26 February 2022

Under Ken Wood - the new book about Hampstead in support of KCL

Please see the new book about Hampstead in a series of street by street rambles and the story of the beloved Magdala Pub.

Available for purchase - limited numbers only - to buy, see below.  The author is donating all profits to the Library.

The story of a great inn and the amazing people who inhabited its bars. Infamous as the scene of the murder for which Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain, the Magdala Tavern was also the lair of an extraordinary cast of locals and the setting for some of the greatest pub tales ever told. Such as the rival poets duelling in verse, the saloon bar magazine being sued by a Prime Minister, the pub cricket team with the famous spy’s son allotted the ‘third man’ position, the drunken monks who joined Jesus Christ for a session in the saloon, and the dog who only understood Czechoslovakian. Plus RAMBLING AROUND: a fascinating tour of the N.W.3. district and its spectacular array of celebrities. From Queen Boudicca to Harry Styles, from Mrs Hitler to Leonard Cohen, from Dr Crippen to Dolly Parton, this is the funniest guide to Hampstead you will ever find.

‘This brilliant recounting of the people who made it what it is shows just what an important institution the Magdala has been for NW3 and beyond.’ Camden New Journal.

Overheard at the counter: “I don’t mind doing any job as long as it doesn’t require sobriety.” and  “He was a man of few words – most of them expletives.”

Read about the  local Author, Neil Titley at the end of this message

There are two ways to buy copies:

A) In person in  the Library during normal opening times.  Cost: £10 a copy.

B) Order by post. 

• UK addresses cost: £12.80 a copy to cover the (sadly high) costs of The Post Office and packing.We also have to pay for PayPal charges
• International Enquiries -  PLEASE DO NOT ORDER WIITHOUT CHECKING WITH US FIRST.  Postage rates on request.

To order by post please note the following two steps:

1)  Please send us an email to us     by clicking this link  

If this link does not work , please send an email to keatslibrary.events@gmail.com 

In the Email, please provide your

• Name & Address with Post code
• Phone number (for queries only)
• Email address
• Number of copies requested

(NOTE: PayPal do not share address details so you need to give us details in order  to match orders.)

2) Please pay using PayPal - click the link on the image below. The PayPal account is keatscommunitylibrary@gmail.com

You do not need to have a PayPal account nor register as PayPal accepts most credit and debit cards. We pay the charges! 

Please feel free to also make a donation or even, dare we ask, sign up for a regular contribution to help the library! 

About the Author

Neil Titley is an actor and writer who has spent his theatrical life concentrating on solo plays. His Oscar Wilde show ‘Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes’ has been performed over 700 times on five continents and the play won the prestigious New York ‘United Solo Theatre Award’ in 2015. 

His film on GBS, ‘Shaw’s Corner’, starring Dermot Walsh has been televised in over twenty countries. 

He has written an encyclopaedia of Victorian stories entitled ‘The Oscar Wilde World of Gossip’, and several volumes of memoirs. His occasional column ‘Camden Victorians’ has been running in the Camden New Journal for three years. 

Born in Inverness, Scotland, he has one son and lives in NW3.