THE INVISIBLE THREAD
Welcome to the “Invisible Thread” blog. The thread in question is the one on which I string together little trinkets of information, many of which I’ve overturned during my research for the George Harley Mysteries — the gems of gen that sparkle enough to catch my imagination, or the dark and grubby facts that fascinate me with their ugliness.
And once threaded together they often form a strange connection, one leading on to the next …
GREAT PUBS OF LONDON (1) – The Nag's Head, Belgravia.
A long and slow-paced tour of some of the most characterful public houses in the capital, inspired by the wonderful book GREAT PUBS OF LONDON by George & Charlie Dailey.
This episode: THE NAG’S HEAD, Belgravia.
OZZY PLAYED GUITAR – Bowie, Blackshirts & Blurred Lines.
When Sir Oswald Mosley set up his British Union of Fascists in 1932 he originally chose for its symbol the "fasces" of Mussolini’s party (see previous post); but this was soon superseded by the adoption of the “Flash and Circle” logo (by the way, with great wit, Mosley’s opponents christened this the “Flash in the pan”).
Now, fans of David Bowie may recognize this symbol from the backdrop of the Ziggy Stardust tour, and its lightning flash element from the cover of the Aladdin Sane album ...
BRITISH FASCISM – Girl Guides from Hell, Fascist Vets, and the Blackshirt Baronet.
PART IV
Sir Oswald Mosley
And so we come to Mosley and his British Union of Fascists.
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet of Ancoats, was born in Mayfair, London, in 1896. He was educated at Winchester College and at 18 was enrolled in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst—but was soon expelled following a violent altercation with a fellow student ...
BRITISH FASCISM – Girl Guides from Hell, Fascist Vets, and the Blackshirt Baronet.
PART III
Even before the General Strike of 1926 the more militant members of Rotha Lintorn-Orman’s British Fascisti party (see previous post) had broken away to form the National Fascisti, a far more anti-Semitic outfit focused on street-fighting and “smashing the reds”...