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Richard Crangle (ed.), The Great Showman of Greenwich: the Life and Times of David W. Noakes and his Amazing Quadruple Magic Lantern
Exeter: Magic Lantern Society, 2026
ISBN 978-0-9929628-2-1
176 pages, 179 illustrations, paperback, 24 x 22cm
“Mr G.W. Noakes is the official Magic Lantern Projectionist to the Albert Hall […] I had the pleasure of visiting him last week at Southend to see the Noakesoscope. This was invented by his father, Mr D.W. Noakes, whose Dioramic Lectures delighted town hall and philosophical society audiences in the Nineties.” – John Betjeman, The Spectator, 1956
Whatever happened to the ‘Noakesoscope’ (or ‘Quad’), the four-lens illuminated monster that intrigued the poet John Betjeman so much that he made a pilgrimage to witness its unique charms? Why was it built? How did it survive? What does it tell us today? And who was Mr D.W. Noakes anyway?
The answers lie in a complex alignment of magic lantern planets in the latter part of the nineteenth century, over a bustling town on the River Thames. Not yet part of London, Greenwich was a vibrant maritime community where wealth and poverty rubbed shoulders. Hay salesman, wreck-raiser, inventor and magic lantern showman, David William Noakes was at its epicentre, both geographically and socially.
This book sheds new light on Mr Noakes, his world and his lanterns. His unique ‘quadruple projection apparatus’ has survived almost intact with its lenses, accessories and original slides. This very rare complete outfit has much to reveal about the ‘Great Showman of Greenwich’ and the now lost world where he once plied his spectacular trade.
Contributors: Jeremy Brooker, Richard Crangle, Martin Gilbert, Nicholas Hiley and Sandra Lawrence, with a foreword by David Francis OBE.
