Folk Olympics: Mrs Basil Holmes – Gravestones, Greed & Old School Socks
Our musical tour of the Olympic boroughs reaches Hackney.
folk olympics
Folk Olympics: Martial Bourdin, The Exploding Anarchist Of Greenwich
Meet the anarchist whose failed attempt at terrorism inspired Conrad.
Folk Olympics: Battles, Brothels And Broken Hearts – General James Wolfe
Meet the Greenwich warrior who sired 14 bastards.
Folk Olympics: Anne Boleyn, Marriage and May Madness
The ill-fated queen’s connections to Greenwich.
Folk Olympics: Of Cockney Mudlarks And Maori Chiefs
A song about a Greenwich mudlark who, improbably, became a Maori chief.
Folk Olympics: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Ships, Bones & Bad Breath
The story of Brunel’s cursed ship, and a cracking song about it, too.
Folk Olympics: Eliza Marchpane, Mozart, Vol Au Vents And The Wapping Streets
Another unusual tale from the East End, turned into song.
Folk Olympics: John Newton, Goebbels, Star Trek & The Slave Trade
Meet the Eastender who composed one of the world’s great songs, traded slaves, then helped abolish slavery.
Folk Olympics: Emmanuel Swedenborg, Veruca Socks And Heavenly Secrets
Tales from the Olympic boroughs – this week, a Swedish mystic who predicted his own death.
Folk Olympics: Morris ‘Two-Guns’ Cohen
The unlikely story of the east-ender who ended up serving as a bodyguard in China.
Folk Olympics: Jamrach’s Menagerie, Rhinos & The Ratcliffe Highway
The day a tiger escaped into the East End.
