Secret Ealing
Regular price
€19.99
Originally a county town in Middlesex, Ealing became known as the ‘Queen of the Suburbs’ at the beginning of the last century. Famous for the Ealing Studios, the oldest film studios in the world, in this book authors Paul Lang and Dr Jonathan Oates delve into the fascinating but often lesser-known history of this district. Characters associated with Ealing include Olga Grey, hockey player and MI5 agent, and Ealing’s pro-Hitler MP, and other links with espionage and political extremism include suspected Soviet spies and a Communist cell in nineteenth-century Hanwell. Crime has stalked the streets of Ealing with the tale of the disappearance of Peregrine Henniker-Heaton and dissent when the borough was home to anti-German riots in 1915 and the Sunday Opening controversy in the 1930s. Alongside these tales the authors uncover stories of sports stars, film studios, wartime and ancient Ealing.
Secret Ealing explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of the borough through the years. With tales of remarkable characters, unusual events and tucked-away or disappeared historical buildings and locations, it will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this West London district.
Paul Howard Lang is worked for Ealing Library Service since 1966 and has been hospital librarian at St Bernard’s Hospital since 1982. After carrying out research into the history of the hospital, he developed a great interest for local history and has subsequently given many talks on a variety of topics to a large number of societies. An avid postcard collector, Paul has three published books to his credit. Dr Jonathan Oates has been Borough Archivist for Ealing since 1999 and has had over twenty books published, mostly about aspects of London's local and criminal history. He has also given numerous talks about Ealing's history. He received his PhD in History from the University of Reading in 2001.