Kitty Couldn’t Stay Away from the Barn.

 

“The Animal in Her . . . At the top of the stairs she halted, trying to get her belt back in the loops of her robe. The robe hung wide open, and down that opening was light, dark nakedness, golden and shining.

 

A low voice went through her, as shocking as ice water suddenly splashed over her. “Lord, how beautiful!”

 

It was Amos Foley on the stairs. His voice was throaty, croaking, as he lumbered toward her, his eyes headlights in his bronze face, his hands seeming to jump to her.

 

“No, Amos, no!” Her voice was a whispering scream as she tried to hurl herself to one side. “I – I’ve changed my mind!” [From the back cover]

 

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Beacon Books was a prominent publisher that typified the "R-rated sleaze" or "good girl art" paperback market of the 1950s and 1960s. They specialized in mass-market, pulp-style paperbacks that pushed the boundaries of censorship while capitalizing on sensationalism, detective themes, and working-class melodrama.

 

The most defining feature of Beacon Books was the provocative cover illustrations designed to catch the eye on drugstore spinner racks. The stories inside often read like working-class soap operas, exploring taboo topics like suburban adultery, divorce, crime, and illicit affairs. To avoid scrutiny from the U.S. Postal Inspectors and local decency laws, sleaze publishers like Beacon and Midwood relied on a formula where illicit or “unnatural” behavior (such as lesbianism or heavy delinquency) had to be treated as a tragedy, with characters eventually repenting or suffering a miserable fate to give the books a veneer of social value.

 

Authors in this genre operated as a cottage industry, frequently writing under multiple aliases. Alongside standard romance-crime, Beacon dabbled in several notorious subgenres, including Hollywood-set exposés, and even sci-fi/nudist-camp themes. While sometimes dismissed as cheap smut during their heyday, these paperbacks are sought after today for their artwork and their role in pushing the envelope toward free expression.

 

[Sources: Wikipedia, VintageSleazePaperbacks.wordpress.com, and BookScans.com]

 

Nearly halfway through the month, and it's the weekend again, and the the good news is that the sore throat I had on Friday went and did not return.

 

Which is nice.

 

Jools's cough, however, which seemed like it was getting better, returned slightly on Friday evening, and would again on Saturday. We had tockets to see Public Service Bradcasting again, this time in Margate, but our hearts were not in it, if I'm honest, and in the end we decided not to go in light of her coughing, but also as I said, we saw them a month back, though this would be a different show.

 

And Norwich were on the tellybox, what could be better than watching that?

 

Anything, as it turned out.

 

But that was for later.

 

We went to Tesco, a little later than usual, as we had slept in rather, then back home for breakfast before the decision on what to do for the day. Jools decided to stay home to bead and read, I would go out.

 

There are three churches near to home that I feel I needed to revisit, St Margaret's itself I should be able to get the key from the village shop at any time, but St Mary in Dover hasn't been open the last few times I have been in town, and Barfrestone was closed most of the year due to vandalism.

 

But Saturday morning there is usually a coffee morning in St Mary, so I went down armed with camera and lenses to take more shots of the details, especially of the windows.

 

There was a small group with the Vicar, talking in one of the chapels, so I made busy getting my shots, just happy that the church was open. I left a fiver with the vicar, and walked back to the car, passing the old guy supping from a tin of cider sitting outside the church hall.

 

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In the heart of the town with a prominent twelfth-century tower. From the outside it is obvious that much work was carried out in the nineteenth century. The church has major connections with the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports and is much used for ceremonial services. The western bays of the nave with their low semi-circular arches are contemporary with the tower, while the pointed arches to the east are entirely nineteenth century. The scale and choice of stone is entirely wrong, although the carving is very well done. However the east end, with its tall narrow lancet windows, is not so successful. The Royal Arms, of the reign of William and Mary, are of carved and painted wood, with a French motto - Jay Maintendray - instead of the more usual Dieu et Mon Droit. The church was badly damaged in the Second World War, but one of the survivors was the typical Norman font of square Purbeck marble construction. One of the more recent additions to the church is the Herald of Free Enterprise memorial window of 1989 designed by Frederick Cole.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Dover+1

 

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THE TOWN AND PORT OF DOVER.

DOVER lies at the eastern extremity of Kent, adjoining to the sea, the great high London road towards France ending at it. It lies adjoining to the parish of Charlton last-described, eastward, in the lath of St. Augustine and eastern division of the county. It is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and the juristion of the corporation of the town and port of Dover.

 

DOVER, written in the Latin Itinerary of Antonine, Dubris. By the Saxons, Dorsa, and Dofris. By later historians, Doveria; and in the book of Domesday, Dovere; took its name most probably from the British words, Dufir, signifying water, or Dusirrha, high and steep, alluding to the cliffs adjoining to it. (fn. 1)

 

It is situated at the extremity of a wide and spacious valley, inclosed on each side by high and steep hills or cliffs, and making allowance for the sea's withdrawing itself from between them, answers well to the description given of it by Julius Cæfar in his Commentaries.

 

In the middle space, between this chain of high cliffs, in a break or opening, lies the town of Dover and its harbour, which latter, before the sea was shut out, so late as the Norman conquest, was situated much more within the land than it is at present, as will be further noticed hereafter.

 

ON THE SUMMIT of one of these cliffs, of sudden and stupendous height, close on the north side of the town and harbour, stands DOVER CASTLE, so famous and renowned in all the histories of former times. It is situated so exceeding high, that it is at most times plainly to be seen from the lowest lands on the coast of France, and as far beyond as the eye can discern. Its size, for it contains within it thirty five acres of ground, six of which are taken up by the antient buildings, gives it the appearance of a small city, having its citadel conspicuous in the midst of it, with extensive fortifications, around its walls. The hill, or rather rock, on which it stands, is ragged and steep towards the town and harbour; but towards the sea, it is a perpendicular precipice of a wonderful height, being more than three hundred and twenty feet high, from its basis on the shore.

 

Common tradition supposes, that Julius Cæfar was the builder of this castle, as well as others in this part of Britain, but surely without a probability of truth; for our brave countrymen found Cæfar sufficient employment of a far different sort, during his short stay in Britain, to give him any opportunity of erecting even this one fortress. Kilburne says, there was a tower here, called Cæsar's tower, afterwards the king's lodgings; but these, now called the king's keep, were built by king Henry II. as will be further mentioned hereafter; and he further says, there were to be seen here great pipes and casks bound with iron hoops, in which was liquor supposed to be wine, which by long lying had become as thick as treacle, and would cleave like birdlime; salt congealed together as hard as stone; cross and long bows and arrows, to which brass was fastened instead of feathers, and they were of such size, as not to be fit for the use of men of that or any late ages. These, Lambarde says, the inhabitants shewed as having belonged to Cæfar, and the wine and salt as part of the provision he had brought with him hither; and Camden relates, that he was shewn these arrows, which he thinks were such as the Romans used to shoot out of their engines, which were like to large crossbows. These last might, no doubt, though not Cæsar's, belong to the Romans of a later time; and the former might, perhaps, be part of the provisions and stores which king Henry VIII. laid in here, at a time when he passed from hence over sea to France. But for many years past it has not been known what is become of any of these things.

 

Others, averse to Cæsar's having built this castle, and yet willing to give the building of it to the empire of the Romans of a later time, suppose, and that perhaps with some probability, it was first erected by Arviragus, (or Arivog, as he is called on his coin) king of Britain, in the time of Claudius, the Roman emperor. (fn. 2)

 

That there was one built here, during the continuance of the Roman empire in Britain, must be supposed from the necessity of it, and the circumstances of those times; and the existence of one plainly appears, from the remains of the tower and other parts of the antient church within it, and the octagon tower at the west end, in which are quantities of Roman brick and tile. These towers are evidently the remains of Roman work, the former of much less antiquity than the latter, which may be well supposed to have been built as early as the emperor Claudius, whose expedition hither was about or immediately subsequent to the year of Christ 44. Of these towers, probably the latter was built for a speculum, or watch-tower, and was used, not only to watch the approach of enemies, but with another on the opposite hill, to point out the safe entrance into this port between them, by night as well as by day.

 

In this fortress, the Romans seem afterwards to have kept a garrison of veterans, as we learn from Pancirollus, who tells us that a company of soldiers under their chief, called Præpositus Militum Tungricanorum, was stationed within this fortess.

 

Out of the remains of part of the above-mentioned Roman buildings here, a Christian church was erected, as most historians write, by Lucius, king of Britain, about the year 161; but it is much to be doubted whether there ever was such a king in Britain; if there was, he was only a tributary chief to the Roman emperor, under whose peculiar government Britain was then accounted. This church was built, no doubt, for the use of that part of the garrison in particular, who were at that time believers of the gospel, and afterwards during the different changes of the Christian and Pagan religions in these parts, was made use of accordingly, till St. Augustine, soon after the year 597, at the request of king Ethelbert, reconsecrated it, and dedicated it anew, in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary.

 

¶His son and successor Eadbald, king of Kent, founded a college of secular canons and a provost in this church, whose habitations, undoubtedly near it, there are not the least traces of. These continued here till after the year 691; when Widred, king of Kent, having increated the fortifications, and finding the residence of the religious within them an incumbrance, removed them from hence into the town of Dover, to the antient church of St. Martin; in the description of which hereafter, a further account of them will be given.

  

DOVER does not seem to have been in much repute as a harbour, till some time after Cæsar's expedition hither; for the unfitness, as well as insecurity of the place, especially for a large fleet of shipping, added to the character which he had given of it, deterred the Romans from making a frequent use of it, so that from Boleyne, or Gessoriacum, their usual port in Gaul, they in general failed with their fleets to Richborough, or Portus Rutupinus, situated at the mouth of the Thames, in Britain, and thence back again; the latter being a most safe and commodious haven, with a large and extensive bay.

 

Notwithstanding which, Dover certainly was then made use of as a port for smaller vessels, and a nearer intercourse for passengers from the continent; and to render the entrance to it more safe, the Romans built two Specula, or watch-towers, here, on the two hills opposite to each other, to point out the approach to it, and one likewise on the opposite hill at Bologne, for the like purpose there; and it is mentioned as a port by Antoninus, in his Itinerary, in which, ITER III. is A Londinio ad Portum Dubris, i. e. from London to the port of Dover.

 

After the departure of the Romans from Britain, when the port of Bologne, as well as Richborough, fell into decay and disuse, and instead of the former a nearer port came into use, first at Whitsan, and when that was stopped up, a little higher at Calais, Dover quickly became the more usual and established port of passage between France and Britain, and it has continued so to the present time.

 

When the antient harbour of Dover was changed from its antient situation is not known; most probably by various occurrences of nature, the sea left it by degrees, till at last the farmer scite of it became entirely swallowed up by the beach. That the harbour was much further within land, even at the time of the conquest than it is at present, seems to be confirmed by Domesday, in which it is said, that at the entrance of it, there was a mill which damaged almost every ship that passed by it, on account of the great swell of the sea there. Where the scite of this mill was, is now totally unknown, though it is probable it was much within the land, and that by the still further accumulation of the beach, and other natural causes, this haven was in process of time so far filled up towards the inland part of it, as to change its situation still more to the south-west, towards the sea.

 

From the time of the Norman conquest this port continued the usual passage to the continent, and to confine the intercourse to this port only, there was a statute passed anno 4 Edward IV. that none should take shipping for Calais, but at Dover. (fn. 20) But in king Henry VII.'s time, which was almost the next reign, the harbour was become so swerved up, as to render it necessary for the king's immediate attention, to prevent its total ruin, and he expended great sums of money for its preservation. But it was found, that all that was done, would not answer the end proposed, without the building of a pier to seaward, which was determined on about the middle of Henry VIII.'s reign, and one was constructed, which was compiled of two rows of main posts, and great piles, which were let into holes hewn in the rock underneath, and some were shod with iron, and driven down into the main chalk, and fastened together with iron bands and bolts. The bottom being first filled up with great rocks of stone, and the remainder above with great chalk stones, beach, &c. During the whole of this work, the king greatly encouraged the undertaking, and came several times to view it; and in the whole is said to have expended near 63,000l. on it. But his absence afterwards abroad, his ill health, and at last his death, joined to the minority of his successor, king Edward VI. though some feeble efforts were made in his reign, towards the support of this pier, put a stop to, and in the end exposed this noble work to decay and ruin.

 

Queen Mary, indeed, attempted to carry it on again, but neither officers nor workmen being well paid, it came to nothing, so that in process of time the sea having brought up great quantities of beach again upon it, the harbour was choaked up, and the loss of Calais happening about the same time, threatened the entire destruction of it. Providentially the shelf of beach was of itself became a natural defence against the rage of the sea, insomuch, that if a passage could be made for ships to get safely within it, they might ride there securely.

 

To effect this, several projects were formed, and queen Elizabeth, to encourage it, gave to the town the free transportation of several thousand quarters of corn and tuns of beer; and in the 23d of her reign, an act passed for giving towards the repair of the harbour, a certain tonnage from every vessel above twenty tons burthen, passing by it, which amounted to 1000l. yearly income; and the lord Cobham, then lordwarden, and others, were appointed commissioners for this purpose; and in the end, after many different trials to effect it, a safe harbour was formed, with a pier, and different walls and sluices, at a great expence; during the time of which a universal diligence and public spirit appeared in every one concerned in this great and useful work. During the whole of the queen's reign, the improvement of this harbour continued without intermission, and several more acts passed for that purpose; but the future preservation of it was owing to the charter of incorporation of the governors of it, in the first year of king James I. by an act passed that year, by the name of the warden and assistants of the harbour of Dover, the warden being always the lord-warden of the cinque ports for the time being, and his assistants, his lieutenant, and the mayor of Dover, for the time being, and eight others, the warden and assistants only making a quorum; six to be present to make a session; at any of which, on a vacancy, the assistants to be elected; and the king granted to them his land or waste ground, or beach, commonly called the Pier, or Harbour ground, as it lay without Southgate, or Snargate, the rents of which are now of the yearly value of about three hundred pounds.

 

Under the direction of this corporation, the works and improvements of this harbour have been carried on, and acts of parliament have been passed in almost every reign since, to give the greater force to their proceedings.

 

From what has been said before, the reader will observe, that this harbour has always been a great national object, and that in the course of many ages, prodigious sums of money have been from time to time expended on it, and every endeavour used to keep it open, and render it commodious; but after all these repeated endeavours and expences, it still labours under such circumstances, as in a very great degree renders unsuccessful all that has ever been done for that purpose.

 

DOVER, as has been already mentioned, was of some estimation in the time of the Roman empire in Britain, on account of its haven, and afterwards for the castle, in which they kept a strong garrison of sol. diers, not only to guard the approach to it, but to keep the natives in subjection; and in proof of their residence here, the Rev. Mr. Lyon some years since discovered the remains of a Roman structure, which he apprehended to have been a bath, at the west end of the parish-church of St. Mary, in this town, which remains have since repeatedly been laid open when interments have taken place there.

 

This station of the Romans is mentioned by Antonine, in his Itinerary of the Roman roads in Britain, by the name of Dubris, as being situated from the station named Durovernum, or Canterbury, fourteen miles; which distance, compared with the miles as they are now numbered from Canterbury, shews the town, as well as the haven, for they were no doubt contiguous to each other, to have both been nearer within land than either of them are at present, the present distance from Canterbury being near sixteen miles as the road now goes, The sea, indeed, seems antiently to have occupied in great part the space where the present town of Dover, or at least the northwest part of it, now stands; but being shut out by the quantity of beach thrown up, and the harbour changed by that means to its present situation, left that place a dry ground, on which the town of Dover, the inhabitants following the traffic of the harbour, was afterwards built.

 

This town, called by the Saxons, Dofra, and Dofris; by later historians, Doveria; and in Domesday, Dovere; is agreed by all writers to have been privileged before the conquest; and by the survey of Domesday, appears to have been of ability in the time of king Edward the Confessor, to arm yearly twenty vessels for sea service. In consideration of which, that king granted to the inhabitants, not only to be free from the payment of thol and other privileges throughout the realm, but pardoned them all manner of suit and service to any of his courts whatsoever; and in those days, the town seems to have been under the protection and government of Godwin, earl of Kent, and governor of this castle.

 

Soon after the conquest, this town was so wasted by fire, that almost all the houses were reduced to ashes, as appears by the survey of Domesday, at the beginning of which is the following entry of it:

 

DOVERE, in the time of king Edward, paid eighteen pounds, of which money, king E had two parts, and earl Goduin the third. On the other hand, the canons of St. Martin had another moiety. The burgesses gave twenty ships to the king once in the year, for fifteen days; and in each ship were twenty and one men. This they did on the account that he had pardoned them sac and soc. When the messengers of the king came there, they gave for the passage of a horse three pence in winter, and two in summer. But the burgesses found a steerman, and one other assistant, and if there should be more necessary, they were provided at his cost. From the festival of St. Michael to the feast of St. Andrew, the king's peace was in the town. Sigerius had broke it, on which the king's bailiff had received the usual fine. Whoever resided constantly in the town paid custom to the king; he was free from thol throughout England. All these customs were there when king William came into England. On his first arrival in England, the town itself was burnt, and therefore its value could not be computed how much it was worth, when the bishop of Baieux received it. Now it is rated at forty pounds, and yet the bailiff pays from thence fifty-four pounds to the king; of which twenty-four pounds in money, which were twenty in an one, but thirty pounds to the earl by tale.

 

In Dovere there are twenty-nine plats of ground, of which the king had lost the custom. Of these Robert de Romenel has two. Ralph de Curbespine three. William, son of Tedald, one. William, son of Oger, one. William, son of Tedold, and Robert niger, six. William, son of Goisfrid, three, in which the guildhall of the burgesses was. Hugo de Montfort one house. Durand one. Rannulf de Colubels one. Wadard six. The son of Modbert one. And all these vouch the bishop of Baieux as the protector and giver of these houses. Of that plat of ground, which Rannulf de Colubels holds, which was a certain outlaw, they agree that the half of the land was the king's, and Rannulf himself has both parts. Humphry the lame man holds one plat of ground, of which half the forfeiture is the king's. Roger de Ostrabam made a certain house over the king's water, and held to this time the custom of the king; nor was a house there in the time of king Edward. In the entrance of the port of Dovere, there is one mill, which damages almost every ship, by the great swell of the sea, and does great damage to the king and his tenants; and it was not there in the time of king Edward. Concerning this, the grandson of Herbert says, that the bishop of Baieux granted it to his uncle Herbert, the son of Ivo.

 

And a little further, in the same record, under the bishop's possessions likewise:

 

In Estrei hundred, Wibertus holds half a yoke, which lies in the gild of Dover, and now is taxed with the land of Osbert, the son of Letard, and is worth per annum four shillings.

 

From the Norman conquest, the cities and towns of this realm appear to have been vested either in the crown, or else in the clergy or great men of the laity, and they were each, as such, immediately lords of the same. Thus, when the bishop of Baieux, to whom the king had, as may be seen by the above survey, granted this town, was disgraced. It returned into the king's hands by forfeiture, and king Richard I. afterwards granted it in ferme to Robt. Fitz-bernard. (fn. 21)

 

After the time of the taking of the survey of Domesday, the harbour of Dover still changing its situation more to the south-westward, the town seems to have altered its situation too, and to have been chiefly rebuilt along the sides of the new harbour, and as an encouragement to it, at the instance, and through favour especially to the prior of Dover, king Edward I. in corporated this town, the first that was so of any of the cinque ports, by the name of the mayor and commonalty. The mayor to be chosen out of the latter, from which body he was afterwards to chuse the assistants for his year, who were to be sworn for that purpose. At which time, the king had a mint for the coinage of money here; and by patent, anno 27 of that reign, the table of the exchequer of money was appointed to be held here, and at Yarmouth. (fn. 22) But the good effects of these marks of the royal favour were soon afterwards much lessened, by a dreadful disaster; for the French landed here in the night, in the 23d year of that reign, and burnt the greatest part of the town, and several of the religious houses, in it, and this was esteemed the more treacherousk, as it was done whilst the two cardinals were here, treating for a peace between England and France; which misfortune, however, does not seem to have totally impoverished it, for in the 17th year of the next reign of king Edward II it appears in some measure to have recovered its former state, and to have been rebuilt, as appears by the patent rolls of that year, in which the town of Dover is said to have then had in it twenty-one wards, each of which was charged with one ship for the king's use; in consideration of which, each ward had the privilege of a licensed packetboat, called a passenger, from Dover across the sea to Whitsan, in France, the usual port at that time of embarking from thence.

 

The state of this place in the reign of Henry VIII. is given by Leland, in his Itinerary, as follows:

 

"Dovar ys xii myles fro Canterbury and viii fro Sandwich. Ther hath bene a haven yn tyme past and yn taken ther of the ground that lyith up betwyxt the hilles is yet in digging found wosye. Ther hath bene found also peeces of cabelles and anchores and Itinerarium Antonini cawlyth hyt by the name of a haven. The towne on the front toward the se hath bene right strongly walled and embateled and almost al the residew; but now yt is parly fawlen downe and broken downe. The residew of the towne as far as I can perceyve was never waulled. The towne is devided into vi paroches. Wherof iii be under one rose at S. Martines yn the hart of the town. The other iii stand that yt hath be walled abowt but not dyked. The other iii stand abrode, of the which one is cawled S. James of Rudby or more likely Rodeby a statione navium. But this word ys not sufficient to prove that Dovar showld be that place, the which the Romaynes cawlled Portus Rutupi or Rutupinum. For I cannot yet se the contrary but Retesboro otherwise cawlled Richeboro by Sandwich, both ways corruptly, must neades be Rutupinum. The mayne strong and famose castel of Dovar stondeth on the loppe of a hille almost a quarter of a myle of fro the towne on the lyst side and withyn the castel ys a chapel, yn the sides wherof appere sum greate Briton brykes. In the town was a great priory of blacke monkes late suppressed. There is also an hospitalle cawlled the Meason dew. On the toppe of the hye clive betwene the towne and the peere remayneth yet abowt a slyte shot up ynto the land fro the very brymme of the se clysse as ruine of a towr, the which has bene as a pharos or a mark to shyppes on the se and therby was a place of templarys. As concerning the river of Dovar it hath no long cowrse from no spring or hedde notable that descendith to that botom. The principal hed, as they say is at a place cawled Ewelle and that is not past a iii or iiii myles fro Dovar. Ther be springes of frech waters also at a place cawled Rivers. Ther is also a great spring at a place cawled …… and that once in a vi or vii yeres brasted owt so abundantly that a great part of the water cummeth into Dovar streme, but als yt renneth yn to the se betwyxt Dovar and Folchestan, but nerer to Folchestan that is to say withyn a ii myles of yt. Surely the hedde standeth so that it might with no no great cost be brought to run alway into Dovar streame." (fn. 23)

Cougate Crosse-gate Bocheruy-gate stoode with toures toward the se. There is beside Beting-gate and Westegate.

Howbeyt MTuine tol me a late that yt hath be walled abowt but not dyked.

 

This was the state of Dover just before the time of the dissolution of religious houses, in Henry VIII.'s reign, when the abolition of private masses, obits, and such like services in churches, occasioned by the reformation, annillilated the greatest part of the income of the priests belonging to them, in this as well as in other towns, in consequence of which most of them were deserted, and falling to ruin, the parishes belonging to them were united to one or two of the principal ones of them. Thus, in this town, of the several churches in it, two only remained in use for divine service, viz. St. Mary's and St. James's, to which the parishes of the others were united.

 

After this, the haven continuting to decay more than ever, notwithstanding the national assistance afforded to it, the town itself seemed hastening to impoverishment. What the state of it was in the 8th year of queen Elizabeth, may be seen, by the certificate returned by the queen's order of the maritime places, in her 8th year, by which it appears that there were then in Dover, houses inhabited three hundred and fifty-eight; void, or lack of inhabiters, nineteen; a mayor, customer, comptroller of authorities, not joint but several; ships and crayers twenty, from four tons to one hundred and twenty.

 

¶This probable ruin of the town, however, most likely induced the queen, in her 20th year, to grant it a new charter of incorporation, in which the manner of chusing mayor, jurats, and commoners, and of making freemen, was new-modelled, and several surther liberties and privileges granted, and those of the charter of king Edward I. confirmed likewise by inspeximus. After which, king Charles II. in his 36th year, anno 1684, granted to it a new charter, which, however, was never inrolled in chancery, and in consequence of a writ of quo warranto was that same year surrendered, and another again granted next year; but this last, as well as another charter granted by king James II. and forced on the corporation, being made wholly subservient to the king's own purposes, were annulled by proclamation, made anno 1688, being the fourth and last year of his reign: but none of the above charters being at this time extant, (the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, being in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Col. Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and never returned again, nor is it known what became of them,) Dover is now held to be a corporation by prescription, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and port of Dover. It consists at present of a mayor, twelve jurats, and thirty-six commoners, or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town-clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Sept. 8, yearly, in St. Mary's church, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty, exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of record, and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations, within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of a mace. The election of mayor was antiently in the church of St. Peter, whence in 1581 it was removed to that of St. Mary, where it has been, as well as the elections of barons to serve in parliament, held ever since. These elections here, as well as elsewhere in churches, set apart for the worship of God, are certainly a scandal to decency and religion, and are the more inexcusable here, as there is a spacious court-hall, much more fit for the purposes. After this, there was another byelaw made, in June, 1706, for removing these elections into the court-hall; but why it was not put in execution does not appear, unless custom prevented it—for if a decree was of force to move them from one church to another, another decree was of equal force to remove them from the church to the courthall. Within these few years indeed, a motion was made in the house of commons, by the late alderman Sawbridge, a gentlemand not much addicted to speak in favour of the established church, to remove all such elections, through decency, from churches to other places not consecrated to divine worship; but though allowed to be highly proper, yet party resentment against the mover of it prevailed, and the motion was negatived by a great majority.

 

The mayor is chosen by the resident freemen. The jurats are nominated from the common-councilmen by the jurats, and appointed by the mayor, jurats, and common-councilmen, by ballot.

  

THE CHURCH OF ST. Mary stands at some distance from the entrance into this town from Canterbury, near the market-place. It is said to have been built by the prior and convent of St. Martin, (fn. 47) in the year 1216; but from what authority, I know not.—Certain it is, that it was in king John's reign, in the gift of the king, and was afterwards given by him to John de Burgh; but in the 8th year of Richard II.'s reign, anno 1384, it was become appropriated to the abbot of Pontiniac. After which, by what means, I cannot discover, this appropriation, as well as the advowson of the church, came into the possession of the master and brethren of the hospital of the Maison Dieu, who took care that the church should be daily served by a priest, who should officiate in it for the benefit of the parish. In which state it continued till the suppression of the hospital, in the 36th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it came into the hands of the crown, at which time the parsonage was returned by John Thompson, master of the hospital, to be worth six pounds per annum.

 

Two years after which, the king being at Dover, at the humble entreaty of the inhabitants of this parish, gave to them, as it is said, this church, with the cemetery adjoining to it, to be used by them as a parochial church; at the same time he gave the pews of St. Martin's church for the use of it; and on the king's departure, in token of possession, they sealed up the church doors; since which, the patronage of it, which is now esteemed as a perpetual curacy, the minister of it being licensed by the archbishop, has been vested in the inhabitants of this parish. Every parishioner, paying scot and lot, having a vote in the chusing of the minister, whose maintenance had been from time to time, at their voluntary option, more or less. It is now fixed at eighty pounds per annum. Besides which he has the possession of a good house, where he resides, which was purchased by the inhabitants in 1754, for the perpetual use of the minister of it. It is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon. (fn. 48)

 

There is a piece of ground belonging, as it is said, to the glebe of this church, rented annually at ten pounds, which is done by vestry, without the minister being at all concerned in it. In 1588 here were eight hundred and twenty-one communicants. This parish contains more than five parts out of six of the whole town, and a greater proportion of the inhabitants.

 

The church of St. Mary is a large handsome building of three isles, having a high and south chancel, all covered with lead, and built of flints, with ashler windows and door cases, which are arched and ornamented. At the west end is the steeple, which is a spire covered with lead, in which are eight bells, a clock, and chimes. The pillars in the church are large and clumsy; the arches low and semicircular in the body, but eliptical in the chancel; but there is no separation between the body and chancel, and the pews are continued on to the east end of the church. In the high chancel, at the eastern extremity of it, beyond the altar, are the seats for the mayor and jurats; and here the mayor is now chosen, and the barons in parliament for this town and port constantly elected.

 

In 1683, there was a faculty granted to the churchwardens, to remove the magistrates seats from the east end of the church to the north side, or any other more convenient part of it, and for the more decent and commodious placing the communion table: in consequence of which, these seats were removed, and so placed, but they continued there no longer than 1689, when, by several orders of vestry, they were removed back again to where they remain at present.

 

The mayor was antiently chosen in St. Peter's church; but by a bye-law of the corporation, it was removed to this church in 1583, where it has ever since been held. In 1706, another bye law was made, to remove, for the sake of decency, all elections from this church to the court-hall, but it never took place. More of which has been mentioned before.

 

From the largeness, as well as the populousness of this parish, the church is far from being sufficient to contain the inhabitants who resort to it for public worship, notwithstanding there are four galleries in it, and it is otherwise well pewed. This church was paved in 1642, but it was not ceiled till 1706. In 1742, there was an organ erected in it. The two branches in it were given, one by subscription in 1738, and the other by the pilots in 1742.

 

Thomas Toke, of Dover, buried in the chapel of St. Katharine, in this church, by his will in 1484, gave seven acres of land at Dugate, under Windlass-down, to the wardens of this church, towards the repairs of it for ever.

 

¶The monuments and memorials in this church and church yard, are by far too numerous to mention here. Among them are the following: A small monument in the church for the celebrated Charles Churchill, who was buried in the old church-yard of St. Martin in this town, as has been noticed before; and a small stone, with a memorial for Samuel Foote, esq. the celebrated comedian, who died at the Ship inn, and had a grave dug for him in this church, but was afterwards carried to London, and buried there. A monument and several memorials for the family of Eaton; arms, Or, a sret, azure. A small tablet for John Ker, laird of Frogden, in Twit dale, in Scotland, who died suddenly at Dover, in his way to France, in 1730. Two monuments for Farbrace, arms, Azure, a bend, or, between two roses, argent, seeded, or, bearded vert. A monument in the middle isle, to the memory of the Minet family. In the north isle are several memorials for the Gunmans, of Dover; arms,. … a spread eagle, argent, gorged with a ducal coronet, or. There are others, to the memory of Broadley, Rouse, and others, of good account in this town.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp475-548

Nearly halfway through the month, and it's the weekend again, and the the good news is that the sore throat I had on Friday went and did not return.

 

Which is nice.

 

Jools's cough, however, which seemed like it was getting better, returned slightly on Friday evening, and would again on Saturday. We had tockets to see Public Service Bradcasting again, this time in Margate, but our hearts were not in it, if I'm honest, and in the end we decided not to go in light of her coughing, but also as I said, we saw them a month back, though this would be a different show.

 

And Norwich were on the tellybox, what could be better than watching that?

 

Anything, as it turned out.

 

But that was for later.

 

We went to Tesco, a little later than usual, as we had slept in rather, then back home for breakfast before the decision on what to do for the day. Jools decided to stay home to bead and read, I would go out.

 

There are three churches near to home that I feel I needed to revisit, St Margaret's itself I should be able to get the key from the village shop at any time, but St Mary in Dover hasn't been open the last few times I have been in town, and Barfrestone was closed most of the year due to vandalism.

 

But Saturday morning there is usually a coffee morning in St Mary, so I went down armed with camera and lenses to take more shots of the details, especially of the windows.

 

There was a small group with the Vicar, talking in one of the chapels, so I made busy getting my shots, just happy that the church was open. I left a fiver with the vicar, and walked back to the car, passing the old guy supping from a tin of cider sitting outside the church hall.

 

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In the heart of the town with a prominent twelfth-century tower. From the outside it is obvious that much work was carried out in the nineteenth century. The church has major connections with the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports and is much used for ceremonial services. The western bays of the nave with their low semi-circular arches are contemporary with the tower, while the pointed arches to the east are entirely nineteenth century. The scale and choice of stone is entirely wrong, although the carving is very well done. However the east end, with its tall narrow lancet windows, is not so successful. The Royal Arms, of the reign of William and Mary, are of carved and painted wood, with a French motto - Jay Maintendray - instead of the more usual Dieu et Mon Droit. The church was badly damaged in the Second World War, but one of the survivors was the typical Norman font of square Purbeck marble construction. One of the more recent additions to the church is the Herald of Free Enterprise memorial window of 1989 designed by Frederick Cole.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Dover+1

 

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THE TOWN AND PORT OF DOVER.

DOVER lies at the eastern extremity of Kent, adjoining to the sea, the great high London road towards France ending at it. It lies adjoining to the parish of Charlton last-described, eastward, in the lath of St. Augustine and eastern division of the county. It is within the liberty of the cinque ports, and the juristion of the corporation of the town and port of Dover.

 

DOVER, written in the Latin Itinerary of Antonine, Dubris. By the Saxons, Dorsa, and Dofris. By later historians, Doveria; and in the book of Domesday, Dovere; took its name most probably from the British words, Dufir, signifying water, or Dusirrha, high and steep, alluding to the cliffs adjoining to it. (fn. 1)

 

It is situated at the extremity of a wide and spacious valley, inclosed on each side by high and steep hills or cliffs, and making allowance for the sea's withdrawing itself from between them, answers well to the description given of it by Julius Cæfar in his Commentaries.

 

In the middle space, between this chain of high cliffs, in a break or opening, lies the town of Dover and its harbour, which latter, before the sea was shut out, so late as the Norman conquest, was situated much more within the land than it is at present, as will be further noticed hereafter.

 

ON THE SUMMIT of one of these cliffs, of sudden and stupendous height, close on the north side of the town and harbour, stands DOVER CASTLE, so famous and renowned in all the histories of former times. It is situated so exceeding high, that it is at most times plainly to be seen from the lowest lands on the coast of France, and as far beyond as the eye can discern. Its size, for it contains within it thirty five acres of ground, six of which are taken up by the antient buildings, gives it the appearance of a small city, having its citadel conspicuous in the midst of it, with extensive fortifications, around its walls. The hill, or rather rock, on which it stands, is ragged and steep towards the town and harbour; but towards the sea, it is a perpendicular precipice of a wonderful height, being more than three hundred and twenty feet high, from its basis on the shore.

 

Common tradition supposes, that Julius Cæfar was the builder of this castle, as well as others in this part of Britain, but surely without a probability of truth; for our brave countrymen found Cæfar sufficient employment of a far different sort, during his short stay in Britain, to give him any opportunity of erecting even this one fortress. Kilburne says, there was a tower here, called Cæsar's tower, afterwards the king's lodgings; but these, now called the king's keep, were built by king Henry II. as will be further mentioned hereafter; and he further says, there were to be seen here great pipes and casks bound with iron hoops, in which was liquor supposed to be wine, which by long lying had become as thick as treacle, and would cleave like birdlime; salt congealed together as hard as stone; cross and long bows and arrows, to which brass was fastened instead of feathers, and they were of such size, as not to be fit for the use of men of that or any late ages. These, Lambarde says, the inhabitants shewed as having belonged to Cæfar, and the wine and salt as part of the provision he had brought with him hither; and Camden relates, that he was shewn these arrows, which he thinks were such as the Romans used to shoot out of their engines, which were like to large crossbows. These last might, no doubt, though not Cæsar's, belong to the Romans of a later time; and the former might, perhaps, be part of the provisions and stores which king Henry VIII. laid in here, at a time when he passed from hence over sea to France. But for many years past it has not been known what is become of any of these things.

 

Others, averse to Cæsar's having built this castle, and yet willing to give the building of it to the empire of the Romans of a later time, suppose, and that perhaps with some probability, it was first erected by Arviragus, (or Arivog, as he is called on his coin) king of Britain, in the time of Claudius, the Roman emperor. (fn. 2)

 

That there was one built here, during the continuance of the Roman empire in Britain, must be supposed from the necessity of it, and the circumstances of those times; and the existence of one plainly appears, from the remains of the tower and other parts of the antient church within it, and the octagon tower at the west end, in which are quantities of Roman brick and tile. These towers are evidently the remains of Roman work, the former of much less antiquity than the latter, which may be well supposed to have been built as early as the emperor Claudius, whose expedition hither was about or immediately subsequent to the year of Christ 44. Of these towers, probably the latter was built for a speculum, or watch-tower, and was used, not only to watch the approach of enemies, but with another on the opposite hill, to point out the safe entrance into this port between them, by night as well as by day.

 

In this fortress, the Romans seem afterwards to have kept a garrison of veterans, as we learn from Pancirollus, who tells us that a company of soldiers under their chief, called Præpositus Militum Tungricanorum, was stationed within this fortess.

 

Out of the remains of part of the above-mentioned Roman buildings here, a Christian church was erected, as most historians write, by Lucius, king of Britain, about the year 161; but it is much to be doubted whether there ever was such a king in Britain; if there was, he was only a tributary chief to the Roman emperor, under whose peculiar government Britain was then accounted. This church was built, no doubt, for the use of that part of the garrison in particular, who were at that time believers of the gospel, and afterwards during the different changes of the Christian and Pagan religions in these parts, was made use of accordingly, till St. Augustine, soon after the year 597, at the request of king Ethelbert, reconsecrated it, and dedicated it anew, in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary.

 

¶His son and successor Eadbald, king of Kent, founded a college of secular canons and a provost in this church, whose habitations, undoubtedly near it, there are not the least traces of. These continued here till after the year 691; when Widred, king of Kent, having increated the fortifications, and finding the residence of the religious within them an incumbrance, removed them from hence into the town of Dover, to the antient church of St. Martin; in the description of which hereafter, a further account of them will be given.

  

DOVER does not seem to have been in much repute as a harbour, till some time after Cæsar's expedition hither; for the unfitness, as well as insecurity of the place, especially for a large fleet of shipping, added to the character which he had given of it, deterred the Romans from making a frequent use of it, so that from Boleyne, or Gessoriacum, their usual port in Gaul, they in general failed with their fleets to Richborough, or Portus Rutupinus, situated at the mouth of the Thames, in Britain, and thence back again; the latter being a most safe and commodious haven, with a large and extensive bay.

 

Notwithstanding which, Dover certainly was then made use of as a port for smaller vessels, and a nearer intercourse for passengers from the continent; and to render the entrance to it more safe, the Romans built two Specula, or watch-towers, here, on the two hills opposite to each other, to point out the approach to it, and one likewise on the opposite hill at Bologne, for the like purpose there; and it is mentioned as a port by Antoninus, in his Itinerary, in which, ITER III. is A Londinio ad Portum Dubris, i. e. from London to the port of Dover.

 

After the departure of the Romans from Britain, when the port of Bologne, as well as Richborough, fell into decay and disuse, and instead of the former a nearer port came into use, first at Whitsan, and when that was stopped up, a little higher at Calais, Dover quickly became the more usual and established port of passage between France and Britain, and it has continued so to the present time.

 

When the antient harbour of Dover was changed from its antient situation is not known; most probably by various occurrences of nature, the sea left it by degrees, till at last the farmer scite of it became entirely swallowed up by the beach. That the harbour was much further within land, even at the time of the conquest than it is at present, seems to be confirmed by Domesday, in which it is said, that at the entrance of it, there was a mill which damaged almost every ship that passed by it, on account of the great swell of the sea there. Where the scite of this mill was, is now totally unknown, though it is probable it was much within the land, and that by the still further accumulation of the beach, and other natural causes, this haven was in process of time so far filled up towards the inland part of it, as to change its situation still more to the south-west, towards the sea.

 

From the time of the Norman conquest this port continued the usual passage to the continent, and to confine the intercourse to this port only, there was a statute passed anno 4 Edward IV. that none should take shipping for Calais, but at Dover. (fn. 20) But in king Henry VII.'s time, which was almost the next reign, the harbour was become so swerved up, as to render it necessary for the king's immediate attention, to prevent its total ruin, and he expended great sums of money for its preservation. But it was found, that all that was done, would not answer the end proposed, without the building of a pier to seaward, which was determined on about the middle of Henry VIII.'s reign, and one was constructed, which was compiled of two rows of main posts, and great piles, which were let into holes hewn in the rock underneath, and some were shod with iron, and driven down into the main chalk, and fastened together with iron bands and bolts. The bottom being first filled up with great rocks of stone, and the remainder above with great chalk stones, beach, &c. During the whole of this work, the king greatly encouraged the undertaking, and came several times to view it; and in the whole is said to have expended near 63,000l. on it. But his absence afterwards abroad, his ill health, and at last his death, joined to the minority of his successor, king Edward VI. though some feeble efforts were made in his reign, towards the support of this pier, put a stop to, and in the end exposed this noble work to decay and ruin.

 

Queen Mary, indeed, attempted to carry it on again, but neither officers nor workmen being well paid, it came to nothing, so that in process of time the sea having brought up great quantities of beach again upon it, the harbour was choaked up, and the loss of Calais happening about the same time, threatened the entire destruction of it. Providentially the shelf of beach was of itself became a natural defence against the rage of the sea, insomuch, that if a passage could be made for ships to get safely within it, they might ride there securely.

 

To effect this, several projects were formed, and queen Elizabeth, to encourage it, gave to the town the free transportation of several thousand quarters of corn and tuns of beer; and in the 23d of her reign, an act passed for giving towards the repair of the harbour, a certain tonnage from every vessel above twenty tons burthen, passing by it, which amounted to 1000l. yearly income; and the lord Cobham, then lordwarden, and others, were appointed commissioners for this purpose; and in the end, after many different trials to effect it, a safe harbour was formed, with a pier, and different walls and sluices, at a great expence; during the time of which a universal diligence and public spirit appeared in every one concerned in this great and useful work. During the whole of the queen's reign, the improvement of this harbour continued without intermission, and several more acts passed for that purpose; but the future preservation of it was owing to the charter of incorporation of the governors of it, in the first year of king James I. by an act passed that year, by the name of the warden and assistants of the harbour of Dover, the warden being always the lord-warden of the cinque ports for the time being, and his assistants, his lieutenant, and the mayor of Dover, for the time being, and eight others, the warden and assistants only making a quorum; six to be present to make a session; at any of which, on a vacancy, the assistants to be elected; and the king granted to them his land or waste ground, or beach, commonly called the Pier, or Harbour ground, as it lay without Southgate, or Snargate, the rents of which are now of the yearly value of about three hundred pounds.

 

Under the direction of this corporation, the works and improvements of this harbour have been carried on, and acts of parliament have been passed in almost every reign since, to give the greater force to their proceedings.

 

From what has been said before, the reader will observe, that this harbour has always been a great national object, and that in the course of many ages, prodigious sums of money have been from time to time expended on it, and every endeavour used to keep it open, and render it commodious; but after all these repeated endeavours and expences, it still labours under such circumstances, as in a very great degree renders unsuccessful all that has ever been done for that purpose.

 

DOVER, as has been already mentioned, was of some estimation in the time of the Roman empire in Britain, on account of its haven, and afterwards for the castle, in which they kept a strong garrison of sol. diers, not only to guard the approach to it, but to keep the natives in subjection; and in proof of their residence here, the Rev. Mr. Lyon some years since discovered the remains of a Roman structure, which he apprehended to have been a bath, at the west end of the parish-church of St. Mary, in this town, which remains have since repeatedly been laid open when interments have taken place there.

 

This station of the Romans is mentioned by Antonine, in his Itinerary of the Roman roads in Britain, by the name of Dubris, as being situated from the station named Durovernum, or Canterbury, fourteen miles; which distance, compared with the miles as they are now numbered from Canterbury, shews the town, as well as the haven, for they were no doubt contiguous to each other, to have both been nearer within land than either of them are at present, the present distance from Canterbury being near sixteen miles as the road now goes, The sea, indeed, seems antiently to have occupied in great part the space where the present town of Dover, or at least the northwest part of it, now stands; but being shut out by the quantity of beach thrown up, and the harbour changed by that means to its present situation, left that place a dry ground, on which the town of Dover, the inhabitants following the traffic of the harbour, was afterwards built.

 

This town, called by the Saxons, Dofra, and Dofris; by later historians, Doveria; and in Domesday, Dovere; is agreed by all writers to have been privileged before the conquest; and by the survey of Domesday, appears to have been of ability in the time of king Edward the Confessor, to arm yearly twenty vessels for sea service. In consideration of which, that king granted to the inhabitants, not only to be free from the payment of thol and other privileges throughout the realm, but pardoned them all manner of suit and service to any of his courts whatsoever; and in those days, the town seems to have been under the protection and government of Godwin, earl of Kent, and governor of this castle.

 

Soon after the conquest, this town was so wasted by fire, that almost all the houses were reduced to ashes, as appears by the survey of Domesday, at the beginning of which is the following entry of it:

 

DOVERE, in the time of king Edward, paid eighteen pounds, of which money, king E had two parts, and earl Goduin the third. On the other hand, the canons of St. Martin had another moiety. The burgesses gave twenty ships to the king once in the year, for fifteen days; and in each ship were twenty and one men. This they did on the account that he had pardoned them sac and soc. When the messengers of the king came there, they gave for the passage of a horse three pence in winter, and two in summer. But the burgesses found a steerman, and one other assistant, and if there should be more necessary, they were provided at his cost. From the festival of St. Michael to the feast of St. Andrew, the king's peace was in the town. Sigerius had broke it, on which the king's bailiff had received the usual fine. Whoever resided constantly in the town paid custom to the king; he was free from thol throughout England. All these customs were there when king William came into England. On his first arrival in England, the town itself was burnt, and therefore its value could not be computed how much it was worth, when the bishop of Baieux received it. Now it is rated at forty pounds, and yet the bailiff pays from thence fifty-four pounds to the king; of which twenty-four pounds in money, which were twenty in an one, but thirty pounds to the earl by tale.

 

In Dovere there are twenty-nine plats of ground, of which the king had lost the custom. Of these Robert de Romenel has two. Ralph de Curbespine three. William, son of Tedald, one. William, son of Oger, one. William, son of Tedold, and Robert niger, six. William, son of Goisfrid, three, in which the guildhall of the burgesses was. Hugo de Montfort one house. Durand one. Rannulf de Colubels one. Wadard six. The son of Modbert one. And all these vouch the bishop of Baieux as the protector and giver of these houses. Of that plat of ground, which Rannulf de Colubels holds, which was a certain outlaw, they agree that the half of the land was the king's, and Rannulf himself has both parts. Humphry the lame man holds one plat of ground, of which half the forfeiture is the king's. Roger de Ostrabam made a certain house over the king's water, and held to this time the custom of the king; nor was a house there in the time of king Edward. In the entrance of the port of Dovere, there is one mill, which damages almost every ship, by the great swell of the sea, and does great damage to the king and his tenants; and it was not there in the time of king Edward. Concerning this, the grandson of Herbert says, that the bishop of Baieux granted it to his uncle Herbert, the son of Ivo.

 

And a little further, in the same record, under the bishop's possessions likewise:

 

In Estrei hundred, Wibertus holds half a yoke, which lies in the gild of Dover, and now is taxed with the land of Osbert, the son of Letard, and is worth per annum four shillings.

 

From the Norman conquest, the cities and towns of this realm appear to have been vested either in the crown, or else in the clergy or great men of the laity, and they were each, as such, immediately lords of the same. Thus, when the bishop of Baieux, to whom the king had, as may be seen by the above survey, granted this town, was disgraced. It returned into the king's hands by forfeiture, and king Richard I. afterwards granted it in ferme to Robt. Fitz-bernard. (fn. 21)

 

After the time of the taking of the survey of Domesday, the harbour of Dover still changing its situation more to the south-westward, the town seems to have altered its situation too, and to have been chiefly rebuilt along the sides of the new harbour, and as an encouragement to it, at the instance, and through favour especially to the prior of Dover, king Edward I. in corporated this town, the first that was so of any of the cinque ports, by the name of the mayor and commonalty. The mayor to be chosen out of the latter, from which body he was afterwards to chuse the assistants for his year, who were to be sworn for that purpose. At which time, the king had a mint for the coinage of money here; and by patent, anno 27 of that reign, the table of the exchequer of money was appointed to be held here, and at Yarmouth. (fn. 22) But the good effects of these marks of the royal favour were soon afterwards much lessened, by a dreadful disaster; for the French landed here in the night, in the 23d year of that reign, and burnt the greatest part of the town, and several of the religious houses, in it, and this was esteemed the more treacherousk, as it was done whilst the two cardinals were here, treating for a peace between England and France; which misfortune, however, does not seem to have totally impoverished it, for in the 17th year of the next reign of king Edward II it appears in some measure to have recovered its former state, and to have been rebuilt, as appears by the patent rolls of that year, in which the town of Dover is said to have then had in it twenty-one wards, each of which was charged with one ship for the king's use; in consideration of which, each ward had the privilege of a licensed packetboat, called a passenger, from Dover across the sea to Whitsan, in France, the usual port at that time of embarking from thence.

 

The state of this place in the reign of Henry VIII. is given by Leland, in his Itinerary, as follows:

 

"Dovar ys xii myles fro Canterbury and viii fro Sandwich. Ther hath bene a haven yn tyme past and yn taken ther of the ground that lyith up betwyxt the hilles is yet in digging found wosye. Ther hath bene found also peeces of cabelles and anchores and Itinerarium Antonini cawlyth hyt by the name of a haven. The towne on the front toward the se hath bene right strongly walled and embateled and almost al the residew; but now yt is parly fawlen downe and broken downe. The residew of the towne as far as I can perceyve was never waulled. The towne is devided into vi paroches. Wherof iii be under one rose at S. Martines yn the hart of the town. The other iii stand that yt hath be walled abowt but not dyked. The other iii stand abrode, of the which one is cawled S. James of Rudby or more likely Rodeby a statione navium. But this word ys not sufficient to prove that Dovar showld be that place, the which the Romaynes cawlled Portus Rutupi or Rutupinum. For I cannot yet se the contrary but Retesboro otherwise cawlled Richeboro by Sandwich, both ways corruptly, must neades be Rutupinum. The mayne strong and famose castel of Dovar stondeth on the loppe of a hille almost a quarter of a myle of fro the towne on the lyst side and withyn the castel ys a chapel, yn the sides wherof appere sum greate Briton brykes. In the town was a great priory of blacke monkes late suppressed. There is also an hospitalle cawlled the Meason dew. On the toppe of the hye clive betwene the towne and the peere remayneth yet abowt a slyte shot up ynto the land fro the very brymme of the se clysse as ruine of a towr, the which has bene as a pharos or a mark to shyppes on the se and therby was a place of templarys. As concerning the river of Dovar it hath no long cowrse from no spring or hedde notable that descendith to that botom. The principal hed, as they say is at a place cawled Ewelle and that is not past a iii or iiii myles fro Dovar. Ther be springes of frech waters also at a place cawled Rivers. Ther is also a great spring at a place cawled …… and that once in a vi or vii yeres brasted owt so abundantly that a great part of the water cummeth into Dovar streme, but als yt renneth yn to the se betwyxt Dovar and Folchestan, but nerer to Folchestan that is to say withyn a ii myles of yt. Surely the hedde standeth so that it might with no no great cost be brought to run alway into Dovar streame." (fn. 23)

Cougate Crosse-gate Bocheruy-gate stoode with toures toward the se. There is beside Beting-gate and Westegate.

Howbeyt MTuine tol me a late that yt hath be walled abowt but not dyked.

 

This was the state of Dover just before the time of the dissolution of religious houses, in Henry VIII.'s reign, when the abolition of private masses, obits, and such like services in churches, occasioned by the reformation, annillilated the greatest part of the income of the priests belonging to them, in this as well as in other towns, in consequence of which most of them were deserted, and falling to ruin, the parishes belonging to them were united to one or two of the principal ones of them. Thus, in this town, of the several churches in it, two only remained in use for divine service, viz. St. Mary's and St. James's, to which the parishes of the others were united.

 

After this, the haven continuting to decay more than ever, notwithstanding the national assistance afforded to it, the town itself seemed hastening to impoverishment. What the state of it was in the 8th year of queen Elizabeth, may be seen, by the certificate returned by the queen's order of the maritime places, in her 8th year, by which it appears that there were then in Dover, houses inhabited three hundred and fifty-eight; void, or lack of inhabiters, nineteen; a mayor, customer, comptroller of authorities, not joint but several; ships and crayers twenty, from four tons to one hundred and twenty.

 

¶This probable ruin of the town, however, most likely induced the queen, in her 20th year, to grant it a new charter of incorporation, in which the manner of chusing mayor, jurats, and commoners, and of making freemen, was new-modelled, and several surther liberties and privileges granted, and those of the charter of king Edward I. confirmed likewise by inspeximus. After which, king Charles II. in his 36th year, anno 1684, granted to it a new charter, which, however, was never inrolled in chancery, and in consequence of a writ of quo warranto was that same year surrendered, and another again granted next year; but this last, as well as another charter granted by king James II. and forced on the corporation, being made wholly subservient to the king's own purposes, were annulled by proclamation, made anno 1688, being the fourth and last year of his reign: but none of the above charters being at this time extant, (the charters of this corporation, as well as those of the other cinque ports, being in 1685, by the king's command, surrendered up to Col. Strode, then governor of Dover castle, and never returned again, nor is it known what became of them,) Dover is now held to be a corporation by prescription, by the stile of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and port of Dover. It consists at present of a mayor, twelve jurats, and thirty-six commoners, or freemen, together with a chamberlain, recorder, and town-clerk. The mayor, who is coroner by virtue of his office, is chosen on Sept. 8, yearly, in St. Mary's church, and together with the jurats, who are justices within this liberty, exclusive of all others, hold a court of general sessions of the peace and gaol delivery, together with a court of record, and it has other privileges, mostly the same as the other corporations, within the liberties of the cinque ports. It has the privilege of a mace. The election of mayor was antiently in the church of St. Peter, whence in 1581 it was removed to that of St. Mary, where it has been, as well as the elections of barons to serve in parliament, held ever since. These elections here, as well as elsewhere in churches, set apart for the worship of God, are certainly a scandal to decency and religion, and are the more inexcusable here, as there is a spacious court-hall, much more fit for the purposes. After this, there was another byelaw made, in June, 1706, for removing these elections into the court-hall; but why it was not put in execution does not appear, unless custom prevented it—for if a decree was of force to move them from one church to another, another decree was of equal force to remove them from the church to the courthall. Within these few years indeed, a motion was made in the house of commons, by the late alderman Sawbridge, a gentlemand not much addicted to speak in favour of the established church, to remove all such elections, through decency, from churches to other places not consecrated to divine worship; but though allowed to be highly proper, yet party resentment against the mover of it prevailed, and the motion was negatived by a great majority.

 

The mayor is chosen by the resident freemen. The jurats are nominated from the common-councilmen by the jurats, and appointed by the mayor, jurats, and common-councilmen, by ballot.

  

THE CHURCH OF ST. Mary stands at some distance from the entrance into this town from Canterbury, near the market-place. It is said to have been built by the prior and convent of St. Martin, (fn. 47) in the year 1216; but from what authority, I know not.—Certain it is, that it was in king John's reign, in the gift of the king, and was afterwards given by him to John de Burgh; but in the 8th year of Richard II.'s reign, anno 1384, it was become appropriated to the abbot of Pontiniac. After which, by what means, I cannot discover, this appropriation, as well as the advowson of the church, came into the possession of the master and brethren of the hospital of the Maison Dieu, who took care that the church should be daily served by a priest, who should officiate in it for the benefit of the parish. In which state it continued till the suppression of the hospital, in the 36th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it came into the hands of the crown, at which time the parsonage was returned by John Thompson, master of the hospital, to be worth six pounds per annum.

 

Two years after which, the king being at Dover, at the humble entreaty of the inhabitants of this parish, gave to them, as it is said, this church, with the cemetery adjoining to it, to be used by them as a parochial church; at the same time he gave the pews of St. Martin's church for the use of it; and on the king's departure, in token of possession, they sealed up the church doors; since which, the patronage of it, which is now esteemed as a perpetual curacy, the minister of it being licensed by the archbishop, has been vested in the inhabitants of this parish. Every parishioner, paying scot and lot, having a vote in the chusing of the minister, whose maintenance had been from time to time, at their voluntary option, more or less. It is now fixed at eighty pounds per annum. Besides which he has the possession of a good house, where he resides, which was purchased by the inhabitants in 1754, for the perpetual use of the minister of it. It is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon. (fn. 48)

 

There is a piece of ground belonging, as it is said, to the glebe of this church, rented annually at ten pounds, which is done by vestry, without the minister being at all concerned in it. In 1588 here were eight hundred and twenty-one communicants. This parish contains more than five parts out of six of the whole town, and a greater proportion of the inhabitants.

 

The church of St. Mary is a large handsome building of three isles, having a high and south chancel, all covered with lead, and built of flints, with ashler windows and door cases, which are arched and ornamented. At the west end is the steeple, which is a spire covered with lead, in which are eight bells, a clock, and chimes. The pillars in the church are large and clumsy; the arches low and semicircular in the body, but eliptical in the chancel; but there is no separation between the body and chancel, and the pews are continued on to the east end of the church. In the high chancel, at the eastern extremity of it, beyond the altar, are the seats for the mayor and jurats; and here the mayor is now chosen, and the barons in parliament for this town and port constantly elected.

 

In 1683, there was a faculty granted to the churchwardens, to remove the magistrates seats from the east end of the church to the north side, or any other more convenient part of it, and for the more decent and commodious placing the communion table: in consequence of which, these seats were removed, and so placed, but they continued there no longer than 1689, when, by several orders of vestry, they were removed back again to where they remain at present.

 

The mayor was antiently chosen in St. Peter's church; but by a bye-law of the corporation, it was removed to this church in 1583, where it has ever since been held. In 1706, another bye law was made, to remove, for the sake of decency, all elections from this church to the court-hall, but it never took place. More of which has been mentioned before.

 

From the largeness, as well as the populousness of this parish, the church is far from being sufficient to contain the inhabitants who resort to it for public worship, notwithstanding there are four galleries in it, and it is otherwise well pewed. This church was paved in 1642, but it was not ceiled till 1706. In 1742, there was an organ erected in it. The two branches in it were given, one by subscription in 1738, and the other by the pilots in 1742.

 

Thomas Toke, of Dover, buried in the chapel of St. Katharine, in this church, by his will in 1484, gave seven acres of land at Dugate, under Windlass-down, to the wardens of this church, towards the repairs of it for ever.

 

¶The monuments and memorials in this church and church yard, are by far too numerous to mention here. Among them are the following: A small monument in the church for the celebrated Charles Churchill, who was buried in the old church-yard of St. Martin in this town, as has been noticed before; and a small stone, with a memorial for Samuel Foote, esq. the celebrated comedian, who died at the Ship inn, and had a grave dug for him in this church, but was afterwards carried to London, and buried there. A monument and several memorials for the family of Eaton; arms, Or, a sret, azure. A small tablet for John Ker, laird of Frogden, in Twit dale, in Scotland, who died suddenly at Dover, in his way to France, in 1730. Two monuments for Farbrace, arms, Azure, a bend, or, between two roses, argent, seeded, or, bearded vert. A monument in the middle isle, to the memory of the Minet family. In the north isle are several memorials for the Gunmans, of Dover; arms,. … a spread eagle, argent, gorged with a ducal coronet, or. There are others, to the memory of Broadley, Rouse, and others, of good account in this town.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp475-548

It’s amazing how advanced our society has become. So many intellectual, medicinal, and technological improvements have been made available for so many in such a short period of time. I am in awe of the solutions people have come up with in recent years to make people’s lives better and richer(intellectually). But with these leaps of mankind have also brought the accelerated depletion of natural habitats, resources, and most of all the dignity and decency towards those who produce our modern marvels.

 

It’s easy to be blinded by our achievements and sit back imagining ways to solve our resource challenges or create non-profits to support the oppressed. But what are we doing to change the way we live so we don’t have to even come to that point?

 

I don’t even know what I can do besides talk about it and reduce how much crap I buy. But that’s not enough for me. I don’t want to keep talking about what I care about, I want to start living a life that cares. Though, I don’t know how to do that yet.

 

I valued our “progress” more than addressing environmental effects or human dignity because I’d say it’s for the greater good. The greater good is not served by abusing people who if I knew them could very well be a best friend of mine. These injustices are reported as isolated cases but these “isolated” cases are happening in every field and every country around the world. It’s not longer “The few for the many” it’s now “The many for the few”.

 

The worst part is that I don’t know what I can do about it nor even if I would follow through with change.

 

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Well, I guess it had to happen eventually, but this one was an epic fail for me. Could I get a sunflare? Could I heck! So without a scruples or morals or an ounce of decency in any form, I resorted to the only tactic left to me... cheating! Yes, that's, right, I am a fraud of dubious reputation and have no more right to walk this green earth than a weasel. I am not proud of this fact... errr, actually, I think I am.... Creative, adapatable in a crisis, able to rescue all when once the situation was thought lost... yep, I'm kind of happy with that....

"Tallinn's Old Town was, in fact, two different towns: the Lower Town — free center of Hanseatic trade — and the Toompea hill, or Upper Town — the place of concentration of feudal power and the influence of distant governments, which Estonians had to obey. The interests of these two parts were different and sometimes mutually exclusive, but they had to coexist somehow even without having any warm feelings towards each other. And if in light of day it was possible to observe decency basically, nighttime awakened the eternal desire to plunder in the nobles of Toompea, or the Upper Town. So, the lower town of merchants and craftsmen had to fence itself off with a stone wall and a powerful gate — and not only from the "outer" lands, but also from its upper neighbor, and every night, just in case, the gate was locked.

 

This is why on the left side of Pikk jalg (Long Leg street) there is a tower with a small oak gate leading to the street Ljuhike jalg (Short Leg street). This door clearly shows who was afraid of whom: the heads of forged rivets, which made it harder to destruct the door, are turned towards the Upper Town, while the deadbolt is on the Lower Town side.

 

The tower was built in 1456 and is reputed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Old Town. The wooden door is original from the 17th century."

 

Tallinn, Estonia, 2018

Events as they are unfolding in the Dail this afternoon, October 3.

 

The proceedings can be accessed from this link Dail TV

  

Below is a copy of the statement released by the Labour Party leader Deputy Pat Rabbitte

 

HEART OF MATTER IS : ‘WAS AHERN RIGHT TO ACCEPT MONIES?’

 

It is fair comment that the Opposition has shown restraint in the matter of the Taoiseach accepting money for private use while a serving Minister. However, since Mr Ahern had created a context that sought to explain the Drumcondra monies in terms of his private family affairs, common decency required that opposition politicians should have demonstrated a certain restraint.

 

And then on Sunday I heard Minister of State, Conor Lenihan, ridicule that restraint. It was, he said, ineffectiveness, not decency, on the part of the Opposition. The suggestion was apparently that the Opposition should cut through the smokescreen to the heart of the matter. To me the heart of the matter is: was Mr Ahern right to do what he did? Is it remotely credible that monies outstanding for 13 years, without any repayment of any kind, can suddenly be called loans? You don’t need to be as bright as Minister Lenihan to know that these transactions, if they happened, were gifts and therefore there are tax implications.

 

Can we do more than highlight the absolute impropriety of a serving Minister for Finance accepting payment for a nixer outside the State. Never mind the “no law was broken” defence. By any standards it was wrong. What would have happened to a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Finance if he trousered money for a private encounter in Manchester? He would be sacked. Why is it alright for the Minister but not alright for the civil servant? What does it say about this Government’s standards that not a single Cabinet Minister can bring himself or herself to say what everybody knows: that what happened at Manchester was wrong. You believe in the tooth fairy if you believe that businessmen happen along to a function in a posh hotel to listen to any old Joe Soap talk to them about the Irish economy and then organise an impromptu collection to give him something for himself.

 

In normal life you get gifts from your friends and you take loans from strangers. Yet Mr Ahern got loans from his friends and gifts from strangers.

 

Maybe Minister of State Lenihan’s derision of the Opposition is because we didn’t adequately probe behind the discreet veil drawn over the other 50,000 by Mr Ahern when he says enigmatically that he “put back into” his account. “Back into his account from where”? is the questions that must be answered. Where was the 50.000 resting since Mr Ahern didn’t have a bank account? In a sock in the hotpress? If the Taoiseach says this 50.000 was savings I accept that but if he enjoyed a T.D’s salary, a Ministerial salary and the use of a premises bought by friends of Fianna Fail, how can it be portrayed that he was in straitened circumstances?

 

Why if there were 50.000 in “savings” was it necessary to raise a Bank loan and if a Bank Loan was in place why was it necessary to have a whiparound to replace the Bank Loan ?

 

An effective Opposition doing its job must ask the Taoiseach: have you evaded tax? Why did you say you paid CGT and gift tax? Why is that relevant here? Are you serious that you had no Bank account while Minister for Finance? Did you have a Bank Account elsewhere on the Island? Or outside the jurisdiction? Or did someone else open one on your behalf? If the whiparound was among friends why is there a cheque in there for 5,000 from NCB stockbrokers? How many times have NCB been retained by the State? How many of the donors were appointed on how many occasions to state boards? Who were the donors in Manchester? What was the function? Are they involved in business in Ireland? Did any of them win state contracts? Is this another loop in the golden circle?

 

Our new Tanaiste is also impatient with the Opposition. On Thursday he told the House he could scarcely forbear to sit in silence and watch the Opposition squander the opportunity for accountability. Well the Tanaiste had better grow accustomed to sitting in silence. The only question he will be allowed at Cabinet after this debacle is “Bhuil cead agam dul amach?” Mr McDowell sought and got a mandate to ride shotgun on Fianna Fail standards in government. He has comprehensively failed the first test. As he said himself:

 

“A party that stands for nothing will stand for anything.”

 

If the Tanaiste can no longer ask questions aloud maybe he would ask himself what Des O’Malley would have said if the Taoiseach of the day admitted receiving money, not for political purposes, but for his private use while a serving Minister?

 

Forget the orchestrated phone-ins to radio stations, the unscientific polls and the packed television audiences, was it right or wrong to accept money for private use while a serving Minister? You are on the record as saying you did nothing wrong and your Cabinet Ministers without exception have parroted that line. Brian Lenihan alone said it would be unthinkable.

But all the rest Hannafin, O’Donoghue, O’Dea, Dempsey, Ahern, Coughlan, Martin and Cullen can see no wrong. If anything demonstrates why this country needs a change of government it is the media parade of your Ministers, blind to standards, defending the indefensible.

I'm told these Tampax Pearl tampons aren't really a string of pearls, but the box is kinda misleading. :) The picture just seems wrong to me. It brings to mind a certain *ahem* adult toy, designed for a completely different purpose than tampons.

 

(I'm trying to keep this description clean, to avoid having the photo flagged as adult-only. I wonder if the subject matter, without the additional connotations I'm insinuating, already pushes it over the level of all-ages decency. I think it should be fine, though, since the box pictured above is viewable by children on grocery store shelves, and I did not describe the intended function of the objects therein.)

  

I was on break between classes and decided to spend my lunch hour on the prowl in downtown Toronto. At a major intersection on Yonge Street I saw a lot of foot traffic and a spot I’d noticed before but never figured out quite how to use. It was at the foot of a recently-completed very tall building and the corner featured a polished marble wall and tropical plants bordering a restaurant patio.

 

I looked at the people passing by and eventually this man caught my eye with his snappy hat and friendly face. I made my move and introduced myself. He stopped to listen with interest (always a good sign) and after a couple of questions and seeing my contact card, he was good to join the project. We shook hands. Meet Kwesi.

 

I struggled some with the location as I had not fully decided whether to use the polished marble, the tropical plants, or both. Consequently, I tried all three. Kwesi was accommodating and I liked his animated, friendly manner. I hope you can see his friendliness and positive energy in the portraits. Photos taken and viewed, we proceeded to talk.

 

Kwesi is originally from Ghana and began following his parents’ wishes to become a lawyer. His early commitment to music, however, overtook him and he left law school to become a professional musician. His music blends reggae and African influences and he has enjoyed a fair bit of success, being known as “The Lion of Africa.” He told me that he was a Juno Award nominee and has toured extensively. He is currently working on his 13th album. You can read more about him here: kwesiselassie.com/bio/english/. His advice to the world is to enjoy life and don’t waste it chasing things which are not important. He is a strong believer in human rights and I could sense his humanity and decency in this encounter. Google “Kwesi Selassie” to find links to examples of his music.

 

Thank you Kwesi for taking the time to meet and for participating in The Human Family. You are #809 in Round 9 of my project. I enjoyed our chat and wish you every success.

 

I received a very nice email from Kwesi:

"Thanks Jeff for the beautiful pictures. I checked the link to Flickr and everything you wrote is awesome. Thanks again and good luck with your project. Meet again some day...some time...some where. Much love every time.

Kwesi Selassie"

Can you tell he's a songwriter?

  

Daddy was very careful to protect the decency of the girls. Eliana loves bath time!

Press conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Timo Soini, Secretary General Thorbjørn and Secretary of State for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin.

 

The Session of the Committee of Ministers, to be held at Finlandia Hall on 17 May 2019, will mark the end of Finland’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. At the meeting, Finland will hand over the Presidency to France. More than 30 ministers from the member States of the Council of Europe will attend the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by Foreign Minister Timo Soini.

 

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

 

Photo: Kimmo Räisänen / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. Gualtieri finisce sul Nyt: L'eterna crisi dei rifiuti a Roma ha unito il declino urbano, con i cinghiali nel centro storico. Gualtieri poco o nessun progresso; in: NEW YORK TIMES & La Repubblica (29-30/08/2021) (testo integrale).Vedi anche: il sindaco Marino e il degrado di Roma; in: Nyt (22/07/2015). wp.me/pbMWvy-36x

 

________________

S.v.,

--- RARA 2022. Roberto Gualtieri - Sindaco di Roma / Er Monnezzaro = Disservizi + Immondizia + Degrado + Cinghiali + Incendio (21/10/2021 - 21/10/2022). Fonte: ROMATODAY (06/09/2022). www.romatoday.it/social/segnalazioni/degrado-urbano/

________________

 

Foto: LOCAL TEAM / YouTube (09/07/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52324893351

 

1). ROMA - Gualtieri finisce sul New York Times: "Mentre Roma brucia (o almeno i suoi rifiuti), un sindaco osa sognare."La Repubblica (30/08/2021).

 

Il quotiano statunitense dedica un articolo all'immondizia della capitale, all'Ama ma soprattutto al sindaco che vuole il termovalorizzatore, "sicuro che qualcosa cambierà"

 

Un sindaco a Roma "osa sognare". Così definisce gli incubi di Roberto Gualtieri un lungo articolo uscito New York Times di Jason Horowitz. Che pubblica online foto di e dei suoi cassonetti carbonizzati oltre alla foto del sindaco alla scrivania assorto a guardare i fogli del progetto sul termovalorizzatore.

 

Foto: Nyt (30/08/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52325323054

 

"Da anni ormai" si legge sul Nyt, "nulla simboleggia la caduta di Roma più della sua crisi dei rifiuti. Un serraglio di cinghiali, gabbiani violenti e ratti si riunisce per banchettare con i detriti della capitale". "E proprio quando sembrava che la puzza dei rifiuti di Roma non potesse peggiorare, una disputa sulla costruzione di un nuovo inceneritore per la città è emersa come motivo di un ammutinamento politico che ha fatto cadere il governo Draghi a luglio". Poche righe a riassumere l'effetto domino catastrofico.

 

Ma ecco che qui arriva Gualtieri: "Formalmente il motivo sono io", avrebbe dichiarato lasciando trapelare un tono sorpreso, ingenuo, al limite del compiaciuto.

 

Il quotidiano lo descrive come "un veterano della politica di sinistra", un uomo che "con l'autorità di accelerare la costruzione di un impianto di termovalorizzazione dei rifiuti per Roma da circa 600 milioni di euro, spera di avere successo dove altri hanno fallito". In fondo, avrebbe aggiunto il primo cittadino, "non si tratta di scienza missilistica. È solo spazzatura".

 

Foto: Nyt (30/08/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52325212963

 

Roma e New York svettano nella classifica delle città più sporche del mondo, un gemellaggio tossico. E se anche il Nyt dipinge il sindaco che osa sognare, lo fa su uno sfondo di rifiuti in fiamme, autobus che si auto-incendiano, buche "profonde come pozzi d'acqua, una "giungla dove mancano solo i boa costrittori" e una miriade di "altre indecenze". Come Malagrotta. Il sindaco, dice e non dice, che "c'è una cospirazione per fermare me" e il progetto.

 

L'articolo ricorda quindi che Gualtieri però "in qualità di ex ministro dell'Economia, ha contribuito personalmente a ottenere miliardi di euro di fondi dell'Unione Europea per l'Italia, con una fetta significativa per Roma. E ha già avuto successo nell'attrarre investitori privati per finanziare il nuovo inceneritore". Insomma, "il problema non è il denaro".

 

E mentre Roma è costretta a spedire i suoi rifiuti a costi elevati in impianti fuori città, "in quello che secondo Gualtieri è un salasso per le sue risorse, un contributo all'inquinamento e forse un favore agli interessi di elementi della malavita (...), la sfida più grande per ripulire Roma potrebbe essere la città stessa". Anche se i romani tendono ad avere "comportamenti non corretti" quando si tratta di buttare la spazzatura.

 

"I ristoranti spesso riempiono i bidoni riservati ai cittadini. I cittadini reagiscono mettendo in equilibrio i sacchetti dell'immondizia sopra i cassonetti come giocassero a Jenga".

 

Ed è qui che il sindaco sogna. Sogna una revisione dell'Ama e sogna che i rifiuti brucino in fiamme lecite. Sempre che i Cinque Stelle smettano di opporsi adducendo "motivi ambientali, e considerandolo un ipocrita". Perché "egli" sostiene che il termovalorizzatore "migliorerà Roma e sarà redditizio, un incentivo per gli investitori a entrare nel progetto. Una nuova età dell'oro". I sogni d'oro del sindaco di Roma.

 

Fonte / source:

--- La Repubblica (30/08/2021).

roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2022/08/30/news/roma_rifiuti_n...

--------------

 

Foto: Gianluca Ferrara / Facebook (27/03/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52324089937

 

2). ROME - As Rome Burns (or at Least Its Garbage), a Mayor Dares to Dream. Could a solution to Rome’s perpetual trash crisis really be in sight? Mayor Roberto Gualtieri would like to think so. NEW YORK TIMES (29/08/2021).

 

ROME — For years now, nothing has symbolized the fall of Rome more than its garbage crisis. A trash menagerie of wild boars, violent sea gulls and rats convene to feast on the capital’s overflowing debris. Early this summer, a spate of suspicious blazes at garbage plants and scrapyards — literal dumpster fires — darkened the skies, choked the air, and raised the specter of arson and organized crime.

 

Then, when it seemed the stench of Rome’s garbage troubles could get no worse, a dispute over building a new incinerator for the city emerged as the stated reason for a political mutiny that brought down the national unity government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi in July.

 

On the day of the revolt, as he monitored the unfolding political drama from his office overlooking the Roman forum, Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, seemed bemused by the role he and his city’s garbage problem had played in the government’s unexpected collapse. “Formally, the reason is me,” he said.

 

Foto: Il Messaggero (22/06/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52325323139

 

At least Mr. Gualtieri, a veteran of leftist politics, emerged from the wreckage with the authority to fast track the building of a roughly 600 million euro, or about $601 million, waste-to-energy plant for Rome, which he hopes will allow him to succeed where others had failed.

 

“It is not rocket science,” he said. “It’s garbage.”

 

But garbage, and the degradation of Rome that it symbolizes, is a force not to be taken lightly. Even in an oft-sacked city that has seen it all over the centuries, where people have more recently grown accustomed to self-immolating buses, potholes as deep as water wells and myriad other indignities, the garbage — pervasive, pungent and unrelenting — has become the true metric of Rome’s decline.

 

Since Rome closed its sprawling Malagrotta landfill, among Europe’s largest, as an environmental disaster in 2013, trash has overwhelmed two mayors, including Mr. Gualtieri’s predecessor, Virginia Raggi of the Five Star Movement, the party that touched off the rebellion that brought down the national government.

 

In 2018, prosecutors sequestered the landfill — owned by a businessman dubbed “er monnezzaro,” or King of Garbage — for failing to contain its toxic spillage. No actual garbage has been dumped there for years, but its treatment plant was still being used to process up to 1,500 tons of garbage a day, before being shipped elsewhere.

 

Foto: La Repubblica (12/08/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52325212983

 

That is, before it went up in flames this summer.

 

“An enormous plume, gray,” Luigi Palumbo, the court-appointed manager of the landfill, said as he recalled the toxic blaze and cloud that closed nearby preschools and summer camps and laced parts of central Rome with an acrid odor.

 

“It’s unknown where it started,” he said as he approached the plant, its concrete scorched and its melted aluminum panels hanging over the building like carpets hung out to dry.

 

He turned to a burned heap of garbage that had been inside the plant. It was filled with thousands of scorched and bulging plastic bags, melted plastic fruit crates, stray cloths and tires and cans. It, too, has now been sequestered as evidence — but of what, no one seems quite sure.

 

The Malagrotta blaze was not an isolated incident, but one of a rash of trash fires that broke out around the city this summer.

 

Mayor Gualtieri sought to sidestep the theory that “there is a conspiracy to stop me,” and his incinerator, by preserving a system in which myriad players, some of them shadowy, profited from Rome’s garbage crisis. But, he added, “of course you consider this possibility, how was it possible this really is happening exactly when we are trying to …” Then he stopped himself.

 

He noted a well-established connection between waste management and criminal enterprises. Experts had determined it was “not self-combustion,” he said. “So that was man made.”

 

And it has exacerbated Rome’s already noxious disposal problem.

 

Rome now has to ship its garbage at high cost to plants outside the city, in what Mr. Gualtieri said was a drain on its resources, a contributor to pollution and possibly a favor to the interests of underworld elements who benefit from Rome’s sanitation paralysis.

 

But while prosecutors continue to investigate the fires, the greatest challenge to cleaning up Rome may be the city itself.

 

Rome had “little sense of responsibility for its own garbage, because it’s always thought that public things, being public, belong to no one,” said Paola Ficco, an environmental lawyer who edits Rifiuti, or Waste, a journal about laws regarding garbage. “And we forget that, being public, it’s all of ours.”

 

In the meantime, she added, Rome was a mess, with high grass and garbage everywhere. “It’s a jungle,” she said. “Only boa constrictors are missing. Then we’ll have it all.”

 

Mr. Gualtieri, himself a Roman, acknowledged that his city bred unique character traits. Romans tended to have “behaviors that we find that are not good,” he said, when it came to throwing out the garbage.

 

Restaurants often loaded up bins reserved for the public. The public had a tendency to respond to the packed bins by balancing trash bags on top of them, like a vile Jenga game, or throwing garbage at their sides, forming archipelagos of uncollected trash that attracted all sorts of interesting fauna.

 

But even while the burned plant remains out of commission, the mayor is confident that the new incinerator, on which construction is set to begin next year, and the introduction of tougher fines for a variety of infractions would create a more civilized Roman context. Within it, he said, Romans would become “more sensible about doing their part” and give “the best and not the worst.”

 

Foto: Amazing Walking Tours / YouTube (19/06/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52324893366

 

As a former economy minister, he had personally helped procure billions of euros in European Union funds for Italy, with a significant chunk for Rome and other plants in the city’s waste plan. He spoke of an additional 1.4 billion euros from the Italian government to help prepare for pilgrims visiting the city and the Vatican during the 2025 Holy Year as if it were a done deal. And he already had success in attracting private investors to finance the new incinerator.

 

“Money is not the problem,” he said.

 

The system is.

 

The mayor presented an organizational chart of AMA, a company that, among other things, manages collection of solid waste in Rome, and of which the city is the sole shareholder. He said that under previous administrations, AMA had changed chief executive officers five times in seven years, had become inflated with patronage jobs and had directed the majority of resources to garbage collection areas where it was not needed. Last winter, Rome paid bonuses to its workers just to show up for work during Christmas time.

 

“This is a joke,” he said. “This should be studied in university, what you should not do.” Overhauling AMA was a part of the mayor’s three-phase plan to clean up the city.

 

He said the city will have actually hired about 650 people by the end of the year to clean the streets while cracking down on an army of loafers. Officials had begun conducting thousands of checks on employees who perpetually present doctors’ notes certifying that they can only do desk work.

 

“You can see people heal,” the mayor said of the spot checks. “Miracles.”

 

In the second stage, within two years, the city would put new dumpsters on Rome’s streets, and a third phase would begin in 2025, toward the end of his five-year term, when the waste-to-energy incinerator is expected to come on line.

 

When he campaigned for the job, Mr. Gualtieri said he did not think such a plant would be necessary and that he would improve things by Christmas. He said that it was only when he took office that he understood the mind-boggling reality of Rome’s garbage. His critics, chief among them Five Star, which opposed the new incinerator on environmental grounds, consider him a hypocrite.

 

Foto: 7Colli (11/07/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52209791423

 

But, as summer vacation ends and the city fills back up with Romans and their trash, he argues the waste-to-energy incinerator will improve Rome’s environment and be profitable, an incentive he said for investors to get in on the ground floor.

 

All of Rome, he insisted, was on the brink of a new Golden Age.

 

“I can tell you why,” he said, anticipating the natural Roman skepticism and calling Rome an undervalued asset. “It has a lot of margin for improvements.”

 

Fonte / source:

--- NEW YORK TIMES (29/08/2021).

www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/world/europe/rome-garbage-fire...

 

S.v.,

 

Foto: Nyt (22/07/2015).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52325212978

 

--- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022: Il degrado di Roma sul New York Times: Marino più interessato ai ricchi stranieri che ai cittadini, THE NEW YORK TIMES (22|07|2015), p. A4; LA REPUBBLICA & Forexinfo.it (23|07|2015).

 

ROME — The grass in some public parks sways knee high. Disgruntled subway workers have slowed service to a crawl. Fire has rendered the city’s largest airport crammed and chaotic. The arrests of public officials pile up, revealing mob infiltration of the city government.

 

It all adds up to what Romans call “degrado” — the degradation of services, buildings and their standard of living — and the general sense that their ancient city, even more than usual, is falling apart.

 

Not all those troubles are necessarily the fault of Mayor Ignazio Marino, a former surgeon whose own integrity remains unblemished. But, strangely enough, in Rome, his decency is not necessarily seen as part of the solution, either.

 

Fonte/source:

--- THE NEW YORK TIMES (22|07|2015), p. A4.

 

rometheimperialfora19952010.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/roma...

Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca

Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes

 

Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs foraging in Smartweed at Wenas Lake -- nice size and bill length comparison. Lesser Yellowlegs appears at about 0:37s.

 

I've put 8 trash barrels out at Wenas Lake and picked up loads of trash. If you go there, please have the decency to pick up some trash -- at least the trash at your feet. Please also have the decency to not drive out on the lakebed -- as the sign there prohibits it. Listing should stop trumping decency.

 

Please Follow this Code and Distribute and Teach it to Others ABA Code of Birding Ethics.

Whistle blower

 

I'm really glad that most listers and bird watchers are honest, truthful, law abiding, and decent people.

 

Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.

 

My original photos have embedded GPS time/date/location -- proving when & where I took the photos. I would never falsify a checklist, nor info under my photos, and never have done so. I would never cheat on my Big Day, never trick someone into helping me cheat on my Big Day, never illegally call in a Spotted Owl on my Big Day (or any other day), never trespass. Those practices would be the antithesis of my bird watching, and are clear violations of the ABA Code of Birding Ethics. I was used by Yakima County Big Day listers on May 11, 2013, and don't want others' enjoyment of birding to be harmed in the same way. If you find that you're wrong, whether in a bird identification or in your birding ethics, correct it. Apologize. Be honest about your apology.

 

To those of good will: Beware of being mis-lead and lied to by our county's overly competitive listers.

French postcard by J.R.P.R., Paris, no. 429. Photo: Studio Lorelle.

 

French actor Georges Charlia (1894-1984) played in 22 silent and sound films. He worked with such famous directors of the French avant-garde cinema as Germaine Dulac, Jean Epstein, and Alberto Cavalcanti.

 

Georges Charlia was born as Georges Charliat in Paris, France in 1894. He made his film debut in Germaine Dulac’s silent film Gossette (1923) with Régine Bouet. Then followed a part in another classic of the silent cinema, La belle Nivernaise/The Beauty from Nivernais (1924, Jean Epstein) with Blanche Montel. He played the lead in Epstein’s La goutte de sang/The drop of blood (1924). The film was started by Jean Epstein, but Maurice Mariaud took it over and modified the project. In the Guy de Maupassant adaptation Pierre et Jean/Pierre and Jean (1924, Donatien), he appeared with Lucienne Legrand. Le train sans yeux/Train Without Eyes (1927, Alberto Cavalcanti) was a Louis Delluc adaptation in which he co-starred with Hans Mierendorf, Gina Manès, and Hanni Weisse. He also appeared in Cavalcanti’s drama En rade/Sea Fever (1928, Alberto Cavalcanti). At Rovi, Hal Erickson reviews: “Catherine Hessling, better known to film enthusiasts for her work in the early Jean Renoir silents, stars as a seaport barmaid who falls in love with sweet-natured sailor Georges Charlia. When Charlia unaccountably disappears one day, Hessling is plunged into the depths of melancholia. Her sad story is counterpointed with the bizarre behavior of the local laundress' lazy, near-moronic son (Philippe Heriat), who dreams of a life at sea. Although well photographed on genuine locations, Sea Fever proved confusing to many non-French filmgoers.” Charlia starred in a few German films, including Ritter der nacht/Knights of the Night (1928, Max Reichmann) co-starring La Jana. In that same year, he also played in the drama L'équipage/Last Flight (1928, Maurice Tourneur) starring Charles Vanel. One of his last silent films was Prix de beauté/Beauty Prize (1930, Augusto Genina) in which he was the lover and murderer of Louise Brooks.

 

George Charlia made the transition to sound film with Vacances (1931, Robert Boudrioz) with Florelle and Lucien Gallas. He reunited with Gina Manès to co-star in L'ensorcellement de Séville/The Charm of Seville (1931, Benito Perojo), Pax (1932, Francisco Elías) and L'amour qu'il faut aux femmes/The love which is necessary to women (1933, Adolf Trotz). In Germany, Charlia played a supporting part in the classic anti-war drama Kameradschaft/Comradeship (1931, Georg Wilhelm Pabst). Hal Erickson at Rovi: “Kameradschaft is set in a mining community on the French/German frontier, where several French miners are trapped in a cave-in. Their only hope for rescue lies in a long-abandoned underground tunnel, buried since the First World War. Ignoring the ethnic and political differences that have long separated the two countries, a group of German miners pick their way through the old tunnel to save the entombed Frenchmen. (…) Ironically, the German public, whose decency and humanity is celebrated in Kameradschaft, tended to avoid the film.” His last films were the Belgian-Dutch coproduction Jeunes filles en liberté/Young Girls in Freedom (1933, Fritz Kramp), and L'enfant de ma soeur/The Child of my Sister (1933, Henry Wulschleger). Why his film career stopped then after only ten years is not clear. Wasn’t his voice soundproof? Did he lose his interest in the cinema after the silent avant-garde cinema had dwindled away? We only know that Georges Charlia died in 1984, in his hometown Paris.

 

Sources: James Travers (Films de France), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

There's a memorial close by at the site where the Bayardo bar stood until 1975. From a framed poster at the site: "At this spot, on 13th August, 1975, 5 Protestants were killed and up to 60 injured, during a Republican bomb and gun attack on the Bayardo Bar. The criminals who implemented this vicious attack, led by ex-trainee priest and IRA leader, Brendan 'Bic' McFarlane, a close associate of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, achieved, in part, exactly what they set out to do - to murder and maim members of our community in cold blood. They entered the Bayardo Bar, spraying a member of the door-staff and a customer who were chatting at the time, with a barrage of machine-gun fire. They then placed a duffle-bag, which contained a bomb in the premises, giving the terrified customers within no chance whatsoever of escape. In total, 5 people lost their lives that day, including one young girl - 17 yr old Linda Boyle. This attack on our people was designed purely to inflict maximum damage and, although their mission was completed, their callous agenda failed. For although many good friends were lost and injured on that fateful day, the people of West Belfast and, indeed, Ulster, emerged stronger and even more resolute, to defeat the pure evil that is Irish Republicanism, once and for all!...The Irish Republican Army was not an army, nor were they so-called freedom fighters. They were a homicidal guerrilla grouping! A criminal organization devoid of conscience! An organization which fouls the decency of humanity in every sense and on every level! Yes, we know the IRA for what they were, and what they remain, a sectarian murder gang whose targets were easy, innocent and vulnerable men, women and children...We will never forget those who lie in cold graves, the victims of the Republican Movement's vicious campaign of genocide. They waged war against the British presence in Ulster. The British presence in Ulster being you and I - the Protestant people!"

- "30 years of indiscriminate slaughter by so-called non-sectarian Irish freedom fighters. No military targets! No economic targets! No legitimate targets! Where are our inquiries? Where is our truth? Where is our justice?"

- In red: "Fourstep Inn bombed 29th Sept. 1971, 2 innocents killed; Balmoral Showroom bombed 11th December 1971, 2 adults and 2 babies killed; Mountainview Tavern bombed 5th April 1975, 5 innocents killed; Bayardo Bar bombed 13th August 1975, 5 innocents killed; Frizzell's fish shop bombed 23rd October 1993, 9 innocents killed."

 

- maps.app.goo.gl/qjsQSNwYvsuZGHos6

- maps.app.goo.gl/twW2u3zHQFVA5MqQ8

- maps.app.goo.gl/BLhWkNe1ANqVCCzR7

- maps.app.goo.gl/hi7tnenRLStWabhp7

- Update: This mural has been renovated since 2010. The photo at the centre remains and most of the text, but now it includes: "Provisional Sinn Fein demands "Equality / Respect / Integrity". " Where are our inquiries? Where is our truth? Where is our justice?" has been replaced with "No enquiries! No truth! No justice!" and "Where is the "equality" in Justice? Where is the "respect" for Protestants? Where is the "integrity" in Murder?" At the bottom: "We remember the victims of Provisional Sinn Fein genocide" above a long list of names of Protestant victims.

As Nottingham's shops continue to close at an alarming rate, the face of the streets is changing dramatically, not always for the better. At least, on Bridlesmith Gate, they are trying to brighten things up a bit. Snapped with the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G phone cam and pushed, pulled and twisted about, way beyond the realms of common decency!

Somehow seeing stuff like this make me happier than it probably should. But this, to me, is evindence that that there is some decency, culture, and sanity left in this world.

 

Bravo, Edinburgh!

Many of you are well aware of my ongoing impatience with the ‘dine and dash’ activities that occur daily in my backyard. For all of the feed that I supply to the gluttonous bird population, you would think that they would at least have the decency to pay the gratuity of pausing, in a natural setting, for an occasional photo. Alas, no! They prefer to hang out in the highest reaches of the maples or in neighbouring yards, obviously unwilling to be seen fraternizing with… Ok, I don’t really know where I was going with this, but I’m sure you get my point! lol

 

So, yesterday, I managed to capture my first [somewhat] successful in-flight photo of a bird! I’m so excited as it brings with it so many new possibilities! =^D

 

This picture I dedicate to my bestest of buddies, Dawn. Her [almost] daily postings of beautiful birds (in their natural settings) serve as great [competitive] inspiration for me. =^L lol Besides, I’m hoping the gesture might get her to lay off the nagging about another certain picture she wants me to post… Now that I think about it, perhaps I should double dedicate this to Kim too, as she’s been doing pretty much the same thing! What is it with you two!?! Lol I repeat, “I need to get somewhat proficient with Photo Shop before it’s even a consideration!” lol

 

“Have a good one!” ← (To all my Flickr Buddies… Sorry Dave-‘Mate’ to you! =^D lol)

 

=^D ♥

 

Copyright

©All my photographic images are copyright. All rights are reserved. Do not use, copy or edit any of my photographs without my written permission.

If you want to use my photo for private use, please contact me:

  

Two previous operators having handed back the keys, the East Coast main line was run by the public sector from 2009 until March 2015. Now private enterprise has been given another chance. The new operator is basically Stagecoach, but with a 10% Virgin holding. Will they last as long as the others....?

For some reason it is now being marketed as 'Virgin East Coast'. Personally I'd be MUCH happier if it was Stagecoach East Coast. I don't like the idea that all daytime trains between London and Scotland will be branded with the vulgar and naff Virgin identity. Am I really the only person to find Branson and his dubious empire sleazy and unpleasant? I sincerely hope that the outrageous Virgin west coast 'anytime' fares don't spread to the east coast now they have a monopoly.

Meanwhile not all trains have been given the vulgar Virgin branding. 91 002 on the right at London Kings Cross has the decency to keep its Virgin name largely hidden.

July 2018: All history now! No, they didn't last as long as the others. Their bid was ludicrously over ambitious (as was obvious to everyone except apparently HM Government) and they have had the franchise taken off them. Good riddance.

Queens Of The Stone Age with John Garcia at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles, 20th Dec 2005

 

(replaced with much better version no idea how I screwed up the old one so badly)

 

* if you are going to ignore the copyright on these images and post them elsewhere on the web then at least have the decency to credit me with them *

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Freedom, Self Expression, All, Inclusive, Acceptance, Acknowledge, Parade, Group, People, Charlotte, Downtown, Girl, Backside, Young, Different, Rainbow, Colors,Skirt, Tutu, Walk, Legs, Topless, Cover, Decency, Legal, Normal, Diversity

Agfa Billy Record 8.8 6x9 120 Film Camera

Kodak Portra 160 ISO Color Negative Film

 

Spent a day at Disneyland after cleaning this camera. We dressed up in vintage style and brought old film cameras with us.

 

Notice the tilt-shift effect on the image from the bottom (out of focus) to the top (in focus). Maybe this will be my next project, finding ground glass to figure out where the sweet spot in the focus is.

 

For a camera that was designed for black and white film photography only, I'm really pleased to see some of these wild color shifts.

 

Here's a shot of the castle around noon. Took a while for me to frame this shot. A few people tried to get in my way, others just didn't care and almost bumped into me and my fragile camera. No decency in the world left? Perhaps...

 

I've started a discussion at the Vintage Agfa 120 camera group to show my adventures with this camera so far. To see this post follow the link:

www.flickr.com/groups/agfaisola/discuss/72157629538858014

I rushed myself to the hospital after deducing that I was suffering from an allergic reaction to shrimp shells/guts or something in the prawns I had eaten 9 hours earlier. I woke up at 4:11 am with itchy palms, feet, neckline, waistline, armpits, knee-backs, lips, ears, nostrils and all sorts of intimate places. The last and only other time this happened was in 2009, when I also drove myself to the emergency room but had felt heart palpitations and a tightness in my chest. I decided not to wait for it to reach that point... plus there was the unbearable itching. The first dose of benadryl took care of most of the hives. The second dose - both of which were given intravenously - was overkill. The nurse wasted no time with the injection. Oddly, I felt a heat in my throat, as if I had just downed 2 shots of moonshine. It knocked me out for a good hour or so, as I laid comatose in a dark hospital room. I woke up around 7:00 in the darkness and really needing to use the loo'. I wandered out to the nurses' station. The RNs seemed surprised (in their own words: "freaked out") to see me awake, as if I had woken up from a 30 year coma and I didn't give them the common decency of advanced notice that I was stopping by their place. I never could figure out the unflattering hospital gown, and my back was bare to the world. But I retained my dignity, with jeans at least still on. "Where's the bathroom? And... can I go now? I need to get to work," I asked." They discharged me by 7:15 am, and I was back in the offic by 10:05 am. The End.

Getting ready before the parade, around Hyde Park, Sydney. Last year Police carried out 'decency checks'...

i don't express many of my opinions on flickr

but today i'm really happy and i want to share this

it is an excerpt from a message from Michael Moore

thank you america for voting for change and hope!

many canadians will celebrate with you today

 

•

 

"But today we celebrate this triumph of decency over personal attack, of peace over war, of intelligence over a belief that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs just 6,000 years ago. What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return. Imagine supporting our country's greatest minds as they seek to cure illness, discover new forms of energy, and work to save the planet. I know, pinch me.

 

We may, just possibly, also see a time of refreshing openness, enlightenment and creativity. The arts and the artists will not be seen as the enemy. Perhaps art will be explored in order to discover the greater truths. When FDR was ushered in with his landslide in 1932, what followed was Frank Capra and Preston Sturgis, Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck, Dorothea Lange and Orson Welles. All week long I have been inundated with media asking me, "gee, Mike, what will you do now that Bush is gone?" Are they kidding? What will it be like to work and create in an environment that nurtures and supports film and the arts, science and invention, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be? Watch a thousand flowers bloom! We've entered a new era, and if I could sum up our collective first thought of this new era, it is this: Anything Is Possible.

 

An African American has been elected President of the United States! Anything is possible! We can wrestle our economy out of the hands of the reckless rich and return it to the people. Anything is possible! Every citizen can be guaranteed health care. Anything is possible! We can stop melting the polar ice caps. Anything is possible! Those who have committed war crimes will be brought to justice. Anything is possible."

 

Events as they are unfolding in the Dail this afternoon, October 3.

 

The proceedings can be accessed from this link Dail TV

  

Below is a copy of the statement released by the Labour Party leader Deputy Pat Rabbitte

 

HEART OF MATTER IS : ‘WAS AHERN RIGHT TO ACCEPT MONIES?’

 

It is fair comment that the Opposition has shown restraint in the matter of the Taoiseach accepting money for private use while a serving Minister. However, since Mr Ahern had created a context that sought to explain the Drumcondra monies in terms of his private family affairs, common decency required that opposition politicians should have demonstrated a certain restraint.

 

And then on Sunday I heard Minister of State, Conor Lenihan, ridicule that restraint. It was, he said, ineffectiveness, not decency, on the part of the Opposition. The suggestion was apparently that the Opposition should cut through the smokescreen to the heart of the matter. To me the heart of the matter is: was Mr Ahern right to do what he did? Is it remotely credible that monies outstanding for 13 years, without any repayment of any kind, can suddenly be called loans? You don’t need to be as bright as Minister Lenihan to know that these transactions, if they happened, were gifts and therefore there are tax implications.

 

Can we do more than highlight the absolute impropriety of a serving Minister for Finance accepting payment for a nixer outside the State. Never mind the “no law was broken” defence. By any standards it was wrong. What would have happened to a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Finance if he trousered money for a private encounter in Manchester? He would be sacked. Why is it alright for the Minister but not alright for the civil servant? What does it say about this Government’s standards that not a single Cabinet Minister can bring himself or herself to say what everybody knows: that what happened at Manchester was wrong. You believe in the tooth fairy if you believe that businessmen happen along to a function in a posh hotel to listen to any old Joe Soap talk to them about the Irish economy and then organise an impromptu collection to give him something for himself.

 

In normal life you get gifts from your friends and you take loans from strangers. Yet Mr Ahern got loans from his friends and gifts from strangers.

 

Maybe Minister of State Lenihan’s derision of the Opposition is because we didn’t adequately probe behind the discreet veil drawn over the other 50,000 by Mr Ahern when he says enigmatically that he “put back into” his account. “Back into his account from where”? is the questions that must be answered. Where was the 50.000 resting since Mr Ahern didn’t have a bank account? In a sock in the hotpress? If the Taoiseach says this 50.000 was savings I accept that but if he enjoyed a T.D’s salary, a Ministerial salary and the use of a premises bought by friends of Fianna Fail, how can it be portrayed that he was in straitened circumstances?

 

Why if there were 50.000 in “savings” was it necessary to raise a Bank loan and if a Bank Loan was in place why was it necessary to have a whiparound to replace the Bank Loan ?

 

An effective Opposition doing its job must ask the Taoiseach: have you evaded tax? Why did you say you paid CGT and gift tax? Why is that relevant here? Are you serious that you had no Bank account while Minister for Finance? Did you have a Bank Account elsewhere on the Island? Or outside the jurisdiction? Or did someone else open one on your behalf? If the whiparound was among friends why is there a cheque in there for 5,000 from NCB stockbrokers? How many times have NCB been retained by the State? How many of the donors were appointed on how many occasions to state boards? Who were the donors in Manchester? What was the function? Are they involved in business in Ireland? Did any of them win state contracts? Is this another loop in the golden circle?

 

Our new Tanaiste is also impatient with the Opposition. On Thursday he told the House he could scarcely forbear to sit in silence and watch the Opposition squander the opportunity for accountability. Well the Tanaiste had better grow accustomed to sitting in silence. The only question he will be allowed at Cabinet after this debacle is “Bhuil cead agam dul amach?” Mr McDowell sought and got a mandate to ride shotgun on Fianna Fail standards in government. He has comprehensively failed the first test. As he said himself:

 

“A party that stands for nothing will stand for anything.”

 

If the Tanaiste can no longer ask questions aloud maybe he would ask himself what Des O’Malley would have said if the Taoiseach of the day admitted receiving money, not for political purposes, but for his private use while a serving Minister?

 

Forget the orchestrated phone-ins to radio stations, the unscientific polls and the packed television audiences, was it right or wrong to accept money for private use while a serving Minister? You are on the record as saying you did nothing wrong and your Cabinet Ministers without exception have parroted that line. Brian Lenihan alone said it would be unthinkable.

But all the rest Hannafin, O’Donoghue, O’Dea, Dempsey, Ahern, Coughlan, Martin and Cullen can see no wrong. If anything demonstrates why this country needs a change of government it is the media parade of your Ministers, blind to standards, defending the indefensible.

in a brave new world...Layers...

 

Exactly as it has always been.

 

I also ❤️ that it can, and does, go on forever, that it is infinitely extendable. Infrathin is the key.

 

I ❤️that wonderfully silly heart too. We couldn't do that in 1989.

 

The Bayeux Tapestry is about 68.3 metres long. Now there's a challenge. I fantasise about a vulgarian version, with glowing hearts and turquoise decency rectangles, to protect the guiltless and the guileless, an anti-sophistry cartoon, with heroes and villains, and all entities and 'non-entities' being equal.

 

'Too lateness', now there's another thing. You have to laugh.

 

And then, pull back....

 

Graphite Drawing on A.I. on photoshop (1989-2024)

French postcard by Imp. De Marchi Frères, Marseille.

 

French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) died on 28 December 2025, at the age of 91. In the 1950s, she was the sex kitten of the European film industry. BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she established herself as an animal rights activist. In the coming weeks, we will continue to post a BB postcard every day to remember her as she once was.

 

Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris in 1934. Her father, Louis Bardot, had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Her mother, Ann-Marie Mucel, was 14 years younger than Brigitte's father, and they married in 1933. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance. At the age of 13, she entered the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse to study ballet. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was trying a modelling career and found herself in May 1949 on the cover of the French magazine Elle. Her incredible beauty was readily apparent, and Brigitte was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. BB was 18 when she debuted in the comedy Le Trou Normand / Crazy for Love (Jean Boyer, 1952). In the same year, she married Vadim. Brigitte wanted to marry him when she was 17, but her parents quashed any marriage plans until she turned 18. In April 1953, she attended the Cannes Film Festival, where she received massive media attention. She soon was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris. From 1952 to 1956, she appeared in seventeen films. Her films were generally lightweight romantic dramas in which she was cast as an ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. In 1953, she made her first US production, Un acte d'amour / Act of Love (Anatole Litvak, 1953) with Kirk Douglas, but she continued to make films in France.

 

Roger Vadim was not content with the light fare his wife was offered. He felt Brigitte Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956). This film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a smash success on both sides of the Atlantic. Craig Butler at AllMovie: "It's easy enough to say that ...And God Created Woman is much more important for its historical significance than for its actual quality as a film, and that's true to an extent. The immense popularity, due to its willingness to directly embrace an exploration of sex as well as its willingness to show a degree of nudity that was remarkably daring for its day, demonstrated that audiences were willing to view subject matter that was considered too racy for the average moviegoer. This had both positive (freedom to explore, especially for the French filmmakers of the time) and negative (freedom to exploit) consequences, but its impact is undeniable. It's also true that Woman is not a great work of art, not with a story that is ultimately rather thin, some painful dialogue, and an attitude toward its characters and their sexuality that is unclear and inconsistent. Yet Woman is still fascinating, due in no small part to the presence of Brigitte Bardot in the role that made her an international star and sex symbol. She's not demonstrating great acting here, although her performance is actually good and much better than necessary, and her legendary mambo scene at the climax is nothing short of sensational." During the shooting of Et Dieu créa la femme / And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956), directed by her husband, Brigitte Bardot had an affair with her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant, who at that time was married to French actress Stéphane Audran. Her divorce from Vadim followed, but they remained friends and collaborated in later work.

 

Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956) helped Brigitte Bardot's international status. The film took the USA by storm, her explosive sexuality being unlike anything seen in the States since the days of the 'flapper' in the 1920s. It gave rise to the phrase 'sex kitten', and fascination with her in America consisted of magazine photographs and dubbed over French films - good, bad or indifferent, her films drew audiences - mainly men - into theatres like lemmings. BB appeared in light comedies like Doctor at Large (Ralph Thomas, 1957) - the third of the British 'Doctor' series starring Dirk Bogarde - and Une Parisienne / La Parisienne (Michel Boisrond, 1957), which suited her acting skills best. However, she was a sensation in the crime drama En cas de malheur / Love is My Profession (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "This Brigitte Bardot vehicle ran into stiff opposition from the Catholic Legion of Decency, severely limiting its U.S. distribution. Bardot plays a nubile small-time thief named Yvette, who becomes the mistress of influential defence attorney Andre (Jean Gabin). Though Andre can shower Yvette with jewels and furs, he cannot "buy" her heart, and thus it is that it belongs to handsome young student Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi). Alas, Yvette is no judge of human nature: attractive though Mazzetti can be, he has a dangerous and deadly side. En Cas de Malheur contains a nude scene that has since been reprinted in freeze-frame form innumerable times by both film-history books and girlie magazines." Photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed considerably to her image of sensuality and slight immorality. One of Lévin's pictures shows Brigitte, dressed in a white corset. It is said that around 1960, postcards with this photograph outsold in Paris those of the Eiffel Tower.

 

Brigitte Bardot divorced Vadim in 195,7 and in 1959 she married actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre / Babette Goes to War (Christian-Jaque, 1959). The paparazzi preyed upon her marriage, while she and her husband clashed over the direction of her career

Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining a glamour model for most of the world. Vie privée / Private Life (1962), directed by Louis Malle, has more than an element of autobiography in it. James Travers at French Films: "Brigitte Bardot hadn’t quite reached the high point of her career when she agreed to make this film with high-profile New Wave film director Louis Malle. Even so, the pressure of being a living icon was obviously beginning to get to France’s sex goddess, and Vie privée is as much an attempt by Bardot to come to terms with her celebrity as anything else. Malle is clearly fascinated by Bardot, and the documentary approach he adopts for this film reinforces the impression that it is more a biography of the actress than a work of fiction. Of course, it’s not entirely biographical, but the story is remarkably close to Bardot’s own life and comes pretty close to predicting how her career would end." The scene in which, returning to her apartment, Bardot's character is harangued in the elevator by a middle-aged cleaning lady calling her offensive names was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century. Soon afterwards, Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France.

 

Brigitte Bardot's other husbands were German millionaire Playboy Gunter Sachs and right-wing politician Bernard d'Ormale. She is reputed to have had relationships with many other men, including Samy Frey, her co-star in La Vérité / The Truth (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960), and musicians Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In 1963, Brigitte Bardot starred in Jean-Luc Godard's critically acclaimed film Le Mépris / Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) opposite Michel Piccoli. She was also featured along with such notable actors as Alain Delon in Amours célèbres / Famous Love Affairs (Michel Boisrond, 1961) and Histoires extraordinaires /Tales of Mystery (Louis Malle, 1968), Jeanne Moreau in Viva Maria! (Louis Malle, 1965), Sean Connery in Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968), and Claudia Cardinale in Les Pétroleuses / Petroleum Girls (Christian-Jaque, 1971). She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including 'Harley Davidson', 'Le Soleil De Ma Vie' (the cover of Stevie Wonder's 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life') and the notorious 'Je t'aime... moi non plus'.

 

Brigitte Bardot’s film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973, just before her fortieth birthday, she announced her retirement. She chose to use her fame to promote animal rights. In 1976, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and many personal belongings. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1984. During the 1990s, she was also outspoken in her criticism of immigration, interracial relationships, Islam in France and homosexuality. Her husband Bernard d'Ormal was a former adviser of the far-right Front National party. Bardot has been convicted five times for 'inciting racial hatred'. More fun is that Bardot is recognised for popularising bikini swimwear, in such early films as Manina / Woman without a Veil (Willy Rozier, 1952), in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots. Bardot also brought into fashion the 'choucroute' ('Sauerkraut') hairstyle (a sort of beehive hairstyle) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her. Time Magazine: "She is the princess of pout, the countess of come hither. Brigitte Bardot exuded a carefree, naïve sexuality that brought a whole new audience to French films."

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Craig Butler (AllMovie), James Travers (French Films), French Films, Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Events as they are unfolding in the Dail this afternoon, October 3.

 

The proceedings can be accessed from this link Dail TV

  

Below is a copy of the statement released by the Labour Party leader Deputy Pat Rabbitte

 

HEART OF MATTER IS : ‘WAS AHERN RIGHT TO ACCEPT MONIES?’

 

It is fair comment that the Opposition has shown restraint in the matter of the Taoiseach accepting money for private use while a serving Minister. However, since Mr Ahern had created a context that sought to explain the Drumcondra monies in terms of his private family affairs, common decency required that opposition politicians should have demonstrated a certain restraint.

 

And then on Sunday I heard Minister of State, Conor Lenihan, ridicule that restraint. It was, he said, ineffectiveness, not decency, on the part of the Opposition. The suggestion was apparently that the Opposition should cut through the smokescreen to the heart of the matter. To me the heart of the matter is: was Mr Ahern right to do what he did? Is it remotely credible that monies outstanding for 13 years, without any repayment of any kind, can suddenly be called loans? You don’t need to be as bright as Minister Lenihan to know that these transactions, if they happened, were gifts and therefore there are tax implications.

 

Can we do more than highlight the absolute impropriety of a serving Minister for Finance accepting payment for a nixer outside the State. Never mind the “no law was broken” defence. By any standards it was wrong. What would have happened to a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Finance if he trousered money for a private encounter in Manchester? He would be sacked. Why is it alright for the Minister but not alright for the civil servant? What does it say about this Government’s standards that not a single Cabinet Minister can bring himself or herself to say what everybody knows: that what happened at Manchester was wrong. You believe in the tooth fairy if you believe that businessmen happen along to a function in a posh hotel to listen to any old Joe Soap talk to them about the Irish economy and then organise an impromptu collection to give him something for himself.

 

In normal life you get gifts from your friends and you take loans from strangers. Yet Mr Ahern got loans from his friends and gifts from strangers.

 

Maybe Minister of State Lenihan’s derision of the Opposition is because we didn’t adequately probe behind the discreet veil drawn over the other 50,000 by Mr Ahern when he says enigmatically that he “put back into” his account. “Back into his account from where”? is the questions that must be answered. Where was the 50.000 resting since Mr Ahern didn’t have a bank account? In a sock in the hotpress? If the Taoiseach says this 50.000 was savings I accept that but if he enjoyed a T.D’s salary, a Ministerial salary and the use of a premises bought by friends of Fianna Fail, how can it be portrayed that he was in straitened circumstances?

 

Why if there were 50.000 in “savings” was it necessary to raise a Bank loan and if a Bank Loan was in place why was it necessary to have a whiparound to replace the Bank Loan ?

 

An effective Opposition doing its job must ask the Taoiseach: have you evaded tax? Why did you say you paid CGT and gift tax? Why is that relevant here? Are you serious that you had no Bank account while Minister for Finance? Did you have a Bank Account elsewhere on the Island? Or outside the jurisdiction? Or did someone else open one on your behalf? If the whiparound was among friends why is there a cheque in there for 5,000 from NCB stockbrokers? How many times have NCB been retained by the State? How many of the donors were appointed on how many occasions to state boards? Who were the donors in Manchester? What was the function? Are they involved in business in Ireland? Did any of them win state contracts? Is this another loop in the golden circle?

 

Our new Tanaiste is also impatient with the Opposition. On Thursday he told the House he could scarcely forbear to sit in silence and watch the Opposition squander the opportunity for accountability. Well the Tanaiste had better grow accustomed to sitting in silence. The only question he will be allowed at Cabinet after this debacle is “Bhuil cead agam dul amach?” Mr McDowell sought and got a mandate to ride shotgun on Fianna Fail standards in government. He has comprehensively failed the first test. As he said himself:

 

“A party that stands for nothing will stand for anything.”

 

If the Tanaiste can no longer ask questions aloud maybe he would ask himself what Des O’Malley would have said if the Taoiseach of the day admitted receiving money, not for political purposes, but for his private use while a serving Minister?

 

Forget the orchestrated phone-ins to radio stations, the unscientific polls and the packed television audiences, was it right or wrong to accept money for private use while a serving Minister? You are on the record as saying you did nothing wrong and your Cabinet Ministers without exception have parroted that line. Brian Lenihan alone said it would be unthinkable.

But all the rest Hannafin, O’Donoghue, O’Dea, Dempsey, Ahern, Coughlan, Martin and Cullen can see no wrong. If anything demonstrates why this country needs a change of government it is the media parade of your Ministers, blind to standards, defending the indefensible.

Events as they are unfolding in the Dail this afternoon, October 3.

 

The proceedings can be accessed from this link Dail TV

  

Below is a copy of the statement released by the Labour Party leader Deputy Pat Rabbitte

 

HEART OF MATTER IS : ‘WAS AHERN RIGHT TO ACCEPT MONIES?’

 

It is fair comment that the Opposition has shown restraint in the matter of the Taoiseach accepting money for private use while a serving Minister. However, since Mr Ahern had created a context that sought to explain the Drumcondra monies in terms of his private family affairs, common decency required that opposition politicians should have demonstrated a certain restraint.

 

And then on Sunday I heard Minister of State, Conor Lenihan, ridicule that restraint. It was, he said, ineffectiveness, not decency, on the part of the Opposition. The suggestion was apparently that the Opposition should cut through the smokescreen to the heart of the matter. To me the heart of the matter is: was Mr Ahern right to do what he did? Is it remotely credible that monies outstanding for 13 years, without any repayment of any kind, can suddenly be called loans? You don’t need to be as bright as Minister Lenihan to know that these transactions, if they happened, were gifts and therefore there are tax implications.

 

Can we do more than highlight the absolute impropriety of a serving Minister for Finance accepting payment for a nixer outside the State. Never mind the “no law was broken” defence. By any standards it was wrong. What would have happened to a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Finance if he trousered money for a private encounter in Manchester? He would be sacked. Why is it alright for the Minister but not alright for the civil servant? What does it say about this Government’s standards that not a single Cabinet Minister can bring himself or herself to say what everybody knows: that what happened at Manchester was wrong. You believe in the tooth fairy if you believe that businessmen happen along to a function in a posh hotel to listen to any old Joe Soap talk to them about the Irish economy and then organise an impromptu collection to give him something for himself.

 

In normal life you get gifts from your friends and you take loans from strangers. Yet Mr Ahern got loans from his friends and gifts from strangers.

 

Maybe Minister of State Lenihan’s derision of the Opposition is because we didn’t adequately probe behind the discreet veil drawn over the other 50,000 by Mr Ahern when he says enigmatically that he “put back into” his account. “Back into his account from where”? is the questions that must be answered. Where was the 50.000 resting since Mr Ahern didn’t have a bank account? In a sock in the hotpress? If the Taoiseach says this 50.000 was savings I accept that but if he enjoyed a T.D’s salary, a Ministerial salary and the use of a premises bought by friends of Fianna Fail, how can it be portrayed that he was in straitened circumstances?

 

Why if there were 50.000 in “savings” was it necessary to raise a Bank loan and if a Bank Loan was in place why was it necessary to have a whiparound to replace the Bank Loan ?

 

An effective Opposition doing its job must ask the Taoiseach: have you evaded tax? Why did you say you paid CGT and gift tax? Why is that relevant here? Are you serious that you had no Bank account while Minister for Finance? Did you have a Bank Account elsewhere on the Island? Or outside the jurisdiction? Or did someone else open one on your behalf? If the whiparound was among friends why is there a cheque in there for 5,000 from NCB stockbrokers? How many times have NCB been retained by the State? How many of the donors were appointed on how many occasions to state boards? Who were the donors in Manchester? What was the function? Are they involved in business in Ireland? Did any of them win state contracts? Is this another loop in the golden circle?

 

Our new Tanaiste is also impatient with the Opposition. On Thursday he told the House he could scarcely forbear to sit in silence and watch the Opposition squander the opportunity for accountability. Well the Tanaiste had better grow accustomed to sitting in silence. The only question he will be allowed at Cabinet after this debacle is “Bhuil cead agam dul amach?” Mr McDowell sought and got a mandate to ride shotgun on Fianna Fail standards in government. He has comprehensively failed the first test. As he said himself:

 

“A party that stands for nothing will stand for anything.”

 

If the Tanaiste can no longer ask questions aloud maybe he would ask himself what Des O’Malley would have said if the Taoiseach of the day admitted receiving money, not for political purposes, but for his private use while a serving Minister?

 

Forget the orchestrated phone-ins to radio stations, the unscientific polls and the packed television audiences, was it right or wrong to accept money for private use while a serving Minister? You are on the record as saying you did nothing wrong and your Cabinet Ministers without exception have parroted that line. Brian Lenihan alone said it would be unthinkable.

But all the rest Hannafin, O’Donoghue, O’Dea, Dempsey, Ahern, Coughlan, Martin and Cullen can see no wrong. If anything demonstrates why this country needs a change of government it is the media parade of your Ministers, blind to standards, defending the indefensible.

To the Japanese Goverment This is a letter of protest on behalf of the Asian women who were forced to serve the Japanese army as prostitutes, “comfort women”, during the Second World War. Some 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other countries in the Pacific were forced to suffer at the hands of the Japanese under conditions that rivaled the worst of the atrocities of the German Nazis. In the interests of justice and simple decency, I demand that the government of Japan publicly admit its country’s crimes against these women and offer apologies to them and to the world. In some countries such as Korea it is mistakenly believed that the comfort women were willing collaborators. This is a lie that has in part been fed by misinformation from the Japanese government itself. As a result the surviving women and their families are afraid to come forward publicly because they know that they might be shamed and ostracized by their fellow countrymen. The government of Japan has a moral obligation to make clear to the world that the comfort women were not collaborators, but were victims who were forced into prostitution under threat of death. I have seen photographs taken by Japanese soldiers themselves of the girls whom they brutalized who were too young to have willingly collaborated in their own humiliation. The older women in the photographs have clearly been raped and tortured. It is also high time that the government of Japan seeks out the families of the comfort women, as well as the few remaining survivors themselves, and offer direct apologies to them as well as appropriate compensation, Sincerely Nily Naiman

 

Nily Naiman, Post trauma silence,mongolia,Tambourine,songs and poems for Andres,Nily Naiman

This is a letter of protest on behalf of the Asian women who were forced to serve the Japanese army as prostitutes, “comfort women”, during the Second World War. Some 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other countries in the Pacific were forced to suffer at the hands of the Japanese under conditions that rivaled the worst of the atrocities of the German Nazis. In the interests of justice and simple decency, I demand that the government of Japan publicly admit its country’s crimes against these women and offer apologies to them and to the world. In some countries such as Korea it is mistakenly believed that the comfort women were willing collaborators. This is a lie that has in part been fed by misinformation from the Japanese government itself. As a result the surviving women and their families are afraid to come forward publicly because they know that they might be shamed and ostracized by their fellow countrymen. The government of Japan has a moral obligation to make clear to the world that the comfort women were not collaborators, but were victims who were forced into prostitution under threat of death. I have seen photographs taken by Japanese soldiers themselves of the girls whom they brutalized who were too young to have willingly collaborated in their own humiliation. The older women in the photographs have clearly been raped and tortured. It is also high time that the government of Japan seek out the families of the comfort women, as well as the few remaining survivors themselves, and offer direct apologies to them as well as appropriate compensation. My novel, Silent Marionette, a Story of a Comfort Lady, is based upon true events in the life of a Korean teenage girl who was kidnapped by the Japanese and forced to serve them as a comfort woman in Manchuria. It is not yet published, but is in the hands of a literary agent, Ger Nichols, with The Book Bureau in Ireland. When it is published I recommend that it be made part of the curriculum in Japanese high schools and universities. This generation of Japanese must be aware of the sins of the past so as not to repeat them in the future.This letter is an open invitation to anyone who was a victim of the Japanese, or who knows of victims of the Japanese, or anyone else who cares about the tragedy of the comfort women to send me their testimonies and any comments they might have at nilynaiman@hotmail.com, and I will forward them along with my own letter to the Japanese government.”

     

This "Red" Fox Sparrow has been at the Poppoff sparrow patch since at least mid-November when I took a lousy photo with my point-and-shoot camera at 5:14 p.m. in little light. I don't recall what day I first saw it. I saw it there Jan 2nd when I hauled in seed, and again January 4th when I hauled in more seed and took this video of it feeding on a suet wreath. In sunlight it's striking. Jim Cummins and I have exchanged photos of it, and Jim submitted checklists to eBird, after having respected eBird reviewers look at his photos of it and confirm that it was indeed a "Red" Fox Sparrow. They're labeled rare by eBird, and justly so. Jim's eBird reports triggered Rare Bird Alerts that went out to all who are subscribed to such for Yakima County. So this "Red" Fox Sparrow is not a secret to avid bird listers here, and there's no mystery who first reported it. When a rare bird shows up on eBird's range map, that indicates it has been "Confirmed" -- deemed an accurate and valid identification.

Here's a link to one of Jim's checklists:

ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40971120

And here's a link to the eBird range map, with a search for Red Fox Sparrow in the Yakima area:

ebird.org/ebird/map/foxsp1?neg=true&env.minX=&env...

If you click on the hotspot link for the Poppoff sparrow patch (located just above the words "Union Gap") You'll see two checklists from Jim Cummins. That indicates his sightings of the Red Fox Sparrow there were "Confirmed".

 

For those who chase rare birds, this kind of search is commonplace. For those who are charged with compiling county records for submission to Washington Birder, this basic exercise is part of what's needed to submit complete and accurate data. For those who would like to see their name in lights for "finding" a rare bird, it would be wise to do such a search, and maybe look at Rare Bird Alerts in their email inbox, and maybe consider ethics before claiming a rare bird find, or accepting, even tacitly, other's crediting or applauding them. Poaching isn't pretty. Before I learned how to use eBird, I once excitedly reported the first Osprey I'd seen for the year, thinking it was the first here that year. I remember a subsequent post by Jeff Kozma on BirdYak politely mentioning that he'd seen one, or maybe several, at an earlier date that spring. I apologized. I don't remember posting an apology, but if I didn't, wish I had. (That was back before Denny blocked me from receiving or sending BragYak posts.) I learned way back then that while I'll still be excited by my first of season sightings, I shouldn't assume that no one else had already seen them. Lots of people drive along I-82 & see returning Ospreys, and Ospreys winter over. Lots of people walk on the Greenway Path and see sparrows. When there are eBird reports like Jeff's or Jim's, it's quite easy to find out.

 

Recently I heard that Eric, an avid lister here, said at the Yakima CBC last Saturday that he'd found a Red Fox Sparrow at the Poppoff Sparrow Patch. His checklist notes it as "continuing". Denny, also an avid lister here, has been giving Eric credit for his find. While it's great that Denny is sometimes willing to give credit for someone else's rare find, it would be better if he took the care to give credit where it's due, especially since his actions skew data. When someone congratulates you for a find that's not yours, you should correct them. When they credit you for a find that's not yours, you should correct them. Maybe, this time, Eric will do that. If so, maybe Denny will accept that. Denny could also easily look at another lister's report December 12th of the "continuing" Red Fox Sparrow, earlier than Eric's. Or earlier still, here's that link to Jim's checklist on December 6, 2017:

ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40971120

and to Jim's checklist from November 28:

ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40799044

 

Here's the text of the eBird Rare Bird Alert for Yakima County, from Jim's December 6th sighting, that went out to avid Yakima County bird listers:

 

"*** Species Summary:

 

- Fox Sparrow (Red) (1 report)

 

---------------------------------------------

Thank you for subscribing to the Yakima County Rare Bird Alert.The report below shows observations of rare birds in Yakima County. View or unsubscribe to this alert at ebird.org/ebird/alert/summary?sid=SN36660

NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated

 

Fox Sparrow (Red) (Passerella iliaca iliaca/zaboria) (1)

- Reported Dec 06, 2017 10:45 by James Cummins

- Poppoff Trail, Yakima, Washington

- Map: maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=46.563994...

- Checklist: ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40971120

- Media: 2 Photos

- Comments: "I first reported this bird November 28. Got slightly better photos this time. Not sure if one of the 3 photos is a different bird but decided to report only 1. Feathers may be ruffled in the first photos below even though there was no wind. Reviewers can decide if this is a legitimate red and if the below photos are all the same bird. The last two photos are definitely the same bird.

www.flickr.com/photos/jlcummins_photography/27137106219/i...

 

Jim is an excellent birder. I greatly admire how he carries himself around birds. When approaching me birding, he never flushes the birds. He never boasts nor uses multiple exclamation points. He doesn't yank eBird reviewers' chains by writing in his eBird descriptions, "photos" without actually providing the photos. He is humble, and he is truthful. He is a superb role model in his field craft, humility, and decency.

 

This Red Fox Sparrow being at the Poppoff sparrow patch is really neat to see, and there are lots of Sooty and intermediate and indeterminate Fox Sparrows right there to compare it to. While it should be taken on its own, if anyone is to receive credit for the find, I think it should be Jim, since he worked at its identification, and submitted checklists, and his identification of this rare bird was confirmed.

 

I know of people who don't submit checklists -- so rare birds don't get harassed and to stay out of competition with unethical birders, and of others who like looking at birds and aren't into submitting checklists. Certainly several of them could have "found" it before us.

 

On the other hand, maybe I could submit a checklist for Nori. She was with Mary & me when I took this photo. Nori is a dog, so I bet she saw it before I did:

www.flickr.com/photos/58148027@N07/38454589696/in/datetaken/

 

Acknowledging and correcting the mistaken attribution and tacit complicity would be much better than doing nothing, or than making some quick switches and pretending the simple mistake and acceptance of credit didn't happen. Let's not have another Cooper's/Sharpie sleight-of-pic, nor Ross's Goose sighting not seen.

 

People write posts & eBird descriptions that include phases like "continuing Harris's Sparrow" and "continuing Red Fox Sparrow". Several notches above BirdYak is Tweeters, a listserv for birders in Washington State, where I've even read posts in which people explain that they are not due the credit given them. It's really simple, and painless, and helpfully truthful.

 

Good birding -- Enjoying observing birds, and trying to give eBird and Washington Birder accurate data.

 

Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.

 

Don't pish or use playback on rare or sensitive birds or in heavily birded areas.

 

Please Follow this Code and Distribute and Teach it to Others ABA Code of Birding Ethics.

Whistle blower

Clic here for black background

German prisoner of war, Paul Nowak, buried at the Fort Devens Cemetery, Devens, Massachusetts.

 

Paul Nowak

Born: 6-17-1926

Died: 2-03-1946

 

According to the book Stark Decency, German Prisoners of War in a New England Village, by Allen V. Koop, page 106, German prisoner of war, Nowak was killed on a Sunday morning Feburary 1946 out of Camp Stark. He was on a wood cutting crew and as they worked to fall a tree, a dead portion broke off, striking the 19 year old on the back of the head, killing him instantly. He was buried at the prisoner of war cemetery at Fort Devens.

 

www.fortdevensmuseum.org/

  

Photo by Doug Culver

Fort Devens Museum

Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is one of the best museums of its type I have ever seen. My favorite feature is a timeline of moral breakthroughs and legal decisions prohibiting abuse or genocide that espoused the rights of man juxtaposed against the atrocities that occurred shortly after the legislation, moral breakthroughs or treaties were established. The exhibit makes it clear how extremely outrageous and how hypocritical mankind has been in our treatment of our fellow man. The timeline of history and philosophy is impressive in its own right if only for its breadth.

despite what the frame shows: i was completely out of my head, drove for miles on end, parked and found myself unable to step out of the car 'cos i was delirious, Laura urging me to ground and center before diving into the open world again.

i kept going on, then we stepped out and i shot big ugly stone things, remnants of a gone age, with shiny grey clouds behind them, then walked further only to find a big cagey door closed in front of us, sewn shut: and we tried and kissed long time no see friends through bars like in a prison movie.

i think i hurt my forehead while asking Madame P how she was doing: the tiny red sign is still there, i guess, i just have to go in front of the mirror and have a look to confirm it.

 

the cagey door kept being shut for big chunks of minutes on end. maybe it would have been better to remain silent, for decency, so i took out the camera and found myself unable to keep subjects in focus. except for this, which took only three attempts, and made so that somebody asked me hastily: having fun with that camera, eh?

 

i smiled, whole fish stocks swimming behind my eyes in swerwing circles and he didn't knew a thing.

 

i said: sure.

 

and went off to the rest of the evening.

From Lil Joe's.

 

Syrian immigrant "Lil" Joe Halaway bought the Emerald Cafe in 1948, eventually changing the name to Lil Joe's. Lil Joe was famous for his loving nature and generosity, greeting customers with a smile and a "God bless you." Those words are now etched in the concrete before the restaurant's door. He stood by his employees and helped those who were down on their luck with free meals frequently.

 

And he saw a lot of people down on their luck. Shortly after he bought the restaurant on highway 40, Del Paso Boulevard was bypassed by a new freeway, and began a long decline. The area was, and still is (although it is starting to come out of it with major redevelopment efforts), beset by vacant buildings, empty lots, liquor stores, adult book stores, prostitution, drug use, and violence. According to the Sacramento Bee, police would avoid going to Lil Joe's (which used to be open 24 hours) because they didn't want to eat among the people they would be arresting later. The low point came in 1993, when a customer responded to being asked to put his cigarette out by stabbing the waiter to death.

 

When he was hospitalized in early 2002, the city council unaminously voted to honor Lil Joe with a lifetime achievment award for his assistance to the poor, sponsorship of youth sports, and general contribution to the community. He died a few months after being hospitalized. His son George, who started working the restaurant at the age of 14, carries on his legacy.

 

I first saw Lil Joe's in the summer of 1997 on a bus ride from Arden Fair Mall to the Arden/Del Paso lightrail station on my long trek back to Davis (I didn't have a car then). Every time I saw it I was charmed by the building and its neon sign. I don't recall if I ate there before then, but once I moved to nearby Arden-Arcade in August of 2002, I started going there frequently, mainly for the incredibly low prices.

 

Now there are several upscale art galleries in the neighborhood, townhomes are going up in bunches nearby, upscale contemporary projects are planned by New Faze Development, and the Sacramento News & Review well be moving their headquarters to the old Van's Market/Cardinal Grocery Store building on Del Paso. I'm guessing the people coming to the neighborhood will be more interested in grabbing a frappucino from the new Starbucks up the street than sitting on ripped pink vinyl to eat a burger (although I like espresso, I hope somebody will have the decency to shoot me if I ever order a frappuccino). I hope Lil Joe's survives.

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” star Jane Russell has died at the age of 89, according to various sources.Russell was known as the brunette Marilyn Monroe with whom she co-starred with in “Blondes”.

 

Russell was discovered by Howard Hughes and starred in his film “The Outlaws”, filmed in 1941. On the poster, she is shown with her top hanging over her shoulder, exposing not only her shoulder, but cleavage, something that was highly distasteful during the 1940s. In fact, the film was denied release because it violated the Hayes Office code of decency. A toned-down version of the film was finally released in 1943, but between that time, Russell’s name became known country-wide because of the long press tour she underwent to promote the film.

 

Russell’s big mainstream role was in 1946’s “The Widow”, and she would later star in “The Paleface” (alongside Bob Hope), “Macao” and “His Kind of Woman” (both co-starring Robert Mitchum)”The Las Vegas Story” (co-starring Vincent Price and Victor Mature), “Double Dynamite” (with Groucho Marx and Frank Sinatra) and “The Tall Men” (co-starring Robert Ryan and Clark Gable).

 

Russell also had a musical career, releasing albums “Let’s Put the Lights Out” and “Jane Russell”. She also recorded singles with Frank Sinatra and toured throughout the world with her nightclub act. She also formed a gospel group with Connie Haines and Beryl Davis.

  

Answering some fan questions before starting off "Lullaby Singer" - specifically on progress of the acoustic and the studio albums.

 

Anna did pick out a lovely outfit. Similar to the previous week's but the skirt, like the top, is sheer lace this time as well. Decency coverage from leggings.

 

One nice surprise: an extra show is planned to coincide with Anna's birthday, March 30th.

‘Breaking Ice & Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters’ will provide lessons on how to lead organizations during complex times

 

CAPE MAY – Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), presents “Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters,” a talk based on her 40-year career in the United States Coast Guard that will reveal what it takes to lead organizations in today’s complex times.

 

Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles upon which our nation was founded. Decency and civility have been thrown overboard in favor of outrage and intolerance. The forces of change are driving us into uncharted waters.

From “Breaking Ice & Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters”

Koehler Books, 2021

 

Admiral Stosz started her career as a cadet in the third class to admit women at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She returned over 30 years later as superintendent, becoming the first woman to lead one of the four U.S. armed forces service academies. On her journey to the executive level, she often served as the first woman leading mostly all-male teams in front-line leadership positions, including command of two ships. To succeed, she summoned her core values to overcome adversity by building trust and earning respect as a leader of character in a complex military organization.

She has lectured widely on leadership, and has been featured on CSPAN and other media outlets. In 2012, Newsweek’s “The Daily Beast” named her to its list of 150 Women who Shake the World. She served in Cape May as Commanding Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Training Center (TRACEN), from March of 2007 to May of 2008, delivering over 1,200 basically trained enlisted members to serve the people of the United States.

“Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters” is Sunday, May 22, at 11 a.m. at Vintage, on the grounds of the Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St., Cape May, N.J. Tickets are $40 and include brunch and the talk, with book signing to follow. Tickets may be purchased in advance online at capemaymac.org or by calling 609-884-5404. Proceeds benefit Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) and support its mission of commitment to the preservation, interpretation and cultural enrichment of the Cape May region for its residents and visitors.

Copies of “Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters” are available in both hard cover, paperback and ebook anywhere books are sold, as well as online via sandrastosz.com/book/breaking-ice-and-breaking-glass/ and may be purchased in paperback from the Carriage House Museum Shop, Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St., Cape May.

The talk is held the day after Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 21. On Armed Forces Day, admission to the World War II Lookout Tower on Sunset Boulevard is free for all. Military veterans will be available at the tower to speak to visitors.

Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) is a multifaceted, not-for-profit organization committed to promoting the preservation, interpretation and cultural enrichment of the Cape May region for its residents and visitors. Cape May MAC membership is open to all. Visit capemaymac.org/support/membership to learn more. For information about Cape May MAC’s year-round schedule of tours, festivals and special events, visit capemaymac.org. For information about historic accommodations, contact Cape May Historic Accommodations at capemaylodging.com. For information about restaurants, accommodations and shopping, call the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May at 609-884-5508.

 

###

 

Full Biography:

 

Admiral Sandy Stosz is an experienced senior leader who has served and operated in the military, maritime, homeland security, transportation, and academic sectors. Her expertise includes leadership development, strategic vision and planning, change management, training and education, and leading and managing complex organizations.

She started out in the Coast Guard as an ensign serving on polar icebreakers, conducting national security missions from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Her thirty-six-year career was filled with leadership lessons gleaned while breaking ice and breaking glass as the first woman to command an icebreaker on the Great Lakes and to lead a U.S. armed forces service academy.

A line officer, Admiral Stosz served for 12 years at sea. While commanding the medium endurance cutter Reliance she and her crew patrolled off the coast of New York City, keeping the nation safe and secure following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. She led large Coast Guard organizations during times of crisis and complexity. As Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, she was responsible for developing and educating a corps of 1,000 cadets. She also led the Coast Guard’s recruit training center in Cape May, New Jersey where she was responsible for building the Service’s enlisted workforce. She finished her career as the first woman assigned as Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, directing one of the Coast Guard’s largest enterprises. She was responsible for all facets of support for the Coast Guard’s diverse mission set through oversight of human capital, lifecycle engineering and logistics, acquisitions, information technology, training and education and security.

Admiral Stosz graduated from the Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government. She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Master of National Security Strategy from the National War College. She completed an executive fellowship in national security through the MIT Seminar XXI program and completed the Navy’s Executive Business Course at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler business school.

Admiral Stosz’s military awards include two Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medals, three Legion of Merit Medals and four Meritorious Service Medals. She is the recipient of the National Maritime Historical Society Distinguished Service Award; Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and Airmen’s Club Distinguished Military Leadership Award; Girl Scouts of America Trail Blazer Award, and the Connecticut Woman of the Year award. In 2012, Newsweek’s “The Daily Beast” named her as one of 150 Women who Shake the World.

Following retirement from the Coast Guard, Sandy established Sandra L. Stosz, LLC, focused on leadership and leader development. She serves as chair of the Coast Guard Academy Sailing Council, a trustee for the James M. Loy Institute for Leadership, a member of the Board of Directors for the Flag and General Officer Network, a member of the Flag and General Officer Advisory Council to the President of Arizona State University, the Darley Defense Advisory Board, and the Government Technology and Services Coalition Editorial Board.

  

One of the Augusta Fire Stations along MLK Blvd. in Augusta, GA

 

Augusta Fire Department

Station #5

1898 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Augusta, GA

30901

  

(706) 821-2923

(706) 821-2922

 

maps.google.com/maps?q=1898+Martin+Luther+King+Blvd.+++Au...

 

www.augustaga.gov/index.aspx?NID=938

 

This is one of the photos from a Power Point presentation explaining a study in Augusta, Georgia about a street named for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

The “Claiming A Street Named King” Project is the brainchild of Rev. Terence A. Dicks of Augusta, Georgia.

 

These photos depict homes, building and abandoned structures along Martin Lutheran King, Jr. Boulevard in Augusta, Georgia.

 

It began with research in Athens and Augusta (Georgia) through the University Of Georgia School Of Environmental Design.

 

Research was led by Dr. Mary Anne Akers in collaboration with Georgia Legal Services Program, Georgia State Trade Association of Non-profit Developers (G-STAND) and Neighborhood Works America, INC.

 

“Claiming A Street Named King” Project study in Augusta, Georgia – conducted along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard - shows areas that need economic assistance – and that’s the same issue in many American cities that have streets named for civil rights leaders

 

For more information:

 

claimingastreetnamedking.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/Claimin...

  

During PBS’ AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “McCarthy” session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, CA on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, New Yorker staff writer and Columbia University journalism professor Jelani Cobb, writer, director and producer Sharon Grimberg, author of A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy David M. Oshinsky and series senior producer Susan Bellows uncovered the rise and fall of Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin Senator who would test the limits of American decency and democracy.

(Premieres January 7, 2020)

All photos in this set should be credited to Rahoul Ghose/PBS

11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Rovaniemi.

 

Finland hosts the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on 7 May in Rovaniemi. Minister-level representatives from the eight Arctic States will convene to review and approve work completed under the two-year Finnish Chairmanship to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

 

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

 

Photo: Jouni Porsanger / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

And God Created Woman (French: Et Dieu... créa la femme) is a 1956 French romantic drama film directed by Roger Vadim in his directorial debut and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though not her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight sensation.

 

When the film was released in the United States by Kingsley-International Pictures in 1957, it pushed the boundaries of the representation of sexuality in American cinema, and most available prints of the film were heavily edited to conform with the Hays Code censorial standards.[citation needed] Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich credited it for "breaking French cinema out of U.S. art houses and into the mainstream and thereby inadvertently also paving the way for the takeover in France of the New Wave filmmakers."[5]

 

A poorly-received English-language remake, also titled And God Created Woman, was directed by Vadim and released in 1988.

 

Plot

Juliette is an 18-year-old orphan in Saint-Tropez, France,[6][7] with a high level of sexual energy. She makes no effort to restrain her natural sensuality – lying nude in her yard, habitually kicking her shoes off and stalking about barefoot, and disregarding many societal conventions and the opinions of others. This behavior causes a stir and attracts the attention of most of the men around her.

 

Her first suitor is the much older and wealthy Eric Carradine. He wants to build a new casino in Saint-Tropez, but his plans are blocked by a small shipyard on the stretch of land which he needs for the development; the shipyard is owned by the Tardieu family.

 

Antoine, the eldest of the three Tardieu brothers, returns home for the weekend to hear Carradine's proposal and Juliette is waiting for him to take her away with him. His intentions are short-term, and he spurns her by leaving Saint-Tropez without her.

  

U.S theatrical advertisement, 9 April 1958

Tiring of her outrageous behavior, Juliette's guardians threaten to send her back to the orphanage, which will confine her until she is 21. To keep her in town, Carradine pleads unsuccessfully with Antoine to marry her. His infatuated and naive younger brother Michel sees his opportunity and proposes marriage to Juliette. Despite her love for Antoine, she accepts.

 

When Antoine is contracted to return home and work for Carradine, Juliette's behavior becomes increasingly disrespectful of her husband. In a huff, she takes one of the family's boats. When it develops engine trouble, she has to be saved by Antoine. While they are washed up together on a wild beach, she seduces him.

 

Juliette begins acting bizarrely. She takes to her bed, claiming to have a fever. She tells Christian, the youngest Tardieu brother, that she had sex with Antoine on the beach. When Madame Tardieu, mother of the three boys, hears about it, she tells Michel that he has to dump Juliette promptly. Michel goes to their room to talk with Juliette, but she has gone off to the Bar des Amis to drink and dance.

 

Michel tries to go looking for her, but Antoine locks him inside, telling him to forget her. Michel fights his brother for the key and heads out after Juliette.

 

Eric has been alerted that Juliette is making a spectacle of herself and comes to the bar to collect her. Juliette refuses to leave with him. Michel arrives but Juliette refuses to talk with him and continues her improvised and sexually suggestive dancing. When she ignores Michel's order to stop, Michel shoots at her. Eric steps in and is slightly wounded. Antoine offers to drive Eric to a doctor and they leave. Michel angrily slaps Juliette four times. She only smiles at him with satisfaction that she has provoked him to this behavior. En route to the doctor, Eric tells Antoine that he is going to reassign him to work elsewhere to put some distance between him and Michel and Juliette. He says: "That girl was made to destroy men". In the final scene, Michel and Juliette walk home together, hand in hand.

 

Cast

Brigitte Bardot as Juliette Hardy

Curd Jürgens as Éric Carradine

Jean-Louis Trintignant as Michel Tardieu

Marie Glory as Mme. Tardieu

Georges Poujouly as Christian Tardieu

Christian Marquand as Antoine Tardieu

Jane Marken as Madame Morin

Jean Tissier as M. Vigier-Lefranc

Isabelle Corey as Lucienne

Jacqueline Ventura as Mme Vigier-Lefranc

Jacques Ciron as The Secretary of Éric

Paul Faivre as M. Morin

Jany Mourey as The Orphanage Representative

Philippe Grenier as Perri

Jean Lefebvre as The Man who wanted to dance

Leopoldo Francés as The Dancer

Jean Toscano as René

Production

By the mid-1950s Roger Vadim was an established screenwriter and had written several movies starring his then wife Brigitte Bardot. Producer Raoul Levy wanted Vadim to write and direct a film starring Bardot, and suggested he adapt the book The Little Genius by Maurice Garçon. Vadim disliked the book and came up with a new story, one based on a trial of a woman who had been the mistress of three different brothers, and who killed one of them. Vadim was particularly taken with the attitude of the woman towards her lovers, the jury and the police. Levy liked Vadim's idea and obtained finance.[8]

 

Levy succeeded in raising finance from Columbia, who would provide color and CinemaScope provided Curd Jurgens was given a role. The parts of the brothers had already been cast so Vadim rewrote the script in two days to expand the part of an arms dealer so it could be offered to Jurgens.[8]

 

Reception

Box office

The film was a big hit in France, one of the ten most popular films at the British box-office in its year of release[9] and the biggest foreign-language film ever in the United States at the time.[10] The film earned $4 million in the U.S. (grossing $12 million), and a further $21 million around the globe.[2][3]

 

The film was extremely popular in Kansas City, where it played for a year at the Kimo Theatre, grossing over $100,000, a record for Kansas City at the time.[11] In Europe, this movie smashed attendance records from Norway to the Middle East.[12] It earned for France over $8 million, more than France's biggest export — "the Renault Dauphine".[13]

 

In the United States the film was released by Kingsley-International, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures as Columbia was forbidden to release a film with nudity and adult themes. The Catholic Legion of Decency gave it a "C" for "Condemned" rating. A Columbia spokesman stated that the film would have received twice as many bookings with a less restrictive "B" rating, but would only have done half the business.[14] Variety reported that in spite of the rating, the film broke "local records at the Paris Theatre, N.Y., and at other houses where it has played", and noted that "In Fitchburg, Mass., it actually outgrossed Ten Commandments."[15]

 

Author Peter Lev describes the film's impact in America:

 

And God Created Woman's impact on the film industry was significant. New Bardot films were eagerly snapped up by distributors, and old Bardot films were released or re-released. Prices for distribution rights to foreign films escalated overall.[16]

 

Critical response

When the film was released in the United States, Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, found Brigitte Bardot attractive but the film lacking and was not able to recommend it. He wrote: "Bardot moves herself in a fashion that fully accentuates her charms. She is undeniably a creation of superlative craftsmanship. But that's the extent of the transcendence, for there is nothing sublime about the script of this completely single-minded little picture. ...We can't recommend this little item as a sample of the best in Gallic films. It is clumsily put together and rather bizarrely played. There is nothing more than sultry fervor in the performance of Mlle. Bardot, and Christian Marquand and Jean-Louis Trintignant are mainly heavy-breathers as her men".[17]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_God_Created_Woman_(1956_film)

 

Film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote: "The breezy erotic drama was laced with some thinly textured sad moments that hardly resonated as serious drama. But as slight as the story was it was always lively and easy to take on the eyes, adding up to hardly anything more than a bunch of snapshots of Bardot posturing as a sex kitten in various stages of undress. The public loved it and it became a big box-office smash, and paved the way for a spate of sexy films to follow. What was more disturbing than its dullish dialogue and flaunting of Bardot as a sex object, was that underneath its call for liberation was a reactionary and sexist view of sex."[18]

 

Rotten Tomatoes reports a 69% approval rating based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10.[19]

 

Censorship

When released in the United States, the film was condemned by the National Legion of Decency.[20]

 

Police made attempts to suppress its screening in the U.S.[21][22]

 

Saint-Tropez (/ˌsæn troʊˈpeɪ, - trəˈ-/ SAN troh-PAY, - trə-,[4][5] French: [sɛ̃ tʁɔpe]; Provençal: Sant Tropetz [san(t) tʀuˈpes]) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is 68 kilometres (42 miles) west of Nice and 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Marseille, on the French Riviera, of which it is one of the best-known towns. In 2018, Saint-Tropez had a population of 4,103. The adjacent narrow body of water is the Gulf of Saint-Tropez (French: Golfe de Saint-Tropez), stretching to Sainte-Maxime to the north under the Massif des Maures.

 

Saint-Tropez was a military stronghold and fishing village until the beginning of the 20th century. It was the first town on its coast to be liberated during World War II as part of Operation Dragoon. After the war, it became an internationally known seaside resort, renowned principally because of the influx of artists of the French New Wave in cinema and the Yé-yé movement in music. It later became a resort for the European and American jet set and tourists.

 

History

 

Aerial view of Saint-Tropez, with Pampelonne beach in background and the citadel and the port in the foreground

 

Citadel of Saint-Tropez

 

Map of Saint-Tropez (c. 1680)

In 599 BC, the Phocaeans from Ionia founded Massilia (present-day Marseille) and established other coastal mooring sites in the area. Through the writings of Roman historian and military commander Pliny the Elder, it was found that Saint-Tropez was known in ancient times as Athenopolis and that it belonged to the Massilians.[6] In 31 BC, the Romans invaded the region. Their citizens built many opulent villas in the area, including one known as the "Villa des Platanes" (Villa of the Plane Trees). The closest settlement to Saint-Tropez in antiquity is attested as Heraclea-Caccabaria, today Cavalaire-sur-Mer, situated on the southern end of the peninsula, while the gulf of Saint-Tropez was called sinus Sambracitanus, which likely survives in the settlement name of Les Issambres.[7]

 

The town owes its current name to the early Christian martyr Saint Torpes. Legend tells of his decapitation at Pisa during Nero's reign, with his body placed in a rotten boat along with a rooster and a dog. The body purportedly landed at the present-day location of the town of Saint-Tropez.[8][9][10]

 

Toward the end of the ninth century, long after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, pirates and privateers began a hundred years of attacks and sackings. In the tenth century, the village of La Garde-Freinet was founded 15 km (9 mi) to the north of Saint-Tropez. From 890 to 972, Saint-Tropez and its surroundings became an Arab Muslim colony dominated by the nearby Saracenic settlement of Fraxinet;[11][12] in 940, Saint-Tropez was controlled by Nasr ibn Ahmad.[12] From 961 to 963, Adalbert, son of Berengar, the pretender to the throne of Lombardy who was pursued by Otto I, hid at Saint-Tropez.[12] In 972, the Muslims of Saint-Tropez held Maïeul, the abbot of Cluny, for ransom.[12]

 

In 976, William I, Count of Provence, Lord of Grimaud, began attacking the Muslims, and in 980 he built a tower where the Suffren tower now stands. In 1079 and 1218, Papal bulls mentioned the existence of a manor at Saint-Tropez.

  

Saint-Tropez "le vieux port" (the old port)

From 1436, Count René I (the "good King René") tried to repopulate Provence. He created the Barony of Grimaud and appealed to the Genoan Raphael de Garezzio, a wealthy gentleman who had sent a fleet of caravels carrying 60 Genoese families to the area. In return, Count René promised to exempt the citizens from taxation. On 14 February 1470, Jean de Cossa, Baron of Grimaud and Grand Seneschal of Provence, agreed that the Genoan could build city walls and two large towers, which still stand: one tower is at the end of the Grand Môle and the other is at the entrance to the Ponche.

 

The city became a small republic with its own fleet and army and was administered by two consuls and 12 elected councillors. In 1558, the city's captain Honorat Coste was empowered to protect the city. The captain led a militia and mercenaries who successfully resisted attacks by the Turks and Spanish, succored Fréjus and Antibes and helped the Archbishop of Bordeaux regain control of the Lérins Islands.

 

In 1577, the daughter of the Marquis Lord of Castellane, Genevieve de Castilla, married Jean-Baptiste de Suffren, Marquis de Saint-Cannet, Baron de La Môle, and advisor to the parliament of Provence. The lordship of Saint-Tropez became the prerogative of the De Suffren family. One of the most notable members of this family was the later vice-admiral Pierre André de Suffren de Saint-Tropez (1729–1788), veteran of the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.

 

In September 1615, Saint-Tropez was visited by a delegation led by the Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga that was on its way to Rome but was forced by weather to stop in the town. This may have been the first contact between the French and the Japanese.

  

Bust of Saint-Tropez during the Bravades

The local noblemen were responsible for raising an army that repulsed a fleet of Spanish galleons on 15 June 1637; Les Bravades des Espagnols, a local religious and military celebration, commemorates this victory of the Tropezian militia.[13] Count René's promise in 1436 to not tax the citizens of Saint-Tropez was honored until 1672, when Louis XIV abrogated it as he imposed French control.

 

The Gulf of Saint-Tropez was known as the Gulf of Grimaud until the end of the 19th century.

 

During the 1920s, Saint-Tropez attracted famous figures from the fashion world such as Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. During World War II, the landing on 15 August 1944 began the Allied invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon. In the 1950s, Saint-Tropez became internationally renowned as the setting for such films as And God Created Woman, which starred French actress Brigitte Bardot.

 

In May 1965, an Aérospatiale Super Frelon pre-production aircraft crashed in the gulf, killing its pilot.

 

On 4 March 1970, the French submarine Eurydice, with its home port as Saint-Tropez, disappeared in the Mediterranean with 57 crew aboard after a mysterious explosion.

 

The motto of Saint-Tropez is Ad usque fidelis, Latin for "faithful to the end". After the Dark Age of plundering the French Riviera, Raphaël de Garesio landed in Saint-Tropez on 14 February 1470, with 22 men, simple peasants or sailors who had left the overcrowded Italian Riviera. They rebuilt and repopulated the area, and in exchange were granted by a representative of the "good king", Jean de Cossa, Baron of Grimaud and Seneschal of Provence, various privileges, including some previously reserved exclusively for lords, such as exemptions from taxes status and the right to bear arms. About ten years later, a great wall with towers stood watch to protect the new houses from sea and land attack; some 60 families formed the new community. On 19 July 1479, the new Home Act was signed, "the rebirth charter of Saint-Tropez".[14]

 

Climate

Saint-Tropez has a hot-summer mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot summers, although daytime temperatures are somewhat moderated by its coastal position.

 

Climate data for Saint-Tropez

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear

Mean daily maximum °C (°F)12.1

(53.8)12.6

(54.7)14.3

(57.7)16.5

(61.7)19.7

(67.5)23.4

(74.1)27.0

(80.6)27.3

(81.1)24.3

(75.7)20.2

(68.4)15.6

(60.1)13.0

(55.4)18.8

(65.8)

Daily mean °C (°F)9.3

(48.7)9.6

(49.3)11.0

(51.8)13.2

(55.8)16.3

(61.3)20.0

(68.0)23.3

(73.9)23.4

(74.1)20.8

(69.4)17.1

(62.8)12.8

(55.0)10.3

(50.5)15.6

(60.1)

Mean daily minimum °C (°F)6.5

(43.7)6.6

(43.9)7.8

(46.0)9.8

(49.6)13.0

(55.4)16.5

(61.7)19.5

(67.1)17.3

(63.1)14.1

(57.4)9.9

(49.8)7.5

(45.5)6.0

(42.8)12.3

(54.1)

Average precipitation mm (inches)82.4

(3.24)82.8

(3.26)64.7

(2.55)53.2

(2.09)40.1

(1.58)25.7

(1.01)15.5

(0.61)27.8

(1.09)57.0

(2.24)104.9

(4.13)85.7

(3.37)72.2

(2.84)711.8

(28.02)

Mean monthly sunshine hours147.8148.9203.2252.1234.9280.6310.3355.5319.5247.0201.5145.52,748.1

Source: Climatologie mensuelle à la station de Cap Camarat.[15]

Economy

 

The Hôtel Byblos is a Grand Hotel built in the mid-1960s.

The main economic resource of Saint-Tropez is tourism. The city is well known for the Hôtel Byblos and for Les Caves du Roy, a member of the Leading Hotels of the World; its 1967 inauguration featuring Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs was an international event.

 

Beaches

 

Tropezian Tahiti beach in 2011

Tropezian beaches are located along the coast in the Baie de Pampelonne, which lies south of Saint-Tropez and east of Ramatuelle. Pampelonne offers a collection of beaches along its five-kilometre shore. Each beach is around 30 metres wide with its own beach hut and private or public tanning area.

 

Many of the beaches offer windsurfing, sailing and canoeing equipment for rent, while others offer motorized water sports, such as power boats, jet bikes, water skiing and scuba diving. Some of the beaches are naturist beaches. There are also many exclusive beach clubs that are popular among wealthy people from around the world.

 

Toplessness and nudity

Saint-Tropez's Tahiti Beach, which had been popularised in the film And God Created Woman featuring Brigitte Bardot, emerged as a clothing-optional destination,[16] but the mayor of Saint-Tropez ordered police to ban toplessness and to watch over the beach via helicopter.[17] The "clothing fights" between the gendarmerie and nudists become the main topic of a famous French comedy film series, Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez (The Troops of St. Tropez) featuring Louis de Funès. In the end, the nudist side prevailed.[18] Topless sunbathing is now the norm for both men and women from Pampelonne beaches to yachts in the centre of Saint-Tropez port.[19] The Tahiti beach is now clothing-optional, but nudists often head to private nudist beaches, such as that in Cap d'Agde.[20]

 

Port

 

Saint Tropez Port view

 

Aerial view of Saint-Tropez

The port was widely used during the 18th century; in 1789 it was visited by 80 ships. Saint-Tropez's shipyards built tartanes and three-masted ships that could carry 1,000 to 12,200 barrels. The town was the site of various associated trades, including fishing, cork, wine and wood. The town had a school of hydrography. In 1860, the flagship of the merchant navy, named The Queen of the Angels (La Reine des Anges, a three-masted ship of 740 barrels capacity), was built at Saint-Tropez.

 

Its role as a commercial port declined, and it is now primarily a tourist spot and a base for many well-known sail regattas. There is fast boat transportation with Les Bateaux Verts to Sainte-Maxime on the other side of the bay and to Port Grimaud, Marines de Cogolin, Les Issambres and St-Aygulf.

 

Events

Les Bravades de Saint-Tropez

Les Bravades de Saint-Tropez is an annual celebration held in the middle of May when people of the town celebrate their patron saint, Torpes of Pisa, and their military achievements. One of the oldest traditions of Provence, it has been held for more than 450 years since the citizens of Saint-Tropez were first given special permission to form a militia to protect the town from the Barbary pirates. During the three-day celebration, the various militias in costumes of the time fire their muskets into the air at traditional stops, march to the sound of bands and parade St. Torpes's bust. The townspeople also attend a mass wearing traditional Provençal costume.

 

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

 

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

Each year, at the end of September, a regatta is held in the bay of Saint-Tropez (Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez). Many yachts are entered, some as long as 50 metres. Many tourists come to the location for this event, or as a stop on their trip to Cannes, Marseille or Nice.

 

Traditional dishes

The Tarte tropézienne is a traditional cake invented by a Polish confectioner who had set up shop in Saint-Tropez in the mid-1950s, and made famous by actress Brigitte Bardot.[21]

 

Demographics

Historical population

YearPop.±% p.a.

17933,629—

18003,156−1.98%

18063,319+0.84%

18213,360+0.08%

18313,736+1.07%

18363,637−0.54%

18413,538−0.55%

18463,647+0.61%

18513,595−0.29%

18563,640+0.25%

18613,558−0.45%

18663,739+1.00%

18723,532−0.94%

18763,531−0.01%

18813,545+0.08%

18863,636+0.51%

18913,533−0.57%

18963,599+0.37%

YearPop.±% p.a.

19013,704+0.58%

19063,708+0.02%

19113,704−0.02%

19213,842+0.37%

19264,324+2.39%

19314,589+1.20%

19364,102−2.22%

19464,161+0.14%

19544,925+2.13%

19625,668+1.77%

19686,130+1.31%

19755,427−1.73%

19826,213+1.95%

19905,754−0.95%

19995,444−0.61%

20075,640+0.44%

20124,452−4.62%

20174,352−0.45%

 

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Source: EHESS[22] and INSEE[23]

Infrastructure

Transport to and from Saint-Tropez

By sea

  

Saint-Tropez marina

The 800-berth port with two marinas hosts boats, including ferries. In the summer season, there is a ferry service between St-Tropez and Nice, Sainte-Maxime, Cannes, Saint-Raphaël.[24] Private yachts may also be chartered.

 

By air

 

There is no airport in Saint-Tropez, but there is a charter service to and from clubs, the town and Tropezian beaches by helicopter.[25] The nearest airport is La Môle – Saint-Tropez Airport located in La Môle, 15 km (9 mi) (8 NM) southwest of Saint-Tropez.[26] Other main airports are Nice Côte d'Azur Airport located approximately 95 kilometers and Toulon–Hyères Airport located approximately 52 kilomters from Saint-Tropez.[27] Marseille Provence Airport is located approximately 158 kilometres from Saint-Tropez.[28]

 

By land

 

There is no rail station in Saint-Tropez. The nearest station is Saint-Raphaël-Valescure, located in Saint-Raphaël (39 km (24 mi) from Saint-Tropez), which also offers a boat service to Saint-Tropez.[29] There is also direct bus service to Saint-Tropez, and the rail station is connected with bus station.[30][31]

 

There is a bus station in Saint-Tropez called the Gare routière de Saint-Tropez, located in Place Blanqui.[32] It is operated by Var department transport division Varlib [fr], which employs other transport companies to operate routes.

 

There are taxi services, including from Nice airport to Saint-Tropez, but they are expensive because of the long distances and the area's wealth.[31]

 

In the tourist season, traffic problems may be expected on roads to Saint-Tropez,[33] so the fastest way to travel is by scooter or bike. There is no direct highway to the village. There are three main roads to Saint-Tropez:

 

Via the A8 (E80) with the sign "Draguignan, Le Muy-Golfe de Saint-Tropez" – RD 25 Sainte-Maxime, 19 km (12 mi) -> on the former RN 98 – 12 km (7 mi).

A57 with the sign "The Cannet des Maures" -> DR 558, 24 km (15 mi) Grimaud until then by the RD 61 – 9 km (6 mi) through the famous intersection of La Foux.

Near the sea, the former RN 98 connects to Toulon-La Valette-du-Var, Saint-Raphaël, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, DR 93, called "Beach Road", with destinations to Pampelonne, Ramatuelle and La Croix – Valmer.

Town transport

Public transport in Saint-Tropez includes minibuses, providing shuttle service between town and Pampelonne beaches.[27]

 

Other means of transport include scooters, cars, bicycles and taxis.[34] There are also helicopter services[35] and boat trips.[36]

 

Because of traffic and short distances, walking is an obvious choice for trips around town and to the Tropezian beaches.[37]

 

Culture, education and sport

 

Paul Signac, Leaving the port of Saint-Tropez, 1901

 

A panoramic view of Saint-Tropez by Paul Leduc [fr] (1876–1943)

 

Paintings Galerie Ivan

The town has health facilities, a cinema, a library, an outdoor center and a recreation center for youth.[38]

 

Schools include: École maternelle (kindergarten – preschool) – l'Escouleto, écoles primaires (primary schools – primary education): Louis Blanc and Les Lauriers, collège d'enseignement secondaire (secondary school, high school – secondary education) – Moulin Blanc.[39][40]

 

There are more than 1,000 students distributed among kindergartens, primary schools and one high school.[41] In 2011, there were 275 students in high school and 51 people employed there, of whom 23 were teachers.[42]

 

Art

Saint-Tropez plays a major role in the history of modern art. Paul Signac discovered this light-filled place that inspired painters such as Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and Albert Marquet to come to Saint-Tropez. The painting styles of pointillism and fauvism emerged in Saint-Tropez. Saint-Tropez was also attractive for the next generation of painters: Bernard Buffet, David Hockney, Massimo Campigli and Donald Sultan lived and worked there. Today, Stefan Szczesny continues this tradition.

 

The contemporary artist Philippe Shangti imagined the design of Le Quai and L'Opera, restaurants located on the port of Saint-Tropez where he also exhibits his art collections. Centered on a specific theme, he always denounces different problems affecting society with provocative artworks.[43]

 

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Saint-Tropez is twinned with:

 

Vittoriosa, Malta[44][45]

Famous persons connected with Saint-Tropez

Saint Torpes of Pisa

Saint Torpes of Pisa

 

Portrait of Hasekura Tsunenaga

Portrait of Hasekura Tsunenaga

 

Statue of Admiral de Suffren de Saint-Tropez

Statue of Admiral de Suffren de Saint-Tropez

 

Brigitte Bardot at Saint-Tropez, 1963

Brigitte Bardot at Saint-Tropez, 1963

 

Louis de Funès during filming

Louis de Funès during filming

The most famous persons connected with Saint-Tropez include the semi-legendary martyr who gave his name to the town, Saint Torpes of Pisa; Hasekura Tsunenaga, probably the first Japanese in Europe, who landed in Saint-Tropez in 1615; a hero of the American Revolutionary War, Admiral Pierre André de Suffren de Saint-Tropez; the icon of modern Saint-Tropez, Brigitte Bardot, who started the clothes-optional revolution and still lives in the Saint-Tropez area;[46] Louis de Funès, who played the character of the gendarme (police officer) in the French comedy film series Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez and also helped establish the international image of Saint-Tropez as both a quiet town and a modern jet-set holiday target.[47]

 

In popular culture

The English rock band Pink Floyd wrote a song "San Tropez" after the town. Saint-Tropez was also mentioned in David Gates's 1978 hit "Took the Last Train", Kraftwerk's "Tour de France", Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation", Taylor Swift's "The Man", and Beyoncé's "Energy". Rappers including Diddy, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, J. Cole, and Post Malone refer to the city in some of their songs as a favorite vacation destination, usually reached by yacht. DJ Antoine wrote a song "Welcome to St. Tropez". The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles is set in a drag night club in St. Tropez. Furthermore, Bulgarian singer azis wrote a song named "Сен Тропе"(Sen Trope). Also, Romanian singer Florin Salam wrote the song (Saint Tropez). Saint Tropez was also mentioned in Army of Lovers' song "My Army of Lovers." Their song "La Plage De Saint Tropez" was also dedicated to this town.

 

Gallery

Aerial view of the Cital of Saint-Tropez, France

Aerial view of the Cital of Saint-Tropez, France

 

Cannons of the Citadel

Cannons of the Citadel

 

Tour Jarlier

Tour Jarlier

 

Aerial view of the old town and the old port of Saint-Tropez, France

Aerial view of the old town and the old port of Saint-Tropez, France

 

Luxury boats

Luxury boats

 

Sailboats

Sailboats

 

Aerial view of Pampelonne Beach, Saint-Tropez

Aerial view of Pampelonne Beach, Saint-Tropez

 

Harbour promenade with cafes

Harbour promenade with cafes

 

Aerial view of vineyards in Saint-Tropez, France

Aerial view of vineyards in Saint-Tropez, France

 

Old gendarmerie station; popular spot for photographs[48] (cf. Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez)

Old gendarmerie station; popular spot for photographs[48] (cf. Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez)

 

Aerial view of the old town of Saint-Tropez, France

Aerial view of the old town of Saint-Tropez, France

 

Tarte tropézienne (tropezian pie)

Tarte tropézienne (tropezian pie)

 

The main gate to Citadel

The main gate to Citadel

 

Top-down aerial of the old town of Saint-Tropez, France

Top-down aerial of the old town of Saint-Tropez, France

 

Aerial view of the cemetery of Saint-Tropez, France

Aerial view of the cemetery of Saint-Tropez, France

List of media connected with Saint-Tropez

Non-exhaustive filmography

 

Saint-Tropez, devoir de vacances [fr] (short film, 1952)

Et Dieu... créa la femme (1956)

Bonjour Tristesse (1958)

Une fille pour l'été [fr] (1960)

Saint-Tropez Blues [fr] (1960)

Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez (1964) and its sequels Le Gendarme à New York (1965), Le Gendarme se marie (1968), Le Gendarme en balade (1970), Le Gendarme et les Extra-terrestres (1979) and finally Le Gendarme et les Gendarmettes (1982)[49][50]

La Collectionneuse (1967)

La Chamade (1968)

Les Biches (1968)

La Piscine (1969)

Le Viager (1972)

La Cage aux Folles (1978)

Le Coup du parapluie (1980)

Le Beau Monde [fr] (1981)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Tropez

West German collector card by Druckerei Hanns Uhrig, Frankfurt a. M. / NF Films. Photo: Pathé-Cinema. Brigitte Bardot in La mariée est trop belle / The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1956).

 

French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) died on 28 December 2025, at the age of 91. In the 1950s, she was the sex kitten of the European film industry. BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she became an animal rights activist. In the coming weeks, we will continue to post a BB postcard every day to remember her as she once was.

 

Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris in 1934. Her father, Louis Bardot, had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Her mother, Ann-Marie Mucel, was 14 years younger than Brigitte's father, and they married in 1933. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance. At the age of 13, she entered the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse to study ballet. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was trying to launch a modelling career and found herself on the cover of the French magazine Elle in May 1949. Her incredible beauty was readily apparent, and Brigitte was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. BB was 18 when she debuted in the comedy Le Trou Normand / Crazy for Love (Jean Boyer, 1952). In the same year, she married Vadim. Brigitte wanted to marry him when she was 17, but her parents quashed any marriage plans until she turned 18. In April 1953, she attended the Cannes Film Festival, where she received massive media attention. She soon was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris. From 1952 to 1956, she appeared in seventeen films. Her films were generally lightweight romantic dramas in which she was cast as an ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. In 1953, she made her first US production, Un acte d'amour / Act of Love (Anatole Litvak, 1953) with Kirk Douglas, but she continued to make films in France.

 

Roger Vadim was not content with the light fare his wife was offered. He felt Brigitte Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956). This film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a smash success on both sides of the Atlantic. Craig Butler at AllMovie: "It's easy enough to say that ...And God Created Woman is much more important for its historical significance than for its actual quality as a film, and that's true to an extent. The immense popularity, due to its willingness to directly embrace an exploration of sex as well as its willingness to show a degree of nudity that was remarkably daring for its day, demonstrated that audiences were willing to view subject matter that was considered too racy for the average moviegoer. This had both positive (freedom to explore, especially for the French filmmakers of the time) and negative (freedom to exploit) consequences, but its impact is undeniable. It's also true that Woman is not a great work of art, not with a story that is ultimately rather thin, some painful dialogue, and an attitude toward its characters and their sexuality that is unclear and inconsistent. Yet Woman is still fascinating, due in no small part to the presence of Brigitte Bardot in the role that made her an international star and sex symbol. She's not demonstrating great acting here, although her performance is actually good and much better than necessary, and her legendary mambo scene at the climax is nothing short of sensational." During the filming of Et Dieu créa la femme / And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956), directed by her husband, Brigitte Bardot had an affair with her co-star, Jean-Louis Trintignant, who at the time was married to French actress Stéphane Audran. Her divorce from Vadim followed, but they remained friends and collaborated in later work.

 

Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956) helped elevate Brigitte Bardot's international status. The film took the USA by storm, her explosive sexuality being unlike anything seen in the States since the days of the 'flapper' in the 1920s. It gave rise to the phrase 'sex kitten', and fascination with her in America consisted of magazine photographs and dubbed over French films - good, bad or indifferent, her films drew audiences - mainly men - into theatres like lemmings. BB appeared in light comedies like Doctor at Large (Ralph Thomas, 1957) - the third of the British 'Doctor' series starring Dirk Bogarde - and Une Parisienne / La Parisienne (Michel Boisrond, 1957), which suited her acting skills best. However, she was a sensation in the crime drama En cas de malheur / Love is My Profession (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "This Brigitte Bardot vehicle ran into stiff opposition from the Catholic Legion of Decency, severely limiting its U.S. distribution. Bardot plays a nubile small-time thief named Yvette, who becomes the mistress of influential defence attorney Andre (Jean Gabin). Though Andre can shower Yvette with jewels and furs, he cannot "buy" her heart, and thus it is that it belongs to handsome young student Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi). Alas, Yvette is no judge of human nature: attractive though Mazzetti can be, he has a dangerous and deadly side. En Cas de Malheur contains a nude scene that has since been reprinted in freeze-frame form innumerable times by both film-history books and girlie magazines." Photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed considerably to her image of sensuality and slight immorality. One of Lévin's pictures shows Brigitte, dressed in a white corset. It is said that around 1960, postcards with this photograph outsold in Paris those of the Eiffel Tower.

 

Brigitte Bardot divorced Vadim in 1957, and in 1959 she married actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre / Babette Goes to War (Christian-Jaque, 1959). The paparazzi preyed upon her marriage, while she and her husband clashed over the direction of her career

Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining a glamour model for most of the world. Vie privée / Private Life (1962), directed by Louis Malle, has more than an element of autobiography in it. James Travers at French Films: "Brigitte Bardot hadn’t quite reached the high point of her career when she agreed to make this film with high-profile New Wave film director Louis Malle. Even so, the pressure of being a living icon was obviously beginning to get to France’s sex goddess, and Vie privée is as much an attempt by Bardot to come to terms with her celebrity as anything else. Malle is clearly fascinated by Bardot, and the documentary approach he adopts for this film reinforces the impression that it is more a biography of the actress than a work of fiction. Of course, it’s not entirely biographical, but the story is remarkably close to Bardot’s own life and comes pretty close to predicting how her career would end." The scene in which, returning to her apartment, Bardot's character is harangued in the elevator by a middle-aged cleaning lady calling her offensive names was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century. Soon afterwards, Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France.

 

Brigitte Bardot's other husbands were German millionaire Playboy Gunter Sachs and right-wing politician Bernard d'Ormale. She is reputed to have had relationships with many other men, including Samy Frey, her co-star in La Vérité / The Truth (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960), and musicians Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In 1963, Brigitte Bardot starred in Jean-Luc Godard's critically acclaimed film Le Mépris / Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) opposite Michel Piccoli. She was also featured along with such notable actors as Alain Delon in Amours célèbres / Famous Love Affairs (Michel Boisrond, 1961) and Histoires extraordinaires /Tales of Mystery (Louis Malle, 1968), Jeanne Moreau in Viva Maria! (Louis Malle, 1965), Sean Connery in Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968), and Claudia Cardinale in Les Pétroleuses / Petroleum Girls (Christian-Jaque, 1971). She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including 'Harley Davidson', 'Le Soleil De Ma Vie' (the cover of Stevie Wonder's 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life') and the notorious 'Je t'aime... moi non plus'.

 

Brigitte Bardot’s film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973, just before her fortieth birthday, she announced her retirement. She chose to use her fame to promote animal rights. In 1976, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and many personal belongings. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1984. During the 1990s, she was also outspoken in her criticism of immigration, interracial relationships, Islam in France and homosexuality. Her husband Bernard d'Ormal was a former adviser of the far-right Front National party. Bardot has been convicted five times for 'inciting racial hatred'. More fun is that Bardot is recognised for popularising bikini swimwear, in such early films as Manina / Woman without a Veil (Willy Rozier, 1952), in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots. Bardot also brought into fashion the 'choucroute' ('Sauerkraut') hairstyle (a sort of beehive hairstyle) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her. Time Magazine: "She is the princess of pout, the countess of come hither. Brigitte Bardot exuded a carefree, naïve sexuality that brought a whole new audience to French films."

 

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Craig Butler (AllMovie), James Travers (French Films), French Films, Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

The "Elite Rubber Class" race at the end of the night is when people without studded tires take to the ice. Sometimes they shed their clothes and sense of decency too. Always hilarious!

Denton House Party With The League of Fucking Decency and White Rhino; Andy of the Austin bands White Rhino/The Dirty Sound