Thames Diamond Jubilee River Pagent

For anyone who missed it, here is a three minute montage from today's Jubilee Pageant on the Thames River. If only Canaletto hadn't died almost 250 years ago, he would have been able to paint one amazing picture.

The Great Silence

I recently read The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age by Juliet Nicolson. The book covers the impact that WWI had on British culture and society, through the stories of individuals from many different walks of life. A lot of the stories deal with changes in the status of women and the servant class, as well as threats to the Monarchy, and the importation of Jazz music from America.

Of course the overriding theme is the tremendous amount of grief that everyone had to deal with after the death or disfigurement of 100,000's of men.

The book concludes on November 11 ,1920—two years after the armistice—with the burial of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. Below is a film of that actual event.

Street Photography

A selection of pictures from the Museum of London's exhibition of street photography from 1860 to the present.

London Street Photography

The Birds of America

An original double elephant folio edition of John James Audobon's The Birds of America has sold at auction for $11.5, making it the most expensive print book ever sold. I bought a series of books that reproduce the original 4 volumes on ebay a couple years ago for much less, but it is probably not even baby elephant size. Here is an article with a video about the book.

Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book

The Eighth Wonder of the World

The guardian.co.uk has a video from inside the Thames Tunnel. Built by Marc Brunnel and opened in 1843, this was the first tunnel in the world to go under a river.

The Thames Tunnel