And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

 

Genesis 38.9

 

My Subject is Masturbation

 

Inspiration is provided by what I sense to be a universal condition, which manifests in my own personal feelings of impotence. Mentors, deserving of particular mention are Goya, Duchamp, and Marcus Simon Sarjeant. I have spent the last years in pursuit of mutually onanistic release with these three men. There have been others.

 

Of the three, I have given to Goya most of my time. Duchamp has won my greatest affection and Sarjeant has my understanding and empathy.

 

Goya, at least in his later years, had the good grace to withdraw and act out his urgency in private. Duchamp made no bones of making a public performance of his tendencies from an early age. Sarjeant ejaculated defiantly, if prematurely, shooting blanks, and faced the consequences.

 

My Subject is Bachelor Machines.

 

Onanism breeds desperation, arrogance, contempt, and a perverse independence. Arrogantly I do not intend to try to forge links between these three men. There is no need to do so as these links already exist in me and my obsessive interest (an obsession I have kept going now for over 40 years). Creation is, after all, the union of two (or more) disparate elements to engender a new. So I will attempt to expose, rather than manufacture, reveal rather than produce.

 

My Subject is Exhibitionism

 

Thus, I realise that any two or more elements could be combined and any suggestion for coupling is as fecund (or as barren) as the next, or as chance allows. The choice of constituents is purely subjective and perhaps says more about the writer than the written about. To elucidate, or to restrict conjecture slightly, I should like to state that my personal interest lies in non-reproductive coupling. My goal is both an exposition and celebration of sterility.

 

My Subject is Autoeroticism

 

‘The Observer’, Sunday 14th June 1981: ‘Shots at Queen-Treason Charge’

A seventeen-year-old youth was charged under the Treason Act yesterday after six blanks were fired only yards away from the Queen on her official birthday.

Marcus Simon Sarjeant, unemployed of Folkstone, Kent, was charged that “at the Mall he wilfully discharged at the person of her Majesty the Queen, a blank cartridge pistol with intent to alarm her”.

 

My Subject is Desperation

 

My introduction to the Bachelor Machine phenomenon coincided with my first really considered exposure to the work of Marcel Duchamp. This cathartic ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion occurred on board a ‘Laker’ aircraft whilst returning from New York. I was 24.

The catalyst took the form of a book by Octavio Paz entitled ‘Marcel Duchamp: Appearances Stripped Bare’. As with any ‘conversion’ the initial response manifested itself in an outburst of enthusiasm but with very little understanding. However, the damage had been well and truly done. Stretching this conversion metaphor even further, this attempt at coherence is a presentation of a possible ‘New Trinity’: Goya is the omnipotent Father, Sarjeant as the wayward ‘Sacrificial Son’, and finally Duchamp as the Holy Ghost, the overseer.

 

My subject is Parthenogenesis

 

Oscillating back and forth dramatically between arrogance and a guilty conscience, guilt is the hidden weakness inadequately masked by arrogance.

I am discovering the extent of my own vanity and my own insecurity.

Together they combine to form the nourishment for my obsession. They are just different aspects of the same thing. They are the complementary opposites which chemically unite to form a ‘love gasoline’. They are also manufactured by the disrobing Bride to create and satisfy her own needs. They meet and deny each other on the jaded plains of Onan. They combine not through acceptance of each other but blindly and desperately. They exhaustively pretend they have never met before, but their meeting is as constant as their inability to acknowledge each other. A confrontation is absolutely essential. To continue, insecurity must be sufficiently overcome (not ignored), to give the vanity of opinion free rein.

There is an exposition. I am not writing about Bachelor Machines. I am attempting to construct one.

  

“THE BACHELOR GRINDS HIS CHOCOLATE HIMSELF"

Duchamp.

  

Bachelor: Unmarried man; (hist.) young knight serving under another’s banner.

  

Machine: 1. Apparatus for applying mechanical power, having several parts each with definite function.

2. Person who acts mechanically and without intelligence or with unfailing regularity.

3. Instrument that transmits force or directs its application.

  

Already these dictionary definitions begin to suggest hitherto unconsidered possibilities. There initially seems to be the germ of an idea which could perhaps be summed up as relentless and mindless solitary servitude. However as with every word combination the riches of this union go far beyond what a mere joint definition might suggest.

  

The Bachelor Machine is, of course, much more than this. Duchamp somewhat defined the limits of its legend when he constructed ‘The Bride stripped bare by her Bachelors, even', which must remain the Bachelor Machine par excellence. It might seem logical that it would be best to use this one example to further discover and elaborate on the defining peculiarities of the subject of this particular investigation. Duchamp’s ‘Machine’ is probably the most complete, as well as being the most conscious, example of a ‘Bachelor-Machine’, being as it is the conceptual projection of an intense awareness of the machine-age myth. However, it would be a mistake to believe that this was purely a post-Industrial revolution phenomenon. The recorded machinations of war, property, money, state and finally even death itself have produced excellent examples of complete and partial ‘Bachelor Machines’ strewn throughout the history of Myth and mankind. After an in-depth consideration of the "Large Glass" I would like to deal with Goya as an originator of imagery of this nature and Serjeant as a recent manifestation of the Bachelor machine drive.

 

The inscription reads as follows:

President of the Royal Society

Chancellor of the University of Glasgow

following 53 years of service in the

chair of natural Philosophy

Pre-eminent in Elucidating

the laws of nature and in applying them

to the service of man

  

William Thomson Kelvin (26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907) was a mathematical physicist and engineer who was born in Belfast in 1824. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form. He worked closely with mathematics professor Hugh Blackburn in his work. He also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor, which propelled him into the public eye and ensured his wealth, fame and honour. For his work on the transatlantic telegraph project he was knighted in 1866 by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir William Thomson. He had extensive maritime interests and was most noted for his work on the mariner's compass, which previously had limited reliability.

 

Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour. While the existence of a lower limit to temperature (absolute zero) was known prior to his work, Lord Kelvin is known for determining its correct value as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit.

 

He was ennobled in 1892 in recognition of his achievements in thermodynamics, and of his opposition to Irish Home Rule, becoming Baron Kelvin, of Largs in the County of Ayr. He was the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows near his laboratory at the University of Glasgow. His home was the red sandstone mansion Netherhall, in Largs. Despite offers of elevated posts from several world-renowned universities, Kelvin refused to leave Glasgow, remaining professor of Natural Philosophy for over 50 years, until his eventual retirement from that post. The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow has a permanent exhibition on the work of Lord Kelvin including many of his original papers, instruments, and other artifacts, such as his smoking pipe.

A fungus (pl.: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditional eukaryotic kingdoms, along with Animalia, Plantae and either Protista or Protozoa and Chromista.

 

A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the Eumycota (true fungi or Eumycetes), that share a common ancestor (i.e. they form a monophyletic group), an interpretation that is also strongly supported by molecular phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom). In the past mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it is now known that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants.

 

Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals, including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species contain psychotropic compounds and are consumed recreationally or in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.

 

The fungus kingdom encompasses an enormous diversity of taxa with varied ecologies, life cycle strategies, and morphologies ranging from unicellular aquatic chytrids to large mushrooms. However, little is known of the true biodiversity of the fungus kingdom, which has been estimated at 2.2 million to 3.8 million species. Of these, only about 148,000 have been described, with over 8,000 species known to be detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans. Ever since the pioneering 18th and 19th century taxonomical works of Carl Linnaeus, Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, and Elias Magnus Fries, fungi have been classified according to their morphology (e.g., characteristics such as spore color or microscopic features) or physiology. Advances in molecular genetics have opened the way for DNA analysis to be incorporated into taxonomy, which has sometimes challenged the historical groupings based on morphology and other traits. Phylogenetic studies published in the first decade of the 21st century have helped reshape the classification within the fungi kingdom, which is divided into one subkingdom, seven phyla, and ten subphyla.

 

Etymology

The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').

 

The word mycology is derived from the Greek mykes (μύκης 'mushroom') and logos (λόγος 'discourse'). It denotes the scientific study of fungi. The Latin adjectival form of "mycology" (mycologicæ) appeared as early as 1796 in a book on the subject by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. The word appeared in English as early as 1824 in a book by Robert Kaye Greville. In 1836 the English naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley's publication The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith, Vol. 5. also refers to mycology as the study of fungi.

 

A group of all the fungi present in a particular region is known as mycobiota (plural noun, no singular). The term mycota is often used for this purpose, but many authors use it as a synonym of Fungi. The word funga has been proposed as a less ambiguous term morphologically similar to fauna and flora. The Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in August 2021 asked that the phrase fauna and flora be replaced by fauna, flora, and funga.

 

Characteristics

 

Fungal hyphae cells

Hyphal wall

Septum

Mitochondrion

Vacuole

Ergosterol crystal

Ribosome

Nucleus

Endoplasmic reticulum

Lipid body

Plasma membrane

Spitzenkörper

Golgi apparatus

 

Fungal cell cycle showing Dikaryons typical of Higher Fungi

Before the introduction of molecular methods for phylogenetic analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat. Although inaccurate, the common misconception that fungi are plants persists among the general public due to their historical classification, as well as several similarities. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble plants such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion years ago (around the start of the Neoproterozoic Era). Some morphological, biochemical, and genetic features are shared with other organisms, while others are unique to the fungi, clearly separating them from the other kingdoms:

 

With other eukaryotes: Fungal cells contain membrane-bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding regions called introns and coding regions called exons. Fungi have membrane-bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes, and ribosomes of the 80S type. They have a characteristic range of soluble carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose), and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals).

With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so require preformed organic compounds as energy sources.

With plants: Fungi have a cell wall and vacuoles. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses) produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei.

With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria produce the amino acid L-lysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the α-aminoadipate pathway.

The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles—cellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules—called the Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells. In contrast, similar-looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division within a chain of cells. There are also single-celled fungi (yeasts) that do not form hyphae, and some fungi have both hyphal and yeast forms.

In common with some plant and animal species, more than one hundred fungal species display bioluminescence.

Unique features:

 

Some species grow as unicellular yeasts that reproduce by budding or fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions.

The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose.

A whitish fan or funnel-shaped mushroom growing at the base of a tree.

Omphalotus nidiformis, a bioluminescent mushroom

Most fungi lack an efficient system for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients, such as the xylem and phloem in many plants. To overcome this limitation, some fungi, such as Armillaria, form rhizomorphs, which resemble and perform functions similar to the roots of plants. As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building blocks. Plants and some other organisms have an additional terpene biosynthesis pathway in their chloroplasts, a structure that fungi and animals do not have. Fungi produce several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by plants. Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants.

 

Diversity

Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including extreme environments such as deserts or areas with high salt concentrations or ionizing radiation, as well as in deep sea sediments. Some can survive the intense UV and cosmic radiation encountered during space travel. Most grow in terrestrial environments, though several species live partly or solely in aquatic habitats, such as the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans, parasites that have been responsible for a worldwide decline in amphibian populations. These organisms spend part of their life cycle as a motile zoospore, enabling them to propel itself through water and enter their amphibian host. Other examples of aquatic fungi include those living in hydrothermal areas of the ocean.

 

As of 2020, around 148,000 species of fungi have been described by taxonomists, but the global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood. A 2017 estimate suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species The number of new fungi species discovered yearly has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per year about 10 years ago, to about 2000 with a peak of more than 2,500 species in 2016. In the year 2019, 1882 new species of fungi were described, and it was estimated that more than 90% of fungi remain unknown The following year, 2905 new species were described—the highest annual record of new fungus names. In mycology, species have historically been distinguished by a variety of methods and concepts. Classification based on morphological characteristics, such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, has traditionally dominated fungal taxonomy. Species may also be distinguished by their biochemical and physiological characteristics, such as their ability to metabolize certain biochemicals, or their reaction to chemical tests. The biological species concept discriminates species based on their ability to mate. The application of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, to study diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates of genetic diversity within various taxonomic groups.

 

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the systematic study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source of medicine, food, and psychotropic substances consumed for religious purposes, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection. The field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, is closely related because many plant pathogens are fungi.

 

The use of fungi by humans dates back to prehistory; Ötzi the Iceman, a well-preserved mummy of a 5,300-year-old Neolithic man found frozen in the Austrian Alps, carried two species of polypore mushrooms that may have been used as tinder (Fomes fomentarius), or for medicinal purposes (Piptoporus betulinus). Ancient peoples have used fungi as food sources—often unknowingly—for millennia, in the preparation of leavened bread and fermented juices. Some of the oldest written records contain references to the destruction of crops that were probably caused by pathogenic fungi.

 

History

Mycology became a systematic science after the development of the microscope in the 17th century. Although fungal spores were first observed by Giambattista della Porta in 1588, the seminal work in the development of mycology is considered to be the publication of Pier Antonio Micheli's 1729 work Nova plantarum genera. Micheli not only observed spores but also showed that, under the proper conditions, they could be induced into growing into the same species of fungi from which they originated. Extending the use of the binomial system of nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus in his Species plantarum (1753), the Dutch Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761–1836) established the first classification of mushrooms with such skill as to be considered a founder of modern mycology. Later, Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878) further elaborated the classification of fungi, using spore color and microscopic characteristics, methods still used by taxonomists today. Other notable early contributors to mycology in the 17th–19th and early 20th centuries include Miles Joseph Berkeley, August Carl Joseph Corda, Anton de Bary, the brothers Louis René and Charles Tulasne, Arthur H. R. Buller, Curtis G. Lloyd, and Pier Andrea Saccardo. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis has provided new insights into fungal relationships and biodiversity, and has challenged traditional morphology-based groupings in fungal taxonomy.

 

Morphology

Microscopic structures

Monochrome micrograph showing Penicillium hyphae as long, transparent, tube-like structures a few micrometres across. Conidiophores branch out laterally from the hyphae, terminating in bundles of phialides on which spherical condidiophores are arranged like beads on a string. Septa are faintly visible as dark lines crossing the hyphae.

An environmental isolate of Penicillium

Hypha

Conidiophore

Phialide

Conidia

Septa

Most fungi grow as hyphae, which are cylindrical, thread-like structures 2–10 µm in diameter and up to several centimeters in length. Hyphae grow at their tips (apices); new hyphae are typically formed by emergence of new tips along existing hyphae by a process called branching, or occasionally growing hyphal tips fork, giving rise to two parallel-growing hyphae. Hyphae also sometimes fuse when they come into contact, a process called hyphal fusion (or anastomosis). These growth processes lead to the development of a mycelium, an interconnected network of hyphae. Hyphae can be either septate or coenocytic. Septate hyphae are divided into compartments separated by cross walls (internal cell walls, called septa, that are formed at right angles to the cell wall giving the hypha its shape), with each compartment containing one or more nuclei; coenocytic hyphae are not compartmentalized. Septa have pores that allow cytoplasm, organelles, and sometimes nuclei to pass through; an example is the dolipore septum in fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota. Coenocytic hyphae are in essence multinucleate supercells.

 

Many species have developed specialized hyphal structures for nutrient uptake from living hosts; examples include haustoria in plant-parasitic species of most fungal phyla,[63] and arbuscules of several mycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate into the host cells to consume nutrients.

 

Although fungi are opisthokonts—a grouping of evolutionarily related organisms broadly characterized by a single posterior flagellum—all phyla except for the chytrids have lost their posterior flagella. Fungi are unusual among the eukaryotes in having a cell wall that, in addition to glucans (e.g., β-1,3-glucan) and other typical components, also contains the biopolymer chitin.

 

Macroscopic structures

Fungal mycelia can become visible to the naked eye, for example, on various surfaces and substrates, such as damp walls and spoiled food, where they are commonly called molds. Mycelia grown on solid agar media in laboratory petri dishes are usually referred to as colonies. These colonies can exhibit growth shapes and colors (due to spores or pigmentation) that can be used as diagnostic features in the identification of species or groups. Some individual fungal colonies can reach extraordinary dimensions and ages as in the case of a clonal colony of Armillaria solidipes, which extends over an area of more than 900 ha (3.5 square miles), with an estimated age of nearly 9,000 years.

 

The apothecium—a specialized structure important in sexual reproduction in the ascomycetes—is a cup-shaped fruit body that is often macroscopic and holds the hymenium, a layer of tissue containing the spore-bearing cells. The fruit bodies of the basidiomycetes (basidiocarps) and some ascomycetes can sometimes grow very large, and many are well known as mushrooms.

 

Growth and physiology

Time-lapse photography sequence of a peach becoming progressively discolored and disfigured

Mold growth covering a decaying peach. The frames were taken approximately 12 hours apart over a period of six days.

The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues. They can exert large penetrative mechanical forces; for example, many plant pathogens, including Magnaporthe grisea, form a structure called an appressorium that evolved to puncture plant tissues.[71] The pressure generated by the appressorium, directed against the plant epidermis, can exceed 8 megapascals (1,200 psi).[71] The filamentous fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus uses a similar structure to penetrate the eggs of nematodes.

 

The mechanical pressure exerted by the appressorium is generated from physiological processes that increase intracellular turgor by producing osmolytes such as glycerol. Adaptations such as these are complemented by hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment to digest large organic molecules—such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids—into smaller molecules that may then be absorbed as nutrients. The vast majority of filamentous fungi grow in a polar fashion (extending in one direction) by elongation at the tip (apex) of the hypha. Other forms of fungal growth include intercalary extension (longitudinal expansion of hyphal compartments that are below the apex) as in the case of some endophytic fungi, or growth by volume expansion during the development of mushroom stipes and other large organs. Growth of fungi as multicellular structures consisting of somatic and reproductive cells—a feature independently evolved in animals and plants—has several functions, including the development of fruit bodies for dissemination of sexual spores (see above) and biofilms for substrate colonization and intercellular communication.

 

Fungi are traditionally considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a high degree of metabolic versatility that allows them to use a diverse range of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds such as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. In some species the pigment melanin may play a role in extracting energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation. This form of "radiotrophic" growth has been described for only a few species, the effects on growth rates are small, and the underlying biophysical and biochemical processes are not well known. This process might bear similarity to CO2 fixation via visible light, but instead uses ionizing radiation as a source of energy.

 

Reproduction

Two thickly stemmed brownish mushrooms with scales on the upper surface, growing out of a tree trunk

Polyporus squamosus

Fungal reproduction is complex, reflecting the differences in lifestyles and genetic makeup within this diverse kingdom of organisms. It is estimated that a third of all fungi reproduce using more than one method of propagation; for example, reproduction may occur in two well-differentiated stages within the life cycle of a species, the teleomorph (sexual reproduction) and the anamorph (asexual reproduction). Environmental conditions trigger genetically determined developmental states that lead to the creation of specialized structures for sexual or asexual reproduction. These structures aid reproduction by efficiently dispersing spores or spore-containing propagules.

 

Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction occurs via vegetative spores (conidia) or through mycelial fragmentation. Mycelial fragmentation occurs when a fungal mycelium separates into pieces, and each component grows into a separate mycelium. Mycelial fragmentation and vegetative spores maintain clonal populations adapted to a specific niche, and allow more rapid dispersal than sexual reproduction. The "Fungi imperfecti" (fungi lacking the perfect or sexual stage) or Deuteromycota comprise all the species that lack an observable sexual cycle. Deuteromycota (alternatively known as Deuteromycetes, conidial fungi, or mitosporic fungi) is not an accepted taxonomic clade and is now taken to mean simply fungi that lack a known sexual stage.

 

Sexual reproduction

See also: Mating in fungi and Sexual selection in fungi

Sexual reproduction with meiosis has been directly observed in all fungal phyla except Glomeromycota (genetic analysis suggests meiosis in Glomeromycota as well). It differs in many aspects from sexual reproduction in animals or plants. Differences also exist between fungal groups and can be used to discriminate species by morphological differences in sexual structures and reproductive strategies. Mating experiments between fungal isolates may identify species on the basis of biological species concepts. The major fungal groupings have initially been delineated based on the morphology of their sexual structures and spores; for example, the spore-containing structures, asci and basidia, can be used in the identification of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, respectively. Fungi employ two mating systems: heterothallic species allow mating only between individuals of the opposite mating type, whereas homothallic species can mate, and sexually reproduce, with any other individual or itself.

 

Most fungi have both a haploid and a diploid stage in their life cycles. In sexually reproducing fungi, compatible individuals may combine by fusing their hyphae together into an interconnected network; this process, anastomosis, is required for the initiation of the sexual cycle. Many ascomycetes and basidiomycetes go through a dikaryotic stage, in which the nuclei inherited from the two parents do not combine immediately after cell fusion, but remain separate in the hyphal cells (see heterokaryosis).

 

In ascomycetes, dikaryotic hyphae of the hymenium (the spore-bearing tissue layer) form a characteristic hook (crozier) at the hyphal septum. During cell division, the formation of the hook ensures proper distribution of the newly divided nuclei into the apical and basal hyphal compartments. An ascus (plural asci) is then formed, in which karyogamy (nuclear fusion) occurs. Asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body. Karyogamy in the asci is followed immediately by meiosis and the production of ascospores. After dispersal, the ascospores may germinate and form a new haploid mycelium.

 

Sexual reproduction in basidiomycetes is similar to that of the ascomycetes. Compatible haploid hyphae fuse to produce a dikaryotic mycelium. However, the dikaryotic phase is more extensive in the basidiomycetes, often also present in the vegetatively growing mycelium. A specialized anatomical structure, called a clamp connection, is formed at each hyphal septum. As with the structurally similar hook in the ascomycetes, the clamp connection in the basidiomycetes is required for controlled transfer of nuclei during cell division, to maintain the dikaryotic stage with two genetically different nuclei in each hyphal compartment. A basidiocarp is formed in which club-like structures known as basidia generate haploid basidiospores after karyogamy and meiosis. The most commonly known basidiocarps are mushrooms, but they may also take other forms (see Morphology section).

 

In fungi formerly classified as Zygomycota, haploid hyphae of two individuals fuse, forming a gametangium, a specialized cell structure that becomes a fertile gamete-producing cell. The gametangium develops into a zygospore, a thick-walled spore formed by the union of gametes. When the zygospore germinates, it undergoes meiosis, generating new haploid hyphae, which may then form asexual sporangiospores. These sporangiospores allow the fungus to rapidly disperse and germinate into new genetically identical haploid fungal mycelia.

 

Spore dispersal

The spores of most of the researched species of fungi are transported by wind. Such species often produce dry or hydrophobic spores that do not absorb water and are readily scattered by raindrops, for example. In other species, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores are often actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as traveling through the air over long distances.

 

Specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms, as well as spore surface structures (such as hydrophobins), enable efficient spore ejection. For example, the structure of the spore-bearing cells in some ascomycete species is such that the buildup of substances affecting cell volume and fluid balance enables the explosive discharge of spores into the air. The forcible discharge of single spores termed ballistospores involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g; the net result is that the spore is ejected 0.01–0.02 cm, sufficient distance for it to fall through the gills or pores into the air below. Other fungi, like the puffballs, rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces. The hydnoid fungi (tooth fungi) produce spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. The bird's nest fungi use the force of falling water drops to liberate the spores from cup-shaped fruiting bodies. Another strategy is seen in the stinkhorns, a group of fungi with lively colors and putrid odor that attract insects to disperse their spores.

 

Homothallism

In homothallic sexual reproduction, two haploid nuclei derived from the same individual fuse to form a zygote that can then undergo meiosis. Homothallic fungi include species with an Aspergillus-like asexual stage (anamorphs) occurring in numerous different genera, several species of the ascomycete genus Cochliobolus, and the ascomycete Pneumocystis jirovecii. The earliest mode of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes was likely homothallism, that is, self-fertile unisexual reproduction.

 

Other sexual processes

Besides regular sexual reproduction with meiosis, certain fungi, such as those in the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus, may exchange genetic material via parasexual processes, initiated by anastomosis between hyphae and plasmogamy of fungal cells. The frequency and relative importance of parasexual events is unclear and may be lower than other sexual processes. It is known to play a role in intraspecific hybridization and is likely required for hybridization between species, which has been associated with major events in fungal evolution.

 

Evolution

In contrast to plants and animals, the early fossil record of the fungi is meager. Factors that likely contribute to the under-representation of fungal species among fossils include the nature of fungal fruiting bodies, which are soft, fleshy, and easily degradable tissues and the microscopic dimensions of most fungal structures, which therefore are not readily evident. Fungal fossils are difficult to distinguish from those of other microbes, and are most easily identified when they resemble extant fungi. Often recovered from a permineralized plant or animal host, these samples are typically studied by making thin-section preparations that can be examined with light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. Researchers study compression fossils by dissolving the surrounding matrix with acid and then using light or scanning electron microscopy to examine surface details.

 

The earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some 2,400 million years ago (Ma); these multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis. Other studies (2009) estimate the arrival of fungal organisms at about 760–1060 Ma on the basis of comparisons of the rate of evolution in closely related groups. The oldest fossilizied mycelium to be identified from its molecular composition is between 715 and 810 million years old. For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251 Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization. Studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.

 

In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, named Ourasphaira giraldae, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. Pyritized fungus-like microfossils preserved in the basal Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (~635 Ma) have been reported in South China. Earlier, it had been presumed that the fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian (542–488.3 Ma), also long before land plants. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 Ma) resemble modern-day Glomerales, and existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants. Prototaxites, which was probably a fungus or lichen, would have been the tallest organism of the late Silurian and early Devonian. Fungal fossils do not become common and uncontroversial until the early Devonian (416–359.2 Ma), when they occur abundantly in the Rhynie chert, mostly as Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. At about this same time, approximately 400 Ma, the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota diverged, and all modern classes of fungi were present by the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian, 318.1–299 Ma).

 

Lichens formed a component of the early terrestrial ecosystems, and the estimated age of the oldest terrestrial lichen fossil is 415 Ma; this date roughly corresponds to the age of the oldest known sporocarp fossil, a Paleopyrenomycites species found in the Rhynie Chert. The oldest fossil with microscopic features resembling modern-day basidiomycetes is Palaeoancistrus, found permineralized with a fern from the Pennsylvanian. Rare in the fossil record are the Homobasidiomycetes (a taxon roughly equivalent to the mushroom-producing species of the Agaricomycetes). Two amber-preserved specimens provide evidence that the earliest known mushroom-forming fungi (the extinct species Archaeomarasmius leggetti) appeared during the late Cretaceous, 90 Ma.

 

Some time after the Permian–Triassic extinction event (251.4 Ma), a fungal spike (originally thought to be an extraordinary abundance of fungal spores in sediments) formed, suggesting that fungi were the dominant life form at this time, representing nearly 100% of the available fossil record for this period. However, the relative proportion of fungal spores relative to spores formed by algal species is difficult to assess, the spike did not appear worldwide, and in many places it did not fall on the Permian–Triassic boundary.

 

Sixty-five million years ago, immediately after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that famously killed off most dinosaurs, there was a dramatic increase in evidence of fungi; apparently the death of most plant and animal species led to a huge fungal bloom like "a massive compost heap".

 

Taxonomy

Although commonly included in botany curricula and textbooks, fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants and are placed with the animals in the monophyletic group of opisthokonts. Analyses using molecular phylogenetics support a monophyletic origin of fungi. The taxonomy of fungi is in a state of constant flux, especially due to research based on DNA comparisons. These current phylogenetic analyses often overturn classifications based on older and sometimes less discriminative methods based on morphological features and biological species concepts obtained from experimental matings.

 

There is no unique generally accepted system at the higher taxonomic levels and there are frequent name changes at every level, from species upwards. Efforts among researchers are now underway to establish and encourage usage of a unified and more consistent nomenclature. Until relatively recent (2012) changes to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, fungal species could also have multiple scientific names depending on their life cycle and mode (sexual or asexual) of reproduction. Web sites such as Index Fungorum and MycoBank are officially recognized nomenclatural repositories and list current names of fungal species (with cross-references to older synonyms).

 

The 2007 classification of Kingdom Fungi is the result of a large-scale collaborative research effort involving dozens of mycologists and other scientists working on fungal taxonomy. It recognizes seven phyla, two of which—the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota—are contained within a branch representing subkingdom Dikarya, the most species rich and familiar group, including all the mushrooms, most food-spoilage molds, most plant pathogenic fungi, and the beer, wine, and bread yeasts. The accompanying cladogram depicts the major fungal taxa and their relationship to opisthokont and unikont organisms, based on the work of Philippe Silar, "The Mycota: A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research" and Tedersoo et al. 2018. The lengths of the branches are not proportional to evolutionary distances.

 

The major phyla (sometimes called divisions) of fungi have been classified mainly on the basis of characteristics of their sexual reproductive structures. As of 2019, nine major lineages have been identified: Opisthosporidia, Chytridiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Zoopagomycotina, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.

 

Phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the Microsporidia, unicellular parasites of animals and protists, are fairly recent and highly derived endobiotic fungi (living within the tissue of another species). Previously considered to be "primitive" protozoa, they are now thought to be either a basal branch of the Fungi, or a sister group–each other's closest evolutionary relative.

 

The Chytridiomycota are commonly known as chytrids. These fungi are distributed worldwide. Chytrids and their close relatives Neocallimastigomycota and Blastocladiomycota (below) are the only fungi with active motility, producing zoospores that are capable of active movement through aqueous phases with a single flagellum, leading early taxonomists to classify them as protists. Molecular phylogenies, inferred from rRNA sequences in ribosomes, suggest that the Chytrids are a basal group divergent from the other fungal phyla, consisting of four major clades with suggestive evidence for paraphyly or possibly polyphyly.

 

The Blastocladiomycota were previously considered a taxonomic clade within the Chytridiomycota. Molecular data and ultrastructural characteristics, however, place the Blastocladiomycota as a sister clade to the Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). The blastocladiomycetes are saprotrophs, feeding on decomposing organic matter, and they are parasites of all eukaryotic groups. Unlike their close relatives, the chytrids, most of which exhibit zygotic meiosis, the blastocladiomycetes undergo sporic meiosis.

 

The Neocallimastigomycota were earlier placed in the phylum Chytridiomycota. Members of this small phylum are anaerobic organisms, living in the digestive system of larger herbivorous mammals and in other terrestrial and aquatic environments enriched in cellulose (e.g., domestic waste landfill sites). They lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes of mitochondrial origin. As in the related chrytrids, neocallimastigomycetes form zoospores that are posteriorly uniflagellate or polyflagellate.

 

Microscopic view of a layer of translucent grayish cells, some containing small dark-color spheres

Arbuscular mycorrhiza seen under microscope. Flax root cortical cells containing paired arbuscules.

Cross-section of a cup-shaped structure showing locations of developing meiotic asci (upper edge of cup, left side, arrows pointing to two gray cells containing four and two small circles), sterile hyphae (upper edge of cup, right side, arrows pointing to white cells with a single small circle in them), and mature asci (upper edge of cup, pointing to two gray cells with eight small circles in them)

Diagram of an apothecium (the typical cup-like reproductive structure of Ascomycetes) showing sterile tissues as well as developing and mature asci.

Members of the Glomeromycota form arbuscular mycorrhizae, a form of mutualist symbiosis wherein fungal hyphae invade plant root cells and both species benefit from the resulting increased supply of nutrients. All known Glomeromycota species reproduce asexually. The symbiotic association between the Glomeromycota and plants is ancient, with evidence dating to 400 million years ago. Formerly part of the Zygomycota (commonly known as 'sugar' and 'pin' molds), the Glomeromycota were elevated to phylum status in 2001 and now replace the older phylum Zygomycota. Fungi that were placed in the Zygomycota are now being reassigned to the Glomeromycota, or the subphyla incertae sedis Mucoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina, the Zoopagomycotina and the Entomophthoromycotina. Some well-known examples of fungi formerly in the Zygomycota include black bread mold (Rhizopus stolonifer), and Pilobolus species, capable of ejecting spores several meters through the air. Medically relevant genera include Mucor, Rhizomucor, and Rhizopus.

 

The Ascomycota, commonly known as sac fungi or ascomycetes, constitute the largest taxonomic group within the Eumycota. These fungi form meiotic spores called ascospores, which are enclosed in a special sac-like structure called an ascus. This phylum includes morels, a few mushrooms and truffles, unicellular yeasts (e.g., of the genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, and Candida), and many filamentous fungi living as saprotrophs, parasites, and mutualistic symbionts (e.g. lichens). Prominent and important genera of filamentous ascomycetes include Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Claviceps. Many ascomycete species have only been observed undergoing asexual reproduction (called anamorphic species), but analysis of molecular data has often been able to identify their closest teleomorphs in the Ascomycota. Because the products of meiosis are retained within the sac-like ascus, ascomycetes have been used for elucidating principles of genetics and heredity (e.g., Neurospora crassa).

 

Members of the Basidiomycota, commonly known as the club fungi or basidiomycetes, produce meiospores called basidiospores on club-like stalks called basidia. Most common mushrooms belong to this group, as well as rust and smut fungi, which are major pathogens of grains. Other important basidiomycetes include the maize pathogen Ustilago maydis, human commensal species of the genus Malassezia, and the opportunistic human pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans.

 

Fungus-like organisms

Because of similarities in morphology and lifestyle, the slime molds (mycetozoans, plasmodiophorids, acrasids, Fonticula and labyrinthulids, now in Amoebozoa, Rhizaria, Excavata, Opisthokonta and Stramenopiles, respectively), water molds (oomycetes) and hyphochytrids (both Stramenopiles) were formerly classified in the kingdom Fungi, in groups like Mastigomycotina, Gymnomycota and Phycomycetes. The slime molds were studied also as protozoans, leading to an ambiregnal, duplicated taxonomy.

 

Unlike true fungi, the cell walls of oomycetes contain cellulose and lack chitin. Hyphochytrids have both chitin and cellulose. Slime molds lack a cell wall during the assimilative phase (except labyrinthulids, which have a wall of scales), and take in nutrients by ingestion (phagocytosis, except labyrinthulids) rather than absorption (osmotrophy, as fungi, labyrinthulids, oomycetes and hyphochytrids). Neither water molds nor slime molds are closely related to the true fungi, and, therefore, taxonomists no longer group them in the kingdom Fungi. Nonetheless, studies of the oomycetes and myxomycetes are still often included in mycology textbooks and primary research literature.

 

The Eccrinales and Amoebidiales are opisthokont protists, previously thought to be zygomycete fungi. Other groups now in Opisthokonta (e.g., Corallochytrium, Ichthyosporea) were also at given time classified as fungi. The genus Blastocystis, now in Stramenopiles, was originally classified as a yeast. Ellobiopsis, now in Alveolata, was considered a chytrid. The bacteria were also included in fungi in some classifications, as the group Schizomycetes.

 

The Rozellida clade, including the "ex-chytrid" Rozella, is a genetically disparate group known mostly from environmental DNA sequences that is a sister group to fungi. Members of the group that have been isolated lack the chitinous cell wall that is characteristic of fungi. Alternatively, Rozella can be classified as a basal fungal group.

 

The nucleariids may be the next sister group to the eumycete clade, and as such could be included in an expanded fungal kingdom. Many Actinomycetales (Actinomycetota), a group with many filamentous bacteria, were also long believed to be fungi.

 

Ecology

Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and in many food webs. As decomposers, they play an essential role in nutrient cycling, especially as saprotrophs and symbionts, degrading organic matter to inorganic molecules, which can then re-enter anabolic metabolic pathways in plants or other organisms.

 

Symbiosis

Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in the case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.

 

With plants

Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant–fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in mycorrhizal relationships with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival.

 

A microscopic view of blue-stained cells, some with dark wavy lines in them

The dark filaments are hyphae of the endophytic fungus Epichloë coenophiala in the intercellular spaces of tall fescue leaf sheath tissue

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating back to at least 400 million years. It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients. The fungal partners may also mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks". A special case of mycorrhiza is myco-heterotrophy, whereby the plant parasitizes the fungus, obtaining all of its nutrients from its fungal symbiont. Some fungal species inhabit the tissues inside roots, stems, and leaves, in which case they are called endophytes. Similar to mycorrhiza, endophytic colonization by fungi may benefit both symbionts; for example, endophytes of grasses impart to their host increased resistance to herbivores and other environmental stresses and receive food and shelter from the plant in return.

 

With algae and cyanobacteria

A green, leaf-like structure attached to a tree, with a pattern of ridges and depression on the bottom surface

The lichen Lobaria pulmonaria, a symbiosis of fungal, algal, and cyanobacterial species

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. The photosynthetic partner in the relationship is referred to in lichen terminology as a "photobiont". The fungal part of the relationship is composed mostly of various species of ascomycetes and a few basidiomycetes. Lichens occur in every ecosystem on all continents, play a key role in soil formation and the initiation of biological succession, and are prominent in some extreme environments, including polar, alpine, and semiarid desert regions. They are able to grow on inhospitable surfaces, including bare soil, rocks, tree bark, wood, shells, barnacles and leaves. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus provides minerals and water to the photobiont. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism; in most cases the resulting organism differs greatly from the individual components. Lichenization is a common mode of nutrition for fungi; around 27% of known fungi—more than 19,400 species—are lichenized. Characteristics common to most lichens include obtaining organic carbon by photosynthesis, slow growth, small size, long life, long-lasting (seasonal) vegetative reproductive structures, mineral nutrition obtained largely from airborne sources, and greater tolerance of desiccation than most other photosynthetic organisms in the same habitat.

 

With insects

Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Chaetothyriales for several purposes: as a food source, as a structural component of their nests, and as a part of an ant/plant symbiosis in the domatia (tiny chambers in plants that house arthropods). Ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus Sirex) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus Amylostereum areolatum into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae. At least one species of stingless bee has a relationship with a fungus in the genus Monascus, where the larvae consume and depend on fungus transferred from old to new nests. Termites on the African savannah are also known to cultivate fungi, and yeasts of the genera Candida and Lachancea inhabit the gut of a wide range of insects, including neuropterans, beetles, and cockroaches; it is not known whether these fungi benefit their hosts. Fungi growing in dead wood are essential for xylophagous insects (e.g. woodboring beetles). They deliver nutrients needed by xylophages to nutritionally scarce dead wood. Thanks to this nutritional enrichment the larvae of the woodboring insect is able to grow and develop to adulthood. The larvae of many families of fungicolous flies, particularly those within the superfamily Sciaroidea such as the Mycetophilidae and some Keroplatidae feed on fungal fruiting bodies and sterile mycorrhizae.

 

A thin brown stick positioned horizontally with roughly two dozen clustered orange-red leaves originating from a single point in the middle of the stick. These orange leaves are three to four times larger than the few other green leaves growing out of the stick, and are covered on the lower leaf surface with hundreds of tiny bumps. The background shows the green leaves and branches of neighboring shrubs.

The plant pathogen Puccinia magellanicum (calafate rust) causes the defect known as witch's broom, seen here on a barberry shrub in Chile.

 

Gram stain of Candida albicans from a vaginal swab from a woman with candidiasis, showing hyphae, and chlamydospores, which are 2–4 µm in diameter.

Many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi. Serious pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, tree pathogens such as Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi causing Dutch elm disease, Cryphonectria parasitica responsible for chestnut blight, and Phymatotrichopsis omnivora causing Texas Root Rot, and plant pathogens in the genera Fusarium, Ustilago, Alternaria, and Cochliobolus. Some carnivorous fungi, like Paecilomyces lilacinus, are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures such as constricting rings or adhesive nets. Many fungi that are plant pathogens, such as Magnaporthe oryzae, can switch from being biotrophic (parasitic on living plants) to being necrotrophic (feeding on the dead tissues of plants they have killed). This same principle is applied to fungi-feeding parasites, including Asterotremella albida, which feeds on the fruit bodies of other fungi both while they are living and after they are dead.

 

Some fungi can cause serious diseases in humans, several of which may be fatal if untreated. These include aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, mycetomas, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Furthermore, persons with immuno-deficiencies are particularly susceptible to disease by genera such as Aspergillus, Candida, Cryptoccocus, Histoplasma, and Pneumocystis. Other fungi can attack eyes, nails, hair, and especially skin, the so-called dermatophytic and keratinophilic fungi, and cause local infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot. Fungal spores are also a cause of allergies, and fungi from different taxonomic groups can evoke allergic reactions.

 

As targets of mycoparasites

Organisms that parasitize fungi are known as mycoparasitic organisms. About 300 species of fungi and fungus-like organisms, belonging to 13 classes and 113 genera, are used as biocontrol agents against plant fungal diseases. Fungi can also act as mycoparasites or antagonists of other fungi, such as Hypomyces chrysospermus, which grows on bolete mushrooms. Fungi can also become the target of infection by mycoviruses.

 

Communication

Main article: Mycorrhizal networks

There appears to be electrical communication between fungi in word-like components according to spiking characteristics.

 

Possible impact on climate

According to a study published in the academic journal Current Biology, fungi can soak from the atmosphere around 36% of global fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Mycotoxins

(6aR,9R)-N-((2R,5S,10aS,10bS)-5-benzyl-10b-hydroxy-2-methyl-3,6-dioxooctahydro-2H-oxazolo[3,2-a] pyrrolo[2,1-c]pyrazin-2-yl)-7-methyl-4,6,6a,7,8,9-hexahydroindolo[4,3-fg] quinoline-9-carboxamide

Ergotamine, a major mycotoxin produced by Claviceps species, which if ingested can cause gangrene, convulsions, and hallucinations

Many fungi produce biologically active compounds, several of which are toxic to animals or plants and are therefore called mycotoxins. Of particular relevance to humans are mycotoxins produced by molds causing food spoilage, and poisonous mushrooms (see above). Particularly infamous are the lethal amatoxins in some Amanita mushrooms, and ergot alkaloids, which have a long history of causing serious epidemics of ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) in people consuming rye or related cereals contaminated with sclerotia of the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Other notable mycotoxins include the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by certain Aspergillus species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes (e.g., T-2 mycotoxin) and fumonisins, which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.

 

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or natural products), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins may provide fitness benefits in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from consumption (fungivory). Many fungal secondary metabolites (or derivatives) are used medically, as described under Human use below.

 

Pathogenic mechanisms

Ustilago maydis is a pathogenic plant fungus that causes smut disease in maize and teosinte. Plants have evolved efficient defense systems against pathogenic microbes such as U. maydis. A rapid defense reaction after pathogen attack is the oxidative burst where the plant produces reactive oxygen species at the site of the attempted invasion. U. maydis can respond to the oxidative burst with an oxidative stress response, regulated by the gene YAP1. The response protects U. maydis from the host defense, and is necessary for the pathogen's virulence. Furthermore, U. maydis has a well-established recombinational DNA repair system which acts during mitosis and meiosis. The system may assist the pathogen in surviving DNA damage arising from the host plant's oxidative defensive response to infection.

 

Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast that can live in both plants and animals. C. neoformans usually infects the lungs, where it is phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages. Some C. neoformans can survive inside macrophages, which appears to be the basis for latency, disseminated disease, and resistance to antifungal agents. One mechanism by which C. neoformans survives the hostile macrophage environment is by up-regulating the expression of genes involved in the oxidative stress response. Another mechanism involves meiosis. The majority of C. neoformans are mating "type a". Filaments of mating "type a" ordinarily have haploid nuclei, but they can become diploid (perhaps by endoduplication or by stimulated nuclear fusion) to form blastospores. The diploid nuclei of blastospores can undergo meiosis, including recombination, to form haploid basidiospores that can be dispersed. This process is referred to as monokaryotic fruiting. This process requires a gene called DMC1, which is a conserved homologue of genes recA in bacteria and RAD51 in eukaryotes, that mediates homologous chromosome pairing during meiosis and repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Thus, C. neoformans can undergo a meiosis, monokaryotic fruiting, that promotes recombinational repair in the oxidative, DNA damaging environment of the host macrophage, and the repair capability may contribute to its virulence.

 

Human use

See also: Human interactions with fungi

Microscopic view of five spherical structures; one of the spheres is considerably smaller than the rest and attached to one of the larger spheres

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells shown with DIC microscopy

The human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history. Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. The study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi is known as ethnomycology. Because of the capacity of this group to produce an enormous range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological activities, many species have long been used or are being developed for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Methods have been developed for genetic engineering of fungi, enabling metabolic engineering of fungal species. For example, genetic modification of yeast species—which are easy to grow at fast rates in large fermentation vessels—has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms. Fungi-based industries are sometimes considered to be a major part of a growing bioeconomy, with applications under research and development including use for textiles, meat substitution and general fungal biotechnology.

 

Therapeutic uses

Modern chemotherapeutics

Many species produce metabolites that are major sources of pharmacologically active drugs.

 

Antibiotics

Particularly important are the antibiotics, including the penicillins, a structurally related group of β-lactam antibiotics that are synthesized from small peptides. Although naturally occurring penicillins such as penicillin G (produced by Penicillium chrysogenum) have a relatively narrow spectrum of biological activity, a wide range of other penicillins can be produced by chemical modification of the natural penicillins. Modern penicillins are semisynthetic compounds, obtained initially from fermentation cultures, but then structurally altered for specific desirable properties. Other antibiotics produced by fungi include: ciclosporin, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery; and fusidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Widespread use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and others began in the early 20th century and continues to date. In nature, antibiotics of fungal or bacterial origin appear to play a dual role: at high concentrations they act as chemical defense against competition with other microorganisms in species-rich environments, such as the rhizosphere, and at low concentrations as quorum-sensing molecules for intra- or interspecies signaling.

 

Other

Other drugs produced by fungi include griseofulvin isolated from Penicillium griseofulvum, used to treat fungal infections, and statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors), used to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins found in fungi include mevastatin from Penicillium citrinum and lovastatin from Aspergillus terreus and the oyster mushroom. Psilocybin from fungi is investigated for therapeutic use and appears to cause global increases in brain network integration. Fungi produce compounds that inhibit viruses and cancer cells. Specific metabolites, such as polysaccharide-K, ergotamine, and β-lactam antibiotics, are routinely used in clinical medicine. The shiitake mushroom is a source of lentinan, a clinical drug approved for use in cancer treatments in several countries, including Japan. In Europe and Japan, polysaccharide-K (brand name Krestin), a chemical derived from Trametes versicolor, is an approved adjuvant for cancer therapy.

 

Traditional medicine

Upper surface view of a kidney-shaped fungus, brownish-red with a lighter yellow-brown margin, and a somewhat varnished or shiny appearance

Two dried yellow-orange caterpillars, one with a curly grayish fungus growing out of one of its ends. The grayish fungus is roughly equal to or slightly greater in length than the caterpillar, and tapers in thickness to a narrow end.

The fungi Ganoderma lucidum (left) and Ophiocordyceps sinensis (right) are used in traditional medicine practices

Certain mushrooms are used as supposed therapeutics in folk medicine practices, such as traditional Chinese medicine. Mushrooms with a history of such use include Agaricus subrufescens, Ganoderma lucidum, and Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

 

Cultured foods

Baker's yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular fungus, is used to make bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza dough and dumplings. Yeast species of the genus Saccharomyces are also used to produce alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Shoyu koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae) is an essential ingredient in brewing Shoyu (soy sauce) and sake, and the preparation of miso while Rhizopus species are used for making tempeh. Several of these fungi are domesticated species that were bred or selected according to their capacity to ferment food without producing harmful mycotoxins (see below), which are produced by very closely related Aspergilli. Quorn, a meat substitute, is made from Fusarium venenatum.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however, we are very far from Cavendish Mews, and in fact far from London. Taking advantage of their employers’ attendance of an amusing Friday to Monday country house party in Scotland, Lettice’s maid, Edith, and her best friend Hilda, the maid of Lettice’s married Embassy Club coterie friends Dickie and Margot Channon, with permission, have arranged to take a weekend trip to Manchester where they are staying for Friday and Saturday nights, before returning to London on Sunday so that they are ready to receive their employers upon their return on Monday. Both maids landed upon the idea to visit their friend Queenie on the Saturday. She lives in the village of Alderley Edge, just outside of Manchester, which is easily accessible via the railway, allowing them to take tea with her at a small tearoom in the pretty Cheshire village.

 

Queenie, Edith and Hilda all used to work together for Mrs. Plaistow, the rather mean wife of a manufacturing magnate who has a Regency terrace in Pimlico. Queenie was the cheerful head parlour maid, so both Edith and Hilda as younger and less experienced lower housemaids, fell under her instruction. Queenie chucked her position at Mrs. Plaistow’s a few years ago and took a new position as a maid for two elderly spinster sisters in Cheshire to be closer to her mother, who lives in Manchester. Still in touch with Edith, Queenie writes regularly, sharing stories of her life in the big old Victorian villa she now calls home, half of which is shut up because one of the two sisters is an invalid whilst the other is in frail condition and finds it hard to access the upper floors.

 

However, life for Queenie proved to be not as bright as her letters indicated, and all three maids were made to feel unwelcome at Mrs. Chase’s Tearooms in Alderley Edge because of their working class backgrounds by the snobbish proprietor and equally class conscious patrons, and Queenie revealed more sad stories after they left Mrs. Chase’s establishment, leaving both her friends aghast.

 

Now we find ourselves back in Manchester along Deansgate* where after returning to the city from Chester by railway, Edith and Hilda are taking advantage of their free time before dinner at their cheap, but respectable, hotel for single and travelling women, by taking in a few more of the sights of Manchester and are currently shopping at a beautiful manchester and linen shop along the ground floor of a tall four storey building towards the north end of Deansgate.

 

The soft linens covering the surfaces of tables and counters, as well as hanging from the walls of the shop serve as a buffer against the noisy sounds outside the large plate glass windows as heavy foot traffic fills the pavement of Deansgate, and electric trams** rattle noisily along the thoroughfare, their sound mixing in with the chug of motorcars and buses and the vociferous sound of human chatter. The smell of freshly laundered linen filling the air of the establishment, and keeping out the miasma of mechanical motorcar and lorry fumes, reminds Edith of her mother, who is a laundress, and of the kitchen of her family home in Harlesden where she does all the ironing on the big, round kitchen table. Extra protection from the acrid fumes outside is provided by the fragrance of fresh flowers which stand about in pretty vases on the surfaces of tables and chests of drawers, adding a bright shock of colour to the otherwise mostly snowy white surrounds of the establishment.

 

“This is nice, Edith.” Hilda remarks, picking up a dainty lace doily from a round table covered with a long lace tablecloth which is covered in napery and dollies, all arranged around a squat blue and white vase filled with brightly coloured pansies. “You could add this to your glory box***.”

 

“Hhhmmm…” Edith mutters distractedly, glancing up from where she thumbs a bunch of crisply pressed white sheets.

 

“For your glory box, Edith.” Hilda says again.

 

Edith considers the dainty piece of diamond shaped intricate lace in her best friend’s sausage like fingers. “No, I don’t think so, Hilda. Mum has already acquired a whole lot of beautiful lace doilies for me from flea markets.”

 

“Yes, but just imagine having something new like this.” Hilda enthuses. “No one has ever used it before.”

 

“If they’ll take my grubby maid’s wage here.” Edith mutters sulkily, releasing the sheet from between her index finger and thumb.

 

“Here, here!” Hilda exclaims, carefully replacing the doily amidst the pieces carefully arranged for display on the table and hurries over to her friend. “You mustn’t talk like that, Edith.” She winds her arms around her friend’s back and squeezes her upper arms beneath her plum coloured coat comfortingly.

 

“Why not?” Edith asks grumpily. “It’s how I feel.”

 

“And here I was thinking I was the one most put out by Mrs. Chase’s snobbery and that of her snooty customers.”

 

Edith sighs with frustration. “Evidently not, Hilda.” She runs her fingers over the knobbly woven lacework of a tablecloth that has been rolled up and stacked on top of the sheets she was considering for potential purchase.

 

“You mustn’t let this afternoon spoil our holiday.” Hilda insists, giving Edith’s shoulders another squeeze, before releasing her and moving alongside her at the table covered in table linen. She looks her friend squarely in the face. “Don’t tar everyone with the same brush. Yes, that nasty Mrs. Chase, or whatever her name was, was a nasty snob. But you said yourself that in a big city like London or Manchester, we can blend in with everyone else, and no-one knows who we are, or what we do for a living. You’re money’s every bit as good here as some mill owner’s wife or manchester merchant.” She nods seriously.

 

“Oh you’re right.” Edith sighs again. “I don’t mean to be out of sorts, but it’s more than the snobbery that’s gotten to me, Hilda. It’s the other business Queenie mentioned that really upset me the most.”

 

Edith’s mind drifts back to the charming Cheshire village of Alderley Edge where she and Hilda had had cream teas at Mrs. Chase’s Tearooms. After hurriedly finishing their scones and tea, scoffing them in less than ladylike gulps, the three friends had retreated to the relative safety of the street, where the late winter air around them felt warmer than the atmosphere of the tearooms. Following Queenie as she walked down the high street towards the Victorian villa owned by her employers, the Miss Bradleys, Hilda and Edith remained in awkward silence as they waited for their friend to explain why they had been made to feel so unwelcome in Mrs. Chase’s. The wide street, lined with neat Victorian and Edwardian double story shops, many built of red brick with slate roofs and Mock Tudor gabling, was relatively empty, with only a handful of smartly dressed people going about their business and a smattering of automobiles and lorries trundling past them in either direction, their chugging more noticeable in a village setting than in the busy streets of London where such noises are constant.

 

“At least no-one can make us feel second rate here on the footpath.” Hilda had said. ‘We have just as much right to be here as anyone else.”

 

Finally, Queenie stopped walking and sank down onto a public bench near the kerbside. She apologised to her two friends for spoiling their visit. “I should have insisted that I come to Manchester and meet you there. It’s just that when I received your postcard****, Edith, you and Hilda had arranged everything so nicely. You’d obviously worked out the railway schedules so you knew what time you would arrive and which train to take to get back to Manchester at a reasonable hour, so I just thought I’d take you to the only tearooms I know of that are nice in Alderley Edge. I didn’t want to spoil your plans.”

 

Queenie went on to explain that whilst Alderley Edge was a beautiful village, living in such a small community was different to living in a big city like London, which afforded anonymity. In her new home, everyone knew who Queenie was, and that she was the maid-of-all-work to the Miss Bradleys, and dining in the same establishment as a maid did not sit well with the snobbish mistresses of the neighbourhood who frequented Mrs. Chase’s Tearooms as well.

 

“You really need to leave here, if this is how things are, with everyone knowing who you are and judging you unfairly for it. Edith said to Queenie in concern. “Come back to London. There are plenty of jobs for parlour maids. With your experience, you could have the pick of the lot.”

 

“Well, it is true that I am currently looking for a new situation.” Queenie admitted. “However, it has its own complications, and I’m not looking to come back to London. I want to stay in Manchester, so I can be closer to Mum.”

 

“What complications?” Hilda queried from her seat beside her friend on the bench.

 

“Well, I haven’t told either of you, but old Miss Ida, the infirm Miss Bradley, had a fall and died about two months ago.” Queenie elucidated. “She hit her head on the patterned tiles in the hallway. She must have been trying to go upstairs in the night, although goodness knows why. Her mind seemed to have been slipping in the months prior. She was always looking for things she thought she’d lost, and at odd times of the night. It was almost as if she couldn’t rest until she’d found what she wanted. And she called me Nellie too, which Miss Florence told me was the name of their maid when their father was still alive, and she’s been buried in the churchyard many a winter. Once I caught Miss Ida trying to go out of doors at three in the morning, dressed only in her nightdress and bedcap, barefoot and raving that she would be late for school!”

 

“School?” Edith asked with wide eyes.

 

“Like I said, she was losing her mind, and I think Miss Florence knew it, because she instructed their lawyers to summon their nephew, Mr. Skellern to come and stop for a while. He’s been staying with us ever since just before Miss Ida died, but unlike the Miss Bradleys, he’s not a nice person. He’s haughty, demanding, and more of a snob than the ladies in Mrs. Chase’s, if you can believe that.” She paused for a moment, contemplating whether to continue. “He never calls me by my name: as if calling me Queenie, like I was christened, is too lowering for him. He calls me ‘girl’ instead. ‘Girl come here!’ ‘Girl, do that.’ ‘Get out of this room at once girl.’ ‘Do as I say, girl, and don’t question me.‘ And he’s accused me of trying to thieve from the sisters, which I’d never do!”

 

“Of course you wouldn’t!” agreed Hilda and Edith in their friend’s defence.

 

“I caught him counting the silverware one afternoon, and he accused me of stealing a carving set with silver collars that belonged to his great uncle, the Miss Bradley’s father, which I had never seen. I had to go to Miss Florence in her bed to plead my case, and she cleared up the matter with Mr. Skellern.”

 

“How did she do that?” Hilda asked.

 

“She told him that the set he mentioned, which Mr. Skellern had only ever seen in a photo taken of Mr. Bradley before he was even born, had been given away as a donation for a charity auction to raise money for wounded Boer War soldiers, years before I ever came to work for the Miss Bradleys.”

 

“That’s awful!” Edith cried in horror at Queenie’s story.

 

“What’s worse is that,” Queenie blushed red as she spoke the next words. “You implied in Mrs. Chase’s that I might have been with child, which I’m not,” She put up her careworn hands in defence of herself. “But only because luck’s a fortune.”

 

“Did Mr. Skellern try and take advantage of you?” Edith asked Queenie anxiously.

 

Queenie confirmed Edith’s worst fears with a shallow nod. “In the library. I was dusting the books, at his instruction, and was up the library steps. He tried to get his hands up under my skirt, and my camiknickers***** from John Lewis****** down, but I fought him off.”

 

“That’s disgusting!” Hilda burst hotly. “Good for you, Queenie!”

 

“Yes, but Mr. Skellern took offence to my refusal of his advances, and now I’m concerned that he’s trying to put his aunt into a convalescent home. He keeps threatening to dismiss me without a reference, and I’ve only been saved from that disaster by Miss Florence’s presence. Miss Florence won’t hear a bad word said about her nephew, nor will she contemplate writing me a reference because as far as she is concerned, she isn’t leaving her home, and I’ve been very happy within the employ of she and her sister. So, I’m trying to find a job as a hotel chambermaid in Manchester.”

 

“A chambermaid, Queenie?” Hilda asked in horror.

 

“They are less picky about references, and the pay’s better.” Queenie admitted a little guiltily.

 

“But you may be assaulted by a man like Mr. Skellern, Queenie!” Edith gasped. “You’ve heard the stories.”

 

“I don’t have many other options without a reference from Miss Florence. Thus is the plight of a poor, humble parlour maid. I could do far worse than be a hotel chambermaid, Edith.” Queenie cocked her eyebrow knowingly. “I’ve been told by more than Mr. Skellern that I’m pretty.”

 

“Don’t even consider it, Queenie!” Hilda shuddered. “Please!”

 

“Not all men are like Mr. Skellern.” Queenie replied with a cheeky glint in her eyes. “There have to be nice, wealthy men out there, who are just waiting to meet their Cinderella and sweep her from the ashes.”

 

The subtle clearing of a male throat near to her interrupts Edith’s reminisces about the conversation she and Hild had with Queenie in Alerley Edge earlier in the day. She gasps and looks to her left.

 

“I’m so sorry, madam.” a suited man says politely in an educated Mancunian accent. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

 

“It’s quite alright.” Hilda replies for her friend.

 

“I was just wondering whether there was anything I could assist you with, today, ladies.” he goes on.

 

“Ladies?” Edith pulls a face and nods at Hilda. “Well!”

 

“It isn’t often we get two such well dressed visitors from London in our humble establishment. You are from London, aren’t you, ladies?”

 

“Indeed we are!” Hilda answers for she and Edith in surprise.

 

“It’s your accents.” the floor walker goes on, answering Hilda’s unspoken question. “You’re either from London, or perhaps Cheshire?”

 

“London, most definitely.” Edith affirms.

 

“Then is there anything I can show you two London ladies that might be of interest?” he asks politely.

 

“See, I told you,” Hilda hisses to her best friend. “They aren’t all like Mrs. Chase and her cronies.”

 

Edith smiles at her friend before addressing the male assistant. “I was wondering what you had in the way of napkins, but not white ones. I’m rather partial to ecru or yellow.”

 

“Well, as you may have seen on the table over there,” he indicates with a sweeping, open palmed gesture to the round table where Hilda had found the dainty diamond shaped doily. “We do have some rather pretty mats with a yellow embroidered trim, and some rather fetching yellow napkins.” He reaches under the counter, out of sight of Edith and Hilda, and withdraws several placemats and napkins neatly folded and pressed into triangles. “Perhaps these might be of interest.”

 

*Deansgate is one of Manchester’s oldest thoroughfares. In Roman times its route passed close to the Roman fort of Mamucium and led from the River Medlock where there was a ford and the road to Deva (now Chester). Part of it was called Aldport Lane from Saxon times. (Aldport was the Saxon name for Castlefield). Until the 1730s the area was rural but became built up after the development of a quay on the river. The road is named after the lost River Dene, which may have flowed along the Hanging Ditch connecting the River Irk to the River Irwell at the street's northern end. ‘Gate’ derives from the Norse gata, meaning way. By the late Nineteenth Century Deansgate was an area of varied uses: its northern end had shopping and substantial office buildings while further south were slums and a working-class area around St John's Church.

 

**In the first half of the Twentieth Century, Deansgate was a route for trams operated by the Manchester Corporation Tramways, and subsequently carried numerous bus services when the trams were decommissioned.

 

***A hope chest, also called dowry chest, cedar chest, trousseau chest, or glory box is a piece of furniture once commonly used by unmarried young women to collect items, such as clothing and household linen, in anticipation of married life.

 

****One hundred years ago, postcards were the most common and easiest way to communicate with loved ones not only across countries whilst on holidays, but across neighbourhoods on a daily basis with the minutiae of life on them. This is because unlike today where mail is delivered on a daily basis, there were several deliveries done a day. At the height of the postcard mania in 1903, London residents could have as many as twelve separate visits from the mailman.

 

*****A camiknicker is a one piece form of lingerie which comprises a camisole top, and loose French Knicker style bottom. They are normally loose fitting enabling the wearer to step into them although some feature poppers or buttons at one side to give a more fitted look or a self tie belt to accentuate the wearer’s figure.

 

******John Lewis opened a drapery shop at 132 Oxford Street, London, in 1864. Born in Shepton Mallet in Somerset in 1836, he had been apprenticed at fourteen to a linen draper in Wells. He came to London in 1856 and worked as a salesman for Peter Robinson, an Oxford Street draper, rising to be his silk buyer. In 1864, he declined Robinson's offer of a partnership, and rented his own premises on the north side of Oxford Street, on part of the site now occupied by the department store which bears his name. There he sold silk and woollen cloth and haberdashery. His retailing philosophy was to buy good quality merchandise and sell it at a modest mark up. Although he carried a wide range of merchandise, he was less concerned about displaying it and never advertised it. His skill lay in sourcing the goods he sold, and most mornings he would go to the City of London, accompanied by a man with a hand barrow. Later he would make trips to Paris to buy silks. It is said that in 1905 John Lewis walked from Oxford Street to Sloane Square with twenty £1000 notes in his pocket and bought the Peter Jones department store. Sales at Peter Jones had been falling since 1902 and its new owner failed to reverse the trend. In 1914 he handed control of the store to his son Spedan. Lewis was regarded as an autocratic employer, prone to dismissing staff arbitrarily. The stores had difficulty retaining staff (there was a strike in 1920) and performed poorly compared to his rivals such as Whiteleys, Gorringes and Owen Owen. His management style led to conflict with his sons who disagreed with his business methods. It was only after his death that the company was transformed into the John Lewis Partnership, a worker co-operative. By the 1920s, when this story is set, there were John Lewis stores up and down Britain, including in Manchester. Today located in the Trafford Centre, John Lewis Manchester is one of the largest department stores in Europe, carrying half a million product lines.

 

This may look like a wonderful array of linens you might like to lay upon your table, but you might need a smaller surface for them, as this whole scene is made up of 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection including pieces I have had since I was a child.

 

Fun thing to look for in this tableau include:

 

All the lace around the shop come from different places, including: Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom, Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom, and Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. There are also a few miniature artisan pieces from private collectors and there are even a few life size lace doilies cleverly disguised in this scene. The two lace doilies on the central table in the midground I have had since I was a child, and were acquired from a high street specialist shop who stocked 1:12 size miniatures. The placemats with their hand sewn gold trim and the lemon yellow napkins I acquired along with an artisan picnic basket from America. The lace tablecloth on the round central table is in reality a small lace doily that I bought from an antique shop in Inglewood in provincial Victoria. The dainty floral edged piece hanging on the wall at the back to the far left also came from there. The blue and yellow embroidered floral cloth in the foreground is an old hand embroidered doily from the 1920s that I have had in my possession for a long time. The starched sheets tied with ribbon on the table in the foreground and the clothes horse you can just see the edge of to the left of the photo come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop.

 

All the floral arrangements come from Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom.

 

Edith’s green handbag and Hilda’s brown one are handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.

 

The black umbrella came from an online stockist of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are not at Cavendish Mews, although we are still in Mayfair, moving a few streets away to Hill Street, where Edith, Lettice’s maid, is visiting Edith’s friend and fellow maid, Hilda. Hilda works as a live-in maid for Lettice’s married friends Margot and Dickie Channon. It is the first Wednesday of 1924 and Hilda has just returned with her employers after spending Christmas and New Year with them at the Shropshire country estate of Lord and Lady Lancraven, who are friends of the Dickie’s parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of Taunton. It is a cold January day, but the Channon’s kitchen is cosy and homely thanks to the flats hydronic heating coming through the metal radiators and the Roper stove that commands attention in the small space. Hilda and Edith have enjoyed a lunch of toast with choices of different toppings together. Now with the kitchen table cleaned and the dishes in the white enamel sink, Hilda announces with a flourish to Edith that she has made them a special pudding before going to the kitchen drawer and withdrawing some enamel handled kitchen cutlery.

 

“So how was your Christmas then, Hilda?” Edith asks as she sits back comfortably in her Windsor chair drawn up to the deal kitchen table.

 

“Well,” Hilda says, pausing with the kitchen cutlery and two starch stiffened napkins in her hand, cocking her head to one side thoughtfully. “It was lovely, but at the same time, it was the most peculiar Christmas I’ve ever had! You and I have never worked in the big country house of an aristocrat before, so I can tell you now from first-hand experience that they do things very differently in them!” She shakes her head, almost in disbelief.

 

Edith bursts out laughing at her best friend’s statement. “How so, Hilda?”

 

“Well, you know I wasn’t happy about having to tag along with Mrs. Channon to Lord and Lady Lancraven’s country house, pretending to be her lady’s maid.” When Edith nods, Hilda adds with an edge of scorn in her voice, “I don’t hold with pretending to be something I’m not, even if it is to help Mrs. Channon save face because she’s too poor to have a lady’s maid.”

 

“Well you said it was the old Marchioness of Taunton’s idea that you were to pose as Mrs. Channon’s lady’s maid, Hilda. It sounds to me like poor Mrs. Channon didn’t have a say in the matter.”

 

“Exactly Edith! And do I look like a lady’s maid?” Hilda asks rhetorically as she drops the cutlery and napery in her hand on the clean surface of the table with a clatter. “No! All you have to do is look at the way I’m dressed to know that fashion isn’t at the top of my mind, and these fingers,” She holds up her fat, sausage like digits before her. “Well, you know as well as anyone that I’m no needlewoman.”

 

“But,” counters Edith kindly, toying with the end of one of the napkins. “You are learning to knit, thanks to that group in the East End you joined last year. You told me you’re a dab hand at knitting scarves now.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I was a dab hand at it yet,” Hilda replies doubtfully, screwing up her pudgy face. “My tension is a bit unregulated, and I do drop stitches now and then, only to pick them up on the following row.”

 

“It’s a start at least.” Edith replies with a friendly chuckle. “We all have to start somewhere, Hilda.”

 

“Well anyway, anyone can tell I’m not a lady’s maid’s bootlace just by looking at me, but I reluctantly agreed to play along, but only out of a sense of duty to poor Mrs. Channon and get her nasty old mother-in-law off her back.”

 

“And you got to see your sister, and your Mum.” adds Edith, wagging her finger. “Don’t forget that silver lining.”

 

“Well yes, but that was just by luck, Edith. I don’t think the Marquis and Marchioness accepted the invitation on behalf of themselves and Mr. and Mrs. Channon to Lord and Lady Lancraven’s for Christmas just because Emily is Lady Lancraven’s lady’s maid.”

 

“No, but at least you got to see them, and you said that Emily fixed things with Lady Lancraven to get your mum up to Shropshire from London.”

 

“That’s true.”

 

“So why was Christmas peculiar then, Hilda.” Edith’s eyes light up with excitement. “Tell me everything about being at the Lancraven’s! Was it glamorous? Did you meet anyone famous?”

 

“Famous? Acting as Mrs. Channon’s lady’s maid below stairs, the closest I came to meeting someone famous was if I met their maid or valet, and they were all a right lot of snobs themselves, let me tell you!” Hilda decries bitterly. “They wouldn’t even give me the time of day if they didn’t have to, and there’s a fact!” Her mouth forms into a thin crease as she nods heavily.

 

“Oh that is disappointing, Hilda.”

 

“Not really, Edith.” Hilda shakes her head. “Why would I waste my time talking to people who thought less of me because I’m a cook and maid-of-all-work, rather than a lady’s maid? We all work hard to earn a crust. What does it matter whether it’s cooking and cleaning or sewing and mending?”

 

“I agree Hilda, but you think about when we worked at Mrs. Plaistow’s. The upper parlour maids snubbed us when in fact what we did as lower house maids wasn’t all that much different than what they did*.”

 

“Anyway,” Hilda goes on. “What would I have done if I met someone famous?”

 

“Probably done the same as I would have: stood agog, mouth hanging open like a frog.” giggles Edith.

 

“Exactly! So, anyway, on the way up to Shropshire, whilst Mr. Channon drove, I sat in the back with Mrs. Channon. She told me that when we arrived at Lord and Lady Lancraven’s, I wouldn’t be called Hilda, or even Miss Clerkenwell whilst we were staying there.”

 

“What? Whyever not, Hilda?” laughs Edith. “What did they call you then?”

 

“Channon.”

 

“Miss Channon?”

 

“No. Just Channon.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I was Mrs. Channon’s maid. Emily, being Her Ladyship’s lady’s maid is called Miss Lancraven by all the other household staff and the guests’ servants. Even though we’re sisters, I had to call her Miss Lancraven if anyone else was about and within earshot, which was most of the time. I could only call her Emily on the occasions when we were alone together.”

 

“How very peculiar!” remarks Edith.

 

“Well it gets more so, Edith, let me assure you. Mrs. Channon also told me on the drive up that when I arrived at the house, I was to give her jewellery box over to the safekeeping of the Lancraven’s first footman or Butler: whoever was looking after the strong room.”

 

“The strong room?”

 

“It’s where rich people in country houses keep their silver and valuables, apparently. I was to hand over Mrs. Channon’s jewellery casket to whoever was in charge of the safe, and retain the key. Each evening I had to go down, ask to retrieve the box and take out what jewels Mrs. Channon wanted to wear to dinner.”

 

“And why was that so peculiar, Hilda? It sounds reasonable enough to me.”

 

“Well, because unlike your Miss Lettice, most of Mrs. Channon’s jewels are paste, except for what her father Lord de Virre gave her. Certainly all the pieces given to her by the Marquis and Marchioness of Taunton aren’t real. She told me herself that the real jewels were sold off long ago to pay the family’s debts, and imitation copies were made. So it seems a bit peculiar to lock up a whole lot of paste jewellery in a safe, pretending it’s real.”

 

“I guess it’s that saving face again, Hilda. The Marquis and Marchioness don’t want to appear like they have no money, and they don’t want Mr. and Mrs. Channon as their heir and daughter-in-law to appear like that either.”

 

“So when we arrived, Mr. Channon parked the car at the front of the house alongside the other guests’ cars and whilst they went in through the front doors, I had to wait with the car until the Lancravens sent servants out to fetch Mr. and Mrs. Channon’s luggage, and then I had to walk around to the servant’s entrance of the Lancraven’s house carrying my own luggage and Mrs. Channon’s jewellery box, which I did hand over to the rather leering first footman, who winked at me when I did.”

 

“Ugh!” exclaims Edith. “How presumptuous of him. Tell me, what was the Lancraven’s house like? Was it grand?”

 

“Was it ever! A big red stone place with lots of gables and chimneys. What I did get to see of above stairs was ever so fine. Thick carpets and antique furniture. Mrs. Lancraven is American, so she had central heating put in, even in the servants’ quarters, and every guest bedroom has its own bathroom.”

 

“Fancy that!” gasps Edith. “And did you get to share a room with Emily?”

 

“Well, that was peculiar too, Edith. I thought I would have, just like you and I used to do, back at Mrs. Plaistow’s in Pimlico. But apparently, because Emily is Lady Lancraven’s maid, she doesn’t sleep in the servant’s quarters like I had to. She has her own little room next to Lady Lancraven’s boudoir, just in case Her Ladyship needs something during the night.”

 

“What could she possibly want?”

 

“I don’t know. A hot water bottle? A powder, perhaps**? Anyway, as it was, as a visiting maid, I had to share a room with a rather surly and snobby parlour maid, who worked out very quickly that I was no lady’s maid and called me a fraud right to my face.”

 

“Nasty thing!” decries Edith defensively.

 

“That’s why I don’t hold with pretending to be something I’m not. You always get caught out in the end if you try.” Hilda wags her finger admonishingly through the air. “I’m sure she spread that news around to all the other servants about who I was and wasn’t, because no-one, other than Emily when she could, wanted to talk to me willingly. At least it meant the Lancraven’s slimy footman in charge of the safe didn’t try and make any advances after that first bout of cheekiness.”

 

“Well, there’s a silver lining, Hilda.”

 

“And when we sat down to tea in the middle of the day, which we had to do because the Cook and his staff were too busy preparing dinners for the family upstairs in the evening, we weren’t allowed to sit wherever we wanted.”

 

“No?”

 

“No. So I couldn’t sit next to Emily, even though I wanted to. We had to sit in order of precedence in the servants’ hall, women down one side and men down the other,” Hilda pauses before going on. “The slimy first footman sat on the Butler's right, and Emily, as Lady Lancraven’s lady’s maid, sat on his left. As Mr. Channon is the Marquis’ heir, he gets his father’s courtesy title*** so Mrs. Channon is known as Lady Channon, but she is still below her mother-in-law, so I sat between the Marchioness’ lady’s maid and the lady’s maid of a Lady Lancaster.” Hilda steps away from the table and goes over to the meat safe in the corner of the kitchen, where she opens its door.

 

“And how was that?” Edith asks from her place at the kitchen table.

 

“Oh it was awful!” replies Hilda matter-of-factly, bending down and retrieving a polished fluted copper mould. “I think they both found it offensive to sit next to the pretending lady’s maid, and they only deigned to speak to me out of a sliver of politeness because they also knew, or had been told, that I was Emily’s younger sister, and they didn’t wish to put her nose out of joint being their hostess’ lady’s maid.”

 

“Oh Hilda! That sounds positively frightful! Did you have to sit and share your Christmas lunch separated from Emily at that table too?”

 

“Well, luckily no.” Hilda answers, straightening up and walking back across the room, carefully carrying the mould before gently placing it on the tabletop. “That’s where the lovely starts, although once again it was rather peculiar.”

 

“Go on then.” Edith encourages her friend.

 

“As Emily is Lady Lancraven’s lady’s maid, and she does hold some sway with her, she must have said something to Her Ladyship when she found out that I was coming up with Mr. and Mrs. Channon for Christmas and as you know, Lady Lancraven arranged for Mum to come up by the railway from London on Christmas Eve so she could spend Christmas Day with us. So Christmas Eve, we all sat as usual at the big table in the draughty servant’s hall, with Mum down the end after the lowest maids as though she was a nobody, not that she complained of course. I felt so sorry for her, and I know Emily did too, but as Emily pointed out later in the evening when it was just the three of us, we had to follow the protocols of presidence.” Hilda scoffs softly. “However, on Christmas Day the Lancraven’s Houskeeper, Mrs. Hartley, invited Emily, Mum and me to celebrate Christmas privately in her parlour***.”

 

“Oh that was nice of her to offer you that bit of family privacy, Hilda.”

 

“Well you’d think so,” Hilda begins, placing her hands on her hips. “Except she stayed in the parlour the entire time, and gave us no privacy at all! ‘Don’t mind me,’ she said as she took her place at the table with us. ‘You won’t even notice I’m here.’”

 

“But you did?”

 

“But we did.” Hild rolls her eyes. “She loudly ordered the scullery maid about when she came in to serve, and complained bitterly about the food, apologising to Mum and to me about the ‘poor quality of the Christmas fare’ and how ‘cold it was’.”

 

“And was it horrible?”

 

“Good heavens no! It was delicious, and hot!” bursts Hilda. “I don’t know what Mrs. Hartley was complaining about! Lord and Lady Lancraven have a French cook, Monsieur Dupain .”

 

“Fancy!” Edith replies, pulling a mock serious face.

 

“Apparently Lady Lancraven’s family in New York had a French cook, or should I say a ‘chef de cuisine’ as Emily quietly corrected me on one of the few occasions over Christmas time when we were on our own. So, what Lady Lancraven had in New York she has to have in England, so she hired Monsieur Dupain. I don’t know what the French eat on Christmas Day, but Monsieur Dupain served us a delicious roast with mint jelly and potatoes, sprouts, cabbage, parsnips and carrots. It was a real English Christmas, Edith, with all the trimmings, as if we were the guests of honour, and not them upstairs.”

 

“It sounds just as good as the turkey we had on Christmas Day.” Edith remarks.

 

“Oh how was the turkey received by your family and Frank and his gran?” Hilda enquires.

 

“They loved it, Hilda! Mum and Dad were tickled pink***** when it arrived, and Frank and Granny McTavish loved it too.” Edith admits.

 

“Oh, ‘Granny McTavish’ is it now?” Hilda queries with a cocked eyebrow. “Very cosy like.”

 

“Oh stop it Hilda!” Edith flaps a hand kittenishly at her friend. “She told me I could call her that. In fact she insisted.”

 

“So Granny McTavish has suitably calmed the waters between your mum and Frank then?” Hilda persists.

 

“I think so, Hilda. Mum’s really taken a shine to Frank now. She may not agree with all his ideas, but she’s willing to entertain his thoughts, and she says he’s a generous soul. She’s even admitted to being pleased to have him over regularly for Sundy lunch, and she and Dad are both happy that I’m happy.”

 

“Ahh,” Hilda says knowingly. “So it won’t be long now before I hear from you about a proposal from Frank then, Edith?”

 

“Oh stop that!” Edith says again as her face flushes with embarrassment. “I mean, we’ve talked about it, but that will be ages away yet. We need to save up some money so we can set up house together, and I won’t be able to work for Miss Lettice any more if I’m married, even if she wants me to.”

 

“We’ll see.” Hilda looks away from her embarrassed friend and smiles to herself.

 

“Oh today isn’t about me, Hilda Clerkenwell!” Edith deflects hotly. “Go on with your story about Christmas Day at the Lancraven’s.”

 

“Well, going back to the food, I actually think it may have been Monsieur Dupain’s head kitchen maid, Dulcie, who cooked our tea, as I’m sure a Frenchman couldn’t cook an English roast the way we had it. I’m sure Monsieur Dupain would have been too busy making fancy things like pheasant pies, roast quail and braised ox hearts for the family and guests above stairs for Christmas tea.”

 

“Christmas dinner.” Edith gently corrects her friend.

 

“Tea, dinner, it’s all the same once it ends up in your stomach, Edith.” Hilda counters. “Anyway, Mrs. Hartley never left the table whilst we were having our tea. Perhaps she was frightened that Mum and me would slip a few pieces of silverware into our pockets. She nosed into all our business and we couldn’t have a proper private conversation between the three of us.” Hilda goes on. “Still, at least it was good to be celebrating Christmas away from home for a change. The spectre of Dad still hangs heavily around at home.” She sighs heavily. “Especially at birthdays and Christmas.”

 

“Even though he’s been gone for…”

 

“It will be three and a half years in March.” Hilda admits sadly. “Yet I still expect him to burst through the kitchen door on Christmas Day in that old worn Father Christmas outfit and imitation beard – goodness knows where he found them – full of cheer, even though he knew Emily and I were both far to old to believe in Father Christmas anymore. I think it was good for Mum too. As well as not being at home, she didn’t have to peel a potato or wash a dish the whole time she was at Lord and Lady Lancraven’s. For all her nosiness, Mrs. Hartley was most solicitous towards Mum, and she treated her like an honoured guest and wouldn’t let her lift a finger whilst she was staying. I know Mum felt a bit bad about that, but still, Emily told her not to fuss about it.” Hilda smiles. “Now, thinking of honoured guests, that’s why I wanted to have you over here this afternoon: to try this out.” She taps the gleaming copper mould with her fingers.

 

“I did notice that, and I was wondering why you were serving us jelly here this afternoon when it’s so cold outside, rather than us going out for lunch.” Edith remarks. “Where are Mr. and Mrs. Channon by the way?”

 

“They’ve gone out settling their accounts with the wine merchant, the butcher and Mrs. Channon’s hat maker with some of the money that wealthier relations gave them for Christmas.” Hilda elucidates. “Anyway, I wanted to try out this jelly mould because this was my Christmas gift from Lady Lancraven.”

 

“From Lady Lancraven?” Edith gasps.

 

“Yes!” Hilda admits.

 

“I thought your mum must have given it you.” Edith admires the gleaming mould on the table before her.

 

“Well, there’s the thing, Edith. We’d not long finished our tea when there was a soft knocking at the parlour door. When Mrs. Hartley answered it, in came Her Ladyship herself, dressed up in all her Christmas finery like a faerie atop the Christmas tree. She wanted to make sure that Mum had had a pleasant trip up from London, and then explained that as she always gave all her servants Christmas gifts every year, as we were her guests, she had Christmas gifts for us!”

 

“Really! That’s so generous of her.”

 

“I know, Edith. So she gave Mum a beautiful lacquered sewing box, and she gave me this copper jelly mould. I suppose Emily would have told her the truth about me being a cook and live-in maid, rather than Mrs. Channon’s lady’s maid.”

 

“Then let’s see if it works.” Edith remarks, looking hungrily at the upside down mould filled with gleaming jelly.

 

Hilda takes a gilt edged blue and white platter and places it upside down atop the copper jelly mould, then carefully she flips them both. Taking up a spoon, she taps the mould on the top and around the sides, and then carefully lifts the mould up. With a satisfying slurp, the orange coloured jelly separates from the mould and comes out in a clean fluted dome.

 

“Perfect!” Hilda sighs with satisfaction, standing back slightly to admire her own handiwork.

 

“Well, it may have been peculiar to receive a Christmas gift from Lady Lancraven,” Edith remarks. “But as a gift, it produces perfectly formed jelly!”

 

“Let’s enjoy Lady Lancraven’s generosity then!” Hilda remarks with a cheeky smile, taking a seat in her Windsor chair adjunct to Edith, proffering her an enamel handled spoon.

 

*It wasn’t uncommon in the class-conscious world before the Second World War for servants to be as snobby as their masters, and a definite hierarchy existed, with deference being paid to the upper house staff by the lower house staff. Cooks would be waited upon by their scullery maids, Butlers by footmen and footmen by hallboys. Servants took pride in working for titled employers, even when these roles were sometimes not as well paid as the same position in the home of a wealthy industrialist or steel magnate. The cache that came with working for old, well established aristocratic families meant that upper house servants from these households often snubbed lower house staff or the staff of nouveau riche families working their way up the social ladder.

 

**To take a powder is a very old fashioned term, but was often used to by ladies to refer delicately to taking medication of some kind, like a headache powder.

 

***A Marquis is called “My Lord” by both social equals and commoners. His eldest son also bore his courtesy title, and any of his younger sons were known as “Lord Firstname Surname”, and his daughters, or daughter-in-laws as “Lady Firstname Surname”.

 

****In class-obsessed times a strict hierarchy existed among servants, with the senior, upper servants known as "the pugs". The home, whether large or small, was run by the housekeeper. Before dinner in the servants’ hall, the upper servants assembled in the housekeeper’s room, which was known as “pug’s parlour”, and walked in for dinner, led by the butler, which was known as the “pug’s parade”. It was also customary for the upper servants to take their pudding, tea and coffee in the “pug's parlour” as well. It was the privilege that went with seniority of position in grander houses.

 

*****The phrase “tickled pink” is used to denote that someone is expressing delight. The first term, first recorded in 1922, alludes to one's face turning pink with laughter when one is being tickled. The variant, clearly a hyperbole, dates from about 1800.

 

This cosy domestic kitchen scene is a little different to what you might think, for whilst it looks very authentic, it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures from my miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:

 

On Hilda’s deal table is a delicious looking jelly, almost good enough to eat, made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. It stands on a small plate that came from an online stockist of dollhouse miniatures. Next to it stands a copper jelly mould, also from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures. The vase of flowers also comes from an online shop on E-Bay. The cutlery came from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House Shop in England.

 

The packet of Chivers Jelly Crystals and the packet of gelatine come from Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. Great attention to detail has been paid to the labelling, to match it authentically to the real thing. Chivers is an Irish brand of jams and preserves. For a large part of the Twentieth Century Chivers and Sons was Britain's leading preserves manufacturer. Originally market gardeners in Cambridgeshire in 1873 after an exceptional harvest, Stephen Chivers entrepreneurial sons convinced their father to let them make their first batch of jam in a barn off Milton Road, Impington. By 1875 the Victoria Works had been opened next to Histon railway station to improve the manufacture of jam and they produced stone jars containing two, four or six pounds of jam, with glass jars first used in 1885. In around 1885 they had 150 employees. Over the next decade they added marmalade to their offering which allowed them to employ year-round staff, rather than seasonal workers at harvest time. This was followed by their clear dessert jelly (1889), and then lemonade, mincemeat, custard powder, and Christmas puddings. By 1896 the family owned 500 acres of orchards. They began selling their products in cans in 1895, and the rapid growth in demand was overseen by Charles Lack, their chief engineer, who developed the most efficient canning machinery in Europe and by the end of the century Chivers had become one of the largest manufacturers of preserves in the world. He later added a variety of machines for sorting, can making, vacuum-caps and sterilisation that helped retain Chivers' advantage over its rivals well into the Twentieth Century. By the turn of the century the factory was entirely self-sufficient, growing all its own fruit, and supplying its own water and electricity. The factory made its own cans, but also contained a sawmill, blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, paint shop, builders and basket makers. On the 14th of March 1901 the company was registered as S. Chivers and Sons. By 1939 there were over 3,000 full-time employees, with offices in East Anglia as well as additional factories in Montrose, Newry and Huntingdon, and the company owned almost 8,000 acres of farms. The company's farms were each run independently, and grew cereal and raised pedigree livestock as well as the fruit for which they were known.

 

Hilda’s Windsor chair is a hand-turned 1:12 artisan miniature which came from America. Unfortunately, the artist did not carve their name under the seat, but it is definitely an unmarked artisan pieces.

 

In the background you can see a very modern dresser stacked with a panoply of kitchen items. Including a bread crock, cannisters and a toast rack that came from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House Shop.

My Subject is Exhibitionism

 

Thus, I realise that any two or more elements could be combined and any suggestion for coupling is as fecund (or as barren) as the next, or as chance allows. The choice of constituents is purely subjective and perhaps says more about the writer than the written about. To elucidate, or to restrict conjecture slightly, I should like to state that my personal interest lies in non-reproductive coupling. My goal is an exposition and celebration of sterility.

 

My Subject is Auto-Eroticism

 

‘The Observer’, Sunday 14th June 1981: ‘Shots at Queen-Treason Charge’

A seventeen-year-old youth was charged under the Treason Act yesterday after six blanks were fired only yards away from the Queen on her official birthday.

Marcus Simon Sarjeant, unemployed of Folkstone, Kent, was charged that “at the Mall he wilfully discharged at the person of her Majesty the Queen, a blank cartridge pistol with intent to alarm her”.

  

My Subject is Desperation

 

My introduction to the Bachelor Machine phenomenon coincided with my first really considered exposure to the work of Marcel Duchamp. This cathartic ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion occurred on board a ‘Laker’ aircraft whilst returning from New York. I was 24.

The catalyst took the form of a book by Octavio Paz entitled ‘Marcel Duchamp: Appearances Stripped Bare’. As with any ‘conversion’ the initial response manifested itself in an outburst of enthusiasm but with very little understanding. However, the damage had been well and truly done. Stretching this conversion metaphor even further, this attempt at coherence is a presentation of a possible ‘New Trinity’: Goya is the omnipotent Father, Sarjeant as the wayward ‘Sacrificial Son’, and finally Duchamp as the Holy Ghost, the overseer.

 

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Yet we are far from London, returning to Wiltshire, where Lettice grew up at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Today however, we are not at Glynes, but rather on the neighbouring property adjoining the Glynes estate to the south and are at Garstanton Park, the grand Gothic Victorian home of the Tyrwhitts. Whilst not as old, or as noble a family as the Chetwynds, the Tyrwhitts have been part of the Wiltshire landed gentry for several generations and Lord and Lady Tyrwhitt have been as much a part of county society as the Viscount and Countess of Wrexham. The current generation of the two families have grown up as friends with the Viscount and Countess of Wrexham often visiting Lord and Lady Tyrwhitt and conversely. In fact, the families have become so close that Leslie, the heir to the Wrexham title married Lord and Lady Tyrwhitt’s only daughter, Arabella, last year, thus guaranteeing a joining of the two great county families.

 

Sadly, it is a sombre occasion that has brought Lettice back to Wiltshire. For many years Lady Isobel Tyrwhitt has been battling cancer, as it and the radiotherapy* used to treat it ravishes her body. Yet whilst all attentions were paid to her, no-one expected her husband Lord Sherbourne to suddenly drop dead of a heart attack in the Estate Manger’s office. Yet that is exactly what happened, shocking the Tyrwhitts, the Chetwynds and the wider county. Lord Sherbourne has always been such a hard working and popular character in the district, well known for his kindness, generosity, good humour and his passion for music. In fact, his love of music was how he and his wife, Lady Isobel, met, after attending a piano concert at the newly opened Bechstein Hall** in London in 1899. Lord Sherbourne has just been laid to rest in the Glynes village churchyard in the classical temple style vault designed by his grandfather, where he lies alongside several generations of his ancestors and two of his and Lady Isobel’s children who did not survive infancy. The newly minted Lord Tyrwhitt, Sherbourne’s eldest son Nigel, and now Dowager, Lady Isobel have opened Garstanton Park for a wake following the funeral, and the public reception room and drawing room are full of all of Sherbourne and Isobel’s family, friends and all the great and good of the county and Glynes village, including Lettice, who dressed in a simple black crepe frock with a severe v-line collar, cuts a suitably sombre figure amongst the mourners for the man she has grown up calling her “Uncle Sherbourne”.

 

“We always thought him so hale and hearty, Miss Chetwynd,” remarks the church verger, Mr. Lewis to Lettice as he accepts a rather limp looking cucumber sandwich from a tray proffered by one of the Garstanton Park maids, suitably dressed in her black moire afternoon outfit with ornamental lace apron, cuffs and cap, sporting a black velvet armband of mourning. “It truly came as such a surprise.”

 

“Yes indeed, to me too, Mr. Lewis.” Lettice replies, shaking her head politely at the maid with the sandwiches, clutching her nearly champagne flute in both hands.

 

“Oh of course, Miss Chetwynd,” agrees Mr. Lewis. “For you it must be like losing an uncle. We village folk always noted how close the Chetwynds and the Tyrwhitts are. At least he lived to see his daughter marry your brother, Miss Chetwynd. That was a great highlight in the village for all of us last year.” He takes a bite out of the sandwich, a cascade of delicate white crumbs falling into his neatly trimmed white beard where they disappear and onto his Sunday best suit, where they make their presence evident against the black serge. “Poor Lady Isobel. We must do our best to take good care of her, now that Lord Sherbourne is gone.”

 

“Indeed, Mr. Lewis.” Lettice agrees rather non-committally again before draining what remains of her champagne.

 

“And how long are you staying for this visit, Miss Chetwynd?”

 

However Lettice doesn’t hear the old verger’s question as she looks around the room populated with men and women of different ages and social standings, all dressed in funerary black chattering away with one another.

 

“Miss Chetwynd?” the verger asks again, cocking his head as he waits for a reply.

 

“I’m sorry. What was that, Mr. Lewis?”

 

“How long will you be staying for, Miss Chetwynd? At Glynes?”

 

“Oh, only as long as I can be useful, I suppose.” Lettice replies rather distractedly.

 

“Yes, I suppose you must have many clients back in London who need your attention, also. We were so thrilled to see your name in print when the Miss Evanses showed us the article in that magazine.”

 

“Yes, yes, Mr. Lewis.” Lettice agrees, not really paying attention to him as she studies the faces of those around her. “I say, would you excuse me please. There is something I really must attend to.”

 

“Oh of course, Miss Chetwynd.” Mr, Lewis says with a small deferential nod always given by the citizenry of the village to those who live in the big houses of the district.

 

Lettice slips away and moves between the clusters of mourners chattering away noisily as they drink champagne from their late host’s wine cellar and consume sandwiches and small petite fours supplied from the Garstanton Park kitchen. She scans the faces, looking in hope, but not finding the one she is looking for. Depositing her empty champagne flute onto the tray carried by a passing maid, she very discreetly slips away and works her way to the library cum music room of Garstanton Park, the former preserve of the late Lord Sherbourne. She quietly closes the door, shutting out the distant burble of chatter and allows the smell of old books and the silence of the room to revive her a little. Like her Uncle Sherbourne, Lettice has always had a love of books, and it is over some of the volumes filling the shelves that line the room that they bonded. She walks up to a shelf and fondly runs her fingers down the colourful gilded spine of a book of short stories by French writer Guy de Maupassant, the first adult book her Uncle Sherbourne lent her from his library. Just as her fingers reach the lettering of the author’s name she hears a few melancholy notes coming from the Lord Sherbourne’s beloved Bechstein*** piano. Turning, Lettice sees the Tyrwhitts eldest son, Nigel sitting at the piano covered with family photos. He has the faceted bottle of brandy from the library’s tantalus**** sitting on the highly polished surface of the piano and a single snifter***** filled with amber liquid.

 

“I thought I might find you in here.” Lettice says, walking across the thick woven carpet into which the louis heels of her black shoes sink. “I’ve been looking for you.”

 

“Ahh Tice,” Nigel replies sadly. “You always did know me the best out of all the Chetwynds. I just had to get away from the cloying crowd out there.” He eyes the closed door, knowing what lies on the other side down the corridor.

 

“Yes, I know the feeling.” Lettice confides with a sigh. “If I hear one more comment about how healthy Uncle Sherbourne seemed and how shocking it all is, I think I might scream. As if any of them knew anything.”

 

“As if any of us did, Tice. We were always so wound up with Mother and her cancer. Drink?” Nigel raises his glass questioningly to Lettice before he takes a sip.

 

“As long as that isn’t whiskey.” Lettice replies, eyeing the glass and bottle suspiciously.

 

“As if it would be!” gasps Nigel. “Nasty old fire water! No, it’s brandy. Purely for medicinal purposes, of course.”

 

“Of course. Then I shan’t say no.” Lettice replies, as Nigel reaches behind him and picks up a second, clean snifter from the silver tray containing a small selection of alcoholic beverages and glasses.

 

As he pours her a glass, Lettice looks around the room. Although silent except for the tick of the grandfather clock in the corner and the occasional crackle from the rather miserable fire in the grate, the room still feels welcoming, and the book lined shelves take away some of the room’s formality and make it more cosy. “I’ve always loved this room too.”

 

“It’s where I feel the closest to Father since his passing.” Nigel admits and without further ado he begins to pick out the gentle notes of Chopin’s Mazurka Opus 17. Number 4.

 

Lettice leans against the corner of the closed piano top and picks up her snifter, staring at the foppishly handsome, yet tired looking Nigel as he plays effortlessly, very much the younger version of his father. “Well, that’s hardly surprising considering that you inherited his talent for playing the piano.” She indicates with a nod to his hands on the piano’s keys.

 

“Yes,” Nigel snorts derisively. “In another life where I wasn’t destined to become the next Lord Tyrwhitt, I might have made quite a good concert pianist,” He continues to play. “Or at the very least a mediocre jazz pianist.”

 

“On definitely the former, Nigel, however attractive and fun the latter might appear.” Lettice replies with a sad smile. “Do you remember when you are I were last together in this room?”

 

In answer to Lettice’s question, Nigel stops playing Chopin and starts to play the notes that commence the chorus of ‘The Wibbly Wobbly Walk******, yet the bright and happy music hall song takes on a melancholy feeling as he plays it slowly and languidly.

 

“So they all walk the Wibbley Wobbley Walk, and they all talk the Wibbley Wobbley talk.” Nigel sings sadly, emotion chocking his usually clear voice.

 

“And they all wear Wibbley Wobbley ties, and wink at all the pretty girls with Wibbley Wobbley eyes.” Lettice sings sweetly, at Nigel’s nodding indication to her.

 

“They all smile the Wibbley Wobbley Smile, when the day is dawning.” they both sing together as Nigel continues to play the notes on the piano’s keyboard. “Then all through the Wibbley Wobbley Walk, they get a wibbley wobbley feeling in the morning.”

 

Nigel stops playing and Lettice wonders whether he has the same hollow and empty feeling that she has as she stands at his elbow.

 

“Yes, we were celebrating Leslie and Bella’s nuptials that night.” Nigel muses, his voice taking on a faraway air, as though he were staring into a crystal ball and seeing the scene set in what felt like a century ago, rather than only a few months.

 

“I’d not long found out that Leslie and Bella had come to an understanding.” Lettice admits. “I’m sure you all knew long before I did.”

 

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Tice. Leslie’s always been a dark horse really, and you know that Bella is the keeper of all our childhood secrets, being so discreet.”

 

“Yes,” Lettice laughs and smiles as she takes another sip of brandy. Bella probably still remembers those secrets of mine whispered to her in the day nursery of our childhoods, and I’ve long forgotten them.”

 

Nigel takes up playing Chopin softly again. “Happy days.”

 

“This too shall pass,” Lettice consoles her childhood friend.

 

“But you see, Tice, it won’t. I’ll never be that mediocre jazz piano player, because I must now fulfil my destiny as the next Lord Tyrwhitt.”

 

“Yes,” Lettice acknowledges. “With all the burden that it bestows.

 

“I just don’t know how I’m going to manage it without him, Tice. I’m not ready to take all this on. I’m not even thirty yet.”

 

Nigel stops playing and picks up his glass. He gulps what remains of the amber glowing liquid in it and then he removes the square faceted stopper of the bottle and pours himself a fresh glass, before pointing the neck of it in Lettice’s direction. She nods and Nigel tops up her glass. He then recommences playing from where he left off.

 

“You’ll manage Nigel.” Lettice assures him. “Surely you will.”

 

“Will I, Tice?”

 

“You’ve been following Uncle Sherbourne and his instructions for years, Nigel.”

 

“Following instructions is one thing, but actually having to manage all this in reality,” He stops playing and waves his hands expansively around him momentarily before continuing to play again. “Is really quite another. For a start, I have death duties******* to pay, and I actually had a look at the books of the estate for the first time after I had Mr. Briers bring them up to the house.”

 

“The way you say that makes me think that what lay within them is ominous.” Lettice admits.

 

“The estate is haemorrhaging money, Tice.”

 

Lettice gasps.

 

“Father has been throwing money into paying for Mother’s treatment, but he’s let the estate business slip through his fingers whilst he’s been distracted by her.”

 

“Are you suggesting that your Estate Manager is stealing money from the estate?”

 

“Not Briers, Tice,” Nigel explains. ‘But of course, you wouldn’t know, being up in London.”

 

“Know what, Nigel?”

 

“Well Briers is the new Estate Manager, as Mr. Langley, the old Manager left in July last year under a cloud of some kind. Father never told Mother and I exactly what happened. He said he had it all in hand.”

 

“And did he?”

 

“We were led to believe so, but it would appear not. It seems that Langley was stealing money from the estate whilst Father’s back was turned taking care of Mother. Langley hadn’t been collecting rents from the tenant farmers he favoured, who often were letting their farms fall into ruin, and he increased the rents on the others to cover the costs, but didn’t tell Father. When they left because they couldn’t afford the increase in rents, Langley simply moved his friends into them.”

 

“Yes, I remember Pater saying something about a couple of your father’s tenants taking up some of the more neglected farms on our estate, but I never thought much of it.”

 

“Langley charged the estate for works done on the cottages, but as far as I can tell, nothing was actually done. So now I’m stuck with farms that are run down and neglected with lazy tenants who don’t work the land and don’t pay their rents. Briers has been trying since he began to turn the fortunes of the estate around, but he’s not a miracle worker.” Nigel sighs. “And after a year, a miracle is really what I need.”

 

“What happened to Mr. Langley?”

 

“He did a midnight flit with the cash box.” Nigel says matter-of-factly. “Not that Father told any of us that. I only found out thanks to Briers who confided the truth to me when he showed me the appalling state of the books. When he took over as the new Manager of the estate, he noticed discrepancies, and the more he looked, the bigger they were.”

 

“No!” Lettice gasps. “Does Aunt Isobel know?”

 

“No!” Nigel assures her quickly. “And I don’t want her being told. It might kill her too, and I can’t lose Mother,” he pauses. “Not yet at least.”

 

“What about Bella?”

 

“I haven’t told her yet, but she’s inciteful. It won’t take her long to read my face and know it isn’t just Father’s passing that is worrying me.”

 

“You won’t have to sell Garstanton Park, will you?”

 

Nigel doesn’t answer straight away, taking another larger than polite swig from his glass and cradling it in his hand. “No.”

 

Lettice releases a pent-up breath she has been holding onto in her chest.

 

“It would break Mother’s heart. But,” Nigel adds. “I may have to seriously consider it, or at least consider selling off some of the land.”

 

“Pater and Leslie might buy some of the land adjoining the Glynes estate. Leslie would do it for Bella, I’m sure.”

 

“I’m not sure how I’m going to manage things to get us out of the bother we’re in.” He deposits his glass back on top of the piano, and begins to play again – a piece Lettice doesn’t know. “I’m not sure I even can. And this is why I said I don’t know how I’m going to manage it all without Father. It’s all so overwhelming. I don’t know where to start. I need him to tell me what to do.”

 

“Unless he is Lazarus,” Lettice remarks with macabre wit. “I’m afraid that you’ll find that somewhat difficult, Nigel.”

 

“After all these years of you and I comparing our families with one another, it seems as though I have more in common with poor Gerald’s family, literally, rather than yours, now.”

 

“You didn’t put the estate in this situation, Nigel, and nor did Uncle Shelbourne. It was that weasel, Mr. Langley. Lord Bruton just buried his head in the sand when he knew what was happening and carried on in spite of it. I feel sorry for Gerald, but Lord Bruton has no one but himself to blame for his financial ruination.”

 

“Same outcome.” Nigel acknowledges bitterly. He sighs as he strikes the keyboard dramatically and then adds a trill of other notes. “At least I still have my music, for now.”

 

“Who is this?” Lettice asks in an effort to change the subject to a lighter topic, if only momentarily.

 

“Pinto. George Frederick Pinto.” Nigel elucidates. “He was an English composer.”

 

“It’s beautiful.”

 

For a short while she listens to the soothing sound of Nigel’s slender fingers depressing the white ivory and black ebony keys of the piano and allows her mind to drift to all the occasions she and her family spent with the Tyrwhitt family in this room: birthdays with cake, gifts and charades, and musical evenings where they all learned whether they excelled musically or not, and then when they were older, cocktail parties with suitable young people from the other good families of the county. She looks around her at the shelves full of tomes she knows as well as those in her own father’s library in her childhood home of Glynes. The room is full of more vases of flowers than usual, doubtless arrangements sent in condolence from family and friends. The recent addition of a wireless, something no-one thought a musical purist like Lord Sherbourne would ever allow in his music room, sitting on a quirky ornate table made of black painted bamboo.

 

“There’s something different about this room.” Lettice observes.

 

“Is there?” Nigel asks unconcerned, glancing around him as his hands continue to glide across the keys and his arms flow with the fluidity of movement of a natural pianist.

 

“Yes.” Lettice declares. “But I can’t put my finger on it.”

 

“Is it the absence of Father?”

 

“No,” Lettice counters. “Well, yes, but no, it’s more than that. It’s something physical.”

 

Nigel stops playing and turns on the piano stool. He gazes at Lettice with his blue eyes, and then he follows her gaze. Suddenly the Georgian grandfather clock in the corner of the room releases a mournful clang, making Lettice gasp.

 

“Oh, it’s just the clock, Tice.” Nigel says, reaching out a hand and clasping her black clad forearm.

 

“But that’s it!” Lettice exclaims. “That’s what’s different about this room. That clock never used to be in here. It used to stand in the hallway outside.”

 

Nigel turns and looks at the mahogany longcase clock with its slightly tarnished brass face beneath its cover of glass, as if seeing it for the first time. “By Jove Tice! You’re right! Gosh! You know my home better than I do myself,” he chuckles. “And I live here.” He contemplates the clock again as it stands against the old fashioned Victorian flocked gold wallpaper. “What used to be there?”

 

“The Renaissance boy with the doleful face and red hair. Remember?” Lettice says straight away.

 

“That’s right! See this is why you’re the interior designer, Tice.” Nigel laughs. “You’re the one with an eye for detail.”

 

“Uncle Sherbourne loved that painting.” Lettice muses quietly. “Why would he move it from his favourite room in the whole of Garstanton Park?”

 

“Oh,” Nigel says offhandedly, recommencing his piano playing. “He was always tinkering and rearranging things. I think he enjoyed doing it as much as Mother did. One day something was there and the next day it wasn’t. It will turn up somewhere, someday.”

 

Nigel’s words begin to fade from Lettice’s consciousness as the blood drains, unnoticed by her piano playing companion, from her face as she suddenly remembers something from when she went to Bonhams******** with Margot and Dickie in August of last year to determine whether the painting of Miss Rosevear from ‘Chi an Treth’ really was a Winterhalter********** painting or not. She had noticed it, hanging low on the wall in the room they were in, surrounded by old masters and Georgian portraits – the young Renaissance boy with the sad face and red hair. She just hadn’t been able to place where she had seen him before, seeing him out of context of the Garstanton Park library cum music room. Now privy to the fact that when she visited Bonhams was probably just after Mr. Langley ran off with the cash box of profits from her honorary uncle’s estate, she suspects sadly that no matter how much Nigel searches the house, he will never find that painting again.

 

*By the 1920s radiotherapy was well developed with the use of X-rays and radium. There was an increasing realisation of the importance of accurately measuring the dose of radiation and this was hampered by the lack of good apparatus. The science of radiobiology was still in its infancy and increasing knowledge of the biology of cancer and the effects of radiation on normal and pathological tissues made an enormous difference to treatment. Treatment planning began in this period with the use of multiple external beams. The X-ray tubes were also developing with replacement of the earlier gas tubes with the modern Coolidge hot-cathode vacuum tubes. The voltage that the tubes operated at also increased and it became possible to practice ‘deep X-ray treatment’ at 250 kV. Sir Stanford Cade published his influential book “Treatment of Cancer by Radium” in 1928 and this was one of the last major books on radiotherapy that was written by a surgeon.

 

**Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leading centres for this type of music and an essential port of call for many of the classical music world's leading stars. With near-perfect acoustic, the Hall quickly became celebrated across Europe and featured many of the great artists of the 20th century. Today, the Hall promotes 550 concerts a year and broadcasts a weekly concert on BBC Radio 3. The Hall also promotes an extensive education programme throughout London and beyond and has a huge digital broadcasting arm, which includes the Wigmore Hall Live Label and many live streams of concerts.

 

***C. Bechstein Pianoforte AG (also known as Bechstein), is a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein (1826 – 1900).

 

****Originally patented in 1881 by George Betjemann, a tantalus is a wooden container for glass decanters, characterised by a lock and key. The basic framework of the piece allows two, three and sometimes four decanters to be secured within it, visible but inaccessible when locked.

 

*****A snifter (also called brandy snifter, brandy glass, brandy bowl, or a cognac glass) is a type of stemware, a short-stemmed glass whose vessel has a wide bottom and a relatively narrow top. It is mostly used to serve aged brown liquors such as bourbon, brandy, and whisky.

 

******’They All Walk the Wibbly Wobbly Walk’ is a song written by Paul Pelham and J. P. Long sung by the famous British music hall performer Mark Sheridan in 1912. It was a song often sung during the Great War, and associated by the British general public with the survivors of the conflict who trembled due to shell shock or had misshapen walks thanks to injuries inflicted upon them.

 

*******Modern inheritance tax dates back to 1894 when the government introduced estate duty, a tax on the capital value of land, in a bid to raise money to pay off a £4m government deficit. It replaced several different inheritance taxes, including the 1796 tax on estates introduced to help fund the war against Napoleon. The earliest death duty can be traced back to 1694 when probate duty, a tax on personal property in wills proved in court, was brought in. When the tax was first introduced it was intended to affect only the very wealthy, but the rise in the value of homes, particularly in the south-east of England, it began to creep into the realms of the upper middle-classes. From 1896, it was possible to avoid estate duty by handing on gifts during the life of the donor. To counter avoidance through last minute transfers, gifts handed over a limited time before death were still subject to the tax. Initially the period was one year but that rose to seven years over time. Freshly recovering from the Great War, the hefty death taxes imposed on wealthy families such as the Tyrwhitts in the post-war years of the 1920s, combined with increases to income taxes on the wealthy, caused some to start to sell off their country houses and estates, settling in more reduced circumstances (still very luxurious by today’s standards) in their smaller London homes.

 

********Established in 1793, Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams and Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale.

 

*********Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805 – 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture. Among his best known works are Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting (1855) and the portraits he made of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1865).

 

Cluttered with books and with art on the walls, Garstanton Park’s library cum music room with its typical English country house furnishings is different from what you might think, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures from my collection, including pieces from my own childhood.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The majority of the books that you see lining the shelves of the library cum music room are 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Ken Blythe was famous in miniature collectors’ circles mostly for the miniature books that he made: all being authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection. However, he did not make books exclusively. He also made other small pieces like the sheet music you see sitting atop the piano. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make these miniature artisan pieces. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago and through his estate courtesy of the generosity of his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.

 

The grand piano and matching stool appearing in the midground is a 1:12 miniature piece I have had since I was a teenager. It is covered in family photos, all of which are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are from various suppliers, but all are metal. The two snifters and bottle of brandy come from an online stockist on miniatures on E-Bay.

 

The red roses on the piano and the summer flowers in the vase on the table closest to the foreground come from the Dolls House Emporium, and have been made carefully by hand. The very lifelike irises and delphiniums in the background on the Bespaq pedestal are made of polymer clay they are moulded on wires to allow them to be shaped at will and put into individually formed floral arrangements. They are made by a 1:12 miniature specialist in Germany. The vase they stand in was made by M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik in Germany, who specialise in making high quality porcelain miniatures.

 

The chairs and sofa in the library cum music room are made by the high-quality miniature furniture manufacturer, Bespaq. The ebonised ornate occasional table I acquired Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom as I did the table in the foreground and the Georgian longcase grandfather clock in the background.

 

The carpet beneath the furniture is hand made by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney, Australia.

 

The gold flocked Edwardian wallpaper is beautiful hand impressed paper given to me by a friend, which inspired the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.

Repository: California Historical Society

 

Creator: Shafter, James McMillan, b.1816.

 

Publication Note: San Francisco : The Call, [ca.1846]

 

General Note: Reproduces a portion of a speech by one of the Presidential Electors on the Republican ticket, made on Nov. 1, 1876, at Platt's Hall in San Francisco, on the general superiority of Chinamen to vaqueros. Reprinted from the San Francisco Call of Thursday, November 2d.

 

Physical Description: 1 sheet ([1]p.) : 23 x 15 cm.

 

Call Number: Vault B-054

 

Digital object ID: Vault_B-054.jpg.

 

Preferred Citation: A radical view of the Chinese question as elucidated by the Hon. J. McM. Shafter, Vault B-054, courtesy, California Historical Society, Vault_B-054.jpg.

 

For more CHS digital collections: digitallibrary.californiahistoricalsociety.org

An elegant Victorian facade with classical Ionic columns in the porch, and decoratively carved window pediments.

 

Sadly, no longer standing this property; I am curious of it's location ? If any reader would care to elucidate I would be most grateful.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are following Lettice’s maid, Edith, who together with her beau, local grocery delivery boy Frank Leadbetter, have wended their way north-east from Cavendish Mews, through neighbouring Soho to the Lyons Corner House* on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. As always, the flagship restaurant on the first floor is a hive of activity with all the white linen covered tables occupied by Londoners indulging in the treat of a Lyon’s luncheon or early afternoon tea. Between the tightly packed tables, the Lyons waitresses, known as Nippies**, live up to their name and nip in and out, showing diners to empty tables, taking orders, placing food on tables and clearing and resetting them after diners have left. The cavernous space with its fashionable Art Deco wallpapers and light fixtures and dark Queen Anne English style furnishing is alive with colour, movement and the burbling noises of hundreds of chattering voices, the sound of cutlery against crockery and the clink of crockery and glassware fills the air brightly.

 

Amidst all the comings and goings, Edith and Frank wait patiently in a small queue of people waiting to be seated at the next available table, lining up in front of a glass top and fronted case full of delicious cakes. Frank reaches around a woman standing in front of them in a navy blue dress with red piping and a red cloche and snatches a golden yellow menu upon which the name of the restaurant is written in elegant cursive script. He proffers one to Edith, but she shakes her head shallowly at him.

 

“You’ve brought me here so many times, Frank, I practically know the Lyons menu by heart, Frank.”

 

Frank’s face falls. “You don’t mind coming here again, do you Edith?” he asks gingerly, almost apologetically.

 

“Oh Frank!” Edith laughs good naturedly. She tightens her grip comfortingly around his arm as she stands beside him with it looped through his. “Of course I don’t mind? Why should I mind? I love coming here. This is far grander than any other tea shop around here, and the food is delicious.”

 

“Well so long as you don’t think it’s dull and predicable, Edith.”

 

“How could anything be dull and predictable with you involved in it, Frank?”

 

Frank blushes at his sweetheart’s compliment. “Well it’s just that we seem to have fallen into rather a routine, going to the Premier in East Ham*** every few weeks, before coming here for tea.”

 

“I don’t see anything wrong with that, Frank. You know I love going to the pictures, and a slap-up tea from here is nothing to sneeze at.”

 

“Well, so long as you don’t mind, Edith.”

 

“Frank Leadbetter, I don’t mind anything that I do with you.” Edith squeezes his arm again. “Anyway, it isn’t like we haven’t done other things on our days off as well between our visits here. We go walking in Hyde and Regent’s Parks and Kensington Gardens, and we do go dancing at the Hammersmith Palais****, so it’s not always the same.”

 

“And you’ve been a good sport, coming with me to the National Portrait Gallery.” Frank adds with a happy smile.

 

“Oh, I loved gong there, Frank!” enthuses Edith. “Like I told you, I never knew that there were galleries of art that were open to then public. If I had, I might have gone sooner.” She smiles with satisfaction. “But then again, if I had known about it, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of you introducing me to it. I’m looking forward to us going back again one day.”

 

“But I suspect you enjoy the pictures more than the National Gallery.” Frank chuckles knowingly.

 

“Well,” Edith feels a flush fill her cheeks with red. “It is true that I perhaps feel a bit more comfortable at the pictures than the gallery, Frank, but,” She clarifies. “That’s only because my parents never took me to the gallery when I was growing up, like your grandparents did with you.”

 

“Whereas your parents took you to the pictures.”

 

“Oh yes Frank!” Edith sighs. “It was a cheap bit of escapism from the everyday for the whole family: Mum, Dad, Bert and me.” Her voice grows wistful as she remembers. “I used to look forward to going to the pictures on a Saturday afternoon with Mum and Dad and Bert. We’d walk into the entrance of the Picture Coliseum***** out of the boring light of day and into the magic darkness that existed all day there. I grew to love the sound of the flick and whir of the protector, knowing as I sat in my red leather seat in the balcony that I was about to be transported to anywhere in the world or to any point in time. Dad and Mum still love going there on the odd occasion to see a comedy. The pictures became even more important to me as a teenager after I left home and went into service for nasty old Widow Hounslow. She never gave me anything to be happy about in that cold house of hers as I skivvied for her in my first job, day in and day out, from sunrise to sunset, so the escape to a world of romance filled with glamorous people where there was no hard work and no dirty dishes or floors to scrub became a precious light in my life.”

 

“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” Frank chuckles.

 

“You know Frank, because I thought everyone went to the pictures, I’ve never actually asked you whether you enjoy going to them. Perhaps with your grandparents taking you to the gallery, you might not like it. Do you Frank?”

 

“Oh yes I do, Edith,” Frank assures his sweetheart. “I’m happy if you are happy, but even before I met you, I used to go to the pictures. Whilst I might not be as enamoured with the glamour and romance of moving picture stars like Wanetta Ward like you are, I do like historical dramas and adaptations of some of the books I’ve read.”

 

“Does that mean you didn’t enjoy ‘A Woman of Paris’******?” Edith asks with concern.

 

Frank turns away from his sweetheart and rests his arms on the glass topped counter, and gazes through it at the cakes on display below. “Oh, yes I did, Edith.” he mutters in a low voice in reply.

 

Edith hooks her black umbrella over the raised edge of the cabinet and deposits her green handbag on its surface and sidles up alongside Frank. “It doesn’t sound like you did, Frank.” she refutes him quietly.

 

“No, I really did, Edith.” he replies a little sadly. “Edna Purviance******* is so beautiful. I can well understand your attraction to the glamour of the moving pictures and their stars.”

 

“But something tells me that you didn’t like the film.” Edith presses, nudging Frank gently. “What was it?”

 

“Oh, it’s nothing, Edith.” Frank brushes her question off breezily as he turns his head slight away from her so she cannot see it.

 

“Well, it must be something. I chose the film, so I shall feel awful if you didn’t want to see it.” Edith tries to catch his eye by ducking her head, but fails. “You should have said something, Frank.”

 

A silence envelops them momentarily, at odds to all the gay noise and chatter of the Corner House around them. At length Frank turns back to Edith, and she can see by the glaze and glint of unshed tears in his kind, but saddened eyes, that this is why he turned away. “I didn’t mind seeing ‘A Woman in Paris’, Edith. Honestly, I didn’t.” He holds up his hands. “Like you are with me, I’m happy to go anywhere or do anything with you.”

 

“Then what is it, Frank?” Edith says with a concerned look on her face. “Please, you must trust me enough to tell me.”

 

Frank reaches out his left hand and wraps it loving around her smaller right hand as it sits on the surface of the counter, next to her handbag. “Of course I trust you Edith. I’ve never trusted a girl before, the way I trust you.” He releases her hand and runs his left index finger down her cheek and along her jaw lovingly. “You’re so good and kind. Goodness knows what you see in me, but whatever it is, Edith, I’m so glad you do.”

 

“What’s gotten into you, Frank?” she replies in consternation. “What was it about the film that has upset you so much and given you such doubts?”

 

The awkward silence falls between the two of them again as Edith waits for Frank to formulate a reply. His eyes flit between the shiny brass cash register, the potted aspidistra standing in a white jardinière on a tall plant stand, the Art Deco wallpaper and Lyons posters on the walls and the cakes atop the counter. He looks anywhere except into his sweetheart’s anxious face.

 

“It was the relationship between Jean’s mother and Marie in the film, Edith.” he says at length.

 

“What of it, Frank?”

 

“It reminded me of the relationship between your mum and me, Edith.”

 

“What?” Edith queries, not understanding.

 

“Well,” Frank elucidates. “Jean’s mum didn’t like Marie and refused to accept her.”

 

“I keep telling you, Frank,” Edith reassures her beau, looking him earnestly in the face. “Mum doesn’t dislike you. She just struggles with some of your more,” She nudges him again, giving him a consoling, and cheeky smile. “Progressive ideas. Anyway, Jean’s mum and Marie made up at the end of the film and went off to set up an orphanage in the countryside.”

 

“Are you suggesting that your mum and I might do the same?” Frank laughs a little sadly, trying to make light of the moment.

 

“That’s better, Frank.” Edith encourages, seeing him smile.

 

Frank looks back down again at all the cakes on display in the glass fronted cabinet. Cakes covered in thick white layers of royal icing like tablecloths jostle for space with gaily decorated special occasion cakes covered in gooey glazed fruit and biscuit crumbs. Ornate garlands of icing sugar flowers and beautifully arranged slices of strawberries indicate neatly where the cakes should be sliced, so that everyone gets the same portion when served to the table. Frank even notices a pink blancmange rabbit sitting on a plate with a blue and white edge.

 

“I love coming here because there are so many decadent cakes here.” Frank admits, changing the subject delicately, but definitely. “It reminds me of when my Gran was younger. She used to bake the most wonderful cakes and pies.”

 

“Oh, Mum loves baking cakes, pies and puddings too.” Edith pipes up happily. “She’s especially proud of her cherry cobbler which she serves hot in winter with hot custard, and cold in summer with clotted cream.”

 

“Being Scottish, Gran always loved making Dundee Cake********. She used to spend ages arranging scorched almonds in pretty patterns across the top.”

 

“That sounds very decadent, Frank.” Edith observes.

 

“Oh it was, Edith!” Frank agrees. “Mind you, I don’t think it would have taken half as long if she hadn’t been continually keeping my fingers out of the bowl of the decorating almonds and telling me that the cake ‘would be baked when it is done, and no sooner’.”

 

Edith chuckles as Frank impersonates his grandmother’s thick Scottish accent as he quotes her.

 

“Mum always made the prettiest cupcakes for Bert’s and my birthdays.” Edith points to the small glass display plate of cupcakes daintily sprinkled with colourful sugar balls and topped with marzipan flowers and rabbits sitting on the counter.

 

“I bet you they were just as lovely as those are, Edith.”

 

“Oh, better Frank,” she assures him. “Because they were made with love, and Mum is a very proud cook.”

 

“I did notice that when I came for Sunday roast lunch.”

 

Edith continues to look at the cakes on display on stands on the counter’s surface, some beneath glass cloches and others left in the open air, an idea forming in her mind, formulating as she gazes at the dollops of cream and glacé cherries atop a chocolate cake, oozing cream decadently from between its slices.

 

“That’s it Frank!” she gasps.

 

“What is, Edith?”

 

“That’s the solution to your woes about Mum, Frank.” She snatches up her bag and umbrella from the counter.

 

Frank doesn’t understand so he asks yet again, “What is, Edith?”

 

Edith rests her elbow on the glass topped counter as she looks Frank squarely in the face. “Who is your greatest advocate, Frank? Who always speaks well of you in front of others.”

 

“Well, you do, Edith.” He gesticulates towards her.

 

“Yes, I know that,” she admits. “But besides me, who else always says the nicest things about you?”

 

“Well Gran does.” Frank says without a moment’s hesitation.

 

“Exactly Frank!” Edith smiles. “You need someone other than me in your corner, telling Mum what a wonderful catch you are. And that someone is your Gran, Frank!” Her blue eyes glitter with hope and excitement. “See, now that you’ve met Mum and Dad, and I’ve met your Gran, it’s time that they met. I bet Mum and your Gran would bond over cake baking and cooking, and of course Mum would believe anything a wise Scottish woman who can bake a Dundee Cake would say.”

 

“And everything she would say would be about me!” Frank exclaims. “Edith! You’re a genius!”

 

Frank cannot help himself as he reaches out and grasps Edith around the waist, lifting her up and spinning her around in unbridled joy, causing her to squeal, and for the people waiting in line around them to chuckle and smile indulgently at the pair of young lovers before them.

 

“Oh, put me down Frank!” squeaks Edith. “Let’s not make a scene.”

 

Reluctantly he lowers his sweetheart to the ground and releases her from his clutches.

 

“Now, all we need to do is talk with Mum and Dad, and your Gran, and settle on a date.” Edith says with ethusiasm.

 

“We’ll talk about it over tea and cake, shall we, Edith?” Frank asks with an excited lilt in his voice.

 

“Ahem.” A female voice clearing her throat politely interrupts Edith and Frank’s conversation. Turning, they find that whilst they have been talking, they have reached the front of the queue of people waiting for a table, and before them stands a bright faced Nippie with a starched cap with a red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre atop a mop of carefully coiffed and pinned curls, dressed in a black alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons and lace apron. “A table for two, is it?”

 

*J. Lyons and Co. was a British restaurant chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ first teashop opened in Piccadilly in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain of teashops, with the firm becoming a staple of the High Street in the United Kingdom. At its peak the chain numbered around two hundred cafes. The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with food choices consisting of hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls. Lyons' Corner Houses, which first appeared in 1909 and remained until 1977, were noted for their Art Deco style. Situated on or near the corners of Coventry Street, Strand and Tottenham Court Road, they and the Maison Lyonses at Marble Arch and in Shaftesbury Avenue were large buildings on four or five floors, the ground floor of which was a food hall with counters for delicatessen, sweets and chocolates, cakes, fruit, flowers and other products. In addition, they possessed hairdressing salons, telephone booths, theatre booking agencies and at one period a twice-a-day food delivery service. On the other floors were several restaurants, each with a different theme and all with their own musicians. For a time, the Corner Houses were open twenty-four hours a day, and at their peak each branch employed around four hundred staff including their famous waitresses, commonly known as Nippies for the way they nipped in and out between the tables taking orders and serving meals. The tea houses featured window displays, and, in the post-war period, the Corner Houses were smarter and grander than the local tea shops. Between 1896 and 1965 Lyons owned the Trocadero, which was similar in size and style to the Corner Houses.

 

**The name 'Nippies' was adopted for the Lyons waitresses after a competition to rename them from the old fashioned 'Gladys' moniker - rejected suggestions included ‘Sybil-at-your-service’, ‘Miss Nimble’, Miss Natty’ and 'Speedwell'. The waitresses each wore a starched cap with a red ‘L’ embroidered in the centre and a black alpaca dress with a double row of pearl buttons.

 

***The Premier Super Cinema in East Ham was opened on the 12th of March, 1921, replacing the 800 seat capacity 1912 Premier Electric Theatre. The new cinema could seat 2,408 patrons. The Premier Super Cinema was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres who were taken over by Gaumont British in February 1929. It was renamed the Gaumont from 21st April 1952. The Gaumont was closed by the Rank Organisation on 6th April 1963. After that it became a bingo hall and remained so until 2005. Despite attempts to have it listed as a historic building due to its relatively intact 1921 interior, the Gaumont was demolished in 2009.

 

****The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain.

 

*****Located in the west London inner city district of Harlesden. The Coliseum opened in 1912 as the Picture Theatre. In 1915 it was renamed the Picture Coliseum. It was operated throughout its cinema life as an independent picture theatre. Seating was provided in stalls and balcony levels. The Coliseum closed in December 1975 for regular films and went over to screening adult porn films. It then screened kung-fu movies and even hosted a concert by punk rock group The Clash in March 1977. It finally closed for good as a picture theatre in the mid-1980’s and was boarded up and neglected for the next decade. It was renovated and converted into a pub operated by the J.D. Weatherspoon chain, opening in March 1993. Known as ‘The Coliseum’ it retains many features of its cinematic past. There is even cinema memorabilia on display. There is a huge painted mural of Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon in “The Cowboy and the Lady” where the screen used to be. Recently J.D. Weatherspoon relinquished the building and it is now operated as an independent bar renamed ‘The Misty Moon’. By 2017 it had been taken over by the Antic pub chain and renamed the ‘Harlesden Picture Palace’.

 

******’A Woman of Paris’ is a feature-length American silent film that debuted in 1923. The film, an atypical drama film for its creator, was written, directed, produced and later scored by Charlie Chaplin. The plot revolves around Marie St. Clair (Edna Purviance) and her beau, aspiring artist Jean Millet (Carl Miller) who plan to flee life in provincial France to get married. However when plans go awry, Marie goes to Paris alone where she becomes the mistress of a wealthy businessman, Pierre Revel (Adolphe Menjou). Reacquainting herself with Jean after a chance encounter in Paris a year later, Marie and Jean recommence their love affair. When Jean proposes to Marie, his mother tries to intervene and Marie returns to Pierre. Jean takes a gun to the restaurant where Marie and Pierre are dining, but ends up fatally shooting himself in the foyer after being evicted from the restaurant. Marie and Jean’s mother reconcile and return to the French countryside, where they open a home for orphans in a country cottage. At the end of the film, Marie rides down a road in a horse drawn cart and is passed by a chauffer driven automobile in which Pierre rides with friends. Pierre's companion asks him what had happened to Marie after the night at the restaurant. Pierre replies that he does not know. The automobile and the horse-drawn wagon pass each other, heading in opposite directions.

 

*******Edna Purviance (1895 – 1958) was an American actress of the silent film era. She was the leading lady in many of Charlie Chaplin's early films and in a span of eight years, she appeared in over thirty films with him and remained on his payroll even after she retired from acting, receiving a small monthly salary from Chaplin's film company until she got married, and the payments resumed after her husband's death. Her last credited appearance in a Chaplin film, ‘A Woman of Paris’, was also her first leading role. The film was not a success and effectively ended Purviance's career. She died of throat cancer in 1958.

 

********Dundee Cake is a traditional Scottish fruit cake that has gained worldwide fame since its first appearance over three hundred and fifty years ago. The Dundee Cake is one of Scotland's most famous cakes and, it is said, was liked by the Queen at tea-time. The story goes that Mary Queen of Scots didn’t like cherries, so a fruit cake was made and decorated with the distinctive almond decoration that has now become very familiar to those of us in the know. A more likely story is that the Dundee Cake recipe was created in the 1700s, later to be mass-produced by the Marmalade company Keiller’s Marmalade.

 

An afternoon tea made up with sweet cakes like this would be enough to please anyone, but I suspect that even if you ate everything you can see here in and on this display case, you would still come away hungry. This is because they, like everything in this scene are 1:12 size miniatures from my miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau:

 

The sweet cupcakes on the glass cake stand have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The pink blancmange rabbit on the bottom shelf of the display cabinet in the front of the right-hand side of the case was made by Polly’s Pantry Miniatures in America. All the other cakes came from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom. The glass and metal cake stands and the glass cloche came from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The glass cake stands are hand blown artisan pieces. The shiny brass cash register also comes from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures.

 

The J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. tariff is a copy of a 1920s example that I made myself by reducing it in size and printing it.

 

Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.

 

The black umbrella came from an online stockist of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.

 

The wood and glass display cabinet I obtained from a seller of 1:12 miniatures on E-Bay.

 

The storage shelves in the background behind the counter come from Babette’s Miniatures, who have been making miniature dolls’ furnishings since the late Eighteenth Century. The plates, milk jug, silver teapots, coffee pots and trays on it all come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Miniatures.

 

The aspidistra in the white planter and the wooden plant stand itself also come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House shop, as does the 1920s Lyons’ Tea sign you can see on the wall.

 

The Art Deco pattern on the wall behind the counter I created myself after looking at many photos of different Lyons Corner House interiors photos. Whilst not an exact match for what was there in real life, it is within the spirit of the detailing found in the different restaurants.

Rational recreations, in which the principles of numbers and natural philosophy are clearly and copiously elucidated, by a series of easy, entertaining, interesting experiments. Among which are all those commonly performed with the cards.

By William Hooper, London, 1794.

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are northwest of Lettice’s flat, in the working-class London suburb of Harlesden where Edith, Lettice’s maid, grew up. She is visiting her parents as she often does on her Wednesdays off, and today she has been helping her mother, Ada, shop for groceries and the pair have been traversing the Harlesden high street. They have visited Mr. Lovegrove the local grocer where Ada has filled her basket with some of her household staples: fresh lettuce and some delicious looking apples, some McDougall’s white milled flour, Bisto gravy powder, Bird’s Golden Raising Powder, a jar of Marmite, a jar of P.C. Flett Plum Jam, Ty-Phoo tea and some Sunlight Soap and Robin Starch, the latter two which she will use with the laundry she takes in to help supplement the family’s income. Now the pair have arrived home in Ada’s cosy kitchen.

 

“Oh thank you so much, Edith love.” Ada remarks gratefully with a groan as the two ladies lift the heavy basket that they have been carrying between them down the high street up onto Ada’s worn round kitchen table. “You’ve been such a help.” She drops her blue beaded handbag onto the table next to the basket where it lands with a ratting sound.

 

“It’s my pleasure, Mum.” Edith replies with a beaming smile.

 

“I don’t think I could have carried all this home on my own.” Ada continues as she rubs her lower back, stretches, and makes more groaning noises. “Your poor mum is getting old, Edith love.”

 

“What nonsense Mum!” Edith scoffs as she plops her own green leather handbag on the table next to her mother’s bag and then unpins her black straw cloche decorated with purple silk roses and black feathers. “I’ve seen you wash mountains of laundry before. Your arms are stronger than an ox.”

 

“Well,” Ada chuckles. “Maybe you’re right there, Edith love, but all the same, I don’t seem to have the stamina I used to before your dad got his promotion to Line Manager at McVities*.”

 

“That’s because you don’t have to work so hard to help make ends meet now, Mum.” Edith remarks ruefully. “You can be more of a lady of leisure.”

 

“Oh!” Ada flaps her arms dismissively at her daughter before shucking her grey coat from her shoulders and hanging it on its hook by the kitchen door. “I’ll never be one of them, Edith love. There is too much to do, keeping house for your dad, and your brother when he’s home.”

 

“I did say, more of a lady of leisure.” Edith points out, emphasising the words more of. She smirks. “I’d never expect you not to be busy around the house, doing chores and cooking. You wouldn’t be Mum then, at least not mine.”

 

“Oh, thinking of cooking, I must put your dad’s tea in the warming oven.” Ada throws her hands in the air. “I nearly forgot! Where is my head today?” She pats the crown of her floppy black velvet hat with Art Nouveau detailing before quickly unpinning it from her head and hanging it on the hook over the top of her coat.

 

“You’re just excited about going out up The West End tonight, Mum.” Edith laughs joyfully. “Here, I’ll unpack the groceries for you, whilst you get Dad’s tea ready.”

 

“Oh thanks ever so, Edith!” Ada replies gratefully. “It will be yours and my tea too, love.”

 

Edith begins to carefully take items out of her mother’s basket, so as not to spoil and bruise the apples, squash the lettuce leaves, or damage any of the brightly coloured packaging of the other items, placing them on the surface of the kitchen table. Meanwhile Ada snatches up her apron, throws it arounds her neck and fastens it around her waist as she hurries over to the narrow door in the corner of the kitchen that opens into a narrow pantry. She withdraws a rather worn and well used enamel lidded warming dish which she takes over towards the kitchen range which has been warming up during their visit to the Harlesden high street. Balancing the dish firmly on the palm and splayed fingers of her left hand, Ada opens the stiff door of the warming oven with a red and white gingham tea towel which she places over the handle of the oven to prevent her right hand getting burnt. Throwing the red and white checked fabric over her right shoulder, she puts her hand into the oven expertly and gauges the temperature.

 

“Good.” Ada says with a satisfied sigh. “Perfect to warm up your dad’s tea.”

 

She slides the dish in noisily and closes the door again with the aid of the tea towel, groaning at the wilful resistance of the door as she does so.

 

“You know, you should get old Widow Hounslow to replace that old range, Mum.” Edith remarks as she takes the jar of Marmite out of her mother’s basket and deposits it on the table next to the packet of Ty-Phoo tea.

 

“What’s that?” Ada spins around and looks aghast at her daughter with wide eyes, as though the young girl has just sworn at her.

 

“You know as well as I, Mum, that that old penny-pinching landlady can well afford to take that old iron monster out and install a much more up-to-date gas cooker for you.”

 

“Don’t be so blasphemous!” Ada balks. She turns back and places a careworn hand lovingly on a part of the blacklead façade of the old kitchen range that she knows isn’t hot. “This old lady and I have been working together longer than you’ve been alive for, Edith love. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

 

“Miss Lettice has a lovely gas stove in Cavendish Mews, Mum.” Edith insists. “It’s ever so modern and easy to use. It has a thermostat so there’s no need for me to stick my hand in the oven to gauge the temperature the way you have to.”

 

“That’s lazy cooking, that is.” Ada scoffs with a dismissive wave of her hand.

 

“No it’s not, Mum.” Edith retorts. “The advertisements in the newspapers say it’s a way to ensure perfect cooking every time.” She goes on. “And because its gas, it doesn’t need coal, so it’s much cleaner.”

 

“What would I do with a gas stove and oven at my age, Edith love? I wouldn’t know how to use it, even if Mrs. Hounslow did install one for me. I’m too set in my ways and habits to go changing with all this new-fangled gas cookery. No!” She bangs the blacklead heartily. “I know her as well as I know the back of my own hand, Edith love. A gas stove might be alright for the likes of you, working for such a fine lady as Miss Chetwynd, but I’m content with my old girl. We rub along well together, even if we do have our differences some days. Thank you all the same.”

 

“Well, I still think Mrs. Hounslow is a mean old landlady, Mum. She never spends a penny she doesn’t have to on this old place to make things easier or more comfortable for you and Dad.”

 

“Oh Edith! Mrs. Hounslow’s a widow.”

 

“I know, Mum. You’re always using that as a defence for her poor behaviour. I’ve grown up hearing about how Mrs. Hounslow’s husband died a hero in the siege of Mafeking in the Boer War.” She releases an exasperated sigh as she picks up the jar of plum jam and goes to put it away. “But he left her well off with plenty of houses like this to let to the likes of you who pays more than you probably should for it, as well as a fine house of her own. I should know.” She snorts derisively. “I worked in it for long enough with no thanks, so I know how comfortably she has it, widow or not!”

 

“Edith!” Ada says with hurt in her voice as she withdraws the head of lettuce from her basket. “I helped you get your very first position with Mrs. Hounslow.”

 

“I know you did, Mum, and I’m not ungrateful to you for helping me get it.” Edith lets out another exasperated sigh as she returns to the kitchen table. “All the same, I’ve never heard or seen Mrs. Hounslow have to scrape or work hard for anything, and it breaks my heart to see you slave over that old range and blacklead it, week after week, when you could have something so much nicer that wouldn’t put old Widow Hounslow into the poor house.”

 

“Now, you know I won’t have a bad word said about her, Edith.” Ada wags her finger admonishingly at her daughter before reaching into her basket and withdrawing one of the lovely red apples she bought from Mr. Lovegrove’s Grocers. “She’s helped pay for many a meal in this house with her sixpences and shillings over the years. She may have even paid for this apple, since I still take in her laundry.” She holds the apple up so that it catches the diffused light which shines in weakly through the dirty kitchen window behind the lace curtains Ada made to block out the view into the dismal back courtyard and laundry.

 

“Well,” Edith folds her arms akimbo. “You know my opinion about you doing that.”

 

“I do, Edith love.” Ada says kindly in an effort to diffuse her daughter’s hot dislike of the mean spirited old woman. “And I dare say you’re right. There are probably plenty of other more deserving women in the neighbourhood who will pay me more for my services.” She takes the lettuce and puts it in a box under the kitchen trough style sink. “But she is our landlady, so I want to keep on her good side as much as I can. You should at least be grateful to her for giving us a stable roof over our heads all your life.”

 

“Pshaw!” Edith raises her eyes to the ceiling above. “That only leaks on occasion.”

 

“What’s that, that’s leaking, Edith love?” comes a jolly male voice as the door leading from the hallway to the kitchen opens and George, Edith’s father, walks in, his face bright from his brisque stroll home from the McVite and Price factory. “Hullo Ada love! Goodness is it Wednesday already, Edith? That comes around quickly doesn’t it?”

 

“Hullo Dad!” Edith beams.

 

“Oh nothing’s leaking, love.” Ada assures George as she allows herself to be embraced and then kissed on the cheek lovingly by her husband. “Edith and I were just having a disagreement.”

 

“A disagreement?” George looks in concern between his wife and daughter before stepping over to his beloved child and embracing her lovingly and kissing her on the cheek as well. “What are my two favourite girls arguing over? Not me I hope?” he chortles good naturedly.

 

“No Dad,” Edith replies, hugging her father pleasurably in return. “Old Widow Hounslow, as a matter of fact.”

 

“What?” George scoffs. “That old harridan? Why are you two even wasting a single valuable breath on her?”

 

“Oh, you’re as bad as Edith, George!” Ada pulls the tea towel off her shoulder and flicks it at her husband. “No wonder she takes against her so with you talking about Mrs. Hounslow that way.”

 

“I’m only speaking the truth, Ada love.” George replies knowingly. “She’s a piece of work and that’s a fact.”

 

“See Mum!” Edith replies in a justified tone.

 

“And speaking of the truth, I hope that’s my tea I can smell in the oven.” George remarks, making a show of sniffing the air about him appreciatively, which is starting to fill with the aroma of warming meat and vegetables.

 

“Course it is, George.” Ada says. “But it’s not quite hot enough yet. Even with Edith’s help with the shopping today, I’m afraid it was a large one this week, and we came back a bit later than I’d planned.”

 

“Gossiping with Mrs. Chapman, I’ll wager.” George replies jokingly with a cheeky smile and a wink at his daughter before settling comfortably into his high backed Windsor chair by the warm range.

 

“I’ll give you gossiping, George Watsford!” Ada replies, knowing her husband’s humour well and not taking him seriously. She gentle nudges his work boot clad foot against the flagstones with her own boot toe. “I have a good mind to feed that delicious smelling tea to the neighbour’s mouser** after a remark like that!”

 

“Perce wouldn’t like it.” George replies with a smile, not missing a beat since he has heard his wife’s jokingly idle threat many a time before. “So best you give it to one who will appreciate it.”

 

“I’ll keep half of it myself and give the rest to Edith then.” Ada laughs. “She appreciates it every bit as much as you do, George.”

 

“Mum’s been telling everyone that will listen to her that you’re taking her up The West End tonight, Dad.” Edith says excitedly, turning back from the large dark wooden Welsh dresser where she has just put the packet of Ty-Phoo Tea and the jar of Marmite on the first shelf.

 

“Has she now?” George asks, screwing up his eye as he looks to his wife, who busies herself filling the big kettle with water from the small kitchen sink to boil and make tea with.

 

“And why shouldn’t I, George?” Ada defends as she walks past her husband and puts the kettle over the range hob.

 

“Well, it’s not like your loving husband hasn’t taken you to the pictures before.” he replies.

 

“That’s true,” Ada retorts as she pulls the Brown Betty*** teapot across the worn surface of her kitchen table and lifts the lid. “Whilst you’re over there, pass me the tea cannister and a teaspoon will you, Edith love.” she requests of her daughter. She turns back and addresses her husband again. “However, it isn’t every day that my husband takes me to see a Buster Keaton**** premier at The Tivoli***** up The Strand.” She smiles with satisfaction before turning back to the table and starts adding spoonfuls of tealeaves from her cannister to the glazed brown pot. “And that, I think is worth crowing over.” Her smile turns a little guilty. “Even just a little bit.”

 

“More than a little bit,” giggles Edith. “Mum told Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Lovegrove, and Miss Phipps and Mrs. Whitehead from down the Royal Oak******* whom we ran into on the street.”

 

“Edith!” Ada gasps. “You make me sound like the biggest gossiper in Harlesden!”

 

“Well, you just said yourself that going to see the premier of ‘Three Ages’******** at the Tivoli was newsworthy,” Edith replies. “So why shouldn’t you share it, Mum?”

 

“Exactly!” agrees George enthusiastically. “News will get around that there is much to be jealous of Mrs. George Watsford when her husband takes her to the fanciest new picture theatre in London’s West End.”

 

“And that will make you look like someone to aspire to amongst your workmates.” Ada laughs.

 

“Just so.” He joins in her laughter.

 

“I must confess, even I’m a bit jealous, Mum. Frank and I usually see pictures before you two,” Edith says with a sigh as she sits down at the table in her usual high backed ladderback chair. “But of course being the premier tonight, we haven’t seen it yet.”

 

“I could have wrangled tickets for you and Frank if you’d wanted, you know Edith.” George pipes up.

 

“Oh I’m sure you could have, Dad. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to go, but you know I only have Wednesdays off until four o’clock. What time are you and Mum going?”

 

“Six.”

 

“There you go, then. I’ll be preparing Miss Lettice’s dinner. She’ll be back from Ascot by that time. She’s been visiting a client up there today.” Edith pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath before launching into what she has been wanting to ask her mother ever since she arrived this morning, but hasn’t had an opportunity to raise. It seems an opportune moment to raise the topic whilst her father is at home as well. “Thinking of Frank, I wanted to ask you something, Mum and Dad?”

 

Ada pauses with the steaming kettle in her hands, just about to pour, whilst George looks across the table to his daughter.

 

“What is it about Frank, Edith love?” George asks with concern. “Is everything alright.”

 

“Oh it’s nothing to worry about, Dad!” Edith quickly assures her parents, who both release sighs of relief at her utterance. “No, but I was just wondering…” She pauses again.

 

“What were you wondering, Edith love?” Ada encourages her daughter, pouring hot water into the Brown Betty as she asks.

 

“Well, I just wondered whether, now that you’ve met Frank, and I’ve met Frank’s grandmother, whether it wasn’t high time that you met each other.”

 

“What a capital idea!” George exclaims, sitting forward in his chair, clapping his hands in delight.

 

“Hhhmmm,” her mother remarks, pursing her lips as she considers Edith’s suggestion. “That’s probably a good idea, considering you two are serious about one another.”

 

“Yes, Ada love, we should get to know Frank’s granny, especially as she’s his only close living relation.”

 

Edith releases a pent-up sigh she didn’t realise that she had been holding onto.

 

“Yes, your dad is right,” Ada goes on. “That would be capital. Have you spoken with Mrs. Leadbetter about it and asked her?”

 

“Mrs. McTavish, you mean, Mum.” Edith corrects.

 

“McTavish?” George queries. “But that’s not Frank’s surname.”

 

“And it’s Scottish.” Ada notes as she replaces the kettle back on the range’s hob.

 

“Mrs. McTavish is Frank’s maternal grandmother, which is why she isn’t a Leadbetter,” Edith elucidates with a smile. “And yes, she is Scottish, Mum. Frank is asking her this week when he visits her, and he and I will chat when we next see one another.”

 

“What were you thinking we’d do, Edith love?” Ada asks.

 

“Well, if it isn’t too much to ask, Mum, since Mrs. McTavish is a bit older and may not be up to hosting you and Dad, would you would consider doing a Sunday lunch for her here, like you did when Frank came over?” She looks at her mother, whose eyebrows are arched and her mouth screwed up in contemplation as her tongue pokes the inside of her right cheek thoughtfully. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be a grand Sunday roast. Mrs. McTavish is quite partial to stew and dumplings. Her teeth aren’t as good as they used to be, she tells me.”

 

“I’ll say yes,” George answers happily. “But then again,” He looks to his wife. “I’m not the cook, so it’s your choice, Ada love.”

 

Ada arranges her collection of beloved mismatched china cups and saucers and doesn’t answer straight away. “I dare say I could manage a nice hearty beef stew with some of my extra large and soft suet dumplings.” she says with a smile.

 

“And your cherry pie for dessert, Mum?” Edith asks hopefully. “Frank does love your cherry pie.”

 

“I don’t see why not.” Ada replies after a moment’s deliberation.

 

“Oh thank you Mum!” Edith leaps up from her seat and flings her arms joyfully around her mother’s neck as she kisses her cheek. “You’re an absolute brick!”

 

Ada chuckles. “There you go again with that new-fangled talk of yours that I don’t understand, but I dare say that’s a compliment, judging by your reaction.”

 

“Don’t be obtuse, Ada.” George mutters from his chair. “You know you’ve made the girl happy.”

 

“When Mum?”

 

“Well, you have a chat with Frank, when you see him next.” Ada replies, patting her daughter calmingly on the back. “And find out what Mrs. McTavish says. Then you can send me a postcard********* with details as to her response between now and next Wednesday. That will give me a chance to have a think and we can chat about it next Wednesday. How does that sound?”

 

“Oh that sounds perfect, Mum!” Edith sighs.

 

“Good! Now, you pour the tea, Edith love. I’m going to serve up tea for us. It smells like it’s ready.”

 

“About time,” murmurs George. “I’m starving.”

 

*McVitie's (Originally McVitie and Price) is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name derives from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie and Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company moved to various sites in the city before completing the St. Andrews Biscuit Works factory on Robertson Avenue in the Gorgie district in 1888. The company also established one in Glasgow and two large manufacturing plants south of the border, in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, and Harlesden, London (where Edith’s father works). McVitie and Price's first major biscuit was the McVitie's Digestive, created in 1892 by a new young employee at the company named Alexander Grant, who later became the managing director of the company. The biscuit was given its name because it was thought that its high baking soda content served as an aid to food digestion. The McVitie's Chocolate Homewheat Digestive was created in 1925. Although not their core operation, McVitie's were commissioned in 1893 to create a wedding cake for the royal wedding between the Duke of York and Princess Mary, who subsequently became King George V and Queen Mary. This cake was over two metres high and cost one hundred and forty guineas. It was viewed by 14,000 and was a wonderful publicity for the company. They received many commissions for royal wedding cakes and christening cakes, including the wedding cake for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip and Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Under United Biscuits McVitie's holds a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II.

 

**A mouser is an animal that catches mice, usually a cat, but sometimes also a small terrier.

 

***A Brown Betty is a type of teapot, round and with a manganese brown glaze known as Rockingham glaze. In the Victorian era, when tea was at its peak of popularity, tea brewed in the Brown Betty was considered excellent. This was attributed to the design of the pot which allowed the tea leaves more freedom to swirl around as the water was poured into the pot, releasing more flavour with less bitterness.

 

****Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American actor, comedian, and director. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". He was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas in 1895. In February 1917, he met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck. Joe Keaton disapproved of films. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he was asked to jump in and start acting. Keaton was such a natural in his first film, The Butcher Boy, he was hired on the spot. After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, Buster Keaton Productions. He made a series of 19 two-reel comedies. He then moved to feature-length films; several of them, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded. His career declined when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and lost his artistic independence. His wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. Late in his career, Keaton made cameos in Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, Chaplin's Limelight, Samuel Beckett's Film and the Twilight Zone episode "Once Upon a Time". He died of lung cancer in 1966, at the age of seventy.

 

*****Several years after the end of the Great War, the Strand road widening had been completed and a site formerly occupied by the Louis XIV style Tivoli Theatre of Varieties became available to build a cinema. Theatre architect Bertie Crewe and the architectural firm Gunton & Gunton designed the new Tivoli Theatre. It opened on the 6th September 1923 with music hall artiste Little Tich and others appearing on the stage, before the main feature film Ramon Novarro in "Where the Pavement Ends". A deal had been done with Loew’s Inc., for the Tivoli Theatre to present exclusive runs of MGM films concurrent with their American release. The exterior of the building was imposing, but quite plain, and was treated in white Portland stone. Inside the auditorium, the seating was provided for 906 in the stalls, 637 in the circle and 572 in the balcony. The Tivoli Theatre became the first London cinema to screen proper sound films when in 1925 DeForrest Phonofilm shorts were screened. Also in 1925, it was taken over by MGM/Loew’s and became their showcase theatre. Ramon Novarro in "Ben Hur" was a big hit at the Tivoli Theatre, showing twice daily, it attracted audiences of 1,200,000 during its showcase premiere run in 1926. As newer cinemas opened around the Leicester Square area, the Tivoli Theatre gradually lost ground to screening first run films and closed on 25th June 1938. It re-opened in August 1938 as a second-run weekly change house. Closed ‘indefinitely’ from 30th September 1939 due to the beginning of World War II, it suffered severe bomb damage in 1941, and its basements were used as an air raid shelter. It was repaired and reopened on 22nd February 1943 with a premiere run of Tommy Handley in "It’s That Man Again". First run films then continued, sometimes playing concurrent with the New Gallery Cinema on Regent Street. From the early-1950’s it was linked with the Astoria Theatre, Charing Cross Road, playing pre-release ABC release films. The Tivoli Theatre was closed by the Rank Organisation on 29th September 1956 with John Mills in "The Baby and the Battleship" and Peggie Castle in "Oklahoma Woman". It was sold to Montague Burton and was demolished.

 

*******Located at 95 High Street, Harlesden, the Royal Oak Tavern and Railway Hotel, as it was originally known, was built circa 1880 when Harlesden was at its boom as a smart middle-class London suburb, replacing a building on the site from 1757. The two-storey building featured Venetian blinds and a huge gaslight outside. This in turn was replaced by today’s 1892 re-build. Designed in the baroque style, it is four-storeys in height, built of red brick with stone banding and features a lot of ornate stone detailing. The Royal Oak still features its original 1892 tiles in the hallway, which depicts a Parliamentarian trooper hunting for King Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. King Charles hid in an oak tree, hence the name Royal Oak. Between 1914 and 1926, the pub was licenced by Mr. George Whitehead (thus Ada’s conversation with Mr. Whitehead’s wife in the street).

 

********’Three Ages’ is a 1923 black-and-white American feature-length silent comedy film starring comedian Buster Keaton, Margaret Leahy and Wallace Beery. The first feature Keaton wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, Keaton structured the film like three inter-cut short films. While Keaton was a proven success in the short film medium, he had yet to prove himself as a feature-length star. Had the project flopped, the film would have been broken into three short films, each covering one of the ages. Three plots in three different historical periods—prehistoric times, Ancient Rome, and modern times (the Roaring Twenties)—are intercut to prove the point that man's love for woman has not significantly changed throughout history. In all three plots, characters played by the small and slight Buster Keaton and handsome bruiser Wallace Beery compete for the attention of the same woman, played by Margaret Leahy. Each plot follows similar "arcs" in the story line in which Keaton's character works for his beloved's attention and eventually wins her over.

 

*********One hundred years ago, postcards were the most common and easiest way to communicate with loved ones not only across countries whilst on holidays, but across neighbourhoods on a daily basis ‘de leurs jours’ with the minutiae of life on them. This is because unlike today where mail is delivered on a daily basis or , there were several deliveries done a day. At the height of the postcard mania in 1903, London residents could have as many as twelve separate visits from the mailman. This means that people in the early Twentieth Century amassed vast collections of picture postcards which today are highly collectible depending upon their theme.

 

This cluttered, yet cheerful domestic scene is not all it seems to be at first glance, for it is made up of part of my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection. Some pieces come from my own childhood. Other items I acquired as an adult through specialist online dealers and artists who specialise in 1:12 miniatures.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

Inside Ada’s basket and on the table around it there are various foods and cleaning agents which would have been household names in the 1920s, and some of which are still known today including Marmite, Ty-Phoo Tea, Bisto Gravy Powder, Bird’s Golden Raising Powder, P.C. Flett & Co Plum Jam, Robin Starch and Sunlight Soap. All these items are 1:12 size artisan miniatures made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire, with great attention to detail paid to their labels and the shapes of their jars and cans.

 

Marmite is a food spread made from yeast extract which although considered remarkably English, was in fact invented by German scientist Justus von Liebig although it was originally made in the United Kingdom. It is a by-product of beer brewing and is currently produced by British company Unilever. The product is notable as a vegan source of B vitamins, including supplemental vitamin B. Marmite is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, salty, powerful flavour. This distinctive taste is represented in the marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it." Such is its prominence in British popular culture that the product's name is often used as a metaphor for something that is an acquired taste or tends to polarise opinion.

 

In 1863, William Sumner published A Popular Treatise on Tea as a by-product of the first trade missions to China from London. In 1870, William and his son John Sumner founded a pharmacy/grocery business in Birmingham. William's grandson, John Sumner Jr. (born in 1856), took over the running of the business in the 1900s. Following comments from his sister on the calming effects of tea fannings, in 1903, John Jr. decided to create a new tea that he could sell in his shop. He set his own criteria for the new brand. The name had to be distinctive and unlike others, it had to be a name that would trip off the tongue and it had to be one that would be protected by registration. The name Typhoo comes from the Mandarin Chinese word for “doctor”. Typhoo began making tea bags in 1967. In 1978, production was moved from Birmingham to Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside. The Moreton site is also the location of Burton's Foods and Manor Bakeries factories. Typhoo has been owned since July 2021 by British private-equity firm Zetland Capital. It was previously owned by Apeejay Surrendra Group of India.

 

The first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder, which rapidly became a bestseller in Britain. It was added to gravies to give a richer taste and aroma. Invented by Messrs Roberts and Patterson, it was named "Bisto" because it "Browns, Seasons and Thickens in One". Bisto Gravy is still a household name in Britain and Ireland today, and the brand is currently owned by Premier Foods.

 

Bird’s were best known for making custard and Bird’s Custard is still a common household name, although they produced other desserts beyond custard, including the blancmange. They also made Bird’s Golden Raising Powder – their brand of baking powder. Bird’s Custard was first formulated and first cooked by Alfred Bird in 1837 at his chemist shop in Birmingham. He developed the recipe because his wife was allergic to eggs, the key ingredient used to thicken traditional custard. The Birds continued to serve real custard to dinner guests, until one evening when the egg-free custard was served instead, either by accident or design. The dessert was so well received by the other diners that Alfred Bird put the recipe into wider production. John Monkhouse (1862–1938) was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. Monk and Glass custard was made in Clerkenwell and sold in the home market, and exported to the Empire and to America. They acquired by its rival Bird’s Custard in the early Twentieth Century.

 

P.C. Flett and Company was established in Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands by Peter Copeland Flett. He had inherited a small family owned ironmongers in Albert Street Kirkwall, which he inherited from his maternal family. He had a shed in the back of the shop where he made ginger ale, lemonade, jams and preserves from local produce. By the 1920s they had an office in Liverpool, and travelling representatives selling jams and preserves around Great Britain. I am not sure when the business ceased trading.

 

Before the invention of aerosol spray starch, the product of choice in many homes of all classes was Robin starch. Robin Starch was a stiff white powder like cornflour to which water had to be added. When you made up the solution, it was gloopy, sticky with powdery lumps, just like wallpaper paste or grout. The garment was immersed evenly in that mixture and then it had to be smoothed out. All the stubborn starchy lumps had to be dissolved until they were eliminated – a metal spoon was good for bashing at the lumps to break them down. Robins Starch was produced by Reckitt and Sons who were a leading British manufacturer of household products, notably starch, black lead, laundry blue, and household polish.

 

Sunlight Soap was first introduced in 1884. It was produced at Port Sunlight in Wirrel, Merseyside, a model village built by Lever Brothers for the workers of their factories which produced the popular soap brands Lux, Lifebuoy and Sunlight.

 

Also in Ada’s basket are some very lifelike looking fruit and vegetables. The apples are made of polymer clay are made by a 1:12 miniature specialist in Germany. The leaves of lettuce are artisan made of very thin sheets of clay and are beautifully detailed. I acquired them from an auction house some twenty years ago as part of a lot made up of miniature artisan food.

 

Ada’s beaded handbag is also a 1:12 artisan miniature. Hand crocheted, it is interwoven with antique blue glass beads that are two millimetres in diameter. The beads of the handle are three millimetres in length.

 

Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel, including Ada’s tan soft leather handbag seen resting against her basket at the right of the picture.

 

Edith’s black dyed straw hat with purple roses and black feathers was made by an unknown artisan. 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. This hat is part of a larger collection I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.

 

In the foreground on the table are non-matching teacups, saucers and sugar bowl, all of which have come from different miniature stockists both in Australia and the United Kingdom. The Brown Betty teapot came from The Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

In the background you can see Ada’s dark Welsh dresser cluttered with household items. Like Ada’s table, the Windsor chair and the ladderback chair to the left of the photo, I have had the dresser since I was a child. The shelves of the dresser have different patterned crockery and silver pots on them which have come from different miniature stockists both in Australia and the United Kingdom. There are also some rather worn and beaten looking enamelled cannisters and a bread tin in the typical domestic Art Deco design and kitchen colours of the 1920s, cream and green. Aged on purpose, these artisan pieces I recently acquired from The Dolls’ House Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

The large kitchen range in the background is a 1:12 miniature replica of the coal fed Phoenix Kitchen Range. A mid-Victorian model, it has hinged opening doors, hanging bars above the stove and a little bass hot water tap (used in the days before plumbed hot water).

BAKTRIA, Indo-Greek Kingdom. Menander I Soter. Circa 155-130 BC. AV Stater (20mm, 8.57 g, 1h). Draped bust of Athena right, wearing crested helmet adorned with wing; all within bead-and-reel border / Owl standing right on ground line, head facing; A to left; all within bead-and-reel border. Bopearachchi 1A; MIG Type 211a (same obv. die as top example); SNG ANS 682; Boston MFA Supp. 312; Treasures of Ancient Bactria (Miho Museum), 46a (same dies); HGC 12, 494. EF, lightly toned, area of weak strike on obverse at periphery. Extremely rare, one of 13 specimens known.

  

Unlike his silver and bronze issues, the gold coinage of Menander I Soter is very rare (as is the case with Baktrian gold issues in general). This stater, with the helmeted head of Athena on the obverse and an owl on the reverse, is among the rarest, with a total of 13 specimens known (see below). Mitchiner questioned the authenticity of some of the specimens he recorded, but did not doubt the British Museum specimen, which is struck from the same obverse die as the present coin. Bopearchchi, in a note on the series, repeated Mitchiner’s reservation without further elucidation. S. Hurter, in her review of Le portrait d’Alexandre le Grand by O. Bopearachchi and P. Flandrin in SNR 85 (2006), expressed doubt about a number of the coins in the Miho Museum and suggested that the Miho Menander (which she had not seen) should undergo further examination (pp. 190–1) .

  

The thirteen examples of this issue are known from at least four obverse and five reverse dies:

  

1. A/a

a) London, British Museum, inv. 1888,1208.283 [MIG Type 211a (top photo)]

  

2. A/b

a) Koka, Miho Museum [Treasures of Ancient Bactria 46a]

b) CNG 102, lot 706 (the present example)

  

3. B/c

a) New York, ANS, inv. 1995.51.100 [SNG ANS 682] b) Bombay, Price of Wales Museum [A.S. Altekar, JNSI 11 (1949), pp. 45–6, pl. I, 2]

c) Private collection

  

4. C/d

a) New York, ANS, inv. 1997.9.185 b) Oxford, Ashmolean Museum [Haughton Collection 395 (questioned by Mitchiner)]

c) London, British Museum, inv. 1939,0512.1 [R. B. Whitehead, NC 1940, 5 (questioned by Mitchiner)].

d) Private collection [Haughton Collection 396 (questioned by Mitchiner)]

e) Private collection

  

5. D/e

a) Boston, Museum of Fine Arts [Boston MFA Supp. 312; Haughton Collection 397]

  

6. Unseen

a) Varanasi, Banaras Hindu University [A.S. Altekar, JNSI 11 (1949), p. 46]

 

CNG102, 706

This is a processed image. Now, let me elucidate on something here...

 

There are two ways of viewlng the world. You can see it through a lens that only lets reality through. What you see is what you get. For me, this is an unprocessed photograph. The second way you can see the world is through a lens that lets possibilities through. What you see is what you imagine it to be. For me, this is a processed photo. In the view of unprocessed reality, you are viewing the world around you but you are not participating in it. A reality that has been processed, is a world in which you are a participant. You help to define the world through your imagination.

 

If I did not want to present my personal view to the world, I'd use the JPEG function on my camera and let the camera's computer create the reality of the photograph for me. I chose, however, to shoot in RAW. I am presented with an image that can be formed through my imagination. I create the colors. I create the light. I create the mood. The camera can help with these things when the shutter is pressed. However, even at that, the results are still created in tandem with the type of camera being used, the type of lens being used and with whatever settings are used when the picture is taken. My imagination and the editing software I use is not this restrictive because the dynamism of my imagination is much greater than that of the camera alone.

  

Spotted singing in a May tree in the garden. Its song made me think Wood Warbler but, from memory, seemed more liquidly melodious and it repeated several times from this perch - I'm not convinced by its appearance either, so if anyone can elucidate I'd appreciate their input.

Sorry about image quality but an LCD screen with the sun at your back means pot luck on focus, framing and just about anything else.

WEEK 15 – Manifest Columbia, Set IV

 

Rather unusually for me, I’m writing out your Saturday descriptions for this week on Monday evening, before I’ve even worked on tomorrow (Tuesday) night’s teaser pics. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff there. Not that y’all really care, though. All that interests you, I’m sure, is our continuing stour of Manifest Columbia. And rightly so! Let’s get right to it, then.

 

In this shot, we’re looking from approximately the back center of the store all the way up to the front. In the foreground is that same "desk thing" that we left off on last time; and in that photo description, I promised y’all that I would share in this description some elucidation on why I felt the station was used for internal processing purposes. So here’s why: check out that rolling cart stacked up tall with DVDs, straight in front of us. Judging by the orange stickers, those are all used items. So my guess is that this desk was, at least in its later years, used to do things such as place stickers on merchandise as necessary. (If you look beyond the cart, you can see some additional rolls of stickers on those shelves behind the desk.)

 

(c) 2019 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

Shrapnel 2 (1983 - 1985) - p. 227

---

Ramon Llull ; c. 1232 – c. 1315; Anglicised Raymond Lully, Raymond Lull; in Latin Raimundus or Raymundus Lullus or Lullius) was a philosopher, logician, Franciscan tertiary and Majorcan writer. He is credited with writing the first major work of Catalan literature. Recently surfaced manuscripts show his work to have predated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is also considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Leibniz.

 

Within the Franciscan Order he is honored as a martyr. He was beatified in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. His feast day was assigned to 30 June and is celebrated by the Third Order of St. Francis.

 

Llull was born into a wealthy family in Palma, the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Majorca. James I of Aragon founded Majorca to integrate the recently conquered territories of the Balearic Islands (now part of Spain) into the Crown of Aragon. Llull's parents had come from Catalonia as part of the effort to colonize the formerly Almohad ruled island. As the island had been conquered militarily, all the Muslim population who had not been able to flee the conquering Christians had been enslaved, even though they still constituted a significant portion of the island's population.

 

In 1257 he married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and wasteful life of a troubadour.

 

Llull served as tutor to James II of Aragon and later became Seneschal (the administrative head of the royal household) to the future King James II of Majorca, a relative of his wife.

Conversion

 

In 1263 Llull experienced a religious epiphany in the form of a series of visions. He narrates the event in his autobiography Vita coaetanea ("Daily Life"):

 

Ramon, while still a young man and Seneschal to the King of Majorca, was very given to composing worthless songs and poems and to doing other licentious things. One night he was sitting beside his bed, about to compose and write in his vulgar tongue a song to a lady whom he loved with a foolish love; and as he began to write this song, he looked to his right and saw our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, as if suspended in mid-air.

 

The vision came to him six times in all, leading him to leave his family, position, and belongings in order to pursue a life in the service of God. Specifically, he realized three intentions: to die in the service of God while converting Muslims to Christianity, to see to the founding of religious institutions that would teach foreign languages, and to write a book on how to overcome someone's objections to being converted.

 

Nine years of solitude and early work

 

Following his epiphany Llull became a Franciscan tertiary (a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis), taking inspiration from Saint Francis of Assisi. After a short pilgrimage he returned to Majorca, where he purchased a Muslim slave from whom he wanted to learn Arabic. For the next nine years, until 1274, he engaged in study and contemplation in relative solitude. He read extensively in both Latin and Arabic, learning both Christian and Muslim theological and philosophical thought.

 

Between 1271 and 1274 he wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker Al-Ghazali's logic and the Llibre de contemplació en Déu (Book on the Contemplation of God), a lengthy guide to finding truth through contemplation.

 

In 1274, while staying at a hermitage on Puig de Randa, the form of the great book he was to write was finally given to him through divine revelation: a complex system that he named his Art, which would become the motivation behind most of his life's efforts.

 

Llull's Art

 

His first elucidation of the Art was in Art Abreujada d'Atrobar Veritat (The Abbreviated Art of Finding Truth), in 1290.

After spending some time teaching in France and being disappointed by the poor reception of his Art among students, he decided to revise it. It is this revised version that he became known for. It is most clearly presented in his Ars generalis ultima or Ars magna ("The Ultimate General Art" or "The Great Art", published in 1305).

 

The Art operated by combining religious and philosophical attributes selected from a number of lists. It is believed that Llull's inspiration for the Ars magna came from observing Arab astrologers use a device called a zairja.

 

The Art was intended as a debating tool for winning Muslims to the Christian faith through logic and reason. Through his detailed analytical efforts, Llull built an in-depth theosophic reference by which a reader could enter any argument or question (necessarily reduced to Christian beliefs, which Llull identified as being held in common with other monotheistic religions). The reader then used visual aids and a book of charts to combine various ideas, generating statements which came together to form an answer.

 

Mechanical aspect

 

One of the most significant changes between the original and the second version of the Art was in the visuals used. The early version used 16 figures presented as complex, complementary trees, while the system of the Ars Magna featured only four, including one which combined the other three. This figure, a "Lullian Circle," took the form of a paper machine operated by rotating concentrically arranged circles to combine his symbolic alphabet, which was repeated on each level. These combinations were said to show all possible truth about the subject of inquiry. Llull based this notion on the idea that there were a limited number of basic, undeniable truths in all fields of knowledge, and that everything about these fields of knowledge could be understood by studying combinations of these elemental truths.

 

The method was an early attempt to use logical means to produce knowledge. Llull hoped to show that Christian doctrines could be obtained artificially from a fixed set of preliminary ideas. For example, the most essential table listed the attributes of God: goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth and glory. Llull knew that all believers in the monotheistic religions—whether Jews, Muslims or Christians—would agree with these attributes, giving him a firm platform from which to argue.

 

The idea was developed further for more Esoteric purposes by Giordano Bruno in the 16th century, and in the 17th century by the "Great Rationalist" Gottfried Leibniz, who wrote his dissertation about Llull's Art and integrated it into his metaphysics and philosophy of science. Leibniz gave Llull's idea the name "ars combinatoria", by which it is now often known.

 

Some computer scientists have adopted Llull as a sort of founding father, claiming that his system of logic was the beginning of information science.

 

Llull and the Immaculate Conception

 

Following the favourable attitude of some Franciscan theologians to this truth, Llull's position on this subject was of great importance because it paved the way for the doctrine of Duns Scotus, whom he met in 1297, after which he was given the nickname Doctor Illuminatus, even if it seems that he had not direct influence on him. In any case Llull is the first author to use the expression "Immaculate Conception" to designate the Virgin's exemption from original sin. He appears to have been the first to teach this doctrine publicly at the University of Paris.

 

To explain this Marian privilege, he resorts to three arguments:

 

1. The Son of God could not become incarnate in a mother who was stained by sin in any way:

 

God and sin cannot be united in the one and same object... Thus the Blessed Virgin Mary did not contract original sin; rather she was sanctified in the instant in which the seed from which she was formed was detached from her parents.

 

2. There had to be a certain likeness between the Son's generation without sin and the generation of his Mother:

 

The Blessed Virgin Mary should have been conceived without sin, so that her conception and that of her Son might have a like nature.

 

3. The second creation, that is the Redemption, which began with Christ and Mary, had to happen under the sign of the most total purity, as was the case with the first creation:

 

Just as Adam and Eve remained in innocence until the original sin, so at the beginning of the new creation, when the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son came into existence, it was fitting that the man and the Woman should be found in a state of innocence simpliciter, in an absolute way, without interruption, from the beginning until the end. Should the opposite have been the case, the new creation could not have begun. It is clear, however, that it did have a beginning, and therefore the Blessed Virgin was conceived without original sin.

 

In a sermon entitled The Fruit of Mary's Womb, Llull states that,

 

The blessed fruit of our Lady's womb is Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. He is God the Son, and he is man, the Son of our Lady. The man, her Son, is the blessed fruit because he is God the Son; for it is true that the goodness of the Son who is God and the goodness of the Son who is man are joined together and united in one person, who is Jesus Christ. And the goodness of the man, Mary's Son, is an instrument of the Son, who is God.

 

Missionary work and education

 

Llull urged the study of Arabic and other then-insufficiently studied languages in Europe for the purpose of converting Muslims to Christianity[citation needed]. He travelled through Europe to meet with popes, kings, and princes, trying to establish special colleges to prepare future missionaries.

 

In 1285, he embarked on his first mission to North Africa but was expelled from Tunis[citation needed]. Llull travelled to Tunis a second time in about 1304, and wrote numerous letters to the king of Tunis, but little else is known about this part of his life.

 

In the early 14th century, Llull again visited North Africa. He returned in 1308, reporting that the conversion of Muslims should be achieved through prayer, not through military force. He finally achieved his goal of linguistic education at major universities in 1311 when the Council of Vienne ordered the creation of chairs of Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldean (Aramaic) at the universities of Bologna, Oxford, Paris, and Salamanca as well as at the Papal Court.

 

In 1314, at the age of 82, Llull traveled again to North Africa where he was stoned by an angry crowd of Muslims in the city of Bougie[citation needed]. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca, where he died at home in Palma the following year. Though the traditional date of his death has been 29 June 1315, his last documents, which date from December 1315, and recent research point to the first quarter of 1316 as the most probable death date.

 

It can be documented that Llull was buried at the Church of Saint Francis in Mallorca by March 1316. Riber states that the circumstances of his death remain a mystery[citation needed]. Zwemer, a Protestant missionary and academic, accepted the story of martyrdom, as did an article in the Catholic Encyclopedia published in 1911 (see links in the References section). Bonner gives as a reason for Llull's journey to Tunis the information that its ruler was interested in Christianity—false information given to the Kings of Sicily and Aragon and relayed to Llull.

 

Literature and other works

 

Llull was extremely prolific, writing a total of more than 250 works in Catalan, Latin, and Arabic, and often translating from one language to the others. While almost all of his writings after the revelation on Mt. Randa connect to his Art in some way, he wrote on diverse subjects in a variety of styles and genres.

 

The romantic novel Blanquerna is widely considered the first major work of literature written in Catalan, and possibly the first European novel.

 

Reputation and posthumous reception

 

The Roman Catholic inquisitor Nicholas Eymerich condemned 100 theories or ideas of Llull as errors in 1376. Pope Gregory XI also formally condemned 20 of his books in 1376 and the condemnation was renewed by Pope Paul IV, although Pope Martin V reversed the condemnation of Pope Gregory XI in 1416. Despite these condemnations, Llull himself remained in good standing with the Church.

 

Chairs for the propagation of the theories of Llull were established at the University of Barcelona and the University of Valencia. He is regarded as one of the most influential authors in Catalan; the language is sometimes referred to as la llengua de Llull, as other languages might be referred to as "Shakespeare's language" (English), la langue de Molière (French), la lengua de Cervantes (Spanish) or die Sprache Goethes (German).

 

The logo of the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas ("Higher Council of Scientific Research") is Llull's Tree of Science. Ramon Llull University, a private university established in Barcelona in 1990, is named after the philosopher.

 

Mathematics, statistics, and classification

 

With the discovery in 2001 of his lost manuscripts, Ars notandi, Ars eleccionis, and Alia ars eleccionis, Llull is given credit for discovering the Borda count and Condorcet criterion, which Jean-Charles de Borda and Nicolas de Condorcet independently proposed centuries later. The terms Llull winner and Llull loser are ideas in contemporary voting systems studies that are named in honor of Llull.[citation needed] Also, Llull is recognized as a pioneer of computation theory, especially due to his great influence on Gottfried Leibniz. Llull's systems of organizing concepts using devices such as trees, ladders, and wheels, have been analyzed as classification systems.

 

Art and architecture

 

The inspiration of Llull's mnemonic graphic cartwheels, reaching into contemporary art and culture, is demonstrated by Daniel Libeskind's architectural construction of the 2003 completed Studio Weil in Port d'Andratx, Majorca. "Studio Weil, a development of the virtuality of these mnemonic wheels which ever center and de-center the universal and the personal, is built to open these circular islands which float like all artwork in the oceans of memory."

 

Modern fiction

 

Paul Auster refers to Llull (as Raymond Lull) in his memoir The Invention of Solitude in the second part, The Book of Memory. Llull, now going under the name 'Cole Hawlings' and revealed to be immortal, is a major character in The Box of Delights, the celebrated children's novel by poet John Masefield. He is also a major influence on the fictional character Zermano in Thomas Salazar's The Day of the Bees, and his name, philosophies, and quotes from his writings appear throughout the novel. In Roberto Bolaño's novel 2666, Amalfitano, a Chilean professor, thinks about "Ramon Llull and his fantastic machine. Fantastic in its uselessness." Adán, Leopoldo Marechal's protagonist of the novel Adán Buenosayres (1948), mentions Ramon Lulio when he walks past a curtiembre (a leather-tanning shop): He says: "Ramon Lulio, que aconsejaba no rehuir del olor de las letrinas a fin de recordar a menudo lo que da el cuerpo de si mismo en su tan frecuentemente olvidada miseria" (Edición Crítica, Colección Archivos, 1997. Page 312) ("Ramon Llull advised not to shy away from the smell of outhouses, in order not to forget that which the body gives out in its often forgotten misery.") In William Gaddis' first novel, The Recognitions, the final paragraph of Chapter II alludes to "Raymond Lully", as a "scholar, a poet, a missionary, a mystic, and one of the foremost figures in the history of alchemy." Llull is also mentioned in passing in Neil Gaiman's comic-book Calliope, an issue of the DC/Vertigo series The Sandman. In The Commodore, the 17th book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series, Stephen Maturin remarks that his daughter "...will learn Spanish, too, Castellano. I am sorry it will not be Catalan, a much finer, older, purer, more mellifluous language, with far greater writers — think of En Ramon Llull — but as Captain Aubrey often says, 'You cannot both have a stitch in time and eat it.'"

 

Harry Harrison, in Deathworld 2, has his protagonist, Jason dinAlt, use the Book of the Order of Chivalry, along with others, to disable the engines of the spaceship on which he is being held. As the ship starts to blow up, he remarks "I should not have thrown in the Lull book, it is more than even the ship could stomach." This comes at the end of an argument with his kidnapper, in which dinAlt attacks the idea that there are universal laws which apply to all humans for all time.

 

W. B. Yeats refers to Llull twice in Rosa Alchemica, first published in 1897 ("I turned to my last purchase, a set of alchemical apparatus which, the dealer in the Rue le Peletier had assured me, once belonged to Raymond Lully"; and "There were the works [...] of Lully, who transformed himself into the likeness of a red cock". It is also interesting to note that his "first eight poems in The Green Helmet and Other Poems were published under the general title 'Raymond Lully and his wife Pernella'; an erratum-slip corrected this: 'AN ERROR By a slip of the pen when I was writing out the heading for the first group of poems, I put Raymond Lully's name in the room of the later Alchemist, Nicolas Flamel'".

 

Gordon R. Dickson has the protagonist, Hal Mayne, in the book The Final Encyclopedia, (1984) refer to Lull and his combination-of-wheels device, which Hal states is ″nothing less than a sort of primitive computer.″

 

Disposition toward Judaism

 

Llull's mission to convert the Jews of Europe was zealous; his goal was to utterly relieve Christendom of any Jews or Jewish religious influence. Some scholars regard Llull's as the first comprehensive articulation, in the Christian West, of an expulsionist policy regarding Jews who refused conversion. To acquire converts, he worked for amicable public debate to foster an intellectual appreciation of a rational Christianity among the Jews of his time. His rabbinic opponents included Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet of Barcelona and Moshe ben Shlomo of Salerno.

 

Works

Misattributions

 

A considerable body of work on esoteric subjects was misattributed to Llull in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The oeuvre of the pseudo-Llull and then, by extension, his true works, were influential among Hermeticists, Gnostics, and other Esoterics. Llull himself explicitly condemned many of the subjects, such as alchemy, that he is purported to have written about.

 

Llull is known to have written at least 265 works, including:

 

The Book of the Lover and the Beloved

Blanquerna (a novel; 1283)

Desconhort (on the superiority of reason)

L'arbre de ciència, Arbor scientiae ("Tree of Science") (1295)

Tractatus novus de astronomia

Ars Magna (The Great Art) (1305) or Ars Generalis Ultima (The Ultimate General Art)

Ars Brevis (The Short Art; an abbreviated version of the Ars Magna)

Llibre de meravelles

Practica compendiosa

Liber de Lumine (The Book of Light)

Ars Infusa (The Inspired Art)

Book of Propositions

Liber Chaos (The Book of Chaos)

Book of the Seven Planets

Liber Proverbiorum (Book of Proverbs)

Book on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Ars electionis (on voting)

Artifitium electionis personarum[34] (on voting)

Ars notatoria

Introductoria Artis demonstrativae

Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men

Llibre qui es de l'ordre de cavalleria (The Book of the Order of Chivalry written between 1279 and 1283)

 

Translations

 

Le Livre des mille proverbes (2008), ISBN 9782953191707, Éditions de la Merci, editions@orange.fr

Ramon Llull's New Rhetoric, text and translation of Llull's 'Rethorica Nova', edited and translated by Mark D. Johnston, Davis, California: Hermagoras Press, 1994

Selected Works of Ramon Llull (1232‑1316), edited and translated by Anthony Bonner, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press 1985, two volumes XXXI + 1330 pp. (Contents: vol. 1: The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, pp. 93–305; Ars Demonstrativa, pp. 317–567; Ars Brevis, pp. 579–646; vol. 2: Felix: or the Book of Wonders, pp. 659–1107; Principles of Medicine pp. 1119–1215; Flowers of Love and Flowers of Intelligence, pp. 1223–1256)

Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader, edited and translated by Anthony Bonner, with a new translation of The Book of the Lover and the Beloved by Eve Bonner, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press 1994 (Wikipedia).

 

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th century Indian Buddhist master. Although there was a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of him apart from helping the construction of the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye, at the behest of Trisong Detsen, and shortly thereafter leaving Tibet due to court intrigues.

 

A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a character of a genera of literature called terma, an emanation of Amitābha that is said to appear to tertöns in visionary encounters and a focus of guru yoga practice, particularly in the Rimé schools. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition.

 

MYTHOS

SOURCES

Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–1270) was the next major contributor to the mythos. Padmasambhava's Namtar (biography) is Zanglingma (Jeweled Rosary) revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Özer and is in the Rinchen Terdzö terma collection.

 

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, but also for example Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult," in which a much greater role is assigned to the role of Padmasambhava in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.

 

EARLY YEARS

BIRTH

According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Ancient India and in modern times identified with the Swat Valley of South Asia present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the childless local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom, but he left Oḍḍiyāna for northern parts of India.

 

TANTRA

In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the local king's daughter. The king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava.

 

Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the "phowa rainbow body," a very rare type of spiritual realization. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are still believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who reputedly hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery, reached Buddhahood. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.

 

TIBET

SUBJECTION OF LOCAL RELIGIONS

According to Sam van Schaik, from the 12th century on a greater role was assigned to Padmasambhava in the introduction of tantric Buddhism into Tibet:According to earlier histories, Padmasambhava had given some tantric teachings to Tibetans before being forced to leave due to the suspicions of the Tibetan court. But from the twelfth century an alternative story, itself a terma discovery, gave Padmasambhava a much greater role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, and in particular credited him with travelling all over the country to convert the local spirits to Buddhism.According to this enlarged story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), invited the Nalanda University abbot Śāntarakṣita (Tibetan Shiwatso) to Tibet. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye. Demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort.

 

TRANSLATIONS

King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of Tantra; Shantarakshita concentrated on the Sutra-teachings.

 

NYINGMA

Padmasambhava introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

 

He is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition actually comprises several distinct lineages that all trace their origins to Padmasambhava.

 

"Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as "Nga'gyur" " or the "early translation school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.

 

Nyingma maintains the earliest tantric teachings. The Nyingmapa incorporates mysticism and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which has shamanic elements. The group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, though Padmasambhava is regarded as the founder of Samye Gompa, the first monastery in the country. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.

 

BHUTAN

In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. It was built around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where he is said to have meditated in the 8th Century. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.

 

ICONOGRAPHY, MANIFESTATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES

 

ICONOGRAPHY

GENERAL

- He has one face and two hands.

- He is wrathful and smiling.

- He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks.

 

HEAD

- On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has

- Three points symbolizing the three kayas,

- Five colours symbolizing the five kayas,

- A sun and moon symbolizing skilful means and wisdom,

- A vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi,

- A vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.

- His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze.

- He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year old child.

 

SKIN

- His complexion is white with a tinge of red.

 

DRESS

- On his body he wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade.

- On his body he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown.

- He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.

 

HANDS

- In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart.

- His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity,

- In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.

 

KHATVANGA

The khaṭvāńga is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation. It is a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha, the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula, and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta. The iconography is utilized in various Tantric cycles by yogis as symbols to hidden meanings in transmitted practices.

 

- Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort (Mandarava). who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga trident.

- Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé).

- Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

- Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas.

- Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms

- The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.

 

SEAT

- He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

 

SURROUNDING

- All around him, within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors

 

There are further iconographies and meanings in more advanced and secret stages.

 

EIGHT MANIFESTATIONS

Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations (Tib. Guru Tsen Gye) representing different aspects of his being, such as wrath or pacification for example. According to Rigpa Shedra the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma).

 

- Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang (Wylie: gu ru U-rgyan rDo-rje ‘chang, Sanskrit: Guru Uddiyana Vajradhara) The vajra-holder (Skt. Vajradhara), shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.

- Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skrt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

- Guru Pema Gyalpo (Wylie: gu ru pad ma rgyal-po, Skrt: Guru Padmarāja) of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka (the Three Collections of Scripture). He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.

- Guru Pema Jungne (Wylie: pad ma ‘byung-gnas, Skrt: Guru Padmakara) Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold. He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left. He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi, and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shape of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.

- Guru Loden Chokse (Wylie: gu ru blo ldan mchog sred; Skrt: Guru Mativat Vararuci) of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.

- Guru Nyima Ozer (Wylie: gu ru nyi-ma ‘od-zer, Skrt: Guru Suryabhasa or Sūryaraśmi), the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.

- Guru Dorje Drolo, (Wylie: gu ru rDo-rje gro-lod, Skrt: Guru Vajra ?) the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.

- Guru Senge Dradog (Wylie: gu ru seng-ge sgra-sgrogs, Skrt: Guru Simhanāda) of Nalanda University, the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings. He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.

 

Padmasambhava's various Sanskrit names are preserved in mantras such as those found in the Yang gsang rig 'dzin youngs rdzogs kyi blama guru mtshan brgyad bye brag du sgrub pa ye shes bdud rtsi'i sbrang char zhe bya ba

 

ATTRIBUTES

PURE-LAND PARADISE

His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain).

 

SAMANTABHADRA AND SAMANTABHADRI

Padmasambhava said:

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ). My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོ). I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.

 

FIVE WISDOM DAKINS

Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdom Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography, they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.' They were:

 

- Mandarava of Zahor, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body;

- Belwong Kalasiddhi of (north-west) India, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech

- and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas", the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity.

 

PRINCESS SAKYA DEVI FROM NEPAL

On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said:

- In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrasattva Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment.

 

TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ASCRIBED TO PADMASAMBHAVA

 

THE VAJRA GURU MANTRA

The Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava) mantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum is favoured and held in esteem by sadhakas. Like most Sanskritic mantras in Tibet, the Tibetan pronunciation demonstrates dialectic variation and is generally Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. In the Vajrayana traditions, particularly of the Nyingmapa, it is held to be a powerful mantra engendering communion with the Three Vajras of Padmasambhava's mindstream and by his grace, all enlightened beings. In response to Yeshe Tsogyal's request, the Great Master himself explained the meaning of the mantra although there are larger secret meanings too. The 14th century tertön Karma Lingpa has a famous commentary on the mantra.

 

THE SEVEN LINE PRAYER TO PADMASAMBHAVA

The Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is a famous prayer that is recited by many Tibetans daily and is said to contain the most sacred and important teachings of Dzogchen.

 

Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso composed a famous commentary to the Seven Line Prayer called White Lotus. It explains the meanings, which are embedded in many levels and intended to catalyze a process of realization. These hidden teachings are described as ripening and deepening, in time, with study and with contemplation. Tulku Thondup says:

- Enshrining the most sacred prayer to Guru Padmasambhava, White Lotus elucidates its five layers of meaning as revealed by the eminent scholar Ju Mipham. This commentary now makes this treasure, which has been kept secret among the great masters of Tibet for generations, available as a source of blessings and learning for all.

 

There is also a shorter commentary, freely available, by Tulku Thondup himself. There are many other teachings and Termas and widely practiced tantric cycles incorporating the text as well as brief ones such as Terma Revelation of Guru Chöwang.

 

TERMAS

Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders. According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.

 

TANTRIC CYCLES

Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bon which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation.

 

TWENTY-FIVE MAIN DISCIPLES

Twenty-five Main Disciples of Padmasambhava (Tibetan: རྗེ་འབངས་ཉེར་ལྔ, Wylie: rje 'bangs nyer lnga) -also called the disciples of Chimphu - in various lists these include:

 

- King Trisong Detsen (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེའུ་བཏཟན, Wylie: khri srong lde'u btzan)

- Denma Tsémang (Tibetan: ལྡན་མ་རྩེ་མང, Wylie: ldan ma rtse mang)

- Dorje Dudjom of Nanam (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་བདུད་འཇོམ, Wylie: rdo rje bdud 'joms)

- Khyechung Lotsawa (Tibetan: ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ, Wylie: khye'u chung lo tsā ba)

- Gyalwa Changchub of Lasum (Tibetan: ལ་སུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ, Wylie: la sum rgyal ba byang chub)

- Gyalwa Choyang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག་དབྱངས, Wylie: rgyal ba mchog dbyangs)

- Gyalwe Lodro of Dré (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས, Wylie: rgyal ba'i blo gros)

- Jnanakumara of Nyak (Tibetan: གཉགས་ཛཉའ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར, Wylie: gnyags dzny' na ku ma ra)

- Kawa Paltsek (Tibetan: སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས, Wylie: ska ba dpal brtsegs)

- Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Karchen (Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal)

- Konchog Jungné of Langdro (Tibetan: ལང་གྲོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie: lang gro dkon mchog 'byung gnas)

- Lhapal the Sokpo (Tibetan: སོག་པོ་ལྷ་དཔལ, Wylie: sog po lha dpal)

- Namkhai Nyingpo (Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: nam mkha'i snying po)

- Zhang Yeshe De (Tibetan: ཞང་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ, Wylie: zhang ye shes sde)

- Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (Tibetan: ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje)

- Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: dpal gyi seng ge)

- Palgyi Wangchuk (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Wangchuk of Odren (Tibetan: འོ་དྲན་དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: 'o dran dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Yeshe (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: dpal gyi ye shes)

- Rinchen Chok of Ma (Tibetan: རྨ་རིན་ཆེན་མཆོག, Wylie: rma rin chen mchog)

- Sangye Yeshe (Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: sangs rgyas ye shes)

- Shubu Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: ཤུད་བུ་དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: shud bu dpal gyi seng ge)

- Vairotsana, the great translator (Tibetan: བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན, Wylie: bai ro tsa na)

- Yeshe Yang (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱངས, Wylie: ye shes dbyangs)

- Yudra Nyingpo of Gyalmo (Tibetan: ག་ཡུ་སྒྲ་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: g.yu sgra snying po)

 

Also:

- Vimalamitra (Tibetan: དྲུ་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན, Wylie: dru med bshes gnyen)

- Tingdzin Zangpo (Tibetan: ཏིང་འཛིན་བཟང་པོ, Wylie: ting 'dzin bzang po)

  

WIKIPEDIA

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th century Indian Buddhist master. Although there was a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of him apart from helping the construction of the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye, at the behest of Trisong Detsen, and shortly thereafter leaving Tibet due to court intrigues.

 

A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a character of a genera of literature called terma, an emanation of Amitābha that is said to appear to tertöns in visionary encounters and a focus of guru yoga practice, particularly in the Rimé schools. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition.

 

MYTHOS

SOURCES

Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–1270) was the next major contributor to the mythos. Padmasambhava's Namtar (biography) is Zanglingma (Jeweled Rosary) revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Özer and is in the Rinchen Terdzö terma collection.

 

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, but also for example Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult," in which a much greater role is assigned to the role of Padmasambhava in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.

 

EARLY YEARS

BIRTH

According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Ancient India and in modern times identified with the Swat Valley of South Asia present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the childless local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom, but he left Oḍḍiyāna for northern parts of India.

 

TANTRA

In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the local king's daughter. The king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava.

 

Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the "phowa rainbow body," a very rare type of spiritual realization. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are still believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who reputedly hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery, reached Buddhahood. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.

 

TIBET

SUBJECTION OF LOCAL RELIGIONS

According to Sam van Schaik, from the 12th century on a greater role was assigned to Padmasambhava in the introduction of tantric Buddhism into Tibet:According to earlier histories, Padmasambhava had given some tantric teachings to Tibetans before being forced to leave due to the suspicions of the Tibetan court. But from the twelfth century an alternative story, itself a terma discovery, gave Padmasambhava a much greater role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, and in particular credited him with travelling all over the country to convert the local spirits to Buddhism.According to this enlarged story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), invited the Nalanda University abbot Śāntarakṣita (Tibetan Shiwatso) to Tibet. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye. Demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort.

 

TRANSLATIONS

King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of Tantra; Shantarakshita concentrated on the Sutra-teachings.

 

NYINGMA

Padmasambhava introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

 

He is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition actually comprises several distinct lineages that all trace their origins to Padmasambhava.

 

"Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as "Nga'gyur" " or the "early translation school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.

 

Nyingma maintains the earliest tantric teachings. The Nyingmapa incorporates mysticism and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which has shamanic elements. The group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, though Padmasambhava is regarded as the founder of Samye Gompa, the first monastery in the country. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.

 

BHUTAN

In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. It was built around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where he is said to have meditated in the 8th Century. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.

 

ICONOGRAPHY, MANIFESTATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES

 

ICONOGRAPHY

GENERAL

- He has one face and two hands.

- He is wrathful and smiling.

- He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks.

 

HEAD

- On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has

- Three points symbolizing the three kayas,

- Five colours symbolizing the five kayas,

- A sun and moon symbolizing skilful means and wisdom,

- A vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi,

- A vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.

- His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze.

- He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year old child.

 

SKIN

- His complexion is white with a tinge of red.

 

DRESS

- On his body he wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade.

- On his body he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown.

- He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.

 

HANDS

- In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart.

- His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity,

- In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.

 

KHATVANGA

The khaṭvāńga is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation. It is a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha, the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula, and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta. The iconography is utilized in various Tantric cycles by yogis as symbols to hidden meanings in transmitted practices.

 

- Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort (Mandarava). who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga trident.

- Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé).

- Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

- Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas.

- Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms

- The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.

 

SEAT

- He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

 

SURROUNDING

- All around him, within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors

 

There are further iconographies and meanings in more advanced and secret stages.

 

EIGHT MANIFESTATIONS

Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations (Tib. Guru Tsen Gye) representing different aspects of his being, such as wrath or pacification for example. According to Rigpa Shedra the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma).

 

- Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang (Wylie: gu ru U-rgyan rDo-rje ‘chang, Sanskrit: Guru Uddiyana Vajradhara) The vajra-holder (Skt. Vajradhara), shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.

- Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skrt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

- Guru Pema Gyalpo (Wylie: gu ru pad ma rgyal-po, Skrt: Guru Padmarāja) of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka (the Three Collections of Scripture). He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.

- Guru Pema Jungne (Wylie: pad ma ‘byung-gnas, Skrt: Guru Padmakara) Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold. He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left. He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi, and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shape of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.

- Guru Loden Chokse (Wylie: gu ru blo ldan mchog sred; Skrt: Guru Mativat Vararuci) of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.

- Guru Nyima Ozer (Wylie: gu ru nyi-ma ‘od-zer, Skrt: Guru Suryabhasa or Sūryaraśmi), the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.

- Guru Dorje Drolo, (Wylie: gu ru rDo-rje gro-lod, Skrt: Guru Vajra ?) the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.

- Guru Senge Dradog (Wylie: gu ru seng-ge sgra-sgrogs, Skrt: Guru Simhanāda) of Nalanda University, the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings. He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.

 

Padmasambhava's various Sanskrit names are preserved in mantras such as those found in the Yang gsang rig 'dzin youngs rdzogs kyi blama guru mtshan brgyad bye brag du sgrub pa ye shes bdud rtsi'i sbrang char zhe bya ba

 

ATTRIBUTES

PURE-LAND PARADISE

His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain).

 

SAMANTABHADRA AND SAMANTABHADRI

Padmasambhava said:

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ). My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོ). I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.

 

FIVE WISDOM DAKINS

Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdom Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography, they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.' They were:

 

- Mandarava of Zahor, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body;

- Belwong Kalasiddhi of (north-west) India, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech

- and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas", the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity.

 

PRINCESS SAKYA DEVI FROM NEPAL

On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said:

- In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrasattva Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment.

 

TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ASCRIBED TO PADMASAMBHAVA

 

THE VAJRA GURU MANTRA

The Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava) mantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum is favoured and held in esteem by sadhakas. Like most Sanskritic mantras in Tibet, the Tibetan pronunciation demonstrates dialectic variation and is generally Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. In the Vajrayana traditions, particularly of the Nyingmapa, it is held to be a powerful mantra engendering communion with the Three Vajras of Padmasambhava's mindstream and by his grace, all enlightened beings. In response to Yeshe Tsogyal's request, the Great Master himself explained the meaning of the mantra although there are larger secret meanings too. The 14th century tertön Karma Lingpa has a famous commentary on the mantra.

 

THE SEVEN LINE PRAYER TO PADMASAMBHAVA

The Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is a famous prayer that is recited by many Tibetans daily and is said to contain the most sacred and important teachings of Dzogchen.

 

Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso composed a famous commentary to the Seven Line Prayer called White Lotus. It explains the meanings, which are embedded in many levels and intended to catalyze a process of realization. These hidden teachings are described as ripening and deepening, in time, with study and with contemplation. Tulku Thondup says:

- Enshrining the most sacred prayer to Guru Padmasambhava, White Lotus elucidates its five layers of meaning as revealed by the eminent scholar Ju Mipham. This commentary now makes this treasure, which has been kept secret among the great masters of Tibet for generations, available as a source of blessings and learning for all.

 

There is also a shorter commentary, freely available, by Tulku Thondup himself. There are many other teachings and Termas and widely practiced tantric cycles incorporating the text as well as brief ones such as Terma Revelation of Guru Chöwang.

 

TERMAS

Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders. According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.

 

TANTRIC CYCLES

Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bon which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation.

 

TWENTY-FIVE MAIN DISCIPLES

Twenty-five Main Disciples of Padmasambhava (Tibetan: རྗེ་འབངས་ཉེར་ལྔ, Wylie: rje 'bangs nyer lnga) -also called the disciples of Chimphu - in various lists these include:

 

- King Trisong Detsen (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེའུ་བཏཟན, Wylie: khri srong lde'u btzan)

- Denma Tsémang (Tibetan: ལྡན་མ་རྩེ་མང, Wylie: ldan ma rtse mang)

- Dorje Dudjom of Nanam (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་བདུད་འཇོམ, Wylie: rdo rje bdud 'joms)

- Khyechung Lotsawa (Tibetan: ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ, Wylie: khye'u chung lo tsā ba)

- Gyalwa Changchub of Lasum (Tibetan: ལ་སུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ, Wylie: la sum rgyal ba byang chub)

- Gyalwa Choyang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག་དབྱངས, Wylie: rgyal ba mchog dbyangs)

- Gyalwe Lodro of Dré (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས, Wylie: rgyal ba'i blo gros)

- Jnanakumara of Nyak (Tibetan: གཉགས་ཛཉའ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར, Wylie: gnyags dzny' na ku ma ra)

- Kawa Paltsek (Tibetan: སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས, Wylie: ska ba dpal brtsegs)

- Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Karchen (Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal)

- Konchog Jungné of Langdro (Tibetan: ལང་གྲོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie: lang gro dkon mchog 'byung gnas)

- Lhapal the Sokpo (Tibetan: སོག་པོ་ལྷ་དཔལ, Wylie: sog po lha dpal)

- Namkhai Nyingpo (Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: nam mkha'i snying po)

- Zhang Yeshe De (Tibetan: ཞང་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ, Wylie: zhang ye shes sde)

- Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (Tibetan: ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje)

- Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: dpal gyi seng ge)

- Palgyi Wangchuk (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Wangchuk of Odren (Tibetan: འོ་དྲན་དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: 'o dran dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Yeshe (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: dpal gyi ye shes)

- Rinchen Chok of Ma (Tibetan: རྨ་རིན་ཆེན་མཆོག, Wylie: rma rin chen mchog)

- Sangye Yeshe (Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: sangs rgyas ye shes)

- Shubu Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: ཤུད་བུ་དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: shud bu dpal gyi seng ge)

- Vairotsana, the great translator (Tibetan: བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན, Wylie: bai ro tsa na)

- Yeshe Yang (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱངས, Wylie: ye shes dbyangs)

- Yudra Nyingpo of Gyalmo (Tibetan: ག་ཡུ་སྒྲ་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: g.yu sgra snying po)

 

Also:

- Vimalamitra (Tibetan: དྲུ་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན, Wylie: dru med bshes gnyen)

- Tingdzin Zangpo (Tibetan: ཏིང་འཛིན་བཟང་པོ, Wylie: ting 'dzin bzang po)

  

WIKIPEDIA

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th century Indian Buddhist master. Although there was a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of him apart from helping the construction of the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye, at the behest of Trisong Detsen, and shortly thereafter leaving Tibet due to court intrigues.

 

A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a character of a genera of literature called terma, an emanation of Amitābha that is said to appear to tertöns in visionary encounters and a focus of guru yoga practice, particularly in the Rimé schools. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition.

 

MYTHOS

SOURCES

Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–1270) was the next major contributor to the mythos. Padmasambhava's Namtar (biography) is Zanglingma (Jeweled Rosary) revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Özer and is in the Rinchen Terdzö terma collection.

 

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, but also for example Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult," in which a much greater role is assigned to the role of Padmasambhava in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.

 

EARLY YEARS

BIRTH

According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Ancient India and in modern times identified with the Swat Valley of South Asia present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the childless local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom, but he left Oḍḍiyāna for northern parts of India.

 

TANTRA

In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the local king's daughter. The king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava.

 

Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the "phowa rainbow body," a very rare type of spiritual realization. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are still believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who reputedly hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery, reached Buddhahood. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.

 

TIBET

SUBJECTION OF LOCAL RELIGIONS

According to Sam van Schaik, from the 12th century on a greater role was assigned to Padmasambhava in the introduction of tantric Buddhism into Tibet:According to earlier histories, Padmasambhava had given some tantric teachings to Tibetans before being forced to leave due to the suspicions of the Tibetan court. But from the twelfth century an alternative story, itself a terma discovery, gave Padmasambhava a much greater role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, and in particular credited him with travelling all over the country to convert the local spirits to Buddhism.According to this enlarged story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), invited the Nalanda University abbot Śāntarakṣita (Tibetan Shiwatso) to Tibet. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye. Demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort.

 

TRANSLATIONS

King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of Tantra; Shantarakshita concentrated on the Sutra-teachings.

 

NYINGMA

Padmasambhava introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

 

He is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition actually comprises several distinct lineages that all trace their origins to Padmasambhava.

 

"Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as "Nga'gyur" " or the "early translation school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.

 

Nyingma maintains the earliest tantric teachings. The Nyingmapa incorporates mysticism and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which has shamanic elements. The group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, though Padmasambhava is regarded as the founder of Samye Gompa, the first monastery in the country. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.

 

BHUTAN

In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. It was built around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where he is said to have meditated in the 8th Century. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.

 

ICONOGRAPHY, MANIFESTATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES

 

ICONOGRAPHY

GENERAL

- He has one face and two hands.

- He is wrathful and smiling.

- He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks.

 

HEAD

- On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has

- Three points symbolizing the three kayas,

- Five colours symbolizing the five kayas,

- A sun and moon symbolizing skilful means and wisdom,

- A vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi,

- A vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.

- His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze.

- He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year old child.

 

SKIN

- His complexion is white with a tinge of red.

 

DRESS

- On his body he wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade.

- On his body he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown.

- He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.

 

HANDS

- In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart.

- His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity,

- In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.

 

KHATVANGA

The khaṭvāńga is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation. It is a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha, the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula, and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta. The iconography is utilized in various Tantric cycles by yogis as symbols to hidden meanings in transmitted practices.

 

- Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort (Mandarava). who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga trident.

- Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé).

- Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

- Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas.

- Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms

- The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.

 

SEAT

- He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

 

SURROUNDING

- All around him, within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors

 

There are further iconographies and meanings in more advanced and secret stages.

 

EIGHT MANIFESTATIONS

Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations (Tib. Guru Tsen Gye) representing different aspects of his being, such as wrath or pacification for example. According to Rigpa Shedra the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma).

 

- Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang (Wylie: gu ru U-rgyan rDo-rje ‘chang, Sanskrit: Guru Uddiyana Vajradhara) The vajra-holder (Skt. Vajradhara), shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.

- Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skrt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

- Guru Pema Gyalpo (Wylie: gu ru pad ma rgyal-po, Skrt: Guru Padmarāja) of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka (the Three Collections of Scripture). He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.

- Guru Pema Jungne (Wylie: pad ma ‘byung-gnas, Skrt: Guru Padmakara) Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold. He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left. He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi, and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shape of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.

- Guru Loden Chokse (Wylie: gu ru blo ldan mchog sred; Skrt: Guru Mativat Vararuci) of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.

- Guru Nyima Ozer (Wylie: gu ru nyi-ma ‘od-zer, Skrt: Guru Suryabhasa or Sūryaraśmi), the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.

- Guru Dorje Drolo, (Wylie: gu ru rDo-rje gro-lod, Skrt: Guru Vajra ?) the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.

- Guru Senge Dradog (Wylie: gu ru seng-ge sgra-sgrogs, Skrt: Guru Simhanāda) of Nalanda University, the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings. He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.

 

Padmasambhava's various Sanskrit names are preserved in mantras such as those found in the Yang gsang rig 'dzin youngs rdzogs kyi blama guru mtshan brgyad bye brag du sgrub pa ye shes bdud rtsi'i sbrang char zhe bya ba

 

ATTRIBUTES

PURE-LAND PARADISE

His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain).

 

SAMANTABHADRA AND SAMANTABHADRI

Padmasambhava said:

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ). My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོ). I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.

 

FIVE WISDOM DAKINS

Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdom Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography, they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.' They were:

 

- Mandarava of Zahor, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body;

- Belwong Kalasiddhi of (north-west) India, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech

- and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas", the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity.

 

PRINCESS SAKYA DEVI FROM NEPAL

On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said:

- In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrasattva Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment.

 

TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ASCRIBED TO PADMASAMBHAVA

 

THE VAJRA GURU MANTRA

The Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava) mantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum is favoured and held in esteem by sadhakas. Like most Sanskritic mantras in Tibet, the Tibetan pronunciation demonstrates dialectic variation and is generally Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. In the Vajrayana traditions, particularly of the Nyingmapa, it is held to be a powerful mantra engendering communion with the Three Vajras of Padmasambhava's mindstream and by his grace, all enlightened beings. In response to Yeshe Tsogyal's request, the Great Master himself explained the meaning of the mantra although there are larger secret meanings too. The 14th century tertön Karma Lingpa has a famous commentary on the mantra.

 

THE SEVEN LINE PRAYER TO PADMASAMBHAVA

The Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is a famous prayer that is recited by many Tibetans daily and is said to contain the most sacred and important teachings of Dzogchen.

 

Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso composed a famous commentary to the Seven Line Prayer called White Lotus. It explains the meanings, which are embedded in many levels and intended to catalyze a process of realization. These hidden teachings are described as ripening and deepening, in time, with study and with contemplation. Tulku Thondup says:

- Enshrining the most sacred prayer to Guru Padmasambhava, White Lotus elucidates its five layers of meaning as revealed by the eminent scholar Ju Mipham. This commentary now makes this treasure, which has been kept secret among the great masters of Tibet for generations, available as a source of blessings and learning for all.

 

There is also a shorter commentary, freely available, by Tulku Thondup himself. There are many other teachings and Termas and widely practiced tantric cycles incorporating the text as well as brief ones such as Terma Revelation of Guru Chöwang.

 

TERMAS

Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders. According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.

 

TANTRIC CYCLES

Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bon which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation.

 

TWENTY-FIVE MAIN DISCIPLES

Twenty-five Main Disciples of Padmasambhava (Tibetan: རྗེ་འབངས་ཉེར་ལྔ, Wylie: rje 'bangs nyer lnga) -also called the disciples of Chimphu - in various lists these include:

 

- King Trisong Detsen (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེའུ་བཏཟན, Wylie: khri srong lde'u btzan)

- Denma Tsémang (Tibetan: ལྡན་མ་རྩེ་མང, Wylie: ldan ma rtse mang)

- Dorje Dudjom of Nanam (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་བདུད་འཇོམ, Wylie: rdo rje bdud 'joms)

- Khyechung Lotsawa (Tibetan: ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ, Wylie: khye'u chung lo tsā ba)

- Gyalwa Changchub of Lasum (Tibetan: ལ་སུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ, Wylie: la sum rgyal ba byang chub)

- Gyalwa Choyang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག་དབྱངས, Wylie: rgyal ba mchog dbyangs)

- Gyalwe Lodro of Dré (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས, Wylie: rgyal ba'i blo gros)

- Jnanakumara of Nyak (Tibetan: གཉགས་ཛཉའ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར, Wylie: gnyags dzny' na ku ma ra)

- Kawa Paltsek (Tibetan: སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས, Wylie: ska ba dpal brtsegs)

- Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Karchen (Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal)

- Konchog Jungné of Langdro (Tibetan: ལང་གྲོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie: lang gro dkon mchog 'byung gnas)

- Lhapal the Sokpo (Tibetan: སོག་པོ་ལྷ་དཔལ, Wylie: sog po lha dpal)

- Namkhai Nyingpo (Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: nam mkha'i snying po)

- Zhang Yeshe De (Tibetan: ཞང་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ, Wylie: zhang ye shes sde)

- Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (Tibetan: ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje)

- Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: dpal gyi seng ge)

- Palgyi Wangchuk (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Wangchuk of Odren (Tibetan: འོ་དྲན་དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: 'o dran dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Yeshe (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: dpal gyi ye shes)

- Rinchen Chok of Ma (Tibetan: རྨ་རིན་ཆེན་མཆོག, Wylie: rma rin chen mchog)

- Sangye Yeshe (Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: sangs rgyas ye shes)

- Shubu Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: ཤུད་བུ་དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: shud bu dpal gyi seng ge)

- Vairotsana, the great translator (Tibetan: བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན, Wylie: bai ro tsa na)

- Yeshe Yang (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱངས, Wylie: ye shes dbyangs)

- Yudra Nyingpo of Gyalmo (Tibetan: ག་ཡུ་སྒྲ་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: g.yu sgra snying po)

 

Also:

- Vimalamitra (Tibetan: དྲུ་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན, Wylie: dru med bshes gnyen)

- Tingdzin Zangpo (Tibetan: ཏིང་འཛིན་བཟང་པོ, Wylie: ting 'dzin bzang po)

  

WIKIPEDIA

bodyworlds exhibit at the museum of science in philly.

25 life-like posed whole-body plastinates illustrate where in our bodies these organs are positioned and what we are.

The invention of plastination is an aesthetically sensitive method of preserving meticulously dissected anatomical specimens and even entire bodies as permanent, life-like materials for anatomical instruction. The body cells and natural surface structures retain their original forms and are identical to their condition prior to preservation, even at a microscopic level. The specimens are dry and odorless, and remain unchanged for a virtually unlimited amount of time, making them truly accessible. These characteristics lend plastinated specimens inestimable value both for training prospective doctors and for educating non-professionals in the field of medicine.

 

BODY WORLDS and its successor BODY WORLDS 2 focuses on approx. 200 authentic specimens of human anatomy - individual organs, transparent vertical and horizontal slices of the body, and 25 artistically posed, whole-body plastinates. The exhibitions are structured in such a way that visitors can experience them as they would a three-dimensional textbook: anatomy as the foundation of the body is laid out in an educational and elucidating fashion. Visitors can envision how their own bodies are constructed as they walk through the exhibition, starting with the human skeleton and the way muscles are structured, on to the intestines and special specimens on the nerves and blood vessels, all the way to the way a baby develops in the uterus. There are also specimens that show the effects of disease such as a heart attack or cancer.

This globe depicts a map which looks quite different from the current understanding of the terrestrial Earth. At first, I was led to believe it was the Gondwanaland/Laurasia - when all the continents were a single mass of land. But then Africa is separate.

A bit of research using the names of globe led me here - History of the Isle of Pines. It could be a map of an English bookkeeper George Pines who got lost in the Pacific Ocean going towards India in the 1600s.

 

I would be glad if someone could elucidate the real mystery behind this globe. Do let me know if you wish to take a look at other continents.

"It makes your hair stand on end when you reflect on how much time and effort has been expended on the elucidation of the Bible... And what, after centuries or millennia, will in the end have been gained through these exertions? Certainly nothing more than the knowledge that, like all books, the Bible is a book written by men. By men who, because they lived in somewhat different times, were somewhat different from us; who were somewhat simpler than we are, but on the other hand also very much more ignorant; that the Bible is thus a book containing much that is true and much that is false, much that is good and much that is bad. The more an elucidation of the Bible shows it to be a quite ordinary book, the better that elucidation is..."

 

from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's "The Waste Books", published in 2000 by The New York Review of Books (p.127; Book J, 1789-1793).

  

Merry Christmas to One and All!

Lightbox please.

 

My answers to the questions posed to Anna:

 

1) Are you still in school/college/university? Technically yes, I am still a university student, however my thesis is almost complete. So, I am in a transitory period.

2) What are your three favorite books of all time? Why? Blindness (Jose Saramgo) due to its concept which elucidates so much about human nature both in a literal setting and as an allegory. 1984 (George Orwell) for its highly effective portrayal of a dystopia which controls thought. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) Most intense book I ever read. Excellent analysis of the human psyche and morality although I personally disagree with the ending.

3) If you could model your photostream after anyone in Flickr, who would that be? Why? I don't think I can answer this in that I don't try to imitate anyone but I attempt to learn from everyone.

4) What do you miss most from childhood? Being able to know what I want.

5) Greatest fear/s? Losing my memory.

6) Any activity (apart from shopping) which most people like to do while you do not enjoy? Getting drunk. I find it foolish and demeaning. Sorry if that offends anyone...

7) What type of music do you like? Mostly postrock, alternative rock and classical. Some examples of ambience and new age as well.

8) Do you like being in the outdoors? Yes definitely.

Highest Explore Position #369 ~ On September 10th 2008.

 

Prairie Dog - Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent, England - Sunday August 10th 2008.

Click here to see the Larger image

 

Click here to see My most interesting images

 

See more info here ~ www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

 

This image is brought to you by REM...lol... ~ here ~ www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqroT1FZ5Y

 

Yup...apparently it's the end of the world...ney universe as we know it tomorrow, so this may be my last EVER post....lol...:O))

In a 17 mile lab at CERN on the French/Swiss boarder tomorrow, scientists will attempt to discover the Higgs bolson particle ~ see below ~ apparently...as Oasis once said..."some might say"...that in doing so they will open up a black hole into which we will all disappear..So in which case, what are you going to do with your last day on earth tomorrow???

 

The Higgs boson or BEH Mechanism, popularised as the "God Particle", is a hypothetical massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics; it is the only Standard Model particle not yet observed. Experimental observation would elucidate how otherwise massless elementary particles nevertheless manage to construct mass in matter. More specifically, the Higgs boson would explain the difference between the massless photon and the relatively massive W and Z bosons. Elementary particle masses, and the differences between electromagnetism (caused by the photon) and the weak force (caused by the W and Z bosons), are critical to many aspects of the structure of microscopic (and hence macroscopic) matter; thus, if it exists, the Higgs boson is an integral and pervasive component of the material world.

 

As of yet, no experiment has directly detected the existence of the Higgs boson, but this may change as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN produces results. The Higgs mechanism, which gives mass to vector bosons, was theorized in August 1964 by François Englert and Robert Brout ("boson scalaire"), in October of the same year by Peter Higgs, working from the ideas of Philip Anderson, and independently by G. S. Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and T. W. B. Kibble who worked out the results by the spring of 1963.The three papers written by Higgs, Brout, Englert, Guralnik, Hagen, and Kibble were each recognized as milestone papers by Physical Review Letters 50th anniversary celebration. Higgs proposed that the existence of a massive scalar particle could be a test of the theory, a remark added to his Physical Review letter at the suggestion of the referee. Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam were the first to apply the Higgs mechanism to the electroweak symmetry breaking. The electroweak theory predicts a neutral particle whose mass is not far from the W and Z bosons.

 

bodyworlds exhibit at the museum of science in philly.

25 life-like posed whole-body plastinates illustrate where in our bodies these organs are positioned and what we are.

The invention of plastination is an aesthetically sensitive method of preserving meticulously dissected anatomical specimens and even entire bodies as permanent, life-like materials for anatomical instruction. The body cells and natural surface structures retain their original forms and are identical to their condition prior to preservation, even at a microscopic level. The specimens are dry and odorless, and remain unchanged for a virtually unlimited amount of time, making them truly accessible. These characteristics lend plastinated specimens inestimable value both for training prospective doctors and for educating non-professionals in the field of medicine.

 

BODY WORLDS and its successor BODY WORLDS 2 focuses on approx. 200 authentic specimens of human anatomy - individual organs, transparent vertical and horizontal slices of the body, and 25 artistically posed, whole-body plastinates. The exhibitions are structured in such a way that visitors can experience them as they would a three-dimensional textbook: anatomy as the foundation of the body is laid out in an educational and elucidating fashion. Visitors can envision how their own bodies are constructed as they walk through the exhibition, starting with the human skeleton and the way muscles are structured, on to the intestines and special specimens on the nerves and blood vessels, all the way to the way a baby develops in the uterus. There are also specimens that show the effects of disease such as a heart attack or cancer.

Finding empty space in a busy airport early in the morning is very difficult, especially when it is space you want to shoot. But light makes everything possible.

 

#457 on Explore.

 

Newark, USA

2008

 

Arjun Purkayastha • travel & fine art photography •

The bas-relief describes the events concerning the myth of Jason after the recovery of the Golden Fleece in Colchis and the killing of Pelias, uncle of Jason, and usurper of the kingdom of Iolcus. After these events, and after having been expelled from Iolcus, Jason and Medeia settled in Corinth where they are said to have lived happily for ten years. But then Jason, having grown weary of being married to a foreign sorceress, felt ready for a younger and more representative wife. He found her in Glauce, daughter of King Creon of Corinth.

The events described by the images carved on the sarcophagus start from this point of Jason’s tale. The photo details the last three scenes carved on the sarcophagus main side, from left,

- Creusa’s death with Creon looking on, distraught, as his daughter's head bursts into flames;

- Medeia watching her children with a sword at her hand.

- Medeia alights from a chariot drawn by winged serpents with one dead child over her shoulder and the other visible on the floor of the chariot.

This is a well-known iconographic model and all the Medeia’s sarcophagi differ from each other only in small details.

The bas-relief decorating the lid rise shows the four Horai, Seasons. In the photo Autumn and Summer.

  

Medeia myths and the power of the visual “Consolatio”

(Source: Genevieve Gessert, “Myth as Consolatio: Medea on Roman Sarcophagi”)

 

The calamities that characterize Medeia's tale are certainly common to many in general terms - loss, betrayal, death but are so extreme in their details as to provide a vivid model that would be unquestionably worse than any death or loss. This juxtaposition would not only serve to commemorate the deceased in their moment of ideal death, but could also provide some solace for the mourner, performing the task of a visual consolation. As noted by several scholars, similar uses of mythological antitheses abound in funerary inscriptions of the second century AD. Medeia's story simply provides an unequivocal representation of the same sentiments in visual terms.

Imagine a mourner visiting the tomb of a deceased family member buried in a sarcophagus depicting the exploits of Medeia, such as the most complete example described by this sarcophagus. According to the argument presented here, the mythological narrative figures in the process of mourning by providing an image and a story on which to meditate in contemplating the death of a relative. For whereas Medeia overstayed her welcome on this earth and exited in the worst possible way, the deceased person in the sarcophagus went to the next world at the right time without a trail of destruction. The miseries of life, of marriage and children, are given vivid depiction in the episodes of the life of Medeia, and the deceased is certainly beyond all their vicissitudes now (and with any luck never experienced them in this fashion). Furthermore, the mourner is no Jason; the death of a single family member does not decimate the family as Medeia's departure did, and the state and society are still intact, whereas the state of Corinth in the bodies of Creusa and Creon were utterly destroyed.

In combination with the lid decoration, this particular sarcophagus also correlates meaningfully with “consolation” in the idea of the continuity of life and inevitability of death. The use of the narrow frieze of the sarcophagus lid for pictorial decoration was a uniquely Roman innovation, as Paul Zanker has observed, and often contained scenes or motifs intended to elucidate or qualify the casket iconography. Here the Corinthian episodes of Medeia's biography on the casket are paired with a lid depicting the seasons, a motif signifying the inevitable movement of time and the cycles of life: birth, growth, marriage, death. The potent symbolism and emotional effect provided by the mythological narrative clearly had some lasting meaning for the descendants of the deceased.

 

Roman sarcophagus

Height 55 cm; length 210 cm; lid height 2 4cm.

Late Antoninus Pius reign, ca. 150 - 160 AD.

From Porta Maggiore, Rome

Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano

 

A friend asked if I would provide a photo for the cover of his forthcoming CD. He suggested that it could be of something that was not immediately obvious to the viewer. I didn't really have anything in stock that fit the bill, so I grabbed the camera and 50mm macro and went hunting around the yard. It was an interesting exercise and produced some results that I found rather pleasing.

In the end, he opted to go another route, and I ended up with a handful of photos of nothing in particular and with no clear purpose. Still, it was a rather rewarding exercise, artistically. It was rather stimulating to shoot with the purpose of obscuring, rather than elucidating, the subject. If you are even slightly bored with what you have been shooting, I would wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try!

The third week of December 1971 was indeed a very dark time in the country’s history. Events had taken place in rapid succession - half the country had been torn asunder, the second in command and de facto head of the Army had been ridiculed and heckled by junior officers of the same institution, the President’s House had undergone some strafing - not by any real or perceived enemy but by patriots - just to send a message across to its main occupant. The Information Secretary was strongly advised not to announce the President’s new constitution over the radio.

All these messages were well taken. President Yahya was forced to summon Ghulam Mustafa Khar after 1.30 am at night and ask him to request Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to return to Pakistan. He did so realizing the odds. Before leaving Pakistan, Bhutto had agreed with Khar not to take any message from Khar seriously if sent from the President’s House. In Rome, Bhutto wanted a clear proof of the government’s intention to transfer power to him; he asked for a plane sent from Pakistan to fetch him from Rome. Yahya Khan agreed. After that it only remained to prepare and fill in the instruments of succession.

A hardworking and supposedly brilliant official who had worked his way into the provincial and later the central civil service of the country and was then holding the senior rank of Cabinet Secretary was drawing up those very succession instruments. He reportedly opined that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto should be made the President but not the Chief Martial Law Administrator. After taking over both the positions though, Bhutto announced the retirement of several top generals including his predecessor followed up by press releases on the retirement of certain high officers of the navy and air force. He, however, retained his predecessor's Military Secretary and Director General ISI. He then called Dr. Mubashir Hasan and told him he would oversee the country’s civil service and advised him to facilitate the first change. Picking up the phone, Dr. Hasan called Ghulam Ishaq Khan. “This is Dr. Mubashir Hasan. The President has desired that you should immediately report to Karachi as Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.” When the latter pointed out that to do that, he would need to retire as he was then on a 2-year extension, the good doctor told him to do so in the public interest. Khan joined as Governor State Bank on the morning of December 22, 1971 after fulfilling all the necessary formalities. He had been sent almost 900 miles away from Rawalpindi and Islamabad to the not-so-remote Karachi.

Ghulam Mustafa Khar was appointed as Governor and Martial Law Administrator of the Punjab while Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Hayat Muhammed Khan Sherpao and Ghaus Bux Raisani took up the same positions in Sindh, NWFP and Balochstan, respectively. The new and rather brief central cabinet was sworn in on the 24th December comprised of only 12 men including President Bhutto and Vice President Nurul Amin. The ministers were (in that order) J. A. Rahim, Mahmud Ali Kasuri, Justice Faizullah Kundi, Dr. Mubashir Hasan, Shaikh Muhammad Rashid, Raja Tridiv Roy, Malik Meraj Khalid, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Rana Muhammad Hanif, Maulana Kausar Niazi and Abdul Qayyum Khan (the last two were taken up in March and April 1972, respectively). Pirzada was moved from Information to Education when the fall of Dacca was shown on national television and the new Amy Chief Lt. Gen. Gul Hassan Khan complained. Pirzada, however, stuck by his action and called those who criticized it as ostriches. Rafi Raza was named Special Assistant to the President.

M. H. Sufi one of the four civil service advisers to President Yahya Khan was made Cabinet Secretary. M. M. Ahmed was made adviser on foreign loans, while a renowned chartered accountant Feroze Qaiser was inducted as Economic Adviser. S. Ghiasuddin Ahmed continued as Secretary General Defense while the services of Justice A. R. Cornelius the author of the now infamous LFO and the ‘new’ constitution were dispensed with. Some other prominent and early ‘falling of wickets’ entailed Attorney General Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, State Bank of Pakistan Governor S. U. Durrani, Chairman National Press Trust Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Habibullah Khan Khattak and Chairman PIDC M. A. K. Alizai. The latter was succeeded by Said Ahmed, an officer of exceptional merit who had been eased out of PICIC for not giving a loan to a beautiful lady close to President Yahya Khan. Aziz Ahmed was taken out of retirement and made Secretary General of Foreign Affairs while his brother G. Ahmed a former Interior Secretary was taken up as Adviser on Police Reforms. Z. A. Suleri was removed as Editor in Chief of the Pakistan Times – that being one of the National Press Trust newspapers. Thus, the initial team had been installed.

It is necessary to pause here to consider what had been going on in the mind of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vis-à-vis constitutional realities. When Pakistan came into being, constitution making was apparently not high on the list of priorities of our foremost policymakers. The first Constitution of the country that made Pakistan a republic upgrading it from a British Dominion took a whopping nine years entailing three Governors General and three Prime Ministers (actually 5 individuals because Khwaja Nazimuddin held both offices). The first constitution was approved by the Constituent Assembly in 1956 as a joint effort of President Iskander Mirza and Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. After its abrogation in 1958 alongside a declaration of martial law, Ayub Khan first prepared a hurriedly made document in 1960 followed by a proper constitution in 1962. While in comparison to the 1962 constitution that was tailormade to suit the interests of an all-powerful individual, the 1956 constitution had greater merit. Ironically, however, both these constitutions were abrogated by the very persons who had given assent to them namely, Presidents Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan making it imperative to declare them without any good. In hindsight, it is intriguing that Mirza and Ayub did not even wait for their successors to abrogate the instruments that had kept them in power, removing any proof of their legitimacy so to say. General Yahya Khan ruled by the sole support of a flimsy Legal Framework Order and Martial Law Regulations.

At the time when Yahya Khan was relinquishing charge of the office of the President, in the absence of Martial Law there was no document to save it from reverting to the Government of India Act of 1935 read with the Indian Independence Act of 1947. Well into the 25th year of its existence, Pakistan had no legal umbrella to fall back on. Bhutto being a brilliant lawyer and constitutional expert was well aware of this precarious balance in which the country was hanging. For him and his team, constitution making would be the foremost challenge and priority.

Bhutto’s constitutional team including Kasuri and Pirzada, supported by Hayat Sherpao, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Dr. Mubashir Hasan and Rafi Raza. This group also constituted the negotiating team of the government side with the opposition which included certain formidable leaders. Around the first week of March 1972, a basic accord was reached with the NAP-JUI leaders like Khan Abdul Wali Khan the de facto leader of Opposition, Khair Bux Marri, Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, Arbab Sikander Khan Khalil and Maulana Mufti Mehmood. Seasoned politicians from other political parties included Sherbaz Khan Mazari, Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi, Shah Ahmed Noorani, Prof. Ghafoor Ahmed and Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, just to name a few. The Constituent Assembly had enough talent across both sides but was somewhat crippled by a lack of understanding. If Bhutto said it was the night, it became incumbent for Wali Khan to declare it was the day – such a situation usually does not augur well for any agreement let alone one on such a fundamental issue like the constitution. History will nevertheless record that an accord was reached between the two sides on thorny issues not only for the interim constitution in April 1972 but also for the permanent one a year later.

On March 6, 1972 the government and opposition sides agreed on the fundamentals of the interim constitution and incidentally agreed to Martial Law till August 14, 1972. The opposition had erred here; very soon stalwarts like Wali Khan and Bizenjo were under fire for agreeing to a somewhat prolonged Martial Law mainly for the communist or ultra-left elements. Meanwhile, sensing the situation correctly, Bhutto made all his MNAs sign a resolution calling for Martial Law till the 14th August 1972 to consolidate reforms. The stratagem worked! The opposition was forced to approve the Interim constitution on April 21, 1972 to facilitate the lifting of Martial Law four months before the time they had somehow agreed. It was a win-win situation. Pakistan would go in its silver jubilee with a constitution approved by almost every member present. The Supreme Court judgment in the Asma Jilani case declaring Yahya Khan as a usurper but recognizing the need for the Constituent Assembly to play its role proactively may also have expedited the approval of the constitution by exerting pressure on both sides of the house. Bhutto has used Martial Law mainly to retire 1,300 civil servants in a hastily and somewhat erroneously drawn up list and the nationalization of basic and heavy industries. However, that is a topic for another day.

This was also approximately the time when Law Minister Mian Mehmud Ali Kasuri’s honeymoon ended with Bhutto. Being a late entrant to the PPP, Bhutto was a little wary and of late weary of him. It is interesting to recall that M. M. Ahmed and Mehmud Ali Kasuri were the first to call on the new President Bhutto on December 21, 1972. While the first meeting with Ahmed passed most cordially, there were problems during Kasuri’s meeting. The latter wanted to be posted to Lahore as provincial chief executive for the Punjab, but Bhutto somewhat distrusted him and argued that he needed him more in Rawalpindi and Islamabad to help with the constitution making. A couple of days later, he wanted to be Senior Minister, but Bhutto could not supersede J. A. Rahim for a relatively new entrant and so the relationship deteriorated further. While the debate between the presidential and parliamentary forms of government may have something to do with this, it was essentially the distrust between the two men which catalyzed the virtual end of their meaningful relationship. When the interim constitution was approved by the National Assembly, Kasuri was not even in the house. On May 1, 1972 a new cabinet was sworn in excluding him. The same day NAP-JUI governments were installed in NWFP and Balochistan with the additional courtesy of their party governors in both provinces. However, this honeymoon would be over too in mid-February 1973 incidentally following a visit by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi. Meanwhile, Sherpao and Raisani took over as Central (soon to be Federal) Ministers.

Subsequently, the government made it known that they favored a parliamentary type of constitution. This was by and large appreciated by most parties. The constitution negotiating team now spearheaded by the young Abdul Hafeez Pirzada. It was usually a bumpy ride. One of the constitutional proposals agreed by all parties related to a committee of the Senate being empowered to impeach judges of the superior judiciary somewhat akin to the Indian Constitution. As news of this proposal hit the newspapers, Justice Hamoodur Rehman Chief Justice of Supreme Court called Pirzada to tell him that they needed to meet urgently. Pirzada told him he was visiting Lahore soon and would call on him. Rehman stressed the urgency of the matter mentioning that three provincial chief justices were also with him. At the time, there were three high courts in the country for Sindh-Balochistan, Punjab and NWFP.

What followed was a stormy meeting of Pirzada with Justice Hamoodur Rehman, Justice Tufail Ali Abdul Rehman, Justice Sardar Mohammad Iqbal and Justice Ghulam Safdar Shah. Starting the discussion. Tufail Rehman said: “Mr. Minister you want us to be humiliated by politicians and retain our conscience at the same time?” The three stalwarts and leading lights of our judiciary then proceeded to hand in their resignations. The discomfiture of the young though firebrand minister can only be imagined. He beseeched Chief Justice Hamoodur Rehman to make the three provincial heads of the judiciary withdraw their resignation. Rehman said he would do so only if Pirzada used his good offices to prevail upon other political parties to withdraw this proposal. Rising to the occasion, Pirzada did so without even informing his boss Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and saved the government from a colossal embarrassment.

To cut a long story short, the negotiating team soon reported to Dr. Mubashir Hasan the Finance and Economic Affairs Minister that only an accord on financial aspects was pending. Earlier capacity constraints in certain provinces had forced the central government to retain a long list of constitutional responsibilities or subjects in a second Concurrent List meaning they were provincial responsibilities but would be given support by the Federal Government for a period of 12 years until provincial capacity was built.

It may be interesting that the biggest hint to constitution making came not in any legislative forum but in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. President Bhutto went there in early 1972 and expressed that he was a firm believer in provincial autonomy, but he didn’t want the Federal or Central Government to be a widow! He had said it all. As detail after detail of the proposed constitution came out in the open, this position was vindicated further.

The government presented the ingenious proposal for a Council of Common Interests and later the National Finance Commission along with equal representation of all provinces in the Senate, which while empowering the role of the provinces, equally highlighted the role of the Federal Government in inter-provincial coordination.

Dr. Mubashir Hasan was provided highly elucidative and useful reports on each sector of the economy prepared by the Finance Secretary AGN Kazi and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Qamarul Islam. The reports were not in the way they are in nondevelopment (recurrent) or development budget books but more clearly designed to tell the real story. Telling the two gentlemen to leave the two briefs with him, the good doctor began to peruse them with absolute concentration. It appeared to him that NWFP and Balochistan were clearly the poor relatives of Punjab and Sindh as evinced by the figures in front of him. The next day in the meeting with the NAP-JUI leaders he was essentially speaking their language totally disarming them and significantly agreed to give Balochistan the royalty for natural gas against a certain formula. By the time Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to the meeting, the opposition was already convinced of their imperative to agree with the government side. As per a prior agreement with Mubashir, the President announced to not only give royalties for natural gas but petroleum as well. The accord was virtually reached!

Subsequently, the government was itself amazed on its success and wondered why the provincial governments were not more dogmatic in their approach on provincial autonomy. The fact was that Ghulam Faruque who had represented the Central government throughout his long career as first Chairman of PIDC and WAPDA, Commerce Minister and Governor of East Pakistan was the main spokesman and technical guru of the NAP as Finance Minister of NWFP. If Bhutto didn’t want the Federal Government to be a widow, he couldn’t have found a better though inadvertent advocate than Faruque.

Now it only remained to tie up certain loose ends. The Jamaat-i-Islami had representation in the National Assembly but had sworn enmity with the government. With the help of intermediaries, Ghulam Mustafa Khar arranged a very long but secret meeting of Bhutto with Maulana Maudoodi leaving the latter most concerned about his own position within his party. His leaders told him that they couldn’t agree to anything with Bhutto and would amplify their point in a huge public meeting called for the purpose. When Maudoodi told Khar of this, the latter infiltrated his own people in the public meeting creating confusion and encouraging Maudoodi to negotiate with the government. Several references to Islamic provisions in the constitution must have satisfied him and it is possible he may have added some specific articles in this regard.

Then there was a case of a Maulvi from Balochistan who insisting on money for his vote. An annoyed Bhutto said that he would personally give him the money. He called the MNA and threw a bundle of notes in his direction forcing him to go down on his knees and collect the money at the cost of his self-respect. S. M. Zafar has also narrated the poignant story of Justice (Retd) Abdul Hamid, a retired judge of the Peshawar High Court who was staying at the Inter-Continental Hotel and discussing the article on equality and equity with him. In the morning he was found dead from cardiac arrest, but the article was ready for incorporation in the Constitution. Zafar has also spoken of quid pro quo from all sides while framing the constitution.

When the constitutional accord was finally signed on April 12, 1973, the relationship of the government and opposition sides were at its lowest ebb ever, yet they both took the step in the supreme national interest. At the cost of some repetition, the main actors were Bhutto, Pirzada, Rafi Raza, Kausar Niazi, Yahya Bakhtiar, Abdul Qayyum Khan and Major General Jamaldar Khan in government, and Arbab Sikander Khan Khalil, Ghous Bux Bizenjo, Maulana Mufti Mehmood, Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, Sardar Sherbaz Mazari, Ghulam Faruque, Shah Ahmed Noorani and Prof. Ghafoor Ahmed. It was a victory for professionalism and a classic book example on how to develop a mutually shared vision and move along more concrete lines to actually draft and develop the single most important document in the Republic. Although the constitution given formal assent on August 14, 1973, has witnessed two full fledged Martial Laws, and several other extra constitutional actions in the intervening 45 years or so, and has undergone more than a score of amendments, it has truly emerged as the binding force for all the people of Pakistan.

Acknowledgement: Considerable material has been taken in the foregoing from the books authored by Dr. Mubashir Hasan, Rafi Raza, Sherbaz Mazari and several others in addition to television interviews and other evidenced based sources.

Copyright: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi

 

Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th century Indian Buddhist master. Although there was a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of him apart from helping the construction of the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye, at the behest of Trisong Detsen, and shortly thereafter leaving Tibet due to court intrigues.

 

A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a character of a genera of literature called terma, an emanation of Amitābha that is said to appear to tertöns in visionary encounters and a focus of guru yoga practice, particularly in the Rimé schools. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition.

 

MYTHOS

SOURCES

Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–1270) was the next major contributor to the mythos. Padmasambhava's Namtar (biography) is Zanglingma (Jeweled Rosary) revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Özer and is in the Rinchen Terdzö terma collection.

 

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, but also for example Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult," in which a much greater role is assigned to the role of Padmasambhava in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.

 

EARLY YEARS

BIRTH

According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Ancient India and in modern times identified with the Swat Valley of South Asia present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the childless local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom, but he left Oḍḍiyāna for northern parts of India.

 

TANTRA

In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the local king's daughter. The king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava.

 

Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the "phowa rainbow body," a very rare type of spiritual realization. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are still believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who reputedly hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery, reached Buddhahood. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.

 

TIBET

SUBJECTION OF LOCAL RELIGIONS

According to Sam van Schaik, from the 12th century on a greater role was assigned to Padmasambhava in the introduction of tantric Buddhism into Tibet:According to earlier histories, Padmasambhava had given some tantric teachings to Tibetans before being forced to leave due to the suspicions of the Tibetan court. But from the twelfth century an alternative story, itself a terma discovery, gave Padmasambhava a much greater role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, and in particular credited him with travelling all over the country to convert the local spirits to Buddhism.According to this enlarged story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), invited the Nalanda University abbot Śāntarakṣita (Tibetan Shiwatso) to Tibet. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye. Demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort.

 

TRANSLATIONS

King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of Tantra; Shantarakshita concentrated on the Sutra-teachings.

 

NYINGMA

Padmasambhava introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

 

He is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition actually comprises several distinct lineages that all trace their origins to Padmasambhava.

 

"Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as "Nga'gyur" " or the "early translation school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.

 

Nyingma maintains the earliest tantric teachings. The Nyingmapa incorporates mysticism and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which has shamanic elements. The group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, though Padmasambhava is regarded as the founder of Samye Gompa, the first monastery in the country. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.

 

BHUTAN

In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. It was built around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where he is said to have meditated in the 8th Century. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.

 

ICONOGRAPHY, MANIFESTATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES

 

ICONOGRAPHY

GENERAL

- He has one face and two hands.

- He is wrathful and smiling.

- He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks.

 

HEAD

- On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has

- Three points symbolizing the three kayas,

- Five colours symbolizing the five kayas,

- A sun and moon symbolizing skilful means and wisdom,

- A vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi,

- A vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.

- His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze.

- He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year old child.

 

SKIN

- His complexion is white with a tinge of red.

 

DRESS

- On his body he wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade.

- On his body he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown.

- He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.

 

HANDS

- In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart.

- His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity,

- In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.

 

KHATVANGA

The khaṭvāńga is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation. It is a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha, the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula, and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta. The iconography is utilized in various Tantric cycles by yogis as symbols to hidden meanings in transmitted practices.

 

- Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort (Mandarava). who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga trident.

- Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé).

- Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

- Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas.

- Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms

- The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.

 

SEAT

- He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.

 

SURROUNDING

- All around him, within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors

 

There are further iconographies and meanings in more advanced and secret stages.

 

EIGHT MANIFESTATIONS

Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations (Tib. Guru Tsen Gye) representing different aspects of his being, such as wrath or pacification for example. According to Rigpa Shedra the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma).

 

- Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang (Wylie: gu ru U-rgyan rDo-rje ‘chang, Sanskrit: Guru Uddiyana Vajradhara) The vajra-holder (Skt. Vajradhara), shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.

- Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skrt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.

- Guru Pema Gyalpo (Wylie: gu ru pad ma rgyal-po, Skrt: Guru Padmarāja) of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka (the Three Collections of Scripture). He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.

- Guru Pema Jungne (Wylie: pad ma ‘byung-gnas, Skrt: Guru Padmakara) Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold. He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left. He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi, and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shape of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.

- Guru Loden Chokse (Wylie: gu ru blo ldan mchog sred; Skrt: Guru Mativat Vararuci) of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.

- Guru Nyima Ozer (Wylie: gu ru nyi-ma ‘od-zer, Skrt: Guru Suryabhasa or Sūryaraśmi), the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.

- Guru Dorje Drolo, (Wylie: gu ru rDo-rje gro-lod, Skrt: Guru Vajra ?) the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.

- Guru Senge Dradog (Wylie: gu ru seng-ge sgra-sgrogs, Skrt: Guru Simhanāda) of Nalanda University, the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings. He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.

 

Padmasambhava's various Sanskrit names are preserved in mantras such as those found in the Yang gsang rig 'dzin youngs rdzogs kyi blama guru mtshan brgyad bye brag du sgrub pa ye shes bdud rtsi'i sbrang char zhe bya ba

 

ATTRIBUTES

PURE-LAND PARADISE

His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain).

 

SAMANTABHADRA AND SAMANTABHADRI

Padmasambhava said:

My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ). My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོ). I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.

 

FIVE WISDOM DAKINS

Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdom Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography, they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.' They were:

 

- Mandarava of Zahor, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body;

- Belwong Kalasiddhi of (north-west) India, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet;

- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech

- and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas", the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity.

 

PRINCESS SAKYA DEVI FROM NEPAL

On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said:

- In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrasattva Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment.

 

TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ASCRIBED TO PADMASAMBHAVA

 

THE VAJRA GURU MANTRA

The Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava) mantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum is favoured and held in esteem by sadhakas. Like most Sanskritic mantras in Tibet, the Tibetan pronunciation demonstrates dialectic variation and is generally Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. In the Vajrayana traditions, particularly of the Nyingmapa, it is held to be a powerful mantra engendering communion with the Three Vajras of Padmasambhava's mindstream and by his grace, all enlightened beings. In response to Yeshe Tsogyal's request, the Great Master himself explained the meaning of the mantra although there are larger secret meanings too. The 14th century tertön Karma Lingpa has a famous commentary on the mantra.

 

THE SEVEN LINE PRAYER TO PADMASAMBHAVA

The Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is a famous prayer that is recited by many Tibetans daily and is said to contain the most sacred and important teachings of Dzogchen.

 

Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso composed a famous commentary to the Seven Line Prayer called White Lotus. It explains the meanings, which are embedded in many levels and intended to catalyze a process of realization. These hidden teachings are described as ripening and deepening, in time, with study and with contemplation. Tulku Thondup says:

- Enshrining the most sacred prayer to Guru Padmasambhava, White Lotus elucidates its five layers of meaning as revealed by the eminent scholar Ju Mipham. This commentary now makes this treasure, which has been kept secret among the great masters of Tibet for generations, available as a source of blessings and learning for all.

 

There is also a shorter commentary, freely available, by Tulku Thondup himself. There are many other teachings and Termas and widely practiced tantric cycles incorporating the text as well as brief ones such as Terma Revelation of Guru Chöwang.

 

TERMAS

Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders. According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.

 

TANTRIC CYCLES

Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bon which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation.

 

TWENTY-FIVE MAIN DISCIPLES

Twenty-five Main Disciples of Padmasambhava (Tibetan: རྗེ་འབངས་ཉེར་ལྔ, Wylie: rje 'bangs nyer lnga) -also called the disciples of Chimphu - in various lists these include:

 

- King Trisong Detsen (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེའུ་བཏཟན, Wylie: khri srong lde'u btzan)

- Denma Tsémang (Tibetan: ལྡན་མ་རྩེ་མང, Wylie: ldan ma rtse mang)

- Dorje Dudjom of Nanam (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་བདུད་འཇོམ, Wylie: rdo rje bdud 'joms)

- Khyechung Lotsawa (Tibetan: ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ, Wylie: khye'u chung lo tsā ba)

- Gyalwa Changchub of Lasum (Tibetan: ལ་སུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ, Wylie: la sum rgyal ba byang chub)

- Gyalwa Choyang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག་དབྱངས, Wylie: rgyal ba mchog dbyangs)

- Gyalwe Lodro of Dré (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས, Wylie: rgyal ba'i blo gros)

- Jnanakumara of Nyak (Tibetan: གཉགས་ཛཉའ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར, Wylie: gnyags dzny' na ku ma ra)

- Kawa Paltsek (Tibetan: སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས, Wylie: ska ba dpal brtsegs)

- Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Karchen (Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal)

- Konchog Jungné of Langdro (Tibetan: ལང་གྲོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie: lang gro dkon mchog 'byung gnas)

- Lhapal the Sokpo (Tibetan: སོག་པོ་ལྷ་དཔལ, Wylie: sog po lha dpal)

- Namkhai Nyingpo (Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: nam mkha'i snying po)

- Zhang Yeshe De (Tibetan: ཞང་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ, Wylie: zhang ye shes sde)

- Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (Tibetan: ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje)

- Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: dpal gyi seng ge)

- Palgyi Wangchuk (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Wangchuk of Odren (Tibetan: འོ་དྲན་དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: 'o dran dpal gyi dbang phyug)

- Palgyi Yeshe (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: dpal gyi ye shes)

- Rinchen Chok of Ma (Tibetan: རྨ་རིན་ཆེན་མཆོག, Wylie: rma rin chen mchog)

- Sangye Yeshe (Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: sangs rgyas ye shes)

- Shubu Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: ཤུད་བུ་དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: shud bu dpal gyi seng ge)

- Vairotsana, the great translator (Tibetan: བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན, Wylie: bai ro tsa na)

- Yeshe Yang (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱངས, Wylie: ye shes dbyangs)

- Yudra Nyingpo of Gyalmo (Tibetan: ག་ཡུ་སྒྲ་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: g.yu sgra snying po)

 

Also:

- Vimalamitra (Tibetan: དྲུ་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན, Wylie: dru med bshes gnyen)

- Tingdzin Zangpo (Tibetan: ཏིང་འཛིན་བཟང་པོ, Wylie: ting 'dzin bzang po)

  

WIKIPEDIA

The use of the term transcendent unity of religions by Schuon emphasizes the fact that this unity is not to be sought on the level of external forms.

 

Each religion lives within a world of forms and yet is based upon and issues from the formless Essence. It also possesses an esoteric dimension which is in fact concerned with the inner reality above forms and an exoteric dimension which governs, orients and sanctifies the domain of multiplicity and forms within which human beings live and act.

 

The unity of religions can only be found on the level of the formless, the inward, the esoteric. On the exoteric level there can be polite conversation and diplomatic harmony but not unity. As he has said, it is only in the divine stratosphere and not in the human atmosphere that the real harmony and ultimate unity of religions can be sought.

 

Each religion comes from the Absolute and possesses an archetype which determines its earthly reality. Within the universe created by each religion the manifestation of the Supreme Logos is central and "absolute" whereas metaphysically only the Absolute as such is absolute. Nevertheless, the concept of the "relatively absolute", a term often used by Schuon, is indispensable for the understanding of the absoluteness of a religion even in its formal order within its own universe while in reality only the One is Absolute in Itself.

 

Each religion contains within itself the absolute truth and at the same time is a method and means, or upaya, to use the Buddhist term, for the attainment of that truth. As an upaya it is based on opportuneness to save human souls rather than on the Truth as such.

 

To move from the level of religion as opportune truth to the Truth which resides at its heart, to penetrate into the meaning of forms and to reach their Essence, to see beyond the multiplicity of religious forms which come from Heaven and are most precious precisely because they are willed by God to the unity which transcends these forms without destroying them requires a dimension of inwardness, a profound spirituality and a metaphysical knowledge which belong to the esoteric domain properly speaking.

 

As Schuon has written more than once, if ecumenism about which there is so much discourse today is to become anything more than either a tool for diplomacy or an aid to the forces of modernism to secularize religion even further, it must be based on the esoteric perspective. The only legitimate ecumenism is esoteric ecumenism.

 

In fact ideally speaking, only saintly men and women possessing wisdom should and can engage in a serious manner in that enterprise which has come to be known as comparative religion. The works of Schuon are like a gift from Heaven in this crucial enterprise for they have carried out this esoteric ecumenism with a depth and also expansion in the geographic sense to embrace all the major religions of the world providing those who are of a religious nature but who cannot carry out such an enterprise themselves indispensable keys for the understanding in depth of these religions without doing any injustice to any particular religion.

 

Schuon has both elucidated the various religious traditions with unparalleled spiritual sensitivity and metaphysical insight and provided a vision of that perennial religion, the religio perennis, which lies at the heart of each religion.

 

----

 

Seyyes Hossein Nasr: The Essential Frithjof Schuon - Introducing the Writings of Frithjof Schuon (excerpt)

 

bodyworlds exhibit at the museum of science in philly.

25 life-like posed whole-body plastinates illustrate where in our bodies these organs are positioned and what we are.

The invention of plastination is an aesthetically sensitive method of preserving meticulously dissected anatomical specimens and even entire bodies as permanent, life-like materials for anatomical instruction. The body cells and natural surface structures retain their original forms and are identical to their condition prior to preservation, even at a microscopic level. The specimens are dry and odorless, and remain unchanged for a virtually unlimited amount of time, making them truly accessible. These characteristics lend plastinated specimens inestimable value both for training prospective doctors and for educating non-professionals in the field of medicine.

 

BODY WORLDS and its successor BODY WORLDS 2 focuses on approx. 200 authentic specimens of human anatomy - individual organs, transparent vertical and horizontal slices of the body, and 25 artistically posed, whole-body plastinates. The exhibitions are structured in such a way that visitors can experience them as they would a three-dimensional textbook: anatomy as the foundation of the body is laid out in an educational and elucidating fashion. Visitors can envision how their own bodies are constructed as they walk through the exhibition, starting with the human skeleton and the way muscles are structured, on to the intestines and special specimens on the nerves and blood vessels, all the way to the way a baby develops in the uterus. There are also specimens that show the effects of disease such as a heart attack or cancer.

Ružička, Lavoslav (Leopold), Swiss organic chemist of Croatian origin (Vukovar, Sept. 13, 1887 – Mammern, Lake Constance, Sept. 26, 1976). He graduated from the classical gymnasium in Osijek (1906), studied chemistry at the Technical University in Karlsruhe, Germany, where under the supervision of H. Staudinger (future Nobel laureate in chemistry, 1953) he received his doctorate (1910) and remained as an assistant. When in 1912 Staudinger became a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zurich, Ružička followed him there. He obtained Swiss citizenship in 1917, became a Privatdozent in 1918, and in 1923 titular professor. From 1925–26 he worked in Geneva, and from 1926–29 he was professor of organic chemistry at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In 1929 he returned to Zurich as professor and head of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at ETH. His return to Zurich was motivated by the opportunities offered by the Swiss chemical industry, especially the pharmaceutical and fragrance industries, with which he collaborated successfully for many years. Ružička was also offered a chair in Zagreb, but declined due to insufficient research funding at the University of Zagreb.

 

Already as Staudinger’s collaborator, Ružička solved the structure of pyrethrins, insecticides obtained from Dalmatian pyrethrum. After the successful synthesis and structural determination of muscone and civetone, important in the perfume industry, he engaged in the preparation of macrocyclic compounds with large carbon rings. His scientific work on the structure of terpenes and polyterpenes, based on the isoprene rule, led him to the study of steroids. In 1933–34 he elucidated the synthesis and structure of the male sex hormone androsterone. For his research on polymethylenes and higher terpenes he was awarded, together with German chemist A. F. J. Butenandt, the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Because of wartime circumstances, Ružička did not travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony; instead, on January 16, 1940, the Swedish ambassador presented him the prize at a special ceremony at ETH. On that occasion, at the invitation of the Croatian Chemical Society, he came to Zagreb, where on March 16, 1940, he delivered the lecture From Dalmatian Pyrethrum to Sex Hormones. He was then elected honorary member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU), awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zagreb, and became an honorary member of the Croatian Chemical Society, the Croatian Natural Science Society, and the Croatian Medical Association.

 

During World War II Ružička lost several valuable collaborators but sought to fill his laboratory with excellent younger chemists. Among others, he invited V. Prelog, later another Croatian Nobel laureate, to Zurich; Prelog became full professor at ETH in 1950, and in 1957, after Ružička’s retirement, took over as head of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry. Ružička was also an honorary member of Matica hrvatska and was named honorary citizen of Vukovar. He received honorary doctorates from several universities worldwide and was a member of many learned societies and academies. Beyond chemistry, Ružička was deeply engaged in cultivating flowers and alpine plants; he was also interested in painting, especially Dutch 17th-century masters, and donated his collection of artworks to the Kunsthaus in Zurich.

 

Ružička often visited Croatia, where he sought to influence the shaping of scientific policy. Part of his legacy, including personal documents, medals, and his Nobel Prize diploma, is preserved at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU). In 1965 a commemorative plaque was placed on his birthplace in Vukovar; in 1977 it was opened as a memorial museum. The house was destroyed in the 1991 Homeland War, but at the initiative of HAZU and with the support of the Ružička House Foundation it was rebuilt and expanded, and on the 120th anniversary of Ružička’s birth it was handed over to the city of Vukovar. In his honor, since 1978 chemists, chemical engineers, and technologists have organized regular scientific and professional meetings in Vukovar, usually every other year, under the title Ružička’s Days.

 

Citation:

Ružička, Lavoslav. Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition. Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography, 2013–2025. Accessed Aug. 18, 2025. www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/ruzicka-lavoslav.

------------------------

s529b4 10678 EncMediAI 1970-5 Lavoslav (Leopold) Ružička (Vukovar, 13. rujna 1887. – Mammern, Švicarska, 26. rujna 1976.) dobitnik je Nobelove nagrade za kemiju, te je prvi hrvatski dobitnik te nagrade. Nositelj je osam počasnih doktorata (četiri za znanost, dva za medicinu, te po jedan za prirodoslovne znanosti i pravo). Medicinska enciklopedija 5 O-SOK JLZ Zagreb MCMLXX (1970)

 

Lostinsound.org coverage of CoSM Vernal Equinox 3-22-2014

 

Photos by Kyle Rober

Kylerober7@gmail.com

www.fractaltribe.net

 

www.lostinsound.org

www.facebook.com/lostinsoundorg

 

secure.cosm.org/np/clients/cosm/event.jsp?event=1373

www.facebook.com/SacredMirrors

www.facebook.com/events/1413009142275722

  

Andy Reed @ CoSM 3-22-14 www.mixcloud.com/infinitegeometry/live-cosm-the-chapel-of...

____________________

 

Event Schedule:

 

7:30 - Doors Open

8pm - Opening Ceremony with Alex & Allyson

9:30 - Ceremony Ends - Celebration begins

10pm - Dance Music, Live Painters, Fire Performers, etc.

3am - End of the 2014 Vernal Equinox Celebration

  

With your hosts Alex Grey & Allyson Grey:

  

Music Lineup

 

Random Rab

 

Emerging from his own distinct corner of the West Coast electronic music scene, Random Rab offers a powerful and unique contribution to sonic exploration. Often referred to as “The Master of Emotion” his music is patently beautiful and melodic. With diverse influences ranging from trip-hop, classical and Arabic to bass driven compositions, his songs are considered anthemic and timeless. As a multi-instrumentalist and singer, his tracks are organic, uplifting and stand on their own as a distinct genre. Listeners of all types of music can find something they can relate to in this sound. He has toured extensively across North America, including tours with Bassnectar, Shpongle, Beats Antique and headlined several festivals across the country.

 

There is no doubt that Rab understands a multitude of musical styles. He has been the front man of a heavy metal band, toured as a classical trumpet player, played bass in a country music band, was a scratch DJ for a jazz fusion project, was the singer for a rock band in Mexico and has collaborated with countless musicians of all styles. From acoustic performances in the Himalayas to rocking packed clubs in New York, Random Rab has found a way to connect with people of all kinds.

 

With a dedicated fanbase born from the San Francisco underground, Random Rab has become a Burning Man legend known for his sunrise sets that have now become one of his most sought after performances. His current popularity can often be traced to his breakout album, The Elucidation of Sorrow.. This album firmly established him as a recognizable force in the electronic music scene. His 4th album aRose, catapulted him into the state of momentum that is now taking hold internationally. His latest studio effort, Visurreal debuted in the iTunes Top 10 Electronic Charts as well as in the CMJ RPM Top 5 with several #1′s on radio stations across the country.

 

Sometimes performing solo and at other times featuring collaborative musicians, the live experience is focused on a high quality translation of sound that is simultaneously sexy and psychedelic.

 

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: randomrab.com/

SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/random-rab

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/randomrabofficial

  

Govinda

  

Govinda is the alter-ego of Austin based producer/composer Shane Madden. He began studying violin and composition at the age of eight and went on to study classical violin at the University of Texas where he fell in love with electronic music production. It was in Madden’s pursuit of his gypsy roots that he opened his ears to music from around the world. From experiences learning violin with mysterious masters on his journeys across the globe and his passion for modern design and technology, the current sound of Govinda was born.

 

Govinda has played with Thievery Corporation, Tipper, Bassnectar, Shpongle, Cheb I Sabbah, STS9 and many more and been featured on over 25 compilations such as Buddha Bar II, Asian Travels II, and Nirvana Lounge selling a combined 400,000 copies. Govinda has played at numerous festivals throughout North America including Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle, Sea of Dreams, SXSW and more.

 

Govinda's music has been licensed on shows like WB's “Roswell," MTV's “Road Rules,” and Bravo's “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” as well as many independent films.The Govinda live show immerses the audience with a textured atmosphere of exotic, dubby vibrations interwoven with cosmic visual projections, world class dancers and mesmerizing vocals- all to the magic of his live electronics and violin.

 

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: govindamusic.com/

soundcloud.com/govindamusic

www.facebook.com/govindamusic

twitter.com/govindamusic

________________________

 

Kalya Scintilla

 

Traversing the cosmos, gliding across dimensions beyond time and space, Kalya Scintilla brings universal shamanic journeys through his music to planet earth straight from his heart. His music paints sacred soundscapes with world fusion beats from ancient futures hidden amongst our forgotten memories to bring forth lush healing vibrations to activate the dormant codes within us. Infusing his love for nature, tribal healing, sacred geometry, and Hathor wisdom; Kalya is able to birth heart opening crescendos that open doorways into our personal and collective awakening. Audiences across the world have successfully received his musical transmissions enabling his ability to travel and play at festivals across continents. His vision for the future holds his devotional intention to plant more seeds of galactic sound alchemy to be felt and experienced by all.

 

soundcloud.com/kalyascintilla

www.facebook.com/pages/Kalya-Scintilla/121242094567692

kalyascintilla.bandcamp.com/

_____________________

 

Supersillyus

 

Supersillyus (aka Rob Uslan) is a musician and producer based in Allston, MA. He has been tickling minds with his brand of psychedelic electronic music since 2008. His extensively layered soundscapes feature instrumentation ranging from tribal drums, swirling synths, to the occasional marimba solo.

 

Supersillyus' most recent EP Interabang has been downloaded over 5,000 times since it's release October 31, 2013. Over the last several years, Supersillyus has performed his unique brand of psychedelic music with luminaries like Tipper, Hallucinogen, and Ott and showcased at festivals throughout the US and Canada.

  

supersillyus.com/

soundcloud.com/supersillyus

www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/supersillyus-interabang

_____________________

 

Infinite Geometry

 

Infinite Geometry (Andy Reed) has been an audio alchemist for the past 10 years. His main focus has been his visionary art for the past few years (www.facebook.com/infinitegeometryart), but another passion of his has been electronic music.

He is currently based out of Asheville, NC and plays shows occasionally around the southeast US, as well as doing special timeslots in the Vision Lab multi-sensory art dome or early sunrise sets at renegade stages at music festivals.

 

He first began attending electronic events and raves in NYC at age 14, when living in northern NJ. He quickly drew very fond of the subculture that revolves around these highly intelligent and somewhat alien soundscapes. At age 17, he bought belt-drive Numark turntables and a 6 channel mixer from Radioshack. Everyone needs to start somewhere, right? His gear has been updated a lot since those days, having Technic 1210 M5G turntables and a vast collection of vinyl. Most of his recent music is in digital/mp3 format, but he is known from breaking the mold and dropping those warm vibrant analog sounding beats and bass.

 

Over time, he grew a deeply fond love of liquid jazzy drum and bass, in which he still plays regularly at shows now and again. As time progressed, so did his love of different genres. Currently, his sets include multi-genres including psybient downtempo, psydub, templestep, IDM, dreambass, post-dubstep, 2step & future garage, minimal atmospheric dnb, funky tribal house, and many others.

 

soundcloud.com/infinitegeometry

____________________

 

Jon Ohia

CoSM, NYC

 

Psylander

CoSM

 

Space Demon

CoSM

__________________

 

Live Painting

 

Alex Grey & Allyson Grey

 

Joness Jones

www.facebook.com/joness.jones

 

Martin Bridge & Carl Bridge

thebridgebrothers.com

 

Olga Klimova

www.facebook.com/olga.vici.art

 

Paul Crisafi

pcrisafi.pcrisafi.com/

 

Seth Leibowitz

www.facebook.com/sethleibowitz77

 

Adam Psybe

www.facebook.com/Psybe.Visual

  

Visuals

 

Deciduous Pupils

 

As a way to further explore the world of visual arts, Keith Tokarski(Takyon) and Benjamin Cooke(Silent Stream) teamed together in 2012. After performing separately for many years, Takyon and Silent Stream solidified a 2-man visual performance group, Deciduous Pupils. Deciduous Pupils has had the opportunity to perform for a multitude of different talented artists and bands such as Ott , LTJ Bukem , Immortal Technique, Jumbie Art, Abakus, Phutureprimitive, Space Jesus and Lazy Rich…just to name a few. They have performed the visuals for the Disco Biscuits New Year’s run after party, the Silent Disco at Camp Bisco 2013 as well as several other festivals throughout the east coast. With the utmost experience and mastery of their craft, and a focus on creating all original artwork with live improvised performance, Deciduous Pupils is continuing to shock the minds of those around them as they bring the viewers visual perception to a new dimension throughout the East Coast.

 

vimeo:

vimeo.com/70990368

  

Fabric Installation:

WizArt Visions - Olga Klimova

  

Fire Performance:

-Fayzah-Fire

 

Fayzah Fire is a multidisciplinary international performer. Her own “World + Street Styles Dance Method©” blends elements of World Dance styles, Popping, Waving, Hip Hop, & Groove theory. She is an accredited Tribal-Fusion dancer, Fire performer, Argentine Tango dancer, innovator of Tango-Bellydance Fusion, and DJ. She also works with healing arts & trance dance, & is influenced by ocean creatures, (both real and fantasy).

More info: DanceSpiral.com

  

Matalvin's Firewerks

 

Www.facebook.com/matalvin youtu.be/6K995kVyi94

 

Freyja

 

Phantomime

  

Bellydance:

Sarah Jezebel

  

CoSM, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, 46 Deer Hill Road, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site.

 

It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.

 

Foundation by Augustine

The cathedral's first archbishop was St. Augustine of Canterbury, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome. He was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine founded the cathedral in 602 and dedicated it to St. Saviour. Archaeological investigations under the nave floor in 1993 revealed the foundations of the original Saxon cathedral, which had been built across a former Roman road.

 

Augustine also founded the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul outside the city walls. This was later rededicated to St. Augustine himself and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive archbishops. The abbey is part of the World Heritage Site of Canterbury, along with the ancient Church of St. Martin.

 

Later Saxon and Viking periods

A second building, a baptistry or mausoleum, was built on exactly the same axis as the cathedral by Archbishop Cuthbert (740-758) and dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

 

Two centuries later, Oda (941-958) renewed the building, greatly lengthening the nave.

 

During the reforms of Archbishop St. Dunstan (c909-988), a Benedictine abbey named Christ Church Priory was added to the cathedral. But the formal establishment as a monastery seems to date to c.997 and the community only became fully monastic from Lanfranc's time onwards (with monastic constitutions addressed by him to prior Henry). St. Dunstan was buried on the south side of the High Altar.

 

The Saxon cathedral was badly damaged during Danish raids on Canterbury in 1011. The Archbishop, St. Alphege, was held hostage by the raiders and eventually martyred at Greenwich on Apri l9th, 1012, the first of Canterbury's five martyred archbishops. Lyfing (1013–1020) and Aethelnoth (1020–1038) added a western apse as an oratory of St. Mary.

 

Priors of Christ Church Priory included John of Sittingbourne (elected 1222, previously a monk of the priory) and William Chillenden, (elected 1264, previously monk and treasurer of the priory).The monastery was granted the right to elect their own prior if the seat was vacant by the pope, and — from Gregory IX onwards — the right to a free election (though with the archbishop overseeing their choice). Monks of the priory have included Æthelric I, Æthelric II, Walter d'Eynsham, Reginald fitz Jocelin (admitted as a confrater shortly before his death), Nigel de Longchamps and Ernulf. The monks often put forward candidates for Archbishop of Canterbury, either from among their number or outside, since the archbishop was nominally their abbot, but this could lead to clashes with the king and/or pope should they put forward a different man — examples are the elections of Baldwin of Exeter and Thomas Cobham

 

Norman period

 

Image of Thomas Becket from a stained glass window.After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Lanfranc (1070–1077) became the first Norman archbishop. He thoroughly rebuilt the ruined Saxon cathedral in a Norman design based heavily on the Abbey of St. Etienne in Caen, of which he had previously been abbot.[3] The new cathedral was dedicated in 1077.

 

Archbishop St. Anselm (1093–1109) greatly extended the quire to the east to give sufficient space for the monks of the greatly revived monastery. Beneath it he built the large and elaborately decorated crypt, which is the largest of its kind in England.

 

Though named for the 7th century founding archbishop, The Chair of St. Augustine may date from the Norman period. Its first recorded use is in 1205.

 

[edit] Martyrdom of Thomas Becket

 

The Black PrinceA pivotal moment in the history of Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Thomas Becket in the north-east transept on Tuesday 29 December 1170 by knights of King Henry II. The king had frequent conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" The knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his own cathedral. Becket was the second of four Archbishops of Canterbury who were murdered (see also Alphege).

 

Following a disastrous fire of 1174 which destroyed the entire eastern end, William of Sens rebuilt the choir with an important early example of the Early English Gothic design, including high pointed arches, flying buttresses, and rib vaulting. Later, William the Englishman added the Trinity Chapel as a shrine for the relics of St. Thomas the Martyr. The Corona ('crown') Tower was built at the eastern end to contain the relic of the crown of St. Thomas's head which was struck off during his murder. Over time other significant burials took place in this area such as Edward Plantagenet (The 'Black Prince') and King Henry IV.

 

The income from pilgrims (some of whose journeys are famously described in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales") who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the sale of pilgrim badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine.

 

[edit] 12th century monastery

 

The 12th century choir.A curious bird's-eye view of Canterbury Cathedral and its annexed conventual buildings, taken about 1165, is preserved in the Great Psalter in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. As elucidated by Professor Willis, it exhibits the plan of a great Benedictine monastery in the 12th century, and enables us to compare it with that of the 9th as seen at the abbey of Saint Gall. We see in both the same general principles of arrangement, which indeed belong to all Benedictine monasteries, enabling us to determine with precision the disposition of the various buildings, when little more than fragments of the walls exist. From some local reasons, however, the cloister and monastic buildings are placed on the north, instead, as is far more commonly the case, on the south of the church. There is also a separate chapter-house, which is wanting at St Gall.

 

The buildings at Canterbury, as at St Gall, form separate groups. The church forms the nucleus. In immediate contact with this, on the north side, lie the cloister and the group of buildings devoted to the monastic life. Outside of these, to the west and east, are the halls and chambers devoted to the exercise of hospitality, with which every monastery was provided, for the purpose of receiving as guests persons who visited it, whether clergy or laity, travellers, pilgrims or paupers.

  

View from the north west circa 1890-1900 (retouched from a black & white photograph).To the north a large open court divides the monastic from the menial buildings, intentionally placed as remote as possible from the conventual buildings proper, the stables, granaries, barn, bakehouse, brewhouse, laundries, etc., inhabited by the lay servants of the establishment. At the greatest possible distance from the church, beyond the precinct of the convent, is the eleemosynary department. The almonry for the relief of the poor, with a great hall annexed, forms the paupers' hospitium.

 

The most important group of buildings is naturally that devoted to monastic life. This includes two Cloisters, the great cloister surrounded by the buildings essentially connected with the daily life of the monks,---the church to the south, the refectory or frater-house here as always on the side opposite to the church, and farthest removed from it, that no sound or smell of eating might penetrate its sacred precincts, to the east the dormitory, raised on a vaulted undercroft, and the chapter-house adjacent, and the lodgings of the cellarer to the west. To this officer was committed the provision of the monks' daily food, as well as that of the guests. He was, therefore, appropriately lodged in the immediate vicinity of the refectory and kitchen, and close to the guest-hall. A passage under the dormitory leads eastwards to the smaller or infirmary cloister, appropriated to the sick and infirm monks.

 

Eastward of this cloister extend the hall and chapel of the infirmary, resembling in form and arrangement the nave and chancel of an aisled church. Beneath the dormitory, looking out into the green court or herbarium, lies the "pisalis" or "calefactory," the common room of the monks. At its north-east corner access was given from the dormitory to the necessarium, a portentous edifice in the form of a Norman hall, 145 ft (44 m) long by 25 broad (44.2 m × 7.6 m), containing fifty-five seats. It was, in common with all such offices in ancient monasteries, constructed with the most careful regard to cleanliness and health, a stream of water running through it from end to end.

 

A second smaller dormitory runs from east to west for the accommodation of the conventual officers, who were bound to sleep in the dormitory. Close to the refectory, but outside the cloisters, are the domestic offices connected with it: to the north, the kitchen, 47 ft (14 m) square (200 m2), surmounted by a lofty pyramidal roof, and the kitchen court; to the west, the butteries, pantries, etc. The infirmary had a small kitchen of its own. Opposite the refectory door in the cloister are two lavatories, an invariable adjunct to a monastic dining-hall, at which the monks washed before and after taking food.

 

The buildings devoted to hospitality were divided into three groups. The prior's group "entered at the south-east angle of the green court, placed near the most sacred part of the cathedral, as befitting the distinguished ecclesiastics or nobility who were assigned to him." The cellarer's buildings were near the west end of the nave, in which ordinary visitors of the middle class were hospitably entertained. The inferior pilgrims and paupers were relegated to the north hall or almonry, just within the gate, as far as possible from the other two.

  

Plan of Canterbury Cathedral showing the richly complicated ribbing of the Perpendicular vaulting in the nave and transepts.14th-16th centuries

Prior Thomas Chillenden (1390–1410) rebuilt the nave in the Perpendicular style of English Gothic, but left the Norman and Early English east end in place.

 

Dissolution of the monasteries

 

The Norman north west tower prior to demolition (coloured from an engraving, 1821).The cathedral ceased to be an abbey during the Dissolution of the Monasteries when all religious houses were suppressed. Canterbury surrendered in March 1539, and reverted to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'. The New Foundation came into being on 8 April 1541.

 

In 1688, the joiner Roger Davis, citizen of London, removed the 13th century misericords and replaced them with two rows of his own work on each side of the choir. Some of Davis's misericords have a distinctly medieval flavour and he may have copied some of the original designs. When Sir George Gilbert Scott performed his renovations in the 19th century, he ripped out the front row of Davis misericords, replacing them with his own designs, which themselves seem to contain many copies of the misericords at Gloucester Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral and New College, Oxford.

 

[edit] 18th century to present

The original Norman northwest tower was demolished in the late 18th century due to structural concerns. It was replaced during the 1830s with a Perpendicular style twin of the southwest tower, currently known as the 'Arundel Tower'. This was the last major structural alteration to the cathedral to be made.

 

The Romanesque monastic dormitory ruins were replaced with a Neo-Gothic Library and Archives building in the 19th century. This building was later destroyed by a high-explosive bomb in the Second World War, which had been aimed at the cathedral itself but missed by yards, and was rebuilt in similar style several years later.

 

The cathedral is currently sponsoring a major fundraising drive to raise a minimum of £50 million to fund restoration. The cathedral is the Regimental Church of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

  

Icon of the Melanesian Martyrs at Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral Appeal

In 2006, a new fundraising appeal to raise £50 million was launched to much media attention under the dramatic banner Save Canterbury Cathedral.

 

The Canterbury Cathedral Appeal was launched to protect and enhance Canterbury Cathedral's future as a religious, heritage and cultural centre. Every five years the cathedral carries out a major structural review. The last so-called Quinquennial made it very clear that a combination of centuries of weathering, pollution and constant use had taken its toll on the building and there were some serious problems at Canterbury Cathedral that needed urgent action.

 

Much of the cathedral's stonework is damaged and crumbling, the roofs are leaking and much of the stained glass is badly corroded. It is thought that if action is not taken now, the rate of decay and damage being inflicted on the building will increase dramatically with potentially disastrous results, including closure of large sections of the cathedral in order to guarantee the safety of the million plus worshippers, pilgrims and tourists who visit the cathedral every year.

 

The closure of parts of the cathedral would be seen as a significant loss of part of Britain's architectural heritage, and a huge limitation on the activities and services currently provided by the cathedral.

 

As well as restoring much of the historic beauty of the cathedral, the appeal aims to fund enhancements to visitor facilities and investment to build on the cathedral's significant musical tradition.

 

By November 2008, the current appeal had raised more than £9 million. Previous major appeals were run in the 1950s and 1970s.

 

In the summer of 2009, stones in the South West Transept were discovered to have cracked around several iron braces surrounding the Great South Window. The cracks are presumed to be the result of the metal expanding and contracting in hot and cold weather, and have severely compromised the structure of the window. The transept was immediately closed, in case the window were to collapse, while scaffolding was erected, and the area immediately in front of the inside of the window was closed off and covered, to maintain access via the south door beneath it. This area was given restoration priority immediately after the structural damage was discovered.

 

The Foundation is the authorised staffing establishment of the cathedral, few of whom are clergy. The head of the cathedral is the dean, currently the Very Reverend Robert Willis, who is assisted by a chapter of 24 canons, four of whom are residentiary, the others being honorary appointments of senior clergy in the diocese. There are also a number of lay canons who altogether form the greater chapter which has the legal responsibility both for the cathedral itself and also for the formal election of an archbishop when there is a vacancy-in-see. By English law and custom they may only elect the person who has been nominated by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. The Foundation also includes the choristers, lay clerks, organists, King's Scholars, the Six Preachers and a range of other officers; some of these posts are moribund, such as that of the cathedral barber. The cathedral has a full-time work force of 250 making it one of the largest employers in the district.

  

Images of the evangelists: Matthew (man), Mark (lion), Luke (ox), John (eagle).

 

A translation (elucidation) of the inscription under the mosaic would be appreciated.

 

DSCN4350 Anx2 2015-02-18 Q90 0.5k-2k

red broken montaneous labyrinth

 

thebass.org/art/haegue-yang/

HAEGUE YANG

IN THE CONE OF UNCERTAINTY

 

NOV 2,2019-APR 5,2020

 

In the Cone of Uncertainty foregrounds Haegue Yang’s (b. 1971, Seoul) consistent curiosity about the world and tireless experimentation with materializing the complexity of identities in flux. Living between Seoul and Berlin, Yang employs industrially produced quotidian items, digital processes, and labor-intensive craft techniques. She mobilizes and enmeshes complex, often personal, histories and realities vis-à-vis sensual and immersive works by interweaving narrative with form. Often evoking performative, sonic and atmospheric perceptions with heat, wind and chiming bells, Yang’s environments appear familiar, yet engender bewildering experiences of time and place.

 

The exhibition presents a selection of Yang’s oeuvre spanning the last decade – including window blind installations, anthropomorphic sculptures, light sculptures, and mural-like graphic wallpaper – taking its title from an expression of the South Florida vernacular, that describes the predicted path of hurricanes. Alluding to our eagerness and desperation to track the unstable and ever-evolving future, this exhibition addresses current anxieties about climate change, overpopulation and resource scarcity. Framing this discourse within a broader consideration of movement, displacement and migration, the exhibition contextualizes contemporary concerns through a trans-historical and philosophical meditation of the self.

 

Given its location in Miami Beach, The Bass is a particularly resonant site to present Yang’s work, considering that over fifty percent[1] of the population in Miami-Dade County is born outside of the United States, and it is a geographical and metaphorical gateway to Latin America. Yang has been commissioned by the museum to conceive a site-specific wallpaper in the staircase that connects the exhibition spaces across The Bass’ two floors. This wallpaper will be applied to both transparent and opaque surfaces to accompany the ascending and descending path of visitors within the exhibition. Informed by research about Miami Beach’s climatically-precarious setting, the wallpaper, titled Coordinates of Speculative Solidarity (2019), will play with meteorological infographics and diagrams as vehicles for abstraction. Interested in how severe weather creates unusual access to negotiations of belonging and community, as well as the human urge to predict catastrophic circumstances, the work reflects a geographic commonality that unconsciously binds people together through a shared determination to face a challenge and react in solidarity.

 

Yang’s exhibition encompasses galleries on both the first and second floors of the museum and exemplifies an array of Yang’s formally, conceptually ambitious and rigorous body of work. Considered an important ‘Light Sculpture’ work and one of the last made in the series, Strange Fruit (2012-13) occupies one of the first spaces in the exhibition. The group of anthropomorphic sculptures take their title from Jewish-American Abel Meeropol’s poem famously vocalized by Billie Holiday in 1939. Hanging string lights dangling from metal clothing racks intertwined with colorfully painted papier-mâché bowls and hands that hold plants resonate with the poem’s subject matter. The work reflects a recurring interest within Yang’s practice, illuminating unlikely, less-known connections throughout history and elucidating asymmetrical relationships among figures of the past. In the story of Strange Fruit, the point of interest is in a poem about the horrors and tragedy of lynching of African-Americans in the American South born from the empathies of a Jewish man and member of the Communist party. Yang’s interests are filtered through different geopolitical spheres with a keen concentration in collapsing time and place, unlike today’s compartmentalized diasporic studies.

 

Central to In the Cone of Uncertainty is the daring juxtaposition of two major large-scale installations made of venetian blinds. Yearning Melancholy Red and Red Broken Mountainous Labyrinth are similar in that they are both from 2008, a year of significant development for Yang, and their use of the color red: one consists of red blinds, while the other features white blinds colored by red light. With its labyrinthine structure, Red Broken Mountainous Labyrinth bears a story of the chance encounter between Korean revolutionary Kim San (1905-1938) and American journalist Nym Wales (1907-1997), without which a chapter of Korean history would not survive to this day. Yearning Melancholy Red references the seemingly apolitical childhood of French writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras (1914-1996). While living in French Indochina (present-day Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos), Duras and her family experienced a type of double isolation in material and moral poverty, by neither belonging to the native communities nor to the French colonizers, embodying the potentiality for her later political engagement. Despite their divergent subject matter, both works continue to envelop an interest in viewing histories from different perspectives and the unexpected connections that arise. By staging the two works together, what remains is Yang’s compelling constellation of blinds, choreographed moving lights, paradoxical pairings of sensorial devices – fans and infrared heaters – and our physical presence in an intensely charged field of unspoken narratives.

 

A third space of the exhibition will feature work from Yang’s signature ‘Sonic Sculpture’ series titled, Boxing Ballet (2013/2015). The work offers Yang’s translation of Oskar Schlemmmer’s Triadic Ballet (1922), transforming the historical lineage of time-based performance into spatial, sculptural and sensorial abstraction. Through elements of movement and sound, Yang develops an installation with a relationship to the Western Avant-Garde, investigating their understanding in the human body, movement and figuration.

 

Observing hidden structures to reimagine a possible community, Yang addresses themes that recur in her works such as migration, diasporas and history writing. Works presented in In the Cone of Uncertainty offer a substantial view into Yang’s rich artistic language, including her use of bodily experience as a means of evoking history and memory.

 

Haegue Yang lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Seoul, South Korea. She is a Professor at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Yang has participated in major international exhibitions including the 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018), La Biennale de Montréal (2016), the 12th Sharjah Biennial (2015), the 9th Taipei Biennial (2014), dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel (2012) and the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) as the South Korean representative.

 

Recipient of the 2018 Wolfgang Hahn Prize, she held a survey exhibition titled ETA at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne in the same year, which displayed over 120 works of Yang from 1994-2018. Her recent solo exhibitions include Tracing Movement, South London Gallery (2019); Chronotopic Traverses, La Panacée-MoCo, Montpellier (2018); Tightrope Walking and Its Wordless Shadow, La Triennale di Milano (2018); Triple Vita Nestings, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, which travelled from the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2018); VIP’s Union, Kunsthaus Graz (2017); Silo of Silence – Clicked Core, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017); Lingering Nous, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Quasi-Pagan Serial, Hamburger Kunsthalle (2016); Come Shower or Shine, It Is Equally Blissful, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); and Shooting the Elephant 象 Thinking the Elephant, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015). Forthcoming projects include the Museum of Modern Art (October 2019), Tate St. Ives (May 2020) and Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto (2020).

 

Yang’s work is included in permanent collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; M+, Hong Kong, China; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, South Korea; Tate Modern, London, UK; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; and The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA. Her work has been the subject of numerous monographs, such as Haegue Yang: Anthology 2006–2018: Tightrope Walking and Its Wordless Shadow (2019); Haegue Yang: ETA 1994–2018 (2018); Haegue Yang – VIP’s Union (2017); and Haegue Yang: Family of Equivocations (2013).

This is just a great old dataset from 1995 that I knew I had to try once I spotted it. There are no less than 8 separate filters available to play around with and half of them also have offset data available so that you can easily clean up seams and other artifacts.

 

I definitely recommend this to anyone who simply enjoys processing astro images. It can easily be found in the HLA by searching for HD164740. Expand the search radius and there are some more images you might think of including.

 

I am going to try a second version which will hopefully provide a view with less black squares but there are less filters to choose from so it may not work out so well.

 

A HubbleSite article on this is available here. One of the press release images is annotated which is very useful for understanding what is being presented.

 

Colors are roughly represented by the following list. I used f673n on a 55% opacity luminosity layer to elucidate further details and calm down the intensity of the brightest region a little.

 

Red: f814w + f673n + f658n

Green: f656n + f547m

Blue: f502n + f487n

 

North is NOT up. It is 55.7° clockwise from up.

Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

 

Text description on Wikimedia Commons is:

The western part of Colwick marshalling yard 1956

Ben Brooksbank

Colwick Yard Complex. View [probably] WNW, to the western part of the vast ex-LNER Colwick Yards and towards Gedling etc. on the Nottingham Avoiding Line. The signalbox is [probably] Locomotive Junction, the great Locomotive Depot, with an allocation of over 200 engines is off to the left. [It was a very difficult complex to access from public roads. My car is in the foreground, and how I got up so high is a mystery to me. Better elucidation by someone else would be welcome]. Fifty years ago, this was a very major railway centre, dealing with an immense freight traffic, especially coal, but all has long since gone in the modern age.

Number 13 for 52 in 2016 : Danger.

 

One of two signs by the little railway in Poole Park.

For the elucidation of the same folk with prams full of bread feeding the geese next to the sign that says DO NOT FEED THE GEESE.

Sarcophagus' frieze depicting the myth of Jason and Medea in Corinth. The bas-relief describes the events concerning the myth of Jason after the recovery of the Golden Fleece in Colchis and the killing of Pelias, uncle of Jason, and usurper of the kingdom of Iolcus. After these events, and after having been expelled from Iolcus, Jason and Medeia settled in Corinth where they are said to have lived happily for ten years. But then Jason, having grown weary of being married to a foreign sorceress, felt ready for a younger and more representative wife. He found her in Glauce, daughter of King Creon of Corinth.

The events described by the images carved on the sarcophagus start from this point of Jason’s tale. They are arranged in five episodes. In the first, Medeia's children (bearing the poisoned gifts) approach an enthroned Creusa, who is surrounded by male and female attendants in her bridal chamber. The beardless figure on the far left has often been identified as Jason. In the second scene Jason is portrayed as a handsome hunter with a hunt companion. In the third, Creusa’s death is represented; Creon looks on, distraught, as his daughter's head bursts into flames. Next, Medeia watches her children holding a sword at her hand. Finally on the far right, Medeia alights from a chariot drawn by winged serpents with one dead child over her shoulder and the other visible on the floor of the chariot.

This is a well-known iconographic model and all the Medeia’s sarcophagi differ from each other only in small details.

 

Medeia myths and the power of the visual “consolatio”

(Source: Genevieve Gessert, “Myth as Consolatio: Medea on Roman Sarcophagi”)

 

The calamities that characterize Medeia's tale are certainly common to many in general terms - loss, betrayal, death but are so extreme in their details as to provide a vivid model that would be unquestionably worse than any death or loss. This juxtaposition would not only serve to commemorate the deceased in their moment of ideal death, but could also provide some solace for the mourner, performing the task of a visual consolation. As noted by several scholars, similar uses of mythological antitheses abound in funerary inscriptions of the second century AD. Medeia's story simply provides an unequivocal representation of the same sentiments in visual terms.

Imagine a mourner visiting the tomb of a deceased family member buried in a sarcophagus depicting the exploits of Medeia, such as the most complete example described by this sarcophagus. According to the argument presented here, the mythological narrative figures in the process of mourning by providing an image and a story on which to meditate in contemplating the death of a relative. For whereas Medeia overstayed her welcome on this earth and exited in the worst possible way, the deceased person in the sarcophagus went to the next world at the right time without a trail of destruction. The miseries of life, of marriage and children, are given vivid depiction in the episodes of the life of Medeia, and the deceased is certainly beyond all their vicissitudes now (and with any luck never experienced them in this fashion). Furthermore, the mourner is no Jason; the death of a single family member does not decimate the family as Medeia's departure did, and the state and society are still intact, whereas the state of Corinth in the bodies of Creusa and Creon were utterly destroyed.

In combination with the lid decoration, this particular sarcophagus also correlates meaningfully with “consolation” in the idea of the continuity of life and inevitability of death. The use of the narrow frieze of the sarcophagus lid for pictorial decoration was a uniquely Roman innovation, as Paul Zanker has observed, and often contained scenes or motifs intended to elucidate or qualify the casket iconography. Here the Corinthian episodes of Medeia's biography on the casket are paired with a lid depicting the seasons, a motif signifying the inevitable movement of time and the cycles of life: birth, growth, marriage, death. The potent symbolism and emotional effect provided by the mythological narrative clearly had some lasting meaning for the descendants of the deceased.

 

Roman Sarcophagus, 140-150 AD

Berlin, Altes Museum

1949 Bartlesville Pirates

Taken in Late Season

 

Back Row: Leroy Mehan, Bill Paine, Dean Jongewaard, Bob Pinard, Jerry Dahms and Bob Wheeler.

 

Middle Row: Trusten Scotten, Rolf Moeller, Cal Frazer, Dick Drury, Ed Wolfe, Kyle Bowers.

 

Front Row: Ed McLish, Bill Herring, Ted Guillic, Stan Miller, Harry Neighbors and Rufus Medford-Business Manager.

Trusten Scotten Photo: Players identified by Trusten

 

Note: There will be additions to this description for another week or so. Thus, you are encouraged to take another peek or two at it

 

First update to the July 12-18 Flash Report

 

All members of the 1949 Bartlesville Pirates. (last, first and middle names)

 

Note: All the comments regarding any player are by necessity, brief. One thing to keep in mind is that Tedd Gullic, the Bartlesville manager, had a disdain for players from California. The Pirates would sign and send them his way and he immediately was looking for a way to get rid of them. That story was told me by many former players from the Golden Gate State that covered his tenure as manager from 1949 through 1951. Gullic reasoned the California boys were soft and wouldn’t do what it took to win.

 

When starting to write this update segment I didn’t know that one of the members of this team died recently. Not even the “keepers” of baseball players deaths knew about it since not many people ever knew that the fellow played professional baseball. If you go to the last name on this list of names you can read of his passing in March of 2015. He was another of the former KOM leaguers who had a short career and was amazed to learn anyone knew anything about it.

•

 

Bagley Walter George—Played basketball for UCLA in 1952. but didn’t earn a letter—Received his B. A. in Physical Education that same year. Born in 1924 and entered the military in 1943. When he went for his induction physical he weighed 114 pounds. Died in Burbank, CA in 2011. If you doubt me read this: wwii-army.mooseroots.com/l/8169475/Walter-G-Bagley

Died in Burbank, CA in 2011.

Barton Samuel Lyman—Died in 2014 in Bakersfield, CA. This is his obituary: www.bakersfield.com/obituaries/2014/01/26/samuel-lyman-ba...

Bowers Eugene Kyle—The never found guy

Boxell Robert Dale—Living in Newburgh, IN

Boyd Kenneth Lawson—Lives on farm outside Tulia, TX

Bradshaw Hugh Raney—Died in Oak Island, NC in 2001

Briggs Forrest Burton—Died in Everett, WA in 2004. Loved to either call me and talk a long time or write voluminous letters. Kind of like the bad traits possessed by Yours truly.

Catalano Salvatore Raymond—Died in 1980 in Brooklyn, NY. He loved Bartlesville and enjoyed dressing up in cowboy attire. I have photos of him. He was no cowboy.

Chandler Troy "Tom" C.—Long time coach at Texas A & M and refused to give Nolan Ryan a baseball scholarship. He also managed and played for the legendary Alpine Cowboys semi-pro team. He died in 2001 in Bryan, TX.

Closs Charles "Bud" Henry—Died in Baytown, TX in 2006. One of the top pitchers in KOM for Miami, OK in 1951. Was a close friend of big leaguer, Bob Skinner after they met during the Korean War and played for the San Diego Devil Dogs Marine team.

Comer Jr. Frank Darcey—Still living in Butler, PA when last contacted.

Craig, William Harris—Died in 1999 in Washington, PA

Cronjager William Henry—Wasn’t much of a success on the baseball front but had a distinguished career in the entertainment industry. Read this instead of taking my word for it. www.imdb.com/name/nm0188818/bio His birth and death information is in the URL

Dahms Gerald Conrad—His older brother was Tom Dahms. Read this citation: www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am... He was born and still lives in San Diego.

Drury George Richard—Was a native of Pittsburgh, PA. Signed by the Pirates and was the KOM batting champion in 1949 nosing out Mickey Mantle. He died in 2009 in S. Charleston, WVA or Dunbar—all the same difference.

Frazer Calvin Coolidge—Another guy named after a president. Cal was from Squantum, Mass. He died in Sacramento, CA in 1994.

Garner James Fred Thomas—He was born in Tulsa, OK and later lived in Shreveport, LA where he was a bail bondsman. At last check he was still living there.

Gimler William Breese—He passed away in 2012 in Monroe, LA.

Grove Donald E.—Died in 2003 in York, PA

Gullic Tedd Jasper—Gullic had a long career in baseball. Read as much of the following as it takes to get that message across. www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am...

Haines Donn Vaughn—He is one of the few men in KOM history to spend all or parts of four years with the same team. This Columbus, OH native died in 2000 in Franklin, Ohio.

Herring William Presley—He was the nephew of former big leaguer Art Herring. To learn more about Bill’s uncle than you would ever want to know check this out: www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am... Bill died in 1993 in Rancho Cordova, CA. He was born in Altus, Oklahoma.

Huff Neil Vincent—He was one of the many young men signed out of Long Beach, CA Poly High School, many of which wound up in the KOM league. He died in 2003 in Las Vegas. NV.

Iacovelli Jr. Carl J.—Died in 2010 in Glen Mills, PA

JansenUdo Helmuth—Born in Little Rock, AR he now lives in Bentonville same state. He played in the North Central Kansas Baseball League of America in early 1949 after having played with Little Rock of the Southern Association during WWII. (Actually, the year was 1944). He was one of the leading hitters in the KOM, in 1949, seeing limited playing time. He and Mickey Mantle both hit .313. Going to the 4th digit Mantle finished ahead of him.

Jongewaard Dean A.—His younger brother, Roger, stole the show in the family when it came to baseball. Here are some citations for Roger who signed some big name players such as Ken Griffey Jr.: www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am... Dean was another of the players signed out of Long Beach, CA and now resides in that state at Santa Anal.

Maropis Peter S.—He is the next to last former KOM leaguer to pay a visit to where I live. He resides Burgettstown, PA and his claim to fame was being the runner up in hitting to Mickey Mantle in 1950 while playing for the Hutchinson, KS Elks.

McLish Edward Harlan—This guy was a good pitcher in his own right but took a backseat in recognition to his older brother Calvin. Here is a link to the guy with all the names. You can spend as much time reading about Ed’s brother as you like: www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am... Ed died in Harwood, TX in 2012.

Mehan James Leroy—He lives in Artesia, CA but was born in Chandler, OK. That fact led to a conversation that he grew up going to a church there where I preached about three decades later. Mehan is the only former KOM leaguer, of whom I’m aware, who belonged to the same denomination as Yours truly.

Miller Stanley A.—He was born in Vallejo, CA but when we last spoke was living in Phoenix, Arizona and still serving as an usher for professional baseball and football games.

Moeller Jr. Rolf Harald "Sonny"—Died in 2004 in Loomis, CA.

Monteil Jr. Paul Frederick—He coached many years at Kansas City parochial high schools. He still lives in Kansas City.

Neighbors Harold Arnold—One of the best players in the history of the Bartlesville franchise. He was to have signed with the Yankees but they showed up a day late and he signed with the Pirates. When Harry Craft who was living in Waterloo, IA at the time and managing Independence when Neighbors took the field for the opposition he cried out “He is supposed to be playing for me.” I have made a lot of conjecture over the years and firmly believe that had Neighbors signed with the Yankee he would have replaced Mickey Mantle who got off to an awful start. In conversations with Neighbor’s widow she claimed her late husband had the same opinion. He passed away in 1983 in Waterloo.

NelmsJesse Cloyd—He passed away in Jonesboro, AR in 1990. He was from Brookland, AR where he was born in 1928. While at Bartlesville he was a catcher.

Paine William Irwin—He was another of the young men signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Long Beach, CA. He was born there in 1927 and died in Surprise, AZ in 2009.

Peake Ralph Eugene—He was born in Kansas City, MO in 1931 and died in Wichita, KS in 1986.

Perry Jr. Benjamin Franklin—A little confusion has arisen over the years about this guy. I believe he was born in Baltimore, MD in 1930 and died there 57 years later.

Peterson Raymond—In the words of Sgt. Schultz, on Hogan’s Heroes, “I know nothing.” All I do know is that he was called “Pete” and he was a catcher.

Pinard Robert Louis—Robert was a righthanded pitcher and outfielder born in San Francisco in 1926 and passed away in Cool, CA in 2009. I did locate and speak with him one time.

Pond William--He was listed as being from Elsmere, KY but other than him being listed as a 19-year old righthanded pitcher I’ve been stumped for two decades.

Reimold John A.—He served in the Army Air Corps during WW II . He was from Greenville, PA . He passed away in Farrell, PA in 2010.

Scott Edward Clifton—This one has bugged me for a long time. He was born on my birthday in either 1929 or 1930 in Southwest City, MO. The St. Louis Cardinals signed him for the 1949 season and he was slated to play for the Springfield, MO club. He would up at Bartlesville for a short time. He was then released and was on the Iola for the rest of the 1949 season as well as part of 1950 until the Korean War caught up with him. His last known address was in Independence, MO in 1973. He is one guy I’d love to locate or learn of his fate.

Scotten Trusten Peery—Working in Sacramento, CA in the mid-90’s I drove one evening to Grass Valley to meet Scotten and his wife Midge. After that we became great friends and they drove to every KOM reunion from California along with David Williams a member of the 1949 Ponca City Dodgers. The last reunion either attended was 2000. Scotten passed away in 2000 and Williams in 2012.

Smith John B.—He was from Monroe, LA being born there in 1928 and he remained loyal to that city, passing away there in 1982.

Stewart Albert W.—He was a native of Ft. Stewart, IA having been born there in 1923. He served in WWII and after a stint with Bartlesville he finished the 1949 season with Chanute, KS. He died in 2013 in Oskaloosa, IA.

Stock Jr. Charles—A native of Chicago, he caught for Bartlesville in 1947-48-49, off and on. Have had word from a friend of his that Stock died a number of years ago but I can find no evidence to support that claim.

Stoops William Burton—He was born in Pasadena, CA in 1931 and prior to his death, in 2005, I spoke with him from his home in LaCanada, CA. He appeared briefly as a right fielder for Bartlesville. He also played pro ball until the end of the 1951 season.

Swanson Robert Milton—He was a native of Providence, Rhode Island. During his career he pitched for Hutchinson, KS Elks three different years and wound up marrying a girl from there where he lived until his death in 2009.

Tkac Andrew V. "Panda"—He pitched for Bartlesville until he got homesick and headed back to Pennsylvania. He was from McKeesport being born there in 1927 and he died in Elizabeth, PA in 2008. His son keeps in touch through these reports.

Tond Louis Albert—He was from Toronto, Ohio and had stints with Bartlesville in 1947-48-49 & 51. He died in Toronto in 1993.

Wheeler Robert Lathrop—He was born in Rockford, Illinois in either 1925 or 1929. The documents on his life conflict. I spoke with him many years ago but didn’t discuss his birth year. Wish I had done so, now. As far as I know he is still living.

Wolfe Edward Anthony—Ed had a sip of coffee in the big leagues with the Pirates in 1952. He had two seasons in the KOM league and to boot he had a little brother, Jack, who caught for the 1951 Ponca City Dodgers and he reads these Flash Reports, once in a while. Here is the link to Edward Wolfe’s minor league career. www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=wolfe-001edw

Zugay Joseph P.—He was born in 1929 in Logstown, PA, near the Aliquippa/Monaco area. He was a pitcher signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1949 and sent to Bartlesville. He appeared in very few games before being released. In writing this section I decided to check on him again and found this bad news: www.timesonline.com/community/obituaries/joseph-yako-zuga...

 

This citation is a more lengthy obituary and also includes a photo of the deceased. mastrofrancescofuneralhome.com/obituary-246.aspx

 

Joseph "Yako" Zugay of Center Township

1/15/1929 - 3/8/2015

 

Joseph "Yako" Zugay, 86 of Center Township passed away on March 8, 2015.

 

He was born January 15, 1929 in Logstown and was the son of the late Joseph and Rose (Pavlecek) Dutkovich Zugay. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by a beloved son, Joseph Paul Zugay, a daughter-in-law, Noel S. Zugay and his siblings: Mary Dutkovich Madjarevich, Sara Dutkovich and Zora Dutkovich Kirin, Ann Dutkovich Belich, Catherine Zugay Pontis, Rose Zugay Mininni, Frank, John and Tom Dutkovich and Milan Zugay.

He was a member of Saint Frances Cabrini Roman Catholic Church, Center Twp. Joseph retired from J&L Steelworks as an electrician and Center Township Water Authority as a manager.

 

He is survived by his wife of 65 years: Dorothy (Kenna) Zugay, Two sons and a daughter-in-law: Jack Zugay, Cleveland, Ohio and Mike and Teresa Zugay, Center Twp. Five grandchildren: Maxwell J. Zugay, Jack M. Zugay, Jacklyn Zugay Porter, Michael Zugay, Travis Zugay and great grandchildren. Joseph is also survived by two sisters Frances Miskulin and Agnes Zugay Curcio.

 

Remembered as a person who was trustworthy, loyal and easy going, he always put the needs of others before his own. A humble man from a large family, he took great pride in living in a home based on family values. His working career spanned that of a steelworker, electrician and Center Township Administrator. Exceptionally kind and generous, he was also a strong and valuable mentor to all of us who were privileged to know and love him. Throughout his life, he taught us the true meaning of honesty, integrity and doing the right thing. When in doubt, he always took the high road. He was a remarkable athlete in his youth, having been nationally recognized as an extraordinarily talented baseball player in the late 1940?s. His face beamed whenever he was asked to talk about his past athletic accomplishments and he never hesitated to profess great reverence for his home town of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He never took anyone or anything for granted and he always overcame the numerous obstacles that life presented him by maintaining a positive attitude no matter the odds. We will always be grateful for his patience, insight and hard-working character. A caring father, husband, and valued friend, we will never forget his loving guidance and genuinely helpful ways. Our memories of him will undoubtedly comfort us in the days ahead and for that, we are forever in his debt. He was truly a man that was ahead of his time in that he always gave more than he got. May God rest his soul.

 

Family and friends are being received on Saturday, March 14, 2015 from 2-5 p.m. in the ANTHONY MASTROFRANCESCO FUNERAL HOME INC. 2026 MCMINN STREET, Aliquippa (724) 375-0496. Private interment will take place in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made in his name to a charity of your choice.

 

I think I’ll take a few days off from the computer.

If you ever care to go back in time here is a reference so that you can see what was carried in these reports a dozen years ago: johnhall.blogspot.com/2003_07_01_archive.html There are many of those reports available by clicking on johnhall.blogspot.com/ and selecting the month and year of the report you’d like to peruse.

  

The KOM Flash Report

For

Week of July 12—18, 2015

________________________________________________

Eugene Kyle Bowers finally found?

 

Since the inception of my research, two decades ago, I have scoured the planet for Eugene Kyle Bowers who pitched in three different seasons with the Bartlesville, OK Pirates. He was born March 14, 1931 in Pocatello, Idaho and by 1940 the family had moved to Lomita, California. He was a high school teammate of Paul Pettit who garnered an unheard of $100,000 signing bonus. Thus, Pettit was off to the big leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Bowers settled for a spot in the “lowly” Class D KOM league with the Bartlesville, Oklahoma “Baby Pirates.”

 

Research from 1994 to the evening of July 5, 2015 produced no tangible leads. I found traces of him on August 3, 1951 as he married Dorinne Sensenbach on that date in Los Angeles. The 1962 city directory for San Luis Obispo, California showed him and his wife living at 280 N. 18th Street and he was employed by the Union Oil Refinery.

 

Thus, as I piddled around on my notebook on the evening of July 5, as I laid with my head on my pillow, I rose up and exclaimed, “Eureka.” That is also to motto of the state where Bowers moved as a young man. What caused the excitement was this insert in a family genealogy. “When Eugene Kyle Bowers was born on March 14, 1931, in Idaho, his father, James, was 30 and his mother, Florence, was 22. He married Dorinne Sensenbach on August 3, 1951, in Los Angeles, California. He died on June 28, 2007, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 76, and was buried there.”

 

Well, as my childhood hero of the airwaves, Harry Caray, would proclaim a few hundred times on a Cardinal baseball broadcast, “Holy Cow.”

 

Quickly I turned to the pages on Ancestry.com to see how I had missed finding Bowers for 20 years. I was acutely aware of a Eugenia K. Bowers in Greensboro, NC for most of the past 20 years, since that name popped up as I searched for the former KOM leaguer. I had always assumed that Eugenia was a she not a he. But, how could I argue with the “facts.” The ancestry proclaimed that the same Eugene K. Bowers, born March 14, 1931 was the same person buried in Greensboro on or about July 1, 2007.

www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=131667...

 

When I pulled up the Find-A-Grave site the tombstone had the name Bowers in bold letters and beneath it was an insert for Ben James Bowers born 12/27/1932 and Eugenia Bowers born March 14, 1931 and died June 28, 2007. I called upon the expertise of my wife who I stirred from the land of somnambulation (dozing). I asked her in all her many years of genealogy how this could be the same person who played in the KOM league. She surmised that I might be looking at the first case of a transgender in the annals of the KOM league. My comment to her was “There ain’t no way.”

 

So another avenue was taken to shoot holes in that genealogy site. Eugenia had a middle or maiden name of Korahaes and received his/her first Social Security card in the State of Virginia.

 

What the genealogist on that site did was take what they could find on Eugene Kyle Bowers and Eugenia Korahaes Bowers and weave them into a tidy package. In weaving the story they appeared to tie all the loose ends such as attempting to prove Kyle’s mother lived until the year 2003 and then passing away at age 94 in Poquoson, Virginia. It was a “clever” attempt at research outcome manipulation but I reject everything on that site after the 1962 information as it relates to Eugene Kyle Bowers. .

 

Just to make sure that Eugenia wasn’t Eugene Kyle, in a transgender role, I checked further and found that Ben James Bowers passed away during April of 2015 in Greensboro. He was a long time editor of newspapers in Roanoke, Virginia and Greensboro, North Carolina and was married even longer to one Eugenia Korahaes Bowers. When she passed, away in 2007, they had been married 54 years.

www.roanoke.com/obituaries/bowers-ben-james/article_2bc5f...

 

One thing I learned long ago, don’t take anyone or any websites word on any matter until you have done your best to research and verify for yourself. In short, I’m still looking for what happened to Kyle Eugene Bowers after 1962.

 

Ed note:

 

For all my hard work in unsuccessfully locating Eugene Kyle Bowers I’m posting his photo, along with seventeen or so other guys from a late season Bartlesville Pirate team photo. It is at this site: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/19605658785/

For those of you who can’t or don’t wish to pull up the site it wouldn’t do much good to list the names in the photo. If you go to the site just mentioned you’ll see the third incarnation of a Bartlesville club that had about as much turnover as algae in a farm pond. For those of you who go to that site be aware that only the names of the final bunch of guys to play for Bartlesville that year are included. I didn’t have time to elucidate on some things about that team but will during the coming week. So, this is a way to cause some readers to visit the site at least twice during the week.

 

Aside from Bowers being in that photo is a guy who had been to the big leagues, another who would wind up there, one member of that team had an uncle who caught for the Detroit Tigers, a pitcher on that team had a brother who made it to the big leagues and had more first and more names than anyone in baseball history, a catcher on that team had a brother who was an All-American football player in college and an All-Pro in the NFL and to close it out is the guy who beat Mickey Mantle out of the batting title that season. It’s a good picture and if you go there take a good look at Eugene Kyle Bowers. If you can copy it do so and post it at your local post office. He is a WANTED man.

________________________________________________

News from the Virdon family:

 

Bill is home from the hospital after almost a week's stay. I guess it was another "bout" of diverticulitis/diverticulosis, only this time he had to have five transfusions! He seems to feel better today----of course, he had something to eat that had some substance! Anyway, we are a bit home-bound for a few more days as He regains his strength. I hope he gets better soon. This is as long as he has ever been sick that I remember.

 

Hope you have a Happy 4th! Bill is still weak, but the blood count is up a little bit as of yesterday----so that is good! Watching Pirates-Cleveland this afternoon.

Hi to Noel. Blessings, Shirley Virdon—Springfield, MO

 

Ed reply:

 

Tell Bill I wish him a speedy recovery;

________________________________________________

The Speakes have a double celebration.

 

John, I haven't been on the computer a lot lately since we had a trip to FL for our g'son's White Coat ceremony. He has one more year in Physicians Assist. School but this signified his transition from books, tests, study, books, study, tests, etc. to clinicals which he is looking forward to a lot. , While there we learned of a death of a close family member and then three weeks later, last weekend, we had all our family here to celebrate our 85th birthdays and our 65th wedding anniversary! So the sad and the wonderful in a short amount of time.

 

I looked at your pictures back to where I last saw them, Easter, I believe, and the great grandchildren are so cute, no wonder you take so many pictures of them. She really is cruising in that little red car! So sorry to hear about the little boy being sick enough to be in the hospital. Be sure and let us know. We'll pray for the little guy. Our first little great grandbaby is a month and a half old and changing every day...he is so sweet and cute.

 

We're doing fine here, just trying to catch up from the last month of activities.

 

Hello to Noel and love to you both, Joan and Bob Speake—Topeka, Kans.

________________________________________________

Just musing

 

Having heard from Joe Stanka, Bob Speake and Bill Virdon either personally or through their wives in the past week I was about to think I had heard from a large percent of the number of ex-KOM leaguers who also had major league experience and are still around to talk about it. After thinking about it, for about thirty seconds, the remaining guys fitting that category are: Cloyd Boyer, Jim Owens, Robert Harrison, Lou Skizas, Steve Kraly, Gale Wade and Don Taussig.

 

So, it might be time, once again, to remind the long term readers who the fellows from the KOM league are who made it to the “400”club and to educate the short term readers of the same material.

 

Pittsburg—Don Lenhardt, Charlie Locke and Jim Pisoni

Carthage—Bob Habenicht, Cloyd Boyer, Bob Speake and Bob Mahoney.

Chanute—Ross Grimsley, Jake Thies and Robert Harrison.

Miami—Harry Bright (also Independence), Seth Morehead and Jim Owens.

Independence—Bob Wiesler, Steve Kraly, Don Taussig, Harry Bright (also Miami), John Gabler, Jim Finigan, Bill Virdon, Lou Skizas, Al Pilarcik and Mickey Mantle.

Iola—Bill Upton

Bartlesville—Roy Theophilus Upright, Bill Pierro, Ronnie Kline, Brandon Davis and Edward Wolfe.

Ponca City—Jim Baxes, Chris Kitsos, Joe Stanka and Gale Wade.

 

If I missed anyone I’m sure I’ll hear about it. Eddie Vargo caught for the Carthage Cardinals in 1947 but he and Leonard Roberts both made it to the major leagues as umpires. Jack Blaylock left Ponca City after the 1947 season to become the bullpen catcher for the 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers. George Scherger who managed Ponca City in 1951 was later hired by Sparky Anderson as the Reds first base coach in the 1970’s.

 

Christopher Haughey pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers during WW II and wound up on the Carthage Cardinal roster in early 1947 before being sent to St. Joseph, MO in the Western Association. Andrew Varga worked his way down to the Class D Blackwell, Oklahoma Broncos, in 1952, after appearing with the Chicago Cubs as early as 1950. He didn’t experience any cultural shock as a big city kid from Chicago for in 1949 he was in the North Central Kansas Baseball League of America and played in such towns as Abilene, Junction City, Clay Center, Manhattan etc.

 

I could name many former big leaguers who managed in the KOM league but I suspect this article ran out of steam a couple of paragraphs ago, assuming, it ever had any. If anyone cares to see such a list I can send along an 8 X 10 glossy print of the guys names suitable for framing.

________________________________________________

In the immortal words of Jack Buck “Thanks for your time, this time, until next time, so long.”

  

MÍDIA ARTE | MEDIA ART

 

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-precomps - Estados Unidos | United States

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-altar1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Aaron Oldenburg - After - Estados Unidos | United States

Agam (A.) Andreas - La Resocialista Internacional - Holanda | Netherlands

alan bigelow - This Is Not A Poem - Estados Unidos | United States

Alcione Godoy, Camillo Louvise, Bruno Azzolini, Rafael Araujo, Rodolfo Rossi, Marina Maia & Vinicius Nakamura - Hipercepção - Brasil | Brazil

Alex Hetherington - Linda Fratianne - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Anders Weberg - P2P ART - The aesthetics of ephemerality - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - JE SUIS PÈRE ET MON PÈRE EST PÈRE I'm a Father and my Father is a Father - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - Expose Yourself - Suécia | Sweden

Anstey/Pape: Josephine Anstey & Dave Pape - Mrs. Squandertime - Estados Unidos | United States

Balam Soto - Self Portrait Videos - Estados Unidos | United States

Bárbara de Azevedo - VIDEO ESTADO SIMULACRO CINEMATOGRÁFICO - Brasil | Brazil

Ben Baker-Smith - Infinite Glitch - Estados Unidos | United States

Brit Bunkley - Pardox of Plenty - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Up River Blues - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Springfield Paradox - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Bruno Xavier, Fabiane Zambon, Felipe van Deursen, Frederico Di Giacomo & Kleyson Barbosa (Equipe principal) | Ana Freitas, Ana Prado, André Sirangelo, Alisson Lima, André Maciel, Alexandre Versignassi, Dalton Soares, Daniel Apolinario, Douglas Kawazu, Emiliano Urbim, Érica Georgino, Leandro Spett, Gil Beyruth, Gustavo Frota, Marina Motomura, Maurício Horta, Rafael Kenski, Renata Aguiar & Simone Yamamoto (Parceiros e colaboradores) - Newsgames da Superinteressante - Brasil | Brazil

charly.gr - peronismo (spam) - Argentina | Argentina

charly.gr - Joan - Argentina | Argentina

Chen, I-Chun - Measuring Distance Between the Self and Others - Taiwan | Taiwan

chiara passa - the virtual prigione - Itália | Italy

Christopher Otto - PXLPNT - Estados Unidos | United States

Cleber Gazana / Daniel Gazana - UNTITLED - Brasil | Brazil

Daniel Duda - Araucaria angustifolia - Brasil | Brazil

David Muth - 1 C A a 01x - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

David Sullivan - Fugitive Emissions - Estados Unidos | United States

Doron Golan - Waking Quad - Israel | Israel

Douglas de Paula - Interfaces Predatórias / Plundering Interfaces - Brasil | Brazil

Elétrico: Ludmila Pimentel, Carolina Frinhani & Bruna Spoladore - Experimento de Corpo - Brasil | Brazil

Grupo Vertigem: Juliana Rodrigues, Natalia Santana & Ygor Ferreira - Downtown 2.0 - Brasil | Brazil

Jarbas Agnelli - Birds on the Wires - Brasil | Brazil

Jason Nelson - Sydney's Sibera - Austrália | Australia

Jessica Barness - Common Sounds: Positive Elements, Negative Spaces - Estados Unidos | United States

Joana Moll & Heliodoro Santos - THE TEXAS BORDER - Espanha | Spain

jody zellen - Lines of Life - Estados Unidos | United States

Jorn Ebner - (L'ultimo turista) - Alemanha | Germany

jtwine - ONSPEED - Estados Unidos | United States

Kenji Kojima - RGB Music News - Estados Unidos | United States

kinema ikon: calin man - kinema ikon - Romênia | Romania

Leyla Rodriguez & Cristian Straub - Isle Of Lox "The face" - Alemanha | Germany

Luca Holland - rain.html - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Luis Henrique Rodrigues - Internet Series - Brasil | Brazil

Luiz Gustavo Ferreira Zanotello - N.A.V.E - Brasil | Brazil

MALYSSE - THE BIOPERVERSITY PROJECT #1 - Brasil | Brazil

Matt Frieburghaus - Song - Estados Unidos | United States

Maya Watanabe - El Contorno - Espanha I Spain

mchrbn - Afghan War Diary - Suíça | Switzerland

Members: Aymeric Mansoux, Dave Griffiths and Marloes de Valk - Naked on Pluto - Holanda | Netherlands

Michael Takeo Magruder - Data Flower (Prototype I) - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Nagasaki Archive Committee: Hidenori Watanave, Tomoyuki Torisu, Ryo Osera & others - Nagasaki Archive - Japão | Japan

Nanette Wylde - MettaVerse - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Economos - Apophenia - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Knouf - Journal of Journal Performance Studies (JJPS) - Estados Unidos | United States

Nurit Bar-Shai - FUJI spaces and other places - Estados Unidos | United States

Osvaldo cibils- everything breathes - Itália | Italy

Owen Eric Wood - Return - Canadá | Canada

Paolo Cirio - Drowning NYC - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Quayola - Strata Series - Bélgica | Belgium

rachelmauricio - [[o]] - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - 3Y - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - ldj8jbl - Brasil | Brazil

Rayelle Niemann & Erik Dettwiler - www.citysharing.ch - Suíça | Switzerland

Remco Roes - Everything in between - Bélgica | Belgium

rage - Impermanência Formal - Brasil | Brazil

Representa Corisco: Vj Eletroman - Representa Corisco - Espanha | Spain

Richard J O'Callaghan - 'thechildrenswar' - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Rodrigo Mello - Faces - Brasil | Brazil

Rosa Menkman - Collapse of PAL - Holanda | Netherlands

Santiago Ortiz - Impure - Espanha | Spain

seryozha kOtsun - Synesthesiograph - Rússia | Russia

Stuart Pound - Green Water Dragon - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Stuart Pound - Time Code - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

TAMURA YUICHIRO - NIGHTLESS - Japão | Japan

TOMMY PALLOTTA: Submarine Channel - Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy - Holanda | Netherlands

Vladimir Todorovic - The Snail on the Slope - Singapura | Singapore

Vladimir Todorovic - Silica-esc - Singapura | Singapore

 

MAQUINEMA | MACHINIMA

 

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon - Clockwork - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon & slimgirlfat - MooN - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fears - França | France

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fusion - França | France

BobE Schism - Love Is Sometimes Colder Than Ice - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - 9 - Alemanha | Germany

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - Order in chaos - Alemanha | Germany

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Death in Venice - Estados Unidos | United States

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Incubus - Estados Unidos | United States

David Griffiths aka nebogeo - Missile Command - Finlândia | Finland

Evan Meaney - The Well of Representation - Estados Unidos | United States

Gottfried Haider - Hidden in plain sight - Áustria | Austria

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Clockwise: Part 1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Stop, Rewind - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - history - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - infectious - Estados Unidos | United States

Iain Friar aka IceAxe - Trichophagia - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Jun Falkenstein, Ben Covi, Brad Mitchell & Pete Terrill - The Lake - Estados Unidos | United States

Kerria Seabrooke & Paul Jannicola - Tiny Nation - Estados Unidos | United States

LES RICHES DOUANIERS: Gilles RICHARD & Fabrice ZOLL - The Lonely Migrant - França | France

Nonsense Studio: Drozhzhin, TimaGoofy, ultraviolet, ElGrandeBigB, Radiated & Takuhatsu - Johnny Cash - God's gonna cut you down - Finlândia | Finland

Pierre Gaudillere, Thomas Van Lissum, Oliver Delbos, Audrey Le Roy & Jonnathan Mutton - Unheimliche - França | France

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders animation #002 - Polônia | Polland

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders emoticons machinima - Polônia | Polland

Pooky Amsterdam, Draxtor Despres & Samuel's Dream - I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar! - Estados Unidos | United States

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - Lost in counting - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 5: Greek Myth, The Battle of the Gods - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 6: Israel Myth, The punishment - Holanda | Netherlands

Tom Jantol - Dear Fairy - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - Duel (Part) - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - The Remake - Croácia | Croatia

Tony Bannan aka ammopreviz - Selfish Gene - Austrália | Australia

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Ctrl-Alt-Del - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Dagon - HP Lovecraft - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Tutsy Navarathna - My familiar dream - Índia | India

 

FILE TABLET

 

Aircord: Toshiyuki Hashimoto, Masato Tsutsui & Koichiro Mori – REFLECTION – Japão | Japan

Alex Komarov & Sergey Rachok – ACCORDION – Estados Unidos e Rússia | United States and Russia

Cruz-Diez Foundation - CRUZ-DIEZ "INTERACTIVE CHROMATIC RANDOM EXPERIENCE" – Venezuela | Venezuela

Fingerlab: Antoine Lepoutre & Aurélien Potier – MULTIPONG – França | France

Jason Waters – SPIROGROW – Estados Unidos | United States

Jay Silver & Eric Rosenbaum - SINGING FINGERS – Estados Unidos | United States

Nate Murray & TJ Fuller - IPAD GAME FOR CATS - Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - ART IN MOTION – Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - LINE ART – Estados Unidos | United StatesPavel Doichev – TESLA – Estados Unidos | United States

Rob Fielding – MUGICIAN – Estados Unidos | United States

RunSwimFly - Richard Harrison – GLOOP - Austrália | Australia

Scott Snibbe – ANTOGRAPH (ou MYRMEGRAPH) – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – BUBBLE HARP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – GRAVILUX – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – OSCILLOSCOOP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – TRIPOLAR – Estados Unidos | United States

Smule - MAGIC FIDDLE – Estados Unidos | United States

Spaces of Play: Mattias Ljungstrom, Marek Plichta, Andreas Zecher & Martin Strak – SPIRITS – Alemanha | Germany

Ted Davis - TEXT2IMAGE – Estados Unidos | United States

Typotheque / Resolume - DANCE WRITER – Estados Unidos | United States

 

FILE INSTALAÇÃO I INSTALLATION

 

Ben Jack - Elucidating Feedback - Nova Zelândia / New Zealand

Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees - Reino Unido e França / United Kingdom and France

Hye Yeon Nam - Please Smile - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA (analog interactive kinetic sculpture) - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany

Memo Akten - Body Paint - Turquia e Reino Unido / Turkey and United Kingdom

Raquel Kogan - XYZ - Brasil / Brazil

Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti - Solo (Soil) - Brasil / Brazil

Reynold Reynolds - Six Easy Pieces - Alemanha / Germany

Yuri Suzuki - Beatvox - Inglaterra / England

 

FILE SYMPOSIUM:

 

Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees – França e Reino Unido / France and United Kingdom

Hye Yeon Nam – Robô Artístico "Please Smile" / Artistic Robot "Please Smile" - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA - analoge interactive kinetic sculpture - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany

Raquel Kogan & Alexandre Ribeiro de Sá – so_ar – Brasil / Brazil

Yuri Suzuki – Interjeição de Som / Sound Interjection - Reino Unido / United Kingdom

INSTALAÇÕES | INSTALLATIONS

 

Ali Miharbi - Movie Mirrors - Estados Unidos | United States

Anne Save de Beaurecueil + Franklin Lee / Equipe SUBdV (Victor Sardenberg, André Romitelli, Lucas de Sardi & Fabrício G. de Oliveira) - High Low - Brasil | Brazil

Annica Cuppetelli & Cristobal Mendoza - Nervous Structure - Estados Unidos | United States

Ben Jack - Elucidating Feedback - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Eric Siu - in collaboration with the member of Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory, University of Tokyo, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Ohno Hiroaki & Takeoka Hideki - Body Hack 1.0 - Japão | Japan

Hye Yeon Nam - Please Smile - Estados Unidos | United States

Joon Y. Moon - Augmented Shadow - Coréia do Sul | South Korea

Julian Palacz - algorithmic search for Love - Áustria | Austria

Juliana Mori - timeLandscape - wool rhythms - Brasil | Brazil

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA - analoge interactive kinetic sculpture - Polônia e Alemanha | Poland and Germany

Kimchi & Chips - Link - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Kimchi & Chips - Journey: Seoul - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Lars Lundehave Hansen - Spiderbytes - Alemanha | Germany

Lawrence Malstaf - Nemo Observatorium 02002 - Bélgica | Belgium

Matt Roberts - Waves - Estados Unidos | United States

Ryoichi Kurokawa - rheo: 5 horizons - Bélgica | Belgium

Yujiro Kabutoya & Kazushi Mukaiyama - IJIROS - Japão | Japan

 

HIPERSÔNICA | HYPERSONICA PERFORMANCE

 

Alfredo Ciannameo - Ionesis - sonic plasma - Holanda | Netherlands

André Rangel, Anne-Kathrin Siegel & Fernando Alçada - SynDyn - Portugal | Portugal

Eduardo Nespoli, Projeto Aquarpa (Thiago Salas Gomes, Lucas Almeida, Flavio Jacon de Vasconcelos & Leandro Pereira Souza) - Mnemorfoses - Brasil | Brazil

Eduardo Patrício - Zin - Brasil | Brazil

Euphorie - França | France

Giuliano Obici - Concerto para Lanhouse - Brasil | Brazil

Nicolas Maigret - Pure Data read as pure data - França | France

 

HIPERSÔNICA | HYPERSONICA SCREENING

 

Alison Clifford & Graeme Truslove - Substratum - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Fernando Velázquez - auto-retrato - Brasil | Brazil

Fernando Velázquez - the mindscapes suite - Brasil | Brazil

Jaap: Harriet Payer & Jorge Esquivelzeta - Cyberspace Photsynthesis - México | Mexico

Jaap: Harriet Payer & Jorge Esquivelzeta - Dog's Eye View - México | Mexico

Paul O Donoghue aka Ocusonic - Phasing Waves - Irlanda | Ireland

Warsaw Electronic Festival 2010: Przemyslaw Moskal - Digital Sculptures for Analog Sounds - Estados Unidos | United States

 

HIPERSÔNICA PARTICIPANTES | HYPERSONICA PARTICIPANTS

 

Alvaro X - Dead in DUMP - Brasil | Brazil

Bernhard Loibner - Unidentified Musical Subject - Áustria | Austria

Claudio Parodi - The things that are missing - Itália | Italy

CLEBER GAZANA | SIMPLE.NORMAL - F. WILL I DREAM? - Brasil | Brazil

DANIEL GAZANA - NOSOCÔMIO - Brasil | Brazil

Joaquin Cofreces - Hamoni Lapude Anan ( "we used to make canoes" in yaghan language) - Argentina | Argentina

The Tiny Orchestra - Time Wounds All Heels - Canadá | Canada

Juan Pablo Amato - Duo Encaprichado en alisar rugosidades mentales - Argentina | Argentina

Mauro Ceolin - Spore's Ytubesoundscape and his wildlife - Itália | Italy

Panayiotis KOKORAS - Magic - Grécia | Greece

FaoBeat - Beat'nTime / Lift'nBeat - Brasil | Brazil

Philip Mantione - Fabrics - Estados Unidos | United States

Music For Installations - Braindamage - Bélgica | Belgium

RINALDO SANTOS - MUSICONTOS - Brasil | Brazil

Sergio Cajado - Constatações Urbanas - Passado, Presente e Futuro - Brasil | Brazil

Sergio Granada Moreno - Digital Rainbow (2009) - Colombia | Colombia

Sol Rezza - Preguntas - Questions - México | Mexico

 

MÍDIA ARTE | MEDIA ART

 

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-precomps - Estados Unidos | United States

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-altar1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Aaron Oldenburg - After - Estados Unidos | United States

Agam (A.) Andreas - La Resocialista Internacional - Holanda | Netherlands

alan bigelow - This Is Not A Poem - Estados Unidos | United States

Alcione Godoy, Camillo Louvise, Bruno Azzolini, Rafael Araujo, Rodolfo Rossi, Marina Maia & Vinicius Nakamura - Hipercepção - Brasil | Brazil

Alex Hetherington - Linda Fratianne - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Anders Weberg - P2P ART - The aesthetics of ephemerality - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - JE SUIS PÈRE ET MON PÈRE EST PÈRE I'm a Father and my Father is a Father - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - Expose Yourself - Suécia | Sweden

Anstey/Pape: Josephine Anstey & Dave Pape - Mrs. Squandertime - Estados Unidos | United States

Balam Soto - Self Portrait Videos - Estados Unidos | United States

Bárbara de Azevedo - VIDEO ESTADO SIMULACRO CINEMATOGRÁFICO - Brasil | Brazil

Ben Baker-Smith - Infinite Glitch - Estados Unidos | United States

Brit Bunkley - Pardox of Plenty - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Up River Blues - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Springfield Paradox - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Bruno Xavier, Fabiane Zambon, Felipe van Deursen, Frederico Di Giacomo & Kleyson Barbosa (Equipe principal) | Ana Freitas, Ana Prado, André Sirangelo, Alisson Lima, André Maciel, Alexandre Versignassi, Dalton Soares, Daniel Apolinario, Douglas Kawazu, Emiliano Urbim, Érica Georgino, Leandro Spett, Gil Beyruth, Gustavo Frota, Marina Motomura, Maurício Horta, Rafael Kenski, Renata Aguiar & Simone Yamamoto (Parceiros e colaboradores) - Newsgames da Superinteressante - Brasil | Brazil

charly.gr - peronismo (spam) - Argentina | Argentina

charly.gr - Joan - Argentina | Argentina

Chen, I-Chun - Measuring Distance Between the Self and Others - Taiwan | Taiwan

chiara passa - the virtual prigione - Itália | Italy

Christopher Otto - PXLPNT - Estados Unidos | United States

Cleber Gazana / Daniel Gazana - UNTITLED - Brasil | Brazil

Daniel Duda - Araucaria angustifolia - Brasil | Brazil

David Muth - 1 C A a 01x - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

David Sullivan - Fugitive Emissions - Estados Unidos | United States

Doron Golan - Waking Quad - Israel | Israel

Douglas de Paula - Interfaces Predatórias / Plundering Interfaces - Brasil | Brazil

Elétrico: Ludmila Pimentel, Carolina Frinhani & Bruna Spoladore - Experimento de Corpo - Brasil | Brazil

Grupo Vertigem: Juliana Rodrigues, Natalia Santana & Ygor Ferreira - Downtown 2.0 - Brasil | Brazil

Jarbas Agnelli - Birds on the Wires - Brasil | Brazil

Jason Nelson - Sydney's Sibera - Austrália | Australia

Jessica Barness - Common Sounds: Positive Elements, Negative Spaces - Estados Unidos | United States

Joana Moll & Heliodoro Santos - THE TEXAS BORDER - Espanha | Spain

jody zellen - Lines of Life - Estados Unidos | United States

Jorn Ebner - (L'ultimo turista) - Alemanha | Germany

jtwine - ONSPEED - Estados Unidos | United States

Kenji Kojima - RGB Music News - Estados Unidos | United States

kinema ikon: calin man - kinema ikon - Romênia | Romania

Leyla Rodriguez & Cristian Straub - Isle Of Lox "The face" - Alemanha | Germany

Luca Holland - rain.html - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Luis Henrique Rodrigues - Internet Series - Brasil | Brazil

Luiz Gustavo Ferreira Zanotello - N.A.V.E - Brasil | Brazil

MALYSSE - THE BIOPERVERSITY PROJECT #1 - Brasil | Brazil

Matt Frieburghaus - Song - Estados Unidos | United States

mchrbn - Afghan War Diary - Suíça | Switzerland

Members: Aymeric Mansoux, Dave Griffiths and Marloes de Valk - Naked on Pluto - Holanda | Netherlands

Michael Takeo Magruder - Data Flower (Prototype I) - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Nagasaki Archive Committee: Hidenori Watanave, Tomoyuki Torisu, Ryo Osera & others - Nagasaki Archive - Japão | Japan

Nanette Wylde - MettaVerse - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Economos - Apophenia - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Knouf - Journal of Journal Performance Studies (JJPS) - Estados Unidos | United States

Nurit Bar-Shai - FUJI spaces and other places - Estados Unidos | United States

Osvaldo cibils- everything breathes - Itália | Italy

Owen Eric Wood - Return - Canadá | Canada

Paolo Cirio - Drowning NYC - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Quayola - Strata Series - Bélgica | Belgium

rachelmauricio - [[o]] - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - 3Y - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - ldj8jbl - Brasil | Brazil

Rayelle Niemann & Erik Dettwiler - www.citysharing.ch - Suíça | Switzerland

Remco Roes - Everything in between - Bélgica | Belgium

rage - Impermanência Formal - Brasil | Brazil

Representa Corisco: Vj Eletroman - Representa Corisco - Espanha | Spain

Richard J O'Callaghan - 'thechildrenswar' - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Rodrigo Mello - Faces - Brasil | Brazil

Rosa Menkman - Collapse of PAL - Holanda | Netherlands

Santiago Ortiz - Impure - Espanha | Spain

seryozha kOtsun - Synesthesiograph - Rússia | Russia

Stuart Pound - Green Water Dragon - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Stuart Pound - Time Code - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

TAMURA YUICHIRO - NIGHTLESS - Japão | Japan

TOMMY PALLOTTA: Submarine Channel - Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy - Holanda | Netherlands

Vladimir Todorovic - The Snail on the Slope - Singapura | Singapore

Vladimir Todorovic - Silica-esc - Singapura | Singapore

 

MAQUINEMA | MACHINIMA

 

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon - Clockwork - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon & slimgirlfat - MooN - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fears - França | France

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fusion - França | France

BobE Schism - Love Is Sometimes Colder Than Ice - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - 9 - Alemanha | Germany

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - Order in chaos - Alemanha | Germany

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Death in Venice - Estados Unidos | United States

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Incubus - Estados Unidos | United States

David Griffiths aka nebogeo - Missile Command - Finlândia | Finland

Evan Meaney - The Well of Representation - Estados Unidos | United States

Gottfried Haider - Hidden in plain sight - Áustria | Austria

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Clockwise: Part 1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Stop, Rewind - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - history - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - infectious - Estados Unidos | United States

Iain Friar aka IceAxe - Trichophagia - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Jun Falkenstein, Ben Covi, Brad Mitchell & Pete Terrill - The Lake - Estados Unidos | United States

Kerria Seabrooke & Paul Jannicola - Tiny Nation - Estados Unidos | United States

LES RICHES DOUANIERS: Gilles RICHARD & Fabrice ZOLL - The Lonely Migrant - França | France

Nonsense Studio: Drozhzhin, TimaGoofy, ultraviolet, ElGrandeBigB, Radiated & Takuhatsu - Johnny Cash - God's gonna cut you down - Finlândia | Finland

Pierre Gaudillere, Thomas Van Lissum, Oliver Delbos, Audrey Le Roy & Jonnathan Mutton - Unheimliche - França | France

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders animation #002 - Polônia | Polland

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders emoticons machinima - Polônia | Polland

Pooky Amsterdam, Draxtor Despres & Samuel's Dream - I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar! - Estados Unidos | United States

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - Lost in counting - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 5: Greek Myth, The Battle of the Gods - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 6: Israel Myth, The punishment - Holanda | Netherlands

Tom Jantol - Dear Fairy - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - Duel (Part) - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - The Remake - Croácia | Croatia

Tony Bannan aka ammopreviz - Selfish Gene - Austrália | Australia

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Ctrl-Alt-Del - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Dagon - HP Lovecraft - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Tutsy Navarathna - My familiar dream - Índia | India

 

DOCUMENTA

 

Garry Shepherd – Global Shuffle - Austrália | Australia

Jim Haverkamp e Brett Ingram – Armor of God – Estados Unidos | United States

Khaled D. Ramadan – Psychic-Dentity - Dinamarca | Denmark

Lucius C. Kuert – Project 798, New Art In New China – China | China

Teilo Vallacott e J.A. Molinari – Altered_Egos – Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Vincenzo Lombardo – The VEP Project – Itália | Italy

Watch Mojo - A História do Daft Punk – Canadá | Canada

 

FILE ANIMA+

 

8-Bits Team: Valere Amirault, Jean Delaunay, Sarah Laufer & Benjamin Mattern - 8-Bits - França | France

Alan Becker - Animator Vs Animation - Estados Unidos | United States

Alessandro Novelli - The Alphabet - Itália | Italy

Alexander Gellner - 1 Minute Puberty - Alemanha | Germany

Andrew Huang - The Gloaming - Estados Unidos | United States

Ben Thomas & Leo Bridle - Train of Thought - Inglaterra | England

Birdo Studio: Luciana Eguti & Paulo Muppet - Bonequinha do Papai - Brasil | Brazil

Birdo Studio: Luciana Eguti & Paulo Muppet - Caixa - Brasil | Brazil

Birdo Studio: Luciana Eguti, Paulo Muppet & Allan Sieber - Animadores - Brasil | Brazil

Birdo Studio: Luciana Eguti, Paulo Muppet & Jimmy Leroy - Pequeno Cidadão - Brasil | Brazil

Brendan Angelides & Cyriak Harris - Eskmo - Estados Unidos | United States

Christopher Alender - Eye of The Storm - Estados Unidos | United States

Coala Filmes: Cesar Cabral - Dossiê Rê Bordosa - Brasil | Brazil

Dante Zaballa & Matias Vigliano - The Head - Argentina | Argentina

David O’Reilly - Please Say Something - Irlanda e Alemanha | Ireland and Germany

David O’Reilly - The External World - Irlanda e Alemanha | Ireland and Germany

David Wilson - Japanese Popstars “Let Go” - Inglaterra | England

Dominik Käser, Martin-Sebastian Senn, Mario Deuss, Niloy J. Mitra & Mark Pauly - Silhouettes of Jazz - Estados Unidos | United States

Esteban Diácono - Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið - Argentina | Argentina

Fábio Yamagi & Denis Kamioka ‘Cisma’ - Photocopy Romance - Brasil | Brazil

Fernando Sanches - Xixi no Banho - Brasil | Brazil

Gabrielle Lissot, Pierre Lippens, Laurent Jaffier & Nicolas Deprez - Tous Des Monstres (All Monsters) - França | France

Guilherme Marcondes - Tyger - Brasil | Brazil

Guillermo Madoz - Head Honcho - Argentina | Argentina

Hi-Sim - Jump - Inglaterra | England

Home de Caramel - Alone Together - Espanha | Spain

Jasmin Lai - Brave - Estados Unidos e Tailândia | United States and Thailand

Jason Wishnow - Oedipus - Inglaterra | England

Jean-Paul Frenay - Artificial Paradise, Inc - Bélgica e França | Belgium and France

Joanna Lurie - Tree’s Migration - França | France

Joaquin Baldwin - Sebastian's Voodoo - Estados Unidos | United States

Joaquin Baldwin - The Windmill Farmer - Estados Unidos | United States

Ken Turner - TIM - Canadá | Canada

Lee Tao - Seedling - Canadá / Canada

Lemeh42 - Wool & Water - Itália / Italy

Leszek Plichta - Dreammaker - Polônia e Alemanha | Polland and Germany

Malcolm Sutherland - Bout - Canadá | Canada

Malcolm Sutherland - Umbra - Canadá | Canada

Marc Silver - There Are No Others - Inglaterra | England

Marlies van der wel - Protest Flatness - Holanda | Netherlands

Martin Piana - LUMI - Argentina | Argentina

Martin Woutisseth - Stanley Kubrick, a filmography - França | France

Matatoro Team: Mauro Carraro, Raphaël Calamote & Jérémy Pasquet - Matatoro - França | France

Matthias Hoegg - August - Inglaterra | England

Matthias Hoegg - Thrusday - Inglaterra | England

Max Hattler - SPIN - Inglaterra | England

Meindbender Animation Studio - The Pirate - Suécia | Sweden

Michael Paul Young - The Interpretation - Estados Unidos | United States

Michal Socha - Chick - Polônia | Polland

Michal Socha - Koncert - Polônia | Polland

Mr McFly - Baseball - França | France

MUSCLEBEAVER: Tobias Knipf & Andreas Kronbeck - How your money works - Alemanha | Germany

Napatsawan Chirayukool - What makes your day? - Tailândia e Inglaterra | Thailand and England

Pahnl - Nowhere near here - Inglaterra | England

Peppermelon TV - Advanced Beauty - Inglaterra e Estados Unidos | England and Unites States

Peppermelon TV - First - Inglaterra e Estados Unidos | England and Unites States

Peppermelon TV - Target - Friends with you - Inglaterra e Estados Unidos | England and Unites States

Robert Seidel - Vellum - Alemanha | Germany

Rogier van der Zwaag Nobody Beats The Drum - Grindin - Holanda | Netherlands

Ross Phillips - 5 Second Projects ( Ballons) - Inglaterra | England

Ross Phillips - 5 Second Projects ( Reverse) - Inglaterra | England

Sasha Belyaev - The Rite of Youth - Letônia | Latvia

Scott Pagano - Pororoca - Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Pagano - Trust In The 'M' Machine - Estados Unidos | United States

Serene Teh - Parkour - Cingapura | Singapore

Stephen Irwin - Black Dog's Progress - Inglaterra | England

Stephen Irwin - Horse Glue - Inglaterra | England

Sylvain Marc - Cocotte Minute - França | France

Sylvain Marc - Fertilizer Soup - França | France

Tanya Aydostian - L'autre - França | France

Taylor Price - Hunt - Canadá e Estados Unidos | Canada and United States

Treat Studios - E4 - Inglaterra | England

Veronika Obertová - Viliam - Eslováquia | Slovakia

Wesley Rodrigues - Pinga com Saquê - Brasil | Brazil

Zach Cohen - The Chair Not Taken - Itália | Italy

Andrew Ruhemann & Shaun Tan - The Lost Thing - Austrália / Australia

Animatório - Neomorphus - Brasil | Brazil

Bertrand Bey & Pierre Ducos - La Détente - França | France

Birdo Studio: Luciana Eguti, Paulo Muppet & Amir Admoni - Monkey Joy - Brasil | Brazil

Coala Filmes: Cesar Cabral - Tempestade - Brasil | Brazil

Fábio Yamaji - O Divino, de repente - Brasil | Brazil

Max Loubaresse, Marc Bouyer & Anthony Vivien - Salesman Pete - França | France

 

GAMES

 

Adam Saltsman & Danny Baranowsky - Canabalt - Estados Unidos | United States

Alex May & Rudolf Kremers - Eufloria - Reino Unido

| United Kingdom

Alexander Bruce - Hazard: The Journey of Life - Austrália | Australia

Binary Tweed - Clover: a Curious Tale - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Cats in the Sky - Cargo Delivery - Brasil | Brazil

Christoffer Hedborg - Toys - Suécia | Sweden

Colibri Games - The Tiny Bang Story - Rússia | Russia

Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes - Super Meat Boy - Estados Unidos | United States

ENJMIN - Paper Plane - França | France

Evan Blaster - Infinite Blank - Estados Unidos | United States

Frictional Games - Amnesia: The Dark Decent - Suécia | Sweden

Gaijin Games - BIT TRIP BEAT - Estados Unidos | United States

Kiaran Ritchie, Jasmine Ritchie & Francisco Furtado - Beep Game - Canadá | Canada

Mark Essen - "Nidhogg" - Estados Unidos | United States

Mediatronic - Monsters Probably Stole My Princess - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Nicklas Nygren - Saira - Suécia | Sweden

Paolo Pedercini / Molleindustria - "Every Day The Same Dream" - Estados Unidos e Itália | United States and Italy

Richard E Flanagan / Phosfiend Systems - FRACT - Canadá | Canada

Spaces of Play - Spirits - Alemanha | Germany

State of Play Games - Lume - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Tales of Tales - The Path - Bélgica | Belgium

 

FILE TABLET

 

Aircord: Toshiyuki Hashimoto, Masato Tsutsui & Koichiro Mori – REFLECTION – Japão | Japan

Alex Komarov & Sergey Rachok – ACCORDION – Estados Unidos e Rússia | United States and Russia

Cruz-Diez Foundation - CRUZ-DIEZ "INTERACTIVE CHROMATIC RANDOM EXPERIENCE" – Venezuela | Venezuela

Fingerlab: Antoine Lepoutre & Aurélien Potier – MULTIPONG – França | France

Jason Waters – SPIROGROW – Estados Unidos | United States

Jay Silver & Eric Rosenbaum - SINGING FINGERS – Estados Unidos | United States

Nate Murray & TJ Fuller - IPAD GAME FOR CATS - Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - ART IN MOTION – Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - LINE ART – Estados Unidos | United StatesPavel Doichev – TESLA – Estados Unidos | United States

Rob Fielding – MUGICIAN – Estados Unidos | United States

RunSwimFly - Richard Harrison – GLOOP - Austrália | Australia

Scott Snibbe – ANTOGRAPH (ou MYRMEGRAPH) – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – BUBBLE HARP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – GRAVILUX – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – OSCILLOSCOOP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – TRIPOLAR – Estados Unidos | United States

Smule - MAGIC FIDDLE – Estados Unidos | United States

Spaces of Play: Mattias Ljungstrom, Marek Plichta, Andreas Zecher & Martin Strak – SPIRITS – Alemanha | Germany

Ted Davis - TEXT2IMAGE – Estados Unidos | United States

Typotheque / Resolume - DANCE WRITER – Estados Unidos | United States

 

WORKSHOP

 

Workshop Fiesp - AA School: Franklin Lee, Robert Stuart Smith (Kokkugia), Anne Save de Beaurecueil (SUBdV), Sandro Tubertini (Environmental Engineering Agency, BDSP), Thiago Mundim, Ernesto Bueno, Arthur Mamou-Mani, Arya Safavi, Yoojin Kim & Victor Sardenberg

Parametric Architecture - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

The display reads:

 

Netherlandish, artist unknown

 

Madonna and Child with Saint Barbara and Saint Catherine, ca. 1525

Oil on panel

 

Museum Works of Art Fund 58.196

 

This panel painting was intended to incite the viewer's devotion by evoking the senses of sight, touch, sound, and taste. The nursing Virgin and infant Christ are depicted with two female martyr-saints, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Barbara. The female saints can be identified by their attributes: Saint Catherine with the sword and spiked wheel (instruments of her martyrdom), and Saint Barbara seated before a tower (where she was confined) with a prayer book. Their brightly-colored and textured garments and active hands heighten the viewer's sense of sight and touch. On the hem of Saint Catherine's robe are Dutch words that praise the Virgin, taken from a prayer or devotional song and suggesting the sound of recitation or singing. The dish of fruit being offered by an angel, together with the nursing Virgin, refer to the viewer's spiritual consumption (or "taste"), elucidating the nourishment that Christ brings to the human soul. While the Christ Child's direct gaze invites the devout viewer to this visual and spiritual feast, the artist shows each of the three women - their eyes averted or fixed on a prayer book - in the act of quiet meditation, modeling the viewer's intended behavior.

 

Taken November 16th, 2010.

MÍDIA ARTE | MEDIA ART

 

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-precomps - Estados Unidos | United States

A. Bill Miller - gridSol-altar1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Aaron Oldenburg - After - Estados Unidos | United States

Agam (A.) Andreas - La Resocialista Internacional - Holanda | Netherlands

alan bigelow - This Is Not A Poem - Estados Unidos | United States

Alcione Godoy, Camillo Louvise, Bruno Azzolini, Rafael Araujo, Rodolfo Rossi, Marina Maia & Vinicius Nakamura - Hipercepção - Brasil | Brazil

Alex Hetherington - Linda Fratianne - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Anders Weberg - P2P ART - The aesthetics of ephemerality - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - JE SUIS PÈRE ET MON PÈRE EST PÈRE I'm a Father and my Father is a Father - Suécia | Sweden

Anders Weberg - Expose Yourself - Suécia | Sweden

Anstey/Pape: Josephine Anstey & Dave Pape - Mrs. Squandertime - Estados Unidos | United States

Balam Soto - Self Portrait Videos - Estados Unidos | United States

Bárbara de Azevedo - VIDEO ESTADO SIMULACRO CINEMATOGRÁFICO - Brasil | Brazil

Ben Baker-Smith - Infinite Glitch - Estados Unidos | United States

Brit Bunkley - Pardox of Plenty - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Up River Blues - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Brit Bunkley - Springfield Paradox - Nova Zelândia | New Zealand

Bruno Xavier, Fabiane Zambon, Felipe van Deursen, Frederico Di Giacomo & Kleyson Barbosa (Equipe principal) | Ana Freitas, Ana Prado, André Sirangelo, Alisson Lima, André Maciel, Alexandre Versignassi, Dalton Soares, Daniel Apolinario, Douglas Kawazu, Emiliano Urbim, Érica Georgino, Leandro Spett, Gil Beyruth, Gustavo Frota, Marina Motomura, Maurício Horta, Rafael Kenski, Renata Aguiar & Simone Yamamoto (Parceiros e colaboradores) - Newsgames da Superinteressante - Brasil | Brazil

charly.gr - peronismo (spam) - Argentina | Argentina

charly.gr - Joan - Argentina | Argentina

Chen, I-Chun - Measuring Distance Between the Self and Others - Taiwan | Taiwan

chiara passa - the virtual prigione - Itália | Italy

Christopher Otto - PXLPNT - Estados Unidos | United States

Cleber Gazana / Daniel Gazana - UNTITLED - Brasil | Brazil

Daniel Duda - Araucaria angustifolia - Brasil | Brazil

David Muth - 1 C A a 01x - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

David Sullivan - Fugitive Emissions - Estados Unidos | United States

Doron Golan - Waking Quad - Israel | Israel

Douglas de Paula - Interfaces Predatórias / Plundering Interfaces - Brasil | Brazil

Elétrico: Ludmila Pimentel, Carolina Frinhani & Bruna Spoladore - Experimento de Corpo - Brasil | Brazil

Grupo Vertigem: Juliana Rodrigues, Natalia Santana & Ygor Ferreira - Downtown 2.0 - Brasil | Brazil

Jarbas Agnelli - Birds on the Wires - Brasil | Brazil

Jason Nelson - Sydney's Sibera - Austrália | Australia

Jessica Barness - Common Sounds: Positive Elements, Negative Spaces - Estados Unidos | United States

Joana Moll & Heliodoro Santos - THE TEXAS BORDER - Espanha | Spain

jody zellen - Lines of Life - Estados Unidos | United States

Jorn Ebner - (L'ultimo turista) - Alemanha | Germany

jtwine - ONSPEED - Estados Unidos | United States

Kenji Kojima - RGB Music News - Estados Unidos | United States

kinema ikon: calin man - kinema ikon - Romênia | Romania

Leyla Rodriguez & Cristian Straub - Isle Of Lox "The face" - Alemanha | Germany

Luca Holland - rain.html - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Luis Henrique Rodrigues - Internet Series - Brasil | Brazil

Luiz Gustavo Ferreira Zanotello - N.A.V.E - Brasil | Brazil

MALYSSE - THE BIOPERVERSITY PROJECT #1 - Brasil | Brazil

Matt Frieburghaus - Song - Estados Unidos | United States

Maya Watanabe - El Contorno - Espanha I Spain

mchrbn - Afghan War Diary - Suíça | Switzerland

Members: Aymeric Mansoux, Dave Griffiths and Marloes de Valk - Naked on Pluto - Holanda | Netherlands

Michael Takeo Magruder - Data Flower (Prototype I) - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Nagasaki Archive Committee: Hidenori Watanave, Tomoyuki Torisu, Ryo Osera & others - Nagasaki Archive - Japão | Japan

Nanette Wylde - MettaVerse - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Economos - Apophenia - Estados Unidos | United States

Nicholas Knouf - Journal of Journal Performance Studies (JJPS) - Estados Unidos | United States

Nurit Bar-Shai - FUJI spaces and other places - Estados Unidos | United States

Osvaldo cibils- everything breathes - Itália | Italy

Owen Eric Wood - Return - Canadá | Canada

Paolo Cirio - Drowning NYC - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Quayola - Strata Series - Bélgica | Belgium

rachelmauricio - [[o]] - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - 3Y - Brasil | Brazil

rachelmauricio - ldj8jbl - Brasil | Brazil

Rayelle Niemann & Erik Dettwiler - www.citysharing.ch - Suíça | Switzerland

Remco Roes - Everything in between - Bélgica | Belgium

rage - Impermanência Formal - Brasil | Brazil

Representa Corisco: Vj Eletroman - Representa Corisco - Espanha | Spain

Richard J O'Callaghan - 'thechildrenswar' - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Rodrigo Mello - Faces - Brasil | Brazil

Rosa Menkman - Collapse of PAL - Holanda | Netherlands

Santiago Ortiz - Impure - Espanha | Spain

seryozha kOtsun - Synesthesiograph - Rússia | Russia

Stuart Pound - Green Water Dragon - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Stuart Pound - Time Code - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

TAMURA YUICHIRO - NIGHTLESS - Japão | Japan

TOMMY PALLOTTA: Submarine Channel - Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy - Holanda | Netherlands

Vladimir Todorovic - The Snail on the Slope - Singapura | Singapore

Vladimir Todorovic - Silica-esc - Singapura | Singapore

 

MAQUINEMA | MACHINIMA

 

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon - Clockwork - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

André Lopes aka spyvspy aeon & slimgirlfat - MooN - Brasil e Portugal | Brazil and Portugal

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fears - França | France

Bernard Capitaine aka Iono Allen - Fusion - França | France

BobE Schism - Love Is Sometimes Colder Than Ice - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - 9 - Alemanha | Germany

C.-D. Schulz aka Rohan Fermi - Order in chaos - Alemanha | Germany

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Death in Venice - Estados Unidos | United States

Chat Noir Studios: Sherwin Liu & Kate Lee - Incubus - Estados Unidos | United States

David Griffiths aka nebogeo - Missile Command - Finlândia | Finland

Evan Meaney - The Well of Representation - Estados Unidos | United States

Gottfried Haider - Hidden in plain sight - Áustria | Austria

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Clockwise: Part 1 - Estados Unidos | United States

Harrison Heller aka Nefarious Guy & Amorphous Blob Productions - Stop, Rewind - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - history - Estados Unidos | United States

Henry Gwiazda - infectious - Estados Unidos | United States

Iain Friar aka IceAxe - Trichophagia - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Jun Falkenstein, Ben Covi, Brad Mitchell & Pete Terrill - The Lake - Estados Unidos | United States

Kerria Seabrooke & Paul Jannicola - Tiny Nation - Estados Unidos | United States

LES RICHES DOUANIERS: Gilles RICHARD & Fabrice ZOLL - The Lonely Migrant - França | France

Nonsense Studio: Drozhzhin, TimaGoofy, ultraviolet, ElGrandeBigB, Radiated & Takuhatsu - Johnny Cash - God's gonna cut you down - Finlândia | Finland

Pierre Gaudillere, Thomas Van Lissum, Oliver Delbos, Audrey Le Roy & Jonnathan Mutton - Unheimliche - França | France

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders animation #002 - Polônia | Polland

Piotr Kopik - Psychosomatic rebuilders emoticons machinima - Polônia | Polland

Pooky Amsterdam, Draxtor Despres & Samuel's Dream - I'm Too Busy To Date Your Avatar! - Estados Unidos | United States

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - Lost in counting - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 5: Greek Myth, The Battle of the Gods - Holanda | Netherlands

Saskia Boddeke aka Rose Borchovski - WHY IS THERE SOMETHING? Part 6: Israel Myth, The punishment - Holanda | Netherlands

Tom Jantol - Dear Fairy - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - Duel (Part) - Croácia | Croatia

Tom Jantol - The Remake - Croácia | Croatia

Tony Bannan aka ammopreviz - Selfish Gene - Austrália | Australia

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Ctrl-Alt-Del - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Trace Sanderson aka Lainy Voom - Dagon - HP Lovecraft - Reino Unido | United Kingdom

Tutsy Navarathna - My familiar dream - Índia | India

 

FILE TABLET

 

Aircord: Toshiyuki Hashimoto, Masato Tsutsui & Koichiro Mori – REFLECTION – Japão | Japan

Alex Komarov & Sergey Rachok – ACCORDION – Estados Unidos e Rússia | United States and Russia

Cruz-Diez Foundation - CRUZ-DIEZ "INTERACTIVE CHROMATIC RANDOM EXPERIENCE" – Venezuela | Venezuela

Fingerlab: Antoine Lepoutre & Aurélien Potier – MULTIPONG – França | France

Jason Waters – SPIROGROW – Estados Unidos | United States

Jay Silver & Eric Rosenbaum - SINGING FINGERS – Estados Unidos | United States

Nate Murray & TJ Fuller - IPAD GAME FOR CATS - Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - ART IN MOTION – Estados Unidos | United States

Pavel Doichev - LINE ART – Estados Unidos | United StatesPavel Doichev – TESLA – Estados Unidos | United States

Rob Fielding – MUGICIAN – Estados Unidos | United States

RunSwimFly - Richard Harrison – GLOOP - Austrália | Australia

Scott Snibbe – ANTOGRAPH (ou MYRMEGRAPH) – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – BUBBLE HARP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – GRAVILUX – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – OSCILLOSCOOP – Estados Unidos | United States

Scott Snibbe – TRIPOLAR – Estados Unidos | United States

Smule - MAGIC FIDDLE – Estados Unidos | United States

Spaces of Play: Mattias Ljungstrom, Marek Plichta, Andreas Zecher & Martin Strak – SPIRITS – Alemanha | Germany

Ted Davis - TEXT2IMAGE – Estados Unidos | United States

Typotheque / Resolume - DANCE WRITER – Estados Unidos | United States

 

FILE INSTALAÇÃO I INSTALLATION

 

Ben Jack - Elucidating Feedback - Nova Zelândia / New Zealand

Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees - Reino Unido e França / United Kingdom and France

Hye Yeon Nam - Please Smile - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA (analog interactive kinetic sculpture) - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany

Memo Akten - Body Paint - Turquia e Reino Unido / Turkey and United Kingdom

Raquel Kogan - XYZ - Brasil / Brazil

Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti - Solo (Soil) - Brasil / Brazil

Reynold Reynolds - Six Easy Pieces - Alemanha / Germany

Yuri Suzuki - Beatvox - Inglaterra / England

 

FILE SYMPOSIUM:

 

Bruno Zamborlin - Mogees – França e Reino Unido / France and United Kingdom

Hye Yeon Nam – Robô Artístico "Please Smile" / Artistic Robot "Please Smile" - Coréia do Sul e Estados Unidos / South Korea and United States

Karina Smigla-Bobinski - ADA - analoge interactive kinetic sculpture - Polônia e Alemanha / Poland and Germany

Raquel Kogan & Alexandre Ribeiro de Sá – so_ar – Brasil / Brazil

Yuri Suzuki – Interjeição de Som / Sound Interjection - Reino Unido / United Kingdom

www.memphisflyer.com/backissues/issue566/cvr566.htm

 

The Late Great Johnny Ace

Forty-five years ago this Christmas, the first great rock-and-roll heartthrob passed away.

by Mark Jordan

 

Houston, Texas. Christmas night, 1954.

 

A crowd of 3,500, less than capacity but acceptable for a holiday, had come out for the concert at the Civic Auditorium in downtown Houston. Performing on the bill was Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, still riding high on what would ultimately prove to be her only hit record, “Hound Dog,” released more than a year earlier.

 

But the real attraction was R&B balladeer Johnny Ace. That night, Ace was perhaps the fastest-rising star in African-American music. In less than two years he had amassed a half dozen hits and a new song, “Pledging My Love” — released three days earlier and trumpeted that very morning in the new issue of Billboard — was waiting in the wings and promised to be his biggest yet.

 

Despite his rising stock, Ace was showing signs of being perilously close to the edge of collapse. Always something of a bon vivant, booze and overeating, along with a vigorous touring schedule, had taken their toll on him. Once a country-handsome heartthrob to his legions of fans, Ace’s features were now distorted by the 40 extra pounds he had recently put on. What’s worse, his destructive side, always a force to be contended with, was beginning to affirm itself more strongly. He had always drunk too much, something which, combined with his natural recklessness, made for some harrowing misadventures. But recently his behavior had taken a darker turn.

 

While touring Florida, Ace purchased a .22 pistol — a Harrington & Richardson double-action revolver — which the singer wielded more like a toy than a weapon. Friends reported how one of Ace’s favorite new activities was to drive his “Oldsmobile 90 miles per hour, his pistol in his hand, shooting out the zeros on the roadside speed-limit signs.” Much more perilously, however, Ace had begun to find it amusing to point his gun — sometimes loaded, sometimes not — at his friends.

 

During the 15-minute intermission at the Civic Auditorium, Ace was backstage — a bottle of vodka in one hand, his beloved pistol in the other. He made his way into Thornton’s dressing room, where the big, bawdy singer was busy signing autographs. Ace was joined by his girlfriend, Olivia Gibbs; her friend, Mary Carter; and another acquaintance, John Hammond. Soon only the five remained in the room. As they talked, Ace was waving the gun around. When Thornton asked to see the pistol, she discovered only one bullet in the seven-round chamber. Ace asked her to give him the gun back. She did, telling him not to point it at anyone.

 

Almost as if in defiance, Ace leveled the pistol at Carter and pulled the trigger. The metal hammer clicked when it hit the empty chamber.

 

Gibbs was sitting in Ace’s lap, and next he put the pistol to her head. Again, he pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

 

Ace almost seemed to be laughing at his frightened companions now. “I’ll show you it won’t shoot,” he said. And then he put the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.

 

“Johnny had looks, guts, determination, and talent,” wrote blues musician B.B. King about his onetime bandmate John Alexander in his autobiography Blues All Around Me. “But don’t ever dare Johnny to do something dangerous ’cause the boy would up and do it. Finally that did him in. … I don’t know the true story; I wasn’t there. But I loved his talent and mourned his passing.”

 

Thousands mourned the passing of 25-year-old John Alexander Jr., better known to the world as Johnny Ace, when he died on that Christmas night in 1954. Though it hardly made a ripple in the white establishment press, news of his death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound — the legend that Ace was playing a game of Russian roulette is, of course, fiction — was front-page fodder for black newspapers across the country.

 

“Johnny’s death was major news in black America,” says James Salem, a professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama and the author of The Late Great Johnny Ace and the Transition from R&B to Rock ’n’ Roll, the only in-depth study of Ace’s life and music, released earlier this year by the University of Illinois Press. “And the sensational manner in which he died even ensured some coverage in a few white papers such as The New York Times.”

 

When Ace’s body was finally brought back to his hometown of Memphis and laid to rest in Spring Hill Cemetery, eight days after his death, a reported 5,000 people crammed into the 2,000-seat Clayborn Temple AME Church for the service. (The delay, Beale Street photographer and Alexander family friend Ernest Withers told Salem, was not that uncommon in those days.) Among the mourners were such local music stars as King, Little Junior Parker, Phineas Newborn Sr., bandleader Roscoe Gordon, and saxophonist Fred Ford. Also there were his parents. John Sr. and Leslie, his eight brothers and sisters, his estranged wife, Lois Jean, and their two infant children, Glenn, 4, and Janet, 2.

 

But though Johnny Ace was dead, his music had not died with him. Posthumously, “Pledging My Love” became his seventh and biggest-selling R&B hit. It stayed 10 weeks at the top of the R&B charts and went as high as number 17 on the white-dominated pop charts. The first album collection of Ace hits, Memorial Album: Johnny Ace, performed similarly as well. And his younger brother, St. Clair Alexander, even enjoyed a brief career founded on his brother’s fame as did a faux relative, Buddy Ace, offered up as an heir by Ace’s label.

 

Alexander had become the superstar Ace partly through his persona. Charismatic, blessed with a strong appetite for fun, and perhaps more than a little dangerous, Ace wooed thousands of women with his looks as well as his sexy tenor. And then there was that music. As typified by his posthumous single “Pledging My Love,” Ace sang a sophisticated kind of R&B that was an extension of Charles Brown and Nat King Cole and presaged Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. It was a mix of blues and crooner pop that gave “race” music its first real shot at crossover because it appealed to white people who may have secretly loved the blues but were in search of a more socially acceptable form in which to digest it.

 

“Johnny Ace was the first solo black male R&B star in the postwar era to attract a white audience with material outside the novelty song tradition,” says Salem. “Ace may even have started the trend that celebrated youthful rebelliousness and romantic self-destruction.

 

John Marshall Alexander Jr. was born in the family home at 899 Fisher Street in South Memphis on June 9, 1929, just yards away from LeMoyne-Owen College and Elmwood Cemetery. His father John Marshall Alexander Sr. worked for the Plough Chemical Company and was a Baptist preacher on the side. The entire family, in fact, was religious, but Johnny, the Alexanders’ second boy, exhibited a slightly wicked side early on.

 

Alexander was funny and gregarious, and he liked to wrestle and otherwise play rough. He discovered a gift for the piano at a young age. The family, not rich but doing better than many of Memphis’ black poor, had a piano in the house. Whenever his parents would leave the house, Alexander would take control of the keyboard, toss out the hymns that were the only music allowed in the house, and start pumping out the forbidden blues music he had heard on the streets.

 

Despite his mischievousness, as a youngster Alexander was a diligent student. At Booker T. Washington High School, however, he began to lose interest in his studies and more and more felt the pull of music, something that was recognized and encouraged by the school’s science teacher, Nat D. Williams.

 

Williams was not just Booker T’s science teacher, he was one of the most prominent members of the city’s African-American community. He hosted a popular program on WDIA and also hosted talent contests at Beale Street’s Palace Theatre, through which he encouraged young talents such as Rufus Thomas.

 

Spurred on by Williams, the Alexanders tried to encourage their son’s artistic tendencies, but young John couldn’t find a focus for his energies. Without much of an interest in regular school activities, in 1947 he dropped out of high school in the 11th grade and joined the Navy. Full of wanderlust, Alexander’s only reason for enlisting was to satisfy his yen for travel, and he wasn’t going to let the Navy’s rules and regulations get in his way.

 

Alexander was reportedly AWOL for much of his short tour of duty. MPs were frequent visitors to the Alexander home in Memphis. When the authorities did track him down he was usually playing piano in some small bar somewhere. After only a few months, perhaps weeks, Alexander was discharged.

 

“The Navy thought so little of Alexander’s stint of service that they apparently never bothered to keep the official record of his time in uniform,” says Salem, whose own accounts of Alexander in the Navy are based solely on family recollections.

 

Out of uniform and back in Memphis, Alexander bummed around for more than a year before settling into the life of a Beale Street musician. The epicenter for music life on Beale in the late ’40s and early ’50s was the Mitchell Hotel. Andrew “Sunbeam” Mitchell and his wife, Earnestine, had a reputation for nurturing young musicians. In an upstairs performance room they would host jam sessions that would last well into the night, and then they would put up those players who had no place to stay.

 

Haunting the clubs on Beale by night, Alexander spent part of his days back at Booker T. Washington. He visited, ostensibly, to see his mentor Nat D. Williams, but Alexander was also gaining a reputation as a talented and charismatic musician, a status that put him in good standing with impressionable high school girls.

 

One such girl was 9th-grader Lois Jean Palmer.

 

“All the girls liked him,” she says. “He was funny. He was really outgoing. And he was handsome, too.”

 

Of all the girls at Booker T. Washington, the petite Lois Jean Palmer was the one that caught Alexander’s eye. The two dated behind their parents’ backs for several months until Lois Jean got pregnant. Then on July 17, 1950, Alexander and Lois Jean crossed the river to Earle, Arkansas, and got married.

 

“We were almost never together after that,” says Lois Jean.

 

After they wed, Alexander moved his bride into the family home on Fisher, but Mrs. Alexander still disapproved of her son’s musician lifestyle and forbade him from living there with her.

 

Unable to afford a place of his own, Alexander took up residence in the Mitchell Hotel. Separated from his wife, he easily slid into the wild lifestyle of late nights, cheap whiskey, and, to the heartbreak of his young bride, pliant women.

 

“I always knew he was messing around with other women,” says Lois Jean, “but what could I do about it? I was young and having a baby. He was the kind of person he was, and I was the kind of person I was.”

 

Salem concurs, adding that womanizing was a consistent trait throughout Alexander’s short life.

 

“Supposedly, he could just charm any women who crossed his path,” he says. “I think he loved [Lois Jean] at one time in his own way. But he couldn’t reciprocate. He only lived in the moment, and if you couldn’t live in the moment with him, he was gone. He was incapable of returning that love. I think she realized that pretty quickly, but — and his sister Nora talked about this as well — women just couldn’t help themselves around him.”

 

Alexander, for his part, had other concerns besides his romantic life. He had begun backing up a young guitar player from Itta Bena, Mississippi, named Riley B. King, better known by his WDIA on-air name: B.B. King. King put together a small group to help him gig and record. Eventually, a group consisting chiefly of King, Alexander, Earl Forest on drums, Billy Duncan on saxophone, and Bobby Bland on vocals began to coalesce around the Mitchell Hotel. They went by different names, including Bee Bee’s Jeebies, but the one that stuck was the Beale Streeters.

 

The band stuck together until King scored a national hit on the Flair label with “Three O’Clock Blues,” a side he had cut on the cheap with the Beale Streeters at the YMCA at Lauderdale and Vance. When King started joining package tours to support his record, he was backed by an orchestra of sidemen, so the Beale Streeters were left behind in Alexander’s hands.

 

Focused on his own career now, Alexander came to the attention of David Mattis, the white program director at WDIA. Mattis had started his own record label, Duke, and was conducting a session at WDIA’s studios in the summer of 1952 which featured Alexander as a sideman on piano. Not enthused about what he had on tape so far, Mattis decided to cut a track with the piano player when he heard him diddling around with Ruth Brown’s “So Long.” Fifteen minutes later, after inventing a new melody and adding new words, the pair had written and recorded “My Song,” a fairly traditional R&B ballad but with Alexander’s trademark soulful voice already evident.

 

Mattis renamed Alexander Johnny Ace, after Johnny Ray and the group the Five Aces. Already, someone had recognized Alexander’s pop appeal. “My Song” became a regional hit, and now Mattis’ Duke label had gained the attention of David Robey, a onetime Houston taxi company owner with reputed mob connections.

 

Robey had turned his Houston-based Peacock label into a successful national independent specializing in gospel and such blues artists as Louis Jordan and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. As Sam Phillips would do a few years later with Elvis Presley, Mattis heard tremendous crossover appeal in Alexander. This was not a typical Delta blues moaner but a crooner in the Nat King Cole style. And his piano playing and musical taste likewise drifted toward a sophistication that would be easier to sell as pop.

 

Robey re-released “My Song” nationally, and the song shot straight to the top of the national R&B charts and stayed there for nine weeks. From now on, Ace would live out of hotel rooms and tour buses.

 

“These guys played 330 to 340 dates a year, because that’s how you made money,” says Salem. “You certainly weren’t going to make it off records, because the label executives were going to get by giving you as little as possible. … In the last two years of his life, I don’t think Ace even had a home. He lived out of a suitcase. Earnestine Mitchell [of the Mitchell Hotel] said that when Ace died she still had a lot of his possessions in the hotel.”

 

By 1953, Ace had essentially abandoned his family, though he fathered a second child, a daughter named Janet, before he left. Over the next year-and-a-half, he cut 19 more songs for Robey, four of which were hits — “Cross My Heart,” the slightly gimmicky but no-less-tender ballad “The Clock,” “Saving My Love for You,” “Please Forgive Me,” and “Never Let Me Go.”

 

“The Clock,” almost as much as his death, marked Ace’s place in the memory of his fans. A simple and earnest ballad, Salem says “The Clock” is a candidate for the first rock-and-roll song.

 

“Back then it was common for white artists to remake proven R&B songs,” he says. “The thing about that record was that it was the first black record that couldn’t be replicated by white artists. It was its own unique, indelible performance. Audiences wouldn’t have stood for it. I still hear from people who say that song was the one that most sticks with them.”

 

In the months before his death, Ace’s behavior was getting more and more out of hand. He still made his shows and recording sessions, but his leisure hours were full of cars, booze, women, and his new toy — the .22 pistol.

 

“I’ve known people who have great talent like that but it’s like they can’t control it and it has to come out somehow, so it does through extreme behavior,” Salem says. “If Ace were alive today we’d probably say he had Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder because no one could control him.”

 

When the news finally came on the morning of December 26th, while a shock, it couldn’t have come as that big a surprise to those who knew his self-destructive ways. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, a month earlier, a rumor spread among Ace’s friends that he had died. And on Christmas morning a fraudulent telegram arrived at Fisher Street informing Mrs. Alexander that her son was dead.

 

A day later, it would be a phone call that would convey the awful truth. Lois Jean Alexander, no longer living with her in-laws, found out about her husband on the morning of the 26th.

 

“Someone from the Alexanders’ house came over to tell me the news,” she recalls. “I think of him because of the kids, but after he died — I know it sounds strange — but it was like a peace had come over me.”

 

Five months before Johnny Ace’s death, back in Memphis, Elvis Presley had gone into Sun Studio to record his first sides for Sun Records. On December 25, 1954, the day Ace put the bullet in his brain, Elvis was spending the holiday at home in Memphis with his parents. He was already a regular performer on the Louisiana Hayride radio program. Just two months earlier Colonel Tom Parker had sold his young client’s contract to RCA. But though the young singer was obviously a star on the rise, no one then could have predicted the worldwide hysteria he and his new brand of music would create in just a few more months. Nor could anyone have spotted the tidal wave of rock-and-roll artists to follow that would eventually sweep Johnny Ace and those like him away to obscurity.

 

(It is one of the great ironies of rock-and-roll that the last single Ace released before his death was “Pledging My Love,” and the last Elvis single, released just weeks before his death, was “Way Down” b/w “Pledging My Love.” To be fair, though, dozens of artists have covered “Pledging My Love” over the years — Jerry Lee Lewis, Diana Ross, and Marvin Gaye among them — without dying as a result.)

 

Today, the late great Johnny Ace is a footnote in American music history whose tragically short life is often summed up in books on the subject in a single sentence — a member of the Beale Streeters with B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland, who enjoyed a brief successful solo career before dying in a game of Russian roulette.

 

Sadly, such summary dismissal ignores the important role Ace played in bridging white and black music styles in those days just before rock-and-roll.

 

Nor does it elucidate his position as a model of an essential rock-and-roll archetype, the romantic martyr. Taking a cue from Byron and Keats, his brilliant, seductive, self-indulgent, self-destructive life bridged the myths of Robert Johnson with those of James Dean and Buddy Holly.

 

And, of course, nothing that has been written about him since can do justice to his greatest legacy — his music, especially the haunting, sensitive ballads he was able to conjure almost in spite of himself. Though his recordings are available (if hard to find) on CD and despite the best scholarly efforts of Salem to put him in his proper context, Ace is in danger of vanishing into history.

 

Still, for a generation of music lovers, Ace is a permanent and precious part of their lives. In the introduction to his book, Salem writes about delivering a seminar on black music and playing “Pledging My Love” before a group of female middle-aged African-American teachers.

 

“They not only knew all the words to “Pledging My Love,” but also sang them out loud, with their peers, in the middle of my formal presentation,” Salem writes. “Ace had been dead for more than 35 years by this time, and I had at least 40 cued up that day to play, but the seminar stalled on ‘Pledging My Love.’ When I made a movement toward the cassette player, one woman said, in a voice teeming with authority: ‘Don’t you dare stop that song.’ Southern black women of their generation, I learned, have the kind of affection for Johnny Ace that Southern white women have for Elvis Presley.”

 

But for younger generations, he is not even a memory

 

“No one asks me about him anymore,” says Lois Jean Alexander. “The younger people don’t know who he is, and the older people are all dying.”

 

Alexander herself doesn’t think of her late husband often. Though she went on to have two more children, Alexander never could bring herself to marry again. Photos of her four children, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren pepper the walls and tables of her tiny South Memphis apartment, but Johnny Ace is nowhere to be seen.

 

The gradual effacement of Ace has been hard for his two grown children, Glenn Alexander and Janet Alexander McClora, who had to grow up in the shadow of a father they never really knew.

 

“They’re real proud of their dad,” says Lois Jean. “I never talked about him very much unless they asked. They never knew the bad things about him until [Salem’s] book came out. But even still, they love him.”

 

McClora, who like her parents attended Booker T. Washington High School, grew up hearing stories about her father from her teachers. But her strongest connection to him remains through his music.

 

“I’m probably the way I am because of him. I always reach out to the underdog and try to extend love to that person,” McCora says. “I often think my dad’s not here because nobody reached out to him and gave him the love that he was always singing about.”