On This Day 26 November 1951 the first supermarket in the country opened as Premier Supermarket on Streatham High Road started by Patrick Galvani who began his new shopping phenomenon — aged just 28.
 SPARKS MOTOR GARAGE, STERNHOLD AVENUE, STREATHAM HILL View showing John A. Sparks garage, 'Spark's Motorists Shop', at the junction of Blairderry Road and Sternhold Avenue. Also known as the Windmill garage because of the art deco glass front. (Graham Gower Collection at Lambeth Archives   We are delighted to announce that Professor Rohan McWilliam will be giving a Zoom talk "London's West End: Creating The Pleasure District 1800-1914" on 1st March 2021 ar 7:30pm #Localhistory . Follow us on Eventbrite http://bit.ly/33dtcLt and YouTube http://bit.ly/3lHhBLe
 Pierre Vladmiroff (1893-1970), Dancer; husband of Felia Doubrovska died On This Day 25 November 1970 He appeared in Pavlova at the Streatham Hill Theatre Vladimiroff studied at the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg and joined the Maryinsky Theatre in 1911, where he was promoted to principal four years later. In 1912 and 1914 he appeared with the Ballets Russes in several of Nijinsky's roles and in 1913, he partnered Kyasht at the Empire in the dance episode The Gamblerwhich she created for All the Winners. He rejoined Diaghilev's company, 1921-2, and danced the Prince in the London production of The Sleeping Princess. After further seasons with the Ballets Russes, 1925-8, he became Anna Pavlova's regular dance partner. ©National Portrait Gallery   On This Day 25th November the actor and writer John Walter Bartholomew (Jack Barty) died. Streatham-born and a resident of 47 Christchurch Road   On This Day 25th November 1935 Walter Whittard died 35 Streatham Hill - Rydal Mount. Later Streatham Hill College on the site of what is today Corner Fielde (Opposite Telford Avenue Streatham) At census date in 1881 the house was occupied by John Alfred Whittard a Leather Factor and his wife Catherine, 6 children including Walter a Tea Buyer, a visitor Thomas Underhill a Tea buyer and three servants. At the age of 17 Walter quit the family leather business out of frustration with his father’s way of running things, and took a job with a tea trader in London’s bustling city centre. Eight years later – aged just 25 – he opened his own shop in bustling Fleet Street, with a simple philosophy: to “buy the best”. The walls would have been lined with huge tea caddies, and filled with the scent of roasting coffee. Walter insisted on blending his tea and roasting his coffee on site; he also had a keen eye for a marketing opportunity, and targeted the nearby law courts by describing his tea as “The Barrister’s Refresher”. Wartime shortages and a bomb that destroyed stock and blending equipment restricted operations for several years. Walter and his two brothers who joined the business relocated to Chelsea. (extracts from Whittards - history   On This Day Hiram Maxim died, 24 November 1916. A resident of `'Sandhurst Lodge` Streatham Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-born British inventor, best known as the creator of the Maxim Gun, the first portable fully automatic machine gun. The elaborately named Sir Hiram Maxim’s Captive Flying Machines at Blackpool Pleasure Beach is possibly the oldest, still-operating amusement ride in Europe, but it was a horrible disappointment to its eponymous creator. Hiram Maxim was a prolific inventor of mousetraps, sprinkler systems, and eventually, weaponry. His most successful invention, the world’s first portable machine gun, saw extensive use in World War I and earned him a knighthood (although his work on the roaring machine would later make him deaf). Maxim may have even invented the incandescent light bulb prior to Thomas Edison, but according to legend, Edison was simply more well-versed in patent law and stole the credit out from under Maxim. With such a diverse portfolio, it is little wonder that the inventor tried his hand at early aeronautics, which led to the development of the so-called “captive flying machines.” (extracts Atlas Obcura) Maxim died at his home at "Sandhurst Lodge", Streatham High Road, (Ice Rink site) on 24 November 1916 at the age of 76. He is buried in West Norwood Cemetery with his wife and his grandson, Lt. Colonel Maxim Joubert.   On This Day 23 November 1930 Walter Greaves died Walter Greaves (1846–1930), boat builder and painter, the son of Charles William Greaves, a Chelsea boat builder and waterman, and his wife, Elizabeth Greenway, was born on 4 July 1846 at 31 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. He and his brother became studio assistants to James McNeil Whistler and were taught by him to paint. In 1911 an exhibition of Greaves's paintings closed after he was accused of passing off unfinished works by Whistler as his own. His reputation ruined, it was not until 1921 that he was rescued from penury by prominent artists including Augugtus John and William Nicholson. The brothers were struggling financially when a friend secured a commission to decorate the Streatham Hall. "For nearly 20 years they walked from their home at Chelsea to Streatham,, several days in the week, summer and winter, attired in their well-known garb, viz., silk hat and frock-coat, with cuffs much in evidence, wearing pink and yellow ties respectively" Images Walter Greaves by Powys Evans 1928 © National Portrait Gallery and Walter Greaves and Alice Greaves on the Embankment C.1880–90 (Source Christian Brinton and Tom Pocock)   This was showing at the Streatham Hill Theatre On This Day 23 November 1959
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company performing Gilbert and Sullivan Operas |
