Hackney Marshes - Music, Literature and Film

Music, Literature and Film

• The celebrated cockney music hall performer Gus Elen sang a song entitled If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses In Between which included the following chorus:

Oh it really is a wery pretty garden
And Chingford to the eastward could be seen;
'Wiv a ladder and some glasses,
You could see to 'Ackney Marshes,
If it wasn't for the 'ouses in between.

• In 1977, a 15 minute film was made celebrating the football on the marshes, by John Smith, and adapted for television the following year.
• In 1997, Nike presented a selection of Premiership players turning out for the Sunday League teams to the soundtrack of Blur's "Parklife".
• The 2005 film Bullet Boy (Saul Dibb) used the marshes and local streets as a location.
• Radio 1's Hackney Weekend was held here on the marshes on 23 and 24 June 2012. with acts such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, will.i.am, Florence + The Machine, Leona Lewis and Plan B all performing across the two days.