History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

On the evening of 23 August 1929 soon after 10pm, the audience was leaving the Ionic Theatre Golders Green, having just seen the silent film ‘The River’, staring Hollywood actors Charles Farrell and Mary Duncan. As they left the cinema and headed towards the bus depot and the Underground station, some of them saw two men arguing outside a shop in The Parade. Today, this is Leverton and Sons Ltd, funeral directors, 624 Finchley Road, near the clock tower in the centre of the road. The Ionic Theatre One of the men appeared to punch the other in the face and he fell backwards hitting his head on the pavement. The assailant ran off and jumped on a bus going towards Childs Hill and Swiss Cottage. People tried to help the injured man and PC Garner who was on point duty was called. When he got there, he was shocked to find the man was a colleague, PC John Self who worked in plain clothes.  Dr Leakey, who lived locally, was called and he found PC Self unconscious on the pavement. He was t...