Do you have a favourite map showing literary associations? “a map ‘has to use shorthand, or symbols, or metaphor, and in this it resembles poetry’” [1] ‘If I’m not really going anywhere, then travel by map of course provides the only possible route – everywhere, to nowhere in particular…buried treasure, lost continents and phantom islands…Maps are guilty of distortion, it’s true, but I forgive them … Continue reading Maps as poetry
Reasons to be hopeful part one: Chris Killip at the Laing – his Tyneside photos from the 70’s, when there was pride in making ships. Peter Robson’s anti war painting of the Ship of Fools on exhibition at Newbiggin-By-The-Sea Reasons to be hopeful part two: Children giggle and play inside on the staircase of the Laing, while outside the sun shines, the air is fresh … Continue reading Newcastle & Newbiggin: Art for Today
Last night I listened to Kevin Boniface in his delivery van as he explored his everyday experiences in his own unique style. Good fun and thoughtful. Between the Ears – Species of Spaces – BBC Sounds Continue reading Huddersfield postman’s inspiration from the ordinary
CLR James began ‘Minty Alley,’ (1936) in Trinidad and finished it in Nelson, Lancashire. It is about the intimate lives of of working people living in close proximity in the barrack-yards of Trinidad. Living lives not that different from many working people’s lives in Nelson at that time.James was also author of two other seminal books written in part in Nelson: ‘Beyond a Boundary’ (1963) … Continue reading CLR James’ “Minty Alley”
Orwell in Southwold by Ronald Binns: A visitor would be forgiven for leaving the town without the faintest idea that it was George Orwell’s childhood home. Significant characters from Orwell’s time in Southwold later appear in his writing as vagrants, or the tortured… Continue reading Orwell in Southwold
Hardly an ordinary place but Priestley is quite brilliant and I couldn’t resist. ‘…the buildings have shape and solidity but no weight, they hang in the air like places in the Arabian Nights… a Gothic fairy tale…all the glimpses of ancient loveliness are there…’ Continue reading Morning in the City: JB Priestley
“Stephenson’s snorting locomotive was at least capable of being understood by the common man…The chemists and physicists of the newest industrial revolution…are merely wizards whose spells are unintelligible save to other wizards of the same order of wizardry.” Harry Hopkins: England is Rich: (1957): 231 https://placesandculturaltraces.com/good-companions-around-newcastle-a-personal-cultural-geography/ Continue reading The Rocket
Ellen Wilkinson could be describing Boris Johnson when she paints a picture of the fictional Home Secretary in her 1932 crime novel“…he had marched by well-signposted stages to the place which was obviously his due…Very regrettably, as he had considered, certain newspapers had been encouraging the low craft of the caricaturist. These fellows had seized with joy on such magnificent copy he provided… Continue reading Ellen Wilkinson, in 1932, described the Boris Johnson playbook
In 1924 Ellen Wilkinson became MP for Middlesbrough. She was Labour’s first female MP. Previously a trade union official and a constant campaigner and activist, she became MP for Jarrow in 1935 and authored ’The Town that Was Murdered: the life story of Jarrow’ (1939). She wrote two novels, “Clash’ (1929) and a whodunnit, ‘The Division Bell Mystery’ (1932) where the hero is Robert West. ‘West tried to shake off the thought that so often came into his mind in these days – that this was all a facade… Continue reading The Division Bell Mystery (1932)
Who says nothing ever happens in Goole? Goole comedian Ian Smith wouldn’t agree. Catch his series of 8 minute videos on the culture and history of Goole (and discover more about Tom Puddings…). Continue reading Goole Dock
What must the American tourists be thinking as they wait at Halifax station? The train’s late, nowhere to sit, passengers hang around looking washed out, and the platform needs a spring clean and lick of paint. On the other hand, on the sandstone wall across from platform 2 there’s a poster advertising Shakespear’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ at the Viaduct Theatre. Parents shout at their … Continue reading ‘These days our hometowns are often more exotic and full of new curiosity than Timbuktu or Easter Island’ *
Giving voice to overlooked voices from Wakefield’s five towns. Continue reading All Quiet on the West Riding Fronts
Places and Cultural Traces 