Naked Presidents: On Politics and Frisky Photos
We need to come to terms with the fact that one day we will see the first Presidential dick pic, whether it’s officially released by the White House or leaked online…
‘I Need to Stop Flirting With my Mother’: On Parent-Child Relationships
In Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal film, Psycho, Norman Bates romantically exclaims, “A boy’s best friend is his mother”…
An Incomplete Musing of Love Poetry for Valentine’s
The title is misleading. The action of the poem is in no way platonic: it’s racy stuff alright. Some other lines include, ‘Explored the adorable masculine tits’…
Launching a Shitstorm: Open Pen’s Novelettes
Open Pen, a free tri-annual short fiction magazine based in London, was founded in 2011. ‘Open’ by design, Preston wanted to “encourage writing from anywhere and everywhere, anyone and everyone”…
United Coffeedom: The History of London’s Coffee Houses
These early cafes were breeding grounds for gossip, education and argument, where men would misuse laws and, in some instances, practice a curiously cavalier form of medicine…
Will Sorrell: Fun & Games
Although it still rains with grim regularity in the UK, I’m delighted to note there have been several pleasant changes in our social landscape. For one, remarkable inventors such as William Sorrell, founder of Clarendon Games, are ensuring a redoubled interest in board games amongst adults…
NonSense: As Far As The Eye Can See
The world is an unbelievable place. You have to open your eyes every day to see it…
Uncover London: How Very A-Mewsing
Once upon a time, back in Georgian and Victorian days, the London mews behind fancy houses in grand neighbourhoods provided stalls for horses, servants quarters, and storage for carriages…
Valery Demure: Forever Golden
Jewels. Some picture them in portraits of royalty, woven into wigs of French kings, strewn on the skirts of Medici duchesses…
Magic, Might, and Mockery: A Brief History of Conical Hats
Tall conical hats have been fashionably worn as symbols of power and magic. Elsewhere and at a different time, these hats have been used as a method of humiliation for disgraced criminals. How and why have so many different cultures attributed different meanings to the same shape?