Gerard Manley Hopkins in Stratford: London #1

This memorial is in a prominent position outside the public library in The Grove, Stratford, London.

'GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
Poet
Born 28th July 1844
Died 8th June 1889

Was born and lived at 87 The Grove Stratford near this site
until 1851/2

"Loathed for a love men knew in them
Banned by the land of their birth,
Rhine refused them. Thames would ruin them,
Surf, snow, river and earth
Gnashed: but thou art above, thou Orion of light.'

from: Stanza 21 'The Wreck of the Deutschland'".'

A few yards away, at 146–148 The Grove, is the Goldengrove pub, which named after the word in Hopkins's poem 'Spring and Fall'.

Eddie Johnson, Matt Johnson, and The Two Puddings, Stratford, London

Wednesday's post by The Gentle Author on his 'Spitalfields Life' blog was about Eddie Johnson, former landlord of the former pub The Two Puddings, Broadway, Stratford. Eddie ran the pub with his wife Shirley from 1962 to 2000, and became the longest serving London landlord in the process. In earlier days The Two Puddings had been so known for its violence that it was nicknamed 'The Butcher's Shop', although Eddie turned it into an important music venue.

The story of his time in the famous Two Puddings is now published in Eddie's book, Tales from the Two Puddings: Stratford, East London's Olympic City, in the 1960's (London: Fifty First State Press, 2012).

Not recognizing the name of the publisher, I wondered if this was a self-publication, and was amazed to discover that this is Matt Johnson's company's first book. Matt is Eddie's son who grew up in The Two Puddings and is the mastermind behind The The, a rock band that still exists and is perhaps most noted for its literate anti-capitalist/anti-globalization anthems of the 1980s such as 'The Beaten Generation' (with Johnny Marr, and the link working on 2 January 2015).