I’ve been watching the Channel 4 docudrama series, The Queen, that’s been on every night this week and ends tomorrow. Each episode has documented a different key event in Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and she is portrayed by a different actress each night. So far, personally, I think it’s been a bit up and down. I wasn’t overly keen on the first two episodes, about the Queen dealing with the late Princess Margaret’s relationship with divorce Peter Townsend and the turbulent years of the 1970s. I did enjoy last night’s however, about her rivalry (if there was one) with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The next two epsiodes apparently focus on the Queen’s troubles in 1992 and Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005. Though the actresses portraying the queen all do a fine job, I found that the short running length (50 mins) and the talking heads do not allow for any real substance in the programme. It feels, for me, as if the subjects are glossed over and then end. Plus there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of things that weren’t previously known and consequently the series has a feeling of revisiting old ground. I am going to keep watching though, but overall I feel the series is pleasant but not brilliant. Thanks for reading.

A lot of attention has been paid by the international press to the “emblem dress” won by Queen Elizabeth II at a state dinner held for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday night. The singularly ugly and ill-fitting dress (sorry, but my mother and grandmother were seamstresses and they would have been ashamed of the thing), which the press has deemed “stunning,” featured two of host nation Trinidad and Tobago’s national birds and its national flower: a brightly-hued scarlet ibis, a cocrico, and the scarlet chaconia flower. In a queenly thrifty way, the emblems are detachable and will allow the Queen to stitch other country’s emblems during other state visit (a maple leaf and moose for next year’s official visit to Canada, perhaps?)

The queen, who traveled to the West Indian nation with the Duke of Edinburgh to open the biennial meeting (CHOGM), had a lot of praise for Trinidad and Tobago. She paid tribute to Trinidad’s efforts fighting drug traffickers, as the country – like other parts of the Caribbean – is a staging post for cocaine smugglers. The monarch told the president: “Your government’s leadership on regional security has been rightly praised, particularly its pioneering efforts to encourage the sharing of good ideas and techniques in counter narcotics co-operation throughout the Caribbean.” The sporting exploits of cricketer Brian Lara, who holds the record for the highest test score – 400, were also highlighted. The Queen said: “The cultural achievements of your authors, painters and photographers enjoy wide renown in this, as were pleased to be reminded this afternoon, the birthplace of calypso music and the steel pan. “In the sporting world you have produced a batsman widely regarded as one of the finest ever to have played the game.”

Platitudes, platitudes…

My apologies to any royalist out there, but I see the old biddy—hardworking and full of noblesse oblige though she may be—as a symbol of a colonial control that lasted way too long.

For more go to http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gIN4NxM8IZKGwyRaDEWwppbaDSRw

Today began a three-day summit, celebrating the 60th anniversary Commonwealth Heads of Government, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The only topic on the agenda for the summit’s first day is climate change and the future of island nations, many of which are threatened by rising sea levels. Prime Minister Manning said that the meeting intends to send a firm message in favor of cooperation to limit global warming and curb carbon emissions ahead of UN climate change talks due in Copenhagen on December 7-18. He said the Commonwealth’s wide membership, bringing together wealthy industrialized nations like Britain, Canada, and Australia, with some of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable states, made the group especially “reflective of world opinion” in the climate change debate, adding that, “what we can do is raise our voices politically.”

Queen Elizabeth II, who acknowledged her hosts at a pre-summit dinner by wearing a gown featuring two of the Caribbean nation’s national birds and its national flower, opened the Trinidad meeting, saying that the Commonwealth had an opportunity to lead once more on climate change. The Queen stated that “The threat to our environment is not a new concern but it is now a global challenge which will continue to affect the security and stability of millions for years to come [. . .]. Many of those affected are among the most vulnerable and many of the people least well able to withstand the adverse effects of climate change live in the Commonwealth.” Around half of the 53-nation Commonwealth group (comprising about two billion people), mainly former British colonies, are island nations scattered across the world’s oceans. Some of these fear “they could be swamped or even literally wiped off the map in coming decades if sea levels rise as a result of worsening climate change.”

Although most nations have given up hopes of agreeing to a final binding legal climate treaty text in Copenhagen, prospects for a broad political agreement have been brightened this week by public promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States, the world’s biggest single emitters. India, for example, has admitted that China’s decision to unveil emissions targets two weeks before the Copenhagen summit has put it under pressure. Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said China’s decision was a “wake-up call to India.” Non-Commonwealth leaders UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen have also been invited to address the summit. The sought-after treaty to fight global warming, now expected to be adopted as a final text only next year, will replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

For full articles, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8382014.stm and http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/trinidad/trinidad.php?news_id=20113&start=0&category_id=17

Photo of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, and Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta posing with other leaders in Port-Of-Spain from http://www.daylife.com/topic/Patrick_Manning

ELIZABETH II
Reaction to McDonald’s

(Queen Elizabeth II)

Picture by: dunno source Caption by: Dieguux via Poster Builder

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1992 was an Annus Horribilis for Her Majesty but things could have been worse...

I know you are all wondering about the key events that have taken place today.  No doubt there will minor news items about it being the wedding anniversary of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh and maybe even mention of today being the day of the great fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, but I want to mention a voice you will all be familiar with, if not the name.

Rodger Bumpass, who must surely come second only to Randy Bumgardner in the competition for the world’s most ridiculous name. Nonetheless you, or perhaps a younger member of your family, are familiar with his work.

Bumpass started work on The Jetsons in the 1960s, but now he is famous for being the voice of Squidward Tentacles in SpongeBob Squarepants, so look out for his name next time the credits scream past on your screen.  You know you watch really.

Even though today is Her Majesty’s wedding anniversary which is no doubt always a reminder of the fire at Windsor in 1992, things could always be worse!

On November 20:

1620 – Peregrine White,  was born – first English child born in the Plymouth Colony.

1765  Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain, was born.

1820 An 80-ton sperm whale attacked the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story).

1889  Edwin Hubble, American astronomer, was born.

1900 – Chester Gould, American comic strip artist, creator of Dick Tracey, was born.

1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist, was born.

1910 Francisco I. Madero issued the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.

1917 Ukraine was declared a republic.

1925 Robert F. Kennedy, American politician was born.

1942  Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States, was born.

1945 Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals started at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.

1947 Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey.

1956 – Bo Derek, American actress, was born.

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis ended: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ended the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.

1975 Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain, died after 36 years in power.

1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released.

1992 A fire broke out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.

2008 After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level since 1997.

1937 Parachuting Santa, George Sellars, narrowly escaped serious injury when he was able to sway his parachute just in time to avoid crashing through the glass roof of the Winter Gardens during the Farmers’ Christmas parade.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Inilah rumah, mungkin lebih tepat disebut istana ya.

Inilah rumah (atau istana) yang dinyatakan sebagai yang terbesar sedunia

Rumah ini adalah Windsor Castle.

Penghuninya tak asing lagi adalah Queen Elizabeth II

yang menjadikan kastil ini sebagai kediamannya sejak tahun 1952.

Terletak di Berkshire, Inggris

kastil ini memiliki luas 484,000 kaki

(atau sekitar 45,000 meter persegi).

dibangun di atas lahan seluas 13 akre dan

memiliki 1,000 ruangan.

Sama dengan Buckingham Palace di London dan

Holyrood Palace di Edinburgh,

Windsor Castle adalah salah satu kediaman resmi

para bangsawan monarki Inggris.

November 11 was the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended fighting on the Western Front of the First World War. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it was signed. Ever since, it has been commemorated. In the US, it’s Veteran’s Day. Here, it’s Remembrance Day.

After pulling out of my plans to go into London last Sunday, I decided that I really really ought to just go do something. I haven’t been beyond London though I’ve been here for several months. I’ve only been into London about four or five times. I still had the money saved up for the travel into the city, so I wouldn’t be losing anything . . . so I decided I would just go. I knew that the Queen would be attending services at Westminster Abbey, which meant she’d have to go into the Abbey and I might see her. I also wanted to go to the Banqueting House and up to Great Portland Street to the International Students House (to sign up for their travel club). It was a plan, and a darn good one, too.

It took about an hour and a half to take the number 85 bus from Kingston to Putney Bridge then the Tube from Putney Bridge to Westminster. I left about 8:30, arrived around 10:00, and knew that BBC coverage went live around 10:30. At first, I stood just beyond the Great North door, which is where tourists usually enter. The gate was blocked at the street, and the grass in front of the entrance had been made into the Field of Remembrance. Small crosses were planted for British men and women killed in the line of duty. There were also wreaths and poppies (a symbol of remembrance). I watched some people wander the Field of Remembrance and saw guests entering through the Great North door. But I quickly realized that the Queen was probably going to be coming in the other door, the Great West door. I wasn’t sure if she would take a turn around the Field of Remembrance, but I moved so I could see the other door. It was a wise move. I was able to stand on a retaining wall, so for once my under-five-foot-tall self could see over people’s heads.

I saw Gordon Brown and Mrs Thatcher walking into the church. Then the Queen’s car came driving up with its little flag fluttering over it. It came to a stop just outside the door and she got out, all dressed in purple. A bishop (I must assume he was something like a bishop) came to greet her and the flashbulbs went off as she passed through a gauntlet of reporters and photographers lining the entrance to the Abbey. Then she was inside, and the excitement was over.

I stayed for about another minute, then jumped down from the retaining wall and went on my way, towards Banqueting House (you know, where Charles I was executed). I was stopped at the Cenotaph by the sounds of the guns saluting 11:00 am. There was a two minute silence, then the guns went off again. I kept moving, but as it turns out, Banqueting House was closed for a private event. So, I had to keep on moving as the sky darkened. I stopped at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square to eat my lunch inside. I was pretty chilled because it was only in the mid to low 40’s and I clearly should have worn a bit more. I ate my sandwich and apple and got on my way. It’s quite a long way from Trafalgar Square to Great Portland Street, right on the edge of Regent’s Park. I got a bit lost, so it took me about forty minutes to do the walk. It was beginning to rain when I got there. I signed up for the trip I wanted and had to dash across the street to the Tube station because it had started to really rain, and I had neglected to bring an umbrella.

It took a little longer to get back to Kingston, but I was back in plenty of time to relax, warm up, and get to class at 5:00.

Went out round a few charity shops today. Just because. The best thing I saw was a jigsaw puzzle of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. A very reasonable price tag of 25p was attached to it. Thanks for reading.

11 November 2009

Click on the thumbnails for larger images:

Service marks lost WWI generation

Westminster Abbey is to hold a special Armistice Day service following the deaths this year of the three remaining World War I veterans living in the UK.

The Queen will lead the country in observing a two-minute silence at 1100 GMT for the “passing of a generation”.

Bill Stone died at 108 in January followed by both Henry Allingham, 113, and Harry Patch, 111, in July.

The monarch will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and Mr Stone’s daughter will give a reading.

Gordon Brown will also attend along with former prime ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher, although Tony Blair will be in the Middle East in his capacity as a special envoy.

Actor Jeremy Irons will read Last Post by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, during the service to recognise military and civilian contributions to the conflict.

The silence, to be observed around the UK at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, marks the moment four years of war ended with the signing of the Armistice Treaty by Germany and the Allies.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/8353405.stm

Published: 2009/11/11 01:06:04 GMT

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Last Post by Carol Ann Duffy

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If poetry could tell it backwards, true, begin

that moment shrapnel scythed you to the stinking mud …

but you get up, amazed, watch bled bad blood

run upwards from the slime into its wounds;

see lines and lines of British boys rewind

back to their trenches, kiss the photographs from home -

mothers, sweethearts, sisters, younger brothers

not entering the story now

to die and die and die.

Dulce – No – Decorum – No – Pro patria mori.

You walk away.

You walk away; drop your gun (fixed bayonet)

like all your mates do too -

Harry, Tommy, Wilfred, Edward, Bert -

and light a cigarette.

There’s coffee in the square,

warm French bread

and all those thousands dead

are shaking dried mud from their hair

and queuing up for home. Freshly alive,

a lad plays Tipperary to the crowd, released

from History; the glistening, healthy horses fit for heroes, kings.

You lean against a wall,

your several million lives still possible

and crammed with love, work, children, talent, English beer, good food.

You see the poet tuck away his pocket-book and smile.

If poetry could truly tell it backwards,

then it would.

This week as the clock ticked by the 1000 days until the Olympics opens in Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Olympic Park in east London to inspect preparations for the 2012 Games. Her Majesty planted the first of four thousand trees on the park site and met workers involved in the project. She walked along a section of what will be the 100-meter track and went to the top of the stands to view the work on the main stadium. Unlike some countries leaders the Queen at a sprightly 83 did not use fashionable transport. Instead her majesty, who will be also be celebrating 60 years on the throne when the Olympics open, traveled to the top of the stadium in a builder’s lift, or as one official called it a “shabby cage”.

While the Queen made no complaints about the trip, there was plenty to “beef” about at one of her castles. Two Yeoman Warders or “Beef Eaters” from the Tower of London were suspended and a third is under investigation over charges of bullying Moira Cameron, who two years ago became the first female beefeater in the tower’s 1,000-year history.

The term Beefeater most comes from the original Wardens’ payment in rations that included beef, as well as mutton and veal. Feeding beef to elite troops to make them strong is good nutrition planning for one’s army. This may also be connected to the etymology of the word “beefy” meaning strong and large, since the general public would have been unable to afford beef as a regular part of their diet. Retiring as a Yeoman Warder and continuing to eat beef rations would have been seen as a generous reward in a society that may not otherwise have cared for their aging population.

Yeoman Warders began guarding the Tower of London in 1485; today there are 35 Yeomen Warders and one Chief Warder. All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former senior non-commissioned officers with at least 22 years of service.

The Tower of London said in a statement: “We can confirm that three Yeoman Warders are under investigation in response to allegations of harassment. Two have been suspended. We take such allegations very seriously and our formal harassment policy makes it clear that this is totally unacceptable.”

It said an investigation was already under way and should conclude within two to three weeks. “Meanwhile, the Tower of London is a close-knit community and, understandably, this is a difficult time for us all.”

Barry

BARRY EVA (Storyheart)
Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
“Across the Pond”

On Remembrance Sunday, the British remember all those who gave their lives in service to their country. In particular, it honors all those men and women who served in the World Wars.

This morning, at the Cenotaph memorial in Westminster (dedicated to “The Glorious Dead”) the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince William, and Prince Harry lay wreaths in commemoration. It was a solemn ceremony. At eleven o’clock, the bells of Big Ben struck the hour and the guns saluted. There were two minutes of silence, followed by another gun salute.

I think it is a real shame that Americans don’t have a similar day to commemorate the soldiers. Oh, there is Memorial Day, but this is usually an excuse for cookouts and a day off. It is not taken as seriously as Remembrance Day is here in the UK. From the middle of October onwards, Brits everywhere wear red poppies in their lapels to honor the dead. The Prime Minister, the royal family, and the high commissioners from the Commonwealth nations take part. It’s no small thing, and it isn’t just an excuse for a barbecue. One thing you can’t deny about the British, is they take their history quite seriously. WWII has an especially lasting resonance–it’s still “the War” almost as though all the other wars fought by the Brits weren’t quite up to snuff. I would say that, in a lot of ways, it has the kind of significance that the Civil War has for Americans.

Don’t believe me about the significance of the Civil War? Look back through the rhetoric and you realize just how much the Civil War was a war of ideology, a war for the nation’s soul. It was significant that Lincoln placed the founding of the nation at the Declaration of Independence–it had never actually been completely clear that what American stood for was equality. Besides, go trolling around a Southern town and count the Confederate flags. For good or for ill, it is not forgotten. I believe Ken Burns (bless his heart) said the Civil War was a war for America’s very soul. That, I think, is what Lincoln grasped, what makes it so interesting to many people, and what makes it so important even today. Anyone speaking on race issues today really has no business doing so without some understanding of the Civil War and (maybe more importantly) Reconstruction.

Obviously, I am digressing here.

 I was pleased to see Prince Harry lay a wreath this year. It was the first time he’d done so. He laid it for his father, who is in Canada at the moment. As such, he got to go before Prince William. I was amused by that; I’m sure Harry doesn’t get to go first very often (well, first aside from the Queen and Prince Phillip).

The $ 1 coin issued by Cook Islands in 2006 to commemorate 80 years of the invention of TV.

VISAKHAPATNAM: An interesting coin, issued by Cook Islands to commemorate 80 years of television, has been collected by noted numismatist from the city D. Satya Buddu. The $ 1 coin, issued in 2006, bears the bust of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and a small photograph of the inventor of Television John Logie Baird and a moving 3 D image, both inset in the outline of a TV.

The coin replicates the first images transmitted to a TV receiver in 1926.

J.L. Baird demonstrated the world’s first television system to transmit live, moving images in tone graduations to 40 members of the Royal Institution.

The 30-line images were scanned mechanically by a disk with a spiral of lenses at 12.5 images per second.

Mr. Satya Buddu has won four ‘National Record’ of the Limca Book of Records for 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005 for his collection of coins in different categories.

The categories include: coins on famous personalities of 140 countries, animals and birds, birds, flowers, ships. He has received all the four awards recently.

He is also attending the three-day All India Coins exhibition to be held at the Benares Hindu University from December 31.

Could Canadians handle a King Chuck?

THIS WEEK’S visit to Canada by Prince Charles and Lady Camilla has renewed an age-old debate about whether Canada’s constitutional monarchy should be replaced by an elected head of state.

A former British colony, Canada still retains a significant connection to the Crown, right down to having the Queen E. on our currency. (The governor-general is our resident head of state, the Queen’s viceroy here; but the GG is largely a ceremonial position.)

Friends of mine in England were amused recently when I pulled out a Canadian $20 bill with the Queen’s face on it. I think they enjoyed feeling like they were still our colonial rulers or something.

Canadians have had a lasting fondness for Queen Elizabeth II.

The majority of Canadians seem to hold Queen Elizabeth II in high regard – or are indifferent to her at worst – so the idea of cutting ties with the monarchy has never gained much momentum. There’s a sentimental attachment to her. When the Queen came to the throne back in 1953, Canada was in its adolescence, still trying to figure out who it was in the post-war world. We weren’t British, but not American either. (Unfortunately, it’s an identity crisis that endures to this day.)

In the not-so-distant future, though, the Queen will be gone, and I’m pretty sure Canadians do not feel the same affection for Prince Charles. Indeed, the Toronto Star had a poll that showed 49 per cent of Canadians viewed Charles “unfavourably” (Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, fared marginally better: only 51 per cent didn’t approve of her.)

Diana: Would she have helped keep the royals relevant?

Perhaps things would be different had Diana lived and stayed with Charles. I’m sure she could have given the institution of the royal family renewed staying power in the former colonies. They’re perfectly intelligent and gracious people, Chuck and Camilla, they just don’t have anything close to the same appeal as Diana (could anybody?)

But this is not really about people or personalities. The fact is, it’s high time Canada officially grows up and elects its own head of state (I’m guessing that would be a president?)

I realize ditching the Crown is a lot easier said than done and that a change like this would be complex and complicated to carry out.

It doesn’t have to be the end of everything. Just because we’re breaking free, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t retain certain things. The legal system we inherited from the British, for example. Or our membership in the Commonwealth, an affiliation that offers obvious advantages.

And we still have the cultural ties and places whose names pay homage to the old empire (Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Alberta, Victoria, Regina, and the list goes on…)

Let the sentimental attachments prevail, but when Queen Elizabeth II’s reign comes to an end, Canada should move toward electing our own independent head of state.

It might not help to solve our identity crisis, but it’s a start. And it sure beats having King Chuck on our $20 bill.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

>> Related: Monarchy in Canada would end with Charles, film argues

STUFF.CO.NZ: Prime Minister John Key put a stop to rumours and confirmed that New Zealand will see the arrival of a royal visitor early next year.

PRINCE TO COME (pic: beourguests.co.uk)

Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, will go on his first official overseas trip on behalf of the Queen and will be in New Zealand from 17-19 January 2010.

He will visit Auckland and come to Wellington for the opening of the new Supreme Court Building on 18 January.  – read more

- view a related blogpost here

Is the last Tsar of Bulgaria the most qualified man for the job as European President?

There are many people who have been mentioned as potential new Presidents of the European Union, but none sparked my interest more than Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  He has an impressive CV, which I challenge anyone to match.

Starting at the age of 6 he was the last Tsar if Bulgaria, supported by the Germans, then invaded by the Russians, his reign was not entirely successful, leading to the Communist abolition of the monarchy in 1946, leading to his, and his family’s exile.

As well as living in Bulgaria Simeon has good links with the rest of Europe, he has lived in Spain, marrying a Spanish aristocrat whilst there, as well as Egypt and the United States, but his family connections are the ones that really make him pre-eminently suitable for the job.

His mother was the daughter of Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy and briefly Albania and Ethiopia, and his grandmother was a Princess from Montenegro.

So tea with Berlusconi would not be a problem.

He has great links with both Great Britain and Germany being directly related to the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg Gotha and, as a consequence, the British royal family and that of Belgium.

His credentials are not just restricted to his family ties however.  His main qualification for the role is that he has been a Prime Minister of Bulgaria, since its turn to democracy, following the Communist era, but he even has at least five knighthoods, from Italy, Belgium and the Catholic Church.  He’s even a Grand Officer of the Legion d’honneur, improving his republican and French connections.

He has excellent connections and can be assured to stop the traffic at any international occasion.

Apart from the Queen of England, can there be any more qualified contender for the job?

He even makes C. B. Fry look ordinary, and unlike him, instead of just being offered the job like C. B., he was actually related to the King of Albania!

The conformature, basically a head-mapper, at Patey. These machines date back to the 1840s. When one breaks down, Patey calls a piano repairman. Why? "He understands how all the keys work," explained one Patey representative.

FOXHUNTING is probably as well known for its attire as for its horses and hounds. Say “foxhunting” to the average citizen, and the first image that will spring to his mind will almost certainly be the iconic red coat that Masters and huntsmen (and male hunt members who have been awarded their colors) traditionally wear. The clothes foxhunters wear are important to the sport, and not just for fashion. For one thing, the attire a foxhunter wears has a lot of meaning attached to it, much as military uniforms do. Some of the foxhunting uniform’s signs and symbols are subtle, like the tradition of professional hunt staff members wearing the ribbons dangling down from the back of their hunt caps, rather than stitched up, as other riders wear them. Or the “code of coat buttons” by which you can quickly discern a Master (four brass buttons) from a Master hunting hounds (five brass buttons).

While in England recently, we decided to explore several of the oldest and most prestigious clothiers patronized by generations of foxhunters;  many are still serving the military, too, which also has a long historic connection to the chase.

Our improvised tour took us first to the London suburb of Dulwich, where the famous hat and helmet makers Patey have their workroom at the back of a tiny alleyway.

Patey has been making hats and helmets for more than 200 years, and the process doesn’t seem to have changed much since then. The first step is to put the conformature on your head, kind of a scary-looking process, although our brave houndblogger volunteer (pictured above) appears undaunted. It might look like a medieval torture device, but the conformature is painless–though it is a bit heavy, as you might expect, considering it’s basically a metal top hat.

The conformature recreates the exact shape of the crown of your head. On top, the machine has a little lid with a card in it. Once he’s fit the conformature properly on your head, the Patey representative shuts the lid, and a series of pins mark the card in a smaller version of your crown shape (and I am told, by the way, that a peanut-shaped head like mine is entirely normal!). Patey keeps your card on file, and that is the form they use to make your bespoke helmet. (Before making the actual helmet, the pattern needs to be enlarged from fileable card-size to actual head size, and there’s another machine that expands the pattern)

Patey keeps large cabinets whose drawers are stuffed with measurements going back two decades.

Patey makes its riding helmets from a material called “goss,” which is made out of four layers of linen coated with a special shellac paste called “coodle.” Patey cures the goss for five months before steam-heating it and shaping a helmet out of it. Patey workers manipulate layers of warmed goss around a wooden hat block (this takes about five hours per helmet). The block is your very own conform block, a wooden version of your head that Patey makes from the pin-prick pattern the conformature produced (kind of puts a new twist on the term “blockhead,” doesn’t it?).

The proto-hat dries for a week on the conform block. When it’s dry, its ready for trimming and finishing–essentially, covered with velvet and trimmed with the traditional ribbon on the back and, if you’ve ordered one, a chin harness.

This hatbox is for a Napoleon-style cocked hat. Patey still makes cocked hats, mainly for ceremonial occasions.

The hat-trimmers use heavy irons to smooth out the velvet on the hunt cap, and these irons are kept warming over small, round fires at the workshop.

A custom Patey riding helmet will set you back about $600, depending on the exchange rate.

Patey is famous among the hunting set for its riding helmets and top hats, but the company has been making military caps for at least as long as it has been equipping equestrians.

The military hats cost less, but they make up the bulk of Patey’s business in terms of volume (riding caps do in terms of revenue). Riding caps take about six to seven man-hours each, whereas a military cap only takes about one and a half man-hours.

Patey emphatically does not give tours, so we owe thanks to our contact there. We wondered whether he was a great hat-wearer himself or whether he looked at hats the way a baker must look at pastry at the end of a long day. “I never wear hats,” he admitted with a laugh.

We took a train into the heart of London next to visit Dege & Skinner on Savile Row, famous for its hunt coats. Many you might  have encountered Mr. Skinner himself, either in England or on his annual travels through America with his measuring tape, taking custom orders.

The firm grew out of two concerns, one founded by German tailor Jacob Dege in 1865 and the other established by the Skinner family around the same time. The two first merged in 1910, when Jacob’s youngest son Arthur and a young member of the Skinner family, William, founded their own firm on Jermyn Street in London. The original Dege and Skinner association ended just two years later when Arthur Dege returned to his family’s tailoring company after the deaths of his two brothers, and William Skinner died after a riding accident.

But the sons’ friendship and two-year stint together in the tailoring business had bonded the Dege and Skinner families. After William Skinner’s untimely death, Jacob Dege paid for his sons’ educations, and one of them, William “Tim” Skinner joined Dege’s firm. The elder Dege died in 1918, but Tim Skinner had become a fixture. He was instrumental in building the firm’s military tailoring accounts–an important matter during World War II, when clothes rationing nearly wiped out the company’s civilian market for custom-tailored suits.

Dege & Skinner's shopfront on Savile Row

The Skinner family eventually purchased the firm after the war. The company still operated as J. Dege & Sons but continued to employ both Deges and Skinners, and in 2000 it eventually adopted the name Dege & Skinner in 2000.

The company’s work history is even more colorful. Before World War II, Dege bought another firm, Wilkinson & Son, which specialized in robe-making, diplomatic attire, and court dress and had made the coronation robes for every English monarch from King William IV to King George VI.

“This somewhat esoteric branch of the tailoring trade came into its own at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953,” the Dege company history says, “when there was a sudden demand for velvet Court dress, diplomatic uniforms, robes for Knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath, and, of course, peers’ Coronation robes and coronets.”

During “a few months of frantic activity,” the history relates, “robes which had lain in mothballs since 1937, and survived the Blitz and the subsequent flooding of the basement by the River Conduit, were resurrected and refurbished. Hundreds of silver balls on the tops of coronets were unscrewed, polished, and made good. The entire firm was in attendance at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, robing the Peers of the Realm.”

The beginnings of a Dege & Skinner bespoke hunt coat

More recently, Dege designed and made the uniforms for “the world’s first-ever Camel Pipe Band for the Royal Oman Police.” (Be honest, you never even knew there was a Camel Pipe Band, did you?)

So, needless to say, if you buy a Dege & Skinner coat, you are joining some very elite company.

Dege & Skinner’s hunt coats are works of art–very, very sturdy art–and their design has changed very little since the early 1900s.

Dege & Skinner sales manager Darren Tiernan was kind enough to walk us through the custom-tailoring process, which starts with measuring and photographing the customer. Why the photos? So the tailors can see exactly how your clothes fit, what unusual aspects you might have, such as one shoulder being lower than the other, for example. You probably wouldn’t even notice that kind of thing about yourself until a Dege measuring tape unfurled along your appendages and the photographs came back, but quirks of posture and physique have an important effect on how your coat hangs on you. Dege understands.

Your measurements and photographs, as well as swatches of the fabric you’ve selected for your coat (or, if you have won the lottery recently, your coats, plural), all go into a large brown envelope which will serve as your permanent record, more or less, at Dege. They do like to take remeasurements regularly.

Your bespoke hunt coat will begin life as a series of brown paper cut-outs that essentially form the pattern of your very own coat.

The needle-and-thread artistry takes place around the corner from Dege & Skinner’s store, in workshops where your coat becomes the warm and wonderful thing you will (providing you lay off the steak dinners and the double-fudge sundaes) keep for the rest of your life and possibly pass on in your will to only the most worthy and deserving of your beneficiaries.

“They do become heirlooms,” said Tiernan, who has seen Dege coats still in active service after 40 hunt seasons. “People pass them down, and people often don’t want to wear anything else.”

A Dege hunt coat will cost you about $3,700 but will, we are assured, last so many years that, actually, it’s really only costing you a few dollars a year. It costs a bit extra to get the snappy Tattersalls lining above the skirt, but what about other features, like the poacher’s pocket and the ventile lining (treated cotton on the skirt that helps preserve it from horse sweat and mud)? Absolutely standard, of course.

A tailor hard at work in Dege & Skinner's workshop

The coats come in a range of weights, from lightweight cavalry twill to a 32-ounce cavalry twill that Tiernan described as “nigh on bulletproof.”

“I think people come to us because they want traditional, proper hunting clothes,” Tiernan said. “The hunt coat’s design is tried and true. It’s not done for aesthetics; it’s what makes you comfortable while you’re in the saddle.”

“In the saddle” is key. Tiernan points out that sporting coats, whether for riding or shooting, are totally different to tailor than regular civilian attire. “When you’re making a sporting coat, all the rules change from civilian clothes, because you’re accommodating different posture,” he explained.

In addition to robing Peers of the Realm and you, Dege has “regularly won contracts from Her Majesty’s Government for the manufacture of Ceremonial Tunics and Frockcoats for Officers of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, Household Cavalry, and the Guards Division,” informs the company’s official history. “Dege uniforms are thus worn on every state occasion, and, in fact, it is the only firm in the world to make officer’s Dress Jackets for the King’s Troop.”

So if you’ve got one of their Hunt Coats, wear it with Pride!

A point of interest before we leave Savile Row … on the wall at Dege & Skinner, we found a 1986 photograph of some members of the King’s Troop, and one of the officers was Captain C. J. Seed, now better known as the MFH and huntsman of England’s Avon Vale pack.

Like many suppliers of hunting attire, Dege & Skinner also has a long history of work for the military

Just around the corner from Dege & Skinner, and directly above their workshop on Clifford Street, is Schnieder Boots (incorporating W. & H. Gidden saddlers, too).  Schnieder’s (pronounced Schneeder’s, not Schnyder’s), has been making custom boots by hand since 1907 and has been run in that time by three generations of Schnieders. The current proprietor is Rudolf Schnieder, who also, incidentally, breeds and owns high-level event horses. He and his wife owned one that competed in the 1996 Atlanta summer Olympic Games, aptly named Mr. Bootsie!

Schnieder’s shop will introduce you to boots you never even thought of before. Some even he never thought of before! When we asked him to describe the oddest request he ever got, he said it was the champagne-colored leather boots with black patent tops. Not for the hunt field, of course. While we were visiting we also spotted a pair of red leather riding boots. One hates to ask.

Schnieder also has dealt with some unusual size requests. He has, he said, made boots as large as a mind-boggling (not to mention stirrup-boggling) size 18. He told us that the larger boot sizes are much easier than small sizes and narrow calves, for the simple reason that it’s a lot harder for a bootmaker to squeeze his arm and hand into a small boot to work on it!

Schnieder offers hunt boots in wax calf or box calf, the difference being that wax calf must be boned–essentially, polished and refurbished with a deer bone–to develop high gloss. Wax calf is higher-maintenance, one supposes, but on the other hand you can literally rub scratches out of it by boning it,and it’s very heavy and durable. The enormously tall boots Schnieder makes for the Household Cavalry are wax calf, and it’s also the preferred leather for professional hunt staff, Schnieder said.

Schnieder says that one of the most important aspects of his job has nothing to do with tanned leather at all. It’s advising his customers on what boot style is proper for their particular discipline.

“If they are just going to be riding around, it doesn’t matter,” he said with a shrug. “But if they are going hunting, I must be sure that they have the proper boot.”

Many new riders love the look of brown or patent tops on hunt boots, but, as Schnieder points out, they’re not for everyone. “In that case, I might gently ask them, ‘Are you a Master?’ or questions like that to steer them to the proper boot if they are planning to hunt,” Schnieder explained.

“But the client is king,” he added. “He gets what he wants.”

Schneider's don't just make custom boots. They also sell everything from hunt coats to saddles to reins.

About a half-dozen people work on each pair of bespoke boots at Schnieder’s. They’re a team of different specialists: one might cut the pattern, another will cut the leather, another makes the upper parts, and yet another does the soles.

Schnieder’s is easily the most fragrant shop we visited, and it’s no wonder: there are 2,000 pairs of boots on the premises, and there are also quite a few saddles and bridles.

“We have everything connected with the equestrian,” Schnieder said. “Everything.”

Rudolf Schneider is the third generation of Schneiders to run the custom bootmaking business. His clients include foxhunters, polo players, and the Household Cavalry.

We saw everything from a sidesaddle to waxed cotton jackets to wooden boot trees, and pretty much everything in between (including leather accessories).

If the world can’t come to the upstairs shop on Clifford Street, all isn’t lost: Schnieder’s exports to 78 countries.

Keat has supplied horns to huntsmen for more than 200 years, and thebusiness is now run out of Calcutt's

Our last stop is not in London, but in Hampshire, at Calcutt & Sons. This tack shop is nationally renowned among English hunting people, and it is the very best international source for second-hand coats, saddles, and boots that we know of. They do custom work and new off-the-rack sales, too, we should hasten to add.

Need a saddle? Calcutt's has them--and pretty much everything else

Calcutt’s is famed as a general supplier of hunt clothes and horse supplies (their stock includes beagle stockings, which must intrigue the general populace!), but among huntsmen it is known for something else, too–and this is why we included it on our hunting tour. Calcutt’s also is the home of Keat, the maker of hunting horns for more than 200 years.

Keat, or more properly Henry Keat, was founded in 1795 and has been a famed manufacturer of hunting, coach, and tandem horns, according to its company motto. The last in the long line of Keat hornmakers retired some years ago, leaving the English hunting horn field largely to Swaine Adeney (which also is famous for making hunt whips, though its equestrian department had dwindled, sadly, to a tiny corner of the shop, no bigger than a walk-in closet, when we visited last year).

Calcutt's is as well know for its ample supply of used hunt and riding clothes and saddlery as it is for its new stock

Eventually, Calcutt’s bought a half-interest in the Keat business, hired a professional musical instrument repair specialist, and revived the historic line of horns. The horns come in nickel, copper, and silver, unbanded or plain, and with a choice of silver or nickel mouthpiece. Their prices range from about $182 to about $1,590 for the banded hallmarked silver model with a silver mouthpiece.

You wouldn’t necessarily think hunt horns would be in large demand. You’d think one would last forever, wouldn’t you? Not so, said the proprietor of Calcutt’s. “You’d be amazed the many ways you can kill a horn,” he observed, adding that he knew of quite a few that had been crushed by hound trucks, stomped by their owners’ horses, or simply lost. Asked how many horns Keat sells annually, he came up with a surprising number that gives you some idea how risky the life of a hunting horn can be: Keat, through Calcutt’s, sells an average of one horn a day.

Curious fact: a blacksmith is involved in the early process of making a huntsman’s horn, molding the horn from a sheet of metal into its cone shape. Who knew?

That concludes our lengthy journey around some of foxhunting’s historic suppliers. All right, strictly speaking it wasn’t about hounds, but, on the other hand, these businesses have grown up around the hound, and without hounds they would not be here. We appreciate them and their support for our sport!

Nice Phillip Nice -LONDON -  Unless you’ve been living under the thumb of a Communist regime your whole life, you probably know some politically incorrect baffoon who thinks culture has something to do with a good hunk of mozzarella cheese.  You know the paizon in question.  That mental invalid who makes it a point to be a wiseass every minute of the day.  He’s that guy who thinks Jewish people in America are no good, bank-owning shylocks and finds it funny to infer that they are misers with their money.  Same goes with hombres from south of the Border.  In this ignoramus’ mind all Mexicans own a chain of Mexican restaurants, and they all do their own landscaping, cheap.  Well, it isn’t much different for a monarch who thinks all Indians are from India, and  that most of them are related.

Queen Margaret’s main squeeze Prince Philip has made an ass of himself again when he busted the balls of an Indian dignitary.  During a reception at Buckingham Palace for some 400 influential British Indians,  Prince Phil greeted Atul Patel by glancing at his name tag and saying: “There’s a lot of your family sucking up the free booze here guvnah.”  In case you’re cultually illiterate like most of America, the comment was a crack that all Patels are related, kind of like how paizons are paizons and gumbas are gumbas. Patel is a common Indian surname, like Smith or Jones, and there are a hell of a lot of them opening Circle Ks in England. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/wl_uk_afp/britainroyalsindiaoffbeat)

Patel, who is  CEO of a prominent government funded housing association, said he thought nothing of the remark because he is not related to any of the Patels in England, and because Prince Philip could have him shackled and beheaded behind closed doors at BuckhinghamPalace.   Despite England’s post-colonial attempt to destroy Indian culture, Patel will this week join the Queen Mother to celebrate the baton relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, only the Prince won’t tag along because he’ll just end up making another funny.

The 88-year-old prince is well known for inappropriate touching of the female staff and for uncouth remarks, along with enjoying a bottle of cheap whiskey and a good lot of fish and chips.  His more memorable quips as of late:

1. ”I say old chap.  Still throwing spears in the Outback?” (a question to an Australian Aborigine during a land seizure deal in Tazmania).

2. “You managed not to get eaten by Pygmies then, Bilbo?” (to an Irish midget who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea).

3. “Buy those fake diamonds in Israel my good woman?” (to a Jewish princess walking six poodles on Park Avenue).

4. “How’s the washer business fairing Chin?” (said to Kim Jong Il during an after party for a nuclear treaty discussion).

5. “Where’d you park that bloody camel Habib?” (said to the Sultan of Tehran during a tennis match at Wimbledon).