20th century London (1900 – 1999)
Explore objects, stories and blogs shining a light on London during 100 years of enormous and rapid change.
Blogs-And-Stories
London scenes & subcultures by Dick Scott-Stewart
Photographing youth and belonging on the capital’s cultural margins
Anna Pavlova’s ballet costumes
The clothes, shoes and accessories this ballet superstar wore onstage
The pioneering pottery of the Martin Brothers
Sea monster matchstick holders, giant bird tobacco jars, misshapen stoneware vases
How London shaped The Clash
These punk rock trailblazers found inspiration in the city around them
Ballets Russes costumes
This ballet company had a trailblazing look – and even collaborated with artists like Picasso
Summer style at Wimbledon 1960
Bob Collins’ photos of London’s famous tennis tournament
fabric: A nightclub for a new millennium
How a Victorian meat warehouse in Smithfield became one of London’s leading venues
What was the 1911 Suffragette Women’s Coronation Procession?
Could an enormous march get the new king to support women’s right to vote?
Why did Suffragettes go on hunger strike?
Imprisoned for militant action, some Suffragettes went to extreme lengths to continue their protest
The 1918 election: When women first voted
The first general election after the First World War saw huge changes in who could vote
Ethel Smyth: Composer & Suffragette
Through love, music and activism, Smyth pushed back at the limits society placed on her
Zadie Smith: Writing north-west London
The author of White Teeth and The Fraud uses Brent as her canvas
Photographing London after dark
When the sun set, Alan Delaney took out his camera, capturing a ghostly city marked by shadow
Inside St Paul’s Cathedral
Tiptoe through these tranquil photographs from the early 1900s
Alvin Langdon Coburn’s ethereal photographs of London
A foggy, shadowy view of the capital in 1909
The Forty Elephants: South London’s supreme shoplifters
How an all-women clan of career criminals hounded West End department stores