British Waterways, who maintain the nation’s canals, approached the high-society expert after receiving complaints from irate pedestrians who claimed that speeding cyclists refuse to slow down as they commute to work causing crashes and collisions by previously peaceful canals.
Now Debrett’s, the modern authority on etiquette and taste, has launched a Code of Conduct for Commuters to remind cyclists that pedestrians always have right of way.
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Tagged British Waterways, Debrett's
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Tagged Canberra, RMS Olympic
The Aldwych Subway Station is a ghost station, built in 1907 as The Strand, it closed its doors to passengers for the last time in 1994… Standing now, on its deserted platform deep below London’s busy streets, I can sense the long-forgotten sounds of opening subway train doors and hurried conversations. I can almost feel those desponding souls living here below ground during those dark and distant days of the second world war. Wartime posters still cling to the walls all around me, and I feel any moment that a roar and bustle will emerge from the dark to penetrate my isolation… But then shaking somewhat and with a sudden inexplicaple cold sweat I tread the upward narrow stairway and thrust myself into the cool fresh London air with gulpfuls of thankfulness, my modern-day fears not welcomed in the dark confines of a terrorised wartime England.
Posted in Patrick's Words
Tagged Aldwych Ghost Station
The Duke of York’s 100 project is devoted to the centenary of the Grade II listed Duke of York’s Picturehouse at Brighton Sussex in the UK.
The Duke of York’s opened on 22nd September 1910 and is the UK’s oldest purpose-built cinema, as verified by the Cinema Theatres Association. It has continually operated as a cinema throughout its lifetime and is recognized as one of the country’s most important independent cinemas.
Over its one hundred years The Duke of York’s has gone from Edwardian Picture Palace to ‘flea-pit’ to leading independent cinema going through many stages that reflect the changing nature of cinema exhibition in this country. This project seeks to bring this story alive for a large numbers of Brighton residents by directly involving the community in tracing and celebrating its history.
The Duke of Yorks is situated at Preston Circus, Brighton, Sussex, UK. Telephone: 0871 902 5728
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Tagged duke of yorks, picturehouse
London-based photographer Esther Teichmann introduces Drinking Air, the photobook she recently self-published in two limited editions. Saying that she wanted to create “an art object in itself”, Teichmann explains how the book is comprised of three loose chapters, which revolve around work she has returned to over the years, including her most recent project, Mythologies.
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Tagged Drinking Air, Esther Teichmann
Well, it’s as if I have stepped back into my happy youth. I still have many of the 21 books of The Famous Five by Enid Blyton in my private collection collecting dust, just waiting for Adrian and Anya to turn the pages and discover an enchanting world of picnic teas and Uncle Quentin. But now, there is a revelation and a redeemed salvation for me to explore alone… Ah’ you see life does turn a full circle… A full circle of magical wonderful escape and of complete and utter pleasure…
Now, Enid Blyton fans, young and old alike, are in for a nostalgic treat when the BFI releases on DVD two rare film serials made in the 1950s and 1960s of the much-loved Famous Five adventure stories. Filmed mainly on location in Dorset, both serials were made by the Children’s Film Foundation. They were originally shown at cinemas around the country, and all over the world. Both volumes feature original illustrations by Eileen Soper on the sleeves and contain comprehensive booklets with essays and biographies. Contributors include Enid Blyton expert Norman Wright, author of The Famous Five: Everything you ever wanted to know!; BFI Curator Vic Pratt and Natalie Morris, Senior Curator of BFI Special Collections.
Five on a Treasure Island, which stays true to the spirit of Enid Blyton’s perennially popular first Famous Five novel, is a ripping adventure tale in eight exciting instalments. The author herself helped to cast this serial which follows the celebrated chums as they search for buried treasure in the ruins of Kirrin Castle. Will the intrepid Five manage to foil dastardly antique shop owner Luke Undown’s desperate attempt to steal Kirrin’s treasure from under Uncle Quentin’s nose? Produced by Rank Screen Services Ltd. Story by Enid Blyton. Director Gerald Landau. Producer Frank Wells. Music Jack Beaver. With: Rel Grainer, Richard Palmer, Gillian Harrison, John Bailey.
Five Have a Mystery to Solve, the Children’s Film Foundation’s second Famous Five serial – with a new cast – sees the Five head off to the discover the secrets of the closely-guarded Whispering Island. Befriending young Wilfred, whose strange gifts include an ability to communicate with animals; the gang find themselves in grave danger when they try to find the truth behind the mystery. Made by Rayant Pictures Ltd. Story by Enid Blyton. Screenplay by Michael Barnes. Directed by Ernest Morris. Produced by John Durst. With: Michael Balfour, Keith Pyott, Michael Wennink, David Palmer, Darryl Read.
Five on a Treasure Island (1957) and Five Have a Mystery.
Courtesy of Television Heaven and The British Film Institute.
Posted in Contributors, Patrick's Words
Tagged BFI, Childrens Film Foundation, Enid Blyton, Television Heavon, The Famous Five
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Tagged british library, harry m. weinrebe
Stephen Bulger gallery is pleased to present its sixth exhibition of work by Larry Towell. As a student of Fine Arts at York University, he was schooled in the basics of photography, learning to use a camera and process black-and-white film. Along with poetry, prose and music, Towell began to utilize photography as a tool to explore the inherent inequalities of society, a pursuit that he continues to this day.
Dwellings isolates a selection of photographs Towell has made while working on a number of separate projects that are all investigations of land and belonging. Believing that land makes people who they are, and that the loss of land is synonymous with a loss of identity, Towell has engaged with families living in dire conditions in such places as Beirut, the Gaza Strip, South Africa and Afghanistan. This exhibition looks at traces of the human condition as evidenced by remnants of the inhabitants’ existence.
Larry Towell is the first Canadian born member of the prestigious Magnum Photos Agency, whose photographers bridge the divide between journalism and art, and between the objective statement and the personal point of view. Towell’s work is exhibited and collected around the world. He has won many international photo awards including the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award (first recipient); the World Press Photo of the Year; The Hasselblad Award; The Alfred Eisenstadt Award; and The Prix Nadar. He is the author of 11 books, including: The World from My Front Porch (Archive of Modern Conflict / Bulger Gallery Press, 2008); The Cardboard House (Trolley, 2008); No Man’s Land (Chris Boot, 2005); The Mennonite’s (Phaidon, 2000); Then Palestine (Aperture, 1998) and El Salvador (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997).
About Larry Towell. Towell was raised in a large rural family, the son of an auto body repairman. As a teenager his father once scolded him for wanting to drive to Florida with a friend. It was too far from home and he would be corrupted by the distance. While Towell studied visual arts at York University in Toronto (1972 –76), he was given a camera and taught how to process black-and-white film; and he brought the camera home, because there was no place on earth he wanted to photograph more.
During a stint of volunteer work in Calcutta in 1976, he began photographing and writing, questioning the distribution of wealth, and issues of land and landlessness. When he returned, he supported himself and his family by teaching folk music for several years. In 1984, he also became a freelance photographer and writer, focusing on the dispossessed, exile, and peasant rebellion completing projects on the Nicaraguan contra war, the relatives of the ‘Disappeared’ of Guatemala, and US Vietnam veterans who had returned to help rebuild war-damaged Vietnam.
His first published magazine essay, “Paradise Lost,” was about the ecological consequences of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe in Prince William Sound, Alaska. His experience as a poet in the 1970s and as a folk musician in the 1980s did much to shape his style.
Everywhere he travels he concentrates on intimacy. In 1997, Towell completed a major story on the Palestinians. In 1996, he completed a project based on ten years of reportage in El Salvador. His fascination with landlessness simultaneously led him to the Mennonite migrant workers of Mexico, a ten year work-in-progress. Also, Towell and his family lives and sharecrops a seventy-five acre farm.
Towell has exhibited broadly in Europe and North America and his work is housed in major collections. His reportage has appeared in magazines that include: The New York Times, LIFE, GEO and Stern. Towell has been the recipient of photography awards that include several World Press and Pictures of the Year awards, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, a Eugene Smith, the Oskar Barnak, Ernst Haas, Roloff Beny, Alfred Eisenstadt, and a Hasselblad award. In 1988, he became a nominee for Magnum Photo Agency and in 1993 he became a full member.
The Stephen Bulgar Gallery is situated at 1026 Queen Street West, Toronto, M6J 1H6 Canada. Telephone: 416.504.0575 and is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11am until 6pm.
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Tagged dwellings, larry towell
On July 28, 1982, three years before the opening of INDIA! exhibition, India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, visited the Metropolitan as her first stop on one particular visit to the United States. In remarks that she gave that day she spoke of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had been a great believer in museums and would often deposit her in one when he went to a conference, questioning her later on what she had seen. She looked back on those visits with great satisfaction, and at the same time eagerly anticipated what the Met’s exhibition of Indian art would accomplish. As she said, “Every major exhibition of the Metropolitan has set high professional standards and become a cultural event, and I am sure that the one you are planning on India will arouse the interest of Americans, forging sympathy between India and U.S. sensibilities.” Tragically, Prime Minister Gandhi did not live to see her sentiments come to fruition; INDIA! was dedicated to her memory.
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Tagged metropolitan museum, new york
Several decades into the twentieth-century, the American artist Man Ray emerged as a pioneer of two European art movements, Dada and Surrealism, in which the element of surprise figured prominently. This image seems both unusual for Man Ray in its apparent straight-forward approach, but also typical in its somewhat dark emotional tone.
By selecting a dead leaf with a claw-like appearance and photographing it against a wood-grain board, Man Ray updated the concept of memento mori (“remember that you must die”), a motif popular in centuries-old still-life paintings.
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Tagged Man Ray Photographer