Mary Mussi, née Edgar was born On This Day 27 December 1907. Lived at 27 Woodfield Ave with her husband Rudolpho Fredericho Marion Mussi, a chocolate manufacturer
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British writer of over 50 romance novels as Mary Howard, who also wrote over 10 gothic romance books as Josephine Edgar. She is one of the two novelists to win three times the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association

The Tatler On This Day 27 December 1905
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Mr Sibley posing as an Alpine climber in his drawing room in Streatham.
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Image © Illustrated London News Group

Boxing Day is the traditional start date for Pantomimes.
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Here is a flyer for the Streatham Hill Theatre from John Brown's collection. Sleeping Beauty 1953 ©Local History Publications

Actress Freda Wyn doing handstand in cat costume On This Day 26th December 1957

Freda Wyn, English actress (aka Winifred A Ryeland, 1916-1989), doing a handstand on stage in her cat costume during rehearsals for a pantomime, Puss in Boots, in which she appeared with the comic actor Jimmy Edwards at Streatham Hill Theatre
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© Mary Evans Picture Library

A Christmas tradition On This Day 25 December 1929- Tooting Bec Lido, Streatham
According to the label on the back of Christmas Day 1/3, the race took place at 8.30 in the morning. It was won by S. H. Hawkins.
(Janet Smith)
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Sidney H Hawkins is recorded living with Jane at 223 Streatham High Road

Merry Christmas from Ida Lupino, her third husband Howard Duff, and their daughter Bridget Duff- Thanks Michelle Simon.
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Ida was born in Herne Hill and the Lupino family lived at 152 Leigham Court Road. Ida attended St Helen's School, Streatham before going to Hollywood and we know the rest...

The Tatler On This Day 24 December 1947

Col. Stanley Preston of Streatham awarded an OBE
He was in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and lived at 218 Pullman Court.

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Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

​On This Day 24th December 1932 Cynthia Payne was born. She lived at two addresses in Streatham, Edencourt Road and Ambleside Avenue

Cynthia Diane Payne (1932–2015), madam, was born Cynthia Diane Paine on 24 December 1932 at 67 London Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex, the elder daughter of Nelson Arthur Paine (1904–1979), hairdresser, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Light. Her father was mostly absent, working as a ladies’ hairdresser on the Union Castle Line.

To clear debts, and provide for her son Darrell, Payne soon supplemented her income from waitressing. A regular customer, who proved to be a prostitute, asked to rent her flat when she was out in the evenings. Payne soon joined the profession herself. Her preferred advertisement in telephone boxes was ‘Erections & Demolitions’. Her property empire grew to four flats and then to a small house in Edencourt Road, Streatham, where she adopted the style ‘Mrs’.

She bought Cranmore, a substantial house in Streatham at 32 Ambleside Avenue, Payne had established the style of business that was to bring notoriety. Her monthly ‘parties’ at the ‘House of 1001 Delights’ would begin with a pornographic display and enough food and drink to lift the spirits. The men would ask a girl to ‘go upstairs’. A friend suggested she should charge, so she innovated with counterfeit-proof twenty-year-old Luncheon Vouchers for which men paid up to £25, according to services required. There were discounts for the old, the disabled, and the impotent. She tried to restrict ‘guests’, as she called them, to the over-forties; they were more appreciative and less trouble than their unleashed juniors. She booked a suitable girl to make a man of son Darrell on his sixteenth birthday. He made a career in accountancy.

Cranmore grew busy. No neighbours complained, but the police observed the house and counted 249 men and 50 women going in. They were distracted by the dustbins, where they had spotted ‘a “female type” of a notably masculine disposition bringing out the refuse’ (Bailey, 2). On 6 December 1978 the police arrived with a warrant to investigate what they believed to be the illicit sale of alcohol. Payne’s instinct was to invite them in, but they were transfixed by the sight of a naked black woman coming down the stairs and a queue of men going up, with many more huddled in the hall in various stages of undress—in all, fifty-three men and thirteen women. The men included local worthies such as the vicar. When the police asked his reverence some questions, he said, ‘I demand to see my solicitor’, adding, ‘who is in the next bedroom’ (The Independent, 17 Nov 2015). It was later alleged the partygoers included some of the highest in the land. Mrs Payne was affronted when asked for names: ‘Me morals is low. But me ethics is high’
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She died at King’s College Hospital on 15 November 2015, of heart problems exacerbated by diabetes. She received a humanist funeral at Streatham Park Cemetery on 9 December. Her wealth at death £1,269,315 net: probate, 25 April 2016, CGLPA England & Wales
Source: Christine Hamilton.

The Streatham Operatic Society On This Day 23 December 1899 in the Gentlewoman 
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Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Photo by Wayland of Streatham and Blackheath