Baryton
A bowed string instrument of the 18th century, similar to the bass viol, but having sympathetic strings on the rear of the fingerboard.
According to Wikipedia:
The baryton can be viewed as a sort of augmented bass viol. It is similar in size to the latter instrument and likewise has six or seven strings of gut, arranged over a fretted fingerboard and played with a bow. The instrument is held vertically and is supported by the player’s legs …
The baryton differs from the bass viol in having an additional set of wire strings. These perform two functions: they vibrate sympathetically with the bowed strings, enriching the tone, and they can also be plucked by the left thumb of the performer, creating a contrasting tonal quality.
According to the OED, the name of the instrument is a loan word from French baryton or Italian baritono, and ultimately derives from Greek bary- + tonos ‘deep-pitched’.
All posts by Keith
Coming up in November
Here’s my selection of events, celebrations and customs that are happening during November.
[Reminder: These listings contain an eclectic mix of anniversaries, historical events, red letter days and upcoming “awareness events”, mostly UK-centric. My rules for the inclusion of awareness events are that they must not be medical, nor aimed specifically at children, nor too obviously purely commercial; and they must have a useful website.]
1 to 30 November
National Novel Writing Month. Can you write a novel in a month? That’s the challenge for all the budding authors out there. The idea is to write your 50,000 words in just thirty days. More information, hints, tips and events over at http://nanowrimo.org/.
1 November
London (Regent Street) Veteran Car Concours. If you’re in central London on this day you’ll find many of the cars taking part in the London-Brighton Veteran Car Run on display in Regent Street. And some may even be limbering up around the West End. So take your camera and keep your eyes open. Basic evnet information at www.classicshowsuk.co.uk/classic-car-show-event-information/classic-car-show-by-date.asp?id=515.
2 November
London-Brighton Veteran Car Run. This is reportedly to be the longest running car event in the world and ranks as one of Britain’s biggest motoring spectacles. It attracts entrants from around the world, all eager to take part on the first Sunday in November. Only cars built before 1 January 1905 are eligible to take part so this is a fine spectacle of early automobile engineering. More details at www.vccofgb.co.uk/lontobri/.
5 November
Guy Fawkes Day when the UK celebrates the defeat of terrorism by the foiling of Guido Fawkes’ 1605 plot to blow up King James I along with the whole of Parliament. The celebration is traditionally marked with bonfires and fireworks, much to the annoyance of most of our pets. Many places have their own special Guy Fawkes celebrations, including Tar Barrel rolling at Ottery St Mary, Devon and Lewes Bonfire Night in East Sussex.
8 November
Lord Mayor’s Show. Held on the second Saturday in November, this is the pageant to accompany the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of the City of London. Along with the usual plethora of floats there are military bands and pikemen in gaudy medieval dress.
9 November
Remembrance Day. The UK’s annual commemoration of those lost not just in WWI and WWII but in all wars.
11 November
Martinmas, the Feast of St Martin of Tours, is a time for feasting celebrations — much like American Thanksgiving — and in many places another bonfire festival. Traditionally at this time the autumn wheat seeding was completed and there was the annual slaughter of fattened cattle and swine which could not be kept through the winter. Historically, hiring fairs were held where farm labourers would seek new posts.
29 November to 7 December
National Tree Week is the UK’s largest tree celebration and launches the start of the winter tree planting season. It is also a great chance for communities to do something positive for their local treescape. Full details at www.treecouncil.org.uk/Take-Part/National-Tree-Week.
30 November
On this day in 1934 the Flying Scotsman was the first steam locomotive to exceed 100 mph.
Oddity of the Week: Edible London
There’s … some commercial farming, although Londoners do largely import their food, with an increasing number of community growing schemes and an established network of 30,000 allotments. South London has an underground farm in an old bomb shelter, and an edible bus-stop.
From: Transforming London into a Giant Park
Weekly Photograph
Another from the archives this week. I’m horrified at how long it is since we were in Axmouth, Devon. This is a shot of their delightful churchyard, just across the Axe estuary from Seaton. And I remember having some gorgeous Dover Sole for lunch in the pub.
Axmouth Chruchyard 3
August 2006
Rolling Geriatrics
This is such a wonderful picture! The Rolling Stones at the Adelaide Oval preparatory to recommending their Australian tour. Just which geriatrics home have they been let out of for the day?
Mind, they’ll probably still be going strong long after me!
Something for the Weekend
"Cleansing the stock" and Other Euphemisms
While we’re on about politicians, George Monbiot had another side-swipe on Tuesday 21 October in his Guardian column: ‘Cleansing the stock’ and other ways governments talk about human beings.
Basically he’s on about the euphemisms that politicians, governments, and indeed companies, use to disguise — from themselves and (they think) us — the horrors of what they get up to. For example:
The [Dept of Work & Pensions can talk of] using “credit reference agency data to cleanse the stock of fraud and error”
Hills, forests and rivers are described … as “green infrastructure”
Wildlife and habitats are “asset classes” in an “ecosystems market”.
Israeli military commanders described the massacre of 2,100 Palestinians … in Gaza this summer as “mowing the lawn”.
People, aka. human beings, can be referred to as “personnel targets”. And then there are the old favourites: “neutralising”, collateral damage” and “extraordinary rendition”.
Dictatorships, and those wishing to conceal what they’re up to have always spoken thus: for example look at Communist Russia and Communist China.
Gawdelpus!
Ebola Panic
This article from Simon Jenkins in the Guardian on 17 October takes a swipe at politicians’ panic over Ebola — a classic case of the politics of fear.
But in amongst it all he has another couple of telling comments.
… air travel which, in the digital age, is almost all non-essential …
Ah, someone else has woken up to this! It’s time business and politicians did too and realised they can operate just as efficiently and more productively using electronic communication, teleconferences etc. and not flying people around the world. Hey look! Even Joe Public uses Skype!
Oh and no, holidays in the Maldives, Morocco or Thailand are NOT essential either!
The political scientist Louise Richardson wrote in “What Terrorists Want” that it is precisely what western politicians seem happiest to give them: they want to make us fear them. “By declaring war on terror,” she says, “far from denying al-Qaida its objectives we are conceding its objectives. That is why a war on terror can never be won.” It is a terminological admission of defeat.
Yes! Something else I keep saying. Stop giving the “terrorists” the oxygen of publicity. Stop splashing every threat, murder, bombing all over the front pages f every newspaper and news bulletin. All you’re doing is giving them publicity, which is precisely what they need.
No, I’m not saying shut our eyes to what they’re doing and/or don’t report it. Just make it low key, as in “In other news …”.
And finally …
A democracy must know what it should fear … [but] … Freedom from fear is a human right. We pay politicians to guard us from terror by not terrifying us.
Jenkins’s article is worth a read.
Oddity of the Week: Sex Pistols
We are further away in time from Sid Vicious’s 1977 Sex Pistols than they were from the end of World War 2.
Aside: Bloody Hell! This also means I was born closer to the death of Queen Victoria than to now.
Weekly Photograph
This week’s photograph is another from our recent trip to Norwich. Somehow that day we were running slightly ahead of schedule and we had 20 minutes to kill before Sunday lunch. So in true style we set off to find Bawburgh village church.
St Mary & St Walstan, Bawburgh from the South-East
October 2014
The church of St Mary & St Walstan, Bawburgh is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. It’s now fairly plain and much restored but it’s an old church: it hosted the burial of Walstan in 1016 and the (possibly) Saxon round tower was rebuilt in 1309. However it does still have a rather nice fragment of wall painting, an old rood beam and some delightful fragments of medieval Norwich stained glass.
Late on a sunny Sunday morning this was a rather nice way to while away those spare 20 minutes.
Oh and as usual we had a splendid Sunday lunch just across the river at the King’s Head, Bawburgh.
[As an aside, opposite the pub there is a water mill which was the original site of the manufacture of Colman’s mustard. When I was a graduate student I played cricket with the academic who owned the mill.]