Graffiti – Art or a Public Nuisance?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Veronica & James

 

Cheltenham Graffiti

Gratuitous graffiti can be very ugly and jarring and extremely un-artistic, but done well, it can decorate what are normally already ugly, monochromic environments such as inner-city walls, underpasses and otherwise plain, blank walls – frequently in post-industrial landscapes. Banksy is the prime example of a perpetrator of graffiti that has caught the public imagination and can now be worth a lot of money. Banksy is of course a talented and imaginitive graphic artist, and in some cases entire walls with his graffiti ‘works of art’ have been removed for storage or exhibition or for sale as private collectors pieces. He started small, and is now internationally renowned, with published art books and exhibitions illustrating his work.

However another side of the picture is the untalented youth with an aerosol spray can who just seems to want to make any mark, however ugly, or garish, and frequently obscene, on the world. There are examples of this sort of ‘work’ everywhere, most famously on the side of tube trains, particularly those in New York, where much of their rolling stock seems to have been targeted. Some communities and councils spend much time and money removing graffiti or painting over it, just for it to re-appear almost immediately. I don’t think there are any severe penalties for this frequent vandalism, even on the rare occasion when someone is caught, or even rarer occasion of them being prosecuted. It is different of course if public art or monuments or prestigious buildings are desecrated, and convictions do occur in those cases usually as a result of public outrage supported by the press, but these events are usually one-off and carried out by people with a specific ’cause’ – no matter how misguided – or just inebriated.

Some of the better examples of train art

Some communities have turned wall painting to their own advantage, and for years houses have been decorated in southern Germany and I’ve recently seen many buildings painted in Cannes in France, but the practice is not particularly widespread. In Northern Ireland, in Londonderry and Belfast in particular, the various Protestant and Catholic extremist factions painted their propaganda slogans on house- end walls and other large expanses of wall, and some of those were quite artistic – in a warlike sense – and some have been preserved, or at least had a record made of a particular period of history. Similarly, although the Berlin Wall – or most of it – is long gone, sections have been retained still daubed with the original heartfelt slogans and graffiti describing the outrage at the division of the city and the murder of refugees trying to escape the East by the border guards.

Seville Underpass Art

Closer to home, in Cheltenham, where there is a steady stream of the less-attractive varieties of graffiti regularly appearing on underpass or bridge walls or on the walls alongside the walking/cycling tracks – particularly along the Honeybourne line  to Cheltenham Spa railway station, which runs behind Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org)  - a local community group seems to be taking the initiative. While taking Sophie, our golden retriever, for a walk along the line, I noted, attached to a lamppost, a notice asking for all those interested in painting wall murals in the underpasses, to contact a particular telephone number. A few days later, I passed a group of exuberant young people walking towards the underpasses, led by a woman with a clipboard, who then clustered around one of the graffiti-daubed underpass walls, clearly for a discussion. So hopefully something is going to happen to beautify our environment.

Of course there is nothing to prevent the less-talented graffiti artists returning and damaging any such murals. Perhaps though – a big perhaps – they might be deterred from damaging too badly anything clearly more attractive than they can generate themselves. It might actually inspire them to up their game – but in any case these graffiti-ers are casual sprayers and hopefully any further damage they might inflict can be quickly repaired. Optimistically, if people can take more pride in their environment, then things can improve and not continue to deteriorate.

Cannes Wall Picture

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An Apostrophic Catastrophe?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Veronica & James

Interestingly, another bête noir of mine arose again a little while ago with the announcement by the high street bookshop Waterstone’s that they are to drop the apostrophe from their name. This is apparently conducive with the ‘digital’ age and will ‘simplify’ things for them they aver. It however makes for sloppy English and shortly after the Waterstone’s announcement, as an advocate and champion of the apostrophe, the broadcaster John Humphries appeared on the lunchtime BBC current affairs programme with his former colleague Edward Sturton who now comperes it, to defend the use of the apostrophe.

As John Humphries states, the deletion of this important item of punctuation will cause additional confusion in what can already be a fairly confusing language, in which the ‘exception to the rule’ rules. There are many cases, as Lynn Truss explains in her ‘Eats shoots and Leaves’ which illustrates this. On the other hand, someone else explained that many exceptions to the possessive pronoun rule also exist in e.g. ‘his’ and ‘hers’ and ‘its’ (where the latter distinguishes from it’s (it is).

Personally, I have problems providing my address on the internet for online shopping where the Post Office’s linkage of road name and postcode hinges on the apostrophe in the address. At the older or town centre end of the road, the old signage gives ‘St George’s Road’ but at the top, ‘newer’ end close to the Waitrose junction, it gives ‘St Georges Road’ which is the one that the postcode finder goes with. So if I enter the correct road name, no postcode is found. This has forced me, regretfully, whenever purchasing on line and having to enter my bastardised, un-apostrophed – and incorrect – address, much against my principles and desires.  So much for free will. I suppose I could apply the highest possible principles and refuse to use these websites that apply the Post Office postcode software, but frankly, it would inconvenience me too much. So regrettably, pragmatism wins out over the correct use of English and the decline of standards goes on.

As an afternote – of course younger people, and those less concerned with the purity of language would counter my viewpoint and aver that language evolves and changes and cannot be suspended in aspic, as the French attempt to do.

 

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Dunwich – A City Beneath the Waves

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Veronica & James

All Saints, Dunwich, Suffolk, photos of the marshes and countryside, East Anglia, England, UK

All Saint’s Church, Dunwich

I spent my teenage years happily in a coastal hamlet called Dunwich in Suffolk. Nothing remarkable in that, except that it was brought freshly to mind by two things. First, the Channel 4 ‘Time Team’ programme this week, covered an archaelogical foray into the village to determine if it had been an Anglo-Saxon town once, before the sea inundated it, and secondly an article in the newspapers on flood defences (or lack of them).

Regarding the first, Dunwich is located on the easternmost part of the UK, and following the last ice age, the island is slowly dipping in the east and rising in the west. Secondly it has a sandy soil and little stone and so the sea is eating its way into the land and carrying away ‘the bulge’. Dunwich was the country’s third city at one time, walled in the 13th century and withstanding a siege by, I think, Henry II, and providing a fleet of ships and men for the Hundred Years war. However erosion, storms, and silting of the river and harbour caused the town’s decline and its last old church, All Saints, fell slowly off the cliff between about 1909 and 1922. Graves still teeter on the cliff top and regular falls expose bones, which are assiduously recovered by the current vicar (from the ‘new’ church, St James) for re-interment. Apart from St James’ St, on which stand the pub, The Ship Inn, the former townhall, now the museum, and the former school, all that remain of the old city are the Greyfriars monastery ruins on the cliff top, and a buttress from All Saints, transported to the ruin of a leper chapel in St James’ churchyard.

The second element of flood defences covers two areas; one is coastal erosion where the sea has on occasion flooded inland. Indeed, near Dunwich lies Blythburgh, which was once well inland and now has tidal salt marshes on two sides, still with gates and telegraph poles emerging from high tide water, originally inundated by the great storms and floods of 1953, and never reclaimed. Just a little further down the coast is Aldeburgh which continues to fight erosion by sustaining its sea wall, although the government has now adopted an abandonment of sea defences policy to save money, and to allow nature to take its course. I was party to this when working for a short time for the now defunct Government Office of the East of England (GO EAST) [a blueprint for devolved regional government, which fortunately fell by the wayside towards the end of Labour's period in power]. Dunwich has a shingle bank, sustained occasionally by bulldozers, and which is regularly breached by high seas during the spring neap tides and storms, flooding the marshes behind the beach. It is only a matter of time before another permanent sea inlet will exist there, St James’ St having its own beach front!

aerial photo of flooding

Tewkesbury & Abbey Church 2007

The second element is river flood defences. We had our own experience of that in 2007 shortly after arriving in Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org) when after several days of torrential rain, Tewkesbury Abbey was graphically left on a small island amidst a lake of Severn flood water, Cheltenham’s pumping station was out of action, and our dustbin at the bottom of the garden, standing on the bank of what had previously been the rivulet, then suddenly the raging torrent of the River Chelt, was carried away never to be seen again. Fortunately for us, the town’s flood defence worked fairly well, if not perfectly, and we were saved from major flooding. The fall-out from the peripheral damage was however, that, ironically, the town had no water and had to close down for 2 weeks, during which the Army trucked in free bottled water for dissemination in the closed supermarket, and carparks and standpipes and water bowsers stood on street corners.

It is a confusing time with talk of global warming, offset against colder winters (it was only a few years ago that people thought there was a mini-Ice Age in the offing!), droughts and suddenly excessive rain, snow and flooding. Of course it is a fact that the polar ice is melting slowly and therefore world sea levels are expected to rise, which will certainly exacerbate the probability of rising river volumes and loss of vulnerable and low-lying land. Holland will have a difficult time of it if sea levels do rise more than a foot or two! Alternatively the sceptics will say it is just a natural cycle of nature and these changes have occurred regularly for millennia. Just like politicians, it is difficult to know exactly who to believe these days….

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The Bomber and Harris

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Veronica & James

The Lancaster bomber was one of Britain’s war-winning weapons, and its greatest exponent perhaps, was Air Marshall ‘Bomber’ Harris, born only a few hundred yards from Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org) in Queen’s Parade, Cheltenham, at the top of Bayshill Road, the location of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Harris was convinced that following the German’s example of total warfare involving the bombing of major European cities to provide stürm und drang, or shock tactics to cow and terrify populations and governments. The successful bombings of Warsaw, Amsterdam and other cities seemed to set the scene. In retaliation, the British had flown near-suicidal bombing raids in underpowered aircraft, losing large numbers of aircraft and aircrew over Denmark and Holland.  When the Avro Lancaster bomber began to appear in service, powered by Rolls Royce engines and with sufficient range and the ability to carry a large bomb load, Harris had found his weapon.

His bombing strategy was key to winning the war, although critics have condemned the relatively indiscriminate bombing of German cities – which in fact was not intended to target civilians initially, but primarily industrial centres fuelling the German’s own war machine. Later, the strategy turned to also attacking the areas around industrial centres where the workforces running the munitions and armament factories and other elements of German industry were housed – in reality bombing accuracy was difficult to achieve, as the Germans themselves had found earlier in the war, after ‘accidentally’ targeting London. Later, more precision bombing was possible as the attacks on the Ruhr dams and the Tirpitz illustrated.  Area bombing was certainly a factor in the Allied victory, although it killed over 55000 British and Commonwealth bomber crews.

Recently, the unveiling of the long-awaited Bomber Command memorial in Green Park has become news, with articles on the greater than life-size figures of a seven-man Lancaster crew, and the government’s need to supplement the donations with a contribution to offset the nearly £1million that tax would have taken from the contributions. To underline the work done to, at last, highlight the understated sacrifices of those who died for their country, a TV programme has just been shown with the McGregor brothers, Ewan (the actor) and his ex-RAF Tornado pilot brother Colin flying in one of the last two flying Lancasters left, this one part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Apart from the ‘Bomber’ Harris connection with Cheltenham, and Hanover House’s own flying connection with the Australian Air Vice Marshall Bostock, discussed in earlier blogs, the whole area is steeped in aeronautical history. The Gloster factories in and around Gloucester and Cheltenham produced generations of famous military aircraft, including the eponymous Gloster Whittle, Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine)’s trial jet aircraft which led to the development of, inter alia, the famous Gloster Meteor and Javelin aircraft.

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A Dickens of an Anniversary

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Veronica & James

First edition of Christmas Carol to fetch £200,000 at auction

The cover of the 1843 first edition of Christmas Carol and a portrait of Charles Dickens Photo: AP

7th February was the 200th Anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth in Portsmouth, and there have been celebrations and readings world-wide. He was born on 7 Feb 1812 and has a number of connections with Cheltenham and Gloucestershire in general. He came to Cheltenham on a number of occasions and one of his ‘most esteemed and honourable’ best friends was a Cheltenham-based actor, a Mr William MacReady who lived at 6 Wellington Street for 12 years, until his death in 1873. Dickens gave his friend one of the earliest presentation copies of any of his books, a first edition of ‘A Christmas Carol’ which he inscribed to  ”WC Macready, from his affectionate friend, Charles Dickens, New Year’s Day, 1844.”  The book had only been published a few days before on December 19th 1843. MacReady lived from 1793 to 1873 and dominated the English stage for over 20 years. They were introduced in 1837 and striking up an immediate rapport, were firm friends until Dickens’ death.

Charles Dickens was obviously taken with the town, as he wrote in some letter or other “Rarely have I seen such a place that so attracted my fancy.” He was also clearly taken by the area as a whole, and placed Mr Pickwick and his entourage at ‘The Royal Hop Pole’ in Tewkesbury in Pickwick Papers. The Royal Hop Pole is still going strong and from the outside at least, must look much as it did in Dickens’ day.  Coincidentally, at Christmas, knowing my interest in classical literature, our cleaner Carolyn very kindly gave us a small bronze statuette of Mr Pickwick astride volumes of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and of course Pickwick Papers, which she must have bought at one of the antique fairs she frequents. It now holds a prime place on our mantelpiece in the drawing room of Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org) and it is interesting to conjecture that the house, then 4 York Terrace having been here since 1848, it is likely that Charles Dickens may have passed it by on his way to Tewkesbury.

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60 Years On – Republic or Monarchy?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Veronica & James

So, Her Majesty the Queen has reached the 60th anniversary, both of the death of her father, King George VI, and her own accession to the Throne of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and the Commonwealth! Although we live in a time of rapid, and seemingly ever more rapid, change, it is hoped that there will be sufficient stability in this country at least, and that there will be no more major constitutional changes that alter the fabric and public face of the nation for the duration of the Queen’s reign. One actual change in the offing however is the amendment of the law of primogeniture which means that if Prince William’s first child is female, then she will take precedence over any subsequent sons, or other males close to the succession, e.g. Harry, to become the next monarch after William. Other potential changes include the possible breakaway of Scotland to full independence (if that is actually possible) and the republican moves in some of the Commonwealth countries such as Australia, to remove the British monarch from the titular role of Head of State.

As a monarchist, who has seen how much stability having a constitutional monarchy can provide in turbulent times, I am all in favour of the continuance of the role of the British monarchy in its current state, and I believe the majority of the British people feel the same. How much better it is to have a head of state who is not a party politician, without the political pressures to sway their decisions, albeit guided by the party in power, rather than have a wily political figure with all sorts of hidden agendas.  Who for instance, in their right mind would ever countenance a President Blair, with the hubris of the ‘guiding hand of God’ on his shoulder, and how about the mire presidents Bush, Mugabe, Sarkozy, Putin, Assad of Syria and Berlusconi have got their countries into? Apart from the revolutions of the first half of the 20th century which deposed a number of monarchs, subsequently (and it could be argued, consequently) pushing their nations into instability, revolution, war and years of suffering (Russia, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia, Spain, Ethiopia and Italy, just to name a few) countries that maintain a monarchy are on the whole stable politically (e.g. Denmark, Norway, Holland and the UK), and many people worldwide envy us ours. Many Americans and Europeans are almost more devout followers of the British Royal family than are the British themselves. That of course may be partly familiarity on our part, or the British way of underplaying things and effectively means that we take our Royals for granted – but take them away and there would be a huge vacuum in the Nation’s life and in its self-appreciation and image (not to mention finances, as so much tourism is centred around Royalty – the castles would be empty symbols without occupants).

Twenty years ago, as a serving officer, I had the privilege of briefly meeting the Queen, and found her personable, interested in everything, well-informed and with a keen sense of humour. Unashamedly, I display at least one picture of Her Majesty on the walls of Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org), together with my Commission that she signed, and my father’s signed by her father, King George VI in 1947. Indeed, I think we are lucky to have her and her successors (Charles and William, who will both make good Kings in their own individual ways). The Royal Family and the way it works has had to change significantly to keep up with the times and the expectations of the people, and so far it has succeeded, although personally I would not want it to go too far, such as becoming ‘of the people’ like the Dutch. We still need to look up, rather than on the level, when, if it should happen to that extent, some respect for the institution would naturally decline.  However, I feel that, rather like the morality and ethos enshrined in our military services (often seen as being ‘old-fashioned’ but in a good sense), the Royal family symbolises the best of our nation’s standards (even though the odd individual within it has lapsed – they are after all human).

Harking back to the opening line, the Queen has been on the throne for 60 years and although Victoria reigned for 63, Queen Elizabeth is already four years older than that. Strangely though, the longest lived British head of state was actually a republican, Richard Cromwell succeeded his father Oliver as the second Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland but only served for 264 days before resigning in the face of pressure from the army. Elizabeth was born in 1926 and Richard in 1626, the latter dying in July 1712 at 85.  Therefore by August this year, the Queen will also be the longest living Head of State and monarch – long may she reign beyond that.

 

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Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree..

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Veronica & James

Hanover House Christmas Tree on 14 Jan

There is a always a ‘situation’ regarding Christmas Trees at Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org) in both the run up to Christmas, and also during the aftermath. Traditionally, Veronica has been determined to buy the tallest she can fit it, and with high (12ft) ceilings, that means quite big – even though like gluttons, whose eyes are bigger than their bellies, her eyes are generally bigger than the room can accommodate. This generally means that large bits have to be hacked off, or in the case of last year, the top was bent against the ceiling and  the fairy had to be suspended slightly below the summit. The other factor is width – generally the taller a tree, the wider in girth, particularly at the base. This means that more living space is taken up, it reduces the options for positioning in the room – another annual saga, as it seems to be different place each year – and access underneath for watering, present recovery etc is more difficult.

This year, we compromised and intended to get a smaller tree, say 7ft? However, Veronica’s eyes won out again and we had delivered from the excellent Dowdeswell Nurseries, a 9ft non-drop Nordmann Fir of superb shape and probably just about the right proportions and girth. It was located in the corner of the drawing room close to the central doors dividing drawing from dining rooms (which had the drawback that we couldn’t close these doors, thus reducing privacy in either room).  The tree was decorated tastefully before the grandchildren hordes arrived to have a go at their own style (3 year-old Jack had a go last year and so we had a tree decorated densely up to the height a 3-year old can reach), and a few chocolate decorations were added as an afterthought, and which didn’t survive after the first few hours of the grandchildren’s arrival.

Christmas came and went, the tree remaining healthy and drinking copious quantities of water, having had its base bark removed and slits cut in the trunk to enable water absorbtion – osmotic capillary action I think is when trees draw fluid up from their bases to their tops. [interestingly, although the physical 'law' that states that water can only be drawn up in a column under atmospheric pressure to no more than 32ft, has never been queried despite the fact that some trees significantly exceed 32ft in height, a recent experiment has shown that the addition of a tiny amount of a denser solution can effortlessly lift thousands of times its own volume in water without artificial aids, thus demonstrating a non-living cause of bulk flow in plants, trees, animals and humans. Research has indicated that the xylem and phloem pipes within a  tree's structure, transport water and nutrients to each leaf - amazing when looked at in detail]. Effortless utilising these clever biological or scientific principles, our tree continued in good shape, with minimum needle loss into the New Year despite central heating and open fires, and should, as tradition demands, have been taken down on 12th Night (variously 5th or 6th January, depending on when you consider Christmas starts). Various superstitions claim that it is bad luck to allow the tree and Christmas decorations to persist beyond that point, but we had determined on a 12th Night Party, at which the tree should be present as a backdrop.

For guest availability reasons, the 12th Night dinner wasn’t held until Saturday 14th January and so the tree had to stay until at least then.  We aren’t superstitious, although Veronica had been indoctrinated by her mother with all sorts of old wives tales, and decided that once we had passed 12th Night, then we may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. A reassurance was that we had successfully negotiated the day before without mishap – Friday 13th! The party came and went, and  the tree was much admired. For various reasons of time, convenience and a reluctance to take down a still glossy green tree, the tree stayed up, until at last we realised that it was the 1st of February and as the business was getting busy again and the needle drop had imperceptibly increased, it was time for the tree to go.

A final operation of decoration stripping (including finding one last hidden chocolate decoration), lights dismantling and dropping the tree into a ‘shroud’ (an old fitted sheet) to avoid needle precipitation (I still occasionally find hidden depositories of last year’s needles), took a relatively short period. The tree, which had almost become like an old friend by now, was then hauled indecorously to the front door and out into oblivion. The leaves/needles that had dropped were consigned to the coal scuttle, as they burn beautifully, as a last trace of the trees long sojourn in our drawing room, apart from the trail leading from the front door, along the terrace and to the bin area, from where the tree will be collected eventually by the Nursery.  Thus a complete round trip for the tree, from birth to death in a short, active cycle, but giving happiness en route. Could anyone, or anything, ask for more?

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Historically ‘Getting the Blues’

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Veronica & James

The Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.com) Blue Plaque saga continues. Having established that the young Alice Roberts (to become the future Lady Alice Elgar) lived in the house for up to 3 years while her youngest brother attended Cheltenham College in the late 1850s (when the house was still quite new), we had applied for a Blue Plaque to commemorate the event to the Cheltenham Civic Society. Requiring a sponsor, I had initially applied to Cheltenham College as they had the family connections, but was politely refused due to ‘lack of funding’. However The Elgar Society were interested and were keen to support the application to promote this little-known connection of the influential (on Sir Edward Elgar) Alice Roberts to Cheltenham.

However, having considered the case (briefly), the Civic Society refused the request on the grounds that they applied the London Blue Plaque selection criteria of 5 years residence at the site. On pointing out that there were exceptions, e.g. in the case of Mozart, who as a boy stayed briefly in London, but his temporary lodging house was given a plaque, they acknowledged that exceptions were occasionally made – but only for exceptional people (a slightly subjective point of view). [I also note that in Bath, a number of buildings tote plaques that state e.g. 'Admiral Lord Nelson Stayed Here in 1810' during one of his fleeting visits (no pun intended) with Lady Hamilton no doubt].  The Society also went to to say that they had recently refused a plaque for stay of 6 months for Anthony Trollope – although personally I think that someone as influential as Alice Elgar (as well as being Elgar’s muse, inspiration and slave driver she had also published poetry, that Elgar incorporated into his songs, and a novel) who had lived at 4 York Terrace (Hanover House’s previous address) for 3 years should have been an exception.

Although a slight setback, we are still considering, with The Elgar Society’s support, putting up a private plaque to record Alice’s residence. We have not yet decided on colour (perhaps a different shade of blue?) or wording, but watch this space….

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The ‘Great War’ Remembered

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Veronica & James

Warhorse Film Poster

The ‘Great War’ of course was named, not because in modern parlance it was good or magnificent, but because, rather like the titles of exceptional monarchs (Alfred the Great, Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great etc.) it was considered to be a one-off, an exception, and probably the war to end all wars. Unfortunately that isn’t true and it is now better known as ‘The First World War’ or World War I (WWI), depending on your background. (Even that’s not true as amongst historians, the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th Century is considered to be the first truly global war).

As the centenary of the start of the Great War approaches (August 2014) and the last of the WWI veterans has passed on, a number of stories, plays and films have arisen again as a revival of nostalgia for a time now completely passed from living memory. Many people still alive had parents and grandparents who lived through those times, some of whom had horrific stories to tell – as evinced in the plethora of history and genealogy magazines that now fill shelves in stationers.  Two such stories, fiction but based on fact, are doing the rounds, Sebastian Faulks’ excellent ‘Birdsong’ which is serialised on both BBC Radio 4 and as a 2-Part series on BBC 1 television, and Steven Spielberg’s ‘Warhorse’ [based on Michael Morpurgo's fantastic book (written for teenagers principally)] film following on to very successful stage adaptations running in the West End and Broadway.

Birdsong Poster

‘Warhorse’ however has come in for a range of very strong and very varied comment. People seem to love it or feel it is over-sentimentalised. The latter is possibly true, however it appeals at many levels to the love of the British for animals and in particular horses, which are often imbued with human feelings and characteristics. Michael Morpurgo successfully encapsulated the facts of the number of horses which were used during the War (literally millions, principally in logistic roles and many of which died). Horses have traditionally been a major player in wars, both for fighting as cavalry horses, but also as load carriers, gun-haulers etc - think of historic charges, The Light Brigade, Winston Churchill at Omdurman etc and the role of the Royal Horse Artillery as well as the Royal Wagon Train.  Horses were still in use until modern times, the Wermacht in WWII had more horse-drawn than motorised transport and the British used pack animals, including for the carriage of light guns, stores and munitions in mountainous areas until the 1960s.

I loved ‘Warhorse’; although the film was compared unfavourably with the stage production, I felt that it portrayed things that couldn’t be shown within the limitations of a stage – the full scale of the carnage and suffering (some of the scenes within the trenches compared with the classic opening scenes of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ as the Americans stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy in 1944). Apart from the beautiful Devon countryside and the life in rural Britain pre-1914, it also showed the overriding humanity shown by people of all nations when given a common cause – the welfare of a horse in this case. Despite the criticism of over-sentimentality (many of its harshest critics still being reduced at times to tears – which they seemed to resent) the film has still received an Oscar nomination as Best Film.

These productions will, I think, create another wave of interest in family forebears, especially with the advent of web-based genealogy and the information becoming available, sometimes for the first time. In my case, already a genealogist, it has inspired me to look in even more detail into the lives and deaths of Scottish cousins who died in France; two barely out of their teens in the gas of the Battle of Loos in 1915.  My own grandfather served in that war, but was an Army Service Corps driver in Mesopotamia and therefore saw only the fringe of warfare and not the horrors of the Somme or Ypres – for which I am grateful as otherwise I might not have been here!  Of note too, is my daughter-in-law Gale’s great uncle, Ross Tollerton of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, who in the opening stages of that war at the battle of the Aisne in 1914, won the Victoria Cross by saving the life of his platoon commander.

Private Tollerton VC

Even closer to home, Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org) had no direct links to WWI that I am aware of, although its occupants would most certainly have contributed to the war effort in Cheltenham.  More indirectly, a nephew of the Bostocks who occupied the house in the late 19th century, came back from Australia to fly in the Royal Flying Corps, become a founder member of the RAF and in a later war command the allied airforces in the Pacific under General MacArthur.  Additionally, a grandson of Colonel William Croker, the house’s first owner, commanded his grandfather’s regiment, The Leicesters, in the trenches and rose to become a Brigade Commander in France then a Divisional commander in Mesopotamia – so there is a slight family connection there, as my own grandfather would have possibly served under him!

Overall, nostalgia about relatively recent conflicts is a good thing, stimulating interest in one’s own background and increasing a sense of ‘belonging’- as long as it is not seen through rose-tinted spectacles.  We must see war for what it really is, brutal and horrific, and must learn the lessons from it, as well as seeing that sometimes, such horror can bring the best (and the worst) out in people.

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A Rather Un-’Lady’-like Occurrence

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Veronica & James

The Lady magazine regretfully seems to have fallen on difficult times. Following internal strife and tensions in the magazine, after its new radical editor Rachel Johnson had revamped it and changed its appearances, it seems to be tightening its collective belt.  The changes were rather like the ‘Curate’s Egg’ [good in parts] in that its content was interesting and lively but its covers had become a bit unLadylike in that – horror of horrors – they portray men, and worse still, a number of modern ‘celebrities’, while Rachel is presumably trying to reposition the magazine to appeal to a younger generation. With the competition in the market, this may not be such a good ploy as a significant part of the market is now in the upper quadrant of the demographic and many people grow into appreciating the quality and tone of such publications, in the same way that they mature into classical music, broadsheet newspapers, classical literature and The Archers on BBC Radio 4!

Within The Lady, the rather autocratic lady owner now seems to have won her battle with her son, and Rachel Johnson has been ‘promoted’ upstairs to become Editor in Chief, therefore not directly responsible for content, while the only male on the staff, the Features Editor had moved into the Editor slot. Apart from Susan Wade-Weeks, The Lady Ambassador’s liaison, the only member of The Lady staff who turned up at the excellent carol service held in the Actor’s Church in Covent Garden before Christmas, was the new editor, who took part in the readings. Shame that Rachel and the rest couldn’t make it!  Following the event, the New Year has brought a suspension of The Lady Ambassador programme and the regrettable return of Susan to her freelance journalism career. However, she did manage to get Veronica’s picture published before she departed, for which Veronica was most appreciative.  We also received the tasteful The Lady teatowel (now enshrined on the kitchen wall at Hanover House (www.hanoverhouse.org)) and 2012 Calendar, which depict some of the charming feminine pictures which have graced early covers of the magazine.

The general feeling within The Lady editorial team is relief at the change of executive management, which may reflect Rachel’s management style rather than the content, which had been quite good. What the new change brings will be awaited with bated breath, but as Helen, the Sales Manager emailed Veronica, the magazine has lasted 125 years and isn’t yet ready to be consigned to the wastebin of journalistic history, unlike a number of its less successful contemporaries – if not stable mates (such as the unlamented ‘News of the World‘). Nothing however is ever set in stone, and a number of famous titles, which were well-established in their day, have gone by the board, not helped in any way by steadily advancing technology.  Who now, under a certain age remembers ‘Picture Post’, ‘The Illustrated London News’, ‘The Daily Sketch’ or ‘Punch’ magazine, or that whole raft of comics popular when I was a lad ‘The Wizard’, ‘The Eagle’, ‘The Hotspur’ and ‘The Beezer’?

On a more positive note, some things seem to disappear, but reappear in new forms, e.g. ‘Punch’ disappeared (I think tastes must have changed) and the ‘old guard’ from ‘Private Eye’ moved on, to reappear in spirit at least in the excellent ‘The Oldie’, edited by the ex-Private Eye Richard Ingrams, encapsulating the irrepressible, non-PC humorous style of its predecessors. [not quite an example of Karr's 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose' but close]. In other spheres, broadsheets have become tabloids then ‘morphed into electronic news feeds, such as The Times and others have become free newspapers depending on advertising to keep them going, like ‘The Evening Standard’. However, overall the print newspaper world seems to be in steady decline with other pillars of the journalistic industry such as The Observer struggling under mounting financial debts, which must put their futures in jeopardy. On the other hand, the old empires such as the infamous News International have digressed into satellite broadcasting etc, indicating the way of a less-satisfying but more easily absorbed future.

Only time will tell if The Lady will survive or can find its own sustainable niche in the market. Let’s hope so, as it is a reminder of the quality that existed in its own sphere, shared by the other quality magazines such as Tatler, The Field etc, etc….

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