“History and especially the story of London is just a continuous story and we just happen to be in these chapters at the moment. History is not the past, it is just a part of an ongoing story” – David Charnick
TALKS BEYOND TIME AND PLACE – EPISODE ONE: DAVID CHARNICK
David Charnick is a Londoner, a historian, a writer and a qualified City tour guide. Apart from doing his own “Charnowalks”, he is part of “Footprints of London” and is employed as a tutor for tour guiding.
In the first episode of “Talks beyond time and place”, David shares his strangest moments as a tour guide and explains what London as a home means to him.
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PETER ACKROYD’S MONSTROUS EAST END
Based on one of David’s tours, our main topic is London biographer Peter Ackroyd and his view on London, especially on London’s “Monstrous East End“.
From the “trope of the tramp” in his works to Ackroyd’s imaginary projections: Follow us into Peter Ackroyd’s powerful, majestic and dark London, which is full of shadows.
Timestamps
00:00 – London beyond time and place Intro
00:55 – Introduction
02:00 – How and when did you decide to become a tour guide?
03:10 – Footprints of London
06:41 – Have you always been a London historian?
07:10 – What was the most surprising fact you have learned or story that you have heard?
09:35 – What was the strangest moment on a tour? Or the strangest thing you encountered?
11:45 – What kind of people attend your tours? Londoners, tourists, schools?
14:00 – How exactly do you develop your tours?
17:48 – Peter Ackroyd’s Monstrous East End
22:11 – The trope of the tramp
27:11 – Do you think that walking London and therefore London turns Ackroyd’s protagonists into monsters?
30:06 – The theatricality of crime in Ackroyd’s works
35:20 – The film “The Limehouse Golem”
36:58 – Why do you think Ackroyd set the Frankenstein story in London?
40:39 – Why do you think Ackroyd places his monsters in the East End?
44:20 – Death and the City
47:55 – What is your favourite place in London?
49:44 – Has dealing with London and its history and its literature changed your view of the city? Has walking the city changed your view of the city?
52:29 – Can you name three Londoners that you would have dinner or a drink with?
LINKS
DAVID CHARNICK
Charnowalks – Guided Tours in the City of London and the East End
Footprints of London
Their blog
“The Trope of the Tramp“:
David’s article for the Literary London Society’s on-line journal about the importance of Ackroyd’s vagrants (including those in Hawksmoor)
“A Horror and a Beauty”
Review: David Charnick’s review of Petr Chalupský’s “A Horror and a Beauty: The World of Peter Ackroyd’s London Novels“*
“Death and the City“: My review of David Charnick’s short story collection
Buy “Death and the City” by David Charnick here: Death and the City (English Edition)*
FURTHER LINKS AND INFORMATION
The official trailer for the film “The Limehouse Golem”:
Buy the film here:
The Limehouse Golem [Blu-ray]*
“5 Minutes with Peter Ackroyd”:
Buy the Peter Ackroyd’s novels mentioned in the talk:
Dan Leno & The Limehouse Golem*
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: A Novel (English Edition)*
PHILIPP RÖTTGERS’ “LONDON AND ITS GENIUS LOCI”
My book also features a chapter about Peter Ackroyd and his works and includes a tour along the Hawksmoor churches. The church on the cover is St Anne’s Limehouse, which is also part of David’s “Peter Ackroyd’s Monstrous East End” tour:
TALKS BEYOND TIME AND PLACE
“Talks beyond time and place” is a series of online conversations by author Philipp Röttgers of “London beyond time and place“. Philipp and his guests chat about how London influences their lives. In every episode, they cover certain topics, depending on the individual guest. Among his guests are scholars, historians, tour guides and more and the atmosphere feels like a conversation in a pub.
*= affiliate links/advertising links
