As a child at primary school in Battersea in the 70s, every year all the local primary schools would get together to put on a show at Battersea Town Hall/Arts Centre. Each year would have a specific theme, and one year the theme was just "London", where we celebrated the history of all things...well...London. One of the sets allocated to my school was to "do" the Lambeth Walk on stage, so I can happily say that I know all the moves..."Oi!". 😁 What I didn't realise until I saw this video is that not only does Lambeth Walk still exist, but I worked a stone's throw from it for several years in the noughties. Had I known, I would have invited my colleagues for lunchtime (or maybe post quick-pint-after-work) demos of my aforementioned skills in situe! 😊
Please come and visit us ... but wait until after the pandemic (unless you happen to have 4 weeks spare to quarantine for two weeks at either end of your trip).
@@brian9731 I'd love to but it is apparently quite cold. I live in Australia and am quite happy with our 40C+ weather we'll be getting in a bit over a month.
I travel all over London a lot but I never knew there was an actual street called Lambeth Walk. The famous song is called THE Lambeth Walk, so I always assumed, totally wrongly and without much thought, that "doing the Lambeth walk" was a particular style of walk in the style of the dance. The exact wording led me down the wrong path - pun intended - for my whole life up to now. Thanks for educating me JH.
Now I’m imagining that the Ministry of Silly Walks started out as a wartime thing. Having seen how Hitler reacted to the Lambeth Walk, the British government set up an entire ministry to destroy his mind.
You're not the only one. I thought this also! I had in my mind is a sort of cockney swaggering leg kicking sort of dance. It turns out it's a place. Cor blimey!
I was born near the Lambeth Walk in the 1955, I remember it from the 1960's. It was still a vibrant market back then, with a Sainsbury's that had counters form each type of food, even tins. A pie mash shop with live eels. An onion man on a bike, wearing a French beret on his head. I think you will find that the original Lambeth Walk was a path that ran alongside the Lambeth Palace, because I've seen a drawing done of Lambeth Palace, with gentlemen and ladies promenading by the river. The caption for the drawing said " Doing the Lambeth Walk, while waiting for the horse ferry."
bless you for taking the hint and providing a route map for this piece. Unfortunately, since 'Lambeth Walk' (Street) and 'The Lambeth Walk' (song/dance number) are only tangentially connected a diagram/description of the actual dance floor routine was what is really needed. So for the benefit of younger subscribers The Lambeth Walk was a sequence dance imitating the well-known and loved Palais Glide in which couples lined up in rows across the floor, like spokes in a wheel, and sauntered/swaggered in step anticlockwise round the floor. What distinguished the Lambeth Walk was that at the end of each verse the participants were required to stamp a foot and shout 'Oy!' This simple riff sent the number viral in 1938/39 both in the Anglosphere and wider because you can shout 'Oy' in any language. It was a pity that Hitler never appreciated its potential because you can also stamp a jack boot in any language or country. Unfortunately the Nazis lived entirely in their own cultural bubble (a bit like the BBC and CNN really) so he opened himself to being lampooned by a raucous, but innocent, ballroom dance.
Noel Gay was born Reginald Moxon Armitage. Armitage was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School before obtaining a scholarship at the age of 15 to attend the Royal College of Music in London, after which he attended university. A precocious talent, he had deputised for the choirmaster of Wakefield Cathedral from the age of eight, becoming honorary deputy organist at twelveHis most famous show, for which he contributed the music but not the lyrics, was Me and My Girl. This originally opened in 1937 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London and, after a shaky start, gained popularity when the BBC broadcast it live on radio on 13 January 1938. It starred Lupino Lane as Bill Snibson and it ran for 1,646 performances despite being bombed out of two theatres. The "showstopper" in that work was "The Lambeth Walk" .He created Noel Gay Music in 1938 as a business vehicle.[2] It now forms a part of the Noel Gay Organisation which includes divisions for television and theatre and is a significant British showbusiness agency, under the day-to-day control of his family. His son, Richard Armitage, set up the Noel Gay Artists agency and became an influential talent agent. I live 2 miles from Wakefield and there is a Blue plaque to Noel Gay at the entrance to Wakefield Catherdral. Most of the infrmation above is from Wikipedia.
Richard Armitage wanted to revive his Dad's musical, so to write a new more up-to-date book he found an up-and-coming writer fresh out of Cambridge... Stephen Fry! They made a huge success of it. (Stephen later appeared in The Hobbit with Richard Armitage as Thorin, but it was a different Richard Armitage)
I've never heard the Duke Ellington version. The song comes from the 1937 West End musical 'Me and My Girl', which also introduced the world to 'The Sun Has Got His Hat On'. It was made famous by its original performer Lupino Lane, a variety artist from the 1930s. Both tunes were written by British Tin Pan Alley composer Noel Gay, with words by Douglas Furber and L Arthur Rose. Gay also wrote 'Run, Rabbit Run' and 'Leaning on a Lamp-Post'.
Ahh, the image of Nazis doing the Lambeth Walk instead of goose-stepping is priceless. Jago, your local urban knowledge and narration always makes my day.
I lived in an unspeakably squalid shared flat across the road from Lambeth North tube station in 1967-8. Ours was the basement caretakers flat. At the lowest level it was actually below sea level. When the pumps failed in the sewers there would be foul eruptions from our drains. This encouraged us to use the public baths in Lambeth Walk. The building has now been converted to the health centre which features prominently in your film. The relief given by a plentiful supply of clean hot water was well worth the entry, which I think was 1/6d.
I just randomly stumbled across this quite unremarkable street today when taking a walk and seemed to remember that you did a video on it. So here I am rewatching it. Had an interesting antique dealer though, will probably go back there after lockdown.
Think you'll find the drink is Jack daniel's. Alas an apostrophe is the difference between me replying here versus sitting on a stack of cash drinking something more refined then a JD and coke
The Lambeth Walk Group Oractice doctor's surgery shown at the end used to be a fully functioning public bath house with a huge old fashioned laundry around the back with hot rollers for sheets drying cupboards and all manner of good service until it closed in the 90s.
@Tina Onions Completely agree Tina. When we first went into lockdown, with both of us self-isolating, the community support was amazing, far better than I've seen for many, many years. Maybe that will be one good outcome of these weird times?
One of my favourite experiences of the local theatre in Bielefeld was going to a German version of "Me and My Girl" (songs in English, dialogue in German) First I learnt that a Bielefeld audience doesn't laugh until the end of the first act. I did and was looked disapprovingly. Second, I loved that so many of Bill Snibson's ancestors were Korean (we have a lot of Korean singers in the chorus) and third and finally, it is hilarious to see and hear a German audience singing along to the finale which includes a reprise of the Lambeth Walk.
Brilliant! And yes, Not being a Londoner I only knew the name by the song. What better way to demonstrate that song than linking to everyone's favourite revolutionary, Wolfie. What a great entertainer! This is my first encounter with the 'Schichlegruber' song, and I'm wondering if this is what gave Will Hay the idea for his 1942 film, The Goose Steps Out, as during the film Hay goose-steps in and out of the room with the same rythm as in this clip, and in one scene he also refers to Hitler as Schichlegruber. If I recall correctly, Schichlegruber was Hitler's Mother's name so the reference may have been used to suggest that he was illegitimate.
The local theatre group in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Canada in 2001 put on a production of Me and my girl. I as a displaced Londoner was called in to help with accents. A lady obviously enjoying being in the chorus was over the moon that the audience knew the words and every night joined in with the Lambeth Walk song!
I have been up and down the Lambeth Walk quite a lot recently, playing football at the nearby Power League just off Black Prince Road. What I did notice was there was no pubs, at least no longer open. Looked like there were quite a few towards the north end of the road, including one that was called 'Lambeth Walk' but all have been converted in flats or places of business. Shame, but not untypical for many places in London.
A correction needs to be made in the commentary of this video. Duke Ellington was NOT the composer of the song LAMBETH WALK. I'm quoting from Wikipedia: "The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 London musical "Me and My Girl" (with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay). The song takes its name from a local street, Lambeth Walk, once notable for its street market and working-class culture in Lambeth, an area of London. The tune gave its name to a Cockney dance made popular in 1937 by Lupino Lane. Duke Ellington recorded a version of the song, but again he was not the composer. Hope that helps.
"The Schichlegruber - Doing the Lambeth Walk film reportedly enraged Joseph Goebbels to the degree that he ran out of the screening room kicking chairs and screaming profanities". .Wikipedia.o-r-g
@@itsjohndell I've read that Hermann Goering saw it and was amused but didn't tell Goebbels. He was an evil monster, but he did have a sense of humour. He may have been more amused by Goebbels reaction which as I understand, he was foaming at the mouth and screaming his head off.
On a visit to London 5 years ago, I took Lambeth Walk late one night back to my Airbnb in Vauxhall. I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something special about the place. Most of the architecture is dreadful 1960s schlock. Per usual, this American might be wrong, but maybe there's something quintessentially British about this? Anyway, I find myself recreating this walk on Google Street View often and so love that you celebrated the street with a video. Cheers! Your channel is fantastic!
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I worked in a studio on the other side of Kennington Road. Most lunchtimes my colleagues and I, would walk down Fitzalen Street to the Lambeth Walk pub, (pictured at 4'32" in the video,) where, along with forensic officers from New Scotland Yard's Vauxhall laboratories, we would consume pints of moisture and watch young ladies from the Provinces divest themselves of their clothing.
About 1940 Barnum and Bailey's elephants danced "The Lambeth Walk" in their circus tent. The song was very popular in the USA. The dancers would make a hitchhiking thumb move and say "hoy". Little did we know that Britishers say "oy" when we say "hey". Somehow oy got translated to hoy with the accent on the h. Cheers from Texas.
I was born & brought up in the Lambeth Walk. Moved away in the mid '60s .The market was still thriving in the '60s, complete with Pearly Kings & Queens. What really killed it was the council "redeveloping" it. The place is a ghost town now. P.S. there's a pub at Kennington Cross that has a blue plaque that says "Charlie Chaplin's dad drank here" 😁
O yea i done The Lambeth Walk and did not even know it :) In 2001 i lived near the Lambeth North tube station and walk the street many times to work and back :) Thanks for the nice walk thru the history of streets i used to stroll.
Hint: clay soil Similar thing in Reading, there's even an area called Tilehurst; there used to be a lot of brickworks here. Even the council usually refer to the 3Bs of Reading, when it's 4. Biscuits (Huntley and Palmers being the most famous) Beer (countless breweries, Courage probably the best known/more recent one) Bulbs (Sutton's Seeds started here) and of course, to drag this kicking and screaming back on topic, Bricks. Thinking about it, I know Suttons and Huntley & Palmers both had their own private fire brigades, possibly a future video subject? H&P fire crews even battled a fire at a rival local biscuit factory (Serpells), wouldn't it be great if companies still did "the right thing"!
@@georgeprout42 Greetings fellow Readingite, I'm from Whitley (I probably shouldn't so freely admit that) and we have a Gillette Way, no prizes for guessing that one.
My grandfather had a butcher's shop in the 60's called Jack's.. I remember the market and the pub on the corner at the time The area was redeveloped in 1970 when the shops were demolished
I lived round the corner from 'The Walk' during the 50s. I had to run errands there. We bought our toys in Micklejohns and there were no end of market barrows with Fruit and veg, household goods, etc. I never saw anyone do the dance, not even in the Pie and Mash shop. And no, I'm not looking through rose tinted glasses - it was poor and grim. The shops are gone, replaced by those flats you showed at the start. Lambeth Council has a nice archive of photos on-line - worth a look.
There is a 3rd version! By French icon/diva Dalida. A French disco-ish cover of the Duke Ellington version. It’s beyond camp. The video is not for the fainthearted. 😜 Poor Stephen Fry had to try to attempt to sing it on one episode of “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.” Speaking of Lambeth songs, there is of course “Come on Eileen,” with video filmed on and around Brook Drive. The newsagent/grocery at the corner of Hayles St is still there.
Doing the Lambeth Walk was used as a memetic in a samba tune, possibly a batucada, but that certainly was many years ago for me so that memory has faded into a confused fog and mist to me now...
Never been for a gander down the walk though passed both ends. Seen the 1980s re-run of Me and My Girl (which has the other version of the song Me and My Girl, which Might have been where you got the idea of two songs). My Aunt lived in Vauxhall Pre WW2 and I think it was in this area, I should check and do my cousin's ancestry details. Her family moved to Hackbridge after WW2 in part for work at Mullards, which, as others who did the same were quoted in the 1990s, "We moved to Surrey to get out of the City, now its come to us, as the area got more housing (on the Mullards site!).
There are actually *two* famous streets in (the London Borough of) Lambeth. The other is *Electric Avenue* in Brixton immortalized by Eddy Grant's hit back in 1983. As for *Lambeth Walk* The China Walk Estate which runs between 'the Walk' and Lambeth Road was built (1952-6) on the site where 'Passport to Pimlico' was filmed in 1949.
Just to reiterate: the 1937 song is by Noel Gay (real name Reginald Moxon Armitage) and is a number in his musical "Me and My Girl" starring Lupino Lane (real name Henry William George Lupino). It was filmed in 1939 with Lupino Lane as 'The Lambeth Walk': ua-cam.com/video/Mc6XUus5IC4/v-deo.html Duke Ellington was just one of many who made recordings of the song.
@@JagoHazzard My dad's family lived just round the corner in Old Paradise Street and worked at Doultons. They believed they were related to Lupino Lane - sadly, a family myth.
In the eighties it was a grim place with a lot of anger still seething from the aftermath and buildup to the Brixton riots. Charlie Chaplin was more Elephant & Castle but Tommy Steele and Michael Caine weren't too far off from here either. The problem with the market is East St and Nine Elms markets were both in their ascendency thus the smaller markets like the walk were by and large allowed to wither but some still prospered as I used to do Battersea saturday market which was quite cool and used to have some cool pics of the chap who played "Vaseline" in London's Burning who lived just around there. East St became the principle South London market with Peckham and Lewisham being further good centralised markets, Deptford was always a cool one and I used to do both Bromley and Penge on occasion altho Penge's market was much reduced from the days it used to run end to end of Maple Road to just up by the Dew Drop. My late nan was one of the Cooper market trading fruit and veg family from the area and it was husking fruit and veg that gave her arms like a prize fighter and she was tough as old boots and she got her collar felt in her nineties when she beat black and blue a chap kicking his dog and got charged with assault.
Great memories, I went to Lilian Baylis school (the old site), and knew Lambeth Walk like the back of my hand. I havent been there in coming up ten years though. In the nineties, the last shop on the right (with the blue grill) from where you started the walk was a Starburgers. There were a few lunchtimes spent there (after you'd climb over a fence as you were not allowed out unless you had a lunch pass). *edit* I forgot to say that along Kennington Lane and Kennington Road you can see bomb damage on the surviving houses and other buildings. Look up and you see the pockmarks around the second and third floors. We had our school history department covered with pre- and post-war photos of the surrounding area.
Yep, real name Reg Armitage. Born in Wakefield, in fact, he was from Stanley, which is a village just north of Wakey, and he had another non-de-plume in Stanley Hill which he chose in tribute to his birthplace.
Here in Germany, I can confirm that the "Lambeth Walk" was a frequent clue-question in the DLF-Kultur programme "Sonntagsrätsel" (9.30, Sundays) moderated by the newly-late and very great Christian Bienert (with whom I had personal contact). I suppose it became an institutional cocksnook in the direction of the thankfully defunct Third Reich. But it's healthful fun in any reduced circumstances, I think that's the essential point.
I remember an episode of “Seaside Special” on BBC1 in the mid-‘70s in which a duo, consisting of a woman who looked about 80 and a man who looked about 120, sang the well-known version of “The Lambeth Walk”... in French.
I remember seeing the film on TV as a child, my parents, who both served in WW2, sang along wetting themselves. Who says having parents 40 plus years older can't be fun!
The music to Doing the Lambeth walk was written by a gentleman called Noel Gay. He also wrote the book for the musical. I can only assume that Duke Ellington recorded one of many versions of it.
Another nice video and thanks for the link to the wartime propaganda film. I was interested to hear about the Duke Ellington connection. I'd always assumed the Lambeth Walk was a good old British music hall song. You're probably right about him not partaking of the walk! Similarly composer Walter Kent did not see the white cliffs of Dover until around 1989 and lyricist Nat Burton maybe never. However, Birmingham-born Eric Maschwitz very possibly did hear a nightingale sing in Berkeley Square!
Apparently the Dance came after Lupino Lane's performances , being adapted by ballrooms and formalised. and Wikipedia says additionally. - In Germany, big band leader Adalbert Lutter made a German-language adaptation called Lambert's Nachtlokal that quickly became popular in swing clubs. A member of the Nazi Party drew attention to it in 1939 by declaring The Lambeth Walk "Jewish mischief and animalistic hopping", as part of a speech on how the "revolution of private life" was one of the next big tasks of National Socialism in Germany. However, the song continued to be popular with the German public and was even played on the radio, particularly during the war, as part of the vital task of maintaining public morale. In Italy the song was popularized by Dino Di Luca and the Trio Lescano in an Italian version titled: "Balliamo il passo Lambeth" (which sounds so Italian !!)
The 6th form I went to is on Lambeth Walk (it's the upper half of the building at 4:15). It's funny to think that the dreary street I looked out onto every day has such an interesting history!
Oh man, what a shame... It sounds like Lambeth could have developed into a nowadays Camden-Town-like - somewhat gentrified - hotspot. Was the area south of the Thames hit harder during the Blitz? The architecture in this video reminded me of the same horrible stuff that could be seen in your Elephant&Castle video...
I have a lambeth birth certificate it was the regrestration area for parts of s.w london ive seen it first hand and seriously it needs doing up and given the respect it deserves.
I love the trolling credit on that video... "assisted by the Gestapo Hep-Cats". I doubt any Hep-Cats ever went near the Gestapo but it amuses me to think of them awkwardly trying to be Hep-Cat like.
Having lived in the area for some years, I would say the Luftwaffe may have damaged Lambeth Walk but the subsequent town planners really finished it off. Them and changes in shopping & leisure habits, to be fair. It was still bustling for many years after the war.
Just looked at a website, the Lambeth Walk given as " Written and composed by E.W. Rogers - 1899 Performed by Alec Hurley (1871-1913)" So who is E.W. Rogers ? (other than he also wrote, Ask A P'Liceman" , ( www.discogs.com/artist/2744625-EW-Rogers )
The reference to "Round People" may be to do with the regular traders such as Milkmen, Bakers, Tinkers etc. When I was growing up in Woolwich, just down the road, in the 1950s they'd come on their "round" either at a regular time of day, or certain days of the week. Mr Steptoe would probably have been a "Round" person.
Wow, the (anti-)Nazi _Lambeth Walk_ is genuinely hilarious. We see that kind of video editing all the time, these days, but to see it from the 1940s is amazing.
Don't know why I'm so fascinated by these videos. I don't even live in London, or the UK for that matter. Maybe it's because... they're really good? :) (I have however visited London many times over the last 30 years...)
Although I'm a fan, I've never heard the Duke Ellington versionof which you speak: but there is a very good version by Django Reinhardt, recorded about 1939, which I love...
@@ericpode6095 the road to Lambeth Bridge from the north is Horseferry Road, so i wonder what used to be where the Bridge now is ? Ironically The Buildings on the North side of Lambeth Bridge were mainly govt offices , MI (chose your number) and Special Branch I think.
@@highpath4776 I worked around there so I can't confirm or deny the (government organization) was in Horse ferry Rd/Millbank but I'm pretty sure they're not there now.
I found this video interesting as it brought back memories. I first saw the German Marching to the Lambeth Walk in the 1950’s on a black and white TV (which was OK as it was in black and white) and found it very funny. Later that week on the programme that gave the viewers time to moan it was considered an outrage, to show the Germans (the Germans and Nazi were the same, it was not until the 1970’s when we were all in the “Common Market” we did not want to upset them by reminding them of their past) marching to an English Song. In WW2 it was funny to poke fun at the Germans in the 1950’s we know the terrible acts they had done it was no longer funny. Strange how history and attitudes change in time.
As a child at primary school in Battersea in the 70s, every year all the local primary schools would get together to put on a show at Battersea Town Hall/Arts Centre. Each year would have a specific theme, and one year the theme was just "London", where we celebrated the history of all things...well...London. One of the sets allocated to my school was to "do" the Lambeth Walk on stage, so I can happily say that I know all the moves..."Oi!". 😁
What I didn't realise until I saw this video is that not only does Lambeth Walk still exist, but I worked a stone's throw from it for several years in the noughties. Had I known, I would have invited my colleagues for lunchtime (or maybe post quick-pint-after-work) demos of my aforementioned skills in situe! 😊
Wow!
I have never set a foot in London but i feel like i know it’s architectural history more than my own city
Same lol
Please come and visit us ... but wait until after the pandemic (unless you happen to have 4 weeks spare to quarantine for two weeks at either end of your trip).
@@brian9731 I'd love to but it is apparently quite cold. I live in Australia and am quite happy with our 40C+ weather we'll be getting in a bit over a month.
@@notaplic8158 it's not that cold. Visiting the UK in the summer is fine generally. Just wet if anything.
We have a statue of a fucking squirrel.
*WHY* do we have a statue of a fucking squirrel?
Beginning of video, my knowledge of Lambeth Walk= it's in a song.
End of video= I'm now a leading authority on Lambeth Walk..
Nice one JH..
I travel all over London a lot but I never knew there was an actual street called Lambeth Walk. The famous song is called THE Lambeth Walk, so I always assumed, totally wrongly and without much thought, that "doing the Lambeth walk" was a particular style of walk in the style of the dance. The exact wording led me down the wrong path - pun intended - for my whole life up to now. Thanks for educating me JH.
I initially thought it was a part of "The ministry of silly walks"...
Now I’m imagining that the Ministry of Silly Walks started out as a wartime thing. Having seen how Hitler reacted to the Lambeth Walk, the British government set up an entire ministry to destroy his mind.
@@JagoHazzard That would be great! I'll send a letter to the British government to ask if I can become the Dutch ambassador for that Ministry!
Lived nearby and you’re quite right, you’d find us all doing it, every evening, every day.
You're not the only one. I thought this also! I had in my mind is a sort of cockney swaggering leg kicking sort of dance. It turns out it's a place. Cor blimey!
I was born near the Lambeth Walk in the 1955, I remember it from the 1960's. It was still a vibrant market back then, with a Sainsbury's that had counters form each type of food, even tins. A pie mash shop with live eels. An onion man on a bike, wearing a French beret on his head. I think you will find that the original Lambeth Walk was a path that ran alongside the Lambeth Palace, because I've seen a drawing done of Lambeth Palace, with gentlemen and ladies promenading by the river. The caption for the drawing said " Doing the Lambeth Walk, while waiting for the horse ferry."
Gawd blimey, Another Jago gem.
bless you for taking the hint and providing a route map for this piece. Unfortunately, since 'Lambeth Walk' (Street) and 'The Lambeth Walk' (song/dance number) are only tangentially connected a diagram/description of the actual dance floor routine was what is really needed. So for the benefit of younger subscribers The Lambeth Walk was a sequence dance imitating the well-known and loved Palais Glide in which couples lined up in rows across the floor, like spokes in a wheel, and sauntered/swaggered in step anticlockwise round the floor. What distinguished the Lambeth Walk was that at the end of each verse the participants were required to stamp a foot and shout 'Oy!' This simple riff sent the number viral in 1938/39 both in the Anglosphere and wider because you can shout 'Oy' in any language. It was a pity that Hitler never appreciated its potential because you can also stamp a jack boot in any language or country. Unfortunately the Nazis lived entirely in their own cultural bubble (a bit like the BBC and CNN really) so he opened himself to being lampooned by a raucous, but innocent, ballroom dance.
Noel Gay was born Reginald Moxon Armitage. Armitage was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School before obtaining a scholarship at the age of 15 to attend the Royal College of Music in London, after which he attended university. A precocious talent, he had deputised for the choirmaster of Wakefield Cathedral from the age of eight, becoming honorary deputy organist at twelveHis most famous show, for which he contributed the music but not the lyrics, was Me and My Girl. This originally opened in 1937 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London and, after a shaky start, gained popularity when the BBC broadcast it live on radio on 13 January 1938. It starred Lupino Lane as Bill Snibson and it ran for 1,646 performances despite being bombed out of two theatres. The "showstopper" in that work was "The Lambeth Walk" .He created Noel Gay Music in 1938 as a business vehicle.[2] It now forms a part of the Noel Gay Organisation which includes divisions for television and theatre and is a significant British showbusiness agency, under the day-to-day control of his family.
His son, Richard Armitage, set up the Noel Gay Artists agency and became an influential talent agent. I live 2 miles from Wakefield and there is a Blue plaque to Noel Gay at the entrance to Wakefield Catherdral. Most of the infrmation above is from Wikipedia.
Richard Armitage wanted to revive his Dad's musical, so to write a new more up-to-date book he found an up-and-coming writer fresh out of Cambridge... Stephen Fry! They made a huge success of it.
(Stephen later appeared in The Hobbit with Richard Armitage as Thorin, but it was a different Richard Armitage)
I've never heard the Duke Ellington version. The song comes from the 1937 West End musical 'Me and My Girl', which also introduced the world to 'The Sun Has Got His Hat On'. It was made famous by its original performer Lupino Lane, a variety artist from the 1930s. Both tunes were written by British Tin Pan Alley composer Noel Gay, with words by Douglas Furber and L Arthur Rose. Gay also wrote 'Run, Rabbit Run' and 'Leaning on a Lamp-Post'.
All loovely songs! Thank you for telling us that.
'A Pint of Moisture' is entering my vocabulary forthwith.
Snap!! Let's get some moisture - pronto!!
Ahh, the image of Nazis doing the Lambeth Walk instead of goose-stepping is priceless. Jago, your local urban knowledge and narration always makes my day.
Thanks!
I love Me and My Gal Musical
I lived in an unspeakably squalid shared flat across the road from Lambeth North tube station in 1967-8. Ours was the basement caretakers flat. At the lowest level it was actually below sea level. When the pumps failed in the sewers there would be foul eruptions from our drains. This encouraged us to use the public baths in Lambeth Walk. The building has now been converted to the health centre which features prominently in your film. The relief given by a plentiful supply of clean hot water was well worth the entry, which I think was 1/6d.
Wow!
I just randomly stumbled across this quite unremarkable street today when taking a walk and seemed to remember that you did a video on it. So here I am rewatching it. Had an interesting antique dealer though, will probably go back there after lockdown.
My late grandfather (Jack Daniels) orchestrated and played clarinet on the 1938 version of doing the Lambeth walk
Did he also invent the drink
@Klik Day Glen Morangie was the lad who set out the chairs and made the tea.
Think you'll find the drink is Jack daniel's. Alas an apostrophe is the difference between me replying here versus sitting on a stack of cash drinking something more refined then a JD and coke
The Lambeth Walk Group Oractice doctor's surgery shown at the end used to be a fully functioning public bath house with a huge old fashioned laundry around the back with hot rollers for sheets drying cupboards and all manner of good service until it closed in the 90s.
Thanks for that. I saw it on the end of the video and wondered what it's history was. Great looking building.
@Tina Onions Fifty years! It IS a lifetime!
@Tina Onions Two babies, is Geoff a twin Tina?
@Tina Onions Ah right, just wondered. Sorry being nosey.😁
@Tina Onions Completely agree Tina. When we first went into lockdown, with both of us self-isolating, the community support was amazing, far better than I've seen for many, many years. Maybe that will be one good outcome of these weird times?
I am from the United States. Thank you so much for your you tube videos. I enjoy learning about history from all over the world.
And you, Mr Jago, have done us all proud with your Lambeth talk. Thank you.
This does remind me of what Londonist has done with their videos of history about areas around London and the streets. This is incredible.
One of my favourite experiences
of the local theatre in Bielefeld
was going to a German version of
"Me and My Girl"
(songs in English, dialogue in German)
First I learnt that a Bielefeld audience
doesn't laugh until the end of the first act.
I did and was looked disapprovingly.
Second, I loved that so many of Bill Snibson's ancestors
were Korean (we have a lot of Korean singers in the chorus)
and third and finally,
it is hilarious to see and hear
a German audience singing along
to the finale which includes a
reprise of the Lambeth Walk.
The residents seem to be slightly more affluent these days- 2 BMWs and a Jaaag in one of the car parks.
On lease probably. Or gained by inventive means
Brilliant! And yes, Not being a Londoner I only knew the name by the song.
What better way to demonstrate that song than linking to everyone's favourite revolutionary, Wolfie. What a great entertainer!
This is my first encounter with the 'Schichlegruber' song, and I'm wondering if this is what gave Will Hay the idea for his 1942 film, The Goose Steps Out, as during the film Hay goose-steps in and out of the room with the same rythm as in this clip, and in one scene he also refers to Hitler as Schichlegruber.
If I recall correctly, Schichlegruber was Hitler's Mother's name so the reference may have been used to suggest that he was illegitimate.
The local theatre group in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Canada in 2001 put on a production of Me and my girl. I as a displaced Londoner was called in to help with accents.
A lady obviously enjoying being in the chorus was over the moon that the audience knew the words and every night joined in with the Lambeth Walk song!
Watching in California, getting ready for work. Thanks for the walk, and the laughs you started my day off right 👍
I have been up and down the Lambeth Walk quite a lot recently, playing football at the nearby Power League just off Black Prince Road. What I did notice was there was no pubs, at least no longer open. Looked like there were quite a few towards the north end of the road, including one that was called 'Lambeth Walk' but all have been converted in flats or places of business. Shame, but not untypical for many places in London.
"A pint of moisture" is the most British thing I've heard.
Ah my throat is a bit drink. Imma go suck on some moisture.
I have had beers where ‘a int of moisture’ would be a good description of their bland flavour!
or going down the pub for a few jars is another one
I'm from Woolwich, just down the road, when I lived there it was referred to as a "Mug of Suds!"
The songs for the musical Me and My Girl including The Lambeth Walk were written by Noel Gay. I'm not sure which song Ellington adapted though.
A correction needs to be made in the commentary of this video. Duke Ellington was NOT the composer of the song LAMBETH WALK.
I'm quoting from Wikipedia:
"The Lambeth Walk" is a song from the 1937 London musical "Me and My Girl" (with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay). The song takes its name from a local street, Lambeth Walk, once notable for its street market and working-class culture in Lambeth, an area of London. The tune gave its name to a Cockney dance made popular in 1937 by Lupino Lane.
Duke Ellington recorded a version of the song, but again he was not the composer. Hope that helps.
Thank you for another great snippet of London history. .... And I see you're now on the brink of 60,000 subscribers.
I will now use the term "pint of moisture" from now on! Love your videos Watching in Brooklyn NYC!
"The Schichlegruber - Doing the Lambeth Walk film reportedly enraged Joseph Goebbels to the degree that he ran out of the screening room kicking chairs and screaming profanities". .Wikipedia.o-r-g
And Hitler never saw it..Goebbles had every print in Nazi Europe burned. It is a masterful bit of editing!
@@itsjohndell I've read that Hermann Goering saw it and was amused but didn't tell Goebbels. He was an evil monster, but he did have a sense of humour. He may have been more amused by Goebbels reaction which as I understand, he was foaming at the mouth and screaming his head off.
It was absolutely brilliant though...
This is right by my old school! I used to love walking around here at lunchtimes
On a visit to London 5 years ago, I took Lambeth Walk late one night back to my Airbnb in Vauxhall. I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something special about the place. Most of the architecture is dreadful 1960s schlock. Per usual, this American might be wrong, but maybe there's something quintessentially British about this? Anyway, I find myself recreating this walk on Google Street View often and so love that you celebrated the street with a video. Cheers! Your channel is fantastic!
Thanks!
Yep, you're marvellous Alexander. Very kindest wishes from West London.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I worked in a studio on the other side of Kennington Road. Most lunchtimes my colleagues and I, would walk down Fitzalen Street to the Lambeth Walk pub, (pictured at 4'32" in the video,) where, along with forensic officers from New Scotland Yard's Vauxhall laboratories, we would consume pints of moisture and watch young ladies from the Provinces divest themselves of their clothing.
About 1940 Barnum and Bailey's elephants danced "The Lambeth Walk" in their circus tent. The song was very popular in the USA. The dancers would make a hitchhiking thumb move and say "hoy". Little did we know that Britishers say "oy" when we say "hey". Somehow oy got translated to hoy with the accent on the h. Cheers from Texas.
Streets of London & Tales from the Tube keep me in touch with my years of living and working in London.
I was born & brought up in the Lambeth Walk. Moved away in the mid '60s .The market was still thriving in the '60s, complete with Pearly Kings & Queens. What really killed it was the council "redeveloping" it. The place is a ghost town now. P.S. there's a pub at Kennington Cross that has a blue plaque that says "Charlie Chaplin's dad drank here" 😁
Love the "pint of moisture"...... Must remember that one! Another great video, thanks!!
I walk the lambeth walk twice a day on my commute to and from work. It's extremely charming. Great video!
O yea i done The Lambeth Walk and did not even know it :) In 2001 i lived near the Lambeth North tube station and walk the street many times to work and back :) Thanks for the nice walk thru the history of streets i used to stroll.
Hi Jago. Could you do something about Brick Lane in E1? Why do many bricks?
Hint: clay soil
Similar thing in Reading, there's even an area called Tilehurst; there used to be a lot of brickworks here. Even the council usually refer to the 3Bs of Reading, when it's 4.
Biscuits (Huntley and Palmers being the most famous)
Beer (countless breweries, Courage probably the best known/more recent one)
Bulbs (Sutton's Seeds started here) and of course, to drag this kicking and screaming back on topic, Bricks.
Thinking about it, I know Suttons and Huntley & Palmers both had their own private fire brigades, possibly a future video subject?
H&P fire crews even battled a fire at a rival local biscuit factory (Serpells), wouldn't it be great if companies still did "the right thing"!
@@georgeprout42 Greetings fellow Readingite, I'm from Whitley (I probably shouldn't so freely admit that) and we have a Gillette Way, no prizes for guessing that one.
@@750voltsdc3 I know it well, I live near the Sportsman 😉
@@georgeprout42 Oh wow, small world, I lived off the Whitley Wood Road, near the Shinfield Road traffic lights
My grandfather had a butcher's shop in the 60's called Jack's..
I remember the market and the pub on the corner at the time
The area was redeveloped in 1970 when the shops were demolished
I lived round the corner from 'The Walk' during the 50s. I had to run errands there. We bought our toys in Micklejohns and there were no end of market barrows with Fruit and veg, household goods, etc. I never saw anyone do the dance, not even in the Pie and Mash shop. And no, I'm not looking through rose tinted glasses - it was poor and grim. The shops are gone, replaced by those flats you showed at the start. Lambeth Council has a nice archive of photos on-line - worth a look.
There is a 3rd version! By French icon/diva Dalida. A French disco-ish cover of the Duke Ellington version.
It’s beyond camp. The video is not for the fainthearted. 😜
Poor Stephen Fry had to try to attempt to sing it on one episode of “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.”
Speaking of Lambeth songs, there is of course “Come on Eileen,” with video filmed on and around Brook Drive. The newsagent/grocery at the corner of Hayles St is still there.
Doing the Lambeth Walk was used as a memetic in a samba tune, possibly a batucada, but that certainly was many years ago for me so that memory has faded into a confused fog and mist to me now...
Never been for a gander down the walk though passed both ends. Seen the 1980s re-run of Me and My Girl (which has the other version of the song Me and My Girl, which Might have been where you got the idea of two songs). My Aunt lived in Vauxhall Pre WW2 and I think it was in this area, I should check and do my cousin's ancestry details. Her family moved to Hackbridge after WW2 in part for work at Mullards, which, as others who did the same were quoted in the 1990s, "We moved to Surrey to get out of the City, now its come to us, as the area got more housing (on the Mullards site!).
I’ll always remember watching the German Lambeth walk video with my parents, chortles all over the place!
There are actually *two* famous streets in (the London Borough of) Lambeth. The other is *Electric Avenue* in Brixton immortalized by Eddy Grant's hit back in 1983. As for *Lambeth Walk* The China Walk Estate which runs between 'the Walk' and Lambeth Road was built (1952-6) on the site where 'Passport to Pimlico' was filmed in 1949.
Lambeth Road wasnt built on the site of where Passport To Pimlico was filmed.... Lambeth Road has been there for quite a lot longer than 1949!
@@chriszanf I was referring to the *China Walk Estate* ! which is off Lambeth Road
Just to reiterate: the 1937 song is by Noel Gay (real name Reginald Moxon Armitage) and is a number in his musical "Me and My Girl" starring Lupino Lane (real name Henry William George Lupino). It was filmed in 1939 with Lupino Lane as 'The Lambeth Walk':
ua-cam.com/video/Mc6XUus5IC4/v-deo.html
Duke Ellington was just one of many who made recordings of the song.
Thanks! Added a correction in the description.
@@JagoHazzard My dad's family lived just round the corner in Old Paradise Street and worked at Doultons. They believed they were related to Lupino Lane - sadly, a family myth.
@@webrarian I had forgotten the connection between Lambeth and pottery works over the years.
In the eighties it was a grim place with a lot of anger still seething from the aftermath and buildup to the Brixton riots. Charlie Chaplin was more Elephant & Castle but Tommy Steele and Michael Caine weren't too far off from here either. The problem with the market is East St and Nine Elms markets were both in their ascendency thus the smaller markets like the walk were by and large allowed to wither but some still prospered as I used to do Battersea saturday market which was quite cool and used to have some cool pics of the chap who played "Vaseline" in London's Burning who lived just around there. East St became the principle South London market with Peckham and Lewisham being further good centralised markets, Deptford was always a cool one and I used to do both Bromley and Penge on occasion altho Penge's market was much reduced from the days it used to run end to end of Maple Road to just up by the Dew Drop. My late nan was one of the Cooper market trading fruit and veg family from the area and it was husking fruit and veg that gave her arms like a prize fighter and she was tough as old boots and she got her collar felt in her nineties when she beat black and blue a chap kicking his dog and got charged with assault.
Great bit of film well done Jago!! always good to get a bit of history about London.
They say you can tell a lot about there man from his shoes . I like this chap !
That's interesting... my thought was "what funny shaped feet he has for an intellectual...."
Great memories, I went to Lilian Baylis school (the old site), and knew Lambeth Walk like the back of my hand. I havent been there in coming up ten years though. In the nineties, the last shop on the right (with the blue grill) from where you started the walk was a Starburgers. There were a few lunchtimes spent there (after you'd climb over a fence as you were not allowed out unless you had a lunch pass).
*edit* I forgot to say that along Kennington Lane and Kennington Road you can see bomb damage on the surviving houses and other buildings. Look up and you see the pockmarks around the second and third floors. We had our school history department covered with pre- and post-war photos of the surrounding area.
"The Lambeth Walk", from "Me and My Girl", was written by Noel Gay - a Yorkshireman. Maybe Duke Ellington sung it.
Yes, Duke Ellington did a version of it, he didn't write it.
Thanks! Correction posted in the description.
Yep, real name Reg Armitage. Born in Wakefield, in fact, he was from Stanley, which is a village just north of Wakey, and he had another non-de-plume in Stanley Hill which he chose in tribute to his birthplace.
Here in Germany, I can confirm that the "Lambeth Walk" was a frequent clue-question in the DLF-Kultur programme "Sonntagsrätsel" (9.30, Sundays) moderated by the newly-late and very great Christian Bienert (with whom I had personal contact). I suppose it became an institutional cocksnook in the direction of the thankfully defunct Third Reich. But it's healthful fun in any reduced circumstances, I think that's the essential point.
Doing the Lambeth walk, oi!
I remember an episode of “Seaside Special” on BBC1 in the mid-‘70s in which a duo, consisting of a woman who looked about 80 and a man who looked about 120, sang the well-known version of “The Lambeth Walk”... in French.
Love your work! Excellent! Your channel is going to be big. Very BIG! ❤
I remember seeing the film on TV as a child, my parents, who both served in WW2, sang along wetting themselves. Who says having parents 40 plus years older can't be fun!
Pop Goes The Weasel might be a good one to do too 😊
He made a start with City Road Station
The music to Doing the Lambeth walk was written by a gentleman called Noel Gay. He also wrote the book for the musical. I can only assume that Duke Ellington recorded one of many versions of it.
See description for more.
Another nice video and thanks for the link to the wartime propaganda film. I was interested to hear about the Duke Ellington connection. I'd always assumed the Lambeth Walk was a good old British music hall song. You're probably right about him not partaking of the walk! Similarly composer Walter Kent did not see the white cliffs of Dover until around 1989 and lyricist Nat Burton maybe never. However, Birmingham-born Eric Maschwitz very possibly did hear a nightingale sing in Berkeley Square!
I used to go to the school you can see towards the end and I always found it a nice enough road to walk down.
Apparently the Dance came after Lupino Lane's performances , being adapted by ballrooms and formalised. and Wikipedia says additionally. - In Germany, big band leader Adalbert Lutter made a German-language adaptation called Lambert's Nachtlokal that quickly became popular in swing clubs. A member of the Nazi Party drew attention to it in 1939 by declaring The Lambeth Walk "Jewish mischief and animalistic hopping", as part of a speech on how the "revolution of private life" was one of the next big tasks of National Socialism in Germany. However, the song continued to be popular with the German public and was even played on the radio, particularly during the war, as part of the vital task of maintaining public morale.
In Italy the song was popularized by Dino Di Luca and the Trio Lescano in an Italian version titled: "Balliamo il passo Lambeth" (which sounds so Italian !!)
The 6th form I went to is on Lambeth Walk (it's the upper half of the building at 4:15). It's funny to think that the dreary street I looked out onto every day has such an interesting history!
Oh man, what a shame... It sounds like Lambeth could have developed into a nowadays Camden-Town-like - somewhat gentrified - hotspot. Was the area south of the Thames hit harder during the Blitz? The architecture in this video reminded me of the same horrible stuff that could be seen in your Elephant&Castle video...
South of the river was where a lot of industry was based, so it was a major target.
@@JagoHazzard And they followed the LSWR Railway Line
i also really love how the popular tune inspired the melody of The French Mistake in Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks knew what he was doing for sure!
I left London 16 years ago and the weather hasn't cleared yet. Still cloudy grey
Was yesterday, we had sunshine this morning, just enough to put the washing out, then it rained, hard.
@@highpath4776 So sorry to hear that, you should try spending a few years here in Brazil.
"Two pints of moisture and a packet of crisps please"
Or should it be pork scratchings.
"Sorry, we ain't got any crisps. I can do you a packet of crunchiness?"
And here I am, that I never heard or knew about the Lambeth Walk until now.
Although I previously lived in Lambeth for decades I only walked it once. Only a ghost of what it must have been in its heyday.
Cannot find the Alec Hurley version of the song anywhere, does anyone know where it might be heard?
I have a lambeth birth certificate it was the regrestration area for parts of s.w london ive seen it first hand and seriously it needs doing up and given the respect it deserves.
As George Prout suggested,(tangentially) how about a video on the Fire Brigades? - The early days with insurance plaques on the building etc?
It’s an idea I’ve been playing with.
I've always been interested in the recent social history of Bonnington Square, just to the south: perhaps one for the future Jago?
Who would be angory and mishspell?
IT DOESN'T COUNT IF YOU'RE NOT SHOUTING
If you can find a copy of the 1982 The Introze version on Monarch, its probably worth £100+
3:55 “du bist *Ein_e_ liberal_e_* Snowflake
Sorry, my internal grammarnazi kicked in
Evidently a lax adherent - Schneeflocke bitte.
I larfed so much, my teeth fell into my tea!
I love the idea of trolling Hitler with youtube poop before youtube poop was invented...
I love the trolling credit on that video... "assisted by the Gestapo Hep-Cats". I doubt any Hep-Cats ever went near the Gestapo but it amuses me to think of them awkwardly trying to be Hep-Cat like.
Round guys drinking pints of moisture. Not sure what that looks like but it sure sounds fun. Hi from New York City, Jago.
Having lived in the area for some years, I would say the Luftwaffe may have damaged Lambeth Walk but the subsequent town planners really finished it off. Them and changes in shopping & leisure habits, to be fair. It was still bustling for many years after the war.
I used to hear reference to the song quite a bit and hear it sung at school in Battersea in the 70s...
Just looked at a website, the Lambeth Walk given as " Written and composed by E.W. Rogers - 1899
Performed by Alec Hurley (1871-1913)" So who is E.W. Rogers ? (other than he also wrote, Ask A P'Liceman" , ( www.discogs.com/artist/2744625-EW-Rogers )
I'm from North London. I remember hearing the song when I was a lad. I had family in South London, but I'm more of a North London lad.
I have the Twiggy version of the song. Who released the most popular?
Difficult to say, there were a lot, I will do a list of some .
@@highpath4776 the song was also sung in a series called The Land Girls.
We danced to the Lambeth Walk music in primary school and I can't remember any of it apart from "doing the lambeth walk" and we'd spin and kick 😂
The reference to "Round People" may be to do with the regular traders such as Milkmen, Bakers, Tinkers etc. When I was growing up in Woolwich, just down the road, in the 1950s they'd come on their "round" either at a regular time of day, or certain days of the week. Mr Steptoe would probably have been a "Round" person.
Interesting, I didn’t think of that, but it certainly fits.
Wow, the (anti-)Nazi _Lambeth Walk_ is genuinely hilarious. We see that kind of video editing all the time, these days, but to see it from the 1940s is amazing.
I love your videos this was great, cheers 🥂 🇩🇪, 💕🇬🇧
Don't know why I'm so fascinated by these videos. I don't even live in London, or the UK for that matter. Maybe it's because... they're really good? :)
(I have however visited London many times over the last 30 years...)
Although I'm a fan, I've never heard the Duke Ellington versionof which you speak: but there is a very good version by Django Reinhardt, recorded about 1939, which I love...
I didn’t know about that version, I should look it out. I do enjoy a bit of Django.
INSERT ANGRY AND MISPELLED COMENT HERE!
Huh. You cant even spel comen't proply
I laughed at that little dig too. Wasn't going to coment though.😁
Fantastic video ! As you do are London themed songs, please do Mile End :D
Hooray! But at .50 'Not much to look at' you were filming on Vauxhall Walk...
I love this video.
Now I want to know about the /first/ Lambeth Walk song
Any connection to the Lambeth bridge? :)
Lambeth bridge isn't far away, only a couple of minutes walk.
@@ericpode6095 Yes, I'm aware. Just curious about the history :) sometimes things are pretty straightforward, but in London things are often random ^^
@@saarak8080 Yes London can be a curious place. ☺
@@ericpode6095 the road to Lambeth Bridge from the north is Horseferry Road, so i wonder what used to be where the Bridge now is ? Ironically The Buildings on the North side of Lambeth Bridge were mainly govt offices , MI (chose your number) and Special Branch I think.
@@highpath4776 I worked around there so I can't confirm or deny the (government organization) was in Horse ferry Rd/Millbank but I'm pretty sure they're not there now.
@1:21
Streets very clean for being in London!
I too have done the Lambeth walk. Honest, guv!
I found this video interesting as it brought back memories. I first saw the German Marching to the Lambeth Walk in the 1950’s on a black and white TV (which was OK as it was in black and white) and found it very funny. Later that week on the programme that gave the viewers time to moan it was considered an outrage, to show the Germans (the Germans and Nazi were the same, it was not until the 1970’s when we were all in the “Common Market” we did not want to upset them by reminding them of their past) marching to an English Song. In WW2 it was funny to poke fun at the Germans in the 1950’s we know the terrible acts they had done it was no longer funny.
Strange how history and attitudes change in time.
The Duke did visit the Lambeth street. I was with him and we were looking for ice cream.