Matt Houlbrook
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tricksterprince.bsky.social
Matt Houlbrook
@tricksterprince.bsky.social
4K followers 1.4K following 2.4K posts
Cultural history, Britain, cities, sexuality & gender, #20s30s.

Now - Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London (MUP)

Next - The Self-Improvers: The people who remade themselves and made the modern world
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tricksterprince.bsky.social
There is *always* a Netley Lucas angle...

From 'The Colonel in the Car', News of the World, 1 August 1920.

#20s30s
A newspaper report recording the trial of Netley Lucas, gentleman crook and confidence trickster, after impersonating a colonel in the army in 1920. A photograph of Netley Lucas, gentleman crook, in the dock at the Old Bailey in 1920.
November 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Oh god yes.

I wrote about something similar years ago
A sketch plan of the room in which a man died in a fire in 1940. The plan was drawn by a police office as evidence submitted to the coroner's inquest.
November 17, 2025 at 12:21 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
A few photos from a great day time travelling to 1920s and 1930s Seven Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social.

1 Contemplative in Lumber Court (now Tower Court).

2 Signing books in Stanford's.

3 Songs of Seven Dials in the wild.

4 Befuddled by modern life on Earlham Street.

#London
An ageing historian talking about the 1920s and 1930s on the streets of Seven Dials. An ageing historian signing copies of his book Songs of Seven Dials in Stanford's bookshop. Copies of Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials in a shop window. What fresh hell is this? A takeaway crumble shop with a cordoned off queue and touchscreen ordering.
November 17, 2025 at 11:17 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
When the gentrification of Seven Dials begins to eat itself (with custard or vanilla whipped cream on top).
The Humble Crumble takeaway crumble shop in Earlham Street, Seven Dials.
November 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Just heading home after a brilliant day exploring #20s30s Seven Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social. Huge thanks for Vivien for organising and co-hosting the tours And to everyone who came along to listen to be get overexcited about a place and its people.
Matt Houlbrook’s book Songs of Seven Dials in the window of Stanfords bookshop.
November 15, 2025 at 6:17 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Shadows of rain drops on window on wall.
November 14, 2025 at 7:31 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Planning.

#20s30s #SevenDials
A page from a notebook with handwritten notes for a walking tour of Seven Dials. A map of Seven Dials, Holborn in 1938. The map has been annotated and shaded in different colours to show the condition and use of different buildings. It has been cut out along the boundaries of Seven Dials.
November 14, 2025 at 10:46 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
A sneak preview of one of the stops on our whistle stop walking tour of #20s30s Seven Dials - what was 5 Lumber Court (now Tower Court).
A collage of sources and images relating to the history of 5 Lumber Court in Seven Dials in the 1920s and 1930s
November 13, 2025 at 11:19 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
I'm doing some walking tours of Seven Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social on Saturday Nov 15.

Come for coffee, cheese, & overpriced street food, stay for overexcited historian, whistle stop tour of the Dials, & sideways look at 1920s and 1930s London.

www.stanfords.co.uk/event-songs-...
An advert for a walking tour of Seven Dials lead by Matt Houlbrook.
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Long overdue #rabbitoftheday courtesy of @adamhoulbrook.bsky.social
Two small metal badges with engraved pictures of a dwarf or French Lop rabbit and names on them. A group of badges relating to rabbits and rabbit shows in the 1990s.
November 12, 2025 at 11:53 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
This is such an amazing painting - I can't stop exploring it. The details in the crowd scene alone are absolutely compelling and so poignant.

Like this small moment:
A vignette from the crowd scene in a painting in which a woman turns away from the convoy of ambulances conveying wounded men from Charing Cross Station and clutches her face in anguish.
November 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Like this vignette - stunning and so moving.
A vignette from the crowd scene in a painting in which a woman turns away from the convoy of ambulances conveying wounded men from Charing Cross Station and clutches her face in anguish.
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
A few weeks ago, I met up with @dannycarrier.bsky.social from the Camden New Journal to talk about histories of London, the 1920s & 1930s, and my new book Songs of Seven Dials.

You can read more about the book and our conversation at edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader...
A page from the Camden New Journal in which Matt Houlbrook talks to the journalist Dan Carrier about his new book Songs of Seven Dials. A page from the Camden New Journal in which Matt Houlbrook talks to the journalist Dan Carrier about his new book Songs of Seven Dials.
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
A small story of the pain off loss, memory, and #remembrance in 1920s Seven Dials.
A page from Matt Houlbrook’s book Songs of Seven Dials which describes the experience of losing loved ones for those who lived in the Dials.
November 9, 2025 at 8:34 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Christmas still feels a long way off but it's lovely to see Songs of Seven Dials included in @foylesforbooks.bsky.social Gift Guide for Londoners.

I think it's a great gift for anyone interested in history and the 1920s and 1930s as well.

www.foyles.co.uk/further-read...
Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials in Foyles bookshop in London.
November 6, 2025 at 12:06 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Houlbrooks on tour, Blackpool, 1953, by my grandad.
A black and white photograph of a family walking along Blackpool promenade.
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
As the official trailer for the premiere of the new Netflix series Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is release, it seems a good time for the equally official trailer for Matt Houlbrook’s take on Agatha Christie's Seven Dials.

#agathachristie #20s30s #SevenDials
A section from Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials. It reads: By the 1920s, Seven Dials was better known than understood. Its notoriety was enough to make a place name a cliche. That name was resonant enough to be borrowed by filmmakers, writers of songs and reviews, and one of the best-known British authors of the last century. The front cover for the first edition of Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery (1929). A character from the new Netflix series Agatha Christie's Seven Dials poses reading a copy of Christie's book The Seven Dials Mystery.
November 4, 2025 at 7:08 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
I think that's a photograph of the Caravan Club on Endell Street sneaking into the picture @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy?

One of the pleasures of writing Songs of Seven Dials was revisiting the Caravan & the amazing story of 'London's greatest bohemian rendezvous'.

Credit in alt text.
A card for the Caravan Club. Catalogue reference: TNA MEPO 3/758.
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Just writing something on 1920s culture for programme for @the-rsc.bsky.social new production of The Forsyte Saga and reminded of Will Dyson's brilliant / terrifying cartoon for John Bull in 1922.
A cartoon drawn by Will Dyson for the newspaper John Bull in June 1922. The devil stands behind a stooped old man who peeps through a hole he has drilled in Miss Modernity Smith's door. Entitled 'The bad young and the worse old' the cartoon has the caption: 'The Devil: : ‘I don’t know whether the lives of the young are growing less clean – I’m satisfied to see the minds of the old growing more dirty!’
November 3, 2025 at 2:43 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Humber / home
Looking across the River Humber from Hull to the south bank.
October 31, 2025 at 9:07 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
The past week has been a whirlwind. I am beyond grateful to everyone who has been involved in bringing Songs of Seven Dials into the world.
A photograph of Matt Houlbrook's book launch for Songs of Seven Dials in Waterstones Covent Garden. Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials on a table in a bookshop among other lovely books. Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials on the shelves of a real life book shop among other lovely books.
October 29, 2025 at 10:29 PM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Interested in the history of Seven Dials or London or the 1920s and 1930s? I'm doing some walking tours of the Dials with @stanfordstravel.bsky.social on Sat 15 Nov.

There's loads to see, but Seven Dials is so small you don't need to walk far.

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/songs...
A 1930 picture of the Cambridge Theatre, Seven Dials in Matt Houlbrook's book Songs of Seven Dials photographed in front of the Cambridge Theatre, Seven Dials in October 2025.
October 29, 2025 at 10:48 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
By no means the finest poet to come out of Mexborough.

Tom Houlbrook, in 'The Children's Hour' page of the South Yorkshire Times, 21 July 1934.
Poem written by Tom Houlbrook, age 11, published in South Yorkshire Times in July 1934: I'm going to the Dearne To take a well-earned dip; For when in school, I often yearn To swim; -- my lessons skip. Of course, I'll play at cricket, when It's not too hot to play; Tate and Verity I'l be then, And Sutcliffe on his day.
October 28, 2025 at 8:31 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Ah nice!

Here's my Secan (and my brother's) kitted up for similar purposes a few weeks ago.

I still have my old Salsa El Mariachi, but use this - and its predecessors - for most off-road stuff these days.
Two bikes lean against a reservoir wall in the rain. It is very wet. The bikes are set up with bike packing kit. Did I mention it is very wet?
October 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
tricksterprince.bsky.social
Last visit on a soft July morning earlier this year.
A bike propped against a stone built orientation board overlooking the confluence of the Trent, Ouse, and Humber rivers.
October 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM