We've chosen the lead image for this latest News of Note for no other reason than we think it's vital to inject a bit of colour and pizazz into what has been a tediously grey, cold and damp couple of weeks (at least it was at the time of writing).

Here at the library we've been wrapping up warm as we beaver away adding new content, making archive discoveries and of course, helping you out with pictures and queries.

Keep reading for some useful intel from our corner of south-east London, including some really wild art, an anniversary of an iconic shopping destination, and a compelling TV drama about drugs and clubs and all that jazz.

Finding Famous Faces

The last month has seen the loss of artist and director, David Lynch, actor Brian Murphy, and actress, singer and sixties icon, Marianne Faithfull.

Do remember to check our website (or get in touch) if you're ever looking for images of celebrities past and present as we like to think we can offer quite a few ideas beyond the norm. Besides those classic film stills of Marianne Faithfull in Girl on a Motorcycle, we've also a set of rare images from 1962 by Gilbert Adams of her appearing at the Prospect Theatre, Reading (where she went to school) while still a teenager.

Brian Murphy was best-known for the sitcom George and Mildred but the Studio Canal archive has some terrific stills of him in 1974's Man About the House (in which George and Mildred first appeared) and more of him in the Joan Littlewood-directed 1962 film, Sparrows Can't Sing.

Have a browse of our celebrity anniversaries page for ready-made picture selections on a range of famous faces. Remember you need to be logged in and connected to a client account to view film imagery, so get in touch if you need help with that.

Dope Girls

Fans of Peaky Blinders are in for a treat with a new BBC drama, Dope Girls, which begins on Saturday 22nd February. Based on the 1992 book by Marek Kohn, it lifts the lid on London's illicit underground nightclub scene in the aftermath of the First World War, and is loosely inspired by the real-life story of 1920s 'Queen of the Nightclubs' Kate Meyrick (read Luci's piece about Mrs Meyrick here).

We have loads of great content on this subject. The Jazz Age Club collection is matchless when it comes to documenting clubs, cabaret and entertainment from this period. The ILN archive, particularly magazines The Bystander and The Sketch, regularly gave the lowdown on London's most fashionable nightspots, and the British Pathé Time to Remember archive offers some evocative scenes in clubs like the Café de Paris. We also have the fabulous illustrations of bohemian clubs by Dorothea St. John George in 'London's Latin Quarter', cabaret costume designs for legendary club, Murray's of Beak Street, Soho, as well as several of the infamous Mrs. Meyrick herself.

Click here for a raucous round-up.

Liberty

Liberty, London's retail destination of choice for shoppers of discernment was first opened by Arthur Lasenby Liberty back in 1875, and is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, giving us the perfect excuse to trawl our files to see what we could find. We love the colour catalogue from the 1920s, courtesy of the John Maclellan collection, with pictures of exquisite embroidered shawls, or cute children's toys.

The ILN archive has countless advertisements (far too many to scan) as well as front covers and fashion pages featuring Liberty creations, from an artistic dress of 1905, favoured by Edwardian hipsters, to a velvet upholstered invalid's chair from the Great War period, and 1960s models wearing Liberty print dresses in Tatler.

Enjoy a tasteful tally of gorgeous things to buy and wear from this celebrated temple of retail.

Birds of a Feather

Our online collection of the work of the late wildlife artist, Robert Gillmor MBE (1936-2022) continues to grow, this time with the addition of 46 watercolours of birds and other wildlife. These artworks were specifically created for calendars printed and sold by Penna Press, a company run by Robert's brother Philip.

We often flag up Robert's brilliant linocuts, but this selection, which depicts, harvest mice, badgers, foxes, and various birds and water fowl in both urban and rural settings, reminds us again of what a versatile and skilled artist he was.

Search 'Robert Gillmor' on our site to see a wider selection.

We Are Sailing

Sometimes, we find an oddity in the archive which is so remarkable, we have to share it.

In this case it was an illustration in The Sketch from 1899 of a 'Mareorama'. The entertainment attraction could be experienced at the 1900 Paris Exposition, and was created by Hugo d'Alesi, a painter of advertising posters. A combination of moving panoramic paintings and a large motion platform in the form of an ocean-going steamer, it is regarded as one of the last major developments in the technology of panoramas, shortly before the medium became obsolete.

The Mareorama simultaneously developed two panoramas in motion to the delight of the spectators, who placed themselves among them to create the illusion of being on the deck of a ship taking a simulated voyage from Villefranche to Constantinople, passing by Sousse, Naples, and Venice!

Brilliant!

Shirley Evans 1934 - 2025

Visitors to the library over the years may well have met Shirley, a long-standing employee who also happened to be the sister-in-law of Mary and Hilary Evans.

After retiring from her career as a primary school teacher, Shirley worked at the library every day on a part-time basis, and was, without exception, a delightful colleague, offering to make cups of tea or tempting us with a biscuit, telling us all about the films and exhibitions she energetically went to see, and being the one person who always remembered to take the tea towels home to wash!

Although Shirley hadn't worked at the library since 2020, we were thrilled that she visited us with her daughter Belinda a few weeks before Christmas, and we spent time reminiscing with the help of the albums Shirley, our unofficial photographer, had diligently put together over the years of staff and events at the library. A few days later we received a card with a charming thank you note, inscribed with Shirley's unmistakable neat and bold teacher's hand.

We were all greatly saddened to learn that Shirley passed away, peacefully, on 26th January, just a few days before her 91st birthday and wanted to use this space to remember a lady who really was one of the kindest and loveliest people you could ever meet.

The black and white photo shows Shirley with Mary and Hilary in the late 1960s.