Friday: Greater London - The Story of the Suburbs

Last night I attended a talk by genealogist and author Dr Nick Barratt, who is apparently one of the academics behind the popular BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? which personally speaking, I never watch because I find family tree delving really boring; my mother agrees with this view because one of her distant cousins discovered that a great deal of her ancestry featured in, her view, menial jobs such as nightsoilmen (peeps who emptied cess pits) and later on, lavatory attendants.  Anyway, as per usual, I digress - this event was organised by an organisation called Cityread London: http://www.cityreadlondon.org.uk/ who from their website, seem to do an awful lot of good work in conjunction with their funding body, The Arts Council England, The National Lottery and of course, support from various London Boroughs. 

As for the talk itself, well it would be fair to say that I was one of the youngest people in the audience, which I guess, is to be expected.  There were a few oddbods scattered around, for example, the couple sitting next to me were wearing matching anoraks and clutching old Morrison's bags stuffed with old clothing and I thought 'I bet they smell' and indeed, my instinct was correct - they did, an aroma of slightly off fish to be exact.  The woman, like my mother, had decided that a well-fitting bra is not really a high priority in life and clearly intellectual pursuits take precedence and she then started to ramble on about Ruth Ellis, Dr Crippen and other really random topics.  Her husband then started to read, in minute detail, the specific brewery titles on the blown up old shots of the borough which decorated the walls.  Fair enough - however a couple sat in front of me and the man had the worst case of dandruff I have ever seen and being a public sector worker for nearly twenty years now, I can confess that I've seen a lot of flaky skin in my time.  Sort.  It.  Out. 

Sorry, as usual, I've completely rambled off of the topic.  Right - Dr Nick's talk was really interesting and the top line messages were that London's suburbs formed because old settlements got caught up in urban sprawl.  The old manor houses were demolished, the land sold off to developers and every plot equated to one Parliamentary vote.  The most expensive housing tends to be in the west of London because the east is characterised by industry because of the prevailing west to east wind which travels along The Thames.  There was loads of other detail, but I decided to purchase the book at the end of the talk and asked him to sign it, which he duly did.

Hurrah for culture!