Problem
Where is Primrose Hill? How do you get there? Why is it called Primrose Hill? Why should I care who lived there? Why should I go there?
Answer Primrose Hill, I imagined was named after springtime primrose, which means first roses. Alas, Wikipedia tells me the area is not named after primroses but after a man.
Story
I associate Primrose Hill with suicidal American poet Sylvia Plath, who married Ted Hughes, one of the UK's great poets. For many years I regarded his history with suspicion. He had the misfortune to lose two young wives. (As Oscar Wilde said, in the Importance of Being Earnest, "to lose one parent is a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.") Yes, Ted Hughes married two women who both committed suicide. The area certainly has an interesting history.
Blue plaques
The area has blue plaques for three well known people who lived in the area
1 Poet Sylvia Plath,
2 Engels who encouraged Karl Marx, and
3 Poet Yeats.
Tips
Finally, where exactly is it and how do you get there?
Chalk Farm station is on the northern line (one end is Edgware). The station is is opposite the legendary Round House theatre. From the Round House walk uphill to Primrose Hill, crossing a pedestrian bridge with murals.
To learn more about the poets and people of Primrose Hill:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primrose_Hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Plath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assia_Wevill (Second wife of Ted Hughes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Engels
The Round House theatre.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 2016.
Action
Book lunch at Al Limone restaurant. (See next post)
Author
Angela Lansbury, author and travel writer, speaker.
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