Tong Church

As I recall, I went to Tong, on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border, with my parents to take photographs for my pre-dip art course at Sutton Coldfield College Of Art. St Bartholomew's, which was largely rebuilt in 1409, is best known in literary circles for being the location of the grave of Little Nell (setting aside the inconvenient detail that she was a fictional character), which can still actually be seen there.

Dickens' grandmother lived and worked in Tong and when he visited, the church became the inspiration for the final resting place of Nell Trent in The Old Curiosity Shop. The story was originally published in instalments in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840. The final chapter was published on 6 February 1841 to unprecedented hype; American Dickens readers reputedly stormed the docks of New York, shouting to sailors, "Is Little Nell alive?" as they arrived.

Oscar Wilde reputedly said that no person of true sensitivity could read the death of Little Nell without laughing.

L.
19.1.2013

Tong, Shropshire (Wikipedia entry)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Jimi Hendrix - Somewhere (recorded 13 March 1968)
This was recorded three days before my trip to Tong, with Steve Stills (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums), but was not released in his lifetime. It first appeared on the posthumous album Crash Landing, with overdubbed bass and drums replacing the original, whilst the actual demo surfaced on a box set in 2000. At the time of writing this new mix has been released as a single as a prelude to the album People, Hell And Angels.