Happy and Glorious
The young Queen’s first State Opening of Parliament, the first Queen to do so since 1886 Charles Dawson, photographer and WW2 soldier, was born in south-east London in 1917. He won worldwide acclaim for this…
Category: Image Narrative
Platinum Jubilee edit: THAT Royal image of Queen Elizabeth II
The Queen said, ‘So soon, Mr Hedgecoe? Don’t you want to do some more?’ ” In 1966 Professor Dick Guyatt at the Royal College of Art recommended me to do a portrait of the Queen…
TRUSS THE COOPER
In 1298, London’s coopers – skilled men who made casks – were hauled up in front of the authorities and fined “for contempt of King and Mayor” because they’d single-handedly introduced an ordinance to raise…
Windrush Day
#WindrushDay: 23rd June 2021 Rommi Smith, TopFoto, Writer-in-Residence Today is #WindrushDay. I am writing this on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the arrival of The Empire Windrush to Tilbury Docks. It’s a poignant moment in British…
Replaying the Record: Flipping the Script
Replaying the Record: Flipping the Script by Rommi Smith, TopFoto archive Writer-in-Residence 29 April 2021 Record comes from the Latin word recordari – the term cor meaning heart. The stylus on the record player might,…
The B of Beginning
by Rommi Smith: TopFoto Archive Writer-in-Residence, 8 April 2021 Here, really begins in the early spring of 2019. I am attending the first British American Project (BAP) writers’ retreat and I am making a cup…
When Lord Altrincham was punched by Philip Burbidge
Looking for historic images relating to The Crown? Separate truth from fiction and license images to tell the true story When did Lord Altrincham get punched? 6 August 1957, London, and a dramatic moment in…
Prince Philip – God of Tanna
Interested in quirky facts about the British Royal Family and rare historic stock photos? Here’s one amazing fact for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh: he is worshipped as a god in the South Pacific.…