Angela Carter’s WISE CHILDREN Part 1: the lost theatres, music halls & cinemas of South London
The Curiously Specific Book ClubShow Notes
This magical novel about two ageing ‘hoofers’ of London SW2 is a great excuse to get out into Lambeth, South London and hunt down the location of amazing old theatres like the massive Kennington Theatre and the Brixton Empress.
We start at one of the great homes of Shakespeare performance in South London – The Old Vic. And end up in a terraced street off Brixton Hill, where dozens of actors, entertainers, comedians and acrobats would have lived back in the day.
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In Part Two of our Buchan-based adventure we switch from Scotland to the Kent coast. We’re in search of the eponymous 39 steps. But first we need to locate Trafalgar House where German secret agents are hiding out. We end up at North Foreland, between the homes of a German-hating lord and a German-loving marquess. And, yes, we did find some steps! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It’s an iconic moment in British literature – John Buchan’s hero Richard Hannay running across a moor with police, secret agents and an airplane all trying to hunt him down. But is it based on any kind of reality? We head for the Scottish Lowlands to find out, taking in abandoned train lines, the site of a car crash and a very remote farmhouse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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