Why did the mole cross the road? So that he could talk to the lollypop lady, of course. Lollypop ladies are human zebra crossings. The first ones started working outside primary schools in 1967. The safe crossing with the yellow […]
Open All Hours
There is a popular myth that when Idi Amin expelled the Ugandan Asians in 1972, they came to the UK and bought up corner shops to make fortunes. Part of that is true: Amin did confiscate the assets of Ugandan […]
Jean Frances Rossiter 1927-2015
The oldest of three girls, Jean was born and raised in Tottenham. She was a bookworm from a very young age and maintained her love of books throughout her life, latterly listening to talking books, a favourite of which were […]
Ex-Gang Member to Gang Mediator
Primrose People: Jason Allen Think of a typical Victorian Anglican church. St Mary’s ticks all the boxes. It has about 30 pre-school kids with their SUV buggies parked around the entrance; a priest, Marjorie Brown (I swear one parishioner said […]
Get the Children Out
The story Ilse Gray tells is a pebble polished from many tellings. The factual calm covers up the horror and despair that people lived through. Ilse and her sister, Eva, were on one of the first Kindertransport trains to leave […]
Primrose Hill People: JC from L'Absinthe
Primrose Hill’s Celebrity Restaurateur interviewed by Jim Mulligan Seven years ago the rather dismal corner of Fitzroy Road and Chalcot Road was lit up when L’Absinthe opened. JC had arrived in Primrose Hill. It seems unlikely but it was the […]