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SALON NO 91: London Islands

Eel Pie and Tagg

7.00pm Thursday 24th March 2022

The Horse Hospital
Collonade
London 
WC1N 1JD

Admission: Tickets £7.00/ £8.00 in advance only HERE

There are over a hundred islands along the length the River Thames - several within the boundaries of London.

ANDREW HUMPHREYS leaves shore to explore EEL PIE ISLAND just off the coast of Twickenham. Eel Pie’s days as a pleasure island date back to the time of Henry VIII. In the 20thC. the tiny islet – accessible only by skiff – harboured boatbuilders, a film studio and an early motor-engine manufacturer. It also had a hotel with a jazz club beloved of beatniks, before becoming incubator of British R&B where the resident band was The Rolling Stones and David Bowie was just part of the audience. A little later, to a soundtrack of Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, the hotel became a frontline outpost of counterculture, a halfway house for San Franciscan hippies and Europe’s biggest doss house.
Meanwhile DAVID CRUMP rows us over to TAGGS ISLAND.Originally it was a site for the growing of willows for basket making and named after Thomas Tagg, who built a hotel in the 19th century frequented by London's high society including Edward, Prince of Wales. 

Dave explores the legacy of the island and the extraordinary life of impresario Fred Karno, who discovered Charlie Chaplin, and who purchased it, rebuilt the hotel and a music hall called The Karsino, transforming it a venue for the rich and famous and describing it modestly as "the hub of the universe for river people".

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Author ANDREW HUMPHREYS is too young to have experienced the Dionysian spirit of Eel Pie Island, but he is a beneficiary of the spirit of the Sixties, having worked as a guidebook writer for Lonely Planet (a company born on the Overland Route to Afghanistan and beyond) and as a writer and editor for Time Out, a magazine that emerged from the late 60s flowering of alternative press. He is the author of Raving upon Thames, which stakes a claim for the southwest London Thames suburbs as the true launch pad for the Sixties. 

DAVID CRUMP has worked extensively in the theatre both on and off stage, beginning as a scenic artist, before graduating to acting, directing, producing and writing. He has written over twenty pantomimes, revues and plays. In 2010 he wrote and starred in Khaotic! a musical based on the life of Fred Karno and has written a new biography of Karno, a much maligned and under-appreciated comedy pioneer

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Our new home, THE HORSE HOSPITAL, is a unique Grade II listed not for profit, independent arts venue within the only existing unspoilt example of a two-floor, purpose-built stable with public access in London. 

Built in 1797 by James Burton. the shell is constructed with London Stocks whilst the interior features a mock cobbled re-inforced concrete floor and ramps with slats to prevent the horses from slipping. Each floor has five cast iron pillars and several original iron tethering rings.

We are no longer sponsored by Hendricks but there will be a small bar to purchase drinks!