I have started writing a post to go with this pic but not finished it yet. Damn. Meanwhile here is a quote from the Communist Manifesto. More to follow.
All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, …
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Nic
November 8, 2009 at 11:20 amHi Al…
I’m currently researching the ‘other’ histories of Birmingham for a piece of writing, and happened upon this interesting link:
http://invereskstreet.blogspot.com/2005/06/anarchy-in-uk-by-ian-walker.html
(Although, I have a feeling you may have read the piece?)
alistairliv • Post Author •
November 8, 2009 at 4:33 pmI have read the piece Nic – I think I sampled a section and used it on KYPP.
How far back are you taking your research? Will Joseph Priestley get a mention for his support of the French Revolution? [Discussed in Jenny Uglow’s “The Lunar Men”]
Nic
November 9, 2009 at 10:22 amAh, I thought that might be the case! And that would explain the feeling of deja-vu as I was reading it…
The research is going back as far as possible really…
However, the scope of the research is qualified somewhat by the focus which is on a route from the centre of the city to its periphery, from the site of the (long gone) ‘Peace Centre’ to the Maypole erected at the southern edge of the city…
alistairliv • Post Author •
November 9, 2009 at 11:39 amA bit of psychogeography then, Nic? Have you seen Tom Vague’s various accounts of the alternative history of Notting Hill? Like this –
http://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/talkpics/talk-2009beat-01.html
Was there an actual maypole at Maypole? I looked up the Maypole on
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/
The May Pole is thought not to have been a pole for dancing round, but to have been a tall pole which stood here to direct travellers. It may have been so called because it was later also used as a maypole, or this may have been a nickname. Certainly the 1887 Ordnance Survey map indicates a guide post here. Maypole Farm stood on the north side of Druids Lane, a short way from the junction. Baverstock School now stands on the site.
Nic
November 12, 2009 at 9:53 amYes, Al, a derive (albeit in a somewhat ‘compromised’ form)…
I was thinking about the way in which the city is sometimes like a mirage which you wander through, passing without looking, and I wanted to do a little more looking…
It’s relatively certain that the maypole at the Maypole never was a ‘maypole’ (just as Druids Heath probably has no connection to Druids) which – in a way – is more interesting…
Darren
November 13, 2009 at 5:44 pmCheers for the link/plug to the Anarchy in the UK article.
I recently posted another Ian Walker article from the same era on the blog:
Skinheads: the cult of trouble
Both articles originally appeared in the now defunct New Society magazine and were included in Paul Barker’s The Other Side of Britain anthology.
There are a few other Walker articles from the same book that I’d like to put on the net as well at some point.