Back to the year 2000

Stoke Newington Town Hall

Another TV recording, this time in the borough of Hackney, was on my list yesterday. So I went to see Stoke Newington, probably the most appealing part of Hackney.

The town hall of "Stokey" has been refurbished recently and it's listed as a Grade II building mainly because of its camouflage painting which intended to prevent the building to be detected by the German airforce in World War II. It's the first building I've seen in such a decor.

Stokey is also home of another very interesting cemetery. Abney Park Cemetery has its origin in the fact that Christians who weren't members of the Anglican church were denied to live and be buried in the City. Today its so overgrown that it has become a very romantical cemetery - and, strangely enough, a gay cruising area.

Oh no, not again gravestones, you might think now. Okay, I resist publishing any of them today.

I spent the evening in the Hackney Empire, one of the few surviving variety theatres in London built in 1901. The TV show was a comedy-like show hosted by Rufus Hound commemorating the year 2000. Rufus Hound became famous this year when he won a dance competition for Sport Relief 2010, dancing to the song Fight for this love.

The show was funnier than you might think. I especially liked statements of young pupils in the Sixties on how they imagined their life to be in 2000. One boy thought he might command a group of robots. A girl said we'd all own too much stuff that would spoil our life and that there wouldn't be any fun anymore. In parts they were pretty much right.