A Whitechapel Childhood

Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours The poet Andy Stroman sent me these reminiscences of his childhood in Whitechapel in the nineteen-fifties Andy Stroman aged four on the doorstep in Milward St My brothers Paul, Howard and myself occupied one bedroom at 17 Milward St, Whitechapel, behind the London Hospital. We had three single beds and Paul was the furthest away from the door while Howard was in the middle. I was nearest to the door. On Saturday, we would have a lie-in while Howard went to work at Burlington Cameras in Burlington Arcade up in the West End. Paul used to sleep with his head almost upside down so his nose was pointing in the air. I would wake up and lob a pillow at Paul shouting, ‘Wake up coconut shy!’ Paul’s head was pointing just like a coconut at the fairground. By this time it was half past twelve in the afternoon. Then we would both get up and have our cereal and make our way to the municipal public baths on the Mile End Rd not far from Stepney Green…