Thursday, April 29, 2010

Victorian Londoners

I found a photograph album from the 1880s today. All of the photos were taken in London and what strikes me is how similar many of the faces look to contemporary Londoners, with the possible exception of the two ladyboys in the seventh picture:








But best of all, there is a little musical box at the end of the album. It doesn't really work, but every now and then, I can hear a faint twinkle from the other side of my office.

5 comments:

  1. Christ, I can't tell a ladyboy from a lady...

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  2. Number one looks like Eric Idle. Two, seven and eight are all wearing gloves, the mark of gentlewomen.

    That rifle looks like a Pattern 1853 muzzle-loading Enfield.

    Ladyboy? Surely they are not "she-males"?

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  3. Number Five has the scariest-looking set of domestic staff I've ever seen. They bear a striking resemblance to Mrs Mills and Mr Tuttle in 'The Others' (who, you may recall, were already dead), or the spiteful Mrs. Danvers in 'Rebecca'. Imagine having these characters lurking in the hallway and brushing the carpet on the stairs. Thank God they invented the hoover and microwave meals.

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  4. b.t.w. Could number six have any relation to all those jokes about milkmen?

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  5. I don't think that the "ladyboys" are genuine transexuals. They just haven't been blessed in the looks department.

    Brett, I'll take your word for it about the gun.

    I agree about the servants. I can imagine them drugging my food and selling off my possessions. Ah, the servant problem...

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