Well we're hopefully off to Malta next weekend for a week of what will hopefully be winter sun. I get the distinct feeling that a failure in the warmth / sun stakes will possibly end in eye pokage from Marie. We had snow again on Friday night, fortunately it was little more than a sprinkling that has all but disappeared already. Expedia have slipped up so we have a hotel reservation but as yet no plane tickets. 40 minutes on the phone today failed to resolve the problem. Don't you just love automated phone systems? So, in short no blog next week...
I guess my final couple of comments maybe betrayed my general attitude to religion. While Marx was wrong in many ways I'm prepared to accept the whole "religion being the opium of the masses" idea, whether that's a theist faith or a political ideology I think that anything that disables the human process of questioning is a deeply terrifying idea. That's not to say everyone with a faith is prone to a lack of analysis, there are those who spend their lives contemplating their place in the universe, in what is for many people God's creation. And we praise that lack of analysis, that lack of questioning - we call it strength of faith. The acceptance of God's word or at any rate God's word as interpreted more often than not by some beardy bloke is seen as a desirable quality, question orthodoxy - political orthodoxy, scientific orthodoxy, religious orthodoxy and you enter a world of pain (sometimes quite literally) The idea of being sure enough in a belief to behead someone, to blow someone up, to shoot someone that to me is a truly terrifying thing. This week an anti abortionist went on trial in Kansas - he shot a doctor in church, pressing a gun against his head and pulling the trigger. He pleaded for voluntary manslaughter as he believed that he was protecting the unborn by his action. Weird how so many anti-abortionists aren't the ones to have to go through the process, the painful and damaging process due to the fact that they own a dick isn't it? Anyhoo 151 years after Darwin's On the Origin of Species is published and it's being adapted, it's evolving (Ha!), it's being questioned, but it's as good as we've got. The guy definately deserves his blue plaque.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Sunday 24 January 2010
Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)
So I'm wandering round town on my lunch break last week and espy high on the wall of the Boots pharmacy in central Cambridge a previously unnoticed blue plaque marking the site of Charles Darwins house. Darwins connections to Cambridge are extensive - After abandoning his studies in Edinburgh his father enrolled him at Christs' College in 1827 to read for a Bachelor of Arts degree prior to joining the priesthood. His studies didn't begin well but his interest in natural history flourished. He lodged above a tobacconists in Sidney Street He spent time with his cousin William Fox and met Adam Sedgwick the geologist and also William Paley the natural theologian and in his final year he came under the influence of the eminent botanist Henslow who saw no conflict between science and religion. He was recommended by Henslow as ship's naturalist for a proposed journey by H.M.S. Beagle - five year expedition into the Pacific beginning in 1831. He spent most of his time on board map-making, investigating geology and collecting biological specimens including fossil remains from Patagonia. It was however his work in the Galapagos Islands were his groundbreaking work, work that continues to shake the foundations of our world. He found tiny variations in the fauna of the various islands which led him to postulate on "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others" During the expedition Darwins' specimens had been returned to Cambridge and on his return work began on cataloging the extensive backlog of work. In 1836 he returned to Fitzwilliam Street Cambridge to organise the work and rewrite his journal. He wrote papers on geography and zoology before moving first to London and then to Kent. There's also Darwin College founded in 1964 to cater for graduate students - the main college building was owned by Darwin's son George and his grandson Charles.
In 2002 the BBC gawd bless em listed the 100 greatest Britons. Darwin came fourth in the poll behind Churchill (OK fair enough - I'll give them that one though is he any more a Great Briton that Elizabeth I or any of those who have struggled against various foreign threats to our island nation), Lady Di (Oh FFS people. Please raise your game here. A brain dead Sloane clotheshorse who left the world no better than when she found it) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Yes, a pivotal figure in the industrial revolution but championed by the odious Jeremy Clarkson.) There were two figures in the top 10 who I think could truly be considered to have been world movers - Newton and Darwin - both of whom revolutionised the way that humanity perceives itself, who helped to reveal our place in the universe. Personally I would go for Darwin theres a feeling there that he was very aware of what his theories would do, how they would be misused to justify acts of unbelievable cruelty through programmes like eugenics. Plus of course theres the fact that in one fell swoop he managed to piss off every fundamentalist religious nutbar - not that theyre exactly an endangered species themselves....
In 2002 the BBC gawd bless em listed the 100 greatest Britons. Darwin came fourth in the poll behind Churchill (OK fair enough - I'll give them that one though is he any more a Great Briton that Elizabeth I or any of those who have struggled against various foreign threats to our island nation), Lady Di (Oh FFS people. Please raise your game here. A brain dead Sloane clotheshorse who left the world no better than when she found it) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Yes, a pivotal figure in the industrial revolution but championed by the odious Jeremy Clarkson.) There were two figures in the top 10 who I think could truly be considered to have been world movers - Newton and Darwin - both of whom revolutionised the way that humanity perceives itself, who helped to reveal our place in the universe. Personally I would go for Darwin theres a feeling there that he was very aware of what his theories would do, how they would be misused to justify acts of unbelievable cruelty through programmes like eugenics. Plus of course theres the fact that in one fell swoop he managed to piss off every fundamentalist religious nutbar - not that theyre exactly an endangered species themselves....
Sunday 17 January 2010
Bobby Abel (1857-1936)
Did I say that I was looking forward to Joburg? I take it all back. An innings and 74 runs defeat in the final test of the series and two draws nicked by the skin of our teeth meant a drawn series and South Africa retaining the basil D'Oliveira trophy. Not that I wouldn't have accepted a drawn series before it had all begun - but to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory always hurts but like the man says "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two pretenders just the same" and in a week when disaster, true disaster visited Haiti I think that a degree of philosophy is called for when dealing with matters of sport.
Ironically Bobby Abel was replaced at Surrey and England by Jack Hobbs who eclipsed his achievements. But he rose from humble origins and was the first Englishman to carry his bat through an entire test innings and indeed carried his bat through an innings of 811 - he scored 357 runs still a Surrey record and scored 2000 runs in consecutive seasons. And yet I suspect that most cricket fans (the putative father-in-law included will never have heard of him.) And if his blue plaque hadn't have been on my hitlist I would also have been in the same boat. He, like I suspect and awful lot of cricketers live in the shadow of the good doctor, W.G.Grace. C.B. Fry said of him "He gathers runs like blackberries, wherever he goes" His later career was blighted by the growth of fast bowling and deteriorating eyesight. He died in 1936- totally blind. His blue plaque is located in Southwark Park where he learnt the game and was discovered.
It was the starting point of a frozen frolic around Rotherhithe a couple of weekends ago. We used the BBC walk starting by Canada Wharf and finishing at the presently closed Rotherhithe tube station. We took in the long loop of the river a loop that back in London's heyday would have been crammed with wharfs, whalers and wherries. There's precious little to mark what was the busiest port in the world - courtesy of the remodelling carried out by the Luftwaffe in 1940 and the transformation during the Thatcher junta in the 80s. It's a far cry from the the rough and ready haunt not frequented by the well-to-do. There are reminders though, streets named after the points of origin of many of the incoming ships - Odessa Street, Bergen Square, Quebec Way - places of Worship for the travelling Norwegian and Swedish seamen. The pub names speak volumes - The Moby Dick, The Ship not to mention the Mayflower pub which via Southampton and Plymouth made it's way across the pond in 1620. It's master Christopher Jones is buried across the road at St. Mary's.
Ironically Bobby Abel was replaced at Surrey and England by Jack Hobbs who eclipsed his achievements. But he rose from humble origins and was the first Englishman to carry his bat through an entire test innings and indeed carried his bat through an innings of 811 - he scored 357 runs still a Surrey record and scored 2000 runs in consecutive seasons. And yet I suspect that most cricket fans (the putative father-in-law included will never have heard of him.) And if his blue plaque hadn't have been on my hitlist I would also have been in the same boat. He, like I suspect and awful lot of cricketers live in the shadow of the good doctor, W.G.Grace. C.B. Fry said of him "He gathers runs like blackberries, wherever he goes" His later career was blighted by the growth of fast bowling and deteriorating eyesight. He died in 1936- totally blind. His blue plaque is located in Southwark Park where he learnt the game and was discovered.
It was the starting point of a frozen frolic around Rotherhithe a couple of weekends ago. We used the BBC walk starting by Canada Wharf and finishing at the presently closed Rotherhithe tube station. We took in the long loop of the river a loop that back in London's heyday would have been crammed with wharfs, whalers and wherries. There's precious little to mark what was the busiest port in the world - courtesy of the remodelling carried out by the Luftwaffe in 1940 and the transformation during the Thatcher junta in the 80s. It's a far cry from the the rough and ready haunt not frequented by the well-to-do. There are reminders though, streets named after the points of origin of many of the incoming ships - Odessa Street, Bergen Square, Quebec Way - places of Worship for the travelling Norwegian and Swedish seamen. The pub names speak volumes - The Moby Dick, The Ship not to mention the Mayflower pub which via Southampton and Plymouth made it's way across the pond in 1620. It's master Christopher Jones is buried across the road at St. Mary's.
Sunday 10 January 2010
Jack Hobbs (1882-1963)
After the great year enjoyed by English cricket I thought that Jack Hobbs whose blue plaque is one of the previously mentioned blue plaques within spitting distance of my place of employment (Disclaimer:I haven't actually done the spitting test - I'm not too sure that my line manager would appreciate it) Jack Hobbs' blue plaque is on Hobbs' Pavilion on Parkers Piece in Cambridge which holds several claims to fame, not least the first codified game of Association Football but I digress...
Jack Hobbs is the only England representative in Wisden's top 5 cricketers of the 20th century (He came third after Sir Don Bradman and Sir Garfield Sobers) he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009. A look at his statistics speak for themselves over 61,000 first class runs, 197 first class centuries are truly extraordinary and are unlikely ever to be surpassed as in the modern game fewer games are played. And in many ways he can't be compared to a modern player. His career spanned the years 1905-1934 and the game has changed immeasurably since that time. He was a gentleman player and though there are still moments when you can see those amateur roots it simply isn't the game that he played. Maybe it's that recentism that I spoke of in my last post that means that his is not a name that is a readily remembered one - maybe its also a mark of the fact that cricket though enjoying moments of popularity can't compare in popularity with that of football. I'm not sure if England has a national sport - but if it does I guess it's football - but then again can you get a English pursuit than cricket? But this is one of the five greatest players of the game of the 20th century - he was nicknamed "the Master" - why aren't we doing more to commemorate him? I guess we're British and I guess - because he was British in every sense of the word - hugely modest and self-assuming.
I never got cricket when I was younger. I think that it's something that you grow into - or at least Test cricket is. A very different for the hit it out of the ground, cheerleaders and fireworks of the IPL. But grow to love it I have. Part athleticism and part cerebral its got something for everyone. The last test in Cape Town is a great example - sneaking glimpses at the BBC Sports website as the overs slipped by. Holding your breath as the fragile balance swings by skill or chance. Yeah it helps my the girlfriend was brought up in South Africa where along with some fairly bizarre strands of Christianity, sport or more particularly the "white" sports of Cricket and Rugby Union are treated as religions. So we had some late bedbound mornings over the Christmas break listening to TMS. Looking forward to Joburg....
Jack Hobbs is the only England representative in Wisden's top 5 cricketers of the 20th century (He came third after Sir Don Bradman and Sir Garfield Sobers) he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009. A look at his statistics speak for themselves over 61,000 first class runs, 197 first class centuries are truly extraordinary and are unlikely ever to be surpassed as in the modern game fewer games are played. And in many ways he can't be compared to a modern player. His career spanned the years 1905-1934 and the game has changed immeasurably since that time. He was a gentleman player and though there are still moments when you can see those amateur roots it simply isn't the game that he played. Maybe it's that recentism that I spoke of in my last post that means that his is not a name that is a readily remembered one - maybe its also a mark of the fact that cricket though enjoying moments of popularity can't compare in popularity with that of football. I'm not sure if England has a national sport - but if it does I guess it's football - but then again can you get a English pursuit than cricket? But this is one of the five greatest players of the game of the 20th century - he was nicknamed "the Master" - why aren't we doing more to commemorate him? I guess we're British and I guess - because he was British in every sense of the word - hugely modest and self-assuming.
I never got cricket when I was younger. I think that it's something that you grow into - or at least Test cricket is. A very different for the hit it out of the ground, cheerleaders and fireworks of the IPL. But grow to love it I have. Part athleticism and part cerebral its got something for everyone. The last test in Cape Town is a great example - sneaking glimpses at the BBC Sports website as the overs slipped by. Holding your breath as the fragile balance swings by skill or chance. Yeah it helps my the girlfriend was brought up in South Africa where along with some fairly bizarre strands of Christianity, sport or more particularly the "white" sports of Cricket and Rugby Union are treated as religions. So we had some late bedbound mornings over the Christmas break listening to TMS. Looking forward to Joburg....
Saturday 2 January 2010
The beginning
Where to begin? Where to begin? OK an explanation. I live in an historic city, Cambridge, that's the original Cambridge. We have a River Cam there are bridges hence Cambridge. Cambridge boasts a rather niggardly 11 blue plaques considering the legion of the great and the good who have lived and studied in the city, I work within spitting distance of two Blue Plaques. The Blue Plaque Scheme was initiated in 1863 by William Ewart - an advanced Liberal MP who did much to amend the list of punishments seen as worthy by the british judiciary to denote "those houses in London which have been inhabited by celebrated persons..." It's a scheme that although presently administered by English Heritage has to be initiated by members of the public nominating an individual, the arcane process of selection can take up to six years and only a third of those nominated are granted the honour of a plaque. It's been imitated across the world and I think a valid one. Its an idea that combines interests of mine a mix of history, geography and learning pointless (can any learning be pointless?) facts. So when I visit the metropolis I take my camera along and keep my eyes peeled. Its quite a exercise bringing up some amazing juxtapositions - Jimi Hendrix living next door to Handel on Brook Street and also some amazing markers of the shifting nature of British life - ain't it a shocker how many of these people were immigrants or whose parents were immigrants. (Yeah Nick Griffin I'm looking at you here!) In addition I guess I like the Blue Plaque scheme as a reaction to the modern idea of celebrity and also against recentism that very human sense that the past fades as it recedes into history - under English Heritage's aegis any candidate for blue plaquage has to have been dead for 20 years or have been born over a hundred years ago (or both) which hopefully provides a little perspective on an individuals achievements or lack thereof. And some of those Blue Plaques commemorate those who we should remember rather more readily. Do you know who Dr Ernest Jones was or what William Henry Barlow's part in the industrial revolution was? Sic Transit Gloria and all that...
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