Echo from the Green Fields

The articles in this anthology  were previously published in national and local British newspapers and magazines. They start with four London walks around Camden, Hampstead, Highgate and on to Petticoat Lane and Camden Market taking in the Monument.

There are several pieces on Hertford with notes on its history, culture and people.

Also included are articles on Englishmen who have contributed something unique to our culture. Here you will find George Bradshaw of Bradshaws Timetables and Railway Guides, Henry Andrews of Old Moore’s Almanac, Thomas Clarkson and the defeat of slavery, Charles Macintosh and the invention of the waterproof mac; entertainers such as Leslie Welch the Memory Man. Flanders & Swann and Sir Alec Guinness.

The book concludes with a pen portrait of some truly eccentric politicians and an honourable mention of an Irishman and a Frenchman who had one of the most bizarre variety acts ever.

Many of the articles can be read on this site:

London Walk – Camden – Goodge Street to Brecknock Road
London Walk – Hampstead – a circular walk from Belsize Park
London Walk – Highgate – from the top of Highgate Hill, to the East End
London Walk – Two Markets and the Monument
Hertford – a brief tour of the county town of Hertfordshire
Folly Island, an island in the middle of Hertford
A short history of brewing in Hertford – The origins of the Easter holiday
The eccentric clergy of Hertfordshire
Braughing – sausages, Old Mans Day and wheelbarrows
Katherine Ferrers – the Wicked Lady
The Old Bedford Music Hall – George Robey – Prime Minister of Mirth
Round the Horne – an iconic 1960’s BBC Radio show
Flanders & Swann – Sir Alec Guinness – Leslie Welch, the Memory Man
Henry Andrews and Old Moore’s Almanac
George Bradshaw and Bradshaw Railway Guides and Timetables
Thomas Clarkson and the abolition of slavery
Charles Macintosh and the invention of the waterproof mac
Jerome K Jerome author of Three Men in a Boat
St Bruno – Robert Tressell and The Ragged Trousered Philantropists
Lt. Commander William ‘Bill’ Boaks – Screaming Lord Sutch
‘Professor’ Patrick Cullen – Joseph Pujol, Le Petomane