Lost League Grounds (14) : White City

Scenes of pure delirium in Merse Towers just now with screams of excitement coming from the kids whilst I was mooching about in the West Wing.

What could it be, was the Duchess of Gingerminge back on the telly again? No they were screaming "look, look, look; there's Uncle Charlie on TV" Oh Gawd, they've got At The Races on again.....................then I found out they were watching The Simpsons!

Marge..................but I prefer butter.

Deary me, life was far more interesting in the days before telly wasn't it; what with balloon ascents with "leopards and ladies" and Montgolfier's puncturing themselves on the spire of St Lukes ~ I bet that was a hoot! ~ and what about crossing the Thames on a high wire? A lot quicker than on the number 19 over Battersea Bridge in the morning rush hour now that lovely Albert Bridge is closed for 15 months of refurbishment I bet.

There are a charming pair of signs at either end of the "Albert" by the little pay booths that were once used as toll houses, instructing troops to "break step" on the suspension bridge ~ I've always been tempted to add my own graffiti and change "step" to "wind".........................I wonder whether mass farting would induce a greater bounce into their progress than marching in step!

Here's another little Chelsea quiz for you then Barty...................what do you know about the very true legend of the lion that was kept in a furniture shop on the Kings Road just where it meets World's End? It wasn't so long ago either, and here's another curio from that curious part of London...............there is a burial ground nearby where it was exercised and all the bodies are buried vertically rather than horizontally ~ why?

Well the lion could certainly be seen in the shop during the day, I recall a tremendous accoount on the radio once of a lady who was looking in the shop window thought she was looking at an ornamental rug until it got up and yawned causing her to be treated on the pavement for feinting!

The lion also has a link to this site believe or not.....................and what about the vertical coffins?

Without the web I would have been struggling with the lion story. It’s all there – in so far as much as any Daily Mail story is probably only a version of the truth – at www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-452820/Christian-lion-lived-London-living-room.html

I guess, if you were ever to find a lion in furniture shop in the King’s Road, it was probably going to be sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. I remember going to a game at Stamford Bridge in 1970 with my father, back on his old stomping ground in the last year of his life, insisting we take a look at the King’s Road to see the “freaks” he’d read about in the Daily Express. Indeed he’d always talked about World’s End being a bit murky in his day and I was intrigued how a place in London should have such a name.

The Moravian burial ground? I can only guess people were buried vertically in line with the Moravians favouring the approach of one grave/one person rather than family tombs. Indeed, their cemeteries – often known as God’s Acre – were divided into quarters for males and females, married and unmarried. They also liked simple tombstones – laid flat on the ground – which were all of the same size to indicate that we are all equal in death.

The Moravians were a Protestant sect from Bohemia which started to fan out across the world as missionaries in the 18th century. I first heard of them in the 1970s on a field trip around the West Riding visiting planned factory villages such as Akroydon, Copley and Saltaire. That day we also looked at Fulneck, a Moravian settlement near Pudsey which dates from the 1740s. It’s worth exploring if you are nearby. I last took the opportunity on a frosty December morning following our game at Farsley Celtic, opponents who may be destined to become as half-forgotten as the Moravians.

There's certainly much of interest from the Victorian era that not only relates to life and religion but also matters relating to death. We've already ridden the Necropolis Railway - alight one station early for Woking FC - but has anyone else visited the Exeter Catacombs? These were essentially a failed Victorian business venture and you can discover plenty more at www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_places/catacombs.php

You can take in the catacombs on the 2.30pm Monday and Wednesday afternoon red coat guided tours which start from outside the Royal Clarence Hotel (no charge) - www.exeter.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=11120&p=0