Sculptures - two heads, one mouth ...

 

These three sculptures fascinated me … then of course various tentacled rabbit holes appeared, let alone my own grey cells with lots of space between, which enjoy taking their time …

Sculpture of Oscar Wilde's head in
the format adopted by Eduardo Paolozzi,
the sculptor

I came across this posthumous sculpture by Paolozzi of Wilde's head. Did you know these are his names: Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) … I laughed and thought oh well … I'd better write them up for this post.

Wilde lived a great deal of his life in Chelsea – hence the positioning of this sculpture – which Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 – 2005) was commissioned to produce … more on him anon in 2025 …

On the website there's a short video -
hence 'A Flying Visit ... '

Pangolin Editions, where this sculpture was crafted – there's a short video on its home page about The Foundry 'A flying visit to Pangolin'.

Pangolin Foundry, Stroud, England

I was pleased to learn that The Foundry has formed the Ruwenzoni foundation in the UK and in Western Uganda furthering the talent to be found …

… expressed on their home page 'The impetus driving the idea was a belief that 'good news also comes out of Africa' where so much talent can flourish if given an environment which allows it''.

Students learning in Uganda

It's worthwhile looking at the Trustees, and the Ugandan directors … rabbit holes with tentacles worth exploring … 

Head number two, the Apennine Colossus, has taken millennia to form … but was crafted by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna in the late 1500s …

Apennine Colossus
(by Giambologna)

… it is about 36 feet (11 metres) high and is meant as a personification of the Apennine Mountains … more information can be found in the link … it always amazes me at man's creativity.

Last but not least … the mouth of a river … a stack of slate … what to do … but create a hedge (usually a wall in town) in London – that's actually a pictogram of the river Thames as it twists and turns its way through London to the North Sea …

Can you envisage the River Thames
as it winds its way to the North Sea

This last creation is by Andy Goldsworthy – who we consider to be the founder of modern rock balancing … 

... this artwork is permanent, found in a side street just behind Buckingham Palace … being 'just some stacks of slate' …

I love what we can learn … I've just joined a TED group here … and I was able to bring up two subjects I'd posted about as part of this blogging fraternity … it's a learning environment.

One was about bees keeping elephants at bay in Kenya (2015) … and the other was relative to one of my favourite computers on the market – RaspberryPi (2020 x 2), linked to a robot … which we were discussing at the TED group.

I will try and recalibrate my brain to be more stable and methodical in its approach to humanity outside its own sphere … let me hope!

Pangolin Editions - their sculpture

Oscar Wilde sculpture - c/o Ian Visits 

Pangolin Editions - Foundry

Ruwenzorifoundation in Uganda - supported by Pangolin Foundry

Apennine Colossus - natural/crafted sculpture

Slate Wall - c/o Ian Visits ... Andy Goldsworthy

Bees and elephants in 2015 

(PS Lenny is a young lad, who has been extraordinary over his tough young life)

Raspberry Pi x 2 in 2020

     first Raspberry Pi                 second Raspberry Pi used by young engineer

Thanks for bearing with me …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

King John - the good, but mostly the bad ...

 

Frankly … King John (1166 – 1216) was mostly bad … I'm not sure I can find much good to say about him after his early years, when he was doted on by his father, King Henry II and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.

King John his
tomb effigy

He was awful … other kings were as incompetent (Edward II (1307 - 1327)), or perhaps as cruel (Richard III (1483 - 1485)), but in the eyes of his contemporaries John appears to have been uniquely both.

Yet his disastrous and bloody reign led to one of the most famous documents in history: Magna Carta.

Magna Carta - perhaps you can read it?!
... part of it ... 

To save you the history lesson … and me to make it short enough to be entertaining … perhaps this all you need to know …

Rous Roll depicting Richard III
(c/o John Rous)

John was not in any way diplomatic … alienating many, cruelly leaving others to die, sometimes killing many others …

… his reign as King of England was a failure … although some historians have tried to paint a more positive picture of John, but this is hard to do when one recalls his deeds as monarch:

the murder in France of his young nephew, Arthur;

the English lands lost to the French;

the starvation of a mother and her young son;

the submission of his kingdom as a fief to the papacy;

his blatant adultery;

his cowardly retreat from combat;

the taxation that finally pushed the country into open rebellion; and after his death ... 

leaving London and one-third of the country under French rule.

To somewhat confirm the above - here are a couple of quotes recorded in history …

Gerald of Wales:

'He Feared Not God, Nor Respected Men'.

The Barnwell annalist:

'A Pillager of his own People'

King John ratifying Magna Carta in 1215

Yet from his reign came one of the greatest legacies – Magna Carta … it might have been forced upon him as a damning verdict of his rule, but it has endured as a global symbol of political rights and freedom …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters International Stories

Remembrance Day - for Librarians ...

 

To remember all who have served for us over the centuries, particularly on this Remembrance Day …

Cenotaph, London (2004)

The Library Association in recent years has uncovered historical information about librarians who signed up and who had fallen during WW1 …

The commemorative plaque

… the 142 members came from libraries in the British Isles, or the Empire overseas …

Acknowledging
both WW1 and WW2

The commemorative plaque consists of five panels of well seasoned English Oak – the particulars are set out in letters of gold: giving their names, their military particulars, together with the name of the library from which they have honoured by volunteering and serving.

Royal Canadian Legion poppy
from 2004

This Memorial is now to be found in the British Library, Euston, London at the main entrance to the reading rooms …

They shall always be remembered

Links: British Library blog post 

in this blog post there are various newspaper articles referring to the Memorial ... 

Edinburgh University Press article

Imperial War Museum article

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Jumping Jelly Beans ... tunnels and bridges ...

 

A bridge or tunnel too far perhaps … but as is my wont – I need(ed) a filler post … so coming from a bridge (civil) engineering family …

Their logo

When I saw that the Marmaray Tunnel – beneath the Bosporus Strait, Istanbul … linking Europe with Asia … had been built … my grandfather's firm of structural engineers had been contracted for the Bridge across the Bosphorus … opened in 1973. I was taken aback …

Bakirkoy - where the trains meet

As I'm no engineer my uncle and I would have brief discussions about engineering projects – particularly when we met out in South Africa … but he died in 1997.

The tunnel had passed me by … opened in 2013 just after my mother died, so perhaps understandable I hadn't 'twigged' … as the deepest immersed tube tunnel in the world.

Bosphorus Strait ... dotted
red lines indicate tunnel project

The construction originally mooted in 1860 … obviously not much happened – 130 years later! … preparatory work was able to commence.

As is usual archaeological discoveries held the work up somewhat … still unearthing our history enlightens us … in this instance from the Byzantine-era and other 8,000 year old archaeological finds …

East Mediterranean/West Asia
showing the various plates, including
in the north the North Anatolian Plate

The other part I enjoy learning about is the geology of the area … somewhat to my surprise – the tunnel is only 18 kilometres (11 miles) away from the active North Anatolian Fault:

Tectonic Plates

Since AD 342, it has seen large earthquakes that claimed many thousands of lives. It is expected that there could be a major earthquake in that area fairly soon …

Simpler map for info

Most of humanity lives through these eruptions, while others lose their lives … perhaps to be discovered at a later date, and then provide new information of eras past …

Some basic facts about the Strait …

It connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea – it is an international waterway …

Length about 19 miles

Width between 0.45 miles – 2.05 miles

Maximum depth of 110 metres (360 feet)

Heavy traffic … 48,000 ships annually … reportedly three and four times denser than the traffic that used to go through (but due to war/drought) in the Suez Canal and Panama Canal; this traffic has also reduced due to restrictions placed on night-time transit of large oil tankers.

The Bosphorus Bridge

My filler got longer than necessary … but those rabbit holes became tunnels or bridges … letting us travel around and learn …

But where Jumping Jelly Beans came from ... I've no idea?! 

Links if you wish to look further …

Marmaray Tunnel ... 

Anatolian sub-plate ... 

Marmaray - the portmanteau word for this commuter rail project ... 

Bosphorus facts from Marine Insight ... 

BUT I almost forgot why this post got written – I found this fascinating interactive image – just click it … it's brilliant – just check it out please …

Bridges schematically shown from Trajan's Roman Bridge, to the Ponte Vecchio, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and many more … see here:

1915 Canakkale Bridge ...  see comparison of notable bridges at end of this link ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Muddling maudling me … life!

 

It does tick by doesn't it … I was giving a talk on King John 1167 – 1216 … and I seem to have totally got myself absorbed into that era …

King John on a stag hunt

Eight hundred years ago is such a mixed up era – before the English were English … and owned more land in France than on this little isle …

Lots of Isabellas, Henrys, Margarets, two Popes, Matildas, Joans … just trying to work out who was who has been 'quite interesting' …

Not the Library's exhibition
guide - I've sent for one

Nine years ago I went to an exhibition celebrating the 800 years since Magna Carta was signed (1215) at the British Library and had found some booklets on that period … perfect for my history talk … the filing cabinet enlightened me!

Thankfully I didn't need to muddy the waters by just listing dates, battles, castles, people – but through the guide I was able to distil the parts needed to bring the treacherous, obnoxious King John to life …

I enjoyed the cruel look in
his eyes ... well I didn't, but you
know what I mean!

Then I researched deeper … and am now totally captivated by the 1200s – hook line and sinker - totally engrossed … it's sad really!

The Plantagenet era has me spellbound … books, guides, novels are sprouting down here in Eastbourne …

Lots of interesting snippets
in here

Then disaster struck my printer gave up the ghost – no it was not eight hundred years old! … its owner at times might feel like that … but I needed a print-out of my talk.

Oh … ok … I could email it to myself onto my ipad … duly done – except the 'old girl' got faffed while doing it – something very stupid … and I put the right extension onto the list of slides, but did not do that for the 23 page talk (largish type) …

We had the headmaster to talk to us
about changes in our taxation system and
its effect on fee paying schools ... 

I didn't realise until I was at the church, where we hold our history meetings – remember the blue moon was attempting to rise in July …

Now panic set in … but, thankfully on Monday's, the church office is manned by men … so they were enlisted to help – including their techie chap – bless them all! They blessed me!

Isobella of Angouleme
(2nd wife of John)

By fair means or foul he rescued me, definitely on the fair means side, and I had my talk, with the slide listings for Enid (our history buff) to refer to as she occasionally adds in to our talks, to clarify some aspects …

I'm still totally immersed in this period … so much so that I've been reading a novel … but another post to follow – it's an interesting one … I could see the characters of that period.

English lands in 1180 (red) ... but most lost
by 1223 after Magna Carta.
(French in blue; Yellow the Church; Green -
other fiefs held on behalf of the French crown)

From the discombobulated world of .......

Hilary Melton-Butcher at

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write – Edit – Publish Bloghop: October Horrorfest …

 

A dark and gloomy evening – a dreaded long night ahead … the heavens were dark and broody … what had induced her to stay home … she couldn't imagine – she hated the uncertainty.

Willow tit ( a sweet little bird!)

That music infiltrated … it wouldn't go … it was taking over … especially now she remembered the lyrics … tit-willow-tit-willow-tit-willow …

Long ago alone the tv glowed … that song again … the setting - a murder … how did he die? Now all was in deep murky darkness … the garden stretched out … falling away towards a gurgling stream …

Tangled undergrowth

Even though it was the black and white era … she remembered the images … that song always brought shivers to her spine … why … no idea – but along her journey of life … there were some horreurs …

Time to put the Tit-Willow … back in its box – til the tune raises its ugly head and resonates again, as it surely will …

Grey image: Willow Tit

I don't seem to do well for October horrorfests … remembering my post for October five years ago – almost to the day …

So after mental reference to my Dark Places WEP posted seven years ago … and my thoughts on Joan of Arc and her ending, found as we're covering the Plantagenet era in our history group … horrors abound throughout the centuries … I'm almost bowing out …

That Tit-Willow song will, apparently, always bring up the anxious senses … I'm off now - a gloomy evening awaits … I'll catch up properly next week …

Horror: I avoid if I can … happy for all other prompts! Thanks WEPPERS … and BLOGGERS … see you soon …

Michaelangelo's
Damned Soul (c1525)

Dark Places post - October 2017 

The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 film 

The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan - a comic opera ... though that tune gives me the heebie-jeebies ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Hickory Dickory Dock – Exeter Cathedral …

 

We had a prompt (Upstairs Downstairs) for our reading group … and to my surprise … no-one thought about the famous tv series 'Upstairs Downstairs' for that particular prompt (before Maggie Smith died).

Might be American spelling!

Me … I just kept on with the way I've been going this year … very slow, but not ponderous in thought … Nursery Rhymes came to my fore …

The Grand Old Duke of York … Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and second son of King George III of England is the only member of the British Royal family to be immortalised in a nursery rhyme.

Goosey Goosey Gander …

whither shall I wander?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall …

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall …

and then …

Looking up towards the ornate
setting in Exeter Cathedral

Hickory Dickory Dock …

the mouse ran up the clock …

twelve times, then that poor little mouse had to start all over again … such is the life of a little mouse …

A whiskery looking mouse -
that's actually a rat!

Poor little mouse … has been kept very occupied these past weeks as I pondered on … but then the cat was more than encouraged to chase said mice (plenty born by this time!) through the new bell tower cat flap – the scampering rodents found their nemesis awaiting them …

It is thought Hickory Dickory Dock came into prominence in the 1700s from Exeter Cathedral, which has an astronomical clock … and had had a small hole cut in its face for the resident cat to keep watch …

Steve Roud's book on
Folk Songs in England

History abounds through our nursery rhymes … apparently there are about 250,000 references to 25,000 songs collected for the Roud Index after World War Two … thankfully the oral traditions have been saved.

Beneath the main dial is an appropriate saying ... 

PEREUNT ET IMPUTANTUR … the hours pass and are reckoned to our account.

As many hours have passed … I believe I am on the way to being back in the swing of things … so my next post will be the WEP October Horrorfest … mine will be a gentle tale – but do join us …

An early mechanism for the
astronomical clock removed
in 1885; but is restored and is
in its current position for
viewing purposes.

Thanks for bearing with my slothful time away … I shall catch up and see you all soon …

Hickory Dickory Dock Nursery Rhyme ... 

Exeter Cathedral Astronomical Clock ... which is thought to date from 1484

Please if you get can email advising you of a new post ... if you don't want it ... just let me know and I'll delete your name ... thanks ... or I can add yours in ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories