WOOD GREEN

'Wood Green' is a district in the London Borough of Haringey in North London, England. It is a suburban area situated 6.7 miles (10.1 km) north of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.

Contents

History

Governance

Television

2003 ricin plot

Today

Notable people from Wood Green

Public Transport

Tube stations

Railway stations

Buses

Education

Primary

Secondary

Sport

Nearest places

Famous people associated with Wood Green

References

External links

History

In the latter half of the 19th century and before urbanisation Wood Green was part of Tottenham and covered by woodland called Tottenham Wood, hence the original name of the area, Tottenham Wood Green.

Governance

Main articles: Municipal Borough of Wood Green

In 1894 Wood Green was created as an urban district, and later a municipal borough, of Middlesex. In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, the Municipal Borough of Wood Green was abolished and its area merged with that of the Municipal Borough of Tottenham and the Municipal Borough of Hornsey to form the present-day London Borough of Haringey. Most of Wood Green is in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.

Television

Historically, Wood Green played a leading role in the development of both public service and commercial television in the UK. On 28 November 1936, the BBC opened its TV service at Alexandra Palace (popularly known as "Ally Pally") and in 1955 with the opening of Lew Grade's London weekend franchise Associated Television (ATV), the Wood Green Empire in Lymington Avenue was home to variety programmes on Independent Television (ITV), one of which was the 'Arthur Haynes Show', starring the host himself and his straight man Nicholas Parsons. Sadly, the Wood Green Empire no longer exists (it has been replaced by a shopping precinct) and all that is left of the halcyon days of BBC TV in Wood Green is the familiar TV mast on Alexandra Palace. The ATV operations moved to Elstree and Borehamwood (now BBC studios) and the BBC News department, which was the only unit remaining at Ally Pally after BBC TV Centre was opened in the 1950s, moved to White City, west London in September 1969. Ally Pally was then used for the production of joint BBC/Open University (OU) programmes for a while, but all OU programmes are now produced in Milton Keynes where the OU's headquarters are located. The BBC has ceased broadcasting OU programmes from 15 December 2006.

2003 ricin plot

Main articles: Wood Green ricin plot

On January 7 2003, British police announced details of the discovery of traces of the toxin ricin in a flat in Wood Green. It was later revealed more accurate tests showed that there was no ricin present in the flat.

Today

Wood Green is a buzzing activity centre with a sizeable shopping area with two cinemas, bars, numerous restaurants & cafes and a mall called Shopping City close to the tube station. The High Road, the main shopping spine, is part of Green Lanes and stretches from the Wood Green tube station to the next stop on the Piccadilly Line, Turnpike Lane, and is lined with shops along its route. Wood Green Crown Court is a short distance along Lordship Lane. It has also established a reputation for being vibrant and multicultural, and it has been estimated that nearly two hundred languages are spoken in the area.^[1]
The property in the area is mainly Edwardian and Victorian, mainly terraced houses.
Wood Green has a very strong artistic tradition in theatre, film, TV, music and the visual arts, which has survived in spite of the less than inspired planning by Haringey Council !
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, a world famous acting school with strong links to both theatre and TV, is located in Wood Green.
THe Chocolate Factory is full of artists studios. Beginning in 1995 as an artist-led initiative The Chocolate Factory is now the centre of a vast Cultural Quarter which includes artists, music, film & multi media studios, photographic studios, printers, 2 restaurants, recording studios and several performing arts organisations.
For the past five years Wood Green has held a Film festival it shows short British, Irish and International Films, as well as discussion groups and workshops for both established and up and coming filmakers.
The Wood Green Film Festival is in its 5th year and is growing in success and recognition as a premier arts event in London, showing short British, Irish and International Films, as well as discussion groups and workshops for both established and up and coming filmakers.
R.E.M.'s album Fables of the Reconstruction and The Smiths single Panic, were both recorded in Wood Green.> Bjork debut album aptlt called 'Debut' was also recorded in Wood Green. Buena Vista Social Club, was recorded in Cuba but mixed in Wood Green. Other artists that have recorded in Wood Green include the Libertines, Ry Cooder, John Martyn, Jamie Cullum, Youssou N'Dour, Ash, Ronan Keating etc.

Notable people from Wood Green

★ Judy Dyble, singer

★ Paul Furlong, footballer

★ Jack Hawkins, actor

★ Leonard Whiting, actor

Public Transport

Tube stations

★ Bounds Green (Piccadilly Line)

★ Wood Green (Piccadilly Line)

★ Turnpike Lane (Piccadilly Line)

Railway stations

★ Bowes Park

★ Alexandra Palace (formerly known as Wood Green Alexandra Park).
Until the 1960s, a railway line of the former Great Eastern Railway network crossed the Wood Green High Road, at a station called Noel Park, providing connections to Stratford and North Woolwich.

Buses

A bus station is located at Turnpike Lane, there are also many buses that stop outside Wood Green tube station. It is the starting place of many bus routes including the 29 to Trafalgar Square.

Education

:''For details of education in see the London Borough of Haringey article.''

Primary

★ Broadwater farm primary

★ Alexandra Primary

★ Earlham Primary

★ Lordship Lane Primary

★ Nightingale Primary

★ Noel Park Primary

★ St.Michael's C of E Primary

★ St.Pauls RC Primary

★ Rhodes Avenue

Secondary

★ Woodside High School

★ Greig City Academy

★ Alexandra Park School

★ St Thomas More RC School

Sport

London Skolars are a rugby league team that compete in National League 2, they play at New River Stadium in Wood Green. The annual Middlesex 9s rugby league tournament also takes place at the New River Stadium.

Nearest places

★ Bounds Green

★ West Green

★ Bowes Park

★ Muswell Hill

★ Hornsey

★ Palmers Green

★ Tottenham

★ Turnpike Lane

★ Harringay

Famous people associated with Wood Green

★ Mark Knopfler ( Dire Straits )

★ Moby ( Musician )

★ Paul Kossoff ( Musician - Free )

★ Sade ( Singer )

★ David Kossoff Actor

★ Jona Lewie ( Singer )

★ Belle and Sebastian ( Band )

★ Jo Brand ( Comedian )

★ Johnny Borrell ( Razorlight )

★ Mike Leigh

★ Mark Nartey

★ Alison Steadman

★ Jack Hawkins ( Actor )

★ Morecambe and Wise

★ Eight Legs ( Band )

★ Judy Aileen Dyble ( fairport Convention )

★ Bob Wilson ( Footballer - goalkeeper, Arsenal )

References

1. Haringey's English Language Page

Notable Appearances:

★ Nick Hornby's book, ''High Fidelity''

External links

★ Wood Green Film Festival

★ Wood Green Empire, Theatre of Varieties

★ http://www.flickr.com/groups/haringey/

★ http://www.woodgreenparish.com/

★ http://www.urban75.org/vista/woodgreen.html

★ http://www.woodgreen.org.uk/html/londonnews.htm

★ History of the Wood Green Empire

★ http://thechocolatefactoryartists.co.uk/index.html
News story:

★ BBC news story on Wood Green arrests