Category: victorian
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COFFEE WITH AN ARCHIVIST: David Luck, Bethlem: Museum of the Mind, January 2025
I’m thrilled to bring you a new Coffee with a Curator feature for 2025. Previous instalments have featured chats with curators, archivists, historians, and heritage managers from a variety of organisations including police museums, housing associations, and virtual museums. This time, I’m delighted to welcome David Luck, archivist at Bethlem: Museum of the Mind to chat about the…
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BOW STREET SOCIETY LOCATIONS YOU CAN ACTUALLY VISIT, June 2024
As readers of the Bow Street Society books will know, I enjoy featuring real-life locations within the fictional stories. Also, that as far as possible, I source floor plans of these locations to ensure the descriptions are as accurate as possible. Although the series is far from over, lots of real-life locations have already been…
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LONDON’S BURNING, November 2024
A Brief History of Fire Fighting in the Metropolis For many in England, November 5th is a night of bonfires and fireworks to mark Guy Fawkes Night and the historical gunpowder plot to destroy parliament. As the rhyme goes: remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason…
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THE CASE OF THE PEN AND THE PIXEL, April 2024
When literature meets video games At the end of March, I attended the 72nd Insomnia Gaming Festival at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, and met-up with friends from the video game streaming community. In addition to history, true crime, and writing, video games are another of my great passions. I have vague memories of playing…
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GETTING SHIPWRECKED, February 2024
C19th Phrases for Drinking & Drunkenness February may be the month of pancakes and love for some, but for others it marks the end of Dry January and a return to celebrating (almost) anything with a tipple or two (it’s Friday!) Most of us know drunkenness was a major social problem in the nineteenth century.…
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COFFEE WITH AN OPERATIONS MANAGER: Alexander Geddes, Peterhead Prison Museum, March 2023
The Coffee with a Curator interviews has proven popular amongst my readers since the first back in 2020 when I chatted to Dr Clare Smith of the Metropolitan Police Heritage Collection. Therefore, it’s only fitting for me to bring you another fascinating conversation from the world of museums and archives. This month, I had the absolute delight…
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POLICE STRIKE AT BOW STREET, July 2022
With the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation affecting us all, it’s fair to say that the standard of living isn’t great at the moment. The recent strikes by employees of the national railways and London Underground have highlighted some of the struggles of modern times. With talk of more strikes by the railway unions, and…