Last week I met with Chris Ross, a.k.a. @TheEastEndPoet on Twitter and Facebook. Chris is a born and bred Cockney, born in Mile End Hospital and raised in Roman Road. He is a retired telephone salesman, dad of one, granddad of six and great granddad of six. And he writes poetry – often about theContinue reading “Coffee with @TheEastEndPoet”
Category Archives: Great interview
‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’
Anna and Mark are both artists based in St. John’s Wood. Anna grew up in King’s Cross and Finchley. She is a playwright and actor who is ‘very good at accents’ and uses them in her performances. Mark is from Greenwich, works in advertising and has often cast actors with accents for the TV commercialsContinue reading “‘Are you embarrassed about my accent?’”
Pies for old-school Cockneys and people from all over the world
Joe Cooke is the owner of Cooke’s Pie and Mash shop in Hoxton, an East London institution that was founded by his great-grandfather Robert in 1862. According to Joe, his ancestor didn’t just own many pie and mash shops and pubs in the East End, he actually started the pie and mash business by sellingContinue reading “Pies for old-school Cockneys and people from all over the world”
Chas’n Dave – the ‘Cockney ambassadors’
I met with Kate Garner at the beautiful Brasserie Zédel off Piccadilly Circus. Kate is not only a composer and musician in the London music hall tradition who often performs at Zédel’s, but also comes from a very musical North London family: she is the daughter of Chas Hodges from Chas’n Dave, the iconic CockneyContinue reading “Chas’n Dave – the ‘Cockney ambassadors’”
Master of the Cockney sing-along
This week, I managed to get hold of Tom Carradine, a professional pianist who stages extremely popular ‘Cockney sing-alongs’ in London and (far) beyond. His shows are advertised as ‘an old-fashioned knees-up – Mr Tom Carradine on the ol’ Joanna’ (Cockney rhyming slang for piano). Tom plays old London music hall and Cockney songs toContinue reading “Master of the Cockney sing-along”
Audience with the Pearly Queen of Clapton
Teresa is the Pearly Queen of Clapton and a true Cockney, ‘born within the sound of Bow Bells’. She grew up in Leyton, East London, and now lives in Loughton, just outside of London in Essex, but her family is from all over East London, ‘so that is where our heart is’. Teresa comes fromContinue reading “Audience with the Pearly Queen of Clapton”
‘I don’t need to pay to go to Nigeria, I just go to Peckham’
Another great interview I did was with Mariana and Nieves, who, like Andy and Eileen, live on the Cressingham Gardens estate in Tulse Hill. Mariana moved to Brixton from Nigeria when she was 18, and Nieves, now a pensioner, is originally from Manila in the Philippines. The two are neighbours and friends and Mariana helpsContinue reading “‘I don’t need to pay to go to Nigeria, I just go to Peckham’”
Meeting with a Paddington girl
A special highlight before Christmas was my meeting with Elaine in Westbourne Park. Elaine has lived in Westbourne park all her life and on the same road for most of it: ‘Like the song says: I’m a west end girl’. We talked for over two hours and she told me many stories about how theContinue reading “Meeting with a Paddington girl”
Cockney songs
This week I met with Frank, a true East Ender. He lives near Upminster, in the Essex countryside now, but spent all his childhood and youth in Forrest Gate, E7. Frank has lived in many different places in Essex and would call his own accent ‘East End twice removed’. Having worked in the construction industryContinue reading “Cockney songs”
East End memories from Essex
Last week, I spoke to husband and wife Richard and Janice in Colchester, Essex. Janice was born and raised in Tower Hamlets and remembers a blissful childhood there. When she was eleven, her family moved to Loughton, Essex, where teachers gave her a hard time for her Cockney accent. Now she would call her ownContinue reading “East End memories from Essex”
LONDON TALKS 