I just love libraries; I wish I could visit every single one of them.  And I love history.  So, when I found this website, I just had to share it with you!

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1. The Great Library & Mouseion: The First Universal Library (Alexandria, Egypt)

History tells us that the first ‘universal’ library was the Great Library & Mouseion in Alexandria, Egypt. Hungry for conquest and knowledge, Alexander the Great spent the last 11 years of his life (334 to 333 B.C.) exploring the world. To broaden the enterprise, he dispatched scholars to unexplored regions to gather knowledge and map their journeys…[more info at the website below]

2. The Celsus Library: One of Antiquity’s Finest Libraries (Ephesus, Turkey)

Image: Alaskan Dude

Another early library was the Celsus Library in Ephesus, built in 110 A.D. by the Council Gaius Julius Aquila. The library became one of the largest collections of antiquity, storing an estimated 12,000 hand-written books. Books could not be taken out of the library, but were handed to readers by library officials and read in the reading room.  Interestingly, the library had its own temperature regulation system: a second set of outer walls to protect the books from humidity and temperature variations.

3. The University of Sankore: An Ancient Seat of Muslim Learning (Sankore, Timbuktu)

Image: upyernoz

All this copying provided a lot of work for scribes. The University of Sankore in Timbuktu employed an army of scribes, who earned their living copying the manuscripts. As a result, Timbuktu became a repository of an extensive collection of manuscripts.

What were scribes paid? A papyrus of the second century AD gives rates “for 10,000 lines, 28 drachmae … For 6,300 lines, 13 drachmae.” The Emperor Diocletian tried to standardise the pay scribes received throughout the Roman Empire: “to a scribe for the best writing, 100 lines, 25 denarii; for second quality writing 100 lines 20 denarii; to a notary for writing a petition or legal document, 100 lines, 10 denarii.”

4. The Bodleian: One of The Oldest Surviving European Libraries (Oxford, England)

Image: J.Salmoral

It is said that King Charles I once asked the chief librarian of the Bodleian Library if he could borrow a book. A few years later, Oliver Cromwell asked the same question. The librarian refused them both. Stuart or Roundhead, books in the Bodleian could be read on the premises or not at all.

An earlier repository of books and documents at Oxford University was destroyed in the effort to rid England of all traces of Roman Catholicism, including “superstitious books and images”. Some were burnt, some sold and others used by glove makers to press gloves. Oxford University was not a wealthy institution and did not have the resources to build up a collection of new printed books to replace those destroyed…Today’s Bodleian claims to hold 11 million volumes, and to offer fuller access to online publications and databases than any other academic institution in the UK.

5. Chetham’s Library: The UK’s Oldest Free Public Reference Library (Manchester, England)

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Chetham’s library is said to be Britain’s oldest surviving public library. Karl Marx visited the library in 1846, at the invitation of his friend Frederick Engels. In the bay of the library’s reading room, they carried out the research for Das Kapital…

6. Library of Congress: Jefferson’s Legacy (Washington D.C., United States)

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The Library of Congress, founded in 1800, is said to be the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. However, like the libraries of Ephesus and Alexandria, it became a victim of fire. During the War for Independence in 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building and destroyed the Library’s core collection of 3,000 volumes. One year later, however, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950 and the Library was restored.

Today the Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world, with nearly 142 million items on approximately 650 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 32 million books and other print materials, 3 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 5.6 million pieces of sheet music and 62 million manuscripts.

7. The British Library: One of The World’s Most Extensive Collections (London, England)

Image: lisabatty

Compared to many other significant libraries, the British Library is relatively young having been brought into existence by the 1972 The British Library Act. The 1971 White Paper recognised that the constituent bodies of the proposed British Library (principally the British Museum Library) were seriously short of space and that rehousing the various collections was of top priority…

Literacy & Power: Inextricably Linked

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…From the early sixteenth century onwards it was viewed as especially dangerous for women to read fiction.

In the Civil War era in the United States, knowledge was considered dangerous and white citizens in many areas imposed a ban on teaching slaves to read or write. In the years following the Civil War, only those who could read and write could vote, effectively fencing out many African Americans.

The First Public Libraries & The Spread of Knowledge

Image: Celeste

The dream of Thomas Bodley was to make collected books “available to the whole republic of the learned”.

In the 1840s, William Ewart, Joseph Brotherton, and Edward Edwards espoused a more democratic vision and launched a campaign to provide a system of public libraries. Brotherton and Ewart were both Liberal MPs. Edwards, however, was a Chartist and involved in the struggle for universal suffrage. A former bricklayer, he had educated himself by spending his non-working time in Mechanics’ Institute libraries, and in 1839 became an assistant in the Department of Printed Books in the British Museum.

However, when William Ewart introduced his Public Libraries Bill in 1849, he encountered considerable hostility from the Conservatives in the House of Commons. They argued that the rate-paying middle and upper classes would be supporting a service that would be mainly used by the working classes, and harked back to the old argument that: “the more education people get the more difficult they are to manage.”

After several fairly significant compromises, the Public Libraries Act became law in 1850. Due to these compromises, libraries were largely unfunded for many years and had to rely on the support of wealthy entrepreneurs. The greatest financial supporter of public libraries was Andrew Carnegie, who helped to finance over 380 libraries in Britain. It was not until 1919 that a truly comprehensive and free library service emerged.

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Please visit the website to find out about the first public libraries and more!

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John Lambert

John Lambert was born in autumn 1619, Calton, West Riding, Yorkshire and he dies on March 1684, at St. Nicholas Isle, off Plymouth, Cornwall.  A leading parliamentary general during the English Civil War (1642-51) and the principal architect of the protectorate, the form of republican government existing in England from 1653 to 1660.  Coming from a well-to-do family of gentry, Lambert joined the parliamentary army as a captain at the outbreak of the Civil War between King Charles I and Parliament.  He first distinguished himself in encounters with the Royalists at Bradford, Yorkshire, in March 1644, and he fought bravely in the major parliamentary victory at Marston Moor, Yorkshire in July 1644.  A major general at the age of 28, he helped Henry Ireton draw up the “Heads of Proposals,” a draft constitution aimed at reconciling the  conflicting interests of the army, Parliament, and the King.

At the beginning of the second phase of the Civil War in 1648, Lambert was commander of the troops of northern England.  He and Oliver Cromwell routed the Scottish Royalist invaders at Preston, Lancashire, in August 1648, and on March 22, 1649, Lambert captured Pontefract, Yorkshire, the last Royalist stronghold in England.

Second in command under Cromwell during the campaigns against the Royalists in Scotland in 1650 and 1651, Lambert and Cromwell, on September 3, 1651, decisively defeated Charles I’s son, Charles II, at Worcester in the final battle of the Civil War.

In succeeding years Lambert played a key role in Cromwell’s experimental governments.  He persuaded Cromwell to dissolve the “Rump” Parliament in 1653, putting the army firmly in control of the government, and was responsible for drawing up the Instruments of Government under which Cromwell assumed dictatorial powers as Lord Protector of the commonwealth in 1653.  Lambert served on the Council of State and was Cromwell’s right-hand man until, in 1657, he outspokenly opposed the proposal that Cromwell be made king.  When he refused to swear allegiance to the Protector, Cromwell deprived him of his offices but granted him a substantial annual pension.

After Cromwell’s death (September 1658), Lambert gradually returned to politics.  He did not openly cooperate with the army officers who deposed Cromwell’s son and successor, Richard, in May 1659, but he was one of the most powerful figures in the ensuing power struggle.  Although he helped restore the “Rimp” Parliament in May 1659, he soon broke with it and dissolved it by force.  Shortly thereafter, his army was defeated by the forces of Gen. George Monck, who marched from Scotland to reinstate parliament.  Monck proceeded to restore King Charles I to power (1660), and in June 1662 Lambert was sentenced to death for his part in the Civil War, Granted a reprieve, he spent the rest of his life in prison.

This is a book review of Jill Lepore’s book “The Name of War: The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity” Vintage Books, a division of Random House, New York NY. 1999

King Philip

The thesis of Jill Lepore’s book “In the Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity” is that King Philip’s War helped lay the foundation of American identity. Lepore postulates that the history of the war and the war itself cannot be separated especially in regard to the identity of the participants.  This is of particular interest in how the participants record the history of the war and how it influences their perception of themselves and their enemies. This is seen throughout history, for instance the history and identity of Serbia cannot be separated from the battle of Kosovo in 1389. There are countless other examples of how war shapes the identity of people and nations.  One of the defining moments in the early history of Colonial America was King Philip’s War which lasted from July 1675 through August 1676.

Lepore maintains that King Philip’s War and the of histories it defined the ways in which the colonists and Indians shaped their views of themselves and each other not just at the time of the war but in succeeding generations.  She takes an approach unlike a lot of histories of war.  She looks at how war cultivates language and the questions that war provokes.  The most pressing to her is “how do people reconcile themselves to war’s worst cruelties.”[i] She notes her own view of war in her introduction: “War is a contagion, the universal perversion. War is politics by other means, at best barbarism, a mean contemptible thing.”[ii] She says that her interest in war was drawn on the media coverage of the Persian Gulf War and her question of “how war could be represented without pictures.”[iii] This of course demonstrates how she views the nature of war and how she interprets it.

Lepore examines the literature of “King Philip’s War” with the death of the leader of the Wampanoag King Philip in June 1675.  She examines the war from both sides inasmuch as that only one side had access to the means to record that history. Through the writings of the colonists she examines the brutal nature of King Philip’s War which “in proportion to population… inflicted greater casualties than any other war in American history.”[iv]

This is not a campaign history.  Instead Lepore selects incidents and battles of the war and looks at them through the eyes of the people that recorded them.  She notes that “the central claim of this book is that wounds and words-the injuries and their interpretation- cannot be separated, that acts of war generate acts of narration, and that both types of acts are often joined in a common purpose: defining the geographical, political, cultural, and sometimes racial and national boundaries between peoples.”[v] Hers is a literary and philosophical study of the nature of war not a military history and her understanding of the totality of this war and its effect through the years is noted by others such as Russell Weigley.[vi] A poignant question she asks is: “If war is, at least in part, a contest for meaning, can it ever be a fair fight when only one side has access to those perfect instruments of empire, pens, paper, and printing presses.”[vii]

Lepore studies the literature of the war published by the colonists, in particular the competing histories published by Increase Mather and William Hubbard, pastors in New England and the writings of others especially those of Nathanial Saltonstall and Mary Rowlandson.  For Lepore the importance of their writing is connected to identity, both for the English colonists and the Indians.[viii] Her premise is that the writings of the colonists “proved pivotal to their victory, a victory that drew new firmer boundaries between English and Indian people, between English and Indian land, and what it meant to be “English” and what it meant to be “Indian.””[ix] She notes how King Philip’s War influenced later events such as the American Revolution and the deportation of the Cherokee nation in the 1820s.

For Lepore the formation of identity is the key theme of this war, and for that matter most wars.  She depicts this in her prologue and the account of the torture of a Narragansett Indian by Mohegans Indians while the English watch.  The question that she raises and that she will ask again is “If they are to think of themselves as different from “these Heathen” whom they condemn for their “barbarous Cruelty,” how then can they consent to such treatment of a Narragansett before their very eyes? “Their enemy is killed, yet they do not have to kill him. They are allowed to witness torture, yet they not need inflict it.”[x] Yet such behavior risked their identity as Christians and Englishmen which was what they believed that they fought for in the first place.  Lepore notes Mather’s 1674 sermon The Day of Trouble is Near which emphasized the theme of decay and confusion present at the time.[xi]

Lepore notes the effect of literacy on both the colonists and Indians. She begins with the murder of John Sassamon a bi-lingual Indian as the seminal event which set the stage for the war. She examines Sassamon’s relationship to the English and Christianity and his relationship with King Philip.  Sassamon was a victim of both his faith and literacy.  She provides a good study of early missionary attempts to “bring the Gospel” to the Indians by translating the Bible and devotional texts from English to Massachusett[xii] and how that missionary activity converted many Indians including Sassamon.  She notes that: “in a sense literacy killed John Sassamon. And herein lies one of the fundamental paradoxes of the waging and writing of King Philip’s War:  The cultural tensions that caused the war – the Indians becoming Anglicized and English becoming Indianized- meant that literate Indians like John Sassamon who were those most likely to record their version of events of the war, were among its first casualties.[xiii]

Lepore’s depiction of the cruelties of war in chapters three and four is a study in contrasts.  Again this comes back to identity for the colonists.  They saw themselves as different from the “uncivilized Indians” even the Christian Indians.  This was because the colonists observed that Indians did not value English understanding of identity which was connected to property and its improvement, houses, land and farm field’s cattle and possessions.  When the Indians destroyed English property it was a blow at their very identity as Englishmen.  Lepore notes that “the colonists’ sense of predestination…, their natural affinity with the land, and their cultural proclivity to conflate property with identity, all combined to produce this oneness of bodies and land.”[xiv] The English did not view the Indians as having the same values because they did not have the same understanding of land and property, and thus they saw them as savage.  For example she discusses how the colonists view of how “the Algonquians’’ perceived nomadism, their failure to “improve” the land, formed the basis for the English land claims….”[xv] In  other words the English Colonists believed that if the Indians were want to improve the land upon which they dwelt than they did not deserve to remain on it.

Lepore discusses the metaphor of “nakedness” in relation to the loss of property and identity.[xvi] She notes how the Indians seemed to have understood the importance of land and property to the English. She cites a note left by a Nipmuck Indian at Medfield “we hauve nothing but our lives to loose but thou hast many fair houses cattell & much good things.”[xvii] She notes that the note offered an analysis missed by all the English accounts of the war.[xviii] Likewise she notes how religion informed both the colonists and Indians who both looked for supernatural messages in the natural world.  The English colonists, primarily Puritan Calvinists believed that the devastation of the war on them at the beginning of the war was “God punishing them for their sins, not the least of them their failure to convert the Indians to Christianity.”[xix] The English influenced by their Calvinist theology believed that the Indians both “served the devil” and were also “the instruments of God.”[xx] The Indians also had a spiritual element to their conduct of the war and the clash of these beliefs gave the war a religious dimension especially for the Colonists a dimension that would pervade American perceptions of many of the wars which followed.

Another theme of Lepore in how the war shaped identity is in the context of the bondage experienced by the English captives of the Indians during the war that of and of the Indians following the war.  She uses the stories of Mary Rowlandson and Christian Indian James Printer to illustrate her thesis.  Rowlandson’s story is the account of her capture, captivity and release by the Indians following the attack on Lancaster, Massachusetts in February 1676.  Lepore calls the importance of Rowlandson’s account The Sovereignty and Goodness of God and how it shaped the colonial and later American understanding of the war by “the nearly complete veil it has unwittingly placed over the experiences of bondage endured by Algonquian Indians during King Philip’s War.”[xxi] She writes that for Rowlandson and Printer that the story was one of redemption and return to English society, Rowlandson through her book, Printer through bringing back scalps of other Indians as a demonstration of his loyalty to the Colonists.[xxii]

Another point raised by Lepore here is the enslavement and deportation of the Algonquians by the Colonists following the war.  A key to the thinking of the colonists is elaborated by Lepore: “In the end, the colonists’ evaluation of Indian sovereignty was merely an extension of their thinking about Indian possession: Indians were only sovereign enough to give their sovereignty away.”[xxiii] Again this comes back to Lepore’s thesis of identity.  She states that the “colonists moved toward (but never fully embraced) in their writing about King Philip’s War was the idea that Indians were not, in fact truly human, or else humans of such a vastly different race as to be considered essentially, and biologically inferior to Europeans.”[xxiv] She argues that King Philip’s war was a defining moment where “Algonquian political and cultural autonomy was lost and where the English moved one step closer to the worldview that would create, a century and a half later, the Indian removal policy of Andrew Jackson.”[xxv]

Lepore’s final section deals with memory and identity.  She illustrates this by noting how the Reverend Nathan Fiske in 1775 equated the British to the Indians of King Philip’s War and the play Metamora written in 1829 about King Philip and the war.  Both had an impact.  Fiske’s sermon helped light the fires of American independence something that which Lepore notes for the Indians suggested “not a gain but a loss of liberty.”[xxvi] Metamora which opened the day Andrew Jackson declared his policy of Indian removal was the most popular American play of its era. According to Lepore says about it that when you “peel back all the layers …and what remains is a struggle for American and Indian identity. Through plays like Metamora, white Americans came to define themselves in relation to an imagined Indian past.”[xxvii]

Overall Lepore’s treatment of King Philip’s War is a good treatment of how wars affect people and their relationships with those whom they war against.  Using Lepore’s thesis of the war, the history of war and how they shape the identities of peoples and nations’ one could conceivably analyze other conflicts from this perspective.   Since this is the premise of why Lepore began her study of King Philip’s War it is worthy of further discussion.  Such studies could be undertaken in the Balkans, Kurdistan, Palestine and other regions where the impact of war is thoroughly ingrained in the minds, hearts and imaginations of the parties involved.  From this perspective one wonders what future generations of Americans and Moslems will write of the current conflicts that the United States is engaged in.

Another aspect of Lepore’s examination study is religion in the perception and interpretation of war.  In this case the colonists Calvinism and its relationship to other English theologies of its day and the Calvinistic understanding of war of that era.  This is very important.  The more recent English colonists prior to King Philip’s War would have experienced the brutality of English Civil War and the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in which they dominated the English political landscape.  For many of these colonists the return of the Crown and Anglicanism would drive them to the colonies.   Many of the soldiers among them would certainly recall the brutality of the civil war and the invasion of Ireland. The soldier’s views of the Irish were similar to the views of the colonists of the Indians, something that Lepore only mentions in passing. As such the experience of the more recent colonists and the soldiers added a dimension of brutality that was not as prevalent before the hostilities.

Likewise Lepore mentions little of Roger Williams’ beliefs and his relations to the Puritans whom he fled to found Rhode Island in 1631 on the principle of religious freedom.  Her treatment of Williams does not include his respect for the Indians and view that “perhaps their religion was acceptable in the eyes of God as was Christianity.”[xxviii] Despite this her treatment of King Philip’s War is worthwhile reading because it brings up the question of identity which seems to drive war and those who write of it to the present day.

The question that Lepore forces us to ask is how past wars shape our conduct in and interpretation of ongoing wars.  The Colonists would see their conflict with the Indians as one of life and death, one of their very survival as a people and as such they were willing at times to commit atrocities against Indian threats, real and imagined.  More recently the American understanding of the war against Japan was conducted in a similar vein with many of the same overtones.  Likewise the framing of the current war by some as a war of survival against the threat of Islam raises similar issues.  Thus Lepore’s study is valuable in examining how some view the current war on terror as well as a means to look at other wars in our nation’s history through a different lens, not simply through the eyes of battles, military forces, strategy and tactics but through the participants identity and who the war is both shaped and recorded by both sides.  Even if one does not accept her conclusions or her admitted biases the book can allow us to reexamine our own views of our past and how they shape our present view of war, conflict and identity as a people.

[ii] Ibid. p.x

[iii] Ibid. p.xxi

[iv] Ibid. p.xi.  Additionally, Allen R. Millet and Peter Maslowski in For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America The Free Press, NYew York, NY 1984 note that “the colonists did not enjoy an “Age of Limited Warfare” like that which prevailed in Europe from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century.  To the colonists (and to the Indians) war was a matter of survival. Consequently, at the very time European nations strove to restrain war’s destructiveness, the colonists waged it with ruthless ferocity, purposefully striking at noncombatants and enemy property.” p.18

[v] Ibid. p.x

[vi] Weigley writes in “The American Way of War: A Study of United States Military Strategy and Policy,  Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN, 1973 that “In King Philip’s War of 1675-76, the Indians came fearfully close to obliterating the New England settlements. When the colonists rallied to save themselves, they saw to it that their victory was complete enough to extinguish the Indians as a military force throughout the southern and eastern parts of New England…” and that he “logic of a contest for survival was always implicit in the Indian wars, as it never was in the eighteenth-century wars …”p.19  Weigley notes how this would impact future American Wars beginning with the War against France and later the American Revolution in that “their success demanded the complete elimination of British power from all of North America, just as they had demanded and won the complete elimination of French power.” p.20

[vii] Ibid. p.xxi

[viii] Ibid. Lepore. p.x

[ix] Ibid. p.xiii

[x] Ibid. Lepore. p.4-5

[xi] Ibid. p.6.  Lepore notes a theme that will be later picked up by many in American history.  The idea that they were visible saints for all of Europe to see is a precursor to the idea of the United States as “A city set on a hill.”

[xii] See Leopre pp.33-39

[xiii] Ibid. p.25-26

[xiv] Ibid. p.82

[xv] Ibid. p.76

[xvi] Ibid. p.79

[xvii] Ibid. p.94

[xviii] Ibid. pp.95-96.  Lepore notes that the English interpreted Algonquian assaults and taunts as “expressions of mindless savagery rather than calculated assaults on the English way of life.” And the refusal of the English to “place Indian “cruelties” within the broader context of Algonquian culture, instead labeling them “barbarous” violations of English ideas of just conduct in war….”

[xix] Ibid. p.99

[xx] Ibid. p.102  Lepore does not dwell on this but this observation is entirely consistent with Calvinist theology which drew heavily on the Old Testament imagery of Israel and its relations with its neighbors.  The Old Testament prophets often spoke in terms of the enemies of Israel being used by God to punish Israel for its sin and  disobedience to God.

[xxi] Ibid. p.126

[xxii] Ibid. p.147-148

[xxiii] Ibid. p.165

[xxiv] Ibid. p.167

[xxv] Ibid.

[xxvi] Ibid. p.189 ff.  Lepore chronicles the losses of Freedom in the various states to the different tribes of New England.

[xxvii] Ibid.p.193

[xxviii] Gonzalez, Justo. The History of Christianity, Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day Harper and Row Publishers, San Francisco CA. 1985 p.225

A pair of boots alleged to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell went up for auction earlier this week. They belonged to John Fane, a descendant of the  8th Earl of Westmorland. It’s a story that seems to have been around for a while. However, the connection is rather tenuous. The Earl of Westmorland who was Cromwell’s contemporary was Mildmay Fane, the 2nd Earl. He was a royalist, so it seems unlikely they came into his possession.

Reporting in the press has instead drawn attention to the fact that Wormsley Hall, now the home of the Fanes, used to belong to Colonel Adrian Scrope. Scrope was an army officer and a regicide, one of those who was imprisoned and put to death after the Restoration. But he wasn’t exactly close to Cromwell. There was a very slight kinship connection via the Hampden family, but he never served with Cromwell. After the execution of Charles I, Scrope was appointed governor of Bristol and stayed there until 1655, at which point he was made part of the council for the government of Scotland. He stayed in Scotland ntil the summer of 1658, shortly before Cromwell’s death. He didn’t get involved in any of the politicking during Richard Cromwell’s short period of rule. So it seems hard to know where he might have got hold of the boots. At the Restoration he surrendered himself to the authorities, so you might have thought a pair of Cromwell’s boots would be one of the first things he’d get rid of.

Even if they’re not Cromwell’s, it got me thinking about the various pieces of surviving Cromwell memorabilia. There is just about enough out there to reconstruct, Frankenstein’s monster-style, an entire Cromwell:

One of Cromwell’s hats survives at the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon. This is supposed to be the hat he wore to Parliament on 20 April 1653 which he took off while dissolving the Rump.

Various death masks taken on or after 3 September 1658 survive. This one is from the British Museum.

Of course there is also Cromwell’s actual head, now interred at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, but the chances of digging that up seem unlikely.

The Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds has a sword alleged to have belonged to Cromwell, and a buff coat that, while not his, is very like the ones he must have worn.

And now there are the boots to round off the entire ensemble.

Fred Astaire: Good old Totley castle.

Gracie: Isn’t it beautiful? It’s almost pretty enough to be a filling station

George: Filling station? This castle is more than 300 years old.

Fred: Oliver Cromwell went through here in 1648.

Gracie: Well that was good time in those days.

Fred: I mean he went through the castle, Gracie.

Gracie: Couldn’t stop the car, huh?

George and Fred: No! Couldn’t stop the car!

Emilia and Luka, two Rom children, must save their parents and siblings from the gallows by seeking help from their relatives who live all over the English countryside during a time when gypsies are persecuted.  Set in 1658, we learn much about the difficult life of the Rom, and how Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, took power from the King of England and tried to change the country’s spiritual and moral beliefs.

Before they set off on their adventure, Emilia’s Baba, Maggie, gives her a special charm bracelet and tells her to gather four other missing charms possessed by their kinsfolk to change the future.  Though Emilia, who possesses some of the fortune-telling skills of her grandmother, believes in this magic, Luka does not.

The two twelve-year olds set off on their journey with Sweetheart, the family’s pet bear, Rollo the dog, and Zizi the monkey.   Their journey is very challenging, as they are hunted by thief-taker named Coldham who seeks revenge. They encounter good and bad influences along the way, and learn a great deal about their kin.

This book is rich in description, plot and action.  I really enjoyed getting to know these characters.  Though it appears very thick, the print is large and chapters are short, quick reads.  It was almost like watching a movie unfold. The old style speech adds to the experience of being there. If they made a video game out of this book, it would be sensational.

The author provides great historical details and factual backup to her fictional novel.  Following Emilia and Luka through England is like being there.  I only wish they’d included a map of the places they visited to help visualize the difficult journeys the two children endured.  There are two more books in the “Chain of Charms” series, and I do plan to read them as well.

Highly recommended:  Gr. 4 – 8.

Objectionable material:  some items based on true events – decapitated heads are placed upon spikes around London as warnings,  soldiers shoot and kill animals and people.

For more information: http://www.kateforsyth.com.au/index.htm

Di malam sesunyi ini, aku sendiri, sambil mengetik bahan bantuan untuk mata kuliah Dasar-Dasar Ilmu Politik. Not that i’m a kind soul or anything… I’m just finding–yet another–legitimate escape from thesis.

Supaya blog ini ada tulisan baru, bergembiralah karena ini, ada dua bagian saya cuplik.

Pertama, yang ada di bawah entri Alexis de Tocqueville

“Democracy in America” itu bukan buku tentang satu konsep, melainkan buku perjalanan. Dalam buku ini Tocqueville mencatatkan berjebah refleksi tentang Amerika, hasil perjalanan dia keliling Amerika pada 1831.

Saya catatkan ulang beberapa kutipan yang menarik:

“”…I know of no other country where love of money has such a grip on men’s hearts or where stronger scorn is expressed for the theory of permanent equality of property.” (http://www.tocqueville.org/chap5.htm)

“If there ever are great revolutions there, they will be caused by the presence of the blacks upon American soil. That is to say, it will not be the equality of social conditions but rather their inequality which may give rise thereto.” (Ibid)

Dia juga sempat bilang kalau Amerika Serikat mampu… err.. “to exterminate the Indian race… without violating a single great principle of morality in the eyes of the worl.d” (dari buku “Democracy in America” terbitan Everyman’s Library pada 1994. volume 2. halaman 355)

Ha ha

Kedua, beberapa catatan kaki di bawah entri Oliver Cromwell

catatan kaki pertama

a.k.a the guy who, practically, single-handedly threw British monarchy down, created a parliamentary government, defended it, and managed to die of  a naural cause… syphilis.

catatan kaki kedua

Ok, I joked about syphilis. But he did die a natural death (no guillotine, public execution, etc.)

dan catatan kaki terakhir

British monarchy was restored after his death. And they hate Cromwell so much that they dug his grave to execute his corpse, and put his head on top of a pole. Some people then evacuate his head and secretly buried him. The story gets better from here, the location remains hidden until this day with only two people knowing the exact location. They’re two chosen professors from Cambridge University’s Sidney Sussex College. The location kept as secret and handed down from generations to generations to, well, protect Cromwell’s head from the royalist. And I’m not joking here.

Kalau ada anak HI Unpad yang lagi mengambil DDIP dan mampir ke blog ini, saran saya kepada kamu adalah jangan terlalu berharap. Saya belum yakin saya punya niat untuk menyelesaikan artikel ini. Selain itu…

Stop reading my blog and start studying.

28 October is usually recognised as the feast of SS Simon & Jude in church calendars, but it’s also the anniversary of two difficult political moments in church history: one global (or at least European), the other English.

On this day in AD 312, Constantine defeated Maxentius in the Battle of Milvian Bridge, near Rome. Constantine certainly thought his victory, against the odds, to be due to divine intervention. At some point it became clear that the divinity involved was the God of the Christians. It is unclear whether the divine intervention was interpreted as Christian from the outset, , not, when it became considered Christian. Constantine and Maxentius were rival claimants to be emperor of the western half of the Roman empire, an empire still very much attached to the ancient Roman religion.

Legend tells us that Constantine, who was a Yorkshire lad, had a mystical vision the night before the battle. Lactantius says that Constantine was told in a dream to paint a heavenly sign on the shields of his legions, and he marked them with a sign of Christ. The sign is described as something looking a bit like a capital P with a bar across it, which makes it look in between a Latin cross and the Greek monogram for Christ, the Chi-Rho. Eusebius mentions the battle in his Ecclesiastical History, tells us that God helped Constantine win, but says nothing of visions. However, in his Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives us the lowdown. He first describes Constantine leading his legions, when he sees a cross of light above the sun with the motto Εν Τούτῳ Νίκα (En Toutô Nika, ‘win with this’). That night he had a dream that he should carry this sign into battle. Eusebius also tells us that Constantine used a Chi-Rho sign as his labarum, or military standard. The earliest evidence of the Chi-Rho is from a Constantinian coin from around 317.

Whatever we think about the vision and signs, Constantine’s victory led him to dominate the entire Roman empire. And whatever Constantine’s personal religious leanings were, his reign ushered the persecuted Christian faith into the heart of empire to become the new Roman civic religion. His Edict of Milan, promulgated the following year, granted toleration to Christianity and returned confiscated church property. Although scholars debate the issues around Constantine and Christianity, this period marks the beginning of the sticky connection between European political power and the church (so called Christendom).

The other anniversary today is the 1647 Putney Debates, a meeting between members of the New Model Army at St Mary’s Church, Putney, to debate the political future of England. The army had triumphed over the despotic Charles Stuart sr, who was a virtual prisoner. On the one side were the Grandees, officers of the army, including Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton; on the other were the Agitators, elected representatives from the radical cavalry regiments, most of whom were Levellers, led by John Lilburne. These soldiers fought for dearly held religious and political beliefs. In the end the Grandees gained the upper hand, and carried out modest reforms in politics. However, the radical position of the Agitators speaks to us today of how we have repeatedly shied from true democracy.

28 October is an important day for all of us who wish to think deeply about the relationships between politics and religion.

Listen to the episode HERE.

When Mandi likes a thing, she needs more of that thing in whatever form she can get it. Before discovering Star Trek fanfic, it were the official novels. At one point she had the entire set.

I’m a bit different when it comes to my fandoms. I tend to only enjoy the original iteration. With films I often don’t even feel the need to see the sequels. Though, of course,  I eventually do. I just don’t feel the need. For me having that one perfect movie or book is enough.

So I generally don’t wait in baited anticipation for movie adaptations of my favourite books and reading about the Star Wars Expanded Universe never appealed to me (though I did dip my toe into the Thrawn graphic novels).  The same has applied to Star Trek books. I have more than enough Star Trek to watch and re-watch, why would I need, what I assumed were poorly written, novels on top of that?

But with Star Trek there’s a few extra Nerd Hurdles I needed to leap. Yes, the assumption of simplistic, cheesy writing is at the top of the list, but it’s due mostly to some of the worst book cover art outside of Harlequin romances.

Take Masks for instance. Floating heads over a volcano. And not just the usual nicely blended floating heads you might see on a movie poster, but these look like they were torn from another book cover and pasted on as an afterthought. Picard looks okay but what’s with Riker’s expression? He’s looking both drunk and constipated. I suppose that fits with my general feelings about Riker as a character anyway. Not the wall-eyed drunk so much but there’s something stuck up somewhere within him.

Which is one of the reason’s I’ve never jumped on the Star Trek bookmobile. They seem generally Riker intensive. They were also lined up on one of my highschool buddy’s shelves along with his Dragonlance books. Forever the two series have been intertwined in my subconscious. That’s not exactly true. They’ve been intertwined in the forefront of my consciousness, no “sub” about it. I imagine I don’t need to explain Dragonlance books are a hurdle for me on principle.

 So what did I discover about Star Trek novels during the course of this rather tangent-intensive episode? You’ll have to listen (link at the top of the post) to find out.

Notes: I have since read up about Oliver Cromwell and the Princes in the Tower on Wikipedia.  So there’s no need to school me on English history. Well, there is a need. But not about those two particular subjects.

~ Jakob

Driving through cold rain and heavy traffic to pick up some lunch, I overtook an old barge of a car waddling along doing about twenty-five in what was a forty-five zone. A disheveled early 1980s station wagon, its flashers were on and its read-end was plastered with “Right to Life” stickers. As a card-carrying subscriber to The New Yorker and the NYRB, my opinions can be largely predictable. I shook my head as I sped past the crawling low- end heap and what I reflexively assumed was its yahoo driver.

Given all of the above, I am caught between a willingness to doubt all, my own opinions included, and the dangers of doubt’s smug certainties. While I remain instinctively predisposed to support a woman’s right to choose, I have no illusions about the reality of what an abortion entails. Having become of late a doting grandfather probably also undercuts the clarity of any absolute position on so volatile an issue. Moreover, I suspect that my antipathy to so many of the Pro-Life advocates and their fanaticism is reaction based upon style, upon reasonableness, upon taste. The not-so-easily dismissed truth that enters my mind is the fact that even the worst of assholes are not of necessity, wrong.

To state the obvious, one shouldn’t judge the merits of a case by the nature, behavior or even the stupidity of its adherents. A self-styled Left Libertarian, a leveler of sorts, I like to believe that where I feel compelled to choose sides, I do so after having listened to what’s being offered. And even when genuinely convinced that a position on an issue is the work of what Mencken would have called “serfs, goose-steppers and poltroons,” my conclusions are too often tempered by reference to Cromwell’s words to the Church of Scotland in 1650, “I beseech in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken.”

In coming to grips with an issue as disturbing as abortion, the most powerful touchstone against any kind of certainty could be the case of John Brown, the anti-slavery John Brown of Russell Banks’ novel “Cloudsplitter,” the absolute fanatic Pottawatomie Brown, the unrepentant murderer Osawatomie Brown. Deemed a deranged psychotic by most of his fellow Americans and executed by his government, poor, mad John Brown, in his time and in his place, just may have been the only sane man in The United States of America. His example is one to give pause to received, hasty or unexamined opinions.

This was to be have been the weekend when I made my sloe gin in time for Christmas, but, due to not entirely unseen circumstances, I’m afraid this will have to be postponed until next weekend.

(For anyone interested in some tips for making Sloe Gin, I point you in the direction of that Interesting and Instructive Blog – The Wartime Housewife).

Nonetheless, I have managed to assemble the two essential ingredients – sloes and gin.  The sloes I gathered from the Brampton Valley Way, so if you happen to notice the almost complete absence of sloes along that walkway it isn’t due to climate change or some sort of blight – it’s my fault.

The gin, on the other hand, I bought at Aldi.  I intend to discuss the arguments against and in favour of Aldi and Lidl on another occasion, but suffice it to say at the moment that for sloe gin you have to be looking for cheap gin,  and – if it’s cheap you’re after – Aldi’s yer man.

Aldi’s own brand gin goes under the name of Oliver Cromwell Dry London Gin.  At first sight, this appears to be an incongruous endorsement.  Can we imagine Cromwell entering Harborough after the Battle of Naseby, flopping down on a barstool (in, I think, The King’s Head) and saying - “A g and t, barman, and make it a large one- I’ve had a helluva day!” ?  I think not.

On the other hand, someone who thought that – even if he didn’t have much of a taste for the stuff himself – he might have kept a bottle in the house for the use of visitors was the Georgian poet and playwright John Drinkwater.  His play – Oliver Cromwell – which doesn’t seem to have been revived much recently, but was a great hit in its day, contains the following exchange (Hampden and Ireton have dropped in chez Cromwell to discuss the Ship Tax, the poetry of Herrick and suchlike) - 

_Ireton:_
I don’t know how things are going. But I feel that great events are
making and that you and Mr. Hampden here may have power to use men. If
it should be so, I would be used. That is all.

_Cromwell:_
John’s the man. I’m likely enough to stay the rest of my days in Ely.

_Ireton:_
I don’t think so, sir.

_Cromwell:_
No? Well. A glass of sherry, John–or gin?

_Hampden:_
Sherry, Oliver.

(CROMWELL pours out the sherry.)

So there we have it.  Perhaps – once they’re aware of this – we can look forward to Lidl developing a range of John Hampden sherry.  I, for one, would buy it.

(I can’t find any confirmation of this, incidentally, but I’m fairly sure that Drinkwater was the original model for the character of Ratty in The Wind in the Willows.  There is, I’d like to point out, no resemblance whatsoever between Ratty – one of the most attractive characters in all literature – and David Cameron, in spite of what Ian Jack seemed  to be suggesting in yesterday’s Guardian -  Rat/Cameron.)

James says in verse 20, “Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

Even our own folk sayings reflect the wisdom of James. It is often said that “A person learns very little when his mouth is moving.” Indeed, this is true. We must be careful to hear all the facts of a matter before we speak on it.

Oliver Cromwell, once the Protector of England, was noted for his rigid self-control in speaking in Parliament. He always waited until everyone else had had their say and then he made his pronouncement. He was thought a very wise man. This also applies in our daily life when making decisions regarding our moral actions. Listen to all the facts, do not be hasty, do not speak out of turn. Most of all, be slow to anger, for anger clouds the mind, and as James points out, “does not produce the righteousness which God desires.”

Taken from here

‘Unknown malefactors to the number of over one hundred assembled themselves unlawfully and played a certain unlawful game called football, by means of which there was amongst them a great affray, likely to result in homicides and serious accident.’

Quarter Session Records of the County of Middlesex 1576

Mob Football

‘They get the bladder and blowe it great and thin, with many beanes and peason put within, It ratleth, shineth and soundeth clere and fayre, While it is throwen and caste up in the eyre, Eche one contendeth and hath a great delite, with foote and hande the bladder for to smite, if it fall to the ground they lifte it up again… Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball.’

In 1526 King Henry VIII ordered a pair of leather football boots. It is not hard to imagine this king playing such a violent game for fun even though it was later categorised as unlawful.

The aim of the game was to get the ball from a middle point to one or other side’s ‘home’ point through kicking, punching, tripping and generally beating up your opponent. In London in the 16th Century the game was usually played between the apprentices of London and the apprentices of Westminster.

In 1615, James I was treated to a match in Wiltshire causing him to announce – ‘From this court I debarre all rough and violent exercises, as the foot-ball, meeter for lameing than making able the users thereof.’

And a few years later, a young Oliver Cromwell was described as ‘one of the chief matchmakers and players of football’ at Cambridge University.

The sturdie plowmen lustie, strong and bold,

Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,

Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall.

02.09.09 Shaftesbury

How exciting it is to plan where to go on my day off! Somerset and Dorset are a treasure trove of wonderful and interesting places to go, I am spoilt for choice. This week’s destination was Shaftesbury, and Gold Hill, famous for the Hovis advert of the 70’s. The view down Gold Hill, which has perhaps featured in every illustrated book about Dorset ever published, reached an even headier prominence in 1973, as the setting for the much acclaimed television for Hovis bread.

Of course this being England and the middle of summer, it poured with rain. As I drove through from Woolston to Shaftesbury, I pleaded with the almighty to hang on and keep the rain in check till after I had explored the town. He almost made it. The rain came down within minutes of me reaching the top of the hill.

The route I followed through to Shaftesbury was just wonderful, beautiful countryside, narrow lanes, swift flowing rivers, tiny villages, even tinier hamlets, gorgeous churches nestled amongst the trees, towering hedges, green fields dotted with either cows or sheep, I slipped from Somerset to Dorset, back into Somerset and then again into Dorset on my drive, turning from one main road to another via ‘Tinker’s Hill’. How delightful.

Shaftesbury, in Dorset, a town of slopes and hills, is just delightful, and Gold Hill has to be absolutely one of the quaintest streets in England. I was expecting a tiny little village and was surprised to find a bustling market town, with all the High street banks and many of the High street shops: W H Smith, Boots, Somerfields etc.

A bit of history: Shaftesbury was founded by King Alfred, who after he defeated Danish invaders in 878 decided to build a network of fortified places to protect the people of his kingdom of Wessex. Built on it’s hill too defend itself and if the reputed foundation date of 880 is correct, may have been his prototype and model for all the others. The original fortified settlement stood not beneath the present town centre, but further west where the promontory of Greensand rock juts high above the Blackmore Vale.

I found parking easily enough and at the very first turn I made, I was left gasping at the views across Blackmore Vale. Shaftesbury, one of England’s most charming and historic market towns is perched on top of a very steep hill, with extensive views over the unspoilt rural landscape, the houses spreading down the slopes over the years as the town has grown. Within minutes I found ‘Gold Hill’ down a narrow lane squeezed between the Town Hall and St Peter’s, the Parish Church. I found to my relief that I was at the top of Gold Hill; I had been expecting to have to walk up!!!! J

The most adorable houses line the cobbled street that slopes steeply down the hill. Each house, mostly built in 16th/17th century, is completely different to the one next door. Some have thatched roofs, another red tiles and others black. Some are small and look as if they have been squeezed in between two others; the houses all open right onto the street. The design of each house is individual in character, some have large windows, some small, each door is a different colour and they all have one thing in common: the view from the backyards! The scenery is breathtakingly gorgeous, stretching as far as the eye can see. A patchwork quilt of green, brown and yellow, each field demarcated by dry-stone walls, flourishing hedges, massive trees or narrow lanes. Across the miles are small villages, churches and farmhouses that dominate the surrounding area.

So far the rain had held out and I walked slowly down the hill, just enjoying the sight of these gorgeous houses, probably some of the most photographed in the country. As you walk downhill the houses are on the left and to the right is a towering grey medieval buttressed stone will, meters thick, supported by thick pillars that appears to hold the hill behind it in check. The hill is very steep and as I walked I wondered if it was such a good idea – the further down I went the further up I would have to walk on my return. L However, the lower part of town looked intriguing and I had to investigate. Gold Hill ends in a t-junction, so I set off to the right along what is Layton Lane. The houses lining the street were just as cute and interesting, they all have lovely names; Lavender Cottage, Nettle Cottage, Brookview Cottage and so on. There is a lovely little pub along the way and on the right hand side the hill towers steeply to the crest. The area has been set aside as a park with play areas for kiddies, lots of trees and handy benches to rest your weary limbs.

I walked quite far along the road, taking loads of photos. Then I noticed a pretty lane snaking off down the hill that had to be investigated. The lane zig-zagged between a fence laden with flowering creeper and a dry-stone wall flourishing a wild array of plants, grasses, ferns and wild flowers. I was just about to turn around and go back up when I noticed some very strange creatures in a field further down. On closer inspection I was delighted to find a fields of Alpacas! I have never seen them in the flesh before and they are such strange looking animals. Very curious, they raised their heads and watched me closely as I walked closer. I got some great photos and then to my delight a baby Alpaca suddenly stepped from behind it’s mum. Ahhh! It was so cute. They have lovely woolly coats enormous eyes, long necks and look very similar to camels.

I then set off back towards town and walked along the other arm of the t-junction. Gorgeous, gorgeous houses, some of which are massive! Wherever you look is lovely shady greenery, huge trees, hedges, flowers, hydrangeas flourish and ferns are prolific. Some of the properties stretch right up the slopes of the hill and are reached by narrow winding paths.

I decided to retrace my footsteps and made my way back up the hill and on the way took a photo of each house on the hill going up. Rain was threatening and as I got to the last house right at the top, the heavens opened! At the top of the hill and built into the base of the rock, with the Town Hall above, is a lovely wee café with a marvellous view of the street and across the countryside. I took shelter in the ‘Salt Cellar’ café where I enjoyed a cup of tea, 2 scones, jam and clotted cream. Delicious! Booking ahead is essential if you want a window seat (01747-851838). By the time I finished my tea, the rain had eased off so I set out for further exploration. First stop was the Museum right next to the café: a treasure trove of ancient and beautiful relics and remnants from an age gone by.

The museum is located in a traditional sandstone cottage that once was a doss house. Local life and history are portrayed here, a wonderful old kitchen, farming implements, a pram from ….. and including intricate Dorset buttons, traditional costumes and the ‘Byzant’, a gold-coloured festival tote, which played a central role in the town’s water gathering ceremony (well-dressing), which is still celebrated today. Some items were discovered in an abandoned cottage! Bizarre, how people just move out, leave stuff behind and no-one even moves in after. They had a bell there mentioned in Thomas Hardy’s last novel ‘Jude the Obscure’, an old Fire-Engine that is just adorable: a tiny wooden little cart with 2 buckets and a short hose. The museums award-winning garden would be a treat to sit in on a summer’s day. What’s that you say? Mmm, yes, it is summer. You would never think with the latest weather we have been subjected to! J

From there I wandered over to the St Peter’s church, an imposing grey stone building, very old, the stones blackened with age, is the oldest church in Shaftesbury where there were eleven churches in mediaeval times. It was built at the top of Gold Hill as a pilgrim church outside the walls of the Benedictine Abbey, John Schip is the first know incumbent (1305). There is evidence of an earlier building on the site in the form of ancient foundations under the nave floor. I stepped inside for a look about and was amazed to see a bright open interior. Of the present structure, the lower part of the tower is the oldest; the nave and its arcades are of the 14th century, the Clerestory was added in the 15th/16th centuries, the panelled oak roofs of the nave and the North Aisle are of the same date. In early times the walls were brightly coloured, but painted over in Oliver Cromwell’s time. The tower – the lower part is the oldest part of the church dating from 1304. In the tower are six bells, recognised as some of the best in Dorset. The church contains some beautiful stained glass windows. From there I took a walk about the town, a feast of fantastic buildings; architecture over the aeons.

Looking at an aerial map I was amazed to see just how big the town is. First appearances do not show the full extent.

A bit more history: Within a decade of the fledgling town being built another of Alfred’s experiments, the first purpose-built nunnery in England was built. The community’s wealth and importance were boosted after 990 when the body of a murdered king, Edward the Martyr, was brought to Shaftesbury and buried in the nuns’ church. Miracles were reported, Edward became a saint, and pilgrims began to flock to visit his relics. The town and its abbey grew in status as a centre of trade and finance, and they entertained important visitors including King Knut, who died at Shaftesbury in 1035. At the time of the Norman conquest, a generation later in 1066, Shaftesbury is described in the Doomsday book. Shaftesbury, like many other towns, was weakened and depopulated by the plague of 1348/9. Eventually in 1539, in common with every other monastic house, the Abbey was dissolved. Within a few years it was almost as if the abbey had never existed, and it’s very site was all but forgotten. All that remains now of the Abbey are the footings of most of the abbey church, preserved in an enclosed garden, and fragments of sculpture, tiles and other artefacts discovered when the site was excavated.

I had a very happy 2 hours wandering about the town, walking along narrow roads and exploring sites of interest around the town. On my way out as I was walking towards the car park I noticed a narrow lane between two buildings that looked promising for a quick peek. I gasped as I walked out onto what is the Park Walk. So this was going to take more than a few minutes. I rushed back to the car, paid for another 2 hours parking and returned to take some photos of the fabulous views. Am I so glad I did! I would have missed out on discovering the Abbey and subsequently the Trinity Centre.
Oh my word! The Abbey was fantastic. There are Saxon coins and stone carved fragments from the abbey. A lead casket supposed to have contained St Edward’s bones is on display. As you enter through the mantel and outer doors, right in front are a pair of fabulously painted and decorated doors. Just gorgeous! The abbey remains lie within a peaceful walled garden and are beautifully maintained. I wandered about looking at the fascinating remains. There is a massive statue of King Alfred that stands at the top end of the abbey in a rise overlooking the valley. Lucky him. J In the gardens is a lovely herb garden still on the original layout by the nuns. There is also a tiny little chapel with a beautiful stained glass window. It has an air of melancholy and is so peaceful within. For more info: http://www.shaftesburyheritage.org.uk

When I left the abbey I strolled along Park Walk and then turned onto Abbey Walk and entered the grounds of the Trinity Centre. The building is magnificent; the graveyard is beautiful and contains the remains of some ancient trees. By now the rain was falling quite heavily so I hopped it back to the car and set off for Oborne to visit the remains of St Cuthbert’s the oldest chancel in Britain.

The Laughing Gnome!

Let’s come straight to it: yes, “The Laughing Gnome” is about a man meeting a gnome, with sped-up gnome voices (à la Alvin and the Chipmunks) by Bowie (as the Laughing Gnome) and engineer Gus Dudgeon (as Fred). For the chorus, Bowie and the gnome(s) duet. There are gnome puns, many of them.

It recently came to light that in 1995 Boris Yeltsin was found on a Washington DC street in his underwear, dead drunk, trying to hail a cab because he wanted a pizza. Many consider “The Laughing Gnome” to be something of an equivalent for Bowie. “Undoubtedly the most embarrassing example of Bowie juvenalia,” wrote Charles Shaar Murray. “Downright stupid, though perversely endearing” scowled David Buckley. “WORST SONG EVER LOL, know SERIOUSLY WORST,” wrote Techtester45 on Youtube.

Stuff and nonsense, I say. Instead,

Why “The Laughing Gnome” is brilliant

1. It rocks. The beat’s the strongest Bowie’s had to date. Drums, piano, bass, guitar locked in, with a thick bottom end. Rhythm guitar hitting against the beat. Drum fills that kick into the chorus. You could dance to it, and you should.

2. The puns. Come on, they’re not bad. Some are even inspired. My favorite collection:

“Haven’t you got an ‘ome to go to?”
‘No, we’re gnomads!’
“Didn’t they need you to get your haircut at school, you look like a Rolling Gnome!”
‘No, not at the London School of EcoGnomics!

It’s a quadruple gnome pun score! Eighteen points, plus a bonus one for making an LSE joke about the Rolling Stones.

3. Credible dark interpretations. Momus, a commenter on this ILM Bowie thread, offered the intriguing theory that “Laughing Gnome” may be about a man losing his mind, a schizophrenic’s conversation with himself. The storyline fits. The man’s walking down the street, hears a strange voice, sees a vision. Then he starts having visions at home. He tries to rally, puts the gnome “on a train to Eastbourne.” No luck. The visions return and multiply: there are two gnomes now! Finally, descent into utter madness. The man’s at home, believing his gnomes have made him wealthy and famous, but is actually curled in a ball on the floor. If you come close you can hear him whisper “HA HA HA…hee hee hee…”

4. Gnomic synchronicity. Pink Floyd recorded Syd Barrett’s “The Gnome” a mere two months after Bowie cut his “Gnome.” Barrett’s gnome is named Grimble Gromble and is more of a stay-at-home than Bowie’s. Both gnomes like their booze, though. They’re color-coordinated, too: Grimble wears a “scarlet tunic [and] a blue green hood” while the Laughing Gnome sports “scarlet and grey.” Barrett offers something of a general benediction honoring the other meaning of the word gnome, that is, “a brief reflection or maxim; a wise pithy saying” (Webster’s Unabridged 20th C):

Look at the sky, look at the river,
Isn’t it good?

5. The Gnome saved Bowie from a life of cabaret. “Bowie included the song in his ill-fated cabaret audition, with the assistance of a glove-puppet gnome.” (Nicholas Pegg; my emphasis.)

6. A bassoon is a lead instrument. And as Buckley notes, it’s playing a riff that, mutated, would crop again and again in Bowie tracks, like “Speed of Life” and “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).”

7. It’s a testament to a lost friendship. Gus Dudgeon, architect of “Gnome,” became close to Bowie over the course of making Bowie’s first LP, as while the producer Mike Vernon was bewildered by the end of the sessions (he basically gave up and let Bowie do “Please Mr. Gravedigger” on his own), Dudgeon had become Bowie’s eager collaborator and straight man. He recalled Bowie walking into his flat at Christmas and shaking a branch of Dudgeon’s tree in greeting. (“All the bloody pine needles came off.”)

For “Laughing Gnome” Bowie and Dudgeon spent days coming up with puns and experimenting with tape speeds. They even were proud of the single until the world told them it was a mistake. “For a brief period I enjoyed it, but then when the record came out and everyone said how awful it was I realized it was pretty terrible,” he recalled in 1993. (From The Bowie Companion.)

Dudgeon and Bowie eventually had a falling out, in part because Dudgeon believed Bowie owed him money for “Space Oddity.” But when Dudgeon was killed in a car crash in 2002, Bowie sent flowers to his funeral with the note “Farewell to the Laughing Gnome.” Because Bowie, deep down, knows that the track’s one of the best things he’s ever done.

Recorded on 26 January 1967 and released as Deram DM 123; on Deram Anthology. It flopped upon first release, but reached #6 in the UK when Deram reissued it at the height of Ziggydom in 1973. And the Gnome will rise again, one day.

The Stuart mathematician Robert Wood (1621/2-1685) was born at Peper Harow, near Godalming, son of the local rector and was taught mathematics by William Oughtred at Albury. He would later be involved with the Cromwell family’s plans to set up a college in Dublin. On returning to England he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Durham College, established by Oliver Cromwell in 1657, but did not take up the post. However after Charles II’s Restoration he was dismissed from his fellowship at Lincoln college, Oxford. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1681. His writings led him to suggest changes to the calendar in line with the lunar cycle. He died in Dublin, 9th April 1685

If you would like to read more about Robert Wood, Oliver Cromwell or Henry Cromwell you can look them up in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online at any Surrey library, or at home if you have a Surrey library card

Cromwell by Barry Coward

You can find other books about Oliver Cromwell listed on Surrey’s online catalogue

…but, there are wicked and abominable laws. To hang a man for 6s. 8d., and I know not what ; to hang for a trifle, and acquit murder, is in the ministration of the law, through the ill-framing of it. I have known in my experience abominable murderers acquitted; and to see men lose their lives for petty matters this is a thing God will reckon for.

Oliver Cromwell

Under the Puritans capital punishment was removed except for murder and treason. This merciful reform of the harsh English law needs to be remembered by those who think of a puritan only as:

A person with a haunting fear that someone, somewhere is happy.

H. L. Mencken

Ely Cathedral was the ideal venue for a concert presented by one of the finest brass ensembles country-wide. Prime Brass is no mere collection of skilled performers: it is an exceptional ensemble of experienced and musically aware virtuosos who bring extra sparkle, sumptuousness and refinement to works that explore the capabilities of their instruments to the full. The sonorous warmth and rallying calls of the horns, the crisp attack and vibrant agility of the trumpet, the melodious, rhythmic backbone of the trombones and the rich depth of the tubas were explored in a continuous variety of textures and styles. Jonathan Lilley played the organ with equal proficiency, demonstrating his intimate understanding and command of the Cathedrals’ splendid organ. Also adding to the excitement and rhythmic drive of the evening were the group of first class percussion players. This highly professional performance was conducted by Paul Trepte, Director of Music at the Cathedral and his reputation for producing music of the highest standard made it certain that this concert would be first rate.    

The concert opened with Oliver Cromwell’s March, written by the local composer Dr Arthur Wills OBE, who was present at the concert.  This work proved to be an ideal composition for the setting. Dr Wills’ skilled writing fired the imagination and it was easy to identify with the threat of the developing might of Oliver Cromwell as he ‘marched’ into Ely to victory. Commissioned by a College in Huntingdonshire, the work developed powerfully with recurring marching trombones, precisely clipped melodic progressions and contrasting tranquil beauty from the organ. The superb skill of the performers set the work ablaze and it advanced in a continuously developing magnetic drive towards a grand finale of patriotic fervour fitting for any final night at the Proms. It is astonishing to learn that this work has not been taken up regularly by other colleges and institutions and that this was the first time the composer had actually heard this composition performed.   

Pictures at an Exhibition by Modeste Mussorgsky is a frequently arranged and performed composition. However, I have never heard such an inspired arrangement and performance of this work before. There was nothing mundane about the vibrant energy and dazzling colour of this work and these performers.  The promenade themes, readily recognizable but intriguingly varied, framed episodes of amazingly divergent character. From the mischievous evil of The Gnome, the tinkling flow of sparkling water of the Tuilerie Gardens and the fluttering pecking of the Chicks in their shells, nothing was left unexplored.

The evening was enhanced further with fine performances of Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J. S. Bach, Chaconne and Fugue Trilogy with Choral by Siegfried Karg-Elert and Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile by Eugene Bozza.

Prime Brass will feature in the Cathedral’s Christmas Concert on 22^nd December 2009. If this concert is an indication of the standard of music – attendance is a must!

Contact:

(01353) 660349 www.elycathedral.org

info@primebrass.co.uk