The Singapore-Hendon Nexus – courtesy of a London Pro

Regular readers will know that I like to find strange comparisons in literature where famous writers compare places in China to rather mundane locations elsewhere – there’s a ton them here with links from previously. Here’s a Singapore related one…

To Beg I am Ashamed was supposedly the memoir of a London prostitute by Sheila Cousins published in 1938 (though some say it was ghost written by Graham Greene). Towards the end of the book the central character is whisked of to Malaya by a client and notes of Singapore:

‘For Singapore, when you get to know it, is merely Hendon Central with the sea round’

eerrr, OK….this of course seems a bit silly now, but then in the 1930s perhaps not so much on reflection (climate aside obviously).

Singapore in the 1930s

Hendon – not overly dismilar to a lot of the architecture Singapore had from the British around the that time…