The London Nobody Knows

[Rob Clack]

'The London Nobody Knows' was recently released (officially) on DVD by Optimum, and I have to say it's very impressive. The colours are slightly faded but overall the image is excellent for a 40 year old documentary.
The screencaps below give a fair indication of how the film looks.

DVD Cover


29 Hanbury Street front........






.......and back








Rob

[Rob Clack]

Some other East End shots.

Lolesworth Street (formally George Street) from Thrawl Street


Thrawl Street from Lolesworth Street


Thrawl Street, in the distance on the left corner is the Frying Pan.


Lolesworth Close formally Flower and Dean Street


Commercial Road area


Commercial Road


Old Montague Street


cheeks you just want to squeeze and a toffee apple, brings back memories


Rob

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Rob,

An excellent selection of visuals from the movie.
Great stuff and great quailty.

I have to say it's nice to see a glimpse of the notorous Thrawl Street when the old buildings were still standing - today the street only has its name in common with the original place, the rest is gone and completely redeveloped.

All the best

[Rob Clack]

Hi Glenn,

Interestingly Glenn, and I've only recently checked this, none of the buildings in Thrawl Street and Lolesworth Street were there in 1888. They were built between 1894 and 1913, which surprised me as they look at least a couple of hundred years old.
Also the children playing on the pavement in Thrawl Street is the approximate position on 18 Thrawl Street.

All the best

Rob

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Hi Rob,

That's odd, because by looking at some of them they definitely looks like they could built before the mid 1800s at least. But there you go.Just shows what an area of constant redevelopment this is, and already was in those days.

All the best

[Mike Covell]

The stills look awsome, i will try and get hold of it online, or contact the distribution company direct, I still have contacts!

The days are long gone when you could walk around wearing a flat cap and a walking stick, nowadays them kids would be robbing him, before beating him to death with his flat cap!

The buildings do look pretty old, but there are some like that here in Hull, they didn't really adopt new building methods until after the Blitz.

[Graham]

The stills look awsome, i will try and get hold of it online, or contact the distribution company direct, I still have contacts!

The days are long gone when you could walk around wearing a flat cap and a walking stick, nowadays them kids would be robbing him, before beating him to death with his flat cap!

The buildings do look pretty old, but there are some like that here in Hull, they didn't really adopt new building methods until after the Blitz.

Hi Mike.

The last time I visited the East End I was surprised at how respectable it's become since my first foray thence in about 1971. I felt much safer two years ago than I did 37 years ago, to be honest. The gorgeous scent of curry almost drove me crazy as I walked around and about....in 1971 all you could smell was burning wood as the old derelict sites were being cleared.

Said it before and I'll say it again, the shots on James Mason's film of 29 Hanbury Street are creepy and disturbing to the extreme, for me at least. Difficult for us in 2008 to imagine the squalor in which people lived - and well within living memory, too. I did once try the handle of the door to the rear of No 29, but lost my bottle and scarpered in case it actually opened.

Cheers,

Graham

[richardnunweek]

Hi Graham,
I do appreciate the lack of nerve on visiting Hanbury street number 29 all those years ago, I walked past there at exactly 515 am on the morning of the 8th sept 1965 and remained there for approx twenty minutes, this was the year i visited all the spots at precisely the relevant times, ie August 3st at 330am -340 am retracing Nichols steps in Bucks Row[ Brady street], then Chapmans [ as mentioned] then on the 30th at Strides location , then swiftly on to Mitre square arriving there at 130am, and finally on the 9th of November in Duval street.
I did this as a 18year old enthusiast and i must say it is moments i will always treasure, as you will certainly appreciate that the sites in 1965 were a lot different to present day and held great atmosphere especially Bucks Row which was such a erie experience as it was my first trip.
Two regrets on those trips.
1] I could not have been a classic anorak as i at that age never considered a camera.
2] I did not at least record in Diary form my feelings and encounters on the trips, which i should mention meant me walking around the streets of the east end all night on all those occassions , for I had a long trip home back to my birthplace Reigate, Surrey, where my wife and I have just returned to as I near retirement.
Regards Richard.

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

I have to say I am truly envious of those elderly gentlemen here who had this opportunity to visit the sites in the 60s, when they still existed.
I agree that the shot featuring James Mason in the back yard is creepy and erie, but my main feeling of hesitation of entering the building or the back yard (as a response to Graham) would probably have been more connected with a genuine fear of the old building actually falling into pieces and falling over you if you touched it.
I assume (or hope) that the building in the mid 60s was uninhabited, which would mean a rather quick decay. Trying to walk up the stairs in the corridor to the first floor would probably have been connected with lethal danger.

All the best

[George Hutchinson]

I have to say I am truly envious of those elderly gentlemen here who had this opportunity to visit the sites in the 60s, when they still existed.

I'm going to tell Stewart Evans you said that, and I think he'll be rather upset with you, Mr Andersson!

Thanks for putting up some choice grabs, Rob. I've seen this film umpteen times and it's still my #1 favourite documentary - regardless of the footage of #29. To have the locations of the spots on the other F&D estate streets at last (I never knew where in the streets they were exactly) does make me feel very sad indeed for the lost places as now I can finally place these old scenes with what I see and know today - a million miles away in a lot of respects.

The colours of the film are, I think, fairly true to the original. I always recall it being a bit flat, with the reds heightened. Maybe that's what it all really looked like!

I've had a VHS copy since God knows when, but have just ordered a DVD from Play.com (much cheaper than Amazon, folks!).

I'd love to track down the people in it and find more about them. I've always said on the boards that I remember seeing that old escapologist on - I think - the Thames Embankment when I was about four. He was rolling around the floor completely chained up head to foot in a canvas bag. I remember as we walked away I pressed the button on a pedestrian crossing and got told off for it.

But what of the younger of the two buskers? He's probably still alive. I wish there were out-takes of this somewhere. It's possible there's other footage of Hanbury Street somewhere (if not instantly scrapped) which never made it into the final cut.

PHILIP

[Graham]

Glenn,

Less of the "elderly" please, Mr Andersson!!! I'm 61, which I don't think is 'elderly' in this day and age, don't look a day over 59, and feel like I'm still in my mid-twenties.

The reason I bottled out when I had my hand on the door of No 29 Hanbury Street is because I wasn't 100% certain that the building was uninhabited. The 'N Brill' barber-shop sign was still in place. I'm not 100% certain of the year, but it was 1970 give or take a year, maybe.

Like Richard, I didn't have a camera with me that day, and the next time I visited the East End No 29 had been demolished.

Cheers,

Graham

[richardnunweek]

Hi Graham.
We are of the same age I shall be 61 next month, it is strange how the area has changed over the years, obviously one has to adhere to change ,however the character of the east end has now been lost.
It is strange trying to go back like in my case to my first Whitechapel visits ,for although unknown to me at the time I was privliged to still have been able to at least get a real atmosphere to the murder sites where as today much imagination is needed even though the area still has retained its mystery.
I wish i had been more adventurous ie, obtaining some momentoes from my autumn visits, but as a eighteen year old it was just a fad I had at that period not realizing that some forty odd years later I would be participating on a Computer on a website called Casebook.
Regards Richard.

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Graham,

Ahem, the 'elderly' part was actually tongue in cheek.

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

All the best

[Graham]

Graham,

Ahem, the 'elderly' part was actually tongue in cheek.

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

All the best

Hi Glenn.

Tongue in cheek or not, I am still mortified..........

When I was at 29 Hanbury St, the place was virtually derelict, but it seemed to me that there might have been someone still living there. That's why I left without opening the door....just to be on the safe side.

Cheers,

Graham

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Jesus Christ,
I certainly hope no one lived there at the time, for that person's sake.
Don't get me wrong, I love old buildings and I believe with some thorough renovating it could be quite charming and attractive, but as I said - considering that state it appears to have been in in the late 60s, my doubt about entering it or touching anything in there probably would have more to do with it falling to pieces like a house of cards. Would the stairs actually have been in good enough state to carry the weight of any person?

All the best