Category: Culture

When children are travelling on a long car journey, a popular game to pass the time is“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…”  and the first letter of a nearby object. Others try to guess the object and the game goes around. This was the inspiration for the ‘I-SPY‘ book series, launched in 1948 by headmaster, Charles Worrell (1889-1995) from Somerset.

Worrell wanted to encourage children to be observant of their outdoor environment and pick up interesting facts along the way. So the I-Spy books were educational and helped to develop hobbies and interests, since children had to write in their books when and where they spotted particular varieties of the book’s topic, e.g. dogs, horses, churches, aircraft, etc..

Millions of children have enjoyed the books, which were initially self-published, then taken on by a succession of publishers, with Michelin Travel Publications being the current owners. In 1983-87 TV presenter David Bellamy put his name to some of the British wildlife titles, including ‘I-SPY Creepy Crawlies’ and ‘I-SPY Garden Birds’. The most enduring titles over the decades are ‘I-SPY Cars’ and ‘I-SPY on a Train Journey’, which refer back to the original “I spy…” idea of keeping boredom at bay.

(Image: Leo Reynolds at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA/2.0)

Founded in London in 1930 by Irish emigrée Mary/’Mollie’ Bagot Stack (1883-1935), the Women’s League of Health & Beauty (WLHB) is known today as the more contemporary-sounding ‘FL-exercise’. It captured the rising interest amongst women in keeping fit, especially after the hardships and new roles many took on during WW1. Bagot Stack’s system was the culmination of her scientific studies and private tutorials for elite ladies beginning in 1907 which included dance, comportment and the ‘imagine-you-are-a-falling-leaf’ type of exercise instilling grace and charm.

The initial aim was to strengthen women for child-bearing and -rearing, and WLHB spread quickly here and in Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. Bagot Stack’s first child died and she had become widowed by the time she established WLHB, giving her an added impetus and with affordable fees and the claim that her methods would lead to peace and harmony, she was adept at promotion. Her second child, Prunella Stack (1914-2010) took over after her mother died.

One of the WLHB’s mass displays was for the Coronation celebrations in 1953, giving a further boost in membership after another devastating War. Many have attended classes all their adult lives and are FL-exercising in their nineties! Bagot Stack’s great-granddaughter, Saba Douglas-Hamilton (1970-) is Fl-exercise’s current President.

(Top image: pexels.com / Public domain)

Preservation, protection, research, enlightenment and understanding of the world’s history and cultures are all found in one building in London — the British Museum.  Visited for free by millions of people each year, it houses artefacts from all fields of knowledge, from Egyptian mummies to the Sutton Hoo helmet, Roman statues, Mesopotamian tablets and so much more. The British Library and the National History Museum were both created by the British Museum’s need for more space.

It is thanks in large part to Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), born in County Down, and his insatiable collecting habit, that the British Museum Act of 1753 was passed, since he died leaving his Chelsea manor house full of thousands of botanical and curious items which Parliament decided the public should be able to peruse. Thereby the first national public museum was established.

Since then, objects have been added mainly by purchase, but also by donation, legacies, salvage and archaeological digs. Some items would have been destroyed if not saved and transported back to London, where they could be professionally cared for. With eight million artefacts in its possession, the existence of the Museum must have saved millions of travel miles for students, historians and scientists alike.

(Image: Bill Nicholls at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The youngest of the ‘Big Four’ Fashion Weeks ~ the others being New York City (1943), Milan (1958) and Paris (1973) ~ London Fashion Week began in a marquee in a car park on a winter’s day in 1984. Despite this distinctly unglamorous start, it did attract young, emerging designers with avant-garde ideas, including punk icon Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022), and continues to do so today.

The Weeks happen in February, June and September and, of course, the venues have taken a definite upturn, with spells at The Ritz, Natural History Museum and Somerset House, for instance. The current location is The Store Studios on The Strand. The British Fashion Council, founded in 1983, is the organiser and its aim is to showcase the creativity of British designers and promote London as a hub for innovation. Naturally, this leads to some ‘thinking outside of the box’ and there have been some extraordinary sights on the catwalk, including a coffee table turning into a completely impractical ‘skirt’!

The Queen, Princess Diana and Princess Margaret have separately attended London Fashion Week shows, which are invitation-only. There are some public events after the main schedule, but it is intended for fashion industry buyers whose job it is to spot commercially viable trends.

(Image: Farrukh at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC 2.0)

Thankful appreciation of freshwater supply probably began with nature-worshipping Pagans. It took the form of Well Dressing (decoration) in Derbyshire and other areas, where porous limestone ground and occurrence of drought in certain years sharpened people’s awareness. The Black Death of 1348-49 also heightened gratitude for the clean, pure water found within surviving communities.

The practice has continued sporadically over the centuries, with a surge in the 1800s, and today there are dozens of well dressing displays and demonstrations at festivals from May to September. There are up to six boards per well, spring or spa and the designs for each are prepared well in advance.

The boards are thoroughly soaked in streamwaters a week before the event. They then have a frame and wire mesh affixed and the ‘puddlers’ push wet clay all over and smooth out the surface. Next, the design is etched on the clay through the paper design and the ‘petallers’ then start to gently press petals, berries, moss, wool, bark, eggshell, moss and even hair onto the clay, starting at the bottom to create rain-resistant overlapping like a tiled roof. The boards only last a week as the clay dries up and the natural elements die.

(Image: Alan Fleming at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

In times past, when tribal societies killed their own food animals, it made sense to use as much of the animal’s innards as possible. When that included using the stomach as the bag in an early boil-in-the-bag recipe, the haggis was born. This easily portable sustenance uses the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, chopped up and mixed with suet, oatmeal, onion and spices, all stuffed into the stomach and cooked in simmering hot water for a few hours.

This was not just a Scottish practice but, along with whisky, shortbread, smoked salmon and deep-fried Mars bars, it has become strongly associated with Scotland. The poet Robert Burns (1759-96) greatly helped this along with his ‘Address to a Haggis’ (1786) praising its superiority over other savoury puddings.

Today’s haggis recipe may include cow, pig or deer and omit the suet. There are haggis burgers and even ‘vegetarian haggis’, a misnomer if ever there was one! Haggis can, apparently, be cooked in a microwave (after removing the ‘skin’ and slicing to avoid it exploding!) and it can be purchased in upmarket grocery stores, especially around the time of Burns Night (25th January). Of course, it is bound to give rise to parody:-

(Top image [cropped]: Drew Leavy at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The British tend to make the most of the limited number of dry, tranquil summer days and, bearing in mind the many health benefits of being out in the sun, take great pleasure in dining outdoors. This may take the form of a barbecue on the patio, a picnic, tea on the lawn, or even a Royal Garden Party.

‘Afternoon tea’ is a British custom dating from the 1840s, when the new-fangled gas lighting encouraged townsfolk to have dinner at a later hour. The consequent hunger pangs at around 4.30pm were quelled with some tea and cake, biscuits, scones or bread-and-butter. This little ritual soon made its way to the lawn in the summer and although it was apparently a Duchess’s idea, the masses took to it gladly.

Just two decades later, Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was hosting afternoon tea al fresco on a grand scale at Buckingham Palace. These Royal Garden Parties have become a regular feature, with three occurring every May. Originally for the aristocracy only, invitees now include commendable citizens. The game of cricket has incorporated a break for tea into every match (except the short formats) and tea-rooms open up their outdoor seating areas whenever the weather permits.

(Image: Michael Garlick at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

A mixture of pantomime, horror and absurdity, the Punch & Judy show in its portable format has been with us for at least 250 years. The jokes may be updated but the basic plot has never changed,  due partly to its finale of triumph over evil and partly to sheer practicality for the lone operator inside the booth, who is known as a ‘Professor’. He alone has the job of animating all the glove puppets but has just two hands with which to do it.

Punch, the main character, therefore eliminates each of the others in turn, starting with his wife, Judy (originally called Joan) and baby!

An Italian puppeteer performed the show for King Charles II (1630-85) in 1662 and over the next century Mr Punch became part of all sorts of marionette plays, most of which culminated in him killing the Devil. The travelling booth then appeared, which was much cheaper but not very profitable until the railways brought holidaymakers to the seaside, whereupon Punch & Judy enjoyed a new lease of life.

The bizarre-looking Punch bludgeoning his opponents (including law enforcement) with his ‘slapstick’ is a piece of historical anarchy that has somehow survived all criticism, perhaps because of its unworldly silliness.

(Top image: Christine Matthews at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The world’s first weekly newspaper entirely devoted to music, ‘Melody Maker‘ (MM), began in 1926 and ended in 2000, when it was absorbed by its rival, the ‘New Musical Express‘ (NME), no slouch itself with its first publication in 1946 as the ‘Musical Express’. ‘New..’ was added after a re-vamp in 1952. It eventually ceased printing in 2018 and is now only online.

Although describing ‘Musical Express’, this quote can be applied to both MM and NME: “…[they] dealt with music like it was the most important thing in the world, and … the people who played it were an elect group, apart from everyday society” (Pat Long, 2012). In 1952 NME was the first to print a weekly Top 12 singles chart, compiled initially by phoning 20 record shops and asking for their sales figures. MM went a step further with a Top 20 in 1956, then an LP chart in 1958.

Bands would advertise for new members in the classified ads and careers were shaped by reviews and interviews gladly given to these music industry ‘influencers’ of the 1960s/70s. Both had their ups and downs but just when closure loomed, a new music genre or sub-genre would emerge and subject itself to the intellectual journalistic analysis that revitalised their teenage readership.

(Top images: 1980 and 1991 Melody Maker covers by badgreeb RECORDS at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0, 1961 NME cover by Bradford Timeline at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC 2.0 and 1993 NME cover by Adrian Brown at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)