London 1927

[Frederic Leighton]

[Measure Man]

Wow great film, thanks for posting!!

[theoldesouth]

The world into which some of our parents were born.

[Frederic Leighton]

TONIGHT, one hour ago and 100 years later. North Webley station on the Bakerloo line. Four guys in their twenties get on my train; they smoke, drink and shout. In the carriage it's me, them and three more people. One of the passengers, a guy in his twenties, says something.. the noise.. what the hell, he's sleeping.. One minute later he's being kicked on the face and is taking bottles on his head. Somehow he manages to get off the train at the first stop, running. One of the four then comes to me. I like your suit, buddy! [Silence.] Hey, I like your suit, buddy! Thank you, I say. He goes back to his friends. The carriage is now even emptier. Me, them and one more person. I don't want to change carriage, they should change; that's what I can only think. I wait 5 stops before having to get off to change line. Wear your best suit more often - it could be the last time.

[Screaminmarlon]

That's frightening!
Since beauty will save this world, I hope these lost ones could see it to stop them
Glad you made it unscathed

[davidhuh]

Wear your best suit more often - it could be the last time.

Dear Federico,

seems you spent enough time in town to get a well trained stiff upper lip
Good reaction and nice comment. Celebrate every day, wear and eat the best you can get hold of.

Cheers, David

[Luca]

There were toughs and yobs in 1927, too, of course, but the violent crime rate is roughly twice the level it was then (UK figures as a whole) and the coarseness is on an entirely new level. Still...the iconic power of the nice suit, eh?

[Frederic Leighton]

Since beauty will save this world, I hope these lost ones could see it to stop them. Glad you made it unscathed

Thank you, Screaminmarlon! ..yes, I use to think the same; beauty will change the world and it already makes a difference! I was less sure about it last Friday, though, when a friend insisted we had a coffee in Harrods. The short tour among Dali's cast elefants in un-limited series (£27k), silly watches (£115k) and bulky fountain pens (£75k) made me feel sick. I paid the £16 of the two espresso and one glass of water and went back to my beloved poverty.

Dear Federico, seems you spent enough time in town to get a well trained stiff upper lip

Hahaha! David, you made me laugh out loud. Yes, I think the next step of integration would be learning to kick everybody in their legs to arrive first to the only available seat and, while doing this, keep repeating gently sorry about that.

[...] the violent crime rate is roughly twice the level it was then (UK figures as a whole) and the coarseness is on an entirely new level.

I got one tooth broken and two stitches to the lower lip two summers ago. Again 4 against one and that time the one was me. Probably my fault - I was wearing a vintage 1960s wrangler denim jacket

[Edward Bainbridge]

Here's a comparison of 1927 and 2013: http://vimeo.com/81368735

[Luca]

Yep, like 1927 better; soot, horse manure and all.

[Frederic Leighton]

The river postman (London, 1933).

[Frederic Leighton]

The tree-piece suit. Cambridge, June 1927.

[bond_and_beyond]

There were toughs and yobs in 1927, too, of course, but the violent crime rate is roughly twice the level it was then (UK figures as a whole) and the coarseness is on an entirely new level. Still...the iconic power of the nice suit, eh?

Is that really so? My impression was that violent crime has been on the decline for a long time.

See for example here:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablo ... l-offences
"The release shows that the number of violent incidents has halved from its peak in 1995, when the survey estimated over 4.2m violent incidents." (Doesn't say anything about the 1920s of course)

And this:
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/ ... d-economic
"Both police records (which underestimate some types of crime) and surveys of victims (which should not, but are not as regularly available a source of data) show crime against the person and against property falling over the past ten years in most rich countries. In America the fall began around 1991; in Britain it began around 1995, though the murder rate followed only in the mid-2000s. In France, property crime rose until 2001—but it has fallen by a third since. Some crimes are all but disappearing. In 1997, some 400,000 cars were reported stolen in England and Wales: in 2012, just 86,000."

Couldn't find anything for the 1920s but I have a hunch that it was quite a lot of crime back them.. Happy to be corrected though

(I know this is a bit of topic, but I just saw this and couldn't help myself)

BB

PS! Love the photo Federico!

[Frederic Leighton]

[...] Near the bank I come face to face with the greatest optimist of this or any other age. Here is a man entirely obscured by fog standing on the kerb making a tin monkey run up and down a piece of twine. Think of it! If you are sad or broke or things are going wrong, think of this man selling tin monkeys in a thick fog.

“How many have you sold?” I ask him.
“Fower,” he says.
Four tin monkeys sold in a thick fog.
Marvellous! Incredible!

Below: H.V. Morton in the 1930s (© National Portrait Gallery)

[Luca]

Is that really so? My impression was that violent crime has been on the decline for a long time.

Yes, it ceertainly looks that way. Crime fell from the 18th century steadily until the inter-war period. Post WW2 it began to rise, everywhere in the "West", geometrically. If you adjust it by male youth cohort (not too many 60 y.o. ladies commit violent crimes) relative size, it has barely stabilised.

That's certainly true if based on the murder rate for which stats are more reliable (a crime that rarely goes unreported), go back further and are less prey to changes in legal definitions. If we look at all violent crime, the increase is much larger but that's mostly due to higher reporting rates.

For fairly comprehensive absolute crime figures (you have to adjust them for population size for comparability), see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 8-2002.xls

From 1931 to 2001 the population of England and Wales grew by just over 30%. Murders and manslaughter increased by 157%.