Thursday 30 July 2009

1772 Kate Humble and her ancestors

I should, given the quantity and nature of things to do, put writing aside but I was greatly affected by Who do you think you last night which featured a TV presenter Kate Humble whose programmes I do not recall watching. It was revealed that Kate has not one but three remarkable ancestors, all men, two of them grand parents and one a great great grand parent. This seems an unfair distribution. But then the distributions of life experience are unfair and not random

Kate presented herself in this programme as self assured, vivacious, open, lovable and adventurous devoted to nature and to animals. Before being introduced to her mother and father I assumed she was privately educated and with a comfortable to wealthy middle class background. She met her father in the garden of the local pub and her mother in home to discuss their respective ancestors and both confirmed my first assumption. They were both interesting people in their own right about whom I wished to know more about.

Kate admits she was part of a family who did not discuss their emotions and personal experiences and that although she knew something about her two male grand parents in fact she knew little of them and was concerned less she discovered they had done remarkable things and would spend the rest of her life wishing she could live up to them. That this was signalled at the commencement of the programme suggested what was to follow rather than something different.

The first remarkable individual was her paternal grandfather who was a distinguished second World War Test pilot and before then a flamboyant air show performer who owned his own aircraft and whose work both as a performer and Test Pilot is well recorded and admired. There several hints of his being something of a ladies man and photographs indicated a Hollywood appearance and personality. It was another example of grandchildren finding admirers and fans of their ancestors among the specialist public while they were unaware of their the fame of the individual.

He had trained as a mining engineer whose father had been the major owner of a Northumberland coalfield and this led to an interest in his background and to the discovery that his grandfather/father had been a mine viewer, originally put down and hewer although the two roles could not be further apart. The hewer is the individual who goes into the bowels of the earth to bring out the coal and which in the era of the ancestor involved families including children as young as 11 years. The Viewer and Assistant Viewer of which her ancestors was one were the managers and assistant managers of the pit employed by the owners. It is assumed that whereas the mine owners need not have direct mining experience or technical knowledge the Viewers would. I would like to know more but cannot devote the time.

Moreover her relative had been one of those in charge of the New Hartley pit in Northumberland which suffered the most terrible of disasters and which changed the way mines were established thereafter.

The New Hartley mine is South of Blythe and I had seen the village signposted on my recent trip to the area but had no knowledge of the shocking history. The village is now part of North Tyneside with North Shields regarded the principal town of the area outside of Newcastle at the time. 204 men and boys, nine in one family, with some 600 dependents died because the pumping mechanism broke and fell down the main shaft sealing it for several days until sufficient of the fallen mental could be raised for the bodies to be brought to the surface. Only 25 men remained in the surrounding villages. The inquest found that it had been an accident and that the managers had acted courageously. He ancestor had left the industry and opened a drapery store in County Durham at Seaham. One wonders to day if the management would have been so regarded, The disaster led to Parliament deciding that all pits had to have two shafts in future.

Although the ancestor left mining, although as his son or one of his grand son became a coal field owner confirms that the family had wealth and position. As with the Test pilot one felt considerable editing about the men had been undertaken by the programme and their legal and other advisers to the families involved. More on this later.

Attention was then directed to her maternal grandfather who she knew as a quiet man sitting in a corner with a pint and tobacco. He was known to have been World War Two air crew in bombers and to have been shot down a few months after he met and married her grandmother. He made several escapes before the family believed he had been moved to Colditz when in fact he was sent to Stalag Luff Three, as famous as Colditz because of the Great Escape and the Wooden Horse. The Great Escape film with Steve McQueen and a host of others actors masks the story of 50 men executed because they escaped at the same time from a camp designed to prevent escapes, with only three reaching freedom and the rest some 23 were returned or sent to other camps including three to Colditz. Some 600 men were involved in the construction of three tunnels with 200 planning to escape in Harry, the tunnel which was not discovered. From the journal record book of her grandfather it is established that he had a role in planning the escape and may have been one of those waiting to depart when the escape was discovered. This is because at the back of the book there was a brief note of significance in that it is known that the valuables of the executed men were auctioned among the prisoner so that they would not fall into the hands of the Germans and the money raised set aside to be given to the dependents after the war. There were ten thousand officers in the camp and of those executed 21 were from the UK, 16 from the Commonwealth and the rest other Europeans. The three who successfully escaped were Norwegian and Dutch.

This morning I looked up Kate Humble on the Internet (born 1968 and therefore 41, she comes across as younger) and discovered that her site has been withdrawn for updating. Wikipedia is both revealing and secretive. The site says nothing about her parents and if she has brothers and sisters for example.

After leaving school where she describes herself as a poor student she travelled through Africa from cape Town to Cairo working her way. She then established herself as an explorer and writer. For the past ten years she become an A list TV presenter involved in some 40 programmes. The article mentioned that she is married having moved from Chiswick to Wales, that she has not had the inclination to have children and that she is a private nudist all which make a colourful and interesting character in her own right.

There are vast blanks in the story of her ancestors and herself which the new website or website changes might address or possibly information is being removed which is no longer wished to retained now that the extent of public attention on her life has increased. This is an excellent example of the point I have had made several times that it is possible to individuals to lead public lives but to retain degrees of privacy and to control the extent to which examination of aspects of their history does not adversely affect the lives of relatives who wish to retain their privacy.
On one hand people like me would love to know lots more about Kate and family because of the completer finisher instincts which require the fullest possible information picture before coming to conclusions. On the hand there are others only too willing to exploit any negative or dark aspects for their own interest, often occupational and financial without regard for the potential impact on individuals and their families. It is a difficult balance, more difficult for someone naturally open and honest. The broadsheet media has an important role to play in holding the balance.

The programme is one of the best of all the series to-date because it generated viewer interest in the lives of three men and in particular the wider role of test pilots during World War 2 with one in four losing their lives, in the nature of coal mining in Victoria times through to the creation of the National Coal Board, and in the ingenuity and bravery of those who became prisoners of war.

As the war came to an end the Germans moved the prisoners from their camps as they retreated from the advancing enemy, using the prisoner as Shields from air attacks. Kate travelled by car the 800 kilometres from the Stalag to Lubeck where they were held until the town was surrendered to the allies. They were expected to march 30 kilometres a day in freezing weather conditions with no food until possible something in the evenings. They became like automatons. At one stop Kate was joined by a survivor from the camp and march who found the return difficult as it reminded of the darkest moment of his life. They had tried to do their best he said with genuine modesty a living reminder of the great debt present generations have, Kate mother mentioned that when her father returned her parents were strangers who did not recognise each other. She was four and half years old when they met for the first time. There is one good family biography, an autobiography, and films to come within the story of he Humbles and Carters.

I realised I needed a blood test for my health check appointment next week and this involved a 12 hour fast. The Hospital now charge £1.20 for the privilege of parking. This meant I did not have the change for the car parking at Asda. I left a note at the window and bought the rolls and pastries for the cricket changing a £20 note at the DIY check out and then after getting the car park cricket went tot he bank to pay in the cheque from Northern electric, now N power before calling in at Marks and Spencer’s for cherries, three packs of chicken pieces for £5 and two packs of crispy bacon with a pack of salmon pieces again for £5. The crispy bacon was delicious with a lunchtime salad and I could not resist eating the rest later in the afternoon. It became something of a bad food day as I had a soup and roll with the salad followed by the rest of the sweet melon and later anchovies with crackers for afternoon tea. Calling in at Wilkinson they not only had more of the blue display folders but a new supply of black. They are nearly giving away the 20 page variety at half price or two for 1 more accurately. I had gone for the washing up pads where a large packs costs under £1 so I used each only for a couple of days before discarding. It was then back to the supermarket where I completed the purchase with a fresh supply of the prawns in shell, salami and Greek olives with feta cheese. I forgot to reclaim the £1 parking charge so had to go back up to the customer services counter. The assistant was upset because previously she had been shouted out.

Back home after the meal I rang regarding the camera and it was ready on the 15th which surprising because it could have been returned before the London trip and would be released now after I had asked it to be held until the 28th. I am still convinced the hold up was because I had he renewed subscription as this seemed pointless until it was confirmed the charger could be replaced.

Rain held up the Test match and everything pointed to no play to day but everything was being done to start the match so that the spectators had something for their time and money, although one felt the authorities were anxious because of the loss of revenue if there was no play and refunds made. Play commenced around five and Australia after winning the toss and with a new opening pair and much pride to salvage scored freely on the notorious Warwickshire wicket made more lifeless but the latest lake creating downpour of the endless torrents this summer.

Durham have been awarded an Ashes Test for 2013, the year after the Olympics. Newcastle Managed a home draw in their friendly against Leeds after being thrashed 6.0 at Spurs, There is talk of Ashley having to rake the club into administration. There is also the story of those making a bid withdrawing it after hearing nothing further from the club. What a scandal? What a disgrace?

I watched the last Question Time of the political season with the sensible and ration Shirley Women’s possible the best Prime Minister we never had alongside the positively wicket George Galloway who formed his own party Respect, both refugees from the hierarchical infrastructure of the Labour Party. Geoff Hoon was then embarrassed and doing his best to dig himself and his Party of the ever increasing political Black hole they have dug for themselves. There was also Clive James representing us who have reached the end of our lives, possibly, so we look at things differently from you young folk brigade. There was also the young Conservative Asian Member of the House of Lords trying to put a good spin on a Conservative Front bench full of old Etonians and Oxbridge. I don’t mind this aspect of our government. I have never believed that because a large chunk of the population are political morons, they should therefore be represented in government, no more than criminals, anti monarchists, atheists and non democrats. What I do object to is that people with ability and contributions to the development of British society and prevented because of their parental and family circumstances while others gain footholds because of family and who the family knows. Apparently the latest method is for families to sponsor internships which is a fancy name for young people with the right education and background gaining practical experience in the professions and government for a year or two working for free. They then have a substantial edge when it comes to applying for vacancies which have to be advertised. Shirley Williams made the point that apart from Tony Blair recent Prime Ministers have not gone to public schools and John Major for examples was brought up in a small flat in Brixton.

I also enjoyed the latest New Tricks, the series about aging policemen resurrected to examine long standing unsolved serious crimes. Although the main story usually has flaws sometimes significant ones such as in this episode where a bullied wife uses the opportunity of someone who takes her car and possibly commits suicide to enable her daughter to stay in the UK, to fake her own death and live with the man she loves, bringing up the child of the husband as their own and then goes into a public place in the area of where the husband works and lives. People can do stupid things like that but the majority would take every step to prevent discovery. On touch I liked was that a vicar having disclosed that he knew that a character was running a sweat shop with illegal’s migrants, he was given the opportunity to warn them that the Home Office was being informed so hey were able to disappear. Another was the Albanian migrant worker who pretend to be Polish to fit into the present popular belief that the overwhelming majority of Polish workers are all dedicated and efficient, which they are, while Albanians have in their midst gangsters who are providing girls for Europeans Brothels, organising illegal migrations and the supply of illegal substances

Wednesday 29 July 2009

1272 Lost The Facts and the Fiction


On February 2nd 2003 I received a telephone call to say that my aunt Harriet had died. I had stayed several hours with her the previous evening in the side room where she had been moved so the news was not unexpected and I was already up dressed, breakfasted and ready to recommence the vigil. She was the tenth of seven sisters and four brothers to die and the only one where the circumstances were such as to merit personal investigation and official enquiries that continue to this day. At the time the thought of such enquiries or that they would continue for so long were further from my mind. There were two considerations. The first was what to say to my mother who was at the stage in the illness of severe memory loss with psychosis that she could be upset by what was said to her, only to forget what was said the following instant. From that date until her death, Harriet was always with her friends in other parts of the same building in which my mother had become resident, and was then subsequently moved to, so that I could visit more regularly. She was never satisfied with this explanation and constantly asked staff the whereabouts of her sister, although during the last years or so, she mentioned her less and staff said that although her speech became more and more indistinct, it was sometimes evident to them that she was asking about me.
 
She may not have known who I was, sometimes I was her father, one her brothers, sometimes I was the child of one of her sisters, but as a consequence of the admission of my aunt to hospital and my mother to residential care on the previous January 9th, for the first time in over six decades my mother introduced to me as her son when she spoke to members of staff. It was part of her attempt to cling to memory and for days, weeks and months after admission she would recite the names of her brothers and sisters as a way of trying not to forget them.
 
The second cause for thought that morning as I sat with her was to make a mental list of the things which would need to be done, from advising her relatives in Gibraltar, the USA and various parts of England, to issues such as burial and cremation, services and locations. It was while I was sitting there thinking about her life and these things that what medical and nursing staff said to me filled me with unemotional anger, as what they said, was contradictory, and brought into sharp focus concerns which had mounted over the past three weeks about the circumstances which led to the hospital admission against her expressed wishes. Medical and nursing staff in hospital in the community at best were making things up, although it quickly became evident that some lied. Proving this was so would be difficult and one had to ask if doing so would be worth the price which would have to be paid. As time elapsed the question of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice became an additional concern and remains so to this day.
 
The rest of my Saturday, five years later, was a mixture of activity, some productive, but I went to bed dissatisfied because of other matters. The circumstances of the death of my aunt is always with me, as is everything else that has happened in my life, including my knowledge of family and general history and what has happened and is happening to others, who lives have been and are less fortunate and more fortunate, or similar I have stopped everything else and given what happened to my aunt undivided attention during February through to May 2003 when her ashes were taken to Gibraltar for a mass and burial services, when the casket was placed in the tomb where her parents were once buried, in a cemetery immediately under the great Rock, close to the sea, by the airport. Then again when I received the two reports from the second level complaints system later that year and then prepared, with help, to attend separate meetings with the Community and Hospital Health Trust and the Social Services Local Authority. Then again when I made submissions to the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman and the Local Authority Ombudsman for advice, following which I appealed the findings of the second level complaints procedure and agreed to participate in a second level Local Authority complaint investigation. It was following the result of the second level local authority investigation, the moving of my mother to a residential home in this area, and the consequential need to close her home and sort out her possessions, that the decision was taken to abandon the formal complaint procedure because I believed the truth would not emerge, and tried to concentrate instead on getting the appropriate authorities to ensure that the matters where it had been agreed changes needed to me made were appropriate, were implemented and that their effectiveness was monitored. It was only at this point at the end of 2004 and the early part of 2005 that I was made aware that the Health service complaint system has been radically changed and that the new system would enable one enquiry to be made covering all health authorities and individuals involved, and that from the autumn of 2005 it would be possible for a joint investigation involving the new Social Services Inspection and complaints agency as well as the new Health Services Commission. The problem was that my complaints had commenced under the old system and included formal reference to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman, who indicated that my referral had moved from the queue awaiting consideration to allocation to a preliminary investigation officer and I was unclear to me how the new system would in relation to the rest of the system, because in addition to the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman and their system and the new Health Commission replacing the old complaints system, there were continuing separate inspection units and monitory bodies for the health service and the separate Local authority Ombudsman system. It was not until the summer of 2005 that the Health Ombudsman announced the appointment of an investigator and suggested how my overall complaint that the death of my aunt had been premature and preventable and that the response of Community and Hospital medical and nursing officers was contradictory, incompatible should be broken down into issues. It was unfortunate that the decision to proceed arrived at the point when I was moving from my ten roomed house on a quarter acre site when I had lived for close on thirty years to a similar sized house, but without the grounds, and doing so on my own, and that the move included the completed parts and outstanding materials for my contemporary art work installation, and involved over 400 boxes.
 
It was not until a year later that I received the draft reports for comment on matters of fact and devoted several weeks to going through the draft line by line to ensure that I could not subsequently be accused of not having raised issues, however trivial, as well as the substantial matters. It was just before Christmas 2006 that the reports to the Government Health Minister arrived and I was confronted with reports which failed to deal with the substantive issues, failed to include significant and available evidence, and had drawn conclusions which were questionable and where other findings could and should have been drawn. It took a couple of months to work out the best way forward and to submit an appeal against the methodology and the findings. It took time for the Ombudsman to agree that a valid case had been made and for the appeal to be allocated and investigated. For at time I received monthly notifications advising why the appeal was taking so long to consider and then as Winter approached was advised that the decision had been taken to move the appeal from the first level to the second and higher level, and I received the first of the apologies letters for continuing delay as further investigations continued. Another such letter is anticipated in the coming week. A four draw filing cabinet is now full with the papers. However it is only one of ten such cabinets to put into perspectives this matter among the many others where the details are confidential, and may well remain so.
 
In the morning I concentrated on some writing and some correspondence, enjoying two tolls with lettuce, a red salad pepper and salami filling and then enjoyed the last three episodes of series three Lost. In addition to the substantive questions such as are the castaways dead, because according to one newcomer who parachuted on the island when her helicopter crashed into the sea, their plane had been discovered with all the passengers dead, there is the question, has Charlie died to bring rescue to the others?
 
The parachuted lass comes from Manchester England, the same city as Charlie, the former band member and, heroin addict who learns to kick the habit on the Island despite finding a crashed plane filled with the stuff hidden in statues of the Madonna. Charlie has established a relationship with Clare and her child born on the island where the other inhabitant are childless because all pregnant women die before giving birth. Unlike the film Children of Men, where everyone woman becomes sterile, except, despite the best efforts of a fertility doctor, only those who reach the island already pregnant. Hence the success of Clare and the interest the older Islanders have taken in her. Charlie learns that there was a memorial service for him and a best selling record produced In Memoriam. However this does not mean that they are in fact dead and could mean a government/organisational cover story to hide the existence of the island from the general public.
 
As series three progressed the new development is the ability of some individuals to see the future as well as reliving their past. Three years ago about the same time as the fertility doctor is brought to the island by submarine, Desmond is shipwrecked on his Yacht race to impress the father of Penelope. He spends he greater part of that time as does Locke subsequently entering a code every 108 minutes which prevents polarity reversing and ending not just the island but the continuation of planet earth. However he recovers his yacht, joins the survivors, attempts to leave the island, fails rejoin the survivors, and begins to have flashes in which he sees the death of Charlie. At first he takes action to prevent the death, but then he leads Charlie into one situation only changing his mind at the last minute, because he believes the venture will lead him to have contact with Penelope who unbeknown to him has used her wealth to mount an ongoing search to find what had happened to him. Then he experiences another future in which the death of Charlie enables the other survivors to be rescued, including Clare and her baby. Desmond attempts to take the place of Charlie in a mission to enable contact to be made with a ship from which the parachuted lass from Manchester has originated and provide them with the information to penetrated the Island's visibility and communication shield, We have previously learnt in the series there is one route which enabled the submarine to leave and return to the Island and which is also the course which one survivor, Michael and his son are told to take as a reward for tricking four leading characters into the hands of those who appear to control the Island and live protected on the other side and with the ability to also move to an adjacent Island.
 
In addition to the ability of Desmond to experience future flashes, the series concludes with the leader of the survivors having flashes of a future in which we know that he and Kate escape, that they are given golden travel passes by the airline and that he has been spending his weekends taking flights over the area where the Island was located in the hope of another crash as he believes they should never have left.
 
This is what the leader of the Others, Ben has been tying to explain, that they should not make contact with the ship because far from coming to rescue the survivors they will come to kill everyone on the island. However because he has proven himself to be a liar and killer, Ben is not listened to and contact has been made. However we also know that although the impression is given that this is a rescue mission organised by Penelope in search of Desmond, it is not.
 
We have also learnt that Ben answers to someone else, a non human being representing the interests of the island and those living there. The series had developed into a power struggle between Locke who does not want to leave the Island one of two survivors who have come to this position, one has cured cancer, previously incurable, and Locke was in a wheel chair bring thrown out of window by his alleged conman father. Locke has a significance to the Island because he seems to have great power, and in the first series we know that he has director contact with a supernatural being on the island, and whereas he has been cured and the apart from the fertility issue the other islands appear to be free of major illnesses and recovery abilities, Ben does not recover quickly from the surgery to save his life. In the series we learn that Ben was also brought to Island as a child with his father by the organisation conducting research, after his mother dies in premature childbirth and where his father blames his son as part of his disappointment and frustration that the job on the Island is only a general factotum workman. Because of this Ben makes contacts with the other inhabitants of the island and plots with them to take over, which involves killing his father and the other through the use of gas. All the bodies are placed in a open grave, Locke realising that his condition could revert to be a mental and physical cripple, destroy the submarine and presses Ben to know more about the Island and the controlling force. Ben sensing his power over the Others is slipping away accepts the demand of Locke to take him to meet the force, only to find that that Locke is able to communicate directly an consequently leads Locke to show him the open burial grave and to shoot him. But is Locke dead, we learn in the last episode of the series that he is not, and he appears to kill the parachutist in an attempt to stop her making contact with her ship. However the leader of the survivors Jack does so, because Locke is unable to kill him, or anyone, and it is this aspect which is part of the way in which the third series has commenced to link the main survivors together, past as well as present. Sawyer who represents the baddies, a conman who has mistakenly killed another man believing him to be the conman who tricked his mother out of money, and caused his father to kill her and then himself believing she has been unfaithful. Sawyer represents the tendency for human beings to become the thing, the person we hate most, the attraction of opposites and the more extreme we are in out lives the most likely we are to become the opposite, extreme right extreme left and vice versa, atheist advocate for a deity, abused the abuser, military man pacifist, wealthy woman a pauper.
 
Ben introduces Locke to the man, he believes is his father who conned him out of a kidney and then through him out of the window, who is on the Island as a prisoner, knowing that Ben will not be able to kill him and therefore he will be discredited in the eyes of the Others. This proves to be so but Locke discovers from the detailed files kept on all survivors that this man is also the same conman responsible for the deaths of Sawyers mother and father. Sawyer has no problem in killing this man whose body Locke takes to Ben to demonstrate his power and influence which in turn forces Bed to take Locke t meet the force and the unsuccessful attempt to kill him. The conclusion of the series also sees Ben explaining to his alleged adopted daughter that the mysterious Frenchwoman who lives alone on the island but helps the survivors from time is her mother, Juliet was aware that her daughter was alive and being raised Ben but delayed introducing herself until this moment. Ben had been trying to prevent a relationship between the girl and boy fearing she would become pregnant and die, but the boy has survived attempts to imprison and to kill him and the girls persuades him to contact and warn the survivors that her father has sent early a group to capture the pregnant survivors, if necessary killing the men and also capturing the other women, Although the survivors had advance warning of the raid through the fertility doctor who has joined Jack and they had a scheme to trap and kill the raiding party, the bringing forwards creates problems and three survivors remain behind to trigger an amended version of the trap. This only partially works and they in turn are captured by the remaining raiders and Ben pretends to have them shot in a desperate attempt to persuades Jack not to use the communication device to the ship. Just when the remaining raiders decide to kill the survivors anyway, one of the other survivors intervenes and with the help other main characters the raiders are killed and he survivors saved for the rescue. Thus all the remaining main characters are involved and survive with the exception of the fate of Charlie.
 
Whereas as Locke appears indestructible as a man who cannot kill directly, there is one agent/disciple of Ben, who we first encounter living alone having direct contact with the outside world who also appears to be indestructible as first he survives the
device preventing entry to the established village where the Others and the former Research organisation personnel lived, then he survives not one but two other situation in which he appears to have been killed, as a consequence of which he is able to ruthlessly kill, including members of his own community.
 
It is this interlinking past and present which is the main clue to unravelling the mystery of Lost, and to remember my opening words to one work on my history and that of my mother, in the beginning there was Adam and there was Eve, and then there was you and me and we are all connected through the past the present and into eternity. To which I will add and nothing is unrelated or unknown, or random and those who argue or say so are wrong.
 
Before going to bed I watched an absurd film which nevertheless reinforced my point about casual linking, A wife hires a detective to discovered why her husband has disappeared and where the first indications are that he has run off with another women, However in part because the detective is attracted to the wife and in part because he too like the survivors in Lost has flashes of things past things future he pursues the matter, first discovering that the husband did not officially exist having adopted the identity of someone else who dies as a child, He is able to piece together that the husband had parents where it appeared the father had murdered the mother and committed suicide and their two children had been taken into care one of whom became the missing husband and the other the detective. The film is otherwise rubbish with stupid detectives believing that the first of two men fount battered to death is the missing husband and probably killed in a joint operation by the wife and the detective who has become her lover, and then is responsible for the death of the husband after attempts to kill the detective and possibly his wife and falls out of the window as seen in the flashes.
 
The day was also productive in completing 11 sets of work related to Mabel, her life, birthday and death, but where the photographing will be undertaken later today, as well as further work and to enjoying the BBC programme in which tribute acts compete to gain public support in order to perform in Las Vegas. The remaining acts are brilliant with one exception which made the public decision to eliminate two difficult. Kylie Minogue obtained the lowest votes leaving the six successful participants, Dusty Springfield, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Lionel Ritchie and Robbie Williams to chose between Elton John and Cher. Elton gave the better performance but Cher was closer to the original and carried the vote 4 .2. Any of the seven will be worthy winners. I was also able to watch the second of Ross Kemp's active involvement reporting of the work of his father's former regiment in Afghanistan. This is a remarkable series in which Ross is moving to a higher level from all his previous wok on Eastenders, in the special ops drama and reporting on gangs and other documentary work. The programmes on Sky one repeated on Sky two which can be seen by those with digital free view. It merits showing on the BBC channels. one or two or one of the main commercial

Thursday 9 July 2009

1757 The reality of the Swinging sixties and psychedelic rock and roll

I decided to put pen to paper, on more accurately fingers to keyboard, as I waited for the Sussex box office to open in the hope of getting ticket for the Friends Provident Trophy Final at Lords on Saturday July 25th, and my mind went blank about the whole of yesterday. Then I remembered another day of solid work in which I increased the number of completed and registered sets from 33 to 58. There is another batch of completed cards to place into sets later to day. The main area of activity has been in development work, the MySpace and Google writing, the visit to the Isle of Wight which produced two volumes and in personal communications. There is further work required in relation to adding another fifty Blog titles to the MySpace profile and on transferring completed writing to disk from the hard drive. It is slow work requiring method to ensure accuracy, or at least accuracy within my dyslexic limitations.

What else happens has already dimmed. There was an interesting programme in the evening on the Arts Channel about an all night concert at Alexandra Palace in North London in the 1967 which marked the zenith of the 1960’s culture of drugs, sex and rock and roll. The event was called the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream. The programme concerned the rock and roll and the drugs and the place of the Pink Floyd at the leaders of a London self styled scene called the Underground.

The programme premise is flawed and worse significantly misrepresents the 1960’s CND and non violent Direct Action movement. The basic assumption of the programme is that it is possible to argue that there were significant links between the response of young people to the CND movement, anti authority behaviour, the development of rock and roll, the use of drugs, sexual behaviour outside of marriage and the development of an underground movement personified by the publication The International Times. I suggest that at no time in the 1960 could young people be described as homogenous in behaviour or attitudes. It makes for tabloid headlines but not a serious documentary about the lifestyles of a generation

There were individuals, a tiny minority who were into serious drug taking, who were musicians, who supported CND, who wore fashionable clothes and had lots of sex - About a 100 at the most, possible 200. The majority of young people worked, lived at home, went out at the weekend had one or two boy and girlfriends, were unhappy about living in a world dominated by the cold war and nuclear weaponry but were not engaged in demonstrations or conventional politics.

Let’s look at the reality in more depth. Young people who had jobs and a different perspective from those who were in further education of some kind. I was fortunate to be able to attend further education in perhaps the greatest university city in the world Oxford and to participate in life of undergraduates and post graduates and well has gain insight into the mind set of some new thinkers who taught and did undertake research in the university. The majority of students at Ruskin College were not revolutionary and more interested in sex, beer and most of all advancing their prospects in the world. A minority supported the CND and I was the only one with direct action interest or experience.

I had a good friend at St Hilda’s and got to know a few other undergraduates through the university societies and clubs being a college rep re the CND, and also a college rep on a Labour club committee to stop the Party supporting membership of the EEC. There were big audiences for visiting speakers when Labour came to the city although the biggest crowd came for a working class trade unionist who had hit the headlines for a time. I was also a member of a Christian based society promoting multi racialism. All the other participants attending the Criminology seminars and my tutorial partner were post graduates with first or second class honour degrees in subjects other than the social sciences. They were all serious young people working hard in academic studies and practical work placements for their chosen careers. I also had several articles published in the University term time weekly Isis and this led to contact at one upper class contact who knew the then Home Secretary who eh said he spoken with over the Christmas Holiday. Because I was working hard myself and had little time for socializing I accept that most of my experience was only snap shots. I only got a place on the post graduate diploma course because the person who had the place for the first year was asked to leave the college because of psychological problems and the suggestion of some drug use although I can confidently say there was no drug use in the college in general and even drinking was limited to a stretched pint or two at weekends.

I had come across those attending art schools from three different interests. Many of those attending Soho Jazz clubs, especially Cy Laurie attended art schools in the capital and also some of those actively participating in the CND movement and in Direct Action were either attending art schools or had been to art schools, just as some were musicians who became rock and rollers and some who experimented and some became addicted to LSD, Acid and Amphetamines. I also had a friend who attended art school who was not political and married a doctor, who was not promiscuous and who did not take drugs although I also had another friend who became promiscuous and took drugs when at university in Paris. There were all individuals, some with pronounced personal problems, but most did not. They were just caring and thinking people who enjoyed a good time, One good friend who supported but did not participated in Direct Action, completed an honours degree in art, went sailing at weekends, lived in one of the best house in Hampstead and took me to see Beyond the Fringe as well as introduced to writings of Lawrence Durrell and his Alexandrian Quartet.

With a couple of exceptions all the people I knew were part of or seeking serious relationships with the opposite or same sex partners rather than promiscuity I had a couple of friends who were bisexual females who took me to a gay club one evening so I could see their normality. It has to be remembered that the contraceptive pill was only first prescribed by a General Practitioner to married patients and was not generally available in the 1960’s, I was aware of some young people sleeping together, that is sharing sleeping bags in communal areas on CND marches but this did not mean sexual activity after a day of marching. I did know two young women who had a child before marriage. One worked at the Home Office and the other dropped out of an Oxford College. One was happy with her situation while the other was not.

The programme attempted to portray the CND and Direct Action movement at homogenous with ninety percent young people, anti establishment, anti authority and anti police, showing several violent clashes between the police and demonstrators which I thought came from the anti Vietnam war protests where the violence was organised by the CIA and British intelligence services using rent a mob.

I have as good a knowledge of all facets of the CND, anti weapons of destruction movement as anyone still living, having member a member of the Wallington CND which had about half a dozen activity members who were all married adults with families except for me. There were teachers, one who had written an unpublished novel then laying in a drawer and one who had dropped from a balloon over Moscow before the Second World War, I saw the photograph. However we were all nervous about handing out leaflets in the Wallington High Street, but we did it. I formed the Wallington Branch of the Youth CND mainly members of the Young Socialists from council estates in Beddington, although the daughter of the Labour Member of Parliament for Morpeth in Northumberland lived in Wallington as did the daughter of a World War conscientious objector who ran a show shop close to where I lived for the first 15 years of my life. The sons of Ritchie Calder were also involved and we had a meeting at their house the other side of Sutton in one instance

I went on two marches organised by the Youth CND from Liverpool to Hull and got to know many of those involved exceptionally well, including the one friend who went to St Hilda’s and had spent six months in India on her own before going to Oxford. Another young teacher in training became a Professor of Education, while the parent of two others became Attorney General in Labour Government. The daughter of a left wing clergyman who came because she insisted on participating later was reported to have joined a revue in Paris.

I was also the second youngest participant in the Harrington Direct Action Committee where the 80 individuals arrested and who refused police bail were held for the weekend on remand, including the daughter of a Judge and the men taken to Bedford Prison had a great time in sleeping on the floor of the prison Library but the two of us under twenty one had to be kept in apart in single cells for the whole time with only two half hour periods of exercise during which we were not allowed to speak to each other. I was also then the second youngest of the thirteen Foulness prisoners who spent six months in various establishments as guests of her Majesty, We were a very mixed group including a long time Member of the Society of Friends who had been a World War Two conscientious objector, the illegitimate offspring of the upper classes who was intended for the church but became an Anglo catholic vegan anarchist who with his wife is still protesting into their seventies, a potter who wrote a cult novel and who now gives living history talks to school children and another young man who failed as potter because he could not bear to sell his creations. One other was the most normal, Christian motivated and went on being normal afterwards.

The CND movement grew and grew so that by the 1961 Aldermaston March there were large contingents from the Universities, the Cooperative movement, trade unions, and the Young Communist League although the official Communist party was torn between natural inclinations and Moscow orders. The factional supporters of Trotsky fully supported the abolition of British weapons of mass destruction but wanted to keep the worker’s bomb much the same as Muslim fundamentalists and other religious fanatics and political extremists today who continue to be in favour of undermining democratic government while defending the development of fascist dictatorships and abolition of individual human rights, which is a problem for the present day Labour Government faced with a right wing police force and military establishment, such is the nature of both institutions since their development into professionally organised and trained bodies. The Church of England and the Catholic Church in the UK did not support the CND although several clergymen and many parishioners did, much in the same way that the Peace Pledge Union remained justifiably sceptical although the War Resistors did support. The anarchists were fully on board but have you ever attended a meeting of 100 individualists, some prominent culturally and tried to reach a consensus about the size of a poster let alone on what it should say but which reminds of meeting of a dozen senior local government executives in a corporate meeting about the provision of sites for Gypsies and where I was the lead representative of the proposed managing department in which we discussed he merits of ordinary taps or limited flow taps with a leader of the gypsy council.

Nor is my knowledge restricted to England as for a month I was the advance fieldworker for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War in Scotland organising the first major Holy Loch demonstration which was subsequently supported by the Committee of 100 but not the Scottish CND. The experience arranged from being interviewed on behalf of a national newspaper who warned of the prior editorial instructions on how the story was to be written, to meeting the communist fixer on one bank of the Clyde, to a conversation with the police chief for Clydebank who asked how many men I wanted to protect the march and insisted that the roadway should be closed for the passage of the support demonstration; and a meeting with three chief officers of one local authority who had been asked by the local politicians to provide accommodation and food in schools to accommodate marchers overnight. The Communist Moffat brothers who ran the Scottish Miner’s union had paid the fine for Pat Arrowsmith and the others on the march from London after they had been arrested for marching down Prince’s Street in Edinburgh in contravention to police orders and I had to take the draft for several thousand pounds to the Mine workers Headquarters to repay the sum where the marchers were drinking whisky and being made honorary member of the union. I for my part received a warning letter from the Commander of the Flagship Scotland. Several decades later I came across an article written by a naval historian who claimed that the authorities had been able to prepare and contain the coordinated water and land demonstrations because the plan had come into their possession by luck. There was no luck involved. I had arranged an appointment with the Police Chief at Dunoon and agreed to a secretary to make a hand written note of the details of march and demonstrations from the ferry to the landings for the base as well as the canoe operation based from the grounds of the Youth Hostel on the other side of the Loch. The meeting had been arranged by the Chairman of the local CND who was also a member of the Scottish CND executive. I had attended a meeting of the Executive in Edinburgh after which I was taken to a gentleman’s club where we sampled some fine single malt whisky. This openness at the end of the six week activity matched that beforehand when I went with the London organiser of the Aldermaston March to Scotland Yard to meet police and Home office representatives to discuss the arrangements for the March into London and Trafalgar Square Rally followed by the departure of the mini march of the Holy Loch campaign walkers complete with two canoes and where I was the Marshall for the first week before travelling to Scotland. A time was agreed for when the Holy Loch march would leave the Square and where it was agreed we would do a circuit of the square to allow supporters to joining in. The police however insisted that we leave quickly without doing a circuit and their tactics prevented too many supporters from joining in. Afterwards we found out that in addition to managing the hundred of thousands people who had marched the last stage from Turnham Green in West London and where Hyde Park had been the place where coaches had brought people from all over the UK and to where they returned, the police had to deal with an unofficial sit down organised by members of the Committee of 100. This was typical of the behaviour of Ralph Scheonman who had become the spokesperson for Lord Bertrand Russell after becoming his personal secretary and then controlling his Peace Foundation. I had caught Ralph telling people to sign demonstration pledges at the Two I’s Coffee Bar, even if they had no intention of participating as I was clearing tables. The executive committee of the Committee 100 had decided that a minimum number of participation pledges had to be obtained before the demonstration went ahead. I wrote to Lord Russell complaining about this approach and his wife replied saying my letter had upset her husband and that he had full confidence in Mr Schoenman. I resigned from the Committee as a consequence, as I did as Scottish Field Organiser for the Direct Action Committee when I learnt that Pat had organised different activities from those which I had notified the police and that people would be allowed to join in the water demonstration and sit downs without briefing about non violent behaviour or about the risks involved and the potential legal consequences.

The idea that there was any connection let alone significant connection between these activities and those involved in the so called Underground, the Albert Hall Beat poet readings, the Alexandra Palace all night event to raise money for the International Times court case and the psychedelic drug taking world of some members of the Pink Floyd, is rubbish.

Another feature of the late fifties and early 1960’s was the development of the Teddy Boy suits and the Mods and Rockers conflicts which hit the headlines with confrontations on the south coast especially Britain. I am not denying that there was conflicts which took place in the glare of the media of the day, but the whole situation was reported out of proportion to the reality. I had a work colleague who introduced me to the Jazz clubs of central London and to the record Library of the American Embassy in London where I borrowed records which included the modern opera the Telephone by Menotti as well as those on the history of the blues and traditional jazz. He also had a Teddy Boy suit which he worse only to go with his mates once a week to the local Palais to drink and pick up girls although he was not much of a dancer. Another friend, whose parents ran a newsagent in Croydon, had a Lambretta Scooter which was the hall mark means of personal transport for the Mods and he did have a friend who lived in Brighton who we visited but he not only wore a crash helmet which in those days was not compulsory but had one for me and I was introduced to his parents who wanted to meet his friends.

During my involvement with Jazz clubs and then the London Peace movements I was never offered drugs or was aware of anyone taking drugs although there were suggestion that some of the jazz musicians were. I attended the Saturday night showing of the Bill Haley Film Rock around the Clock at the Davis Cinema in Croydon one the of the largest in the UK with several thousand seats and true there was some dancing in aisle which was considered news worthy but not revolutionary with everyone going back to school and work after the weekend. Going to work at sixteen I was taken into the local pub not by other teenagers but by adult colleagues for a drink at Christmas and got drunk as a kind of initiation ceremony. Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen I did learnt to drink a couple of pints of brown and mild before and during the intervals in jazz club visits in nearby Soho pubs but I never saw anyone intoxicated or getting into fights or other trouble.

The main hard drug of use in London was heroine where there were several hundred addicts and in the later 1960’s the police had a purge on addicts who traded to feed their habit and many went off to the provinces, with a couple ending up in South Shields where they were able to negotiate drugs via the port and thus a cell of hard drug users and minor traders developed so that by 1974 half the residents at the NHS treatment clinic in Newcastle, referred from throughout the Northern Region, came from South Shields. In fact the spread of hard drug use in the UK is linked with the development of the motorway system, to the location of ports and airports. While this again will seem an individual snapshot knowledge later I served on a national Home Office Committee and became a temporary Social Services Inspector for the Department of Health in relation to making assessments about the nature and the extent of drug use in specific areas (visits to areas in London, Yorkshire, Suffolk and Oxfordshire) as well as being responsible for the creation of the Local Government Forum which was the first body to represent all local authority interests in the UK. I therefore gained a very broad view, historical information as well detailed information on problems, numbers and services as well as what was happening and what was not
It is true that the development of LSD, Acid and amphetamines uppers and downers became associated with rock bands and some writers and poets and that the International Times became a voice for the psychedelic culture. Peace News part of the non violence direct action movement was strictly concerned with international peace issues which included opposition to race and other forms of bigotry but did not see itself as Party Political or the voice of new youth movement.

The big change of the 1960‘s was that young people had money to spend on clothes, records, attending gigs and they also had the time from work to enjoy their leisure interests. People did dress up as Mods, Rockers, in flares and glam. The skirts got short shorter and some young women went braless until the feminists worked out this made them greater sex objects than previously. Very few individuals dressed one way all the time or associated in gangs which tended to be the feature of some council estates and which tended to involve issues of territory, religion and race than overt criminality, although the activities did sometimes lead to criminality. There was a long standing link between gangs of football hooligans and extreme right wing groups who were also strongly against a multiracial society. There was then as now an underclass of criminals, starting as delinquents, first time offenders and graduating to old lags. There were criminal gangs who controlled certain activities, major thieving, protection rackets, illegal gambling and prostitution before illegal drugs came to the fore but these were small in number, known to the police who took money as long as the activities were kept within reason, no murder outside the fraternity for example. The greater majority of those who went to prison either as criminals or civil offenders were ordinary people from a range of backgrounds. The recidivist was often uneducated and had been in care or institutions for the those with mental health problems

The programme attempted to link the various and diverse groups and interests into a 1960’s revolt against the establishment by a whole generation and to make Pink Floyd its voice. It is true that individual members of the band did encompass some of the characteristics Its creative leader was heavily into the new drugs but had had significant underlying mental health problems. One member candidly admitted that he was not aware or interested in any movement underground or political. There was a major performances at the Royal Albert Hall which brought over USA Beat poets many of whom were high and as the all night show at Alexander Palace. many of those participating were also on high and a few spent several years in a haze and a daze of sex, drugs and rock and roll but they were always a disconnected minority. More people ruined their lives and those of others through drink and becoming alcoholic, through moving from petty crimes into major, by dangerous and careless driving and most of all by smoking cigarettes. The gloss and glow of the memory of past experience tends to distort recollections and always question those who assert generalizations with academic or moral conviction

Saturday 4 July 2009

1254 The Secret Army and Lost

It is mid afternoon, Wednesday 9th January 2008. This is the day five years ago that my mother was first admitted to residential care. Later in the day my aunt, the woman who provided mothering in childhood was admitted to hospital, and where because of policies and circumstances she developed a secondary hospital based infection from which she subsequently died. One of the things which drives me forward is the conviction that establishing, in accordance of the ways such things need to be established, what happened, because I am certain that my present understanding is as close to the truth as one is ever likely to get, will enable me to write the story of my mother, her sister and me in such a way that I will be look them and myself in the eye. However it is evident it is going to take time as this morning I received yet another notice advising of at least another four weeks delay, so just as well the New Year Resolution on the matter was patience, let the nature of the beast take its course.

It was very cold then, and in the London area there had been severe snow and this had been one factor in the decision to delay travelling immediately. It was very cold this morning as I decided a I needed to venture out although the temperature was said to be much higher than it felt or me. It was the coldest I have experienced for a long time, yet there is a clear blue sky even now as the wintry evening begins. I needed some stamps to post two important letters. I then visited the Health centre opened by the Foreign Secretary in July, to check that my general practitioner was still there and he was and also to note the names of a couple of other doctors which I had been unable to provide when asked on Saturday morning. Sometimes I feel time is escalating but last Saturday morning feels such a long time ago.

I decided against going to bank although I was well wrapped up and wearing my Russian type hat. However I did the shopping needed, some bread, cheese slices, eggs, grapes and bananas, Tissues and a beef stir fry for Sunday when I hope it will be warmer otherwise I may consider watching the game on TV. I so enjoyed the bream last night that I decided to have the remaining portion of two fishes tonight, again on their own, but I think some squeezed lemon will go well.

I weighed myself later that evening and found that I registered 16.5 which is closer to how I had been feeling and which means I will have to work harder over the coming months to achieve the process of gradual reduction to 15.3 the target I had set for last year in the hope of reaching below 15 this year. I am also unsure about the London trip, not so much about the cold but I am weaker although I did fix one of the curtains at the window next to this desk. Irrespective of whether the London trip takes places I will also sort the out my affairs early on. Everything is taking longer than anticipated but I am sticking to the task plan.

There was a period when I would allocate an hour of my day to watching a TV series because episodes were on consecutive days. Secret Army, about at an underground escape line for downed air crew run from a café in Belgium used by the German command and others who profited from the war and did not mind dining out and drinking champagne with their occupiers. The best of such a subject which I have seen several times through from beginning to end. Along with Tenko about being a woman in captivity in the Far East. The FX channel also had a great series about the war in Vietnam, Bergerac the Isle of Wight policeman who went off to France and played private eye and also Lovejoy on antiques are a few that come immediately to mind. Now it is Lost at 2 with the opportunity to see the episode again on Sky 2 the following day. I should and would like to work more but I am tired and need a break so will watch a DVD. Tomorrow though whatever else happens I will begin from where I left off Rivera 2.

The DVD is part of Lost 2 series, a compendium of interviews and information, some of which I have now seen, and is similar to that with the first series in that it adds to the understanding gained to date, What remains evident is the continuing emphasis on maintaining quality and inventiveness, the appropriate expression is continuing to push the envelope, an I prove upon the standards and the public interest first aroused. However it was with the fourth episode of the series three that the great revelation emerged, This is that the others inhabit not the island but a smaller one adjacent to it and that they have access to the big bad world beyond the force field of the island.

As I promised yesterday the day has been devoted to further work on Rivera 2 where I need to complete two additional sets before my trip. Leaving the other two additional sets until my return. The first task was to complete the work on open space and Roker Park Sunderland. I had already drafted two pages of text which needed some additional work I Selected 33 photographs to make seven pages of four and one full A4 of the Waterfall. It was the time to begin the Coast between the two rivers commencing with Seaside South Shields. One page and three quarters of text and 34 photos, again seven pages of 4 plus one of two. The section covered the Little Haven Hotel and beach, to the pier, the Amusement Park and all seasons play area, the main beach, the amphitheatre, the covered walkway to the Sand Dancer. The second sections covers the rugged coast from Trow Rocks to Marsden Bay and I included 48 photos in sets of 4 with a page and a half commentary. The work progressed smoothly until the printer became disobedient and for a time refused to recognise the cartridges, not just individual refills but the full set of six, I refused to panic took deep breathes and after unplugging and restarting a couple of times the system responded and the work was completed. The new photo card dries quicker and although thicker I should be able to complete the work using the existing volumes, and by to morrow evening if the same level of attention given.

I listen to Gibraltar radio in the mornings at present, although turn down the speaker when writing. I watch only Lost at 2pm and then the Big brother House over views between 7.30 and 8 and again 9 to 10. The three personalities recently have been Russell Brand, a media creation with a drugs and alcohol background and a PR which boasts of his conquests with famous and infamous ladies.. I missed the involvement of Ian Wright who I have a lot of time for and none for John McCririck until now but I confess he appears to have handled his time in a positive. I also saw something of Kelly Osbourne who appears to be maturing in a positive way. Janet Street Porter was on to day but her review will come tomorrow. Amy the contemporary artists appears to have become well liked and well regarded which I had not expected given the popular view of those engaged in the concept. The most talented is Amelia the contortionist, roller skating and high wire artist who performances required hour upon hour of rehearsing and look, and are, extremely dangerous. The suggestion of other participants that she would do well in a Bond film hits the mark.

However the great news of yesterday on the sporting front was the departure by mutual agreement of big Sam from Newcastle and I will resist saying I told you so because for a few games I thought he was showing the ability to function in the big time and his buys appeared good ones. There is great speculation about who replace him. I cannot believe that a successor and staff have not been lined up. I have my own mini list of what could work and also be acceptable to the fans but it wont happen, Keegan as Director of Football and Alan Shearer as the Manager.

1252, Transylvania Twist, Lost,


Before watching a spoof horror Transylvania Twist, such was the state of the cold and fuzzy head, I was able to enjoy the contortionist of the circus performers on Big Brother House plus the enthusiasms of the dances and non dances such as Amy the artist and the young politician who despite his physical frame to the contrary was able to show some cool moves, So far so good despite the best efforts of the programme designers the group are demonstrating the poverty of the average talentless moron previously on the programme. Hey Big brother you have egg on your face. However I wonder what those who tune into Big Brother Little Brother will make of having a different class of participant. I am being harsh but I am not in the mood for subtlety.

Having unintentionally wiped the computer slate clean of chess games after one 101 run on level 1 and some 1250 1500 games overall I decided on a new tactic after Christmas which did not bear fruit until the New Year. Now I am up to 82 games level 1 without defeat or draw but abandoned further effort until the head clears because it only take a second loss of concentration and slip of the hand to bring the situation back to zero.

Yesterday all I felt up was watching the TV but at times even this proved too much. However having previous found the TV series Lost engaging I decided to watch Season part 2 Disk 2 and 3 each with four episodes.. I saw the whole of the first season over a period of weeks but season 2 has been problematic with disk arriving over a year and because I have keep no record of programmes watched it was difficult to grasp some story lines but watch all the episodes in a day has meant that together with seeing some of the subsequent series I was able to both enjoy and critically appraise, in so far that I had the capacity to do so. I soon was back on the Island with the participants and during the course of the evening I commenced to learn something more of the dynamics, theories and philosophies., although there much more to be unravelled and this is a series that likes o provide a rational explanation for the irrational.

A new couple was a white man, a bachelor who saves the life of a black woman although colour did not appear to be an issue, as it has not with other characters and one aspect of the programme is that attempts to reveal the commonness of human behaviour across races and cultures. They quickly develop a relationship and on a trip to Niagara Falls he proposes only to learn that she is in remission from cancer and has only a year to live. She has come to accept her situation but he does not and on their honeymoon to Australia he takes her to see a faith healer who uses the energy which exists in the area and which he argues occurs in a few other places around the world. He cannot help her but she decided to tell the husband that she has been cured. On the island he has reached the point when while others have established some kind of community , and a couple trying to build as church he wants everyone else to build some kind of sign that can be seen by planes or satellites , and large three row SOS built out of large pieces of rock. The wife tries to discourage her husband from the venture and eventually explains to him her belief that the island has cured her as it has John Locke who remembers meeting at the airport before the flight takes off, in his wheel chair, something he has not needed since coming to the island. Her husband elects to stay with her and make no further attempt to depart.

Since beginning to explore the Island the participants first discovered an underground chamber and during this set of episodes we are made are that there are others, including a new one where the occupants could observe what was happening in the others. The key to these chambers is need for one of them, possible all when they were active to punch in a code periodically. These are the number which the over weight (original of the 14 chief characters) Hurley who used the same number to with the big prize in the US lotto draw Individual now and in the past have been responsible for ensuring that the code is applied otherwise the system on the island which keeps its energy in check, fails with suggested dire consequences. Locke, the man recovered from his wheel chair gets it into his head that even if the system did required such action in the past it no longer and determined that they will stop. Introduced in seasons is a new character a former criminal who brother was a priest and who has come to act the role especially after being called upon to investigate an alleged back from the dead incident (flashback). He feels called upon first to be the church and then to go back to where another plane was discovered in which heroin was packed inside holy statues. It is here they find the latest chamber and here the former criminal is determined to continue maintain the system especially when Locke tries to stop him. As the seconds elapse after the time of code entering passes we learn the secret of island and the protection system, Without the system a reversal of polarity occurs and this is what forced the two planes to fall out of the sky and it is also the source of the force field which prevents ships and boats from visiting the island or escaping from it beyond its perimeter.

The main focus of the second part of the series is the relationship of the aeroplane survivors with those who live at the other end of the island and who also claim to be survivors. Michael has no contact with his son Walt who lived with his mother in Australia until her death. Walt does not initially get on with his father and his emotional being is centred on his dog who survived the crash with him. Walt has been captured by the other survivors group as a means of getting the return of one oft hem who has been captured and held prisoner under interrogation in the underground chamber When a raiding party from the crash go to try and rescue Walt that are surrounded and lose their weapons to the other group who have disguised themselves as mountain people. Michael is captured and taken back to their encampment of huts by the third underground chamber and given a few moments with his son. He has been told to release the prisoner and also bring back the leader of the crash survivors, two major characters from the first series, one new influential character who killed two of the other group and one other, unlikely character, although the reason for this becomes apparent.

The new second season character a former US cop who went to work for airline security in Australia. She was forced to leave after a colleague realised she had taken the law into her own hands and killed someone who had attempted to kill her but had walked or become free. She has an incident with the prisoner in which he attempt to kill her so she seduces the keeper of the guns, and take his gun to kill the prisoner just as Michael is about to release him so he has to take the gun off her and then kill her, but also another new individual to the series who comers across the situation after collecting some blankets, although why these had to be obtained from the chamber is one of the slimmer connections in the series so far. She is killed accidentally, Michaels shoots himself in the should to prove he is a victim and then the prisoner leaves with Michael insisting on a recovery plan for his son involving only those on his list

While the violent death of the former police woman turned cold blood killer has to be regarded as justice, the protracted death of other young woman in which she tries to point the finger at Michael, is less satisfactory because this alleged former psychologist has befriended Hurley the extremely overweight young man with an obsessive eating disorder from the guilt in his past and who from leaving the psychiatric until and trying to lead a good life he wins the national lottery and a vast fortune and sets off to conquer the world. The lottery numbers are those used to prevent the reversal of polarity on the island. The girl has befriended Hurley and prevents him from committing suicide as he hallucinates over a friend who has combated the medical attempts to help Hurley lose weight and find other less damaging ways to cope with his sense of guilt. In the episode in which she tries to convince Hurley that he is hallucinating and what is appending on Island is their reality she is shown as also being a patient at the same psychiatric hospital as Hurley. A regular feature of the programme is of individuals seeing real people from their lives on the Island. Everyone on the island has a history, some were running away and their situation and the island makes them confront their past.

In order to rescue his Michael, who has shot himself in the shoulder is told to persuade only four of the crash survivors to come with him and the amazing thing is that after all that has happened on the island three of the main characters consent, one has already been killed, and eventually Hurley agrees as a non combatant and whose inclusion is to return to the others and warn them not go to the other side of the island after the three others are captured and Michael and his son given a boat on their release. However that Michael was able to persuade the small group and to dissuade the only survivor known to have had combat experience from the expedition and to stop the first reaction to arm as many a possible to undertake the mission was puzzling although the programme designers had planned this to involve Sayed who uses the boat that has become fixed to the island. This is an island back story and follows the same lines of that involving others via controlling parents who want to dictate who there daughters marry and do not. This individual has been framed, goes to prison and where the parents has continued to prevent contact so that an engagement is announced involving someone suitable. The man determines to get his own back by winning a yacht race against her father and which comes into his possession through a young widow who offers to finance his venture and whose husband had the boat. Although trhere is the opportunity for the man and the love of his life to get together he says a man has gotta do what a man has gotta do and sets off on the completion only to be pulled through the force field on the island, through a previous temporary break in the island system, three years beforehand. He then becomes involved with the last individuals, or so we are led to believe, of the corporation responsible for the system and its monitoring. Those who work the underground chambers are required to make detailed reports which they send to senior management in the kind of tubes which large shops use for the cash or check payments for goods. Such systems enabled centralised cashiering accounting. A bizarre aspect is that the survivor discover that these tubes lead to an above ground outlet in the open air, and have piled up over a substantial period of time.

Well there has to be unanswered questions for later on the in series Our yacht competition is then persuaded to stay for three years only going out in a contamination suit with head set as without these the atmosphere kills. He then learns of the subterfuge to keep him below ground when the former site deputy is seen going above ground in a damaged suit, is followed and found taking off the suit on his way to undertaking further work to repair the yacht. It is during his absence and the delay in working the system timer that the loss of polarity begins and the plane falls out of the sky. He then completes the repair and makes his way to the survivors and then attempt to leave the island on his own. During these last episodes of the series he boat drifts back off shore and is reached by the other crash survivors. The man explains that eh he set sail and should have reached his destination but all that happened is that he was pushed back to the island, Subsequently Michael is told to set and keep to one precise course as if this is the only exit route from the force field. Sayed now commandeers the use of the yacht with the help from the Koreans couple, to do a reconnoitre round the other side of the island as he believes that Michael is leading his friends into a trap. He tells the leader of the survivors this and he promises to send a signal to where they are join him after he has reconnoitred. However he discovered the alleged encampment deserted and the rescuers are captured but not killed through the use of tranquilising darts. As the episode and series ends, Michal and his son set off to freedom, or are, Hurley is sent back with the warning and the other three await their fait, but with several other series further completed it is evident that they were not killed so why were they captured in particular?

1251 Big Brother, Angelina Jolie, Sword of Xanten

Today, Thursday, January 3rd 2008, I have the blues. There is no justification for the feeling when consideration of the plight of others, but I cannot deny what I am feeling, only work out how to move forward into a different state. One reason for my mood is that I am going down with a cold, which is not a problem, but a cold usually turn into nasty chest coughs which can take weeks to clear up. My approach is neat whisky for the throat and medication from the supermarket to ensure the disability from the cold is limited.

Part of the day was devoted to hunt the card box which contained birthday Christmas and occasion cards acquired in advance to avoid last minute rushes. The box was used over two weeks before Christmas and I remember that I took it upstairs when I thought the need had ended and I remember where it was located and then I had to use it again so where is it now? After not one, or two, but three full searches of my home I had this nasty thought that I may have thrown it away when I took a couple of cardboard boxes and some household waste to the Council's prize winning new and underused multifunction waste centre. However my recollection is that the occasion I did this before a weekend mini trip nine days before Christmas as I was away for the Monday collection but home for the next on Christmas Eve as usual, and I had used the box to send out some last minute cards on return. I found the surplus Christmas wrapping paper. Did I make a subsequent trip? It is not the monetary value of the contents which can be replaced but two decades ago I had the annual card printed and personalised and there were some remaining single souvenir copies also in the box.

The financial loss was more than compensated by one of offers of week at one of the smaller supermarkets in the town. A4 size 240 gram glossy photo card 50 sheet which can costs £15 for a major brand and around £8 for specialist brands. In a sale from one my suppliers early last year. I thought the special price was going to be £3.99 however they were marked at only £1.99 which as confirmed at the checkout I acquired 20 packs and will go back tomorrow to see if any are left. For once it was too good and true.

The failure to find the card box meant that I had to go out in the sleet This morning there were traces of snow on a few roof tops but it was mainly sleet. There are blizzards further north and with freezing temperatures making road travel hazardous. I made the mistake of putting different trousers over the tracksuit bottoms and left my money notes behind, Fortunately I had ten pence more coin that the two cards cost. I had brought my address book and discovered that I lacked the post code for one address and therefore returned home, for the pocket edition which I thought only included telephone numbers and birthdays. I was correct in this. Before Christmas I had remembered that I had tracked don the post code and added to the main address book. It was a puzzle until I remembered that I had included this address twice and bingo, Off to the post box and back to the warm.
There has been one good programme on TV and one cringe making this evening. The cringing first. Cringe was a favourite word of the twins in the Big Brother House which I believed had ended as a series for a whole year. However this series is called Big Brother celebrity hijack in which celebrities will act as Big Brother. However the real twist is that the 12 participants are all successful achievers between the ages of 18-21 with the a 21 year old Jade pageant and beauty Queen having obtained a raft of scholastic examination successes, a scholarship for gifted children and subsequently music theatre training with an emphasise on dance. Jeremy comes for a wealthy and supportive family for the expensive recreational activity of go karting at eight years to being heralded as the rising star and best young driver with ambitions of following in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton, He is only 19 and has been to a public school. Anthony on the other hand is a 19 year old international boxer who has captained the Great Britain Team and has a good chance of a 2012 Olympic Gold but socially is at the other end of the scale in terms of language. Nathan 21 is a successful singer song writer with award nominations. Liam at 19 is Managing Director of his own company hosting 2 million websites and a staff of £12 with a turnover over £200000. John is a 20 year old for Scotland who chairs the Scottish Youth Parliament which has been developed into an effective youth forum pressure group with constituencies and elected members. Jay is a fashion designer with shows and sales outlet also 19 Latoya also 19 us a successful dancer being used for videos and concerts and voted a best female dancer 2007. Carlista at 19 years is a classically trained musician who se interest is musicals and song writing and is still in training but with success. Emilia 21 and her brother Victor are both members of the new House They are international circus speciality act performers, contortionist, dancer present with a high speed act using roller skates and finally there is Any who is using the Big Brother House experience as a Turner Prize Entry She is studying at Oxford at Ruskin, not my Ruskin but the Art School. Last year I suggested in a Blog also to the programme and the Turner Prize that the programme should be considered a contemporary art installation meriting consideration for the prize. It is thrilling that someone 50 years younger should have the same idea but take it further as Performance Art within the installation. Now I shall have to devote time which is unplanned but it almost made my day.

And the cringing? The celebrity Big Brother is described as a hilarious comedian Matt Lucas, who I do not know. The plot for the opening 90 minutes was for him to dictate to the chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament, the first person into the House, everything that he said and did in greeting contestants. The victim was bribed with the opportunity to progress immediately to the final without having to face an ejection vote, and super Chinese buffet meal with alcohol party if he passed the task, or face eviction every week regardless of what the other participants wished. The stakes were therefore high and the lad, who came across as a thinking and caring man was required to pretend to be a musician as the next person in, a dancer, including dancing on his own, and a racing driver. He had to feign a cramp and request a leg massage, massage the back of another, tell one his hair was lop sided, ask if a beard was real and say cake into people's ears. He also had to advise one male that a female had kissed him and used her tongue. He did these requests with decreasing enthusiasm aware that first impression counted and that he was likely to be considered the odd one as everyone else was being normal because they did not need to impress each other or the public. Having careers and being successful meant that winning the programme or attracting viewer attention was not the be and end all of their lives and in some instances could have counter productive consequences. The final request defeated him which was to first try and persuade and then order everyone to sit in a circle and become silent. His failure resulted in being asked to crawl to the Diary room and then wait outside while everyone else was ordered to sit down and then the truth was revealed and the victim told he had been successful. However I did not think the approach was funny, nor did the victim or the other participants which confirms my immediate reaction that this is not going to go the way the programmers planner predicted. Much will depend on how many creatives in the psychological sense have been included.

Such individuals do not usually follow the rules and as the categorization is intended to indicate they are creative and come up with original approaches. The one aspect where they be expected to fail is in undertaking the practical aspects of life, the cooking, washing, cleaning etc although the installation artist Amy is a cleaning and keeping in order obsessive. This was later borne out when a trio tried to use the electronic cooker.

The other programme, experienced before Big Brother, with Angelina Jolie's (Voight) interview at the Actors Studio. A creative with self destructive tendencies she has triumphed to become a recognised fine actor, also one of the highest paid, having also adopted three children with one biological daughter, and undertaken accomplished work for the United Nation's Refugee organisation. Although the daughter of John Voight she had little contact with her father after her parents separated when she was less than a year old and her desire to act was more from her mother, who like daughter was method trained and Angelina tells of being constantly asked as child about her feelings and being allowed to express herself and act out in whatever way she fancied. thus confirming my belief that the freedom for children to this degree is not desirable unless as a method to counter a highly repressed child showing significant problems.

The freedom to upbringing led to a precocious sexuality throughout her childhood so that as a fourteen year old of she was living with a boyfriend at the home of her mother and was in therapy while at school. She was destined for Hollywood being the God daughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell, but she might not have survived had her need for self abuse become controlled. She would cut herself as a response to finding that sexual communication did nor provide the emotional and spiritual intimacy she hungered for. She also took to wearing black and once seriously thought of being a funeral director and despite being described as one of the most beautiful and sexy women in the world she prefers to see herself as a punk kid with tattoos, When she married Johnny Lee Miller in 1996 she had his name on her white shirt written in her own blood. The marriage was short lived as it was to Billy Bob Thornton and this lasted another three years. In the programme she readily admitted she needed all the excitement and emotions of experiencing every moment so one can only speculate about how her mothering will work out over time. More recently she has had a relationship with Brad Pitt bearing her biological child in May 2006 at the age of 30. Hopefully she will have to reach my age to sort everything out about the process of being successful, in the public life and achieving a continuing feeling of success at being a parent and a partner.

Feeling grotty this afternoon and not in he mood to recommence work of any kind I watched the Sword of Xanten based on the German epic poem the Nibelungenlied which is also the basis for Wagner's the Ring Operas. This is the story of human being who do not listen to the truth or warnings based on he knowledge and experience of others, of the way money can corrupt the most honourable of individuals and to be aware that those who are sometimes the closest to you will resort to subterfuge to protect and further their interests, or just because they like to get their own way. Not having understood the story until first seeing the film within the last couple of years I had tended to be weary of the operas, associated, as they were with Hitler, and his view of life. Now I am surprised because the story in the film should have led him and those who supported his views, life that they were destined to fail and to prematurely perish if they attempt to go against the wisdom of the Gods and the history of human kind until then. The problem as demonstrated in the film is while individuals will stand out and accomplish much many ordinary folk perish before they get their come uppance. This was also true in Die Hard II in which Bruce Willis, and black friend brought into help, saved the gold reserves of the Federal Bank, many lives in potential underground bomb tragedy, and a school of young children. However a lot of ordinary security guards and other officials got shot up as did a minor army of trained soldier fortune hunters who were all also Germanic. Now of course the baddie has become the Muslim with attitude, controlled by major game players who are as wealthy, powerful, unscrupulous and ruthless as they have been throughout history.