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Fitzrovia News is produced by residents and volunteers and distributed free to business and residential addresses in Fitzrovia Issue 149 Summer 2018

news.fitzrovia.org.uk

Publicly hanged

for local murder

- page 15

Missing dog- page 5

Awarded tripadvisor certificate of

excellence fouryears running 2014 - 2017

GIGSest1958The home of traditional

fish and chips.Fully licensed Greek restaurant

12 Tottenham Street 020 7636 1424

Labour snatches West

End seat from Tories

3 free offers

exclusive toFitzrovia News

readers

see page 7Oxford Street: Westminster Tories forced into U-turn and Labour defies Sadiq Khan

Plans to pedestrianise Oxford

Street shook up May’s local elec-

tions as Westminster council’s

Tory leadership and their Labour

opponents were forced to defy

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

after the Campaign Against

Pedestrianisation party stood

candidates in three wards.

In an historic victory PanchoLewis was elected as the WestEnd ward’s first ever Labourcouncillor after he defied the Lon-don party line and pledged to op-pose the pedestrianisation ofOxford Street due to local con-cerns about displaced motor traf-fic and increased pollution inneighbouring streets.

But Westminster’s Tories gotoff relatively lightly returning sit-ting councillor Jonathan Glanzand newly-elected ConservativeTimothy Barnes, despite negativecomments aimed at the party bytwo out-going councillors.

Paul Church, a popular Torycouncillor and Soho resident, re-fused to stand again so disgustedwas he with the behaviour of se-nior members of his own party atWestminster council.

Before deciding not to standagain he issued a scathing attackon his own party, saying: “I triedto stand up for the communities Iwas elected to represent againstthe dominance of property devel-opers and their agents, patronageand power in Westminster, but Iwas bullied, silenced and threat-ened by their powerful allies.Local government shouldn’t belike this.”

His fellow ward councillorGlenys Roberts fought back aftershe was deselected and declaredher support for the CampaignAgainst Pedestrianisation of Ox-ford Street.

The furore over Oxford Streetforced Westminster cabinet mem-ber, Daniel Astaire, to announcethat pedestrianisation planswould be halted — a complete U-turn from his predecessor RobertDavis who stood shoulder to

shoulder with Sadiq Khan in sup-port of pedestrianising the streetand diverting traffic around it.

“TfL and the Mayor are themain proponents of the changesto the street, but it belongs to thecouncil and the decision restswith us,” he told a council meet-ing in April.

“I have informed them —much to some surprise — that de-tailed work on a scheme is to bestopped. They had even wantedto appoint an artist to designstreet concept art, but I havestopped this too. At present thereis no scheme nor a proposalwhich is acceptable to the coun-cil.”

He said Westminster couldonly back a plan that addressedthe concerns of residents. Astairewarned that any legal move byTfL to take control of the streetcould take four years.

In the West End ward onlyThe Green Party and the Lib Demcandidates supported OxfordStreet pedestrianisation.

The Oxford Street plans alsodivided active transport cam-paigners. Living Streets and theLondon Cycling Campaignbacked the plans but former cy-cling commissioner for LondonAndrew Gilligan said the planswere a disaster for cycling.

Marylebone High Street wardwas held by the Tories, andBloomsbury in Camden was heldby Labour.

Nikoleta Michalodimitraki manager of the Imakr 3D printing store in Wells

Street beside one of their creations see page 7 photo Etienne Gilfillan

2 — Fitzrovia News issue 149 Summer 2018

Issue 149 Summer 2018

Published 5 June 2018

Editorial Team

Mike Pentelow:

editor and features editorLinus Rees:

website and assistant editorPete Whyatt:

news and production editorClive Jennings:

arts editorBrian Jarman:

writer and sub-editorJanet Gauld:

associate editorBarb Jacobson:

associate editorJennifer Kavanagh:

associate editor

Contributors:

Sue Blundell

Laurence Boulting

Jayne Davis

Terry Egan

Sandra Goodrick

Etienne Gilfillan

Ann Goodburn

Clifford Harper

Angela Lovely

Wendy Shutler

Clifford Slapper

Sunita Soliar

Chris Tyler

Josie Wales

Kipper Williams

Printed by: Sharman & Co Ltd,Newark Road, Peterborough PE1 5TD. sharmanandco.co.ukFitzrovia News is produced

by the Fitzrovia Community

Newspaper Group.

ISSN: 0967-1404

Published by Fitzrovia

Neighbourhood Association

(registered charity 1111649)

39 Tottenham Street,

London, W1T 4RX

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By Griff Rhys Jones

There are big plans for Oxford Street in the off-ing (although they have been halted for thetime being). You may already know of themand they are certainly going to affect the resi-dents who live around that retail artery. Therewas a consultation with Transport for London,but it appears that they put up the “wrong ad-dress” on their internet site. Undismayed, theyreport back that most people are in favour oftheir proposed changes. (I think they mean theones that they directly approached, not theones who couldn’t get through to their consul-tation process.) I hesitate to go into print. I hes-itate to be a NIMBY (though I have alwaysbelieved that if we don’t care for our ownbackyard then nobody else is likely to) but thedesire to pedestrianise Oxford Street will havemore repercussions than allowing the shopperto romp and yomp along the ancient thorough-fare un-menaced by extremely slow-movingtraffic.

When I moved into what is considered thecentre of town, some twenty years ago, I ratherimagined that I had good planning to thank. Inthe nineteenth century dirty, polluted air drovepeople out to the suburbs in search of breath-ing space. The clean air acts of the nineteenfifties appeared to liberate the centre of Lon-don. It took time, but humans moved back. Itwas a shock to be told, a few years ago, that Iactually lived in the most polluted area in Eu-rope. Not coal smoke: an invisible and moredeadly poison was drifting through the air. Itsorigin is not hard to discover. Walk along Ox-ford Street and count the number of heavydiesel engines pumping their particulate mat-ter into the immediate atmosphere. Buses andtaxis stopping and starting, idling and acceler-ating. Empty or not, they chug, fume and sput-ter ceaselessly. Delivery lorries throb out theirfumes endlessly.

Mr Mayor and his TfL team rightly wantto dispose of this evil and save the temporaryinconvenience to shoppers. They intend tomove the noxious poison away from OxfordStreet and out into the back streets: along Mor-timer Street and up Great Portland Streetthrough the inhabited area. They seem to wantto put this stuff where people live and babiessleep, where children go to school and peoplework all day, where we cycle and walk —where we eat. I don’t follow this. If you haveshit in your garden, would you move it intoyour living room?

London is a successful city because it is in-habited. In the seventies planning divisionsacross Britain became obsessed with “zoning”.It is still taught as the solution to urban life.Move poisonous factories away from the livingquarters. This was a good idea, but it was ex-tended to include offices and shops (whichproduce little pollution). These areas were sep-arated from the human dormitories. This offi-cial compartmentalisation devastated the bigcities of Britain and created alienating, postfive o’clock, no-go city centres. Nobodywanted to live in our downtown wastelandsany more. The do-nut effect took over Liver-pool, Bradford, Leeds, Ipswich, Peterborough,

Belfast, Newport… Stop. Many, many othermajor towns or cities. Of course, it also reliedon a Corbusian fantasy. Human beings wereshown zooming effortlessly around on electro-glide mono-rails in architectural drawings ofsupreme impracticality. But in actuality peoplepreferred cars. And where the car was banned,they took to buses.

There is of course every intention to getrid of diesel transport and render delivery lor-ries and taxis inert, but er… not yet. It’s notpractical, you see, certainly within the next tenyears. So, the well-intentioned desire to sepa-rate humans from the dirty means of produc-tion has led to rivers of belching, fuming,choking, noisy, polluting traffic — far moredeleterious to health and peace than any mod-ern factory. In few places in Britain are peopleactually zoned from this real pollution — ringroads and feeder lanes, access routes andthree-lane motorway-feeders. Except, funnilyenough, in London. Not just because of thecongestion charge. We actually have fewer mo-torways choking the great Wen. They were op-posed by those damned NIMBYs. (Just visitGlasgow or Bradford to witness the effect of“good transport solutions.”) There was, origi-nally, a six-lane highway planned for the Tot-tenham Court Road. It was heading for CentrePoint. We should thank those pesky NIMBYsthat it never happened.

We who now live in central Londonshould pat ourselves on the back. We are theproper green future of the urban world —walking to work, living close to facilities, in afully mixed environment of work space, enter-tainment, living-space and small local supplyshops. It is the commuter and the dailyGadarene rush to occupy offices, to go shopdown-town and to supply big shops andworkplaces that really causes pollution.

You might think that “pedestrianisation”is therefore a good thing. Lots do. But lookmore closely. There is another reason why thisis being pushed through. This is part of a planto “big up” Oxford Street. Oxford Street is stillthe largest shopping area in London. (Sur-prised? Well, it is very long). But it has steadilylost ground over the last twenty years to theWestfield Centres in Stratford and Shepherd’sBush and that Brent Cross place. Now West-minster want to fight back. They are allowingbigger edifices. The corner of Rathbone Place,big enough and a handsome Edwardian build-ing in itself, is now scheduled for destruction –to be replaced with a bigger monolith. Surely,they argue, the new Elizabeth Line can be usedto ferry more people into the centre of town?More shops, more offices. More traffic, moredeliveries, more buses. More taxis. More “com-merciality”. London having avoided the zon-ing that has ruined city after city across Britainin now getting it by default. As these areas are“improved” in the name of profit, so the livingareas become less tenable. Even untenable, ifyou deliberately push all the pollution off yourconcourse and into the neighbouring streetswhich you then happily fill with more, biggeroffices and supply lorries.

We all love to shop, but retail, as exempli-fied by the old fashioned commercial multi-

chain-store parade in the centre of town, is ac-tually dying. Everybody recognises this. MaryPortas became a Czar on the back of it. (As ifwe needed an out of date Russian aristocrat tosort this out.) Many have loudly, and publicly,lamented this “decline of the High Street”. Butwhat is a Canute-like policy to “maintaingrowth” at all costs? We still grow alright, justnot in the way that backward-looking plannersand councils want. People still consume. Peo-ple still buy. The future, however, is clearlywith more on-line shopping. As I write this ithas been announced that the rate of shop clo-sure has doubled. People prefer to use theirlocal centres like the hermetically sealed West-field. What windy wide wet street can possiblycompete. It certainly won’t compete by gettingbigger. Can’t we recognise that the migrationof people who want to come and live in citycentres is a good thing, a green thing, a sus-tainable thing and assist them? It has hap-pened in the last twenty years, against officialopposition, not only in Leeds and Manchesterbut also in Islington and Paddington. Preservecharacter, value and quality in good Victorianbuildings: recycle them and restore them.Make the streets good to walk in, and live in,free of that excessive commuter traffic hurry-ing around the city. London is a series of vil-lages. Big them up. Let Walthamstow andIlford become new exciting centres, so thatpeople can live, shop and work there. Let themain West End high street shrink and discour-age the gutting of the centre to create a no-gocommercial area. Oxford Street is only “in dan-ger” from bad commerciality, opportunismand high rents.

We know already, those of us who livehere, that we must avoid Oxford Street aftersix. We hurry across this deadly, empty canyonto get to the mixed vibrant world of living, eat-ing, entertaining, music and habitation on ei-ther side. We tolerate its big shops, but if itwere to shrink would we care? If some of theshops were to go would we rush to build newones? Let us celebrate the mixed economies ofFitzrovia and Marylebone. Let us recognisethat a true central capital city has museums,places of worship, parks, palaces, concert halls,libraries, universities, cinemas, theatres, andhabitation as well as “business”. Let us stepback from creating massive out of date, mono-cultural, shop-hour and working-time desertsright in our midst. It serves no one but the per-petrators. The people who run or own thesebusinesses don’t live there. They have no stakein the area beyond square footage and prod-uct-shifting. We do.

Griff Rhys Jones: local resident and pres-

ident of Civic Voice.

Photo By Phil Guest, CC BY-SA 2.0,

commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

curid=40424923

If we don’t care for our own backyardthen nobody else is likely to

Fitzrovia News issue 149 Summer 2018 — 3

The Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Associationannual general meetingMonday 18th June 2018 from 6:30pmVenue: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre lecture theatre

25 Howland Street W1T 4JGAnyone who lives or works in Fitzrovia is invited to attend. Please arrivefrom 6:30 for drinks and snacks before the formal meeting takes place from6:45 - 7:30. The meeting will review the work of the charity over the past 15 months, itsaccounts, and discuss the future of the organisation as well as the changes tothe neighbourhood.After the formal business of the meeting has been dealt with attendees are invited to stay around and socialize with snacks and drinks.

Summer gardening club aimsto make Fitzrovia greenerA new gardening club was

launched this spring at one of

Fitzrovia’s most used and abused

public open spaces ahead of

London becoming the world’s

first National Park City.

Volunteers from the Friendsof Fitzrovia Parks will be spend-ing an hour every Saturday morn-ing this summer making smallimprovements to Whitfield Gar-dens leading up to National ParkCity Week in July.

In December the Friendsplanted daffodils and other flow-ers as part of scheme by theMetropolitan Parks and GardensAssociation to deliver free bulbsdonated by Lincolnshire familybusiness Taylors Bulbs of Hol-beach.

This spring nine nativespecies of deciduous and ever-green trees and shrubs have beenplanted in Whitfield Gardens,along with dozens of varieties ofwildflowers as part of a projectpromoted by Kew Gardens.

For the first time ever oakand hornbeam trees have beenplanted — trees that haven’t beengrown in this part of Londonsince the city expanded in theearly 18th century.

Around 70 shrubs have beenadded to the garden donated en-tirely by people who live andwork in the neighbourhood.

However, Whitfield Gardensfaces a threat from CamdenCouncil which is considering con-creting over large areas of thepark in an effort to cut mainte-nance costs and create more spacefor corporate stakeholders inFitzrovia as part of its flagshipWest End Project.

But the Friends of FitzroviaParks, supported by the FitzroviaNeighbourhood Association, arehoping to scupper Camden’shideous plans and deliver agreener Fitzrovia, and create a

wildlife-friendly park instead of atrading space.

Saturday Gardening Club. Meet

in Whitfield Gardens on the corner of

Tottenham Court Road and Totten-

ham Street 8.00am every Saturday

until the end of September for an

hour of gardening.

fitzroviaparks.org.uk

National Park City Week event:

The challenge of creating and main-

taining wildlife-friendly inner city

parks, meet 11am Saturday 21 July

2018 at Fitzrovia Neighbourhood

Centre, 39 Tottenham Street.

Oaks return to Fitzrovia’s fields as part of a greening project.

Mortgage providerswill not lend for affordable homes Westminster council has ap-

proved a legal agreement to en-

able affordable homes at a

landmark West End develop-

ment to be re-sold at market

prices because mortgage lenders

will no longer finance the type

of property offered.

The “intermediate afford-able” homes are at RathboneSquare, part of a major develop-ment by Great Portland Estates,on the site of a 1950s-built RoyalMail distribution centre, whichwas demolished to create 142 lux-ury flats, shops, restaurants, andan office complex now occupiedby social media giant Facebook.

A council report states that 22affordable apartments which faceonto Newman Street have beentransferred to Westminster-basedregistered provider A2Dominionwho submitted a planning appli-cation to amend the terms of thes106 agreement because “mort-gage providers are no longerlending on products of this type”.

The existing s106 agreementstruck in 2014 states that the onebedroom flats are available to eli-gible households on a discountedmarket sale (DMS) basis, whichmeans they can buy the propertyat a percentage of its currentvalue and sell it again at the samepercentage of market price to an-other eligible buyer.

To qualify potential buyersmust have lived or worked in theCity of Westminster for a mini-

Oxford Street consultation report withdrawnA report analysing the responsesto a consultation on the pedestri-anisation of Oxford Street has hadto be withdrawn after it was dis-covered Transport for Londongave out an incorrect email ad-dress for respondents to use.

TfL removed the report fromits website and issued a statementsaying many people’s views wentmissing.

“This was because we pub-

lished this [email] address, byerror, on our consultation webpage as one method of submittinga response. We apologise unre-servedly for this,” said the state-ment.

This major error was only dis-covered when community groupscontacted TfL to ask why their re-sponses were not included in theappendices to the report. Theyalso asked questions about why

some of the statistics presenteddid not add up correctly.

The views of the MaryleboneAssociation and the FitzroviaWest Neighbourhood Forum,were missing from the reportalong with an unknown numberof other responses.

Local residents want conges-tion and pollution reduced over amuch wider area instead of shift-ing the problems into side streets.

mum of 12 months, do not ownanother property, and must havea household income between£58,000 and £90,000.

According to documents sub-mitted in support of the applica-tion, lenders want to be able tosell the property on the openmarket if they have to repossessand recoup their debt if theowner defaults on payments, andthey don’t want an owner to belumbered with a property theycannot sell or loses its value be-cause its sale is restricted. Advi-sors for A2Dominion state thatlenders “will not accept” theterms under which the flats canbe resold.

Since the homes would belost as affordable housing accom-modation, a mechanism for cap-turing some of the value of theunit will be returned and put intoWestminster Council’s affordablehousing fund. The council reportstates that if the home was origi-nally purchased for 30 percent ofmarket value then the councilwould receive 70 percent of itsnew sale value.

The council report, whichrecommended approval of theapplication, states the amend-ment “is considered to be partlyan academic exercise to unlocklending from mortgageproviders, as it is considered thatthere will still be many eligiblehouseholds wishing to partici-pate.”

Traffic inspectorsays go westThe recommendations of a gov-ernment inspector after a publicenquiry into local traffic willalarm residents in TorringtonPlace and Huntley Street becauseit could mean a four-fold increasein motor vehicles outside theirhomes.

The new traffic system alongthe east-west route linkingFitzrovia, Bloomsbury and KingsCross was implemented in 2015 toaddress concerns about motortraffic volume and road safety.The changes removed westboundmotor traffic from the wholelength of Tavistock Place betweenGower Street and Judd Street, anddoubled the size of the cyclinglanes along the route.

Although the Torrington-Tavistock scheme is largely sup-ported by pedestrians, cyclists,businesses, employees, GordonMansions Residents Association,

and the Fitzrovia NeighbourhoodAssociation, there is strong oppo-sition from the London TaxiDrivers Association, Imperial Ho-tels and the Bloomsbury Resi-dents Action Group.

Now the inspector has recom-mended that “the Council con-sider the modification of theOrder so as to provide for west-bound only vehicular trafficwhilst retaining the provision forseparate west bound and eastbound cycle lanes.”

The Fitzrovia NeighbourhoodAssociation says: “Levels of thepollutant NO2 at the TorringtonPlace and Huntley Street junctionis already at or above the legallimit and allowing westboundtraffic to cross Gower Street couldcause a four-fold increase inmotor vehicles passing residentswindows.”


Prize for the most outstanding swim of the 12-16-year old boys in theMiddlesex Swimming Association County Championships went toAlex Rowson (pictured centre above).

It was the 100 metre freestyle event in a time of 54.83 secondswhich won it for Alex, aged 16, who lives in Gresse Street, and is apupil at Regent High School.

He is part of a unique joint training group between Chelsea andWestminster, and Brompton swimming clubs which has a gruellingprogramme of early morning and evening sessions of 16 hours a week.

He is pictured receiving the trophy from Frances Prentice (Middle-sex Swimming President) with his coach Bram Montgomery.

Alex went on to win the same award at the London Region Cham-pionships in a new time of 53.61seconds... 6.7 secs off the current worldrecord!

Obituary: Reg GadneyBy Clive Jennings

I am very sad to have to report thedeath of local resident Reg Gad-ney who passed away on May 1.Something of a Renaissance Man,Reg segued from one career to an-other, achieving the highest levelin each: soldier, diplomat, teacher,novelist, screenwriter, artist, thelist goes on. I tried to capture thisthirst for knowledge and pursuitof excellence in my profile of Regin this publication in 2012, at thetime of his last exhibition at localgallery Rebecca Hossack.

“A visit to Reg Gadney’s gen-erously proportioned studio,which occupies most of theground floor of the large Georgianhouse in Fitzrovia that he hasshared with his wife, EveningStandard restaurant critic FayMaschler, for 20 years, reveals aman who has spent over fiftyyears immersed in the worlds ofeducation, literature and art. Thewalls are lined from floor to highceiling with books, paintings andmemorabilia.

“He has received the highestaccolades in all three disciplines:teaching at the Royal College ofArt for 15 years in the 1970s and1980s, he became its youngestever Pro-Rector, and lectured atOxford, Cambridge, Harvard andYale; his parallel career as a writerthen took over, including some16published crime thrillers andmany screenplays, several ofwhich have received BAFTAs andGolden Globe nominations; andlatterly he has built a followingfor his painting, a lifetime pursuit,with several well received soloshows of his paintings, and worksin collections around the world.”

The son of B C Gadney, aschoolmate of David Niven, who,as captain of the undefeated Eng-land Rugby Football XV of 1934-6was something of a national hero,and a difficult act to follow. Itwas decided that Reg should join

the army, “to make a man of me –but it didn’t work!”, and heserved three years in the Cold-stream Guards, serving in Libyaand France and ending up as amilitary attaché at our embassy inOslo, gaining insights into themachinations of governments andthe military that were to servehim well as a thriller writer.

Since his college days, Reghad wanted to write “seedythrillers”. He admired and keptin touch with Patricia Highsmithand Daphne du Maurier, whowere both very supportive. Hissixteen “literary thrillers, includesix novels featuring his anti-hero,Alan Rosslyn who Reg describesas, “dull but a very good listener,which makes him a successful se-ducer of women”. Of particularinterest to Fitzrovia residents ishis 2000 Rosslyn adventure“Strange Police” which finds ourman involved in foiling an auda-cious conspiracy by Greek Na-tionalists to steal the ElginMarbles from the British Museumand return them to Greece.

With many scenes set in and

around the familiar streets ofFitzrovia and Bloomsbury, hedraws on his local knowledge togive it a sense of reality, making itprobably the only novel, ever, tofeature a scene set in the 24-hourstore on Grafton Way. Reg inge-niously and topically wove theconstruction of Norman Foster’sspectacular Great Court at theMuseum, completed in 2000, intothe story. Research includedwalking atop the magnificentglass roof constructed of triangu-lar sections that encloses theCourt, which covers two acresand is the largest covered publicsquare in Europe.

Reg’s latest book, Albert Ein-stein Speaking, is published byCanongate this month and beingtranslated widely around theworld. The novel comes with ad-vance praise from Ian McEwan,his former Fitzrovia neighbour,who hailed it as ‘a strange and lu-minous fiction, a literary gembeautifully and cunningly poisedbetween historical truth and thewarmly imagined’.

Reg loved Fitzrovia, particu-larly the cultural mix of the smalllocal businesses, and was a famil-iar figure in local shops and cafés.We used to bond over a sharedlove of cheap cigars and a mutualadmiration for the Italian screengoddess Claudia Cardinale. WhenReg discovered that I knew her,and was visiting her in Paris, westruck a deal whereby he wouldpaint my portrait in return for herautograph - I still treasure thatportrait.

He is survived by his secondwife, Fay Maschler, whom hemarried in 1992, and her children,Hannah, Alice and Ben; and byGuy and Amy, the children of hisfirst marriage, to Annette Kobak,which ended in divorce.

Reginald Bernard John Gad-ney, thriller writer and painter,born 20 January 1941; died 1 May2018.

Outstanding swimmerbreaks world record

The next issue of Fitzrovia

News will be out

Tuesday 4 September 2018. Deadline for articles, features

and advertisments 17 August.

All Saints Church Margaret StreetOur diverse and inclusive parish is grounded in the rich catholic tradition of Anglicanism. We offer a place of peace and beauty

in busy central London. (open Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm and Saturday from 11am).

Main services on Sunday - 11am High Mass6pm Choral Evensong and Benediction

We maintain fine liturgical traditions and excellence in music. The parish would be delighted to welcome you to all or any of our

liturgies if you are able to join us in ‘one of the ten buildings that have changed the face of Britain’

(English Heritage).

Times of Daily Prayer, Masses & opportunities forconfession & counselling are advertised at:www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk

Please tell us if you came to All Saints after seeing this advertisement.Parish office: 020 7636 1788

Tributes left for homelessman who died sleeping onTottenham Court Road

Bunches of flowers and messages were left on Tottenham Court Roadin memory of a homeless man who died while sleeping on the street.

A man who was aged in his 40s and was known as “Irish Keith”died on the pavement outside Curry’s PC World in the early hours ofthe morning of Tuesday 27 March.

His death came just days after around 100 homeless people wereevicted from a disused commercial building on Great Portland Streetwhich had been turned into a shelter by volunteers from StreetsKitchen.


News in briefOrganisers of the annualFitzrovia Festival have been alittle slow off the mark in get-ting things done this year.However, there will be eventstaking place in July. Seefitzroviafestival.org.uk for thelatest information.

On Friday 1 June LondonFire Brigade were called out toa fire on the sixth floor at 5Pearson Square.

“The portrait of the Tibetan Terrier in Victorian

dress.”

It was just another regular Friday evening at

the Grafton Arms in Grafton Way on May 4.

The pub was moderately full and there were

several parties enjoying themselves.

At closing time the pub gradually clearedof customers. Then the staff who had been runoff their feet all night noticed somethingstrange: at first they couldn’t tell what it wasbut eventually they realised one of the wallpaintings was missing.

The pub treasures its paintings of smartly-dressed dogs, which are scattered about thewalls of the bar and guest rooms.

Pub worker Mitch Tillman said: 'Thepaintings are part of the pub's branding. Theyare so popular, customers will sometimes askif they are available for sale.”

The staff made a quick search around thepremises but it wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Manager Leo Fernandez said: “We thenrealised that we run CCTV recording the in-side and outside of the premises. So we de-cided to look at the Friday evening footage.On film we saw a party sitting at the tablebelow the painting; one member of the partyremoved the picture and place it on the floor.Then at closing time the man in his 40s wear-ing a suit walked out of the pub with ourpainting under his arm. The bar staff were alltoo busy to notice this going on.”

He told his boss about the theft but theydecided not to report the incident to the policeinstead they launched an appeal on socialmedia to request for information from regu-lars. The CCTV footage of the incident was up-loaded for the art thief to be shamed.

“So we set about getting a replacementpicture which we found. The followingWednesday morning we were in the pubhanging the new picture on the wall whenthere was a knock at the door.

"It was a taxi driver who brought our pic-ture back together with a note of apology.”

The cheeky note stated: "I'm home! Sorry Iran off with that strange man the other night.

"I think the heat got to me and I felt ad-venturous. I hope you take me back with openarms as it was just a fling and meant nothingto me!"

The note was signed off: "I missed youguys, (a sophisticated) wooof!"

The taxi cost £30 and there was a stong“lead” - no attempt to disguise the sender’sphone number or the South London postcodeof where the painting was sent from, but thedriver was sworn to secrecy.

Manager Leo said: “This was the first timethat one of our paintings have been stolenbrazenly in front of staff and customers. We’redelighted to be reunited with our old friend.Of course now all the paintings have been

screwed down to the wall.”

Pete Whyatt

[email protected]

visitwww.indianymca.org

020 7387 0411

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A real “Home away from Home”centrally heated wi-fi study rooms TV louunge indoor recreation and gym facilities

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Equipped conference rooms (25 - 250 people)

Find us onFacebook andTwitter for thelatest news

Dog picture goes walkiesbut returns home safely

Live music atbuilders’ barThere will be live music at TheBuilding Centre, Store Streetevery Friday in June as part of theLondon Festival of Architecture.

“Join us on Fridays from5:30pm throughout June at our

new Barista Bar and enjoy end ofthe week drinks and conversa-tion,” says the invitation.

Known as The Store StreetSocial it kicks off on Friday 8 Junefor the opening evening of OpenStudios Night in Fitzrovia.

A number of design practicesacross Fitzrovia will be open tothe public and there will beevents ranging from exhibitionsto a drop-in design surgery, a talkor simply a party.

londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

Bag snatchedfrom pubCustomers of Fitzrovia’s drinkingdens are reminded to keep a closeeye on their personal possesionsafter CCTV images of two menwere captured taking a bag froman unsuspecting woman enjoyinga night out in one of area’s manypubs.

Police are investigating thetheft of the handbag and pursewhich was reported to be stolen at9.45pm on a Wednesday in May ata venue in the Rathbone Streetarea.

A 2006 report from the JillDando Institute of Crime Science,University College London statedthat bags are the items most oftentargeted in pubs.

Police statistics reveal that“theft from a person” (whereitems are stolen from someonewithout force or the threat offorce) is the most common crimereported in the neighbourhood.

Mobile phones, electrical gad-gets, bank card, wallets, pursesand bags are the items most fre-quently nicked.

Police advise the public not tomake it easy for thevies: keepyour valuables close to you andnever leave bags, purses and wal-lets unattended.

Empty homesat Fitzroy PlaceAn investigation by Fitzrovia News

into occupancy of new homes inFitzrovia has revealed — surprise,surprise! — that most of the 233flats sold on the open market atFitzroy Place are lying empty.

Fitzrovia News estimates thatup to 70 percent of the luxury ap-partments are owned as invest-ment properties, after checkingthe “full electoral register” for thenumber of households with some-one registered to vote.

CorrectionOur front page story of FN 148stated there will be no public toi-lets at Tottenham Court Road sta-tion when Crossrail trains startrunning in December 2018. Thiswas incorrect. TfL have written tous to confirm that there will betoilets at Tottenham Court Roadstation for all passengers.


Opening and

closingClosedLatium Italian restaurant 21 Berners StreetSalento Green Life cafe 51 Goodge StreetDilegence security solutions 55 Warren StreetSpectrum camera shop 127 Tottenham Court RoadTomatillo cafe deli 132 New Cavendish StreetRhymes with orange cards, gifts 106 Great Portland StreetLife food cafe 49 Newman StreetHalifax bank 60 Oxford StreetBig Fernand French burgers 19 Percy Street

OpenedDouble J’s cafe (after re-furbishment) 333 Euston Road Spymaster surveillance and security equiptment11-13 Howland StreetImakr 3D printing 17 Wells StreetBarclays bank 154 Tottenham Court RoadDefine fitness studio 82 Great Portland StreetLaksaMania Malasian eatery 92 Newman StreetHershesons hair beauty salon 29 Berners StreetPassyunk Avenue diner 80 Cleveland StreetMaître of Thyme holistic wellness boutique130 Great Portland StreetMikel Coffee Company cafe 93 Tottenham Court RoadIsland Poké Hawiain food 1 Great Titchfield StreetNewman Arms pub and pie room (reopened see page 9)23 Rathbone StreetLeaf lover flowers (see above) 42 Mortimer Street The coffeworks project coffee shop 2 Great Titchfield StreetKoox Take-away restaurant using 3* Michelin chefs28 Store StreetOusia Mediterranean restaurant (formerly Andreas)40 Charlotte Street Alex coffee 1 Hanson Street

Kyseri Turkish pasa restaurant 64 Grafton Way

Opening soonRovi Ottolenghi deli restaurant 59 Wells StreetPastation pasta 76 Tottenham Court RoadSaid Dal 1923 Italian Chocolate 29 Rathbone PlaceThe Flavour Garden eatery 1 Bedford AvenueFlesh & Buns Japanese eatery 25–33 Berners StreetAl Dente pasta 51 Goodge StreetEvans soft furnishings 55 Warren StreetHalifax bank 118 - 132 New Oxford Street

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fitzrovia.org.uk/donate

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New business blooming

Staff from Leaf Lover (left to right) Barbara Stankiewicz, Andrew Blank and Agata Kapciak outside the shop on

Mortimer Street.

After all the flowers shops have deserted Fitzrovia in recent years itgreat to see that trend reversed and a flower seller moved into thearea.

Leaf Lover is owned and run by Andrew Blank together with hismother Patricia. The family have been in the business for over 20years and used to own a chain of florists “Go-Flower” based in railstations.

They occupy the shop at 42 Mortimer Street which smells amaz-ing and is full of their beautiful flowers: orchids, roses, hydrangeasamongst others. This leads to the ajoining shop at 37 Great TitchfieldStreet which is full of houseplants and cactii.

Andrew says “We stock the widest range of flowers and plantsin the West End and supply to homes, offices for events, PR compa-nies and churches. We sell planters and vases as well.”

Fitzrovia News issue 149 Summer 2018— 7

The Lakshmi spa and boutique on21 Eastcastle Street is a new addi-tion to the locality but the com-pany has been operating for over35 years. It is the UK arm of anItalian company that practisesAyurvedic wisdom and Holisticprinciples.

The company was started 35years ago and the core of theirbusiness has always been essentialoils. These essential essences aremostly organically sourced andcome from over 100 countries. Thecompany also stock a range ofcreams, soaps shampoos andbeauty products. Their productsare mostly concerned with derma-tology and dealing with skinproblems such as acne, psoriasis,

The ultimate selfie

My Editor sent me to Tottenham Court Road for a Gong Shower, ashortened version of a Gong Bath. This is what happened..

I arrived and was shown into the room, leaving my mobile phoneand other worldly distractions in the hallway. In the room there was arange of gongs of different sizes. We had a short discussion about medi-cal matters, my stress levels and how I relax and sleep, along with whatI hoped I would get out of the session.

I was invited to make myself comfortable by either sitting, lying ona massage couch or on the floor. I chose lying on the floor. I was in thecentre of the room surrounded by gongs and he informed me that wewould begin with the sound of a singing bowl and would end whenhearing the sound of tingshas, the rest would be pure gong sounds.

I was asked to shut my eyes and the experience began with somecontrolled breathing exercises. I then heard a range of sounds whichslowly increased in intensity as the session progressed. Although Icould not see him, I could sense a quadrophonic experience as hemoved around with noises coming from all points in the room. Some ofthe gongs are large and create a nice welcome breeze.

At first I found it difficult to relax and the thoughts of the day werestill whizzing around in my head but gradually I began to hone in onthe sounds that were being given to me. After a while, I began to justthink about the different sounds and sensations that were going on inthe room and finally got into a relaxed state. I had a Gong Shower, but alonger session in a Gong Bath would bring on deeper therapeutic bene-fits, I am told. “Stress reduction is one of the most important results ofreceiving Sound Therapy,” according to Gong Master Strikes. “Stress isthe underlying cause of many physical conditions and it melts awaywhen you are bathed in the sound of healing vibrations.” Sound Ther-apy, I am told, works using brainwave entrainment with pulses ofsound encouraging the brain to re-align to a given beat and apparentlyit works for almost everyone.

Chas Strikes hails from London and has lived in the area for manyyears. He has studied Sound Healing on various courses and says: “Youshould go to the Gong Bath like you would go to get a breath of freshair.” He is offering free 30 minute introductions by way of Gong Show-ers. You can email him at [email protected] to reserve yoursession.

Pete Whyatt

Life in Fitzrovia is full of noises and discor-dant distractions and these stress-filledsounds affect us on many levels. “We perceivesound with our body as well as the ears,” saysFitzrovia’s own Gong Master, ChasmontyStrikes. He uses the ancient and veneratedpractice of gong playing as part of his SoundTherapy to retune his clients.

Good vibrations

The essence of beauty and healthstretch marks and anti-ageing

They also have spa facilitieswhich provide a range of treat-ments and therapies ranging frompedicure and manicure to sportsmassage

The spa and boutique is runby Nicole Furia and James WatsonTrimming.

James got into the businessbecause he suffered skin problemsand after having tried many curesand remedies he found that theholistic approach treated the prob-lem. “My diet and lifestyle af-fected me negatively and bycleansing and detoxifying myliver I found the condition eased.”

James and Nicole have madean exclusive offer for Fitzrovia

News readers. If you call in at thesalon and mention Fitzrovia News

you will receive a sample fromtheir evening cleansing ritualrange.

Nicole Furia enjoys a manicure at the

salon

Imakr store at 17 Wells Street specialises in all as-pects of 3D printing. They stock scanners, printers,consumables and accessories; everything needed toprint and fabricate objects.

When you enter the shop there are several peo-ple working at computers but also you notice a quiet

background of low level noise.It is the printers chugging whirring whizzing

and ticking away either fabricating or printing ob-jects one layer at a time.

Store Manager Nikoleta Michalodimitraki toldme all about this new field and how versatile 3Dprinting can be. “It can be used for dentistry andmedical uses prosthetics hearing aids,” she said.

“Architectural models of buildings, jewelleryand rapid prototyping

“You can even print food; chocolate is popularfor promotions and special events.

“In the shop we advise and train; and we scan,design and print on demand and stock design andprinting software.

“One of our more unusual products recreatesyour likeness in a 3D-colour sandstone compositemodel which is both accurate and detailed. It isavailable in four sizes, eight, ten, twelve and fifteeninches high. You come to the office and stand in thebooth which is like a white tent the size of a largewardrobe. Inside the booth are a double row of cam-eras. You stand still on a plinth which revolves youaround 360 degrees whilst the cameras capture yourimage all around from head to toe.”

These scans are processed into an initial printfile. From this file the designers make final prepara-tions to”print” a full colour Mini-You It is the ulti-mate selfie. Couples, children and full families arealso possible. The whole process takes between 10 to14 days and prices start at £199.

Imakr provide free training and learning ses-sions at the shop every Tuesday evening at 6:30

Fitzrovia News readers are invited to come and learnabout this cutting edge of technology. You may evenget to try a 3D printed chocolate!

Pete Whyatt

3D printing builds a three-dimensional object from com-

puter-aided design usually by successively adding mate-

rial layer by layer. Objects can be of almost any shape or

geometry. There are many different technologies processes

and materials involved.

photo Etienne Gilfillan


Word from the StreetsBy CHARLOTTE STREET and her siblings

Charlotte Street

Illustration by Jayne Davis

Entertaining anecdotes were told by Barry Miles, author of many booksabout the 1960s counter-culture, when addressing the Sohemians meet-ing in the Wheatsheaf, Rathbone Place.

He still lives in a Hanson Street flat, which, he recalled, was firstwired for electricity when he was there back in 1964.

Beatles and hash in Hanson Street

"Many people worked in therag trade in those days which wasvery local. One of our neighbourstold us she had been offered sucha job but turned it down becauseit was all the way at the other endof Great Titchfield Street!"

And it was in Hanson Streetthat one of the Beatles was re-puted to have had his first hashcookie. Not far away, in WigmoreStreet, Paul McCartney had aroom in the house of Jane Asher'sfather, where Paul first played thetune on a piano to Yesterday. Thepanels in his room, by the way,were made of Norwegian Wood.

Miles (he dislikes his fore-name Barry) was also co-owner(with Marianne Faithfull's firsthusband John Dunbar) of the In-dica Gallery where John Lennon

first met Yoko Ono."John first came in asking for

a book by someone he pro-nounced as Nat Che," he re-called."It was a while before werealised he meant Nietzsche" [aninfluential 19th century Germanphilosopher].

Yoko One (as she was referredto in Radio Times) revealed onDesert Island Discs how one ofher conceptual works was a blockof wood which people were in-vited to hammer a nail into forfive shillings. John asked if hecould knock in an imaginary nailfor an imaginary five shillings.

Another guest in HansonStreet of Miles was the Americanbeat generation writer and artistWilliam Burroughs. Apparentlyhe took delight in driving out afellow American in Fitzroy Streetby photographing and recordinghim, then replaying it outside hishome the next day.

Miles was also an editor ofthe hippy journal InternationalTimes, which was supported byPink Floyd's manager Hoppy,who raised funds for the journalby putting on concerts in the UFO

club at 31 Tottenham Court Road.Another way of raising funds

was to go into Foyles bookshop inCharing Cross Road, buy a bookfrom its second hand department,then sell it for a profit to the rarebooks section of the same shop.

"The Actresses" by local novelist/actress Barbara

Ewing has just been reprinted 21 years after its firstpublication. Despite this time difference it is highlytopical in view of recent revelations about treatment ofactresses.

Interestingly the cover of the new edition of "TheActresses" (left) depicts a slightly older woman on thecover compared to the original (right). Are the publish-ers taking a commendable risk with this?

Have you ever seen an "older" woman on thecover of a paperback? If so we will give a copy of thenew novel to the first to respond ([email protected] with "Actresses book" in thesubject box).

In praise of older women: chance to win new novel

Queen Charlotte immortalised

A right royal welcome to the re-

naming of the Draft House at 43

Goodge Street as Queen Char-

lotte. It is on the corner of Char-

lotte Street, which is named after

her.

She married George III in

1761 and was a regular vistor to

the theatre at 21-25 Tottenham

Street, and a frequent visitor of

both the artist Mary Moser in

Huntley Street (21 Upper Thorn-

haugh Street at the time) and

novelist Fanny Burney (who was

also the keeper of her robes) at

23 Chenies Street.

Sadly, she did not get on

with her daughter-in-law, Queen

Caroline of Brunswick, the wife

of her son George IV. There were

rumours that both Caroline and

her daughter (another Charlotte

who died at the age of 21) had

been poisoned.

My elder brother Mortimer,

a member of the Inn Sign Soci-

ety, thinks it would be nice to

have a pictorial sign of Queen

Charlotte outside the pub.

He is also delighted that the

Newman Arms in Rathbone

Street now has a pictorial hang-

ing sign (see page 9). The previ-

ous one just had the name and a

claim to date back 300 years…

before the street was built

Death bed humour at UCH"I always knew Unison members

would get their hands on me in

the end," quipped the retired

general secretary of that union,

Rodney Bickerstaffe (picturedright), on his deathbed in Univer-

sity College Hospital.

This was what he confided

to his son Philip, who related it

to those attending a celebration

of his life in Central Hall, West-

minster.

When Rodney was giving

the oration at the funeral of his

close friend and fellow union

leader Ron Todd, he said Ron

had told him on the phone he

had got leukaemia and wanted

Rodney to say a few words at the

funeral. "Certainly, Ron," replied

Rodney. "I have my diary here.

What date will it be?"

In his reply Ron reminded

Rodney that he was born out of

wedlock.

The current Unison general

secretary, Dave Prentis, referred

to Rodney's work with the home-

less, including organising sleep-

overs for them in churches. This

may explain why All Saints

Church in Margaret Street in-

cluded him in their list request-

ing prayers for the recently

departed.

Novelist, Anna Perera, most famous for "Guantanamo Boy" (Puffin) now

lives in the area. She was born in London to an Irish mother and a Sri Lankan

father. For a while she was a teacher, responsible for excluded boys. Now she

writes for the teenage market, but also adults.

Of Guantanamo Boy she states "although it is a work of fiction, it is in-

spired by real events. It remains a fact that children have been abducted and

abused and held without charge in the name of justice in Guantanamo Bay and

many secret prisons around the world."

The book's frontpiece includes a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "An eye

for an eye and the whole world will soon be blind."

Local author exposes

child abduction scandal

Boulting brothers’ local link

The Boulting Brothers, who directed many popular films in the 1950sand 60s, were indeed related to the T J Boulting sanitary engineers inRiding House Street (now an art gallery).

Laurence Boulting (whose article about the firm is on page 13) isthe son of Roy Boulting, whose twin brother was John.

"My uncle John told me he thought his twin was the better directorof the two of them - more of an artist and poet he thought," writes Lau-rence in his book "Love at 24 FPS".

"Although I would never have dared express this opinion aloudwhile they were alive, I sometimes thought it was John who made thebetter films and the more enduring ones as well... Is that being disloyalto the memory of my father? Just a little perhaps... not that they wouldhave given a toss for anyone's opinions except their own. Identicaltwins, you know... funny creatures."

His book, which is an anthology of 101 films, is published by SixthAvenue Press.

My brother Percy really mustbrush up his diction (if you'll par-don the expression).

He ordered "goat's cheese" inL'Etoile in Charlotte Street, butgot "cod's cheeks" instead. I sup-pose they do sound a bit similar.

"I do hope they were facialcheeks," he crudely commented.Then he redeemed himself byadding: "Either way, they are ab-solutely delicious!"

I see a "Half Leg Wax" is being ad-

vertised for £22 (terms and condi-

tions apply) on the corner of Wells

Street and Mortimer Street.

"I might be tempted if they make

it a BOGOF [Buy One Get One

Free]," remarked my sister Mar-

garet. "Which half is it anyway,

top/bottom or inside/outside?"

A leg up

Codswallop

Is there a dyslexic journalist in the

area - owning this brown Ford van

in Margaret Street (number plate

above)?


By the DINING DETECTIVE

PICTURE PUZZLE:The picture on

page 14 is at the Rising Sun, 46 Tot-

tenham Court Road.

Treat yourself to tasty Japanese dishes - best during the special discount times

KAZU 64 Charlotte Street,

W1W 4QD.

It was only when I picked up thecard of this restaurant that I re-alised it was a chain. But I could-n't find any other branches inLondon - although there is one inAbu Dhabi and one in Montreal....

A dining detective has a dutyto keep an eye on restaurantopenings and closures, but thecorner of Tottenham Street andCharlotte Street is not really thebuzzing-restaurant-end of Char-lotte Street.

As I had passed by last year Ifelt a great deal of money was ob-viously being put into the estab-lishment on the ground floor ofthe old Hogarth Studios: at first Ithought it was yet another archi-tectural company. Finally I under-stood it was a restaurant.

Kazu is a Japanese restaurantwhich we don’t have a lot of inFitzrovia, but it seemed a bit ex-pensive for me and there is amuch cheaper one in GoodgeStreet which is often full of youngpeople – students perhaps, towhich I have not been, but will.And why don’t they ask us, theresidents, where to put a new

restaurant!. This new one has not,it appears to me, and I pass itoften, had a lot of customers.

However, at the momentKazu has a board outside adver-tising a set meal offer, at 12-3pmand 6-7pm and I decided to try it:£16.50 for miso soup, salad, rice, achoice of main meals, and adessert. As some main dishes –not part of this deal – go up to £36(for something called TokujoSushi) £16.50 for a meal seemed areasonable price.

Examples of things availablefor this offer are: Salmon orChicken teriyaki (which are£16.50 anyway); Sushi (usually£23); Kazu Special (sashimi or

sushi with a side of tempura usu-ally £24); Saikiyo Yaki (grilledblack cod, usually £25), Unaju(grilled sea eel, usually £28). Mycompanion and I both chose£16.50 dishes anyway!

The miso soup was tasty, andI really enjoy that feeling of drink-ing a thin soup out of a little bowl;the salad was ok, the mains wereexcellent.

As my main I had tempuraprawns and vegetables – youknow that crisp lightness whentempura is just-cooked and per-fect? – that light, thin, coating washot and crisp, the vegetablesfresh-tasting and al dente, and theprawns so beautifully done: it wasa great choice. I can't rememberhaving such good tempura any-where for ages.

My companion had very nice,oily, grilled mackerel which he en-joyed enormously (and consid-ered very healthy!). The dessertwas simply a very sweet and al-ready sectioned orange, served inits skin which was exactly theright taste to complement whathad gone before.

So now I want to say I thinkthis Kazu is well worth a try espe-cially if you can go at the afore-mentioned hours while the set

deal is on, to get an idea of whatthey serve.

They specialise in fish of alldifferent kinds. You can also buyKazu Rolls for £15 – the Fisher-man’s Special is filled with a mix-ture of different fish; the UnajuRoll is filled with crab, avocadowith flying fish roe, and toppedwith braised eel.

Alas the wine is expensive bythe glass and you know by nowhow I moan about this (£9 for aglass of long-opened French pinotnoir) but a very nice Japanesebeer, Kirin – which says on thebottle it is Japan’s favourite beer –was (doubly) enjoyed by my

companion and was £4.80 a bottle.And although with our

drinks and service charge the billfor two was of course quite a lotmore than £16.50 x 2, at £58.05 ameal at the special deal prices waswell within that eating-out budgetof ours.

And – aha – I have just seenthat from 2.30 to 6pm at the mo-ment you can enjoy 25% offdrinks and eat some small disheslike a salmon and avocado roll(£8) or a spicy tuna roll(£11). They are trying to attractyou: after my enjoyable meal I'dsay give it a go.

The Newman Arms in RathboneStreet has reopened under theownership of Truman's brewery.

A new snug bar is beingnamed after George Orwell, whowas a regular during the war andreferenced it in two of his novels:"Nineteen Eighty-Four" (as the"Proles" pub) and "Keep The As-pidistra Flying".

The bar also featured in thecontroversial 1960 film "PeepingTom" about a murderer who pho-tographed the killing of his vic-tims.

A brewery spokespersonsaid: "The Newman was a leg-endary pub, and we want to re-turn it to that status. Key will bethe beer range with four cask and12 keg lines, our own beers and arotating selection of craft beers."

There is also one of London'sfirst crowler machines to allowdrinkers to take away draft beers.

Pub reopens


pointed one of his ex-lovers to bePeter's godmother. He explainedthat she had hoped to marry him,but "it is too late now and as shecan't be the mother of my childthe least I can do is ask her to beits godmother."

Nadia laughed and said:"Well, I hope she will be satisfiedwith the alternative!" It alsoemerged he had first had an affairwith the young woman's oldersister.

The flat in Ridgmount Gar-dens belonged to a Frenchwoman, Madame Le Bhian, whodid not mind fellow foreigners.Klop was partly Russian, German

and Ethiopian, and Nadia washalf Russian and the rest Frenchand Italian.

They had been treated as"enemy aliens" when they arrivedin London in December 1920 sothey spoke French together inpublic. They were told at theirfirst lodgings they would have toleave as soon as the baby arrived,as no animals or children were al-lowed.

They were welcome at Ridg-mount Gardens, however. Herethey were visited, when Peterwas nine months old, by a Rus-sian inventor called Nicolai Nico-laevitch, who spoke very quickly

By MIKE PENTELOWThe birth certificate of celebrated

actor, writer and raconteur, Peter

Ustinov, reveals his home was 35

Ridgmount Gardens.

But his birth was a more thanstressful one for his mother, NadiaBenois, on account of his journal-ist father, Jona, telling her to holdback her contractions while hefiled his copy!

Just after midnight on themorning of April 16, 1921, Nadiarecalled in her memoirs, sheawoke with a pain in her tummythinking it was the result of eatinga box of chocolates.

Then at about 4 or 5 o'clock inthe morning the pain returnedand she realised it was the baby.So she asked her husband to takeher to the nursing home.

He was typing a report totelephone to the Berlin newsagency he worked for and toldher, rather insensitively and withlittle medical knowledge: "Well,you'll have to wait. I'm not readyyet."

The pains grew stronger andmore frequent. "I was walking upand down the corridor like a tigerin a cage," she wrote. Her nanny,Miss Rowe, asked Klop (Jona'snickname) to ring the nursinghome and a doctor.

"Wait, wait," answered Klop."'l'll be ready in a minute."

"But in a minute the babymay be here," replied the nanny.

"I can't help it; be patient,"replied Klop. "Surely Nadia canwait!"

The nanny went looking for ataxi, which she eventually foundafter walking miles. During thistime Nadia was in agony, butKlop said he only had to tele-phone Berlin, and just as shethought she was going to split, hesaid: "Wait, wait. I am just finish-ing; just a few more phrases!"

Then the taxi arrived and shecould hardly sit in it and felt thebaby was going to be born there.

"No, no, you mustn't let it!" hetold her.

At the nursing home thenurse pushed chloroform underher nose against her will so shewas unconsious during the birthmuch to her resentment.

When at last she saw babyPeter she thought "he looked sur-prisingly wise, like a little Bud-dha, and yet so helpless andvulnerable."

The nurse told Klop that hisson was the exact image of him."Well," he said. "I don't mind himlooking like me, but I hope I don'tlook like him!"

Nadia had nicknamed herhusband Klop (meaning bed bug)because of his bed hopping pro-clivities. So it was unconventionalbut not so surprising when he ap-

and threw his arms about extrav-agently. Nadia suddenly felt Petershaking on her lap. "He was con-vulsed by a fit of uncontrollable,silent laughter, like an old man,"she recalled. "Tears were pouringdown his cheeks. I started laugh-ing too. Klop said it showed Peterhad a very keen sense of humour.I had never seen a baby laughingin that way."

When Peter was two yearsold he spoke very clearly and wasfascinated by new words, shestated. "Klop loved to play withhim, making him do and say allsorts of absurd things. For in-stance, he would put his collarand tie around Peter's neck, atrilby hat on his curly head, andmake him say: 'I am LloydGeorge and you are rascals!' AndPeter did it very emphatically,knitting his brow over his humor-ous eyes, obviously sensing theamusement he was about tocause."

They took on a cook, Frieda,from Hamburg, who also posednude for paintings by Nadia, whowas an accomplished artist.Frieda however declined a re-quest to pose naked for seven-year-old Peter!

Klop also asked Nadia topaint his other girlfriends in thenude, which she did somewhatreluctantly.

Despite the tatty furniture atRidgmount Gardens they at-tracted a circle of friends forevenings there during their threeyears' occupancy. The guest listincluded Mary Chamot (a Sladeart school student from nearbyGower Street), Rudolph Stulik(owner of the Tour Eiffel restau-rant at 1 Percy Street), AugustusJohn (the Fitzrovian artist whoadmired Nadia's work), the balle-rina Tamara Karsinova, andCount Albrecht Bernstorff of theGerman Embassy who was latermurdered by the Nazis.

In 1933 Hitler's governmenttook over the news agency Klopworked for and it came under thecontrol of propaganda ministerJoseph Goebbels. Two years laterKlop was ordered to prove hisAryan blood - impossible as hismother was part Ethiopian, his fa-ther was a Slavic Russian, and hisgrandfather a Polish Jew. Bravelyhe responded: "If Herr DrGoebbels would like first to provehis ancestry, then I will do thesame." Unsurprisingly Klop wassacked.

By then Peter was at the sameschool in London as Rudolf vonRibbentrop (son of Joachim, the

Ustinov’s birth pains

Young Ustinov with his parents in Ridgmount Gardens in 1924.

Nazi diplomat and later ForeignMinister) and did his best to an-tagonise him.

Klop then got British citizen-ship and acquired work in jour-nalism, art dealing, and spying(for MI5, MI6, the KGB and theGermans).

As the second world warstarted Klop tried to get Peter in-volved in secret intelligencework, meeting a stranger and ex-changing passwords. But itproved unsuccessful as Peter wasconsidered unsuitable because hecould not easily blend into acrowd.

Nadia did her bit for the wareffort by working in the canteenat Euston Station. But the "alien"taint reappeared after Dunkirkwhen security was tightened andonly British born people were al-lowed to work there, much to herfury.

As Hitler planned to invadeBritain in 1940, he put Klop onhis death list of 2,820 people to berounded up (along with Fitzro-vian novelists Virginia Woolf andH G Wells).

After the war, Klop was as-signed to entrap a British atomicscientist, Alan Nunn May, whowas passing on information tothe Russians. Klop (posing as aRussian agent whose messagethey had intercepted) was to ap-proach him from TottenhamCourt Road and exchange pass-words outside the British Mu-seum. But May had been tippedoff and did not turn up.

Klop did however warn hisMI5 case officer that Kim Philby'swife was a Communist and So-viet agent, and that AnthonyBlunt was a member of the Com-munist Party. These warningswere ignored and the pair wereallowed to continue spying forthe Soviet Union for many moreyears before being unmasked.

When Klop retired from MI5in 1957 he worked for a shortwhile for the management com-pany of his son, Peter, by now afamous actor.

Peter Ustinov at the height of his fame (National Poettrait Gallery)

SOURCES:

Klop and the Ustinov Family, byNadia Benois Ustinov (publishedby Sidgwick & Jackson, 1973).

Klop, Britain's Most Ingenious

Secret Agent, by Peter Day (pub-lished by Biteback, 2014).

... for his mother that is


Bloomsbury wardcouncillors surgeries

First Friday of the month 6:00-7:00pm Fitzrovia Centre 2 Foley StreetSecond and fourth Fridays of the month 6:00-7:00pm

Marchmont Community Centre, 62 Marchmont Street, WC1N 1ABThird Friday of the month is a “roving surgery” Get in touch if you would

like us to conduct the surgery in your street or buildingAdam Harrison, Sabrina Francis and Rishi Madlani

contact 020 7974 3111 [email protected] [email protected]

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Poetry corner

A short story by SUNITA SOLIAR

For more verses by local poets get:

A FITZROVIAN MISCELLANY

Price just £3.50

from Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre

39 Tottenham Street, London W1T 4RX

Piss Artist

Illustration by Clifford Harper

For the past week, I’ve been tip-

toeing up to her room every ten

minutes when she’s in. I’ve been

listening for the squeak of the

floorboards. Then I go right up

to the door and press my ear

against it for the sound. It’s not

possible for a lady to urinate in a

sink, the magistrate says. I’m not

sure whether, to his mind, ‘possi-

ble’ means ‘unable’ given the fe-

male apparatus or that a lady

would never conceive of such an

immoral act.Either way, he’s a fool. Be-

cause Nina Hamnett is not a lady,no. She’s an Artist. A Bohemian.To that sort, seeing a sink as asink, a washing vessel, is missingthe higher purpose of life. No,she’s an artist and must piss onimpulse. She can’t trot to theprivy like the rest of us. Of courseshe thinks she got away with it.That little smirk of hers: you can’tevict me; the magistrate said so.But I know she did it and I’mgoing to find her out.

I’ve been making sure to lis-ten to my own expulsions in orderto differentiate between the hotwhizz of piss and the metallicsound of the faucet stream. I triedlooking through the keyhole, butkeyholes are not as easy to peepthrough as some make out. For a

start, the aperture is small, andthe inner layers of the lock tend toobstruct the view.

Of course I carry the key toher room with me so I can comein on the act as soon as I hear itsplashing against the ceramic.How do you think she does it? Doyou think she hoists her skirt up,pulling back the big drape of hermosaic-patterned sleeves? Ordoes she do it starkers, cockingone leg up, spraying the sink andher thighs? She brushes her teethin that sink. I bet she doesn’t evenwipe herself off afterwards, unlessshe’s doing it on her bedding. Hertowel perhaps. Her petticoat. It’shorrifying for respectable peopleto have to think of such things,but she forces me. I’m hardlydoing this for my own enjoyment.

I’ve been tolerant: you shouldsee her room. Pillows tossed onthe floor, clothes draping chairs, aclutter of canvasses on the stove.

This is no reflection on my es-

tablishment, understand: anyoneshould be proud to give myrooms on Howland Street as theiraddress. No, it’s her: she embracesfilth in all forms, from the paintflecks up her arms to the smut ofher sheets. And she tells the menshe brings in, ‘Watch the landlady.She’s a perfect beast.’ I, a beast!And then she goes on to tell themthat this is the most evil-smellingplace she’s ever lived. She wantsme to hear, and of course shewon’t entertain complaints abouther male friends because they areartists and models, certainly notlovers — but the sink!

I know for sure about thesink. It wasn’t just the pale tingeof yellow, it was the smell. Shehas made it astringent and headyin there with paints and other so-lutions, and that was the give-away. The sweet, sticky smell, likegolden syrup. The irony that herpee should smell sweet! Of coursewhen I confronted her about it she

had a ready answer. The yellowwas paint from washing out herbrushes. But I’m too smart for herlies. I told her, ‘I know your ways,Nina Hamnett, drinking to allhours. You used to be in and outto the latrine all through thenight. How come you stopped? Ihaven’t heard the door.’ She hadthe cheek to say, ‘And what areyou doing up at that hour? Per-haps you’ve been at the bottleyourself.’ A mouth like that on herand her cheeks blotched from al-cohol. The magistrate must havehad his eyes on inside out.

Yesterday, I almost had her. Iwas just on my way to her roomto do one of my checks when shecame out. Good job I thought tocarry a feather duster and I madea great ruse of cleaning the banis-ters. It was her oddly defiantmanner that gave me the tipoff.She said, ‘I’ve left the windowopen. There was a funny smell.’ Ithought that was pretty clever. Tothrow me off the scent, so tospeak, by mentioning it herself. Ifthat doesn’t sound like guilt, Idon’t know what does. She said,‘You’ve been cleaning this part ofthe hall a lot recently, haven’tyou?’

But I didn’t have time to chat.I needed to get into her room be-fore the smell dissipated. I didn’tsay anything and waited for herto go past. When she was out ofthe front door and I’d counted toten, I went into her room. There itwas. That faint, sweet smell. Ilooked at the sink. Droplets ofsomething, alright, but these wereclear. Still, pee is sometimes clear.I looked closer and closer until itwas right under my nose, but Icouldn't tell the origin of thesmell. One would have to employother senses to be sure. Taste, forexample. But that would be ab-surd! How could anyone think ofsuch an idea. It only crosses mymind because this is how her sortcorrupts. I must catch her: oneneeds to preserve one’s dignity.

HAWKING RADIATION

By Terry Egan

Here's the thing -that her eyes' pupilsare not black,that in them's the sun,the moon and the stars...

I kiss herthat her lids stay closed:in that voidthere's no world I know -O! this planet Earth...

ALMOST FORGOTTEN

by Sandra Goodrick

I remember butterfliesAnd hiding in the rhubarbBlack and WhiteSuper 8 film rollingcapturing the storyof a little girl’s life.

Brothers and sistersplaying Jack in the Boxcats and dogs play chaseimages foreverfrolicking in the cat mintin my memory almost lost.

Till in another countryfar awaywith both tide and timea little pair of black velvet wingssilently flutter bywith the key to unlock those old treasures.

And a woman begins to cryas her life showreelsand flickers byon the wings of a creaturealmost extinct in Englandbut not in mind

Where did all the butterflies goWhat happened to my daisy chainWhere’s my childhoodcaptured like a featureon the super 8 of my brain.

HIGH SUMMER

By Wendy Shutler

Summer glitters, a rustling dreamOf long light evenings, leafy,green.Ripening cornfields, swifts on thewing,Tinkle of ice in a jug of Pimm's.Deckchairs, Wimbledon, straw-berries and cream,Intoxication of love's youngdream,When roses scent the humid nightWhere all will vanish. A trick oflight

NINA HAMNETT (National Portrait Gallery)

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NHS celebrates 70 years of advances in patient care

By JOSIE WALES

(UCLH Archivist)On 5 July 2018, the NHS will cel-

ebrate 70 years of caring for pa-

tients and transforming the

health of the nation through

medical advances and improve-

ments to public health. The

UCLH archives tell the story of

how healthcare has evolved over

the centuries, providing opportu-

nities to consider the financial

barriers that many people faced

in accessing medical treatment

before 1948, and further appreci-

ate the impact and achievements

of the NHS.

The Middlesex Hospital [inMortimer Street] was founded in1745 as a voluntary hospital totreat ‘the sick and lame of Soho’who could not afford privatemedical treatment. However, asdemand grew, prospective pa-tients were expected to contributetowards the cost of their stay inhospital, or provide evidence oftheir inability to pay.

These patients would also bevisited at home by the Lady Al-moner, whose purpose it was toassess their eligibility to receivetreatment free of charge. Individu-als with a regular income or finan-cial support from relatives wouldbe advised to seek private treat-ment elsewhere.

Governors of the Hospitaland regular financial supporterswere able to refer patients to theMiddlesex by signing a Letter ofRecommendation, offering an al-ternative means of accessing treat-ment.

Following the introduction ofuniversal healthcare free at thepoint of access, the health of thepopulation quickly improved.Adult life expectancy has in-creased and infant mortality rateshave dramatically reduced.

A significant step was thewidespread immunisation againstcommon childhood diseases suchas diphtheria. While vaccinationswere offered prior to 1948, theirprovision was dependent on localauthorities. The NHS became thecentral instrument for coordinat-ing and providing routine child-hood vaccinations free of charge,and programmes quickly ex-panded to include immunisationsagainst tuberculosis and whoop-ing cough.

After several outbreaks ofpolio in the 1950s, the introduc-tion of routine vaccination againstthe virus has largely eradicatedthe disease.

The NHS continues to driveinnovations in public health andpatient care, and by 2020 UCLHwill be home to one of only two

NHS proton beam therapy centresoffering advanced cancer treat-ment in England.

None of this would be possi-ble without the skill, dedicationand compassion of NHS staff, aswell as the many volunteers, char-ities and communities that sup-port the service, continuing along-standing tradition of philan-thropy.

Both University College Hos-pital [originally in Gower Streetnow round the corner in EustonRoad] and The Middlesex Hospi-tal opened their doors as charita-ble institutions, and were relianton public contributions for thecontinuation of their services.

Voluntary societies such asthe Middlesex Hospital Ladies’Association raised money to holdconcerts for patients and also es-tablished a hospital Library.

In 1925 The Middlesex Hospi-tal was found to be structurallyunstable, and a successfulfundraising campaign waslaunched, appealing for donationsto the Reconstruction Fund. Thebrand new hospital opened ten

years later on the same site.Today, UCLH carries on this

legacy, with sponsored eventssuch as this year’s Amsterdam toLondon Staff Cycle Challengeraising money to support newbuilding projects. Donations toUCLH Charity and UCLH Artsand Heritage also support pa-tients, staff, equipment and re-search, all helping to furtherimprove the patient journey.

Celebrating the last 70 yearsis an opportunity to thank NHSstaff and volunteers for their hardwork, and also enables the publicto connect with their local healthservice through a range of themedevents and exhibitions.

From 28 June 2018, a new ex-

hibition in the UCH Street

Gallery will showcase advances

in patient care since the NHS

was founded. The annual re-

search open day will take place

from 2:30 to 5.30pm on Thursday

5 July, providing an opportunity

to discover some of the ground-

breaking research going on at

UCLH.

The architect of the National

Health Service on July 5, 70 years

ago was Aneurin Bevan (1897-

1960).

At the time he was the Minis-ter of Health & Housing, and aregular in the Fitzroy Tavern at 16Charlotte Street with his friendand fellow Labour MP, MichaelFoot.

"Nye", as Bevan was nick-named, spent the last two years ofhis life at 35 Gosfield Street whenhe and his wife Jennie Lee were intown.

When he was made the min-ister in 1945 he already had expe-rience of both health and housingas a councillor in Wales.

He started working in thecoal mines at the age of 13.

Through this he contributedto the Tredegar Medical Aid Soci-ety, which had been founded in1890 and provided health carefree at the point of delivery tominers and steelworkers, in re-turn for a weekly contribution ofthree per cent of their wages. By1923 he was serving on its hospi-tal committee, experience thatserved him well in creating theNHS.

One of the doctors employedby the society was A J Cronin whowrote two novels about coal min-ing communities, The Stars LookDown, in 1934, and The Citadel in1937 (recently serialised on radio),and later the Dr Finlay's Casebookstories.

And it was in Tredegar thathe served on the urban districtconcil's Health & Housing Com-mittee. His approach here onhousing was the same as when hewas the government minister - hepreferred quality to building morecheaply and quickly.

Tredegar's library also had a

Nye’s long crusade forhealth and housing

Aneurin Bevan (National Portrait Gallery)

copy of Capital by Karl Marx, butNye’s communist friend ArchieLush noticed that there were fin-ger marks on the first 27 pagesbut the rest were seemingly un-thumbed.

Bevan was elected in 1928 onto Monmouthshire County Coun-cil, where health was chronicallyunderfunded, partly because highunemployment meant the ratespaid to the council were lower.Local government was also vul-nerable to cuts from central gov-ernment funding.

That is why when he formedthe NHS he rejected the case forhospitals to be run by local au-thorities, and decided to nation-alise them instead.

Despite some reservationsfrom parts of the medical profes-sion he managed to steer theforming of the NHS through par-liament with great skill.

Another piece of legislationhe introduced was the NationalAssistance Act, also in 1948,which finally got rid of work-houses.

In 1951 he resigned from thegovernment in protest at thetransfer of £13 million from healthto arms spending and the intro-duction of charges for NHS den-tures and spectacles in the budgetby chancellor Hugh Gaitskell.

Gaitskell then beat Bevan forthe leadership of the Labour Partyin 1955. But Bevan seemed to bearhim no personal malice. Indeedhe stood in for him at a press con-ference in Moscow in 1959 whenGaitskell had got drunk on vodkaand could not be woken.

SOURCE: Nye, the political life

of Aneurin Bevan, by Nicklaus

Thomas-Symonds (publisher I B

Tauris).

In 1925 the Middlesex Hospital in Mortimer Street was found to be struc-

turally unstable and a successfull fundraising campaign was launched.


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By LAURENCE BOULTINGMost Fitzrovians will be familiar

with the three fine mosaics, or-

namenting the façades of that

cluster of Art Nouveau buildings

making up Candover Street and

the corner of Little Riding Street.

With their gold lettering seton a green background, they an-nounce with some fanfare, (in-cluding an ampersand worthy ofa Byzantine master), “T.J. Boulting& Sons - Electrical Engineers, San-itary & Hot Water Engineers,Range and Stove Manufactory, Es-tablished 1808”.

Of course, behind everyfaçade lurks a story…or two.Mine come to me through my pa-ternal grandmother, “Mamma’Rose Boulting, who died aged 96with every tooth still in her head,her black hair barely streaked bygrey and a fag in her mouth. Shewas, as they say, a bit of a charac-ter.

When it came to telling astory, Mamma Rose could not becalled shy about adding a bit ofornamentation and embellish-ment herself either: after all, noth-ing like an extra splash of colourhere and there to liven things up,now is there?

I was, therefore, brought upto believe by her – and still do –that the Boulting§s singular claimto a modicum of fame and a men-tion in the history books was thatit was they who installed the veryfirst flush lavatory in WindsorCastle. Since T.J. Boulting was es-tablished as far back as 1808, thiswould suggest that their revolu-tionary contribution to humanityand the sanitary conditions of theroyal household might well havecome about at the invitation of noless than Prince Albert himself,

that dedicated follower of scien-tific and social progress. However,service to the Crown as this un-doubtedly was, that didn’t pre-vent the Royal Warrant, on thematter of Her Majesty’s comfortand well-being in the privy, beingawarded to their rival, the cele-brated Thomas Crapper.

This sleight to the familyname was a trifle vexing. To thinkit could have been ‘Boulting’which had gone into the Englishvernacular instead of ‘Crapper’,with all its associated nouns andverbs, certainly does give pausefor thought, but I, for one, amrather relieved (if that’s the rightword) it didn’t.

Rather more irritating, how-

ever, was the question of property.Apart from the T.J.Boultingpremises themselves, MammaRose averred that ‘we’ ownedhuge swathes of the area, includ-ing the entire site of what used tobe the Middlesex Hospital. That’san eye-watering slice of prime realestate to be sitting on in centralLondon and I’m not the only fam-ily member who would havedearly liked to have benefitedfrom even a tiny share of it.

So where did it all go? Onthis, Mamma Rose remained un-characteristically reticent. The an-swer might well have hadsomething to do with her hus-band, Arthur Boulting, an indi-vidual every bit as colourful as

she was. His activities, as murkyas fog, might be best described as‘entrepreneurial’ – and left at that.

Whilst entirely possible thatArthur belonged to a differentbranch of the family with no claimon all that property, it is morelikely, I think, that he had hischunk of it, cashed it in and thenblew it on one of his many ven-tures, including apparently 'a sci-entific expedition to Siberia’which set off, after a lavish ban-quet at the Strand Palace Hotel,never to be heard of again…Yes,Arthur was…well, not altogethertransparent.

Boulting is an unusual name.I have often wondered about itsorigins, but it was only on a visitto the Flemish city of Antwerpthat I began to formulate a theoryabout our family roots – becausethere the name is almost, but notquite as common as muck.Antwerp has had a long associa-tion with the Jewish communitywho predominantly control andprovide the skills for its worldrenowned diamond market.

My own theory, for what it isworth, is that the Boultings origi-nated there, at some point fledpersecution of the Jews, and cameto England (probably through Ire-land and bringing a bit of Irishblood with them on the way). Myown father emphatically deniedwe had any Jewish or Irish bloodwhatsoever, but you only had tolook and listen to his mother,

Mamma Rose, to know there wasplenty of both, swilling around inbuckets in the Boulting blood-stream.

Story-telling runs in the fam-ily, so let me conclude with one ofmy own. Years ago, I happened tobe on an Air France flight the daythey were celebrating their 50thanniversary. To mark the occasionthey were handing out generousamounts of a very passable cham-pagne. The gentleman next to mewas a dour-faced Belgian whoseemed disinclined to enter intothe spirit of the occasion, but didbegin to loosen up enough afterthe second glass to inform me hewas on his way to the UK to at-tend an international paper con-ference.

“Oh? And what kind of paperwould that be?”, I asked. It wasnot until the third glass was in hishands, however, before he an-swered, with an embarrassedmutter: “Lavatory paper!”

“What an extraordinary coin-cidence!” I exclaimed with cham-pagne-fuelled enthusiasm. Helooked at me blankly. I explained,“You see, my family, we make thelavatories – and here you are, sideby side with me, ready to providethe paper! Fortuitous seating ar-rangement, wouldn’t you say?!”

Serendipity in action?

Or a whole lot of ‘crap’?

Or should that be, a whole

lot of ‘boulting’?

Caveat Lector - you decide.

Providers of the firstroyal water closets

Mamma Rose (left) and the T J Boulting sign that still

remains today in Candover Street (above).


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100 years of Married Love

How well do you know Fitzrovia? Can you identify where this picture

was taken? Answer below the Dining Detective picture on page 9..

Picture puzzle

By SUE BLUNDELL

‘More than ever to-day are happy

homes needed. It is my hope that

this book may serve the State by

adding to their number.’

Marie Stopes’ opening wordsin the preface to her book MarriedLove set the tone for the wholeendeavour. Her desire to improvethe lives of married people – ‘toincrease the joys of marriage, andto show how much sorrow maybe avoided’ – was admirable, andno doubt genuine. But her wideraim of serving the State may bemore questionable.

It was Stopes’ unhappy firstmarriage which persuaded her towrite Married Love. In 1914 shehad been granted an annulmenton the grounds of non-consum-mation. ‘In my own marriage Ipaid such a terrible price for sex-ignorance,’ she later wrote in Mar-ried Love, ‘that I feel thatknowledge gained at such costshould be placed at the service ofhumanity.’

And so was born Stopes’ re-solve to write about sex, with theemphasis on women’s sexual de-sires, and on explanations to bothparties about how they could besatisfied. ‘It should be realisedthat a man does not woo and wina woman once and for all when hemarries her: he must woo her be-fore every separate act of coitus.’

Married Love was publishedin March 1918 and caused a sensa-tion. It went through six printingsin a few weeks, and was read bypeople of all social classes – from

aristocrats to housemaids, ifDownton Abbey is to be believed.But people seeking similar en-lightenment in America wouldhave had to resort to smuggledcopies of the book. Publicationwas banned there for twentyyears.

Marie Stopes’ first connectionwith Fitzrovia had been estab-lished in the early 1900s when shestudied Palaeobotany at Univer-sity College, gaining a Doctor ofScience degree in 1905, at theyoung age of 25. Later she becamethe first female member of the sci-ence faculty at Manchester Uni-

versity when she took up a postthere as a lecturer in Palaeob-otany.

But Stopes’ most lastinglegacy has been as a pioneer ofbirth control. With her secondhusband Humphrey Verdon Roeshe set up Britain’s first familyplanning clinic in Holloway in1921. This moved to Fitzrovia’sWhitfield Street in 1925, and othercentres opened across the country.

The Whitfield Street clinic isstill in operation, and still attractsopposition from people whorefuse to accept women’s right tocontrol their own fertility.

Ever a controversial figure,Stopes took the link between con-traception and ‘service to theState’ to unacceptable extremeswhen she began to champion thecause of eugenics in the 1920s. Shebelieved that one of the benefits ofbirth control was that it could beused to discourage the lowerclasses and people with ‘flawsand defects’ from reproducing.These harsh views make it diffi-cult for many people, includingmyself, to hail Marie Stopes as afeminist hero. Perhaps we can callher a flawed hero, and leave it atthat.

Marie Stopes (National Portrait Gallery) and the plaque to her at 108 Whitfield Street

In Fitzrovia News, issue 136(Spring 2015) we covered the pub-lication of Fitzrovia musician (andFitzrovia News columnist) Clif-ford Slapper’s biography of MikeGarson, who was David Bowie’smost frequent musician, on stageand record, from 1972 to 2006.Clifford also worked closely withDavid Bowie, playing piano forhis last ever television appearancein the world. That limited firstedition of the book sold out buthas since been picked up by Back-beat Books in the USA, a sub-sidiary of Hal Leonard, theworld’s biggest producer of sheetmusic and music books. A new,updated and much expanded edi-tion will now be published in pa-perback, including coverage ofDavid Bowie’s death in 2016, andits effect on his lifelong collabora-tor, Garson.

There are six new chapters,new photographs including someof Bowie never before seen, plus anew foreword from Garson him-self. Bowie’s Piano Man: The Lifeof Mike Garson by Clifford Slap-per is published in the USA inMay, 2018 and is released in theUK and Europe in July, 2018. Itcan be found on Amazon and inall good bookstores.

New edition


Looking back through the archives

The Piano Man

No 13 by

CLIFFORD

SLAPPER

40 years ago

10 years ago

Welcome to the House of Osman

This has been a busy time for

the Piano Man, so here are brief

spotlights on several local devel-

opments in the world of the arts.

The southern part of Fitzroviahas been enjoying something of astyle renaissance in the past yearor two, as the two parallel streetslinking the bottom of CharlotteStreet to Tottenham Court Roadhave seen the opening of numer-ous fancy boutiques and restau-rants. On Windmill Street we haveDrakes, Tombo, Rivet & Hide(high-end jeans), Bao and severalother places of interest.

Percy Street, meanwhile, isone of our most fascinatingFitzrovia streets, in terms of itscolourful, arts-related history. Itwas built in the 1760s on landowned by William and FrancisGoodge. Those in the arts whohave lived there include Wynd-ham Lewis, Charles Laughton,Sonia Orwell and Coventry Pat-more.

Number 1, Percy Street, in theearly 20th century was the EiffelTower hotel and restaurant, fre-quented by the artists of the Vorti-cist movement. Painter AugustusJohn took the future wife of DylanThomas to one of its rooms on anassignation prior to her marriage.George Bernard Shaw was also aregular. The Eiffel Tower later be-came the legendary White House,then Bam-bou, before opening ascurrent Vietnamese restaurant,House of Ho.

The Elysée, at number 13,

Percy Street, was opened in 1936by George Varnava and has hadan extraordinary history, remain-ing in the same family ever since.Alois Hitler, half brother of Adolf,lived at 4, Percy Street, LondonW1, in the years leading up to theFirst World War.

Local landlord, Pearl andCoutts, have gradually addedproperties on Percy Street to theirportfolio in recent years, to thepoint where they now effectivelyown the whole street, like a suc-cessful player of the Monopolyboard game. Their head, DavidPearl, is a likeable eccentric whoonce featured as one of televi-sion’s ‘Secret Millionaires’.

Into this street we welcomethe ascendant clothes designer,Osman Yousefzada. Housed in aformer opium den, his beautifulnew showroom encompasses artgallery, book shop, design studiosand office. Even the rails on whichhis latest collections hang areworks of art designed by Osmanhimself. On my first visit I wasshown round by the charmingHead of Atelier, Lalah. Watch outfor a more detailed piece in a fu-ture issue of Fitzrovia News, aswell as for some live music events

which we are discussing holdingthere in future.

A nearby club which hostedmuch music and merriment in itslong and decadent history was theColony Room Club. I often playedthere in the early 2000s at themonthly live show nights. ArtistDarren Coffield is now workingon a book documenting its storyvia the experiences of those whofrequented it: Tales from theColony: the Lost Bohemia ofBacon, Belcher and Board. To jointhe crowdfunder campaign or tooffer Darren personal recollec-tions of the Colony, visit:

unbound.com/books, thenclick on "tales from the colony."

In May I was invited to Leedsto give a lecture on the ideas ofKarl Marx, on the 200th anniver-sary of his birth. His own study-ing, writing and carousing inSoho predated the Colony by justover a hundred years, but manyof his observations on society re-main pertinent today.

Also in May I went to Gold-ers Green Crematorium, followedby the French House, for the fu-neral of Eddi McPherson, Soholegend and matriach, a very dearfriend and jazz singer whom Ioften accompanied on the piano.She was always very proud of her“little boy”, otherwise known asSuggs, of Madness.

I have had the pleasure ofperforming on stage with Suggsmany times, including on tour forhis one-man show.

He also has strong ties toFitzrovia, having lived in the1970s in a flat over Maples at 149Tottenham Court Road, and stilloften visits the area.

Cartoon by Chris Tyler

By MIKE PENTELOWThe last woman to be publicly

executed in London was Cather-

ine Wilson (above) in front of a

crowd of 20,000 outside Newgate

prison on October 20, 1862.

It was for the murder by poi-soning on October 18, 1856 of herlandlady, Mrs Maria Soames, atwhat is now 7 Huntley Street (butwas 27 Alfred Street at the time),nrar the Marlborough Arms.

Wilson had moved to lodgethere with a man called JamesDixon, whom she claimed washer brother, in November 1855.

Samuel Barnes, the half-brother of Mrs Soames, had lastseen her alive the day before herdeath when she was in goodhealth. He said she also owned 13Alfred Street, now the back of 90-103 Ridgmount Gardens in Hunt-ley Street.

The next day he got a mes-sage that she had died in the earlyhours after vomiting a lot. Whenhe saw the body, with the facevery distorted and handsclenched, he was shocked.

Ann Naack, the oldest daugh-ter of Mrs Soames, said that whenthe doctor had made up a tonicfor her, Wilson had taken chargeof it, administered it, then took itto her own room and locked thedoor. She claimed this was on theinstructions of the doctor, wholater denied this.

Half an hour after the deathWilson told another lodger, EmmaRowe, that Mrs Soames had takenher own life after a secret liaisonwith a man she was about tomarry but who cheated her out of£80. Wilson said she was sure theman would send a letter demand-ing more money

After the funeral Wilson toldAnn that her mother had bor-rowed £10 off her which shewanted reimbursing.

When the letter from the mandemanding another £10 arrivedthe word Wednesday was spelledwrongly as "Wensday".

At the time Wilson got awaywith it.

But six years later policefound up to seven other peoplehad been poisoned after givingWilson money in their wills sothey examined the case of MrsSoames anew.

The letter claiming to be fromthe man asking for money, wasthen identfiied as being in thehandwriting of Wilson. And whenasked to write a sentence contain-ing the word Wednesday shemade the same wrong spelling ofit.

Wilson had been found notguilty of attempting to murderanother woman, whom she gave a"tonic" which burned her mouthso she spat it out and it burnedher bedclothes. It was found tocontain enough sulphuric acid tokill 50 people.

Then the other cases were un-covered, and the one with thestrongest evidence was that ofMrs Soames. Her body had beenexhumed, with no detectable poi-son.

But at the trial, medical ex-perts stated the symptoms wereconsistent with colchicum poison-ing, which had been found in MrsSoames' house by her doctorwhen James Dixon had died therein June 1856.

The trial started on Septem-ber 22, 1862 and this is when theevidence by her half-brother,daughter, lodger, and doctor washeard.

The jury took three hours tofind her guilty and sentenced herto be hanged, outside Newgateprison, which is now the site ofthe Old Bailey.

Publicly hangedfor local murder

From Tower, June 1978:Mrs Greta Maclay stepped out ofher house in Middleton Buildings[since renamed Place] onto whatshe thought was solid ground.Next moment the earth movedand Greta was thrown headlonginto a dirty great hole that hadopened up beneath her feet. Shefound herself sitting in the debrisof her own coal cellar, nursing abruised ankle but otherwise un-harmed. There, exposed for all tosee was the shoddy brickworkand rotten foundations of theGeorgian jerry-builder.

The Community Housing As-sociation was willing to buy andBasil Samuel was ready to sell."Meanwhile the hole remains, amute testimony that the time isnow ripe for things to happen,"commented Tower.

Nasty plunge

From Fitzrovia News,

Summer, 2008:

Paul McCartney joined the queuefor a bag of chips at Gigs restau-rant at 12 Tottenham Street.

"He had been to an exhibitionof pictures taken by his late wife,Linda, which was in a localgallery," said Chris Jordan, joint

Guy down the

chip shop a star

owner of the restaurant, whoserved Paul. "We chatted forabout five minutes and he was avery nice chap. Just before goinghe signed a a chip bag for mewhich we will have framed.

"He signed it 'Cheers for thechips' and added it might beworth more than the chips oneday.

“The next day he dropped inwith his latest CD that had hispicture on it."

A Banksy picture (above

left) appeared on the wall facing

the back entrance of the Royal

Mail depot in Newman Street.

Captioned "One Nation under

CCTV" it was positioned auda-

ciously below a CCTV camera.

The Blue Moon sex shop at 60Tottenham Court Road closeddown. A sign was put up claim-ing it had moved round the cor-ner to 23 Goodge Street - but thiswas its rival Simply Pleasure.


WHAT’S ON AROUND FITZROVIA

THEATRE

CINEMA

MUSIC

COMEDY

EXHIBITIONS

TALKS

WALKS

ART

Email [email protected] by August 17, 2018 for theSept issue and put “Listings” in the subject box

Please mention Fitzrovia

News when replying to

advertisers

Featured exhibitions. A full

list of art galleries is on our

website.

King & Queen, 1 Foley St : Folkonce a month on Fridays 8-11pm(visit web mustradclub.co.uk).Jeff Warner, plus tunes from LizGiddings and Roger Digby, June9. Sylvia Barnes & Sandy Stage,Sept 7. Jim MacFarland & KenWilson, Sept 21.

Sevilla Mia Spanish Bar, 22Hanway St (basement): WorldFusion, Tue, 9.30pm; Swing 'n'Blues, Wed, 9.30pm; SpanishRumba, Thur-Sat, 10.30pm.

Simmons, 28 Maple St: Livemusic every Wednesday evening.

The 100 Club, 100 Oxford St(the100club.co.uk): Raintown,June 11. Mae Martin, June 12. RayGelato, June 30. Eddie and theHot Rods, July 6. Special KindaMadness, July 7. The Well OiledSisters, July 19. Souljazz Orches-tra, July 24. Professer & TheMadman, The Witchdoktors, andThe Weird Things, Aug 10.

Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury:Greek music festival with freefood and drink, June 21, 6-10pm.

Bloomsbury Theatre Studio, 15Gordon St (thebloomsbury.com):Ithiel the Cushite of Venice (He-brew version of Othello) by UCLHebrew and Jewish Studies De-

Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way(cultura.embavenez-uk.org): Lon-don Socialist Film Co-op screenfilms at 11am on the second Sun-day of each month(except June-Aug). Belonging: The TruthBehind the Headlines, Sept 9.

Charlotte Street Hotel, 15-17Charlotte St: Film Club with mealand a movie for £40.To book tickets visit:bit.ly/CharlotteStreetFilmClub.

Green Man, 36 Riding House St:London Animation Club, firstTuesday of month.

Odeon, 30 Tottenham Court Rd:Weekly film details fromodeon.co.uk or 08712 244007.

RADA, Jerwood Vanbrugh The-

atre, Malet St: Six short films: AHeart Shaped Stone, Deadpan,Nightswims, Stag, Witch Hunt,and With A Little Help From MyFriends; tickets £5, July 4, 7.30-9.30pm.

Regent Street Cinema, 309 Re-gent St: For daily programmevisit regentstreetcinema.com.Matinee classics every Wednes-day at 2pm, for over 55s, £1.75.Kids' Kino Club, every Saturday,11.30am.

Royal Anthropological Institute,50 Fitzroy St(raifilm.org.uk/events): Regularprogramme of interesting screen-ings.

The Albany, 240 Great PortlandSt: Mondays at 8pm.

Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place:Improvisation on Thursdays,8.30pm, and stand-up on Satur-days, 7.30pm upstairs.

OTHER EVENTSt Giles-in-the-Fields, 60 St GilesHigh St: Little Big Camp, play ses-sion for local children and theirfamilies, in churchyard July 1, 2-5pm.

Bloomsbury Institute, 50 BedfordSquare(bloomsburyinstitute.com): TheStories of My Life, with authorsKamilla Shamsie and Kamin Mo-hammadi, June 21, 6.30-8pm.

RCN Library and Heritage Cen-tre, 20 Cavendish Square, en-trance opposite John Lewis FoodHall (rcn.org.uk/whatson):"Please Matron!" Hospital Hy-giene in 1901, June 18, 5.30-7.30.Beat the bugs! (AIDS Historiesand Cultures Festival), July 2, 6-9pm.

Sohemian Society, Wheatsheaf,25 Rathbone Place: The new biog-raphy of Billy Fury "Half Way toParadise" discussed by the au-thors, June 20, 7.30pm.

UCL Darwin Lecture Theatre,Malet Place (ucl.ac.uk/events):Lunchtime lectures, Tuesdays andThursdays (1.15-1.55pm) duringterm time.

British Museum, Great Russell St(britishmuseum.org):Free: Charmed lives in Greece,until July 15. The Past is Present(objects from 20th century Egypt),until July 22. Money and medals,until Sept 30.Pay for: Rodin and the art of an-cient Greece, until July 29.

Grant Museum of Zoology, 21University St: Creature Creations,June 16, and July 14, 1.30-4.30pm. Explore Zoology, June 30,and July 28, 1.30-4.30pm,

RADA Studios, Chenies St: Cos-tume & Technical Graduate Exhi-bition, July 5-7.

UCL Main Library, WilkinsBuilding, Gower St: Dangers andDelusions? Perspectives on thewomen's suffrage movement,until December 14.

UCL Slade School of Fine Art,Gower St: Graduate degree show,until June 17.

Wellcome Library, 183 Euston Rd(wellcomecollection.org): Some-where in Between, until Aug 27.Teeth, until Sept 16.

RCN Library, 20 CavendishSq:The Voice of Nursing (cente-nary of RCN), until Dec 21. Pan-demic! Nursing 100 Years ofInfection, until Sept 23.

Alison Jacques Gallery, 18 Bern-ers St: Michelle Stuart “The Na-ture of Time”(pictured above),until July 28.

Josh Lilley, 44-46 Riding HouseSt:Brian Bress “Another FineMess”(pictured above), until June27.

Narrative Projects, 110 NewCavendish St: Derek Parfit “TheMind’s Eye”(pictured above),until June 30.

Tiwani Contemporary, 16 LittlePortland St: Thierry Oussou“Timelines”, June 21-Aug 25.

Woolff Gallery, 89 Charlotte St:Carol Peace “25 Year AnniversaryShow”, until June 15.

Jeff Warner at the King & Queen

New musical at the Dominion Theatre

The Albany, 240 Great PortlandSt: Sundays, 7pm

Carpenters Arms, 68-70 WhitfieldSt. Tuesdays, 6.30pm.

Prince of Wales Feathers, 8 War-ren St: Tuesdays, 6pm.

Rising Sun, 46 Tottenham CourtRd. Wednesdays, 6.30 for 7pm.

PUB QUIZZES

partment, June 19-20. Othello onTrial, by Birkbeck students, June23. Baby-Go-Round, cabaretabout motherhood, June 28-29.

Camden People's Theatre, 58-60Hampstead Rd (cptheatre.co.uk):Big Bang, June 11. A FortunateMan, by New Perspectives, andDoppelanger by She Goat, June13-16. Misanthrope, June 19-30.Les Femmes Savantes, June 23-24.

Dominion Theatre, 269 Totten-ham Court Rd(dominiontheatre.com): Bat outof Hell, the Musical, ongoing.

London Palladium, Argyll St(london-palladium.co.uk): The King and I, until Aug 4. Sina-tra at the Sands, performed byCurtis Stigers and Ronnie Scott'sBig Band, July 15.

New Diorama Theatre (newdio-rama.com), 15-16 Triton St (Eu-ston Rd opposite Fitzroy St): LeftMy Desk, June 12-16. Director'sCut, June 23-24. The Iconoclasts,June 26. The Bearpit, and Any-one's Guess How We Got Here,June 27. A Heart at Sea, and AClown Show about Rain, June 28.Love+, and Breakfast, June 29.Sex with Robots and Other De-vices, June 30.

RADA, Malet St(rada.ac.uk/whats-on): GBS Theatre: Journey's End, by RC Sherriff, until June 9.Gielgud Theatre: Rotterdam, byJon Brittain, until June 9.Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre: 3Winters, by Tena Stivicic, untilJune 9. Much Ado About Noth-ing, July 3, 6, 7. A MidsummerNight's Dream, June 28, 30, July 2,7. Two Gentlemen of Verona, June29, 30, July 5, 7.

St Giles-in-the-Fields, 60 St GilesHigh St: "The End of History"(about outcasts, originally tocommemorate the 350th anniver-sary of the plague), certain nightsJune 5-23. Book through:sohotheatre.com

or 020 7478 0100.

London Literary Pub Crawl,every Saturday, 5pm. Start at theWheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place.LondonLiteraryPubCrawl.com.

Webber Gallery, 18 Newman St:Senta Simond “Rayon Vert” (pic-tured above), until June 15.

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