A fortnightly celebration of the folk history of the Olympic boroughs, in story and song.
In the second week of our third Olympic Borough, Hackney, songwriter Ruairidh Anderson tells the story of Hackney South MP and early 20th Century rogue, Horatio Bottomley.
Over the years London has played host to many gangsters and criminals but one name you’re unlikely to find sandwiched between Jack the Ripper and Mad Frankie Fraser is the less terrifyingly named, Horatio Bottomley who sounds more like a sad rejected extra from the Muppet Show than an evil genius.
All songs are free to download from Songs From The Howling Sea. Lyrics can be found here.
Previously in Hackney
Previously in Greenwich
- Joseph Druce: mudlark and Maori Chief
- Anne Boleyn: Marriage and May Madness
- General James Wolfe: Battles, Brothels and Broken Hearts
- Martial Bourdin, The Exploding Anarchist Of Greenwich
Previously in Tower Hamlets
- Charlie Brown: Uncrowned King of Limehouse
- Angela Burdett-Coutts, Queen Of The East End Poor
- Jamrach’s Menagerie, Rhinos & the Ratcliffe Highway
- Moris ‘Two-guns’ Cohen
- Emmanuel Swedenborg, Veruca Socks and Heavenly Secrets
- John Newton, Goebbels, Star Trek & The Slave Trade
- Eliza Marchpane, Mozart, Vol Au Vents And The Wapping Streets
- Isambard Kingdon Brunel, Ships, Bones And Bad Breath
