Curiosities in Crystal Palace.

Today I spent the afternoon looking for curiosities in Crystal Palace, I love this part of South London. It's full of nick nack junk shops, pretty pubs and dinosaurs. It's here I always manage to find a few bargain curiosities and a few pretty special ones that are a bit pricier! 

The area of Crystal Palace screams curiosities and collecting to me, due to its connection with the Great Exhibitions of 1851. The original 'Crystal Palace' was situated in Hyde park and held the Great Exhibition of 1851, a showcase of Victorian Culture and Technology  with 14,000 exhibitors from around the world celebrating Queen Victoria's British Empire, commerce and the industrial revolution. The exhibition had numerous  'celebrity' visitors such as Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens but it importantly inspired a new generation of academic celebrities - the Victorian middle class collectors.

The Great Exhibition 1851

 One of these in particular Frederick Horniman was unable to visit the Great Exhibition but through its relocation to South London in 1854, he became closely connected to it. Horniman from a family of tea traders was a wealthy middle class Victorian gentleman living in Coombe Cliff in Croydon, and its presence provided a constant reminder of the exhibition that bought together art, commerce and technology and of course displaying it for all to see. Horniman began his collection shortly afterwards in 1860, soon marrying and moving to Surrey House, 100 London Road, Forest Hill where he filled his house with predominantly ethnographic curiosities until his wife had enough and gave him the ultimatum her or the collection. Luckily for us he chose her and the Horniman Museum was donated to the London County Council in 1901. 

Frederick Horniman.

The Crystal Palace however was destroyed in 1936 by fire but the area remained prosperous. The grounds were the Palace stood are vast but the crystal palace dinosaurs make up for that! Today the streets of Crystal Palace hold a few great junk shops, today I found an awesome pink tobacco pot and a 20th century thermometer, but the seller wasn't in so I couldn't buy them :( 

My two favourite shops are: 

Belle Coco (http://www.bellecoco.com) - a mixture of brilliant retro electronics, 70's lighting and fifties festival of Britain prints. Plus they sell amazing seventies Bar's in here that I'm desperate to get my hands on. My favourite curiosity today however was this  80's TV, with Super Mario! 

Belle Coco

Bambino (http://bambinocoffee.wordpress.com0  - is also pretty cool, its got a lovely coffee shop where you can sit amongst the curiosities, here is a wide selection of nick naks, bags and vintage coats, I've also spotted a few nice tables and medical pieces in here. 

Bambino

After all of the hunting though I came away with some lovely candles from Milk House Candles, and a belly full of a yummy burger from Westow House pub (I'd recommend any pub in the Antic chain for great cask ales and burgers across South and South East London) 

Weird and Wonderful candle scents from Milkhouse Candles http://www.milkhousecandles.co.uk/

Brilliant Burgers from Westow House http://www.westowhouse.com/

Remember remember hairy Movember.

Do you remember when November was just November? For the last few years we have spent a wonderful month growing facial hair (or supporting those who do) in the aid of prostate cancer. I myself have been roped into being a 'mo-girlfriend' where I give 'encouragement for facial hair growth.' This can range from a few positive words or beard massages and of course helping my 'mo bro' to raise money.

So when I found our about the Gallery Talk on the History of Facial Hair at the National Portrait Gallery I was quite excited! Combining my new found hobby of cheerleading beards and my old favourite of studying history was bound to be interesting.

So last friday evening I set off to the NPG with my beard where Historian Lucinda Hawksley gave a wonderful tour that explored the facial hair trends and their meanings from Queen Elizabeth I to Charles Darwin through the collection displays.

We began with Henry the Eighth and his implementation of beard tax! Those who grew their beard had a massive price to pay to ensure that only the rich and elite were able to afford it! this was an policy the Queen Elizabeth I also implemented the only exception to the rule was of course if you had a doctors note that allowed growth only for medical reasons.

The social status of the beard owner continued into the regency period, here side burns were the fashion but only allowed if you were a 'Dandy' or had 'Continental connections.'

The Victorians of course were the real facial hair show stoppers! Prince Albert bought us the Christmas tree (thanks!) and brought the mo back into fashion. And did they go for it!

The Victorian periods interest in facial hair was part of a complex social change going on in Britain at the times. The Crimean War was the first time journalists had visited the front line and the reports back left Britain appalled by the conditions of war, men who survived were thus seen as heroes, and all heroes have facial hair.

It also saw the beginning of the women's movement, stories of female nurses on the frontline, saving lives, emphasised the necessary role of women in society.
Lucinda theorised the women's movement had a knock on effect in the fashion of facial hair. Not only were they trying to prove their masculinity as heroes of a horrific war but also used their beards as a form of protest against the initial stages of the women's rights movement.

The popularity of beards had some pretty interesting knock on effects. Most notably barbers lost a lot of trade, and thus began to invest their time and money into men's hair products. Macasa oil and bear grease were two of the most popular products on the shelf. Macasa oil promised that hair would never go grey or fall out if you used this slick product, but the side effects were pretty nasty and resulting in a lot of dirtied furniture. Bear grease however appeared to be a bit if a myth occasionally rumour would go round that a dancing bear was to be killed and his fat to be used in barbers surrounding the event. However it appears that the majority of the time no bears were harmed and instead pigs were used to produce this grease, bet that smelt rotten!

The tour finished on a high discussing the numerous beards of the infamous Victorians and the collection on display reflects the trend. I came away thinking how wonderful beards really are, as a tool for social change, a mechanism for fundraising and make men look handsome :p.



You can donate to Movember here:
https://uk.movember.com/mobile/