Tim Kendall

Tim Kendall is the grandson of the Reverend George Kendall who preached from 1926 to 1956 on the Public Morality platform which was established in the late nineteenth century. Earlier Reverend Kendall had overseen the exhumation of “The Unknown Warrior” in strictest secrecy. Tim reads from his grandfather’s unpublished memoirs, a witty chronicle of Hyde Park at its busiest. “If you want to find your long lost husband or wife, your wandering son or daughter or even your creditor go to Marble Arch,” says Reverend Kendall. He spoke frankly about sex and venereal disease to a disorderly crowd. Willing souls rubbed shoulders with “perverts” for whom his collar was like “a red rag to a bull.” His contemporaries included nihilistic comedian Bonar Thompson, who eeked a living by soliciting illegal donations, and saintly Father Vincent MacNab.

Audio of Tim reading his grandfather's memoirs

“Mr Bonar Thompson”