Columbia Road: A Strange Kind of Paradise

Bishopsgate Institute Podcast

Born on Columbia Road, award-winning author Linda Wilkinson traces the history of the fragrant home of East London’s famous flower market. From the earliest times when the land was pastureland for cows whose milk supplied the City of London, through the influx of the Huguenot weavers and up to the present day, this talk is part historical and part social memoir based on familial recollections. Linda Wilkinson spent the first 25 years of her working life as a Research Scientist with many publications to her name. In the late 1990’s she began writing for the theatre, where her first play garnered a major award. Her first history book won the Raymond Williams Prize. She has written plays for Radio 4 and her stage plays have been performed both in England and Europe. She was Chair of Amnesty International UK for 6 years and continues to be involved in Human Rights Activism. She still lives just around the corner from Columbia Road.