GIDEON HAIGH: Stroke of Genius – an extract | The Roar

GIDEON HAIGH: Stroke of Genius – an extract | The Roar
... The Oval was a location pregnant with meaning: the venue where Australians had made a fortune in 1878, lost a great Test in 1880, and won a great Test in 1882; the home of one of the county clubs that had recently sought to recruit Trumper. It was also a vision of the future of cricket watching, served as it was by the world’s first electric tube and a brand new tram line, surmounted by a superb pavilion hosting 400 000 visitors a year. Overshadowed by the gasholders of the South Metropolitan Gas Works, increasingly encircled by factories, foundries and breweries, The Oval’s playing expanse now had a rus in urbe quality, a remnant of the days when Kennington had been open fields and market gardens. ... Their own rules were an attendance to pleasure of utmost seriousness and decorum. In the Jubilee Book, Ranji had reported the astonishment of a German visiting a county match at The Oval at ‘the extreme orderliness of the many thousands’ in the presence of a mere ‘five policemen’ when ‘abroad it would require at least 300 policemen to keep such a large crowd in order’. When Neville Cardus later argued for cricket as the ‘national art’ of a people ‘prone to be ashamed of living the life aesthetic’, he gestured not towards St John’s Wood but Kennington: ‘Go among the shilling crowd any fine day at The Oval and what do you hear? Little technical jargon, little talk of off-breaks and the position of the left funny bone in the late cut. Instead you will hear many delighted cries of “Beautiful stroke – Beautiful!”’ ... It has the hallmarks of a first attempt, after which Beldam moved ever so slightly left, so that Trumper’s head in his normal stance would have reposed between the distant ogee-roofed towers of the board school on Kennington Road. ...

The magic collection of a Victorian hoarder who lived in Kennington is on display at British Library - Southwark News

The magic collection of a Victorian hoarder who lived in Kennington is on display at British Library - Southwark News
Exhibition picks from Kennington illusionist's 6,000-strong archive of cultural memorabilia ... There Will Be Fun is an exhibition based on the  accumulated pile of nineteenth century materials collected by Kennington-born conjurer, illusionist and ventriloquist Henry Evans – known as Evanion. ...

Tunnelling works start on London’s Northern line extension | Global Rail News

Tunnelling works start on London’s Northern line extension | Global Rail News

Construction of the tunnels for London Underground’s Northern line extension project, which will extend the line from Kennington to Battersea, is underway.

Two permanent shafts have been dug close to Kennington Underground station from which the tunnelling programme has set off. ... Although TBMs will be used to construct much of the extension, tracked excavators supplied by Schaeff are being used initially to excavate the tunnels around the Kennington loop, where the new line meets the existing railway. ... London Underground’s Martin Gosling, head of the Northern line extension, said: “The tunnelling works at Kennington represent a significant milestone in the construction of the Northern Line Extension which will bring Battersea and surrounding areas to within 15 minutes of the West End and City.

“Construction is now well underway in Kennington and involves a lot of complex, highly skilled construction work. It’s a significant step forward in the project which, once complete, will help us to support jobs, homes and growth in this area and keep pace with the capital’s rapidly rising population.” ....

Apple Day (9th Oct 2016)

Apple Day (9th Oct 2016)

Apple Day  (Kennington)

Highlights will be the display of unusual and rare apples of around 100 varieties, tastings and on-the-spot juice pressing of some of the varieties.