What are you reading?

[Paddy]

In my case its because I have an attention span less than this chappie..

No doubt caused by years of listening to Motorhead!

[Fester]

In my case its because I have an attention span less than this chappie..

No doubt caused by years of listening to Motorhead!

Pardon?  Speak up a little.....I'm a bit deaf from listening to Motorhead.

[Paddy]

In my case its because I have an attention span less than this chappie..

No doubt caused by years of listening to Motorhead!

Pardon?  Speak up a little.....I'm a bit deaf from listening to Motorhead.

I saw them at Port Vale footy ground 25+ years ago and when they came on stage Lemmy said "just for tonight we've got the biggest sound system ever assembled in the UK so you can all go home and say "what?""

It was bloody loud!

Hearing bad reports about the Venue gig though matey?

[white rabbit]

I like biographys and novels but at the moment I'm reading a book by Jennifer Worth " Call the Midwife" - a true story of the East End in the 1950's.  Its very interesting and amusing.  I like to read in bed for half an hour or so before I go to sleep which annoys the OH!!

[suepp]

I don't often read autobiographies but Paul O'Grady's "At my mothers knee and other low joints" was given to me as a Christmas present and I found it excellent, particularly as he is the same age as me and I could relate to the childhood experiences he had, and his brand of Scouse humour that is so recognisable. I loved his description  of his aunties wearing  Bri-Nylon dressing gowns gliding around the kitchen like  the Daleks! 
It only goes up to the age of 18 so I'm looking forward to the next installment

[Fester]

In my case its because I have an attention span less than this chappie..

No doubt caused by years of listening to Motorhead!

Pardon?  Speak up a little.....I'm a bit deaf from listening to Motorhead.

I saw them at Port Vale footy ground 25+ years ago and when they came on stage Lemmy said "just for tonight we've got the biggest sound system ever assembled in the UK so you can all go home and say "what?""

It was bloody loud!

Hearing bad reports about the Venue gig though matey?

Nah, It was fantastic mate...if you love Motorhead as I do it can never be ''bad''
Some guy complained on Oscar and one misguided letter to the NWWN, ... they are out of thier minds (and wrong)
Anyway, all this is nothing to do with this thread...(so I'm going to talk about the Status Quo gig on the right thread...)

[DaveR]

I'm currently reading 'The complete history of Jack the Ripper' (which is probably the definitive book on the murders) and, also, 'Shepperton Babylon', about what happened to the silent film stars of the British film industry. Both very enjoyable books.

[Paddy]

Hard Landing, by Stephen Leather. An excellent thriller writer.

I've got it on my new Kindle, which, despite spending most of December dropping hints, I bought myself this week.

Has anyone else got one?

[Yorkie]

Jack the Ripper has lots of good Masonic theories!  If you find out "Who dunnit" let us know!  

[Trojan]

I'm currently reading 'The complete history of Jack the Ripper'

 

[DaveR]

Continuing my Victorian London theme, I'm now reading:

"The worst street in London" by Fiona Rule http://www.amazon.co.uk/Worst-Street-London-Fiona-Rule/dp/0711033633/

"In the 1890s it was not only the Daily Mail that was calling Dorset Street, a scatter of low lodging houses just off Spitalfields Market, "the Worst Street in the World". In a letter to The Times, it was also described as a "centre of evil" while the great philanthropist Charles Booth, who organised a poverty survey of the whole of London, went further, calling it: "the worst street in respect of poverty, misery, vice – of the whole of London". Fiona Rule's fascinating microhistory of the life and grimes of a long forgotten place does little to dispel this opinion."

Dorset Street was where Mary Jane Kelly was murdered by Jack The Ripper in his most horrific assault. It's indicative of the conditions of the street that her landlord, Jack McCarthy, re-let the filthy room she called home just a couple of weeks later - without bothering to even remove the bloodstains that covered the walls! The street still exists (albeit redeveloped) as a service road just off Commercial Street, Spitalfields.

[Trojan]

The entrance to Miller's Court, where Mary Kelly lived, was off Dorset St and can be seen just beyond the chair in this photograph.
Annie Chapman, another Ripper victim, was living consistently in 1888 at Crossingham's Lodging House at 35 Dorset Street, Spitalfields, which catered for approximately 300 people.

[Trojan]

However, for squalid London Rookeries my money is on The Old Nichol which was located on the border of Shoreditch & Bethnal Green, London E2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Nichol

The book, The Blackest Streets, by Sarah Wise may interest you Dave.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview30

Most importantly, she gives a voice to the people of the Nichol themselves and, in particular, to one Arthur Harding, a resident and lifelong criminal whose lively reminiscences were tape-recorded in the 1970s when he was almost 90.

[DaveR]

Thanks, Trojan, looks interesting, will order that one. 

[Fester]

I'm currently reading 'The complete history of Jack the Ripper'

 

I am utterly convinced that the Ripper was one Francis Tumblety.