Category: Uncategorized

What a Reception!

Victoria and I can’t thank you all enough for the warm reception you’ve given the debut of Number One London. We’re dead chuffed. We wanted to thank Jody for suggesting that we add the link to The Proceedings of the Old Bailey online to our Interesting Websites link, which we did immediately. Many thanks as well to Bozzy (aka Sue Ellen Welfonder), Diane Perkins from Risky Regencies and to everyone else who has been championing our blog. Jody’s email also prompted us to clarify and stress that Number One London was created as a site for us all to share, so please feel free to email   your comments, suggestions, guest blogs, pictures, links and, most especially, your on-dits and bits of English nonsense. We truly want you to think of Number One London as home.

The Source of Madness in Alice in Wonderland

We all know and love Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and the audacious characters therein, like the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter. But with the release of the latest film version of the tale comes a discussion on just how the Mad Hatter got his name – even Johnny Depp chimes in on the speculation. Was the name really meant to be the “Mad Adder?” Or did the Hatter’s madness have to do with mercury poisoning, a pitfall of the trade in the 19th century? You can read the full article here.

A Warm Welcome

If you’ve arrived at this page, you must share our interest in all things Georgian, Regency and Victorian, as well as our passion for the England of today.

Having written The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England, Kristine Hughes has spent the last several years researching her next book, a true opus that will focus on fashionable daily life as experienced by the ladies of London 1700 – 1900.  Victoria Hinshaw has published eight Regency-set novels and three novellas with Kensington Zebra. She is working on several more projects associated with the Georgian era but she admits to a real delight in the Victorian period, since it is hers. Whatever motivated her parents to choose the name Victoria, she has always believed that there exsists a mystical tie between the Great Queen and her.

Victoria and Kristine originally named this blog Research England, for that is their vocation and avocation. But they are not deeply academic, and their mischevious senses of humor crept into their posts. So they decided to start over as Number One London (found at onelondonone.blogspot.com). They promise lots of research oriented material, considerable travel  reporting, and amusing incidents, all accompanied by occasional asides, nonsense and bon mots.

Kristine has been planning to attend the re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels for some years now. The 2010 event has always been her goal and the year has finally arrived – Huzza! The trip will be even more wonderful now that Victoria Hinshaw will be joining her and they’ll be spending several days in London before taking the Dover ferry to Calais. Oh, how they wish they weren’t many decades too late to call upon poor Mr. Brummell while they’re in France! Look for blogs and details about their upcoming adventures both before, during and after the magical days of June 2010.

Victoria and Kristine look forward to making your aquaintance. Please visit often!

Writer In Residence Wanted – Hurry – Free Rent in England!

Are you a female writer over 40? If so, you could be living in a period cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon – though not the one pictured – that’s Anne Hathaway’s – with all expenses paid for anywhere from two months to a year and an annual stipend of nine thousand pounds. The Hosking Houses Trust has been calling for applicants for the 2010-11 award, but so far only two ladies have applied! What’s the catch? Well, you’ll need to have “a contract for publication or performance of original work on any subject” and “the legal right to be in the U.K.” The cottage is in Clifford Chambers, three miles from Stratford-upon-Avon and Hidcote Gardens, Chipping Campden and Warwick Castle are all within easy reach. Applications will be accepted until April 12. Visit the Hosking Houses Trust for full details and do let us know if you’re the writer they accept!