12/31/2010 20:21
Every once in a while, Boing Boing comes across something really cool and unique, that I never would have seen otherwise. I'm a big fan of What's under London. But not because I've spent any time in London (yet) -- mostly from books like Quicksilver and Neverwhere. Actually, aside from Gatwick and Victoria station, all the time I've spent in London has been underground. But it hasn't been very much, and it wasn't nearly as scenic as the stuff posted by the guys at Sleepycity.net. I just flew in, got to the station, and started using my Britrail pass. Never saw the city. The Sleepy City guys (who I gather are originally from down under) have apparently been doing daring (and more or less illegal) trespass-photography for years now, in London, Paris, and assorted other places (their site sports a map). It loads slow, so I guess it's across the water somewhere, but click on the pics anyway. In addition to the regular sewers (above) and the London tube, they've been in the River Fleet. Yeah, I said The FLEET!
Tags: Underground, London
12/16/2009 20:44
An advertisement for James Watson’s reprint of Charles Knowlton’s Fruits of Philosophy, in the London Examiner, January 17, 1836. The Watson edition is the one Charles Watts acquired the plates of (in a bulk purchase from Watson’s estate) and reprinted until 1876, when he was charged with obscenity. Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant then formed the Freethought Publishing Company and reprinted Knowlton’s book, leading to the famous 1878 trial that forever changed the British birth rate.Tags: London, Bradlaugh, Knowlton
