The Time Machine

Home , Beau Brummell, Sweater

the GUIDE SPRING 2015 A GUIDE TO BRITAIN FROM BRITAIN’S BEST GUIDES

THE TIME MACHINE

KATE WILLIAMS: HISTORIAN, WRITER AND TV PRESENTER

THE HISTORY OF MENSWEAR • REBELLION IN LONDON AND BRIDGES IN BRISTOL • LEGENDS, LIES AND LORE

Front cover photo: Paul Stuart Photography 1 4 a T E P E E T 2 2 1 1 6 4 C T E s : : d d h r m

N o 6 0 2 0 s 0 0 i i i G s o t t j 2 2 o e o a

L c m 0 0 2 c A r r i i : i a

l t N o a a 7 7 n L B T M F L T F L f M T T I N

: M t M D 4 4 a g l

n i

w a V r t o e i o o a A l 0 0 h e a a s b a h e o u n y r t c

w z n 3 3 n s o c u c e H r g r

e i s m e

n w a e f t

n d 1 1

c i Z a o

g i g

1 1 F s r e e e i

m 1 1 a r a r o

t u s e r B W 5 5

Z x a

k i B a a B r n n v y

s n i t d n i E E : u p a d

a a o l ; t L t p c d v u a M i : :

a d n

e i e e s d t k e r e m m r e L o

r a o o N o @ : y e r

i f g s i

g d e B a a n o w a D d M i a

F t b u u g r r

c e , b O a

t c n

k a w n l i t

g d w o t m N c h

e e z r r r u L o

G i

k g e a

t u n i K o B e l e i r i e i

k d d e n o K i

t u t H a i - n i r f c

a g e a h d i g

G b r e o o b n i t @ n W n

o t e d y e

o g e u s f k a r @ e e … t

b t r r i e t s s

s d h d s

b h o l v r o - u W s A

e g

e l e i i

t m i e u H s a s b r d

e o

n W e

- e

G o n i ( t u b p . e l e y a l A l

o u

e n s a l B o l h B d a L t o s l i

i d r

n l E ; h e

l o a d u s g r

p r ’ S

u s g a

e h m i L t e . s i e o u

s u t i

r g f o

n i . n h o t

d k c a s s h r R m o o g e e

i d e b

r e h • . s . l t u s w u w g e i o e

t t k n k w i h

o s s u

g l

g t f c l N w i

r u e a t s s 2 I 6 O s R h i y r

w d s t e

t R E ,

S a o G P T D M D i h d L T

o h . n : m u b A H i e u p

r Y

o g e f s T 0 i b N E s i r y P

o p

l o t 0 p 7 i i R d q l D B o i g e E l i r u 8 n t N a s

u h n o C n a

r 4 r h r y a t

f i s i e 6

i g a u l o

T e a n i f t t R r

n f e

d o 9 a i : u m i

s G e d c l s C v 7 : r g l b

a r

u e 0 9 h p l i

e t a s e i s e r 6 1 O d r i S

t t o 1 i n s

2 m m C 3 e r i e n – n s x 5 t O r

s i t t i 2

e g

e :

n f

T s i p E e – n 5 f d o g u L s r :

A n

t : B r a T i a o

h ; N d 9 A o d e n s r

n e m D i 6 N u e d n t ’ l

w d 4 s n r a d l y s i o

i a 6

s @ y

. n e a r t B t p o

t .

W i B e m a ) G b o t r a

o e i b G n r g y u : o n

t i d R w a p i

t n e d u l E g l e e w l e l t E c e t y h s l i N w .

n c i h

p 1 G i ’ 5 e n s E c . c o . u

ISSN: 2053-0439 k T e h g B t p i p a b a a B m d t n H H K a L C e c m T W g c g G o w s f C w a s f A s l i o o t t a i n t x n

x i i r u r n o n h o o h o a i a o s t h a e a a L d

i h v r a a

e o o e o p p p W I I K R I O y d d d d d u r k i t w t c

d e r n a t l n t t a e O n

l m

o d a l o t e s a n u u t a i ’ l e l e

u c h o l o t c n g

e i

g e m s i h

d t i a n o i d

a W v R P t e

m c n v b a

e h n c s o r r

g a c

o a a W

f m r n t , o e b

e i o W n h e o r m i e

n f

r e i l e r

c h h l l e

y d r

e n h g l n m o v R m n

a a a e M

e p n t a w u

w a e

r a i c , e n r g G e

g i i e s s o e b o c

i t y f s t b i

‘

l t a

l n g s m u n e h i a ‘ J l t r p o i l

y u e i o r

e a , i e n i i i e i

i l n a

i n

o t

f i l

e a n u u e u s

p t

r i m s d

t t r d p k

e a r I o i

h u T r t i

o r o t t E y n t b

o h

t s n h a t . y h i e

a d

i l p p d h i o h s l a t i e r e

i t g n o c e . e o r e d k d n . o t u e e m k o e m i r p r

d n o

a e

f r

h i m , I T r P h m s . r a

i u a ‘ h

e c R r s

r s

G e n m s

H o a

n , T j

e t I

d f I i s

o d e O o h a

s t o s t b

e s

R . a s s i s

h o s a t

o w e n m f i e

a u d s n h g i (

e e c s w e l a l j

p t u s w s o r e a

i r s n t r 1 e i s a l e b

t w m b g s h

t n k

c o s e i

e a

a v i i i h

m o T e u n , t a t e o s 8 b a

d a

t e n n a a t l r p c h E

l e

o l i h l a e b h r o

d a l . t M o e i t

G t g i h m o r e o

t n 1 k n m n n r e

s a i g s

s q o h d

y b d p

h w I r l r

u e g e v

n o i

p a d t n r 5 e s p n e e h m , t n a

n o e y

b b u

r u e g a o

e i r r e e

z o

) r o

n C

s f r t 1 e l e i a , t

e o f d e a i r e I

i r e i e M h s

. o r r

f i i i v

a o

s p b f s d

G a w s 9 s d i g s d l

o h d v m R n u y b v o s f e t s

u A

c n

s c i o e r e i t t

’ t s

i a a e t r e 8 . u i n e a e

f n d

r y a k o . t r

e m

a W a e e e e h r d g e r v

o K

l a m G t n r e o ’ h 0 t t i r t s P i s g g B

s t n

u l t g l .

t r s s r e

h e d e i f i h b

h i m l l h u U

s s d e u t i l a e t e T a f s n 2 n

s n e p

r i s u o t e u n e r r

e h u t ; e h e s t o s e

r p

i o

i r

t ,

h m i d h t a o o

g t e s w p d s a b

G p t s

r c t i u g i r h . t o l

l v r p o e L t e u

e t h 1 e

l s

t a

c E h n f r a e

e w a a h d o s s

i e o C t s a a t r I w o i

r r

t s r o 5 e r o g b t i n e m t h a n s h t r h s s

e d e o v i

n f o e e t n

i f l t

o a i , h u n a

f h t r

e a D t

t v

f e

e t i e h w e

d A l

a h m c y t s d

. m d p i l e m t e f r L I b h n g r e t e e c t

h s u d

l n

p s e

o t ‘ I b h G i

s e

o g T g l a i m g y

i s e n v

d d

v i a t N c d

y e

s e p t n e

u , o w i a u o n

B u

’ t a t o i

e c s e E r i e i

, e l

a s s

o n

C b n e L m h c l l

d n y n s n i a a a e r

f u t w t o

i e T n n r r

e l i i r n a r a h i p l e n o

e n a c o c

c n e o w n u

a r l k r m w d

V t t e d r E o y p t i

o s e p r w o c o h i s t r

s . h e n

t n n 1 d l ’ h ’

n y . B a b s

h o o y o a O r t k s y m p

o i r

i . u e l M r n ’ e

l 2 t e h d ,

n a I

i e t t s r i e . k g a

o r r u n y

p a

i g y f t e

r r n t h r o o

o l y

a v

y y i G l o i

h m g l a

i y

f t P t e o P

p r . s , t . u A s a o t w

o c n f

b l e

i o n

c c

t e M a h a w

t l a t e t ( n t o u o n s s d B t l f . r u y t v a h y h .

o h o i 1 e h u

r i i r ’

i n o , , h o e h a o r i T s l t c f l B

o a i n

i e n i 4

r d e e a t u a p n e n h a

s t u g s o e e - h y i W u l n l t 1 e t r r e s

, a s i e r u d g o

i a r e u

s a r f k e n E t o 5 n ,

o s I n e v

a e

i t d n

h n o r

a i ) t f h i t h e a . i e l n n t r s e e e s d n e y a m e l g

s d d r a s t 3 NEWS History, Culture and Events

Annika Hall, Blue Badge Guide Swedish, Portuguese, English BLUE BADGE TOURIST GUIDES Blue Badge Tourist Guides are the official, professional tourist guides of the United Kingdom – recognised by the local tourist From Bard to bodies and VisitBritain. The Blue Badge is the UK’s highest guiding qualification, awarded only after extensive training and thorough examination. Horrible There are over 1000 Blue Badge Guides in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern The Horrible Histories book and TV series tell Ireland – each region has its own badge. the story of British history with laughs. We guide in all the UK’s major tourist William Shakespeare is about to get the attractions, as well as its cities and ‘horrible’ treatment in a feature film opening countryside. in UK cinemas on March 27. Bill is set during the Bard’s ‘lost years’, when the playwright rose from obscurity in In 2014 Guild guides Stratford-upon-Avon, to fame as a writer in worked with over London. In the story, ‘Bill’ Shakespeare is a hopeless lute player who leaves his family Expect proper and improper jokes, 1.5 million UK visitors and home behind in an attempt to discover great comedy performances and silly wigs. his true calling. He is embroiled in a plot Homeland star, Damian Lewis, appears in The Blue Badge is the qualification involving a murderous Spanish king, the film in an as yet undisclosed cameo role. of excellence in heritage guiding. scheming spies and a plan to blow up Queen Lewis's wife, actress Helen McCrory, plays The Guild of Registered Tourist Guides Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth. is the national association of Britain’s Blue Badge guides. Since its foundation in 1950, the Guild has dedicated itself to raising and maintaining the highest professional gaming’. Its mission is to promote the standards. cultural, economic, educational and Our guides work in the UK’s museums, social benefits of gaming. The new galleries, churches and lead walking, centre features three floors of playable cycling and driver-guided tours throughout GAME ON exhibitions, specially-commissioned the country. Our members work in over 30 works, education spaces where different languages. If it can be guided, The National Videogame Arcade, the students can get hands-on experience we will guide it. UK’s first permanent space dedicated of game-making, and a performance to videogame culture, opens this space. It is also home to the Videogame To find out more or to book: March. The new £2.5 million Archive: 12,000 items that form the 0207 403 1115 guild blue-badge.org.uk Nottingham venue bills itself as the UK’s national collection of electronic [email protected] ‘world’s first cultural centre for gaming history.

4 d r o f x O

f o

from around the UK y t i s r e v i n U

, s e i r a r

Read all b i L

n a i e l d

about it o B

© Founded in 1602, Oxford’s Bodleian is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With 11 million items, it is the second largest library in the UK. Known to generations of Oxford scholars as ‘the Bod’, the newest part of the library was officially opened in 1946. This Grade II listed building has just completed an £80m refurbishment that will see it renamed The Weston Library, after its major funder. The new entrance hall will accommodate s public events – such as poetry readings and concerts – and t c e t

a public exhibition space that will display highlights from i h c

the collection. r a

When the library reopens on the 21 March its first exhibition, e r y E

Marks of Genius, will include Shakespeare’s First Folio (the first n

publication of all the writer’s plays, printed in 1623), a unique o s n Jane Austen hand-written manuscript, Felix Mendelssohn’s i k l conducting baton, letters from Einstein and pages from the first i W

draft of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . s o t

For a guided tour of Oxford go to www.britainsbestguides.org o h P s e i r e l l

a gearing up G

n Situated between Leeds and York, refurbished fashion galleries iconic dresses from Dior and Norman a

s Lotherton Hall is an Edwardian reopened, creating one of the largest Hartnell, as well as ready-to-wear m

u house and garden. With a deer park, display spaces in the north of dresses from British designer labels. e s

u bird garden and collection of fine art, England for fashion and textiles. The The show will explore the post-war M it is one of Yorkshire’s premier opening exhibition, Age of Glamour: period when fashion returned from s d

e cultural attractions. In March, its Fashion from the Fifties, will feature austerity to elegance. e L

r e t r o P

a r a S

5 s m a i l l i W

e t a K

: w e i v r e t n I

TV Historian Kate Williams tells Sophie Campbell about her fascination with the past PASSING TIME

6 Emma and Nelson

Spare a thought for Kate Williams’ younger quite modern village,’ and the past seemed an brother. As a child, she would entice him into entirely different world. She specialised in the her Time Machine – the box the new washing 18th century at Somerville College, Oxford, and machine came in, cunningly converted with her PhD examined the reading and letter- cling film and foil – and tell him they were going writing culture of women around the middle of to see the pyramids being built, or the court of the century. Henry VIII in Tudor England. “I used to shake it “For the first time you heard the voices of as if it were moving and he was always women, actresses, writers and so on, who desperate to get out and see it all,” she says, “but weren’t aristocratic,” she says, “so I was looking I never let him. It would have spoiled the story.” at a lot of letters, some quite dull. Then I found a The grown-up Williams is one of a crop of letter from Emma Hamilton to Nelson.” She was energetic female British historians writing about electrified by her idiosyncratic style. “Emma the past and exploring history on television and wasn’t educated”, she says, ‘”and much of the radio right now, so she’s about as close as she knowledge she had came from men. Her can get to time travelling for a living. She writes handwriting is insane and so is her grammar. fiction and non-fiction (mainly historical She never learned restraint. She tells Nelson she biographies), does ‘telly’, is Director of Life is melting for him; she wants him to come to Writing for postgraduates at Royal Holloway Naples. I was totally gripped.” College in London, and is co-writing a film As a result, alongside her PhD and lecturing, script based on her 2012 novel, The Pleasures she wrote England’s Mistress , her first book, of Men . published in 2006 to excellent reviews. She She is one of the experts on BBC2’s Restoration appeared on Richard and Judy to discuss Emma Home series and is the resident historian on and Nelson. It was live and she loved it. She Frank Skinner’s Radio 4 comedy show, The Rest made a programme about Nelson with Michael is History . She must be one of the few people to Portillo (she’s a big fan) and put her academic describe being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman career on hold to write books and ‘do TV’. Her and John Humphrys (she often comments on second biography, about a youthful Queen news items) as ‘brilliant fun.’ Victoria, came out just as The Young Victoria film This March, the first of her trilogy of novels was in production, so she made a Timewatch set in the early 20th century and based on a Special about the young queen. half-English, half-German family called De Witt Academic history has its limitations. “Historic comes out in paperback. The second volume, characters are famous for not telling you what The Storms of War , is published in July. She lives you want to hear,” she says ruefully. “Emma in Camden with her husband and young writes about meeting Marie Antoinette, for daughter. Isn’t she exhausted? example, but just mentions it in passing. And “I love it”, she says simply, “I think it’s really you want to know what happened, what she engaging. This morning, I’ve done a voiceover was like. I think that’s what drew me to writing for the film I’m making about Wolf Hall for the novels. I wanted to know, to get inside peoples’ BBC, I’m talking to you, then I’ll answer heads.” She says that, just as you can’t put students’ emails and then I’ll write. I love the imaginative flights of fancy into a factual book, fact that I’m always working in the past, in you can’t pack too many facts into a historical history, and I feel incredibly privileged to do so.” novel, “because it can kill it dead.” She thinks that her interest in history began The Pleasures of Men focused on a young girl in as a child in Staffordshire, where she lived ‘on a grimy 1840s London, who becomes terrified by a modern estate, very 1980s or 90s, just outside a mysterious character, the Man of Crows, who

7 s “I love the National Maritime Museum and the river, it lives and m

a breathes Nelson and Emma. It’s like a place in a snow globe, it’s i l l

i so unreal.” W

e t a K

: w e i v r e t n I

Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

preys on women. The idea came to family saga in three parts, covering and Emma. It’s like a place in a snow Williams when she was away from the years 1914 to 1939, inspired by globe, it’s so unreal, yet you can see home, walking the streets of Paris, research she did many years ago, on Canary Wharf and modern London which seemed to her to have changed quite another subject, which turned right across the river.” She says she very little since the 19th century. Her up ‘some amazing material on a half- always tells visitors to go to trilogy is very different; it’s a huge English, half-German family living Greenwich and if nothing else, they in Hampshire, and it just stuck in should see the Painted Hall, where my mind.’ Nelson lay in state before his She loves family sagas, but was also spectacular funeral in January 1806. intrigued by the abrupt switch in Emma, she adds, had to join the Britain’s relations with Germany in line of mourners to see him, just like the early 20th century. “We forget that everybody else, and wasn’t invited to for most of the 18th and 19th the funeral. “Women didn’t go to centuries France was the enemy. We funerals, to be fair,” she says, “It was loved Germany and the Germans. men’s business. A few sneaked in to Many of our royals married Germans. Nelson’s, but Emma didn’t. She was The future Edward VII was going to in their house in Clarges Street in marry a German princess, but Victoria Mayfair entertaining his relatives who said she wasn’t pretty enough. We ate all her food and drank all her loved their music and culture and we wine. Then they dropped her.” had a large German population, She’ll have a chance to redress such butchers, bakers, tailors and so on. wrongs over the next year or two. She When war was declared in 1914 is working with the National they became The Enemy; I wanted Maritime Museum on an exhibition to write about how their lives about Emma – a companion piece, if changed overnight.” you like, to the recent comprehensive When I ask Kate where she would show about Nelson – to open take her Time Machine in Britain, she sometime late in 2016. That should is silent for a few seconds. Then she keep her on her toes while waiting for says, “It’s got to be Greenwich. I love the third part of her trilogy to be the National Maritime Museum and published. And for the moment, she’s the river, it lives and breathes Nelson far too busy to need a Time Machine!

Greenwich old and new

Factfile

You can order The Storms of War (RRP £7.99) from www.waterstones.com

Kate Williams’ website https://sites.google.com/ site/kwilliamsauthor

For a guided visit to Greenwich visit www.britainsbestguides.org y h p a r g o t o h P n i a t t i r B s e m a J

P state before his spectacular funeral in January 1806 9 Mallard-y LEGEN

WWe’reA toldT thaEt wRhen peMople aIttaSckeTd aA castKle, thEe defenders poured boiling oil down on them. This is almost certainly a myth, as oil production was expensive and time-consuming. Every fort had a supply of water and this is what defending soldiers would pour onto attacking troops. LIE , Fit for Porpoise

During the Middle Ages, the church ruled that nobody may eat meat on Fridays, Lent or holy days – only fish was permitted. There were so many non-meat days that people began to protest. So the religious authorities broadened the definition of ‘fish’ to include anything that lived FACTS AND in, or near water. This was bad news for beavers, duck, muskrat, puffin, turtles, frogs and porpoise (whose name derives from the Norman for ‘pig fish’).

AN UNCLEAN SWEEP

Victorian Britons who could not afford to pay a sweep would tie a rope to a chicken or goose and pull it up the chimney – its flapping wings dislodged the soot. If you could afford to pay the sweep, his young boy (or girl) apprentice was sent up the chimney to clean it from the inside. 10 In 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was executed at Fortheringhay Castle. This was a bizarre affair; it took two blows of the axe to sever her head from her Anatidaephobia is the shoulders. When the executioner lifted up her irrational fear that one decapitated head, it fell from her wig and rolled onto the is constantly being ground. Then her body moved, a Skye terrier she had watched by a duck. hidden underneath her skirt emerged – Mary had brought her pet dog to her own execution. NDS

EANDS, HAVE YOU HERD? The Invergarry Scottish Games of 1820 featured an event called ‘Twisting the Cow’. This involved competitors pulling all four legs off a (fortunately) dead cow. The person who did this in the fastest time was awarded a prize of a (probably rather worried looking) Y sheep. The winner in 1820 took nearly an hour FICTION FROM BRITISH HISTOR to remove the bovine’s legs. SPECIAL 7

RELATIONSHIP 0 0 2

y r i a F

s c i h p a In 1187, as a symbol of unity between their r G

countries, King Richard I of England spent a night in h T

FROM THE CODPIECE TO THE THREE PIECE – MARC ZAKIAN LOOKS AT THE HISTORY OF BRITISH MENSWEAR y r e l l a G

t i a r t r o

P THE WAY W

l a n o i

t Two thousand years ago, Britain’s men were literally sewn together with openings for the head, legs and arms. a N

dressed to kill. According to some histories, the Picts – It wasn’t the cut or style that indicated your wealth, but © tribal groups who ruled Scotland – covered themselves the quality and colour of the garment. e d l

i with blue dye to appear more ferocious in battle. The I4th century has been called the first era of ‘British W

r This is a legend. There is very little evidence about the fashion’. During this period, men’s clothes changed more a

c outward appearance of ancient Britons – no reliable than any period before or since. The first professional tailors s O written records, and hardly any clothing survives from started working, so instead of hanging like limp curtains, d n a

that period. So museums have Iron Age metal buckles, but clothes were cut to reveal and enhance the shape of the body. h g

i not the belt; Celtic gold fasteners, but not the tunics. Fashions were set by the king. What the monarch wore e l

a the nobles copied; and within a year of the sovereign R

r sporting a new outfit, cheaper versions of the aristocratic e t l

a trends were adopted across the realm. W

THE MAN MAKETH THE CLOTHES

f King Edward III’s wardrobe included an outfit of green o

s During Anglo-Saxon times all men wore the same type of velvet embroidered with pearls, a padded jacket covered e g

a clothes, regardless of social rank. The main garment was in vermillion and decorated with parrots, and a scarlet m I basically a bag with holes in it – two pieces of material mantle garnished with silk and gold and decorated with 12 E WORE

birds on branches. Fashions that, to the modern eye, are A the same time, the mode for longer shoes grew until more King Elvis than medieval Edward. some men were wearing 20 inch points that had to be tied The 1330s saw the invention of the button. This humble to their garters so they didn’t trip. appendage changed people’s dress; the tunic could now The long sleeve was also in vogue, with some almost open at the front, and taper around a man’s stomach. This reaching the ground. By the end of the 1300s, with their was bad news for fat people, whose paunches were no pointy shoes and baggy sleeves, men must have looked longer concealed (some started wearing corsets) and more like circus clowns than medieval knights. hated by members of the clergy, who raged against the button and its unfastening of the road to vanity. As the century progressed, the button haters’ fears were confirmed. In 1370 one observer commented: ‘tunics have YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR grown so short, you can see the outlines of men’s For the working people aristocratic clothes were bottoms’. The short doublet became known as the ‘court impractical and unaffordable. And for the middle classes piece’, a jacket which hung some two-inches below the sumptuary laws – rules about what colours and materials belt, allowing a gentlemen to show off the bulge at the you could wear – prohibited anybody from dressing front of his tights and the shape of his buttocks. above their station. 13 In 1336 it was decreed that: ‘no Elizabethan men alternated knight under the estate of a lord, between rugged wear (long cloaks esquire or gentleman, nor any other and high leather hats, sometimes person, shall wear any shoes or boots with 15 inch crowns) and the having spikes or points which exceed emerging ‘peacock age’ fashions of the length of two inches, under the earrings, pendants, feathers and forfeiture of forty pence’. embroidered suits. From 1337, only those with an Aristocratic dress was expensive; annual income of over £100 a year the cost for materials and tailoring of were allowed to wear fur, and an act of a court outfit was some £12. A skilled 1463 put restrictions on coat length to labourer might earn £2 a month, so prevent men from acting as if they the working-man’s tailors shop were from a higher class. charged around 2s 6d for a cloak, The sumptuary acts were devised to jerkin, hose and a cape. stop the upper and middle classes from advancing beyond their status. The lower classes could never aspire to wearing silks and furs, and were only DARK TIMES mentioned to complete the social The execution of King Charles I in 1649 hierarchy. ushered in a dark decade for fashion. Good Puritans wore plain and practical materials in sombre colours, with little In 1663 Samuel Pepys adopted or no decoration. Contrary to popular the new fashion of the periwig A COCKY KING belief, they did not wear black for The defining image of the early 16th everyday. The dye was expensive and century shows a man staring you faded quickly, and black clothing was square in the face, legs apart, fur-lined reserved for the most formal occasions. hat at a cocky angle, his bloated cloak Wool and linen were preferred over making him as broad as he is tall. decadent silks and satins. Then there’s his codpiece, the In 1660 Charles II restored the throne unmissable statement of pimped in a blaze of colour and opulence. The masculinity that erupts from under the king brought French fashions with him king’s bejewelled doublet. This is on his return from exile. The knee- Henry VIII in 1536, power dressed and length coat replaced the doublet as the painted by Hans Holbein in a portrait main garment in a man’s wardrobe. that is all about political spin – the Sleeves were wide and turned back, king as he wants you to see and fear breeches were worn just below the him. knee, sometimes decorated with bows Tudor clothes reflected the growing and ribbon trimmings. confidence of England. Bulky layers But the ultimate indicator of status puffed out to increase a man’s was the peruke. The best wigs were presence, huge shoulders, broad made from human hair, cheaper ones chests and, of course, the codpiece – from horsehair. An everyday wig cost which reached its peak during Henry’s the equivalent of a week’s pay for an reign. Tailors would stuff the pieces to ordinary man. The more money flatter their clients. Henry VIII’s you had, the bigger your wig, fighting armour features a metal and so the term ‘bigwig’ entered codpiece that would have shocked the language. and awed the enemy before battle Perukes remained popular even commenced. because they were practical. Head lice were everywhere, and y t t i W

k ONE MISTRESS AND c i r r word pocket comes e The

D NO MASTER / from the Norman French s e With Elizabeth I in charge, men’s Pockets g word for little bag. a en’s m codpieces were pricked. Simply by being re first added to m I we

t udor times s a woman the queen altered men’s trousers in the 1780s. In T u r leather bag T fashions – no courtier dared parade his wore a purse; a men l a masculine power in front of Queen round their neck to hold their n slung a o i s used to t Bess. But her majesty’s weakness for valuables – so pickpocket a N men’s thighs meant that carefully be called cutpurses. © revealing hose might gain favour. 14 een the It is possible that a dispute betw ivery Merchant Taylors and Skinners l e the phrase companies helped popularis Medieval shoes made no o trade ‘at sixes and sevens’. The tw distinction between the left me year, associations, founded in the sa and right. But in the 14th e. In 1484, argued the order of precedenc century, the Cordwainers, bickering, the after more than a century of craftsmen who made the best ed that once a Lord Mayor of London decid shoes from the finest leather, wap between year the companies would s began to shape separate shoes sixth and seventh place. for each foot.

Edward VIII

nitpicking was macaronis wore extreme versions of painful and time the current fashion; giant, tottering SUITS YOU consuming. Lice conical wigs, sometimes with tails, The suit developed through the stopped infesting striped breeches and peacock 1800s. The jacket became shorter and people’s hair – colours. All this would be swept more practical. During the 1800s, the which had away by the influence of Britain’s top hat, cravat and pantaloons were to be greatest ever male fashion icon. reserved for formal occasions, shaved for replaced by the bowler hat and the the wig to tie for day wear. In 1922, one fashion fit – and critic declared that the lounge suit lived in the FINE AND DANDY had become the ‘universal utility wig instead. You’d George ‘Beau’ Brummell was the dress for men’. send the dirty arbiter of fashion in Regency Britain. By 1936, the suits that the fleeting headpiece to a The country’s first ‘celebrity’, who fashion icon King Edward VIII wore wigmaker, who would became famous for the way he were the same – though more boil the wig and dressed. Brummell’s key to success expensively tailored – as the ones remove the nits. was his friendship with the Prince worn by the rest of the country’s The wig finally went out Regent, and the patronage and men. But the trends set by the king – of fashion in the 1760s influence that came with royal loose cuffs for eveningwear, the Fair when King George III was connections. Isle sweater the ‘Windsor’ tie knot – seen wearing his own hair Brummell turned the Englishman were accessible to everyone. – albeit arranged to look away from the foppish fashions of The suit was now the uniform of like a wig. the late 18th century, and the people; from City boys to Teddy established a look based on dark Boys, from Carnaby Street to the coats, full-length trousers (rather High Street, from hippies to hipsters, than knee breeches) and a knotted there is suit that suits everyone. TOP OF THE FOPS cravat. He is credited with inventing The 1770s saw the final flicker of the man’s suit. flamboyant male fashions. The The Fop had given way to the In 1571, a law was passed to term ‘macaroni’ or fop had been Dandy. Dandies spent hours putting help boost the English wool coined for young men who on their shirts and tying their trade. It ordered everyone over adopted fussy foreign dress. It cravats. Brummell himself claimed the age of six to wear a woollen was used to describe young men he took five hours a day to dress, cap on Sundays and holidays – who had returned from their and recommended that boots be everyone, except Upper Classes. Grand Tour in Italy. The polished with champagne.

Beau Brummell 15 e r u t a e F

Henry Poole Savile Row circa 1890 Inside Savile Row Tailors

Peck, Humphrey Bogart and Clark A CUT ABOVE Gable were tailored here, as were HENRY POOLE The English gentleman ‘look’ is English actors Larry Olivier and Dirk can trace its history back to 1806. They recognised throughout the world. Its Bogarde. opened on the Row in 1846 and – as inspiration comes from the streets In the late 60s, Tommy Nutter the oldest established tailor in the area around London’s Mayfair and St brought fashion to Savile Row. The – they are regarded as the ‘Founders of James’, the home of bespoke ‘Rebel in the Row’ dressed Mick Jagger, Savile Row’. Their client list includes menswear – where tailors, shoe- Elton John and the Beatles, with three Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens makers and craftsmen have been of the band on the iconic front cover of and General de Gaulle. suiting and booting British men for Abbey Road wearing Nutter outfits. Founder Henry Poole was a celebrity hundreds of years. TV and film productions regularly dandy tailor who made suits and livery The Savile Row suit is a symbol of call on the world’s most famous for the royal family. In 1865, the Prince English style. Tailors started doing sartorial street. When actor Hugh of Wales wanted something less formal business in the area in the late 18th Bonneville, playing the Earl of than white tie and tails for century – since then, generations of Grantham in Downton Abbey , was Sandringham country-house dinners. English kings, dukes, prime ministers, unhappy with the outfit provided by Poole removed the tails from the soldiers and celebrities have been the production, he asked Huntsman formal jacket, designing and creating measured for suits cut and sewn on to fit him in period white-and-black- what has become known as the dinner the Row. tie attire. jacket or ‘tuxedo’. When the explorer David A bespoke suit (the word comes Simon Cundey is the seventh Livingstone met Henry Stanley on the from the verb ‘bespeak’, to order) is cut generation of the family to run the shores of Lake Tanganyika, he was from a personal pattern, pieced business. He believes that: “A tailor is wearing a Gieves suit; Stanley was together in-house and fitted until the as important to a man as his doctor or dressed in a Henry Poole. Lord cutter and client decide it is perfect – a dentist. He lives and breathes with you Carnarvon and Howard Carter wore process that takes around 50 hours. the whole span of your life – from your Norton & Sons tweeds when they Today, there are 44 tailoring and university gown, to your suit for your broke through into Tutankhamun’s clothing businesses on and around first job interview, to your wedding”. tomb in 1922. Savile Row, employing several The company only offers bespoke. Huntsman has probably made hundred tailors in their workshops. It Clients are measured for a suit clothes for more famous stars than takes a full 10 years to become a upstairs, choosing from one of the any other house on the Row. Master Tailor, longer than it takes to 4,000 different fabrics, the job then Hollywood’s golden age icons Gregory train as a GP! passes to one of the 30 tailors who

DARK TIMES

16 “It is impossible to be well-dressed in cheap shoes” Hardy Amies Henry Poole Royal Livery Uniform work in the basement of the shop. As one of the largest tailors in the Row, EXTRAORDINARY FEET the company works hard to train a The eponymous John Lobb was a lame new generation, and their apprentices Cornish farmboy, who walked to spend five years learning their craft London to find his fortune. His under the supervision of a Master mastery of last and awl turned him Tailor. into a bootmaker to King Edward VII. Poole has held a Royal Warrant to Lobb opened his St James’ Street shop produce livery for the Royal household in 1866, since then the company’s since 1869. These meticulously crafted shoes have graced the feet of against machines and stuck to making uniforms, embroidered with gold monarchs, politicians and Hollywood shoes by hand,” he says. “The thread, cost around £5000. The outfits royalty – from Frank Sinatra to Dean craftsmanship and tools are the same are in service for at least half a century Martin. as they were in my grandfather’s day. I – Poole’s tailors have just replaced a John Hunter Lobb, great-grandson sometimes think that if he walked in footman’s uniform they first made of the founder, now runs the family here tomorrow, little would have during the reign of George V. business. “We have turned our face changed from his time”.

A Gothic Temple, built in 1741 to a design by the architect James Gibbs “Well-tied tie is the first serious step in life” Oscar Wilde 17 There are nine stages in the crafting tailored garments – including his shirts of a pair of Lobb’s shoes. The customer OFF THE CUFF – so that he’d feel ‘more at ease’ in is carefully measured and a last-maker Turnbull & Asser was founded in them. Since then, 007 has always sculpts a maple-wood copy of their 1885 by salesman Ernest Asser and ‘shopped’ at Turnbull & Asser. feet. Patterns are made, and a clicker Reginald Turnbull, a hosier. selects and cuts the leather according Gentlemen’s hose (stockings) had to these shapes; those sections go to disappeared in Beau Brummell’s early the closer, who sews the upper 19th century fashion revolution, and AHEAD OF THE GAME together with hand-wound thread; the the company became known for a First Hat maker Lock & Co was founded in heels are attached; then a polisher World War military raincoat that 1676. James Lock’s descendants still buffs the shoe until it shines like a doubled as a sleeping bag. own and run the company from the St royal guardsman’s boot. John Hunter But there was little demand for war James’ Street shop they have occupied Lobb inspects every shoe before it garments in peacetime. In the 1920s, since 1765. leaves the building. as men’s dress became less formal, That icon of English hats, the The last is kept for at least 20 years, shirts became more prominent. bowler, was created by Lock’s. In 1849, so that customers may order more Turnbull & Asser responded by the aristocratic landowner Edward shoes easily. Lobb’s basement is a focusing on bespoke shirt-making – Coke requested a hat to solve the ‘museum of feet’, containing the lasts with an eye for the clientele from problem of gamekeepers’ headgear – of Enrico Caruso, Jackie Kennedy, gentlemen’s clubs in their St James’ traditional top hats were too fragile to Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Duke neighbourhood. be worn by countryside workers. Ellington, Edward Heath and Fred They became the shirt-tailor of Lock’s commissioned William and Astaire. Their shoes were for life, their choice, with a client list that includes Thomas Bowler to design the new hat. soles will last forever. Winston Churchill and Prince Charles. Legend has it that when Coke Though a pair of bespoke Lobb’s will But they are best known as provider of returned to see the design, he cost you 50 times the cost of mass- shirts to James Bond. His creator, Ian dropped it on the floor and stamped manufactured shoes, properly Fleming, was a customer, and when on it twice to test its strength before maintained they will last you through the film franchise was launched with leaving satisfied. your entire adult life. Next time you Dr No in 1962, the film’s star Sean see a picture of Prince Charles, take Connery was dispatched to Turnbull “ The truly fashionable a look at his feet, he may well be & Asser. sporting a pair of 40-year-old Legend has it that the director are beyond fashion ” Lobb’s. instructed Connery to sleep in his Cecil Beaton

e c r o f

e Ruth Polling d

r tells us stories u o

T of rebellion and dissent from her London neighbourhood

THE RADICAL HISTORY TOUR

Ruth Polling was destined to be involved with politics. As Blue Badge Guide? “I was studying part-time for a a teenager she campaigned outside voting booths history degree, and was fascinated by the history of my alongside her siblings, earning her nickname the ‘polling local area – particularly the struggle for people’s rights. sister’. Her first job was as secretary to MP Ed Davey So when I completed my Blue Badge in 2014, I combined

n (now Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change). these interests, and devised a tour of my neighbourhood a i When she moved from what she calls ‘glamorous called ‘Radicals and Rebels’. k

a Penge, the place you end up in if you fall asleep on the “We start at St Paul’s. The magnificent City cathedral is Z

c 176 bus’ to Islington in North London, Ruth joined the just a short walk from areas that were once beyond the r

a local Liberal Democrat Party. In 2006, aged just 25, she control of authority – far away enough that dissenters M

: was elected to Islington Council. could feel safe to express their opinions, but close enough s

e “Most people want to change the world,” she explains. that people might listen. r

u “But I wanted to change the place I lived in. My ward “We’re familiar with The Old Bailey, England’s central t c i was Bunhill, a former working-class industrial area that criminal court. This was once the site of the notorious p

d sits right next to the City of London. I was responsible for Newgate Prison. Dissenters were regularly imprisoned n

a local leisure services, and one of my proudest here, a short walk from the execution scaffold where

s achievements was restoring Ironmonger Row Baths, a England’s last public hanging took place in 1868 – d r 1930s public washroom and steam bath”. Michael Barrett, an Irish Republican, sentenced for his o

W So what took Ruth from a fast-rising political career to part in a bomb attack. 20 The Old Bailey

21 Charterhouse

Irish Republican gun runner was e

c locked up here. r “There was an attempt to break him o f

out, so the authorities moved him to

e the back of the prison. The d

Republicans returned with a 500lb r barrel of gunpowder and blew up the u front of the prison, where they o

T believed their compatriot was held. The explosion killed five and injured 17 innocent people, but the Fenians didn’t come close to releasing anybody. Only one of the bombers was convicted, Michael Barrett, the man who was executed outside The Old Bailey in 1868. “Clerkenwell Green is the home of “A hanging represented a good day faith. Her reign of terror saw the radical thought in London. This is out for the Londoners. In 1862, 20,000 burning of some 40 Protestants at where Lenin, who was in exile in people turned up see the last public Smithfield. Legend has it that the London in 1903, published his execution of a woman – a serial-killer queen herself came here to watch, revolutionary newspaper – from the nurse who bumped off her patients for sitting on the gatehouse where she ‘ate building which is now the Marx financial gain. It’s extraordinary to chicken and drunk red wine’”. Memorial Library. think that people could have taken the “Smithfield was once home to “By the late 1800s Britain had recently opened underground to see several monasteries. Charterhouse was become the place where foreign a hanging. founded in the 14th century, but revolutionaries found safe exile. The Smithfield market stands on the during the reformation, Henry VIII UK prized and respected free speech, border of the City of London. Before expelled the monks. The Carthusians so figures like Lenin could come to this the Victorian meat market was built made a stand against Henry, so in a part of the city without fear of arrest. here, it was a large open area – in show of royal power, the head prior “The Green has been a focal point medieval times a good place for public was hung, drawn and quartered and for protest for over two centuries; from demonstrations of justice. Smithfield his dismembered arm pinned to the Chartists seeking democratic voting was known for entertainment, monastery gate. rights, to anti Corn Law rallies. It was jousting, public archery, freshly “During the 1700s, what is now the site for the first ever May Day slaughtered livestock… and freshly Islington was a spa area – a history workers march in the world. The rally executed humans. preserved in names such as Sadler’s went from Clerkenwell to Trafalgar “In 1305, thousands gathered at Wells and Clerkenwell. In 1816 – a Square, a tradition that continues to Smithfield to see William Wallace time of mass unemployment and this day. hung, drawn and quartered. The revolutionary ideas – Spa Fields was “As a Blue Badge guide, former Scottish hero was immortalised in the an open area where protesters rallied political campaigner and local resident, film Braveheart , but even Hollywood for change. the area’s history reminds us that the baulked at showing the visceral “They signed a petition for voting rights we have today were won by the brutality of this form of execution. rights and took it to the Prince Regent, protests of the past”. “Wallace was drawn through the who refused to listen. They met again, streets on a cart, with enraged most hoping that a further petition Londoners throwing rocks at the would work. But a hard core laid siege condemned man. He was hung by a to the Bank of England and marched doctor who made sure the condemned to the Tower of London where they man didn’t die, slit open from the encouraged the garrisoned soldiers to groin, emasculated, and his quarters join their cause. The troops were not sent throughout the country as a interested, so the protestors went warning. With no body left to be home. This was a very British rebellion; buried, a plaque at Smithfield lots of petitions and shouting, commemorates the Scot. somewhat similar to my experience of “Below the surface of Smithfield are modern politics. clues to more agonising deaths. By “Near Spa Fields is a grand Victorian tradition, when they dug down to school building. It is on the site of a build the meat market, there was a former prison. The original jail was layer of ash below ground – the known as a Bridewell – a place where charred remains of Protestants burned petty criminals, beggars, homeless here during the 1550s. children and prostitutes were held. It “Bloody Mary, the Catholic Queen, was rebuilt in the 1840s as Clerkenwell For a tour with Ruth contact her at: wanted to return the country to her House of Detention and in 1867 an ruth @ruthpolling.co.uk

22 Mike Rowland tells us about an extraordinary legacy of railways, ships and bridges A BRIDGE TO THE PAST 23 e c r o f

e d

r u o T

On a January morning in 1970, Mike Rowland left Bath and the young engineer was snatched from the rising water Police Station for his inaugural day as a bobby on the beat. seconds before he drowned. Brunel’s father – who ran the The first person he met was an American asking directions family engineering business – sent his son to Bristol to to the ‘ancient bathrooms’. “I pointed him towards the ‘convalesce’. Roman Baths,” Mike recalls, “and realised that a big part of “Bristol was one of the great trading cities. Sugar, rum and policing would be helping tourists.” tea were flowing through its port. A local merchant left One place he regularly gave directions to was Bath railway money for the construction of a bridge from residential station. “I was intrigued by the gabled building, with its Clifton across the gorge into Somerset. This would mean the bridge skewing across the river into the station; all designed genteel Cliftonians – whose only way out of town was via by a man who became something of a hero of mine: the port – could avoid contact with the ‘dirty dockers’ and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.” local brothels. Mike’s growing interest in history led him to qualify as a “A competition was held. The judge was Britain’s national Blue Badge Guide. In 2000 he left the constabulary and took bridge-building champion, Thomas Telford. He dismissed all a job as visitor-centre manager at Clifton Suspension Bridge the entries – including Brunel’s radical single-span plan – – bringing him into daily contact with the bridge’s engineer submitted his own more traditional scheme, and declared and designer: Brunel. himself the winner. “Brunel came to Bristol in 1828 following a near-fatal “The embarrassed committee quietly dropped both accident,” Mike explains. “He was working underground on project and judge. When it was revived the following year, the first tunnel under the Thames. The riverbed gave way Brunel resubmitted, but lost again. Brunel was adamant that n o t r o N

d i v a D

: o t o h P

n i a t i r B

t a e r G

s s

24 Clifton Suspension Bridge n r e t s a E

e t h a t

e y r b

In 2000 Mike took a job as l s e s n

u e r

visitor-centre manager at h t B

f o m

o Clifton Suspension Bridge – s d n i g a n i h c

bringing him into daily contact K

g d r n i a h

with the bridge’s engineer and b c n m u a a s I designer: Brunel l his was the best scheme. He met the judges and berated and oversaw every detail, including the stations. The Bristol harangued them until they changed their minds. Victorian terminus featured two tracks coming into the station, engineering was a dirty business. platform areas for first, second and third class passengers, “Isambard’s first major project was underway. But in 1831, room for their luggage, space to turn and refuel the engines, the Bristol Riots broke out – angry citizens protesting poor ticket offices and restaurants. None of this had ever been social conditions and the lack of rights sacked the city. The accomplished in a single covered space before. project was delayed, investors pulled out and in 1843 the “Two spurs were built on into Wales and Cornwall, bridge was abandoned. opening up the country and changing the way people “But the pocket-genius Brunel (he stood just 5ft 4ins tall) worked. Fish caught overnight in Cornwall could be on the had captivated Bristol and they hired him to sort out the plates of London restaurants by lunchtime the same day. docks. The river has a 13 metre tide – the second highest in The railways led to the development of the Victorian the world. In 1809 the Avon had been dammed to create a seaside holiday. ‘Floating Harbour’, but as a consequence it regularly silted “Brunel had conquered land, now he would cross the up. The river was also the local sewer and the silty stink seas. The engineer wanted to extend the GWR across the became intolerable. Brunel devised a system to flush out the Atlantic, with passengers stepping off the railway onto water at low tide. steam boats. In 1843 he launched the ss Great Britain – the “The engineer now turned his hand to the technology first all-iron steam-driven ship in the world, it could reach that was transforming Britain: the railways. He built a horse- New York in 14 days. drawn mobile caravan with a couch to sleep on and space “The Great Britain was in service for two decades. During for his cigars. Dubbed the ‘flying hearse’, it was his mobile its last voyage she was beached following an Atlantic storm, home and office as he surveyed land between London and and lay submerged in salt water until 1970 when she was Bristol ready for the Great Western Railway. refloated and towed back to Bristol for restoration. “The plans for the GWR were met with fury. The Kennet “Isambard’s final project was another boat; the and Avon Canal had been finished in 1810 and the financers gargantuan SS Great Eastern . His drive to complete her cost were just turning a profit. If the four-day barge journey from him his life; sleeping four hours a night, smoking 40 cigars a London became a four-hour railway dash they were out day, the exhausted 53 year old collapsed and died. of business. And the double-gauge railway, more “His fellow engineers commemorated him by completing comfortable than any ever built, would make the passenger the Clifton Bridge. In 1864, some thirty years later than carriage redundant. planned, the Clifton Suspension Bridge opened to the “Brunel was cross-examined in parliament for eleven public. Last year we celebrated its 150th anniversary. For a days. The biggest controversy surrounded the building of the century and half, thousands of cars and pedestrians have Box Tunnel near Bath. One MP claimed that the speed of the crossed the bridge. It’s a monument to a time when train going into the tunnel would ‘compress the passengers engineers like Brunel were building the modern world, a to death’. Brunel demolished their objections with symbol of Bristol, and a very important part of my life.” engineering science. “The GWR was the Rolls Royce of railways – known in For a tour of Bristol, Bath or the West Country contact the West Country as ‘God’s Wonderful Railway’. Brunel Mike at: www.mike-rowland.co.uk

25 ...PAINTING MY FAVOURITE Blue Badge Guides show you their favourite places around the UK

...TOWN ...is A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Edouard Manet. This image of a barmaid in front of an enormous mirror is one of ...is Hebden Bridge. Once a thriving Yorkshire weaving town the highlights at London’s Courtauld Gallery. Paris is a hall with a river and canal, in the 1970s it attracted an of mirrors, and the woman floats helplessly, clinging to her ‘alternative’ community of artists, writers and musicians. It bar, but looking straight at us. What is she thinking? Does is now an unusual mix of arts centres, back-to-back stone she like the people she is serving? One of the bottles is houses and independent craft shops (where I can always English beer; Bass Pale, not the traditional German ale and find unusual gifts and gorgeous clothes). There is a good maybe a symbol of French anti-German feeling following the choice of organic, vegetarian and quirky cafés – my Franco-Prussian War. This painting’s emotional depth and favourite is The Blitz with its 1940s wartime theme. There symbolism never fail to draw me in. It’s an image that just is a great walk along the canal path to the Stubbing Wharf hypnotises the viewer. pub that inspired an eponymous poem by Ted Hughes who lived in the town. Liudmila Harrison-Jones – London Blue Badge Guide lu2mi3la yahoo.com @ Sue Grimditch, Manchester Green Badge Guide sue specialist.clara.co.uk @

...PUDDING

...has to be Banoffi Pie, an indulgent mixture of toffee and banana (hence the name). I remember eating it for the first time at the Hungry Monk restaurant, where chef Ian Dowding devised it. I passed the site of the Monk recently while walking the South Downs Way, but sadly all that's left of the restaurant is a blue plaque. The intriguing story and the original recipe for the sweet is told at iandowding.co.uk. Edwin Lerner – London Blue Badge Guide diaryofatouristguide.blogspot.com

y enc g ag idin r-gu t drive The UK’s larges MAP OUT YOUR PERFECT TOUR...

A Blue Badge driver-guide will show you the best of Britain We offer fun and informative private tours of London, England and Scotland Our expert guides are qualified and work in all major languages Castles and countryside, monuments and museums, palaces and panoramic tours Book your customised tour with the UK’s leading driver-guiding agency For further information contact us on: email: [email protected] Tel: +44 207 993 6901