Comments on: places in wot I ‘ave aboded in that there London….

By: Max

Max — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:39:44 +0000

We’re from the same place, mate! Harhar.

I grew up in Cherrywood Lane (by Cannon Hill Common).

By: rjcudlip

rjcudlip — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:43:07 +0000

Make you right mate – as you may have read in some of the other comments, I am allowing people to award themselves the status of “earned Londoner”. You’ve hit the nail on the head really, London moves on too quickly for anyone to “belong” anyway.

See you soon sir…..

By: B.E.M.

B.E.M. — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:36:22 +0000

Jackpot Mr Cudlip, I am even sufficiently exercised to respond. I suppose I do “love to view myself as a Londoner” (ouch). One of the thrills of this great city is its constantly shifting identity. In this context, I reckon, conventional views of ‘belonging’ (e.g. where you were born, how long you’ve lived there) are probably redundant in any case. You are as London as you feel. But then I would say that wouldn’t I.

By: vivienne rush

vivienne rush — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:09:34 +0000

hi richard i am a friend of Paul Birkbeck and wondered if you could help us with a little video promo we are making for ukrainian service at bush house – we want to know how much it would cost to hire you and your cab between 5 and 7 this thursday to do peice to camera in side then drive around central london filming. we have chosen this time so the light is slnating in through the cab windows.
we are lookign for a classic black london cab with no advertising on the outside
if you can call me with a quote that would be fantastic. thanks vivienne

By: SilverTiger

SilverTiger — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:15:49 +0000

Nice idea “earned Londoner”

Interesting too your point that people can live in a place for decades and still say they are “from” somewhere else. I was brought up in Brighton and remember it with fondness but that’s the past. We had an ancient Snakes and Ladders board that had pictures on it. One was of a uniformed keeper at London Zoo. To me then, that picture represented a mysterious London and I couldn’t guess that I would one day live there. I often remember that picture.

Nowadays I proudly say I am “from” London and, if pressed, that I “lived in Brighton as a child”. I think we often forget that places have a dimension in time as well as dimensions in space. Once we leave a place, it slides gently into the past, taking our “from” with it.

I think it must be sad to live in a place and not be able to embrace it wholeheartedly.

By: rjcudlip

rjcudlip — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:39:19 +0000

London wouldn’t be what it is without people coming here from all over the globe, let alone the UK. I think you’re 100% right, there is something like “earned Londoner” status and you can be born anywhere and get that status (something I think you can “award” yourself). But don’t all those people that were born elsewhere still class themselves as also being from that place? A great friend of mine is from Portsmouth and loves to view himself as a Londoner, but his roots are still strong to the south coast. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter either way, but I find it an interesting debate, and great sport to wind up those that seek to define themselves by how London they really are.

By: SilverTiger

SilverTiger — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:15:12 +0000

Is being born in London (however defined) a necessary qualification for being a “proper Londoner”? Some of us who have come from outside London to start with have subsequently become permanent residents and thrown in our lot with London, so to speak, so that we feel we too are now “proper London”.

Tigger and I travel to many cities, and there are some beautiful and exciting ones to travel to, but I always feel London pulling me back.