The London Nobody Knows

[Graham]

Glenn,

I'm not sure of the date of the James Mason film, but it probably wasn't all that long before I was there. And there was certainly someone living at No 29when James Mason visited. Even though it's less than 40 years ago, it was a different world, then.

My wife's family comes from Dublin, and she has vivid memories of visiting some old couple who lived in the ground floor of a house the roof of which had just rotted away years before. This is the 1950's.

Cheers,

Graham

[John Bennett]

So you mean there is a chance that the building might have had residents at the turn of the 1970s?

Ah, Glenn, this leads me to recap on a little research I did last year at the Local History Archive.

In 1964 the residents of 29 Hanbury Street were (according to the electoral register):
Morris Fisher
William J Loughlin
Kathleen Manning
Georgina Silas

By 1968 it was down to just William J Loughlin and Kathleen Manning


The 1969 register shows No.29 to be unoccupied (as was the rest of that part of the street except No.25 which had only one tenant, Ernest Meechan). The 1970 register has it that all the houses were unoccupied, if they were there at all.

It's quite possible that Kathleen Manning is the lady who lets James Mason into No.29 in the film (made in 1967).

JB

[Rob Clack]

'The London Nobody Knows' was filmed during 1967, and I think demolition started (or not long after) January 1970.

Rob

[Graham]

JB,

You are almost certainly correct regarding Kathleen Manning as being the lady in the James Mason film, if that was made in 1967.

As I said in a previous post, I'm not completely sure precisely when I was in Hanbury Street, but obviously before No 29 was demolished. There must have been something to make me think that someone was still living there.

At any rate, there was no way I was going to open that door!!

Cheers,

Graham

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

John,

Very interesting info. Thanks for that.
Astonishing to see that six people were still living there in 1964 and two in 1968.

Graham is of course right, that those were different days but I also think I see it from a Swedish perspective. From the 1940s onwards we had an enormous improvement in average and general living standard which couldn't (and often still can't) be seen in the rest of Europe.
I noted myself during my year in England, how primitive the general living standard appears to be for everyman (unless you have loads of money)compared to my country. Needless to say, in the 1960s it would be seen as very remarkable if a building like Hanbury Street 29 would be inhabitated in Sweden (and possibly Norway). So there's probably the reason for my astonishment.

But a very interesting and atmospheric building it is. As I said, if it had been renovated like the houses in former Church Street and properly maintained, it would have been a fantastic house today - and probably containing very expensive flats.

All the best

[Monty]

Graham,

You're not alone in bottling it mate.

Stewart Evans, during his visit (In 68 I think) did exactly the same.

I remember feeling the same during a visit to the rear of the Wentworth dwellings a couple of years ago. That all went as someone, who name shall not be mentioned fully but is an anagram of Clob Rack, shoved me in a said "you go first".

Glad I did though, not many alive today have seen what we saw.

Monty

[Mike Covell]

Here is a clip someone posted on Youtube a while ago showing the short clip from 29 Hanbury Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjIUQqrkJdU

[aspallek]

The DVD appears only to be available in European format.

[The Grave Maurice]

You know, somebody was selling DVDs of TLNK at the conference in Baltimore in '06. Maybe Judy or Stephen can recall who it was, and maybe he still has copies available. They were in North American format.

[George Hutchinson]

Monty - I'm sure Stewart will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he bottled it. I understand the door was locked.

PHILIP

[aspallek]

You know, somebody was selling DVDs of TLNK at the conference in Baltimore in '06. Maybe Judy or Stephen can recall who it was, and maybe he still has copies available. They were in North American format.

There have been bootlegged copies circulating for some time, sometimes being sold on eBay. Whoever was selling them may have assumed the program was in public domain but apparently it is not. Or, perhaps, they were being sold with permission of the copyright holder.

[John Bennett]

Monty - I'm sure Stewart will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he bottled it. I understand the door was locked.

PHILIP

Indeed, that is what I understand. He went there in 1967 and his photographs of the house look exactly the same as the footage in the film, right down to the broken panes.

He did, however, scrape some of the green paint off the doorframe and put the bits in an envelope. He reckons probably he still has it somewhere.

JB

[richardnunweek]

Hi All,
According to the 600pm current news programme on ITV ,the James Mason 'London that nobody knows' is about to be released on DVD. and avaliable for the general public, which apart from our well shown Hanbury street clip on 'You tube' will be a fascinating insight to life in the areas intresting to us some 40 years ago, some of you may find the film somewhat ancient, trouble is to coin a phrase' I remember ir well' comes to mind.
Great film to own.
Regards Richard.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Richard.

Erm... this thread is all about the fact the film has been reissued. The many jpegs that Rob has put up here are from the new remastered DVD.

PHILIP

[Monty]

Phil, John and Stewart,

Taken from A visit to Whitechapel by Stewart Evans, a dissertation available on the Casebook, see link below.

http://www.casebook.org/victorian_london/visit.html

I walked through the oppressive streets, again sensing the feeling of age-old decay about the area, the grimy Victorian facades staring blankly down on me. Walking, via Brick Lane, to the middle part of Hanbury Street, I turned left in the direction of Commercial Street. And there it was. Set in the middle part of a terrace of Victorian tenements and shops one frontage stood out as a very familiar image. The dilapidated frontage of 'N. Brill' hairdresser's shop - 29 Hanbury Street. It looked, and was, unoccupied. There were a few broken panes of glass in the first floor (second floor in U.S. currency) windows. An advert' for 'Brylcreem' hair cream ran across the shop front window. To the left of this window were two wooden doors, painted in faded pale green, with flakes of paint peeling off. The left-most of these two doors gave entry to the passage that led through to the small back-yard where Annie Chapman had died 79 eventful years before. 29 Hanbury Street may have survived the attentions of Hitler's bombers, but it didn't look as if it would survive much longer. (In the event it didn't). The street was quiet, I took a photograph of the front of the building, then one looking eastwards down Hanbury Street with no. 29 in the foreground, and another from a similar position looking westwards towards the junction with Commercial Street. Little did I realise that in later years these photographs would allow me to position the exact location of no. 29, in relation to the properties opposite which survived, after the north side of the street, along with no. 29, was demolished to allow the expansion of Trumans Brewery. I took a final shot, a close-up of the two doors, when processed this last shot came out dark, somehow grainy, and very atmospheric, looking for all the world as if it had been taken in 1888. I still have the photographs. I tried to open both doors, oh to get into that yard. Both were unyielding, I could not gain entry. An avid collector from an early age I then took several flakes of the old green paint from the very door that the 'Ripper' and Chapman had passed through. I cannot find them now, but I think they are in an envelope in a box in my loft somewhere. There was no more that I could do here, but there was still Buck's Row to locate...

Apologies Guys, you were correct, as per usual.

And apologies to you Stewart, I should have known you wouldnt have bottled it.

Monty