Category: Culture

The Chelsea Pensioners are retired men and women of the British Army who have no dependants. They receive care and comradeship in return for their past service to the country. There are currently around 300 veterans resident at the home of the Chelsea Pensioners, which is the Royal Hospital Chelsea. This was given to them by King Charles II (1630-85).

They have a blue uniform for casual wear and the famous scarlet for official occasions such as Remembrance Sunday. The annual Chelsea Flower Show takes place in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

(Image: Tim Parker at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

In the early 19th century there was a very popular cookbook called ‘A New System of Domestic Cookery’ (1806, 1st of 65 editions) by the English author, Maria Eliza Rundell (1745/7-1828). In it was the first published recipe for bubble and squeak.

This is a delicious, low-cost, vegan dish of fried potato and other vegetables such as cabbage and brussel sprouts. Traditionally, it is a way to use up left-over vegetables after a roast dinner and it was eaten for breakfast, but today the vegetables are often cooked especially for making ‘bubble and squeak’ as part of the main meal of the day.

In Scotland this dish is called ‘rumbledethumps’ and in Ireland it is ‘colcannon’. The name ‘bubble and squeak’ comes from the noise that the cabbage makes when it is fried.

(Image: Kolforn at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

The BBC Proms is a music festival which takes place every year from mid-July to early September, mainly at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The famous ‘Last Night of The Proms’ has a party atmosphere all of its own and always finishes with British patriotic songs such as ‘Land of Hope and Glory’  composed in 1901 by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) with lyrics added in 1902 by Arthur C. Benson (1862-1925). The chorus is:-

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

There are also outdoor broadcasts on this night ~ this video shows a huge gathering at Hyde Park, for instance…

(Top image: Paul Hudson at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

Every year since 1984, four different artists (who are either British-born or working mainly in Britain) are shortlisted and their work exhibited at the Tate art gallery (‘Tate Britain’) for the opportunity to win the Turner Prize. All types of artistic expression are considered, including video and live speech.

This is named after the celebrated artist J.M.W. (James Mallord William) Turner (1775-1851) from London. His artistic talent emerged as a child and he spent his life closely associated with the Royal Academy of Arts.

Winning entries are often controversial. For example, in 1995 Damien Hirst (1965-) won the Turner Prize with his piece entitled  ‘Mother and Child (Divided)”. It featured a cow and a calf, divided in two ways ~ the cow and calf were separated  in different display cases and each of their bodies was cut in half lengthways. Art?

(Image of 2016 Turner Prize exhibit by Helen Marten, that year’s winner: Jim Linwood at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was born in London and spent most of her life in Surrey. The arts of all kinds filled her life and she was a keen advocate of the Arts & Crafts Movement of 1860-1920. She pursued her interest in painting until her eyesight deteriorated in 1891, at which point she devoted herself to gardening. She went on to become a highly esteemed and influential garden designer after working on her mother’s garden at Munstead, near Godalming in Surrey. She pioneered the use of hardy perennials and colour themes.

Among her 400 garden designs are numerous collaborations with the English architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944). One of their projects was at Lindisfarne Castle in 1906, where the north-eastern coastal conditions were quite a challenge for Jekyll’s ingenuity. However, the photograph above shows part of the gardens as they are today, still providing plenty of colour for visitors to enjoy.

Jekyll also wrote many books based on her expertise, such as ‘Home and Garden’ (1900), ‘Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden’ (1908) and ‘Gardens for Small Country Houses’ (1912), as well as hundreds of magazine articles in which she aimed to show how the garden can be a beautiful asset to the house.

(Image: M J Richardson at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)