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The way we were: Troublesome guests

Extracts from memoirs and diaries

By Ian Irvine  
June 20, 2012
July 2012

Hans Christian Andersen, who irritated Charles Dickens and family

Peter the Great trashes Sayes Court, the house and celebrated garden in Deptford of the diarist John Evelyn (1698):

February 6: “The Czar Emp of Muscovy, having a mind to see the Building of Ships, hired my House at Sayes Court, and made it a Court and palace, lying and remaining in it, new furnished for him by the King.”

April 21: Evelyn’s bailiff reported that the Czar’s entourage had been “right nasty” and had broken windows, smashed furniture, used portraits for target practice and “damnified” the garden. A favourite pastime…

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Ian Irvine

Ian Irvine is a freelance writer

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