He started the story with the Stratford Park Tree Campaign; this ran from late 1988 to January 1990. It was the first national occupation of trees so as to...
The Lodger: History and Sociology
I can’t remember where I once read a piece about ‘the lodger’ as an archetype within British society, but I think I can recall the sociological and historical essentials: ‘the lodger’ sits squarely within late Victorian society, and then stretches his/her legs through...
Miniature Museum of Museums by Tara Downs and Bart Sabel
Miniature Museum of Museums Take the imagination of two Blakes, Add the wheels and cogs of Newton’s physics, The electric magic of Frankenstein – Then secrete the Stroudwater cloth mills, Within the shadowed drawers of a table; Take a metaphorical orrery,...
I was borne in Stroude in 1602, the fifth sonne of Charlotte Alice Bingham and Samuel Benjamin Bingham.
This is my laste depositionn ande statemente. I was borne in Stroude in 1602, the fifth sonne of Charlotte Alice Bingham and Samuel Benjamin Bingham. I have lived inne the reignnes of a queenne, three kings and a commonwealth. My storyye starts whenne the Archbishop...