Disparu: The Onion Johnny. Crossing the Channel 

from Brittany, he was a seasonal travelling salesman 

whose profession was completely unknown in 

France (where onions were sold at market).

Living: Georgian Creamware. Take a lump 

of white Cornish clay, add water and pour into 

a Plaster of Paris mould. Remove and bake. 

See the results at Ancient Industries.

High Steppers, 1938-9

Edward VIII, 1936

Miss Earhart's Arrival, 1936

Decidedly previous: Walter Sickert's pop art.

Painted from newspaper photos and not from life,

Sickert was frowned upon for cheating.

Living: Ambergris. Sperm whale faeces, used

in French perfume (Givenchy, Dior, Chanel).

Colourfully explained here by Philip Hoare.

Living: Christian Dior, Fall 2010.

Sadly extinct: The Dior 'Daisy' boot, c.1948.

Painting of Nancy Mitford by Mogens Tvede.

Quotable:

"A lucky kit, a lucky shoe,

To let you know my love is true."

Valentine cards at Ancient Industries.

Living + extinct: The Megalethoscope. A

rather huge optical apparatus designed circa 1870

by Carlo Ponti, a Swiss optician living in Venice.

See its magical effects at George Eastman House.

Living: The Oxford Shoe (re-christened The John

or The Charles) at Start-Rite. Above shoe made

c. 1950 and photographed by the Cordwainers

College Historic Shoe Collection.

Living: Andrew Pinkham, photographer.

"Equestian couture a la Dries van Noten"

"Regal towers of cumin, coriander, ginger and turmeric"

"As life has been, so it continues to be"

"How many times are we going to get the chance

to buy something excreted from a goat?"

Living: Marrakech, through the eyes + words

of Lisa Borgnes Giramonti at A Bloomsbury Life.

(Thanks also to Lisa + the W Magazine Editors'

Blog for highlighting Ancient Industries.)

Living on Flickr: Tom Palumbo, 1921-2008.

The personal photographs of a real life Dick Avery,

whilst on a fashion assignment in Paris and

home in New York. Via India Knight.

The goods (jazz jumper from Scotland)

The proprietress

The Norfolk coast

Living: Old Town, noted clothiers and publishers of

The Evening Star. Using traditional and increasingly

obscure British fabrics the clothes are tailored on

the coast of Norfolk (and their silk ties are now

available at Ancient Industries).

Extinct: Cecil Beaton, sometime illustrator, 

1904-1980. A dandy who also eschewed and 

embraced Edwardian values and dress. 

Portrait by Bachrach.

Extinct: Sir Osbert Lancaster, illustrator,

1908-1986. A dandy who both eschewed

and embraced Edwardian values and dress.

Underrated: Indiscreet, 1958,

directed by Stanley Donen, starring

Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.

Interior at Paddington, 1951

Bacon and Freud, Old Compton Street, 1974

RIP: Harry Diamond, 1924-2010.

Gannex raincoat wearing habitué of Soho,

he sometimes photographed artists in

theirs and posed for them in his.

Living: Dog obsession. Indulge it at Ancient Industries.

Edward & Mrs Simpson photographed by Dorothy Wilding.

Living: Royal Stewart, punk tartan of choice.

Now available at Ancient Industries.

Sex Pistols graphics by Jamie Reid.

Living: The Maine Hunting Shoe.

Hand crafted in Maine since 1912.

Extinct: The travelling salesman. Pre-Avon Lady, 

he brought household goods to the door such as 

pots, brushes, whicker baskets and bolts of fabric.

Postcard from the collection of Old Town.

Unremembered: Reginald Marsh,

1898-1954. Born in Montparnasse and

educated at Yale, Marsh was a New York

Social Realist who appreciated women.

Candy Counter, 1969, 2004

Living: Sharon Core, photographer, b. 1965.

Living: The gumball machine. Created by the

Greeks, who used vending machines for holy water,

New Yorkers had to wait until 1907 to get one for gum.

Thanks to Daily Candy for their link to Ancient

Industries. Painting by Wayne Thiebaud.

Living: Skating. Primitive man had a go with
bits of bone, but the metal bladed skate was
made by the Dutch during the 13th century.

Painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, 1795.

Living: The Beatle Boot. Created in 1961 by

Paul & John when they asked Anello & Davide
to add a Cuban heel to the Chelsea Boot.
Print by Andy Warhol.

Living: Black letter gothic. Although Hitler
crashed the party and spoilt it for everyone, this
ancient font is once again belle of the ball. Thanks
to T Magazine for its profile on Ancient Industries.
Letter by Michaël Dal Vecchio.

Extinct:

The naughty, bawdy, gawdy, sporty aughts.

Living: The new austerity tea towel. Orwellian 

working man's caff signs screen printed on cotton 

by the esteemed architectural salvage company, 

Trainspotters. Available at Ancient Industries.

Living: Trifle. Child of Syllabub and the Fool, the trifle 

had its official debut in 1751. Photograph of Nigel's 

Delightful Trifle courtesy of A Bloomsbury Life. 

Cecil Beaton, costume design for My Fair Lady, 1964

Horse Races at Montreuil, 1911, by Jacques Henri Lartigue

Living: Inspiration, or, to know what to recognize.

Cecil Beaton photographs from Sotheby's Archive.

Living: Fortnum & Mason, since 1707.

Creators of the Scotch Egg and the picnic hamper, 

and supporters of the baked bean and the honey bee,

read the concise and edifying historical timeline.

Living: The Christmas tree. Popularized in

court by mad King George's German wife Charlotte,

the tree was not embraced by the public until Prince

Albert was seen posing next to one at Windsor.

Extinct (mostly): The detachable collar, b.1827. 

Invented by a resourceful housewife in upstate 

New York, the front and cuffs soon followed. 

Photograph by Paul Outerbridge.

Living: Pig-Pen, est. 1954. "He may be carrying 

around the soil that was trod upon by Solomon, 

or Nebuchadnezzar or Genghis Khan!" 

—Charlie Brown