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Black Lives Matter & London Heritage

A couple of my regular places have been affected by the effects of the toppling of the Colston Statue in Bristol.

Firstly, the statue of Robt Milligan outside the Museum of London, Docklands has been taken down. I have often used this as a meeting point for my students from Westminster University as we explore the Docks and the Docklands Museum.

Slavery was a big part of the visit, although we didn’t make Milligan the villain.

Interesting article on the Museum of London Web site https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/mapping-londons-legacy-slavery-docklands

Another site is the Geffrey Museum which is going to open as the Museum of the Home, although this was determined before the George Floyd murder, but now I expect the Geffrey part of it to quietly disappear, as he is also contaminated by slavery.

Interesting fact about slavery, is that UCL have done a brilliant study of all the recipients of the compensation for the end of slavery. The govt at the time paid compensation of £20m to the slave OWNERS. This was a vast amount said to be 45% of the GDP for the year. It was funded by a long term loan which was paid back, as late as, 2015. In modern terms it was 16 billion £.

This has completely changed my mind on compensation for slavery which I was against. But it seems to me if we know that £16 billion was spent then to compensate the owners we could set up a fund of £16 billion now to give, for example, educational grants and start up grants for black people to give them the boost they need to make up for centuries of oppression..

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Virtual Tour – British Library

An email from the British Library exhorting me to:

Email from British Library

So I did. And what did I find?

A dullish page, but with hopefully many delights hidden in the links.

I began with an exploration of the architecture, which was just a bit of text with a few images. And, much to my delight a whopping typo when referring to the wrong Gilbert Scott as inspiration to the architect, Colin St John Wilson. 4 out of 10, I fear.

I then took a safe bet to look at the Virtual Books. I have long admired the ability to look through the books in the Treasures Gallery in digital form – mostly looking at the Lindisfarne Gospel, Leonardo Da Vinca, and Alice. So, I clicked the link, to another surprisingly dull page with only 6 books to excite. But I knew there must be more, and to the top right was a link to ‘View All‘. Clicking this revealed some of the wonders of the world of books; from a Ethiopian Bible, to Lewis Carroll’s handwritten Alice’s Adventures Underground to works by Jane Austen. Each one in blazing colour and which the visitor can zoom in on and thumb through.

Beautiful and I chose a Psalter that is annotated by Henry VIII’s himself. Wow!

Virtual Henry

Why, I wonder, do the British Library make so little of it? I only got to it as i knew that had it. Most would pass by.

This gets a 10 out of 10 for awe-inspiring content, and a 3 for hiding its light under a bushel.

Next, I was excited to see a exhortation to ‘Visit an Online Exhibition.‘ This was what I had come here for. Really, excited. When I got there, there were 44! I was really looking forward to this.

But they were not exhibitions, they were a series of articles and blog posts. All very interesting, and all illustrated with lots of images of beautiful objects. But in no-way an online exhibition.

So very disappointed.

Overall, the British Library web site has some absolutely marvellous stuff. But its not really digital, its just online. There is no feeling of a digital experience, digital content yes, a digital experience. no.

It should be a 10 out of 10, and it is for content but for a digital experience, I’m hard pressed to give it a 6.

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Early Neolithic Pottery found in Shoreditch.

This is a great find – very little neolithic pottery has been found in or near the City so this fills in a blank. It still doesn’t give us enough information to write authoritatively about the City before the Romans, but its a significant step forward.

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/04/08/rare-pottery-discovery-dated-to-the-first-farmers-to-settle-in-london/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklyemailblog

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Tudor words for sex

Just some:

 

bob clip dance hornpipe leather pleasure roust sport stroke till trade trick bed foin foutre frig frisk have jape juggle jumble leap niggle nock occupy plough rifle seal sport swive thrum thump tick-tack till towze tread tumble twang vault wap.

source:

https://www.salon.com/2014/10/05/tickle_gizzard_and_the_pleasure_pivot_a_history_of_sex_slang_and_the_coolest_ancient_dirty_words/

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Jack London – a writer’s mantra

I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.

said Jack London.

I would rather be earth than dust!

I would rather my spark should kindle a  bright home fire than it should be stifled by dry-rot

I would rather be a  vibrant planet every inch of me nurturing of life, than a superb meteor

The function of man is to create not to exist

I will live my life to prolong my creative days

I shall use my time

I responded.

 

 

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Myths, Legends and the Origins of London

Myths, Legends and the Origins of London

2.30 Sat 2 May 2020 Tower Hill Tube (meet by the Tower Hill Tram)

Please check that the walks have not been cancelled.

The Head of Bran by John Everett Millais

The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, and it looks at the archaeological evidence for the origins of London and reconsiders London’s myths and legends.

London has a rich set of origin myths and legends which are not as well known as they should be. This walk is designed to set that right and give an insight into London’s myths and legends.

Worth knowing for their own right do these origin myths have anything to say about the actual origins of London? This is what this walk explores. It is split into two halves – the first reveals the myths and the second finds out where the ‘truth’ of the origins of London may lie.

 

This is a London Walks Guided Walks. Look at their web site for a list of other of their amazing walks

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The Archaeology of London Walk 2.30 pm Oct 31 20 St. Paul’s Tube Exit 2.

The Archaeology of London Walk

2.30 pm Oct 31 20 St. Paul’s Tube Exit 2.

Legends said that London was founded in the Bronze Age. Historians wrote about a thriving Celtic City, followed by a Roman City which began with the building of a military Bridge shortly after the Invasion led by the Emperor Claudius in 43 AD. It survived till the Romans left and London suffered a Dark Age until the building of St Pauls cathedral in 604AD. The Saxon City began a continuous history as yet uninterupted.

This traditional story was challenged by archaeologists in the 20th and 21st Century and this walk will investigate their discoveries and visit the sites of Roman Forts/Amphitheatres/Temples/Roads/Houses and burials.

This is a London Walks Walk by Kevin Flude