Friday Island is an island in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in England at

Old Windsor Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west. Etymology The name originates from ol ...

, Berkshire. It is on the reach above Bell Weir Lock, just short of

Old Windsor Lock Old Windsor Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England on the right bank beside Old Windsor, Berkshire. The lock marks the downstream end of the New Cut, a meander cutoff built in 1822 by the Thames Navigation Commissioners which created ...

Secluded

The small island, whose shape is said to resemble the footprint of

Man Friday Friday is one of the main characters of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' and its sequel ''The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe''. Robinson Crusoe names the man Friday, with whom he cannot at first communicate, because they fi ...

in Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'', contains a two-bedroom cottage with a well, almost hidden by willow trees. For thirty years this was the home of Dr Julius Grant, the forensic scientist, from 1966 until his death in 1991. He was noted, among other detection, for proving in 1984 that the

Hitler Diaries The Hitler Diaries (german: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche ...

published in the '' Sunday Times'' were forgeries, despite an endorsement of their authenticity from the historian

Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...

. The lock keeper recalled Dr Grant saying that when he went to the island, he felt it was like going a million miles away. It was like owning half of Australia, it was so secluded.Paul Goldsack ''River Thames: In the footsteps of the famous'' English Heritage/Bradt 2003

References

{{coord , 51.4625, -0.5693, type:isle_region:GB, display=title Islands of the River Thames

Secluded

See also

References