James Kneale
@jameskneale
Cultural/historical geographer at ucl working on drink/temperance, insurance, literary geographies, sf/fantastic/horror, &c. He/him. Author of Temperance Lives: Life Assurance, Drink and Medicine in Britain, 1840-1918 (Bloomsbury 2026)
Magistrates and the police became obsessed with the number of entrances bars had, as pubs with many doors were hard to surveil, particularly where they led into courts and other hidden places. Lady Somerset's map of Fitzrovia counted 261 entrances for 77 pubs, as well as 354 compartments... 6/8
Here's a map of Soho's 259 pubs (not licensed restaurants or hotels) in 1898. The map was submitted to the Royal Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws by Lady Somerset, campaigner for temperance and women's suffrage. The Commission's reports were inconclusive but present many fascinating insights. 5/8
A view (1830) of the famous London ginshop, Thompson and Fearon's (Holborn Hill). Thomas Hudson (1818) captured the popularity of this gin palace for the vertical drinker: "Swing swang go the doors, while some pop out and some pop in, Foreigners must surely think that John Bull lives on Gin..." 2/n
Need a good news story this morning? How about the dramatic rescue - by three 'insurance gentlemen', no less - of a black cat stuck on a high ledge on Nottingham's Corn Exchange in 1901? From the Nottinghamshire Weekly Express 10 May 1901, p2, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archives.
I mean, at this point in my career, your guess about what I do is as good as mine
Always a strange but fun experience seeing yourself on Who Do You Think You Are?, this time with the very nice Ruth Madeley. Ruth's ancestor was accused of embezzling his employers, as Melanie Chisholm's was, though Ruth's was a collector for a friendly society, not a life assurance office... 1/3
Still, it's nice sitting by an open window watching a city wake up. Where are people going at this hour? Maybe their offices are air-conditioned
'Joe Swash's anti-fascist ancestor' was not a phrase I was expecting to type this morning, but I was not at all surprised to see @demon-drink.bsky.social popping up to talk about barrel organs and have an impromptu dance. This is turning out to be another great series of Who Do You Think You Are?
When you're an alum.of the university you now work for, it's hard to know how to read an email like this one
Checking every citation, but 1. I'm hovering over a £15 ebay copy of Crystal Palace FC's official history... 2. ...that probably wouldn't provide reliable confirmation that this bloke (back row, second left) is an obscure teetotaller... 3. ...who even I'm not all that bothered about #scholarship
Everything is terrible, but there are 1980s Jackie Chan films I haven't watched yet. Not sure Frank Capra's POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961) had this much kung fu in it, but I'm going with it
CAN'T LET ST GEORGE'S DAY PASS WITHOUT GOING DOWN THE PUB doi.org/10.1177/1367...
New industrial focus just dropped. Missed the chance of some PPP (Politicians Pouring Pints) cosplay though, so no points.
The leftwing Daily Herald's books editor Roger Pippett emigrating to NYC in 1950 with his wife Winifred, six cases, and two typewriters. Pippett was (of course!) the son of a teetotaler and may have been a conscientious objector in WW1; he reviewed books for the New York Times in the 50s & 60s.
The sun is out, the Doomsday Clock has been set back a bit, and I am about to spend a few hours in the archive #FKALMA
Confusing messaging, IMO (from an original idea by @matdisney.bsky.social)
Oh look, Peel's nineteenth-century temperance hall became a mid-twentieth Salvation Army hall...
Just been asked to do a thing described as 'a clean Bright Club'... I think my 2011 Bloomsbury Theatre appearance was clean-ish, focusing on one literal-minded ecologist's fury over Skull Island's inability to feed King Kong, a very fictional giant ape. Niche, yes. Photo @drstevex.bsky.social (?)
Rebellion's very handsome reprint of Action comics stories from almost exactly 50 years ago, ACTION: BEFORE THE BAN. The cover image feels highly appropriate for 2026, too