The Tour
Bethnal Green’s story is one of crime and poverty, but also one of resilience and survival. Despite phases of social change it displays a consistency born of its own character, and indeed its own folklore. This tour explores Bethnal Green in so many words – the words of prominent authors.
Arthur Morrison
George Orwell
Alexander Baron and Arthur Morrison, Iain Sinclair and Monica Ali, all have captured moments in this progress.
Experience the dark menace of the Jago, the petty crime of Rabbit Marsh and Kray mythology. There are heroes, villains and victims.
George Orwell features too. He used a pleasant Sunday in a local police cell to create a menacing moment in his most fear-inspiring novel.
The tour is based around site-specific readings from texts written between the late nineteenth century and the early twenty-first. It evokes the unique flavour of Bethnal Green, at the heart of the East End.
For a taster, click HERE to read my Footprints of London blog item about George Orwell’s weekend in Bethnal Green in 1931.
If you like this …
Peter Ackroyd’s Monstrous East End is another East End literary Charnowalk – details HERE
You can find details of my other literary Charnowalks HERE
Details – Bethnal Green in So Many Words
Please go to What’s On? to see whether this tour is currently on offer, and for booking details.
MEET: In front of Shoreditch High Street Overground Station
Duration: Two hours (approximately)
Finish: Near Bethnal Green Underground and Overground Stations
If you have any questions about this walk, please contact me
Pictures sourced from Wikimedia Commons
