Monday 11 June 2018

Netherwood and Stevie Smith



The new edition of Netherwood is being sold at silly prices on Amazon and elsewhere.

It is still available for £30 (plus p&p) at the Accumulator Press 'shop' on The Big Cartel here and for varying prices at the usual bookshops listed in previous posts. At the upcoming talks this month and next you can buy it from me for even less.

Thursday 28 June Whistler Chelsea's Greatest Artist here

Saturday 30 June The Haunted City: Modern Monsters and Urban Myths here

Thursday 12 July Whistler in Chelsea: A Guided Walk here

Thursday 24 July Decadent London here

JUST ADDED: Subterranean City: beneath the streets of London Friday 7 September details to follow.

In preparation for the Conway Hall talk I've been searching through some old newspapers online and coincidentally found a review of The Magic of Aleister Crowley by John Symonds from The Guardian of 13 April 1958, written by the renowned poet Stevie Smith.

She finds the book 'comical', but also notes 'how wretched [Crowley's magick] really is and with what horrid echoes from past centuries it dins on the mind.' 'To the author Crowley was an eccentric old gentleman, more comical than horrible, shrewd enough off the record, and well worth visiting, and cosseting ... In his retreat in Hastings, in the boarding-house called Netherwood, Crowley was a great attraction. His eyes stared, his ears stood out, he took drugs, swigged black market brandy and was long and spectral - in fact just what one wants in an English seaside boarding-house.'

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Antony. I love your exploration of lost history in London, it's incredibly facinating.

It's a shame to see that your exploration of the supposed preserved Victorian street under Oxford street has apparently come to a close.

I don't know if you have had a look at the comments below the following article on the same thing. There are many people claiming to have worked in the then 'lilly & Skinner' store and have seen first hand the alleged secret street.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/greatwen.com/2013/11/21/secret-london-more-streets-beneath-london-streets/amp/

I can't imagine why all these people would lie about such a thing. In any case, it's all terribly interesting.

I hope you're able to look into this if you have not already.

Yours,
Jordan

Antony Clayton said...

Dear Jordan
Thank you for your kind comments.

By way of reply, if you have another look at my blog post The Mystery of Subterranean Selfridges, to which I occasionally add new information, you'll see that last year I visited Forever 21 the shop that now occupies the Lilley & Skinner building. There is a lower ground floor but staff told me there are no deeper levels. I agree that it's strange that some people claim to have seen the Victorian street, but there seems to be no actual physical evidence for it. If any more information comes to my attention about the mysterious thoroughfare I will of course add it. That blog entry is by far the most popular on the Antonine Itineraries. I'm hoping to write another piece on a bizarre aspect of London underground folklore next week after I've talked about it at the Haunted London conference.