Ghost Signs - Radio Times

* This was originally posted on my Pieces of UK blog on 2nd March 2014.
 
There's a fascinating article today on the BBC news website about "Ghost Signs". These signs were hand-painted and could be found all over the country on the sides of buildings. The BBC article shows a number of these signs in Leeds, Yorkshire.

There's a really nice example of one more local to myself in Grays, Essex which you can see on Google Street View. You can get a clear view of it from Meesons Lane (see Google Street View below)

Radio Times "Ghost Sign" in Grays, Essex

I did a Google Image search for "Radio Times covers" to see if I could find a copy of the Radio Times with a similar font. I think I found a pretty good match (below) from 1961 on a blog called Andy's Retrospace.

Radio Times from 1961

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The new Google Street View archive

*This was originally posted on my Pieces of UK blog on 5th May 2014.

If you haven't already then you should check out the new Google Street View archive: it allows you to see streets as they were each time the Google Street View car came past. It should be available from the new version of Google maps at https://www.google.co.uk/maps/preview

When you drag the little orange man onto the map you should see an image like this:

If you see a little clock icon in the box in the top left corner then previous views should be available:

Click the clock and you'll see a thumbnail view and a timeline showing you which dates are available, drag on the timeline and click the thumbnail to go to that particular view:

These are the views looking from London Bridge towards the Shard in London:

 

Welcome to It's Streets Ahead

This is my blog all about streets  (and roads, and avenues…) Well, anything that's street-related. I'll be looking at how and why streets are named; unusual street names; the types of streets. Also expect blog posts about things that you find on streets; things that you can see from streets; street furniture, streets signs and ghost signs. In fact anything even remotely related to streets...so what better way to start than with a song about streets: The Streets of London by Ralph McTell