Boris Karloff

As part of my seasonal viewing this Halloween, I decided to rewatch my 'Heroes of Horror' 2DVD set which contains documentaries about, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Lorre & Vincent Price. In the Boris Karloff documentary was reference to there being a memorial to him in St Paul's Church (The Actors Church) in Covent Garden - a church that I had walked past pelnty of times when I had worked up in London, but never ventured inside. So on Thursday of this week as I was going to London to see a performance by the Gavin Bryars Ensemble in nearby St. Martin-In-The-Fields, I thought I'd pop in and take a look.

Saturday 15th November 2025

The pumpkins at the party

Last Saturday's Halloween party... 5 pumpkins were suiatbly carved and entered. Not surprisingly Feathers McGraw won! 

Saturday 1st November 2025

Pluckley

I've always wanted to go to Pluckley in Kent on account of it's reputation of being the Most Haunted Village in England, however I've always been mindful of the hype and the fact that the village in recent years has been swamped by so-called ghost hunting tourists which have swamped the village and made it a less desirable place to visit.

But last night in St Nicholas' church was a fabulous talk given by local historian Ed Adams to launch his new book which examines the history behind the ghosts (i.e the people and events one which they might be based) and how the retalling of the tales have added to or warped the local folklore, and the modern fakery that has added to the village's reputation. The talk had over 100 people and I have my copy of Ed's book to read over the winter months.

And to finish the evening off, I had a seasonal beer in the Black Horse pub just along from the church.

Saturday 18th October 2025

Universal Monsters Wine

The 19 Crimes brand has put out 3 glow-in-the-dark designs for Halloween - 2 red wines and 1 white. The wines are available in the major UK supermarkets; although the Mummy design, I believe, is exclusive to Tesco. The bottles are priced about £10 although I have seen some loyalty card discounts bring the princing down to £7.50 per bottle. All are very drinkable!

Sunday 5th October 2025

More from Asda 2025 - the main display

The main display is out in the local Adsa to me in Folkestone. It seems that someone might have got to the Nb4C items before me, or there are simply a few more items to put out. Anyway, I was a bit disappointed with this year's offering overall, but here are some of the choice items. I did quite like the wooden houses in the homeware sections.

Thursday 2nd October 2025

More from Asda Halloween 2025

I was a bit disappointed on my visit to Asda today that they hadn't got round to putting their whole Halloween display out yet, but the sleepware was out, as was the homeware items on the end of the aisle. I'm guessing the rest will come out over the coming week.

Saturday 27th September 2025

Ikea Halloween 2025

Popped my head inside the new Ikea store at Oxford Circus and they had the following items on display.

Saturday 27th September 2025

Flying Tiger Halloween 2025

I'm guesing the Flying Tiger store in Oxford Street probably has their whole range in. Here are some of the more interesting items.

Saturday 27th September 2025

Disney Store Halloween 2025

I was in London yesterday, visiting a gallery and going to the theatre, but the walk to and from, took me past various shops in Oxford Street with their Halloween fare out on display. Nice to see the Haunted Mansion merchandise.

Saturday 27th September 2025

Tesco 2025

When I visited my local Tesco store today I saw their main Halloween display. It's mainly the usual type of cheaper decorations and nothing outstandng regarding costumes and masks. There seems to be a trend for some larger cuddly toys made up for example with a mask or cape this year to cash in - I suppose the cuteness appeals to the toddler market, but for the more hardened halloween collectors, nothing to get excited about. I didn't take photos of the sweets and cakes as they are somewhat generic too. The fabric pumpkins billed as cushions at £10 each seemed the nicest items, but there were noticably less orange ones than the cream coloured options - so get them while they last.

Monday 24th September 2024