40 years

It hardly seems like 40 years since I was writing to Tony Benn as the Postmaster
General to beg him to save

to save the pirate radio
stations that had sprung up
across the North Sea - either

on board ships or perched on top of old World
War II forts stuck on mud
banks off the coast of Essex.
The real problem was that the BBC Light Programme of the 1960s wasn't playing the music that teenagers wanted to listen to. Although there was Radio Luxembourg it was hard to pick up on the transistor portable radios that had just come into vogue, and the big family radiograms were tuned invariably to the Home Service or the joys of Housewife's Choice and Worker's Playtime. There were no real 'disc jockeys' and the playlist was heavily restricted and censored. So, the pirates were closed down (they interfered with emergency and shipping wavelengths in those pre FM/VHF/Digital days of very restricted broadcasting opportunities) and Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 were created. A very British solution - commercial radio has never really caught on, but listening figures for the BBC seem to ever increase.

Thought I was going deaf!

So I was increasing the volume on the TV and radio and then I started missing parts of people's conversations. Then last Sunday whilst I was performing a ceremony I began to sound as though I was stuck in an echo chamber, and when I was eating food it sounded to me like hearing a road drill! Yesterday, I was so deaf that I booked an appointment to have my ears syringed! After removing a whole container of wax I suddenly felt a pop and I could hear what the nurse was saying! How much better now. I must do this much more often in future I think!

Hill Hall

Today at the monthly meeting of Waltham Forest U3A there was a talk about Hill Hall, an Elizabethan mansion situated at Theydon Mount in Essex. I hadn't realised what a gem this building is, currently managed by English Heritage. It has had a very chequered history - built by a little known courtier of Edward VI and Elizabeth I (rising to be her first Secretary of State), and added to over the following two hundred years. It was sold by the family in the early twentieth century, and unfortunately some of the original features were removed at that time. This building exhibits some of the earliest examples of classical architecture in this country. Inside there are some wonderful wall paintings too. Like many large country houses in World War II it was requisitioned by the War Office, and knocked about quite a bit. In the 1950s and 60s it became a women's open prison (a kind of branch of Holloway) and one of the inmates was Christine Keeler. A fire then gutted the building and for twenty years it was left derelict and many of the features were destroyed as a result of weather and neglect. Now, much restoration has taken place and the unique wall paintings preserved. Although the building has been divided into several family homes, now the house can be viewed on supervised pre-arranged tours, every Wednesday in the summer months. Contact English Heritage for further information.

Reading Group

On my books blog (click on my complete profile, scroll down and click on books) there is an item about one of the reading groups I attend.
I designed a flyer to recruit new members recently. The picture above is the Beckton Globe, one of the libraries in Newham. This reading group meets at Plaistow Library.

Northern Rock - Total Insanity

These queues of people desperately trying to get their money out of Northern Rock is completely insane (the ones shown here are in my old home town, Chelmsford). Remarks heard include 'All these people can't be wrong - something is happening here, I don't want to lose my savings'; and most worrying of all 'There are no guarantees, I don't want to risk my money'. Alastair Darling and the FSA and the head of Northern Rock and the Bank of England have all said very clearly that there is enough money in the Northern Rock to repay all the money invested. Even if the bank goes broke (never going to happen - the government won't allow it) £2,000 is guaranteed, 90% of the next £33,000 is also guaranteed. How many of these people have more than £35,00 in the Bank? How many are going to take vast amounts of cash out and where will they put it? Under the mattress? The Chancellor said so many times that there is enough money in the Bank to cover all the savings. There is some truth in the old saying - AS SAFE AS THE BANK OF ENGLAND!!!
Now how do I invest in Northern Rock?

A trip to Smith Square

I had to attend a meeting at the former Transport House in Smith Square and as I drifted back towards the tube station I worked my way through the gardens by the Thames leading towards the gothic pile that is the Houses of Parliament. I was surprised to see the Buxton Memorial (erected to commemorate the part played by one of the campaigners for the abolition of slavery). It is now looking very sprightly in this year marking the two centuries since the passing of the Act. Further along is Rodin's sculpture of the burghers of Calais - a truly remarkable piece, and how wonderful to see it sitting in a public park where can be enjoyed (or ignored) by thousands of tourists. Then under the huge prescence of the grand Victoria Tower above the sovereign's entrance, in a little nook of its own is a memrial to Emmeline Pankhurst. Now I have a connection with Mrs P and her redoubtable daughters, because I was for a while a Superintendent Registrar in Manchester, and the Suffragette Leader was for a number of years a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Chorlton on Medlock sub district. She worked out of her home in Nelson Street (near to the birth place of David Lloyd George). Her daughters were her deputies. So I have issued many certificates from registers bearing their signatures.

Further along my way to the tube station there are two further statues of note: Richard Coeur de Lion and Oliver Cromwell. I can't say the statue of George V on the opposite side of the road is noteworthy though. If I had been feeling better I would have sought out Nelson Mandella. One of those wonderful things about London is finding works of art to look at.

1800 Visitors

Thanks to all those who have visited recently - I hope you have seen all four of my blogs!

A Modern Day Run on the Bank

Decades ago I used to teach commerce and history. Part of the course (both subjects) was a history of banking. I vividly remember seeing a picture of a stage coach loaded with gold being rushed by the Bank of England to save a County Bank in difficulties. In those days (mainly the end of the C18th and early C19th) banks issued their own currency which they backed with gold. Any holder of their banknotes could insist on exchanging these for the face value in gold. If these banks started to lend out too much to the wrong customers rumours would go round that the customers wouldn't be able to cash in their notes and they would end up left with a lot of worthless paper. The Bank of England would be the Lender of Last Resort, propping up these rocky institutions with the gold held in its vaults. In the 1970s when I was teaching this course the textbooks told me that 'runs on the banks' would never happen in modern society in the UK because all banks were so large (through mergers many old banks had disappeared by then - the Nationa & Provincial, the Midland, etc) that they were invulnerable. Since then lots of new banks have appeared (mainly former building societies) and today we are witnessing the old style 'runs' with queues building up outside branches of Northern Rock - customers demanding their deposits back. All just like the scenes in C18th England - and the film 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Trouble is the public aren't rational and despite the assurances of the Bank of England too many people are worried about the lending policies of most major (and all minor) banks in the UK. Alastair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) was right to call for a return to 'old fashioned banking'.

BCCI went under leaving many people ruined. Is Northern Rock going to be allowed to go under. Probably not - but it might not be the best time to buy shares in that Bank - or perhaps it might be a long term investment - 30 years?

Kennet School Thatcham

This week marked the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Kennet School in Thatcham. I taught at the school in the 1970s for about six years. There was a reunion there last Tuesday. Both the school and the town (little more than a village in 1973) had changed almost out of all recognition. The motto had changed for the school from 'Courtesy Costs Nothing' to the one above - perhaps reflecting changes in education of which I know virtually nothing - or maybe a reflection of changes in society. I still have problems with with Year 10, Year 11 business. When and why did it change from 5th form, 3rd form? Two of the six houses have been abolished - including the ones dedicated to the patron saints of England and Scotland. A vast new building has gone up, mainly paid for out of money provided by the developers of a housing estate nearby. Ironically it was this very housing estate that flooded so disastrously in the recent bad weather. On the other hand the staff gathering - mainly if not exclusively composed of teachers I worked with - showed that people don't change a great deal. The weather was glorious, the pub lunch at the Spotted Dog in Cold Ash was pleasant, and it served to confirm that I was right to leave teaching more than twenty years ago!

Last Night of the Proms

The Proms have been a national institution for many many decades. The Last Night is a bizarre spectacular demonstration of national pride, flag waving and traditional British songs. One might have imagined that it would become stuck in the past, a gradually aging audience of no interest to the young and viewed from abroad as yet another example of eccentric British behaviour. However, ticket sales for the whole Proms Season reached a record high, and the spin off Last Night events - the Proms in the Park attract vast audiences, this year reaching a new venue - Middlesbrough. As these are outside, open air events it surprises me how many people want to attend in view of the unreliable weather. It deters no one. The standard of performances are amazingly high and every year a new range of pieces are added to the hard core of traditional Elgar and Arne, so beloved of Sir Malcolm Sargeant.

Come on in!

Thanks to the 1700 people who have viewed my profile. Do leave a comment please! This is the coat of arms of my home borough - the London Borough of Newham.

Vicky Performs

I was pleased to go to the performance of Vicky Malin in Trafalgar Square yesterday. She was there as part of a festival of disability - one of the many regular festivals held in the wonderful space that now surrounds Nelson's Column. Ken Livingstone certainly provides 'bread and circuses' for the masses - in this case both native Londoners and hordes of tourists. Since Ken has been Mayor this area has changed from being a giant roundabout isolated by the rush of speeding traffic, the domain of crowds of pigeons who seemed intent on whitening everything that doesn't move - and even some that don't! Now pigeons have been shifted to the periphery, much of the area is pedestrianised and the space is used by everybody and anyone.
Back to Vicky - her performances were amazing, slightly terrifying and awe-inspiring. Crowds gathered and applauded warmly and were drawn in by the drama. How wonderful it is to see skill and dedication.

More Anti-Americanism?

Now British generals have started to publicly criticise the way in which the American military and former Secretary for Defence Donald Rumsfelt have handled the war in Iraq - especially the aftermath. Sir Mike Jackson (pictured here) has particularly been critical of the lack of realistic planning on the Americans' part. He especially pointed out that the US government's belief in Iraq changing in an instant from dictatorship and tyranny - a police/military state - into a freedom loving democracy was merely a pipedream.
In response the American government has (through inderict means) been extremely critical of the British behaviour in Basra - effectively claiming we've given up the South of Iraq to warlords and militia, and certain that the British will 'cut and run'. Oh - how different it was when Tony Blair was the only real supporter of George W and the neo cons of the US administration.