Author: Kristine Hughes

Do You Know About Collectibles Direct and Acorn Media?


There are two great catalogues every Anglophile should be aware of, Collectibles Direct and Acorn Media. Each offer a variety of books, videos and more that will keep you connected to your favorite British shows and movies.

Collectibles Direct offers audio, video and books, including Mapping London which explores more than six centuries of London maps. And they’ve got unique gifts, such as the Jane Austen Writer’s Companion Set – a 160-page Address Book populated with quotes and illustrations,  beautifully designed Notecards – 16 total, with 4 separate designs – and a 128-page Journal peppered with humorous pairings of illustrations and quotes from her novels.

 
Acorn Media also offers videos, books and gifts for him, her and the garden. And many items perfect for your favorite Anglophile, such as the mugs below – even if that person is yourself.
Between the two catalogues, you’re sure to find all of your favorite films and t.v. shows!


 

           

The Wellington Connection – The Battle of Hastings

Oh, dear. The historians at the town of Hastings made a major blunder in their PR copy in 2008, when the Battle Town Map and Guide, a brief introduction to the East Sussex town, described how the Duke of Wellington crossed the Channel in preparation for the famous showdown at Hastings – which took place on 14 October 1066. Apparently, no one caught the error and the guides were widely distributed. The irony continues in a Daily Mail article covering the mistake, which makes a blunder of its own, calling Wellington a “18th century commander.” While he may have been born in the 18th century, most of Wellington’s victories occurred in the 19th century.

For an entirely irreverant and often profane (warning!) take on the (real) accomplishments of the Duke of Wellington, check out this entry on a site which named the Duke Badass of the Week and applauds Wellington’s “asskickery.” Here’s just a sample: “Once again, it was up to Wellesley to kick more balls than Manchester United. At the battle of Assaye in 1803, Wellesley’s small force of about 7,000 soldiers launched an unexpected surprise assault on an Indian force numbering over 40,000 men, and somehow managed to drive them from the field and capture 98 of their cannons. This is pretty goddamned impressive, considering that the British only brought 20 artillery pieces to the battlefield that day, but it’s all in a day’s work for this hardcore badass. The British marched on, crushed the Indians, and Wellesley returned to England as a conquering awesome war hero. When he got home, Wellesley went to the home of Kitty Pakenham, pimp-slapped her brother until he was unconscious, and asked her to marry him. She pretty much tore her dress off right on the spot.”

Sotheby's Chatsworth Sale

What with Christmas just around the corner, we thought we’d let you know that you can probably pick up gifts for most of the lucky on your list at the upcoming Chatsworth Attic Sale to be held by Sotheby’s London on October 5-7, 2010. More than 1,000 lots and 20,000 objects will be on offer from October 5 to 7, with estimates ranging from an alluring £20 to £200,000 for William Kent chimneypieces removed from Devonshire House in London before it was demolished in the 1920s. Here are the details from their press release:

The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement have instructed Sotheby’s to hold an auction of treasures gathered from the attics and stores at Chatsworth. The sale comprises 20,000 objects in well over 1,000 lots which will be on view in a series of marquees in the grounds of the house from October 1st. The house and grounds will be open to the public as usual during the period of the sale and view. Coming from the great houses of Chatsworth, Chiswick House, Bolton Abbey, Compton Place, Devonshire House, Hardwick Hall, Holker Hall and Lismore Castle, the sale includes works from almost every conceivable area: Architectural fittings, Books, Carriages and Cars, Ceramics and Glass, Collectables, Continental Furniture, English Furniture, European Sculpture, Garden Statuary, Natural History, Jewellery, Old Master and British Pictures, Oriental Works of Art, Silver and Plate, Objects of Vertu, Prints, Rugs and Carpets, Textiles, Tapestries and Wine.

Like the recent Spencer House Attic Sale at Christie’s, the Devonshire sale includes carriages, textiles, silver, jewelry, furniture and architectural items. Unlike the Spencer sale, it also includes a snuff box painted with a miniature of Gerogiana, Duchess of Devonshire, estimated to sell for 400 – 600 pounds.

As the Duke explained to the Financial Times recently: “When we came here, we looked at every space we had in the building and that confirmed what we really already knew, that the storage space we had was not fit for purpose and that there was just not enough of it,” explains the Duke. The solution is the “attic sale”, which has taken the best part of a year and a half to plan with Sotheby’s.

During the clear out of items and selection of pieces for the sale, crates in a stable yard building on the Chatsworth property were found to contain architectural elements removed from Devonshire House in London, above, designed by William Kent in 1730. Gathering dust for more than a century, the crates held  chimneypieces and other items, including pieces that, when fitted together recently by experts, formed almost the complete library as it had stood before the house was demolished.

You can see the full press release here.

A Visit to Chiswick House, Part Two
Chiswick House, London

 Chiswick House is one of the most influential buildings in the history of British architecture. It re-introduced the Palladian style of neo-classicism and had a lasting effect on the future of buildings in Europe and the Americas. 

 To reiterate just a little from the previous post on Chiswick, the youthful Richard Boyle, Lord Burlington (1694-1753), together with a group of powerful and/or brilliant gentlemen and artists, created a magnificent villa based on the ideas and structures of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), an Italian Renaissance architect.

The beauty of the house is in its symmetry, its proportions. Geometric shapes, circles, squares, octagons, all combine to create perfect balance. Based on the principles of ancient Greek architecture as reinterpreted by the Romans and Renaissance Italians, it is a pleasingly human scale which brings comfort and satisfaction in merely looking at the plans.

Each room flows from the central saloon under the shallow dome, one into another without barriers. The cornices and wall or ceiling paintings are the main decoration. Furniture was minimal and rearranged for specific purposes, as was usual in the days of many servants. Some rooms were used by Lord Burlington as a gallery for his collection of paintings.

The villa was constructed in 1727-29 to provide offices, galleries and areas for entertaining attached to another, older house. Burlington himself took credit for the architecture though he was ably assisted by others, particularly the painter William Kent who evolved into a major influence on architectural design in buildings, interiors and in gardens.

The lower, ground level held offices and the library. The Piano Nobile, the main floor, reached from outside stairways via a Corinthian portico, was designed almost exclusively for social gatherings.

The gardens were recently redesigned and refurbished with nearly ten million pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  About 1,600 trees were planted and a cafe added for the convenience of visitors.
The gardens, originally designed by William Kent, were widely admired and visited by Europeans and Americans as well as admiring British gentleman. Thomas Jefferson was one of the visitors who confessed he preferred a more natural design for his own gardens. Kent’s gardens, with their classical symmetry and use of water features and obelisks and temples as focal points for the layout, began the English Landscape Garden style which fully flowered in the work of designers such as Lancelot “Capability” Brown and Humphrey Repton.
The influence of the Palladian style, growing out of the work of Inigo Jones, then Burlington and Kent, Campbell and many others, was ascendent in the 18th century. Here is a brief gallery of some examples of neo-classic houses as they were built or remodeled between 1740 and 1800.
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Begun 1759 for Edwin Lascelles
Robert Carr, architect; later altered by Sir Charles Berry
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, for Sir Nathaniel Curzon
1760’s; Matthew Brettingham, James Paine and Robert Adam, architects
Holkham Hall, Norfolk
begun 1730’s for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester
by architects William Kent, Lord Burlington and Matthew Brettingham
The White House, Washington, D. C.

It is not hard to see the similarity to styles developed for government buildings and “colonial” homes in the U.S. The influence of classical forms of architecture of the 18th century grew not only from the beauty and functionalism of the designs. It also reflected the intellectual interests of the time, ideas of democracy, stable government, and the enlightenment.

Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot

Victoria here.  Kristine did a post on the wonderful actress Margaret Rutherford on August 17, 2010, and it got me thinking. Which actress is my favorite Miss Marple?  And which is my favorite Hercule Poirot.

Here is a link to a blog post from a Marple fan, in the Birdie’s Nest.

I saw the Margaret Rutherford films at an impressionable age, I suppose. She looked nothing like I had imagined Jane Marple from the novels, but she was a delight.  All four of the films made by MGM between 1961 and 1964 were black and white, which means they probably don’t get as much attention as they deserve.  My favorite is the first one, Murder, She Said, based on the Christie’s novel 4:50 from Paddington.  It was a wonderful vehicle for Rutherford, a blend of commedy and suspense (if I recall it correctly).

Joan Hickson

 Geraldine McEwan
Julia McKenzie
Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple

Some of the more recent Miss Marples have looked the part more than Rutherford, but I wasn’t entranced with any of them above the others.  Each one — Hickson, McEwan, McKenzie — had some positive attributes, but I was always afraid Hickson would collapse in her fragility, McEwen to me was still Mapp and Lucia, and McKenzie was too sacchrine. Was it just me, or did she lack the edge?? Or maybe it was the  poor quality of some of the scripts. I think they were often far from Christie’s style in the latest episodes.

I was surprised at how many actors have played Hercule Poirot, including Tony Randall (1920-2004) in The Alphabet Murders (1964).  For the last few years, the role has been magnificently filled by David Suchet.  Occasionally I see him in some other part and it shocks me to see him without the well-waxed mustache.
David Suchet as M. Hercule Poirot
However there were two more of my faves who played the little Belgian detective with the big ego. In 1974, Albert Finney starred in Murder on the Orient Express, and he was terrific.

Albert Finney as M. Hercule Poirot

This production had an all-star cast, with many of the leading lights of British stage and screen. I think I have watched it at least ten times.

And I am sure none of us could ever forget Peter Ustinov’s (1921-2004) performance in 1978’s Death on the Nile.  Ustinov is one of my favorite actors ever.  I think of him as Nero in Quo Vadis? or as the Prince Regent in Beau Brummell (1954).
Peter Ustinov and Stewart Granger in Beau Brummell
 Death on the Nile was a bravura performance for Ustinov, who had many great roles in his career.  Playing Prinny wasn’t one of them. The movie was dreadful — twisted history, indeed, But I must say I thought Ustinov probably nailed the character of the spoiled and self-obsessed Prince.  And Stewart Granger is extemely decorative.
David Suchet

I am sure that all of us, however, think mostly of David Suchet when we think of Hercule Poirot, since he has done more than sixty films and television programs.  And though he has had a distinguished stage and screen career, playing such diverse figures as Sigmund Freud, Edward Teller, Robert Maxwell, Baron Stockmar, and Cardinal Wolsey, his legacy will no doubt be as his alter ego, Hercule Poirot.

I admit I love the Christie’s films and tv programs, probably more than I do reading the novels.  Aaarrggh!  What an admission for a person like me who can hardly bear most of the Jane Austen productions (except for the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice and the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility). I would almost always rather read a book than see a film or tv, but perhaps mysteries are an exception, especially the ones by Agatha Christie. So bring ’em on!