Hazards and memories of childhood on Hampstead Heath (opens in new tab)

DURING MY CHILDHOOD in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I used to walk on London’s Hampstead Heath with my parents. Usually, we left our home in Hampstead Garden Suburb and walked south across the manicured, grassy fields of Hampstead Heath Extension. Sometimes, we went further, crossing Wildwood Road and entering the wilder, hillier, wooded…