Monday, July 16, 2012

London - Dr Johnson's House

I have a DVD of Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock Holmes in a film where the villains are trying to recover plates for making forged five pound notes from a cupboard in Dr Johnson's house. Since we were in the area, we decided to visit it.


That is the house at the end of the square. The roof was damaged by an air raid in WWII but it was repaired.


The house has several floors and after paying your entrance fee, you go into this room before climbing the stairs. There are detailed descriptions of the rooms on a table in each room.



One of the descriptions.



Supposedly the Doctor's chair. 


The bar and points was designed to stop small boys from entering via the window and stealing.




The next floor up has a lot of portraits. After his wife died Johnson avoiding loneliness by having lots of visitors. He liked strong personalities and arguments were common.















The famous cupboard. I will check when I get home but I suspect the version in the film looks nothing like this.




Portrait of Johnson.



I liked this description.



His will.




The top floor or attic is where he actually wrote the famous Dictionary. Well he did not write it, he organized it with a team of writers who worked here.


Photos of Marianne appear in some of my blogs but photos of me are rare. Copies of the Dictionary are on the tables and I was reading one of them. So here is my debonair self. The tan jacket I am wearing is made of cotton and is ideal for travel in slightly cool countries like England. It has large pockets, a hood and can protect against wind and rain. I bought it in 1978.


Another view.


So this was what I was looking for. I was really puzzled by the suggestion that ground up crabs improved the taste of Perry. At lunch today we wondered if he was referring to crab apples.


Marianne reading one of the other volumes.


Johnson's walking stick.



View from the top floor into the courtyard. 


And so we left the house. It was interesting, but as my mother would have said, it was a oncer.



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