Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Keeper

Given the Russian War in Ukraine, civil wars in eg The Sudan, the conflict in Gaza and the  Hamas  atrocities in Israel on 7th October 2023, this film currently on BBC iplayer, apparently a true story about a German Prisoner of War being  held with other war prisoners, in a PoW camp near Manchester, following the end of WWII, is both apt and moving.

Apt, because the film depicts  cowardice, courage, human failings, love, talent, agony, human success and reconciliation in post second world war Britain; moving, because of the weaknesses, deaths and reconciliations that are depicted.

Bert Trautman the PoW, is bullied by the British PoW sergeant in charge of the camp, by for example, being made frequently to clean the latrines. On one occasion whilst playing a prisoners' football  game as goalkeeper, where he brilliantly makes save after save, although the game is stopped by the bully sergeant, he is spotted by the trainer of a local losing football team St Helens facing relegation.

Eventually, being allowed to work away from the PoW camp, albeit in restrictive conditions, in the St Helen's manager's shop conditionally upon his  helping the manager's football team survive, he succeeds with the team's final match and eventually falls in love with the manager's daughter Margaret.

Eventually, he is spotted, and later recruited, by the  then Man City manager, who is scouting for a decent player. 

There was a huge amount of resentment of  Germans at the time, being post WWII. This was reflected at the Man City ground, with the crowd both home and away supporters, loudly booing Bert. A Jewish rabbi who had fled the war to the UK, eventually shakes hands with him and Bert bcomes Man City's hero.

However he has damaging accident on the pitch. Off the pitch, his only son dies in a motor accident. Visiting his son's grave he meets the bully sergeant. They have a fight,  during which the sergeant mentions his own son killed fighting the Germans in the war. Eventually they too shake hands.

Given the reconciliations depicted at that dreadful time, today's wars could and should, surely be resolved with reconciliation being at the core of such resolutions.

Saturday, March 09, 2024

British Media

The attempt, essentially by the United Arab Emirates, to take control of the Daily Telegraph and Spectator, causes me to give some consideration of the British media more generally at present, as I read both publications along with The Times newspaper or very occasionally, the Daily Mail - the latter mainly for its busness news at weekends.


The Telegraph/Spectator take-over proposals even in their altered form, seem unpopular with much of the British establishment, though the government suggests that there is not much that can be done about that  within existing UK law. 

However an MP Labour I believe, is proposing that the law be changed, with a new Act of Parliament. Over 100 Tory MPs seem likely to support such a change. Thus  the  proposed new Act of Parliament may yet prevent ownership slipping  out of Britsh hands, essentially to those  of a foregn government albeit a company has since been introduced to the mix. 

Interestingly, the foreign bidders, have repaid  the large debts by the existing holders of those publications, who are or were, as one of the brothers has died, the Barclay brothers, of the Channel island, Brecou off Sark. Whether that payment has to be repaid if the take-over does not succeed, is unclear, but Lloyds Bank from which much was apparently borrowed by the brothers, was  clamouring for its repayment prior to the UAE bid. Lloyds Bank I am sure will be relieved that their loan book  to Barclay Bros. may now  largely be closed.

My understanding is that no state, as distinct from corporate entities, owns a British newspaper although some TV channels appear to be at least influenced, by foreign states. The Times is foreign owned though  not by or through, a foreign government.

Although British media generally is sometimes criticised for being too right wing, this criticism seem to me to be becoming less and less true, perhaps because of the unpopularity of the current Conservative government, which itself today, leans rather less to the political right, than did Tory governments of my youth.

Again in my view, BBC TV and Radio have moved politically to the left, in recent years even to the extent of refusing to call 'Hamas' terrorists despite government rulings that they are terrorists, both in the UK and abroad. 

The only  UK TV news channel that  currently appears to be right of centre politically, is GB News. Yet GB News is frequently referred to the British broadcasting watchdog OFCOM, though for nothing  that seems to me at least,  to be as serious as that  for example, of the BBC's Martin Bashir on that station's Panorama programme concerning the late Lady Diana, where allegations about cooking up of alleged facts were made.  

As a reader of The Spectator (see above) I hope that that weekly magazine remains in British hands.


Saturday, March 02, 2024

Viewing Art at Sotheby's

Friday 1st March was not my first visit to Sotheby's, for example younger brother, his wife, mrs maytrees and I attended last year to view its Freddie Mercury exhibition; see Freddie Mercury

However, yesterday mrs maytrees was  to meet with an old friend  and then together they were to  view a film in Victoria, so I decided that for myself, another trip to Sotheby's Mayfair would be opportune.

The auctioneers next week in London, are due to hold their auction of many modern works of art so my visitation yesterday morning, proved interesting.

The several floors of galleries were open to visitors though on a Friday morning they were uncrowded and enjoyable to wander through, admiring (mostly) the paintings on display; photos of some of my favourites appear below. The Times published a painting, a Hockney I recall, of what seemed to be a swimming pool. Art is a matter of taste but I was unimpressed by that particular painting.

Picasso himself intrigued  



As did a number of his works (above right)



But the display included works by several modern artists, including this one on the left, of Venice.

Interestingly a tourist guide had cleverly in my view, taken a group with her to look at the works of art on display and she commented on each work viewed by her small group. 

The guide's group did not affect people such as myself, viewing individually. Probably the tourist guide appreciated that Friday morning is  usually a quiet time at Sotheby's.

The painting below,  slightly intrigued me though I cannot recollect the name of the artist nor of the painter who did the above beautiful painting of Venice

Strangely enough the Renoir which I had seen in The Times


Did not appeal.

Sothebys interestingly provided estimates of the sums for which they expected each of the paintings would be sold,  during their auction next week. The expected sums are huge, for example about £9m for one of the Picassos shown above, though the Renoir, including the actual vase which features in his painting above, may well go for more.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Visiting Grandmother's Bethnal Green Roots

On a rainy, chilly morning, younger brother and I set off to walk through the area of the East End of London  in which our grandmother 'nana' was born and grew up. Indeed she died there in her 80s.

We decided to meet at Liverpool Street station and walk together from there. From Wimbledon despite not being recommended by  the TfL guide, I travelled by District Line (Edgware Road branch) to Paddington from where I used the Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street. During construction the Elizabeth Line was, I recall, the largest building project in Europe, and now  fully completed from Reading to Abbey Wood, is a splendid piece of railway. Interestingly many other people must agree as it was crowded even at 10 am.

While waiting for John at Liverpool Street I had a croissant and coffee, with the latter making me appreciate our  great tasting coffee at home. 

The photo below seems an unusual view behind Liverpool Street Station, taken shortly after our trek commenced:

  We walked in the pouring rain. Some pictures from the route took appear below:



The building on the left was we believe, one of the sites where East Enders at the time or at least the women, undertook weaving, thus explaining why the part of the London Overground which runs nearby is soon to be called The Weavers Line, see more above.

The exact space which John had concluded was the site of nana's old house in which her family lived when she was born in Bethnal Green, is the spot upon which yours truly in the photo,  see  below left , was standing. 

Interestingly although grassed over, the grass underfoot was clearly covering some rubble or building materials, which who knows, could have been part of the old housing.

Elsewhere in the Park, was a statue, which did not seem to us to be particularly special see below right:


The rain was so heavy that we were relieved to take shelter in the vestibule of the nearby CoE church. Younger brother's research showed this to be the church at which the notorious Kray brothers' funerals were held.  Neither of us were of the view that they were very holy, though who knows.

We trudged on to nana's old street which is still called Nelson Gardens although sadly her old house (number 55) and the play-street onto which her front door opened, are no more. Nonetheless, the flat to which she was later moved, we thought was one of those still standing in Nelson Gardens.

We then walked back towards Brick Lane, where only one of the two famous beigel bakers was open. John was permitted to photograph the bakers at work; see below right. I decided to buy some seeded beigels which proved delicious although the lady who served me, looked worn out.

John kindly puchased lunch for both of  at the nearby Pret off Brick Lane. Interestingly the Pret was within what had clearly been an old pub.

We then decided to walk back to Bank Station in order to take the Drain to Waterloo. However our walk length increased somewhat, as we both for a while misremembered the way.

Upon arriving at Waterloo it transpired that the heavy rain had affected the trains' signaling, but as sometimes happens on such occasions, I caught a delayed train  that departed almost as soon as I boarded.










 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Portsmouth and Southsea

Old friends having invited us over to spend the day with them in Southsea, provided great company and a fun lunch together.

Before lunch, we strolled along the almost deserted beach in wonderful sunshine.

Their flat, to which we returned for lunch, is in an old military estate with the ground upon which the military marched, still occasionally used by the Royal Marines, preserved as an historic  site.

After lunch we went to the fairly close nearby, Portsmouth military museum which was also most enjoyable, not least because of its cafe which was open for refreshments.

For me, the most interesting part of the museum was an old WWII landing craft. Apparently the landing craft was sunk by the Germans off the Normandy coast when allied troops were landing on D-Day. 

Years later the landing craft was discovered by a Frenchman I think, and with the aid of a grant, salvaged, fully repaired and restored comparatively recently in 2022. 

There were pictures of the landing craft when salvaged, showing details of the rust and decay as well as the huge amount of mud and junk that had accumulated onboard whilst under the Channel

The huge landing craft is now a stand alone exhibit some distance away from the main museum. 

Although clamboring about the landing craft was difficult, especially coming down the ladder from the bridge, we all managed well enough without requiring assistance from the helpful attendants present.

 The view from the bridge was excellent.

Later, we retired to see the remainder of the museum and for some well deserved tea. 

Afterwards Lynette and David bade us farewell from the front entrance of their Southsea flat:

And we returned home safely via the A3, part of which is  short but decent motorway.

Friday, February 09, 2024

Moonshot The Lightroom - St Pancras London

Youngest sister   arranged for brothers sisters and spouses to attend with her yesterday at the Moonshot in the basement of the Lightroom near St Pancras railway station and to have  family lunch at the St Pancras Hotel afterwards. The route from KingsCross/St Pancras station has been hugely developed since I last visited that area and is far more attractive now than in days of old.

The exhibition with films including men on the moon as well as background details of some of the astranauts was absorbing. Some pictures:










The exhibition and films were excellent. Cushions were provided for sitting on the floor, but there were several benches one of which suited me very well. The length of the exhibition was about one hour and I was riveted throughout. 

The show would surely appeal to  nearly everyone regardless of age. 

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel was far better than I had expected and the staff there were excellent. We attended lunch together, although my sister Kathy  who took the picture below is not in the photograph.




Wednesday, February 07, 2024

The Crown at Bonhams Auction Rooms

Youngest brother John, mrs maytrees and I visited Bonhams earlier this week to view the props made by or for Netflix for  their successful series of The Crown.

I am not a fan of Netflix and do not subscribe. Neither am I really a fan of the British monarchy in principle.   In practice though, a monarchy  is worth having to avoid the expense of electing a president, not to mention the tactics that for example the Americans, seem to suffer from about which there is much publicity, especially during their election seasons. There are too dreadful 'problems' with Putin style  and some South American presidents.

QE II though proved to be a successful  post WWII Queen of the United Kingdom. King Charles III her son is not doing badly so far either. I have particular sypmpathy for him though. He is about the same age as I  and likewise attended a boarding school. His medic's discovery in the past few days, of cancer during another op. tragically reminds me of my old friend John. He was the about the King's age but died last year John Farr after medics likewise discovered  terminal cancer during a simple op. that he underwent a few days before his death. Reports about King Charles III's school sound pretty dreadful to me anyway whereas ours,  see Beaumont College was not too bad.

Despite reservations about kings and queens, the Crown display at Bonhams was well worth the travel. One needed tckets to view but these were free of cost.

Pictures of some of the exhibits include:

The photo left, is of younger brother John who was interested in the models of the late Queen's corgis though I was more amused to be pictured by accident in the mirror behind the corgis, as the photograph was being taken. The make up version of the door to Number 10 Downing Street SW1 was well done though of course the Bonham's wooden floor is a give away as youngest sister showed recently through a photo of her outside the real front door where there is of course a pavement.


Other pictures include:

The old internal telephone exchange at Buckingham Palace (see left) the Netflix actor of the young Queen Elizabeth   and some royal family easy chairs see below:


After viewing the well presented displays, we adjourned to the nearby Oxford Street John Lewis where  an inexpensive lunch was enjoyed by the three of us, before returning to the Tube and home.



The Keeper

Given the Russian War in Ukraine, civil wars in eg The Sudan, the conflict in Gaza and the  Hamas  atrocities in Israel on 7th October 2023,...