1899. English author and journalist, No. 5 John Street made Whiteing famous. The book begins: No. 5 John Street is a four-storied hovel, in the very heart of a slum which lies between two of the finest thoroughfares of the West End. I have come here, in this year of Diamond Jubilee, to learn what it is to live on half a crown a day and to earn it. My scheme is not so high as a pleasure, nor quite so mean as a fad.