This is a subject that is of increasing concern to me as communities across Britain battle to preserve open spaces. In Cardiff the Central square is now a huge building site. It feels threatening, the metal monsters rising where once was windswept bus shelters and skateboarders and people able to catch sight of the sky. … Continue reading
Here’s a gem from the V&A museum, a wassail set, but not for country yokels! This is made of lignum vitae, an expensive hardwood from the West Indies, and ivory.
This is from the i paper, 29 December: Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in the Enfarinats battle in the south eastern Spanish town of Ibi yesterday. During this 200-year-old festival participants, known as Els Enfarinats (those covered in flour) dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d’etat using flour, eggs … Continue reading
There were a lot of theatrical companies in London and the provinces, but when I heard of The Lecture on Heads I was intrigued and confused. What heads? And why? Gerald Kahan in his book George Alexander Stevens & The Lecture on Heads has done a great job researching the show in its many forms … Continue reading
In 1772 jeweller James Cox opened a Museum in London’s Spring Gardens which became the most popular show in the capital to the extent it became known as ‘The Museum’. It displayed ornate jewelled automata in an opulent setting and charged a massive half a guinea (10/6d) entry. Fanny Burney mentioned it in her novel … Continue reading
This is a wonderful post on many levels. Open Culture brings us a world of fine information across a huge range of topics, and this is a timely reminder for all of us who love and value free speech and the arts. This is Benedict Cumberbatch at the Hay Literary Festival reading a letter from … Continue reading
Last week the papers ran yet another story that makes me fear for the future of this country. A student production of Aida has been cancelled due to charges of “cultural appropriation’, as the leading roles were likely to be played by white actors. The production was not to be the original, by Verdi, but … Continue reading
This is a work of art that covers 2 of my favourite things – industrial archaeology and art that you can wander round. It is in what was Toxteth Reservoir, built in 1853 in response to the latest outbreak of cholera, and to provide water for firefighting down on the docks, where most building and … Continue reading
After struggling to focus on my writing over the summer, I waited till the schools were back and prices down to escape to Liverpool for the tail end of their festival, in the hope of kick-starting my brain. My first stop was this GradeII listed Art Deco cinema, now gloriously ruinous, dimly lit, with artworks … Continue reading
I am fascinated how people invent and perpetuate personal rituals and a few days ago I think I saw one. It was simple, but seemed deliberate. A man walking out of a big carpark stroked a large rosemary bush and smelled his hand. A simple act, but it seemed unconscious, as if he’d done it … Continue reading
texthistory 