Heathrow’s Victorian era prison cell

Long before Heathrow was runways and hotels, it offered accommodation of a very different sort - an overnight prison cell right in the centre of the village.

200th anniversary of the New Marshalsea Prison in Southwark

At some point in 1811 -- the specific date has been frustratingly difficult to pin down -- a new prison was opened in Southwark that despite its short life was to become notorious in literary history as the inspiration for one of Charles Dickens novels.

Kevin Spacey talks about government art spending

When Hollywood actor, and London theatre renovator, Kevin Spacey offers to give a talk on government funding for the arts just a few days before the government is planning to make cuts to the said arts, it seems sensible to…

The Destruction of London’s Newgate Prison

We are at war with the Catholics, we have always been at war with the Catholics. In a move which would impress George Orwell, the politicians of 1780 were seeking to change the above statement so that the British were…