Editing Isle of Dogs (section)

==='Unilateral declaration of independence'===
Local residents resented the scarcity of schools and supermarkets and inadequate transport to neighbourhoods that did have them.<ref name="Mason">{{cite news|last=Mason|first=John|date=12 May 2004|title=Obituary: Ted Johns|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/may/12/guardianobituaries.politics|access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="NYT"/>
On 1 March 1970 a group of activists led by Ted John and John Westfallen, in a reference to the [[Republic of Rhodesia]]'s recent [[unilateral declaration of independence]] or UDI,<ref name="Lemmerman"/> issued a UDI for the Isle of Dogs.  For two hours<ref name=Lemmerman/><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/146174/Ted-Johns.html Ted Johns] ''The Daily Telegraph'' (London). 14 May 2004.</ref> (though some reports say a day,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brooke |first1=Mike |title=Even Thames Armada and sheep couldn't stop Docklands invasion of Isle of Dogs |url=https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/even-thames-armada-and-sheep-couldn-t-stop-docklands-invasion-3571848 |access-date=10 February 2021 |work=East London Advertiser |date=2 October 2017}}</ref> others a week<ref name="Mason" />) they blocked the two swing-bridges providing the only access to the area by road.<ref name="Lemmerman">{{cite web|last=Lemmerman|first=Mick|date=7 December 2013|title='It was all a bit of a joke' - the Isle of Dogs' unilateral declaration of independence|work=Isle of Dogs - Past Life, Past Lives: Two Hundred Years of Docks, Industry & Islanders|url=https://islandhistory.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/it-was-all-a-bit-of-a-joke/|access-date=6 January 2025}}</ref>  According to Johns the intent was semi-jocular<ref name="Lemmerman"/> and the purpose was only to achieve independence from the rest of London,<ref name="NYT"/> a right already enjoyed by the nearby [[City of London|City]]: it was the Press who dubbed him "President Ted of the Isle of Dogs'.<ref name="Harker">{{cite news|last=Harker|first=Joseph|date=11 February 1994|title=Notes & Queries|work=The Guardian|location=London|page=A4}}</ref>  Nevertheless, and though a body of local opinion resented the stunt,<ref name="Foster">{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Janet|year=1998|title=Docklands: Cultures in Conflict, Worlds in Collision|publisher=Routledge|page=47|isbn= 978-1857282733|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Docklands/hTgDEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22forests+of+canada%22+inauthor:janet+inauthor:foster&pg=PA47&printsec=frontcover|access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="ITN">{{cite news|work=ITN Archive|title=A Very Strange Day in British History – The London Island that Declared Independence|year=1970|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbk4HQ6KVdI|access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref> it achieved wide national and international publicity.  It featured on the front page of the ''[[New York Times]]'',<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|last=Weinraub|first=Bernard|date=10 March 1970|title=Dock Area in London Declares Its 'Independence'|work=New York Times|page=1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/10/archives/dock-area-in-london-declares-its-independence-defiant-dock-area-of.html|access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref> and Johns was interviewed by satellite by [[Walter Cronkite]] for ''[[CBS Evening News]]''.<ref name= "Lemmerman"/>  A new secondary school and improvements in public transport materialised.<ref name="Harker"/>  According to one source it even served as the catalyst for the eventual development of Canary Wharf.<ref name="Lemmerman"/>

[[Patricia Cornwell]]'s 2002 novel ''Isle of Dogs'' features an island off the coast of [[Virginia]] that declares UDI, "claiming its independence lies with those who set sail from the Isle of Dogs in 1607".<ref name="Cornwell">{{cite web|work=Hampshire County Council Library Service|title=Isle of Dogs|url=https://hampshire.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/BIBENQ/138790993/22122605,8|access-date=6 January 2025}},</ref>