As you disembark from the Thames clipper at Greenwich you will enter a grand building in which is housed the excellent Visitor Centre for the Royal Naval College – built above the foundations of King Henry VIII’s favourite palace, Greenwich Palace. Magnificent and imposing as the college buildings are, they were used as a hospital toContinue reading “The Royal Naval College Hospital, Greenwich – Place of Refuge for Sick and Disabled Ex-Sailors between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries”
Category Archives: culture
The Sugar and Slavery Gallery at the Museum of London Docklands – Stories of Great Suffering Upon which our Privileged Lives Are Founded
The International Slave Trade was in force between the mid seventeenth and the late nineteenth centuries. Although it was abolished in 1838 it didn’t magically stop on that date. And in that time millions of men, women and children from Africa were treated as if they were subhuman, disposable objects, moving parts of a machine,Continue reading “The Sugar and Slavery Gallery at the Museum of London Docklands – Stories of Great Suffering Upon which our Privileged Lives Are Founded”
Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent: ‘I Object’ Exhibition at the British Museum – Brilliant and Cheeky Tribute to the Spirit of Independent Thought
Free will means that even in the most totalitarian regime, individuals keep within their hearts and minds their secret thoughts and views: but with ingenuity they will find a way of expressing it. When Private Eye editor and TV personality Ian Hislop stepped out of his Private Eye offices – as shown on video atContinue reading “Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent: ‘I Object’ Exhibition at the British Museum – Brilliant and Cheeky Tribute to the Spirit of Independent Thought”
The British Library and the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms
Recently I found myself in the British Library in London, and among the large number of visitors who had flocked there to see the exhibition on The Anglo Saxon Kingdoms. There displayed for us to see were certain treasures of the age before the Norman Conquest. Here were the magnificent original illuminated manuscripts, the highlyContinue reading “The British Library and the Anglo Saxon Kingdoms”
The Museum of London, Docklands: a Beguiling Talk About the Social History of the English Pub
The English pub is such a well-loved institution. I know when I lived in Australia for four years, this wonderful institution was much prized for its almost legendary status amongst the Australians, even if they did think we British are a bit weird to go around drinking warm beer all the time. And at theContinue reading “The Museum of London, Docklands: a Beguiling Talk About the Social History of the English Pub”
The National Portrait Gallery, London: a Cloud of Masters and Witnesses
At the National Portrait Gallery recently, as I wandered through the Victorian and Twentieth Century and Contemporary Galleries, I realised that I was surrounded by all the most amazing people who have moved or inspired me or touched my heart, during my lifetime. The people whose faces I gazed at included preRaphaelite artists John WaterhouseContinue reading “The National Portrait Gallery, London: a Cloud of Masters and Witnesses”
London Stories, a Rich and Complex Tapestry
I’ve just spent a week in London, near the Tower, and my mind is full of London stories… stories of many different aspects of life in the city. First of all, I think of the tales we were told on the walk from Whitechapel tube station, the Hidden East End walk, led by one of LondonContinue reading “London Stories, a Rich and Complex Tapestry”
Christmas Market at Shakespeare’s School on Saturday 8th December 2018
I’m looking forward to being part of the Christmas Market at King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday 8th December 2018 from 12.30-3.30pm. This was the school where Shakespeare studied in the famous Schoolroom between the years 1571 and 1578. So he won’t be at there in person but he may well be inContinue reading “Christmas Market at Shakespeare’s School on Saturday 8th December 2018”
A Creative Way To Grow, to Journey Through Our Lives and to Be Replanted in Eden
Dandelions. They are strong and beautiful. They grow even in thin, dry, tough places. They have a deep root system. And when they die they give their seeds so other dandelions can grow. Recently I was at a Creative Arts day at Christ Church, Orpington in Kent, which centred around the theme of GrowthContinue reading “A Creative Way To Grow, to Journey Through Our Lives and to Be Replanted in Eden”
Algorithms and Magical Thinking – at St Mary’s Church Warwick and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
How do we deal with the unpredictabilty of the world we find ourselves in? Recently I’ve been challenged at two quite separate events to consider the ways in which we look at the world and handle the unpredictability and unaccountability of our lives. One event was held in St Mary’s Church Warwick where I heardContinue reading “Algorithms and Magical Thinking – at St Mary’s Church Warwick and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford”
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