September – December 2015
TALKS & TOURS Featuring:
WATER-CREASY! SIX BUNCHES A PENNY,
SWEET LAVENDER!
ONE A PENNY, TWO A PENNY, HOT CROSS BUNS !
HOT SPICE
GINGERBRE AD! HOT- HOT- HOT! SWEEP! NEWS! SWEEP HO!
SWEEP! GREEN LARGE
CUCUMBERS TWELVE A PENNY
Knives, combs or
inkhorns
GREAT NEWS!
IN THE LONDON GAZETTE!
POTATOES!
THREE POUNDS A PENNY, POTATOES !
EELS!
THREE-PENCE A POUND!
LIVE EELS! SIXPENCE A POTTLE, FINE STRAWBERRIES!
CHAIRS TO MEND! PAST TWELVE O’CLOCK, – ANY OLD CHAIRS AND A CLOUDY TO MEND! MORNING!
COLLY-FLOW-ER! Choice Banbury Cakes! Nice Banbury Cakes!
WILL YOU BUY MY SWEET VI-O-LETS? buy a broom! Buy a birch broom
Come hawkers, costermongers and street sellers to Bishopsgate Institute this autumn. From the Elizabethan era until the 20th century artists produced prints capturing the realities of life for street traders in London. Inspired by these remarkable prints and the history and politics of street trading, we present the Cries of London series in collaboration with The Gentle Author of East End culture blog Spitalfields Life. Meet today’s market traders and pedlars, examine what the future holds for London’s local markets with Julian Dobson and take a ‘butcher’s hook’ at the emergence of Cockney rhyming slang with Jonathon Green, lexicographer of slang. Don’t miss the accompanying exhibition and the concluding talk in the series by The Gentle Author based on The Gentle Author’s Cries of London, published in November.
In focus too are our archives, from talks and tours of the collections to an in-depth look at black British ephemera with Patrick Vernon OBE. Finally, Dr Matthew Green takes us on a time travelling journey through 800 years of London’s history, we go back to the 1980s with Andy Beckett and Ken Livingstone and revisit the triumphs and disasters of Livingstone’s Greater London Council, and DJs Dave VJ and Lindsay Wesker recall the evolution of British black music radio in Masters of the Airwaves. We look forward to seeing you at Bishopsgate Institute this season.
We continue the street life theme in our series of Modern Magic Lantern Shows putting three photographers whose work focuses on London and the East End in the spotlight. Explore Whitechapel with Phil Maxwell, take a look back over seven decades of London life with Colin O’Brien and listen to Syd Shelton recount his experiences during a pivotal period between 1976 and 1981. 1
Tour
Open House London Saturday 19 September, 10.00am – 5.00pm Bishopsgate Institute opens its doors for Open House London, a city-wide celebration of architecture, design and regeneration. This is a unique opportunity to explore our beautifully restored and historic Grade II* listed building in the City of London. Opened in 1894 by the then Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, Bishopsgate Institute was one of three major public buildings designed by architect Charles Harrison Townsend (1851–1928), the other two being the Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum.
The building combines elements of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, along with the typically Victorian. Townsend’s originality can be seen throughout from the decorative façade and roof turrets to the grandeur of the Great Hall. Today the original aims and ethos of the Institute live on through our courses, cultural events, historic library and archive collections. Guided tours of the library, panelled boardroom and Great Hall will take place on the hour, every hour (last tour at 4.00pm).
V iew of entrance in B ru shfield Street by C harles H arrison T ownsend , from Bi shop sgate I nstitute’s opening programme , 24 N ovember 189 4 ( Bi shop sgate I nstit u te A rchive)
Free admission No advance booking required
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Talk
Exploring Archives: Black Ephemera Saturday 3 October, 2.00pm – 4.00pm This is an opportunity to learn about several UK collections and archives including the Bernie Grant Archive at Bishopsgate Institute and Black Cultural Archives. By exploring newspapers, magazines, postcards, handbills and pamphlets, a range of speakers will cover different historical perspectives and the role of ephemera in promoting political activity, grassroots activism and cultural heritage. There will also be the chance to view items from the Bernie Grant Archive for an hour before and after the event in Bishopsgate Library.
Speakers include: Patrick Vernon OBE (founder of Every Generation and Clore Fellow) on Black Ephemera: Consuming Stereotypes and Identities Jeffrey Green (historian and author of Black Edwardians) on Edwardian Postcards Victoria Northridge (Collections Manager, Black Cultural Archives) on Lesser Known Campaigns of the 1980s Stefan Dickers (Library and Archives Manager, Bishopsgate Institute) on Fighting for Justice: Campaign Ephemera in the Bernie Grant Archive
Bernie Grant following his election a s H aringe y C o u ncil Leader , 198 5 ( Bernie G rant Archive , Bis hops gate Instit u te A rchive)
Free admission Advance booking recommended
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In Conversation
Red Ken’s GLC: Loonies or Visionaries? Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm Between 1981 and 1986, Ken Livingstone led the most experimental, controversial and influential city government in modern British history. In Promised You a Miracle, a new and revelatory book about Britain in the early 1980s, acclaimed historian and Guardian journalist Andy Beckett uncovers the forgotten triumphs and disasters of Livingstone’s Greater London Council: from its doomed attempt to make the capital a citadel against Thatcherism to its far-sighted efforts to transform London for women and ethnic minorities. In conversation, Beckett and Livingstone will discuss the GLC’s brief and dramatic life under ‘Red Ken’, how it was linked to the other radical forces altering Britain in the tumultuous early 1980s, and how it helped create the London of today.
Andy Beckett is an historian and journalist who explores the links between Britain’s recent past and present. He has written for the Guardian, the Economist, and the London Review of Books. His books include the acclaimed When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies and Promised You a Miracle: UK 80–82. Ken Livingstone is a British politician. He was a member of the Greater London Council from 1976, and its leader from 1981 until the Council was abolished in 1986. He then served as Labour MP for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. As an independent candidate he made constitutional history on 4 May 2000 when he was elected Mayor of London – the first time that British voters had directly elected a candidate to an executive office at any level of government. He served as Mayor until May 2008. In partnership with Newham Bookshop.
POLITICAL BADGES FROM THE 1980S (LABOUR HISTORY COLLECTION, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE ARCHIVE)
£9, £7 conc.
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TALK
A Time Travelling History of London Wednesday 14 October, 7.30pm Following the publication of London: A Travel Guide Through Time, join historian and broadcaster Dr Matthew Green on an historical journey through 800 years of London’s history, from the depths of the Middle Ages, through the time of Shakespeare, the Great Plague and Empire, to the pummelling of the city during the Blitz, and its resurrection in the gloomy 50s. Using maps, lavish illustrations and vivid anecdotes, you will look on in awe as the city cracks out of its medieval shell, spills into the suburbs, and blossoms into ‘a human awful wonder of God’, the biggest megalopolis on the face of the earth. In each time period, you will ‘visit’ both
iconic and unusual places and ‘meet’ some eccentric characters who capture the zeitgeist of each successive age. Dr Matthew Green is an historian and broadcaster, with a PhD in the history of London from Oxford University. He writes historical features for the Telegraph and Guardian, appears in documentaries on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and regularly gives talks at venues across London. His first book, London: A Travel Guide Through Time was published by Penguin in June 2015. He is also the co-founder of Unreal City Audio which produces immersive, critically acclaimed tours of London as live events and audio downloads. £9, £7 conc. Royal Exchange, London, c1910 (LAMAS Glass Slide Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
From our archives The London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (LAMAS) Glass Slide Collection consists of over 4000 images of London’s landmarks alongside social and cultural scenes from the turn of the century to the interwar period.
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In Conversation
Modern Magic Lantern Shows Working in collaboration with Spitalfields Life, we put a new twist on an old tradition and return to the glory days of Magic Lantern Shows that were such a popular feature of the Institute in its early years. Three photographers – Syd Shelton, Phil Maxwell and Colin O’Brien – who have documented London through recent decades share their favourite pictures and tell the stories behind them, in conversation with Stefan Dickers, Bishopsgate Institute’s Library and Archives Manager.
Thursday 15 October, 7.30pm
Between 1976 and 1981 British photographer and graphic designer, Syd Shelton, became one of the key activists in the movement Rock Against Racism (RAR). Formed by a collective of musicians and political activists, the movement fought fascism and racism through music. In this event, Syd will show images taken during this pivotal period and discuss the history and politics of the movement. These photographs will be featured in the exhibition ‘Syd Shelton: Rock Against Racism’ at Rivington Place, London, from October, and an accompanying book will be published by Autograph ABP.
Tom Robinson with members of B ambala and M i st y in Roots . Alex andra Palace, RA R M ilitant Entertainment To ur F inale, 1 979 © Sy d Shelton
All tickets: £8, £6 conc.
Syd Shelton: Rock Against Racism
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Phil Maxwell: Street Photography
Colin O’Brien: London Life
Phil Maxwell has photographed the East End ceaselessly since arriving in London from Liverpool in 1981. He has dedicated himself to documenting the lives of working people in the East End; a lifetime’s project that thirty years later has led to an unparalleled archive of work, both in street photography and as a record of antifascist political movements in London. His negatives are currently being digitised for a permanent collection of his work at Bishopsgate Institute. This event will focus on Phil’s photographs of everyday life in the East End of London.
Colin O’Brien was born in Clerkenwell in 1940 and began documenting the city and the people around him from an early age. Graduating from taking pictures of his friends with a Box Brownie at the age of eight to using a Leica as a teenager, Colin has pursued a personal photographic project of recording the drama of London life ever since. Containing more than two hundred photographs, Colin’s latest publication London Life is a social record of breathtaking scope. Join Colin for a look back through a magnificent collection of photographs from 1948 until the present day.
G irl and B alloon, G errard Street, Soho , 1 987 © C olin O ’Brien
Thursday 19 November, 7.30pm
W HI TE CHA PEL ROA D, 1 98 3 © P hil M a xwell
Tuesday 3 November, 7.30pm
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Tour
Bishopsgate Library Tours
Bishopsgate Institute has been offering free public access to its library since 1895. Our tours of the refurbished Grade II* listed library provide an opportunity to find out more about its unique and fascinating history and the world-renowned collections relating to the history of London, radical and social movements, labour, feminism and LGBT history.
General Introduction
Saturday 17 October, 11.00am – 12.00pm What was the ‘battle of the books’ and why did the Institute lock away one archive item from the public fearing it may cause revolution? Find out at this popular behind-the-scenes tour of Bishopsgate Library and its collections.
Protest and Radicalism
Saturday 14 November, 11.00am – 12.00pm Don’t let the fact that Bishopsgate Library is located in the midst of the City fool you. The library is home to the archives of numerous campaign and radical groups who fought for their values, demonstrating for a wide range of different causes from Parliamentary reform to vegan terrorism. Stretching back over two centuries the collections include the records of the two biggest demonstrations in British History – Reform League (1866) and protest against Iraq War (2003). Join this exploration of the activities and archives of organisations such as Freedom Press and Stop the War.
Photo © Mark Turnbull
Tours will be led by Stefan Dickers, Bishopsgate Institute’s Library and Archives Manager. Free admission Advance booking recommended 8
TOUR
Talk
East End Markets
Slingin’ the Old Jack Lang:
Sunday 18 October, 10.30am
Thursday 22 October, 7.30pm
Join tour guide Diane Burstein on this Sunday morning stroll around the East End’s many markets. Visit one of London’s oldest street markets – Petticoat Lane, bustling Spitalfields Market, designer and vintage shops around Cheshire Street and the fragrant home of east London’s famous flower market on Columbia Road. Hear about the history of the markets and their atmospheric surroundings whilst also browsing along the way.
Rhyming slang can claim to be London’s one truly home-grown language. It may have started around 1830 among the canal-digging navvies, the villains of St Giles or, as is most likely, the costermongers of the East End, spreading over time to Australia and the United States. But it remains the most quintessentially ‘London’ of all slang’s vocabularies. It isn’t a vast lexis, something over 3,000 words in all, but it’s still going strong. Like black cabs and red telephone kiosks it’s not what it was, but like them it’s part of the world’s shorthand for ‘London’.
Diane Burstein is a qualified London Blue Badge and City of London Guide and author of London Then and Now. Duration of walk approx. 2.5 hours £10, £8 conc.
London’s Coster Language, Rhyming Slang
Jonathon Green is the world’s leading expert in slang lexicography. His latest work, the three-volume Green’s Dictionary of Slang, appeared in 2010. He has continued to amend, improve and expand the database, and the ongoing work is scheduled to be launched online later this year.
Are yer comin’ dahn the lane? Postcard of Petticoat Lane Market, c1930 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
£9, £7 conc.
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Talk
London Recorded by Camera:
A Look Through Bishopsgate Institute’s Photographic Archive Monday 26 October, 7.30pm Since inception, Bishopsgate Library has held fascinating collections relating to photography in London. Specialising in collecting street photography and social and cultural images of London with extensive collections on political, protest and radical history, the library now holds over 150,000 images and new collections are continually being added.
Stefan will also talk about and show examples from some of the library’s more recent additions, including the Morning Star Photographic Archive and the Jackson/Davies Collection on Old Spitalfields Market. Free admission Advance booking recommended
Petticoat Lane Market by Dennis Anthony, c1960s (London Collection Photographs, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
Join Stefan Dickers, Library and Archives Manager at Bishopsgate Institute, for an introduction to these numerous photographic collections. Highlights will include a look in the boxes of glass slides created by the London and Middlesex
Archaeological Society (LAMAS) at the turn of the century, the eclectic London History Workshop Collection and the huge London Co‑operative Society Photographic Archive.
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Talk
Votes, Wages and Milk:
The East London Federation of Suffragettes Tuesday 27 October, 7.30pm with Roman Road market at its heart. Get to know these forgotten East End rebels who always said that votes for women were just the beginning. Sarah Jackson is the author of Voices From History: East London Suffragettes with Rosemary Taylor, and organised the East London Suffragette Festival in 2014. £9, £7 conc.
Melvina Walker and Nellie Cressall, 1914 © Norah Smyth / IISH
In October 1912 Sylvia Pankhurst climbed onto a wooden platform outside an old baker’s shop on Bow Road, and painted the words ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’ in golden letters above the door. What began as a simple recruitment drive for the Women’s Social and Political Union soon sparked a rebellion in the suffragette ranks and launched a mass movement for equality
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In Conversation
Spitalfields Life Chit Chats
The Gentle Author of the popular blog Spitalfields Life has gained an extraordinary following in recent years, by writing hundreds of lively pen portraits of the infinite variety of people who live and work in the East End of London.
Fish: Billingsgate Market
In a series of three Chit Chats, we introduce characters from these pages. Traders, porters and café owners from three of London’s most iconic wholesale markets – Smithfield, Billingsgate and New Spitalfields – come together to share stories. These vibrant markets are not just places of commerce but spaces for cultural interchange and are an integral part of London’s characterful history.
Tuesday 1 December, 7.00pm
Wednesday 4 November, 7.00pm
Meat: Smithfield Market
Tuesday 17 November, 7.00pm
Fruit & Veg: New Spitalfields Market
Traders at Smithfield Market, c1910 (LAMAS Glass Slide Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
Free admission Advance booking recommended
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Talk
TALK
Masters of the Airwaves
Is the Market Killing Our Markets?
Thursday 12 November, 7.30pm
Tuesday 24 November, 7.30pm
Masters of the Airwaves: the Rise and Rise of Underground Radio charts the history of black music radio in London during the 80s through interviews with the people who were involved with pirate and specialist radio at the time. In this talk co-authors Dave VJ and Lindsay Wesker present the real story of black music pirate radio stations, a story about a passionate group of music-lovers, but specifically the music that couldn’t be heard on UK radio, and how pirate radio indelibly changed UK radio, British culture and the very nature of popular music.
London’s street markets are a cherished and historic part of the capital’s neighbourhoods, valued by tourists and locals alike as an essential aspect of London’s character. But can they survive in today’s overheated London economy as anything more than an expensive plaything for the better-off?
Dave VJ’s career as a Club DJ/Radio Broadcaster spans over twenty years within a forever-evolving industry. Dave VJ’s initial love of music, from pop to reggae, led him to DJ then to radio including Kiss FM from 1991–99. Dave VJ is currently studying for an MA in Broadcasting at Birmingham City University.
Julian Dobson is the author of How to Save Our Town Centres. He is a writer, speaker and commentator on regeneration, placemaking and social policy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a board member of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies and an adviser to Sheffield University’s Department of Town and Regional Planning.
Lindsay Wesker has worked in the music industry since 1981. He helped radio station Kiss FM earn a legal licence and was their Head of Music between 1990–94. Since 1999 Lindsay has worked at MTV, initially brought in to create R&B and hip hop TV station MTV Base. Lindsay also presents a weekly radio show, The A–Z of Mi-Soul Music, on mi-soul.com.
£9, £7 conc.
Julian Dobson will look at some of the pressures and tensions facing London markets and ask what they tell us about how we define and create value in the 21st century, who creates that value, and who benefits from it.
£9, £7 conc.
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From our Friends To complement the Cries of London series, Spitalfields Music open their Winter Festival with viol consort Fretwork and vocal ensemble Red Byrd who bring to life 16th-century London through a series of intricate, lively sound portraits.
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Friday 4 December, 7.30pm Venue: Shoreditch Church (St Leonard’s) Tickets: £5 – £25 Book via spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk 020 7377 1362
Discussion
The Profession of Pedlary – History, Politics, Policy and Legislation Saturday 5 December, 2.00pm – 4.00pm According to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, every person in the country has the right to trade. In 1697, an Act of Parliament was introduced to license hawkers and pedlars. Further updated in 1871 and 1881, the Pedlars Act provides that any ‘certificated pedlar’ may trade any goods, any time, any place throughout the UK. While the variety of trades and services available in the streets of London during the 18th and 19th centuries fascinated public and artists alike, historically pedlars have always been regarded with suspicion by the authorities and have been heavily legislated against. Today legislative anomalies and attempts to repeal the Pedlars Act and restrict the freedom and liberty of a pedlar’s trade are an ongoing concern.
Speakers include: Robert Campbell-Lloyd (pedlars.info), Nic McGerr (pedlar), Tony Hawkins (retired pedlar) and The Gentle Author (Spitalfields Life). In partnership with pedlars.info, a not-for-profit online reference centre for contemporary pedlary. Free admission Advance booking recommended
This event will explore the history and politics of this age-old profession, will provide first-hand accounts from today’s pedlars and will reveal concerns for the future for these entrepreneurs of the streets.
LEFT: Hawker selling ‘Hair Brooms’ outside Shoreditch Church from William Marshall Craig’s Itinerant Traders of London in their Ordinary Costume, with Notices of Remarkable Places given in the Background, 1804 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive) Right: ‘Windmills’ from Etchings of Remarkable Beggars, Itinerant Traders and Other Persons of Notoriety in London and its Environs by John Thomas Smith, 1 December 1815 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
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Talk
The Gentle Author’s Cries of London Thursday 10 December, 7.30pm For centuries, those who had no other means of income could sell wares in the street and, by turning their presence into a performance through song, they won the hearts of generations and came to embody the spirit of London itself. These hawkers inspired many artists, including Marcellus Laroon (1653–1702), Francis Wheatley (1747–1801), William Marshall Craig (died 1827) and John Thomas Smith (1766 –1833), to create series of portraits known as the ‘Cries of London.’ The Gentle Author has published the first major illustrated survey in colour of this important cultural tradition, highlighting the most significant examples, telling the stories of both the artists and the hawkers, and revealing the unexpected social realities contained within these gaudy prints produced for the mass market.
‘Rhubarb!’ seller in Russell Square from William Marshall Craig’s Itinerant Traders of London in their Ordinary Costume, with Notices of Remarkable Places given in the Background, 1804 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
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This illustrated lecture will explore the significance and enduring legacy of the Cries of London which were precursors of the modern culture of street photography and how in the 20th century, earlier images of the Cries, including those by Wheatley, were recycled commercially onto cigarette cards, biscuit tins and – most famously – Yardley talcum powder. The Gentle Author will conclude with a survey of the contemporary situation for street traders and pedlars in the capital, reflecting upon the ambivalence with which they have been regarded in London since medieval times. Free admission Advance booking required
ADAPTED FROM AUNT BUSY BEE’S NEW LONDON CRIES COVER, DEAN AND SON, 1852 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
Curated by The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life, this exhibition features fine examples of Cries of London from Bishopsgate Institute’s archive Visit during Institute opening hours from 2 November 2015 – 29 January 2016
BOOKING INFORMATION
VISITOR INFORMATION
Advance booking is recommended for all events as places are limited.
Access Our event venues are fully accessible. There are limited parking bays for Blue Badge holders outside the Institute. A mobile induction loop system is available. Assistance dogs are welcome.
Online*: bishopsgate.org.uk *Please note that not all concessions are available online. Box Office*: Phone 020 7392 9200 or visit us during opening hours, Monday to Friday | 9.00am – 6.00pm
Disabled visitors who require the assistance of a companion/personal assistant are eligible to obtain a free ticket for their assistant.
*A postage fee of £1 applies for sending out tickets booked online or over the phone.
Concessions* Available to disabled visitors, over 60s, full-time students of UK Institutions, Bishopsgate Institute students and the unwaged.
If you have any access requirements please call 020 7392 9200 or email enquiries@bishopsgate.org.uk
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Cover: The Cryes of the City of London Drawne after the Life / Knives Combs or Inkhornes, by Marcellus Laroon, published by Pierce Tempest, 1687 (London Collection, Bishopsgate Institute Archive)
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Design: James Majowski Print: Impress Print
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Bishopsgate Foundation is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered in England. No: 4362659. Registered Charity No: 1090923.
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All information contained in this publication is correct at time of press. Bishopsgate Institute reserves the right to change any information contained within this publication without advance notice.
OLD SPITALFIELDS MARKET
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