Richard1
Brookwood Cemetery
Read about a recent fascinating visit I went on to Britain’s biggest cemetery at Brookwood. An interesting day was had by all!
University College Hospital – London’s Medical Powerhouse
Starting at Warren Street station I 
will lead you around the immediate environs of University College Hospital. We will pass the gracious calm of Fitzroy Square, one of London’s most beautiful city squares, to contrast the sites of some older medical facilities there with state of the art modern provision at UCH, including the Proton Beam Therapy Centre and the pathbreaking Macmillan Cancer Centre. We will hear stories of some of the great figures who have lived and worked in the area including Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf and Marie Stopes. This walk is part of a series celebrating the return of open air street guiding organised by Camden Tour Guides throughout the week of June 21 – 25.
From Mollies to Pride virtual tour for Westminster Friends
From Mollies to Pride |
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Our guest speaker is Richard Cohen who is a fully qualified guide for Clerkenwell and Islington, the City of Westminster and Camden. This virtual tour will give you a snapshot view of London’s deep history of sexual diversity. Areas explored will be within Westminster from Charing Cross, through Covent Garden and Soho and then up to Cleveland Street before ending in Fitzrovia. This is a fascinating talk and well worth joining. Encourage your friends to join as well. Read From Mollies to Pride to find our more about the talk.
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Kilburn and the High Road Virtual Fundraiser for Hampstead and Kilburn CLP
Join me for a virtual tour of Kilburn on Sunday June 6 at 6.00 pm
From the comfort of your armchair Richard Cohen I will take you on a virtual tour through the interweaving stories of Kilburn. There are plenty of stories to tell of ancient roadways, medieval nunneries, highwaymen, health-giving spas, gorgeous Victorian pubs, early cinemas, Art Deco shops and the great Kiln theatre. We will look at the explosive growth of London and some famous local housing schemes and see how this area played an important role in welcoming refugees from Hitler’s Europe. There is much to interest Labour Party members and their progressive supporters and friends.
Please pay £5.00 to attend this virtual tour. There is no upper limit to your contributions. Please give generously. Book your tickets here. 
Celebrate the return of on-the-street guiding in Islington
From 19 to 27 June Islington Guided Walks are marking the return of guiding on the streets with a fantastic Festival of Guiding. You can explore the charms of Village Islington with its garden squares and Georgian houses or discover the Monastic Quarter in Clerkenwell with Islington’s official and highly skilled guides, people who love this part of London. Download the brochure here.
Francis Barber and Dr. Johnson in the City of London
I have been looking at the touching story of the long relationship of trust and care that grew up between Dr Samuel Johnson, the first and wittiest lexicographer of the English language and a young man of colour who lived in his household and in the end was the main beneficiary of his will. Read about it here:-
The workhouse that inspired Charles Dickens
The workhouse that inspired Dickens to write Oliver Twist
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https://camdenguides.com/the-cleveland-street-workhouse/
A building in Cleveland Street now being refitted by the University College Hospital Charity has some moving historic and literary connections and an important place in the story of how medical services were brought to the poorest in society:
FROM PREJUDICE TO PRIDE 28 February at 6.00pm
Celebrate LGBT History Month 2021 by joining my virtual tour From Prejudice to Pride. It is an exploration of Camden’s deep and rich heritage of sexual diversity. Learn about the extraordinary range of people and places that are part of Camden’s LGBT heritage. Hear about the Molly Houses, the Victorian cross-dressers and the notorious and much policed watering holes of the Bohemian demimonde of the 1920s and 30s. Learn about the theatre which was the vanguard of lesbian and gay drama and London’s only LGBT bookshop. Meet the Bloomsbury Set who challenged Victorian codes of behaviour lived and the great genius of polari Kenneth Williams. Hear about how the LGBT community rallied together to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Witness the struggle against the hated Section 28 and the joyous celebrations of the first Same Sex weddings at Camden Town Hall.
This virtual tour is a fundraiser for All Out, an international LGBT charity combatting homophobia around the world. Pay £5.00 to access the virtual tour but there is no upper limit to donations. Please give generously.
Register here on Eventbrite.
BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL 2020 16 – 25 October
Thursday October 22 at 6.00 pm
This year the theme of the Bloomsbury Festival is VISION. To that end I am giving a free online virtual tour in the form of a presentation on THE ART OF BLOOMSBURY. Come and pass an agreeable hour with me in the comfort of your own home or wherever you happen to be and hear about the wonderful artists who have lived and worked in Bloomsbury. We will look at works by Duncan Grant, Roger Fry, Dora Carrington and Vanessa Bell as well as Rex Whistler, Paula Rego and Jacob Epstein. We will look at the influence of the great Slade School of Art at University College and marvel at the fabulous designs of the Omega Workshop. There is much to enjoy.
Booking by Eventbrite:- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-art-of-bloomsbury-tickets-122233940005
