Do You Need a London fix?

Victoria here. Unexpectedly the other night, without any Netflix on hand, I found myself looking through the tv listings — 700 channels and nothing to watch — but WAIT!!!  What  about a good evening in London?

There it was — Notting Hill. I saw it long ago (released in 1999), and was disappointed because Julia was SO beautifully Julia and Hugh was SO stutteringly Hugh. But this time, expecting nothing but watching London on my screen, I really enjoyed it. The reverse Cinderella story I guess. But I’d rather run a bookshop on Portobello Road than be an actress!

Now I am looking forward to some other movies set in London that are fun to watch just because of the scenery.  How about Last Chance Harvey (2008)? That one was a little below par too, but just to see them walking along the Thames — well, this time I’d probably love it.

A movie I’ve seen several times and would again any evening is A Fish Called Wanda.  What a cast! What a setting!! I want that apartment on the river. I always laugh until I ache.
Now that I think about it, there are quite a few relatively recent movies that give a nice London fix: Love Actually, the Bridget Jones movies…what are your favorites when you want to pretend you are right there approaching Trafalgar Square?

I also love the WWII movies — Mrs. Miniver, etc. and the Judi Dench film, Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) which goes through the war. Though it isn’t London, The Enchanted Cottage (1945) is a terrific tear-jerker set in England. As is Brief Encounter (1945),  with the wonderful Rachmaninoff concerto.

Or, to cap it off, how about a rousing chorus from My Fair Lady? I know that Emma Thompson wants to do it all over again — and I do think ET is a stellar actress, producer and writer.  Yet I love that technicolor version with Audrey Hepburn, from 1964.  Sorry, Emma.


Or, for a lovely evening at least partially set in London, how about 84 Charing Cross Road (1987)?  Another winner.

Good viewing!!

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.