Rob Baker
@robnitm.bsky.social
Author of two London history books - 'Beautiful Idiots and Brilliant Lunatics' and 'High Buildings, Low Morals' - I'm currently doing up a 18th Century cottage in the Brecon Beacons which seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time.
Lee Miller's Torso being cast by Paul Hamann and assistant, London, 1939 by Roland Penrose.
Hall and sideboard, Farleys House, Farleys House & Gallery by Tony Tree.
Hall and sideboard, Farleys House, Farleys House & Gallery by Tony Tree.
September 17, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Lee Miller's Torso being cast by Paul Hamann and assistant, London, 1939 by Roland Penrose.
Hall and sideboard, Farleys House, Farleys House & Gallery by Tony Tree.
Hall and sideboard, Farleys House, Farleys House & Gallery by Tony Tree.
Traffic warden Mrs Ives crashes an Ossie Clark/Michael Rainey photoshoot on the Fulham Road in September 1967. The models Elisa Ngai and Bill Chenail (Elisa’s Ossi dress sold for 6gns, bill's Kaftan 9gns).
August 24, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Traffic warden Mrs Ives crashes an Ossie Clark/Michael Rainey photoshoot on the Fulham Road in September 1967. The models Elisa Ngai and Bill Chenail (Elisa’s Ossi dress sold for 6gns, bill's Kaftan 9gns).
Reposted by Rob Baker
Brilliantly written about by @robnitm.bsky.social
The Death of Cass Elliot and Keith Moon at Harry Nilsson's Macabre Mayfair Flat - Flashbak
Marianne Faithfull pointed at a pale man sitting next to her and told a reporter, rather optimistically, that Oliver Musker, the twenty-seven-year- old Old Etonian she was seeing at the time and who h...
flashbak.com
July 29, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Brilliantly written about by @robnitm.bsky.social
Pauline Boty died #OTD sixty years ago in 1966. She's one of my absolute heroes and I once wrote about her, and her involvement in the Anti-Uglies...
flashbak.com/the-artist-p...
flashbak.com/the-artist-p...
The Tragic Story of the Artist Pauline Boty - Flashbak
"A blonde, vivacious girl, filled with joie de vivre. She was stunning" - Lewis Morley
flashbak.com
July 1, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Pauline Boty died #OTD sixty years ago in 1966. She's one of my absolute heroes and I once wrote about her, and her involvement in the Anti-Uglies...
flashbak.com/the-artist-p...
flashbak.com/the-artist-p...
Benny Hill in his kichen at his flat at 1-2 Queensgate, May 1969.
June 29, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Benny Hill in his kichen at his flat at 1-2 Queensgate, May 1969.
Fleet Street in February, 1971. What sort of food did an Old Kentucky restaurant sell?
June 29, 2026 at 7:37 AM
Fleet Street in February, 1971. What sort of food did an Old Kentucky restaurant sell?
Ladbroke Grove in 1988 - photo by Peter Marshall
June 28, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Ladbroke Grove in 1988 - photo by Peter Marshall
1954: The Lollard Adventure playground, just off Lambeth Walk. You can just see the Palace of Westminster in the distance, not much more than half a mile away.
June 26, 2026 at 11:44 AM
1954: The Lollard Adventure playground, just off Lambeth Walk. You can just see the Palace of Westminster in the distance, not much more than half a mile away.
A wee lamb a bit late to the party. An early morning view over the Senni Valley, 30 mins walk from my house in Heol Senni.
June 26, 2026 at 8:10 AM
A wee lamb a bit late to the party. An early morning view over the Senni Valley, 30 mins walk from my house in Heol Senni.
Sink in an Earls Court hotel room in 1977. There’s an electric coin meter connected to the hot water tap, a vintage car waste bin, and to cope with it all there’s a glass of Teachers whisky on the tv.
June 26, 2026 at 8:08 AM
Sink in an Earls Court hotel room in 1977. There’s an electric coin meter connected to the hot water tap, a vintage car waste bin, and to cope with it all there’s a glass of Teachers whisky on the tv.
Sue McGregor & Charles Stokes, BBC reporters for "World At One" try and fry an egg at Piccadilly Circus in 1968. The temperature reached 32 degrees on July 1st.
June 24, 2026 at 8:14 AM
Sue McGregor & Charles Stokes, BBC reporters for "World At One" try and fry an egg at Piccadilly Circus in 1968. The temperature reached 32 degrees on July 1st.
Lovecraft on Tottenham Court Road in 1971.
June 9, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Lovecraft on Tottenham Court Road in 1971.
A nine year old Ian Dury and his mum Peggy at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Ian had contracted Polio two years previously, most likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at Southend-on-Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic.
May 13, 2026 at 7:53 AM
A nine year old Ian Dury and his mum Peggy at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Ian had contracted Polio two years previously, most likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at Southend-on-Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic.
Alexis Korner with @PPArnold1 at a CND rally near St Paul's Cathedral, 15th April 1968.
March 15, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Alexis Korner with @PPArnold1 at a CND rally near St Paul's Cathedral, 15th April 1968.
Reposted by Rob Baker
Bankside and its surroundings, January 1947- the old Bankside power station on the left - St Paul's cathedral just visible through the mist.
January 2, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Bankside and its surroundings, January 1947- the old Bankside power station on the left - St Paul's cathedral just visible through the mist.
Is Jim Rockford using Cockney rhyming slang?
March 9, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Is Jim Rockford using Cockney rhyming slang?
London Fish Dinner at 275, Strand in 1884 (Opposite W.H. Smith & Son’s)
February 24, 2026 at 1:39 PM
London Fish Dinner at 275, Strand in 1884 (Opposite W.H. Smith & Son’s)
Joan Crawford asks her assistant to bite off a loose thread from her dress at the Dorchester Hotel, London, July 1956 - photograph by Thurston Hopkins.
February 24, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Joan Crawford asks her assistant to bite off a loose thread from her dress at the Dorchester Hotel, London, July 1956 - photograph by Thurston Hopkins.
Reposted by Rob Baker
I've never seen this before, it's lovely - Michael Nesmith performing Propinquity on The David Frost Show in 1971.
February 23, 2026 at 1:28 PM
I've never seen this before, it's lovely - Michael Nesmith performing Propinquity on The David Frost Show in 1971.
Rupert Street Market in Soho, 1965 - photographer unknown
February 19, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Rupert Street Market in Soho, 1965 - photographer unknown
Menu at Veeraswamy’s, 99 Regent Street from November 1945. It included a Theatre Service and a weather forecast.
February 16, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Menu at Veeraswamy’s, 99 Regent Street from November 1945. It included a Theatre Service and a weather forecast.
Reposted by Rob Baker
‘Rye Lane’ is an underseen rom-com gem baltimorebeat.com/rye-lane-is-...
‘Rye Lane’ is an underseen rom-com gem
Modern romantic comedies, rare as they have become, have a tendency to feel fixated on the main couple and not the world that they live in. Think back to the famous “I’ll have what she’s having”…
baltimorebeat.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:01 PM
‘Rye Lane’ is an underseen rom-com gem baltimorebeat.com/rye-lane-is-...