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The HLH Team live and in person I can’t remember how I found out about Hidden London Hangouts. There was an exhibition at the Museum about disused stations and parts of other places that were not publicly seen. And then Covid-19 hit more or less at the same time as the Youtube show began on April 4th 2020—with a look at Aldwych, which closed in 1994. However I got to know about it, I knew I was going to love it. It goes out on Youtube on Saturday evenings, presented by the London Transport Museum’s Chris Nix, Siddy Holloway and Laura Hilton-Brown along with Alex Grunden, a producer with a phenomenal talent for presenting if this series is anything to go by.  It was a difficult and at times terrifying time, and Alex’s sign-off “have yourself a great day and stay safe” actually felt like the most heartfelt words of wisdom and care. Because although I was very lucky and I have nothing but respect for those in harms way during this time, I also didn’t go anywhere and lived and worked...

  1939. As World War II loomed a widow in Suffolk calls on a local archaeologist (or is it excavator?) Basil Brown ( Ralph Fiennes ) to investigate some mounds on her property. On a personal note, Basil lived in the village in Suffolk where I (mostly) grew up. This film is about his involvement in the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon burial, an oaken ship and a chamber of tremendously important finds. The whole site is one of the most important discoveries of the 20th Century. And Basil Brown may be one of the few in the profession whose name is common knowledge in Britain: the other being Howard Carter, who is name-checked early on. Obviously in the world of films the most famous archaeologist isn’t really anything of the sort. And if archaeologists who bemoaned the Indiana Jones films, pointing out that archaeology is about careful study and the delicate recovery of items which are treated with the utmost care and respect, and rules about what should happen when such things are uneart...