Lambeth Fantastical - October 2024
World Space Week 2024
Lambeth and the Final Frontier
In 1999 the United Nations General Assembly designated the 4th to 10th October as World Space Week, celebrating humanity's endeavours to reach for the stars. The dates were chosen to commemorate the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik , on October 4th 1957 and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on October 10th 1967. The themes for each year are chosen and coordinated by The World Space Week Association whose voluntary board of directors includes American astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, Romanian cosmonaut, Dumitru Pranariu, and Holylwood actor, Tom Hanks. The theme for 2024 is Space and Climate Change.
Lambeth has some interesting historical connections with the final frontier.
Colonel Mark Beaufoy
Lambeth born Colonel Mark Beaufoy (1764 - 1827) was a member of the Beaufoy family, famous for its vinegar distilleries at Waterloo and then Vauxhall. As well as an army officer, a physicist, mountaineer and explorer he was a keen astronomer.
He made observations of the planet Jupiter from Hackney Wick and Bushey Heath, in the 1820s. His observations of the satellites of Jupiter which were subsequently published by the Royal Astronomical Society. His son, George, was also an astronomer and became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1826. He donated his father's observatory equipment to the Royal Society.
For 35 years Margaret and William Huggins worked together at the privately owned observatory in Tulse Hill. They were pioneers of astrophotography in the 1880s, photographing Venus, Sirius, and the Solar Corona. They cowrote the Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra in 1899. Initially Margaret was described as being William's assistant, but in recent years she has been acknowledged as a pioneering astronomer in her own right.
In my July blog I wrote about the pioneering and record breaking balloon ascents from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens by Charles Green and Margaret Graham.
He made observations of the planet Jupiter from Hackney Wick and Bushey Heath, in the 1820s. His observations of the satellites of Jupiter which were subsequently published by the Royal Astronomical Society. His son, George, was also an astronomer and became a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1826. He donated his father's observatory equipment to the Royal Society.
Margaret and William Huggins - Tulse Hill Observatory
For 35 years Margaret and William Huggins worked together at the privately owned observatory in Tulse Hill. They were pioneers of astrophotography in the 1880s, photographing Venus, Sirius, and the Solar Corona. They cowrote the Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra in 1899. Initially Margaret was described as being William's assistant, but in recent years she has been acknowledged as a pioneering astronomer in her own right.
Aeronauts
In my July blog I wrote about the pioneering and record breaking balloon ascents from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens by Charles Green and Margaret Graham.
One of the first balloon flights to take place in Britain was organised by the Italian balloonist Viceno Lunardi who ascended from St George's Fields near Kennington Road. He was accompanied by Miss Letitia Sage, making her the first woman in the UK to take to the skies as a passenger.
Balloon ascents also took place from Royal Surrey Gardens near the Oval and Royal Beaulah Spa in Norwood.
Penny Lectures
From the late 1880s onwards ordinary working people could learn about outer space and the cosmos via the penny lectures instigated by Emma Cons following her take over of the Royal Victoria Theatre (now the Old Vic). Vising lecturers included astronomers from Greenwich Observatory. Subjects included a voyage to the moon and a journey to the stars.
The Penny Lectures and the classes held at the rear of the theatre led to the formation of Morley College in Westminster Bridge Road. While serving as the head of Morley's Music Department, Gustav Holtz composed his Planet Suite, subsequently used as the score for many scifi shows and movies, including the BBC's Quatermass and Lambeth born David Bowie's The Man Who Fell To Earth.
V2 rockets
During the cold war space race components of the V2 rockets developed under the World War Two Nazi regime were utilised by the British, French, American, and Russians for advanced civilian and military rockets. German scientists involved in the V2 project worked on both the American and Soviet space programmes.
Lambeth saw more than it's fair share of the devastation to life and property caused by the wartime rocket launches. Doodlebug Gardens in Streatham Hill marks the location of an area severely damaged by a V1, predecessor of the V2, also known as the Doodlebug because of its characteristic buzzing sound.
The Shot Tower
The Southbank area of Waterloo was one of the areas heavily damaged during the blitz. When it was cleared in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, the shot tower, near the location earmarked for the Royal Festival Hall, previously used by Lambeth lead works to manufacture lead shot for weapons and explosives, was the lone structure left standing. It served two purposes. Firstly as a lighthouse whose rotating beam could be seen from the other side of the Thames. Secondly a large radio dish antenna, which mounted on an anti-aircraft gun carriage, to be used to bounce radio signals back and forth from the moon and sun. These would be relayed to the outer space section of the Dome of Discovery, located in what is now Jubilee Gardens, where the public could witness the experiments in action. Ultimately passing aircraft interfered with the signals, but on May 23rd, 1951 a series radio signals reflected back from the sun were received. The equipment involved cost £25,000 and the experiments helped in the future development of radar astronomy.
British Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society was founded in 1933 in Liverpool by Philip E Cleator. Its headquarters moved to its current address in South Lambeth Road in 1973. Its projects have included Megarog which aimed to develop sub-orbital space flight using re-engineered V2 rocket technology, Project Daedalus proposing an unmanned flight to Barnards Star, and, more recently, Project Boreas, which designed a crewed station which would be based at the Martian North Pole.
One of its members in the 1950s was scriptwriter, Charles Chilton, who wrote the popular BBC radio series, Journey into Space, which starred Streatham born David Jacobs in no less than 22 different roles. Scientist and scifi author, Arthur C Clark, served two terms of office as the chairman of BIS. As well as naming their Lambeth headquarters after him, the Society also instigated the annual Sir Arthur Clarke Award. The Sir Patrick Moore Medal is another award named after a famous Society member.
Bridge Command
Bridge Command
Lambeth's latest space related addition is Bridge Command, also based in Vauxhall. This immersive experience allows you become the member of the crew of a starship on a mission into space. My short reviews of Bridge Command can be found here.
Upcoming Guided Walk
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