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If you look across to the south side of the Strand, you can see the entrance to the original Strand Campus of King’s College London. The College was founded in 1829, and subsequently joined the University of London. The original entrance looked very different; it was a small, undemonstrative gateway off the busy nineteenth-century Strand.

Janice Savage; Interviewed 11 May 2012 by Max Saunders   Janice is currently Assistant Site Services Manager (soon to be Assistant Facilities Manager) for the Strand Campus for about 15 years. Started at KCL 23 years ago (i.e. c. 1989) as temporary assistant residence manager at Manresa Road in Chelsea, Lightfoot Hall; then 552 King’s…

Self described ‘war baby’ Judith Herrin was born in 1942 and lost her father, who was serving in the Air Force, a year later. Her mother, a general practitioner, never remarried. Regardless, Judith remembers a happy childhood and had a very close relationship with her mother, who took her on many holidays to places like…

Ink and wash sketch drawn from life in Lincoln’s Inn Fields park in 2010. The scene reflects two people enjoying and using this open green space only a few minutes away from the busy Kingsway and Strand.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing PCSO Anthony Skidmore for the Strandlines Oral History project. Anthony is a native East Londoner (and proud: it’s ‘the best city in the world’ he says) who has been working as a PCSO (police community support officer) for the last ten years, covering the…

On 11th May 2012 I had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Fox for Strandlines. Jim first started working at King’s on 19th January 1953 as an apprentice electrician, and retired in 1998 having been promoted to Site Engineer. Jim’s first experience of the Strand came at the age of fifteen, when he came to King’s…

If we carry on walking down the Strand away from Charing Cross station, we soon see, on the north side of the street, the imposing sight of Coutts bank: Dickens would probably be pleased to see that his old bank is still on the Strand, although it used to be on the other side of…

One day, that happened to be the two hundred and first anniversary of Bastille Day, I was chatting with a friend. Overlooking the area surrounding the Strand, we were submerged in the questions that unexpectedly occupied our consciousnesses in the way nothing short of total. Our conversation lead to an insight into a peculiar truth…

Northumberland House was one of the last survivors of the noblemen’s palaces which originally lined the Strand. It stood on the south side of Trafalgar Square at the start of the Strand, and was recognised by its distinctive lion on the top of the roof. This lion is the symbol of the Dukes of Northumberland,…