hunterofhistory

The College of Charleston 1958 cheerleading squad showing some modern gals their moves.

Get your steps in.

Original 📸: Hans Mauli

Part of the dial from Hampton Court Palace’s astronomical clock being moved in 1960. Rebecca from the HCP staff is making sure the chaps have the correct time..

The clock was installed into the gatehouse to the inner courtyard in 1540, and can tell the time (obviously), but it also displays the month, the day of the month, the number of days since the beginning of the year, the signs of the zodiac, and the phases of the moon.
This is BEFORE the days when it was understood that the earth orbited the sun. Henry VIII (who would have cast his eyes upon this clock many a time) and Nicholas Kratzer (Henry’s astronomer) who designed it, would have believed that the earth was the centre of the universe. So.. the clock is a horological representation of the advanced yet unsophisticated science of the day.

The doorway to the gardens at Hampton Court Palace, 1936 vs 2021.
Thanks to Laurence (in the red coat) for watching the ladies head out for a stroll.

Francoise Hardy and sitting on the steps of St George church, Mayfair,
1965 vs 2021.
For the bibliophiles, Joe is reading ‘s The Red Prince, a brilliant new biography of John Of Gaunt! (No sponsorship deal - just a great book 👊)

📸: Doreen Spooner - the first female photographer to hold a staff job on Fleet St. She has a very interesting biography herself - go look her up!

Marilyn waves to the people from the windows at the back of the Savoy Hotel, 1956

Durdle Door, 1913 vs 2021.
Picture 2 of my three-part Lulworth series, featuring autochrome photos taken by Mervyn O’Gorman of ‘The Lady In Red’ Christina Bevan on Durdle Door Beach.

The blend here borrows a stunning restoration of the original image by - swipe right to see it in all its glory. He’s a very talented restorer of historical images, and has worked magic on the pictures of Christina.
More to come, plus an IGTV short film on Mervyn, Christina and the story behind the pictures!

Françoise Hardy in Carnaby St, 1967 / 2021
Happy Easter y’all!

Sun n Snooze..
1950/2021, Thames Embankment

Harold Stevens posing and living as a homeless man under Cleopatra’s Needle on the Embankment, 1926. (Read below for the story)

Stevens was a Weymouth Magistrate who, for two weeks in 1926, decided to live as a homeless person, in an effort to ‘study the vagrancy problem’ of the time.

This is an extract from an article on Stevens on the Dorset Life website: “...Stevens wrote a series of articles for the Westminster Gazette that were published nationally in more than forty newspapers, recounting a wealth of experiences from meeting a man who made a century for the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club?) and a former society lady selling matches...
In the crypt of St Martin-In-The-Fields he saw a man of over eighty, his hair unkempt and in rags, start up in his sleep and murmur: ‘My times are in thy hands, whatever they may be, pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee.’
These beautiful lines, coming from such an unexpected source, and uttered in a room crowded with the dregs of humanity, were startling in the extreme. “Could these poor creatures ever again be contemptuously dismissed as mere loafers?” asked Stevens......”The average man on the embankment, in the crypt of St Martin’s church and in Trafalgar Square is a decent fellow who wants work. Hosts of them are ex-soldiers to whom a land for heroes was promised. I have learned to love them, and intend to pay them a return visit.’”

Stevens maintained his compassion for the homeless community, and is reported to have often paid their fines when they appeared in his court.

Two young travellers at Waterloo station, 1928, off for Christmas in the country.
I wonder where they ended up in life, what they saw, what they did, who they loved... And nearly one hundred years later, where are our happy travellers now?

Muhammad Ali in London ahead of his fight with Henry Cooper, 1963.