All roads lead to... Kilburn?

I was down in the City of London for the meeting of the management committees of Hampstead Heath , Keats House and Queen's Park when I spied this little gem.

Ye Olde Watling public house
There's a great summary review here http://ultimatepubguide.com/pubs/info.phtml?pub_id=353
including the much repeated claim that this pub was built on the instruction of Christopher Wren for workers on the St Paul's project...

The picture isn't great quality - I was in a rush and the light was falling and failing, but of course it's also on Watling Street.

The road later (physically and historically), as it heads north, becomes Edgware Road, then Maida Vale, the Kilburn High Road and Shoot Up Hill, Cricklewood Broadway and off into England's shires...

But of course it starts somewhere and as I dashed for my tube to Mansion House I had forgotten that it was in fact here.

Don't worry good readers I didn't delay, but a return visit to the watering hole before emabarking north to Kilburn seems appropriate at some point...

Anyone else want to join me here for a sneaky half one day soon?

William Friese Greene - Kilburn as the home of cinema?

So, does Kilburn have the claim to be the home of William Friese-Greene and cinematography? There are certainly enough traces and claims that are fairly easy to track down.

The Tricycle Theatre has a plaque on it's wall for the grand opening that pays tribute to Friese-Greene's work.

But none of the biographies I have found to date suggest or confirm a north london connection and not yet a Kilburn link... other than the Kilburn plaque...

Well in fact at the bottom of the Kilburn High Road, where it becomes Maida Vale I found Friese-Greene House - nothing special or flashy but very much there...

So clearly the rumour, the story, the myth and the tradition that he was Kilburn has some credence, supporters or validity.

It is suggested that Kilburn High Road was the location for Friese-Greene's studio's - and that the Tricycle is on the site of the those. These were not successful cinema's and Friese-Greene's role in the development of cinematography. His supporters suggest that he in fact effectively invetned the moving picture and that Thomas Edison secured the patent... other suggest that he was heading on the right lines but his lack of success, business acumen and inability to secure the patent that took off means his reputation has been dimmed and then controversial.

In tradition with all great inventors (it would seem) he died in dramatic circumstances whilst addressing a convention of film enthusiasts so his place in history has been at least noted and enhanced.

The main claim to his story lies with Brighton who are very keen to secure him: http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__5718_path__0p117p157p344p.aspx

But there is one further piece in the Kilburn claim... just down the Kilburn High Road, a few yards from the Tricycle there is a row of late victorian buildings that has some stone tracery - in the form of film rolls! Now I am not suggesting that this is some kind of subliminal tribute to Friese-Greene, though it is possible (esp. given the lilely operational dates in Kilburn of 1888-1891), but I am saying that it feels like it adds some voracity to the claim that Kilburn has a cinematic tradition. It might be all those cinema's, but it might be the film experiment and development studios... any insights out there?

More on William Friese-Greene can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Friese-Greene which is a pretty balanced account.