I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
[Galileo Galilei]
Category Archives: history
Zen Mischievous Moments #133
Today’s Daily Telegraph reports on Clive James interviewing himself at the Edinburgh International Books Festival. The article includes:
Did we know, he asked, that by decree, no rank below Major could wear make-up in the Romanian army during the war – a gem first divulged to him, incidentally, by Anthony Powell.
Full article here.
[With thanks to Julian Allason]
Zen Mischievous Moments #132
From “Feedback” in New Scientist, 04 August 2007
Calendar chaos
[X] was, sitting at his computer, when the calendar window of his Microsoft Outlook office program started scrolling uncontrollably back through time. He watched, helpless, as it zoomed back through two world wars, past the Great Reform Act of 1832, the French revolution and American independence – stopping only in the 1760s when, he guesses, a frantic IT worker somewhere in the bowels of the famous London building he works in must have fixed the network glitch.
Naturally, [X] was intrigued to see how far back in time he could personally make Outlook’s calendar go. Trying to view even earlier dates, he got stuck at All Fool’s day 1601. Putting this into a famous web search engine revealed no special event in history that day. It did, however, provide a link to a “rather weird” website devoted to the work of a genealogist named John Mayer at www.arapacana.com/glossary/mb_mn.html. This notes that “Outlook provides a series of perpetual calendars covering something less than 2898 years, from 1 April 1603 to 29 August 4500,” but that users can manually scroll back to 1601.
Feedback’s further searches suggest that 1 April 1601 was declared the beginning of time by the authors of the COBOL computer-programming language …
Oh and for the geeks amongst you, Outlook 2003 will also let you schedule meetings during the missing days, 3-13 September 1752, when British Empire changed to the Gregorian Calendar.
One is left with just one question: Why?
The Strange Things One Discovers …
Quite by chance I was earlier today reading the Transport for London webpage on the history of the Central Line, and came across this oddity about our local Underground station:
[…] Greenford station, the entrance hall was at ground level but the railway was on a viaduct, and thus became the first, and only, station on the London Underground to have escalators [actualy only one escalator these days] leading from street level UP to the trains.
Exhibition Day
We really knackered ourselves today — somehow we did three London exhibitions. But it was worth it. In order we saw:
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design at the V+A.
We got there at opening time (10 AM); good move because by the time we left there were long queues. I love Leonardo’s work, but this exhibition left me disappointed. It is just one room and consists entirely of Leonardo drawings and notebook pages – not surprising as it sets out to look at how Leonardo thought on paper. The drawings are stunning – and tiny! Many sheets are no bigger than A5/8vo. But the level of detail is amazing, as is Leonardo’s minute, but clear writing. I’m glad to have seen the Leonardo drawings “in the flesh”, but as I say I did come away somewhat disappointed.
At Home in Renaissance Italy, also at the V+A.
This exhibition is next door to the Leonardo – and what a contrast. Two large exhibition rooms which leave you with a sense of dazzling colour. To quote the V+A’s website “[The exhibition] reveals for the first time the Renaissance interior’s central role in the flourishing of Italian art and culture. The exhibition provides an innovative three-dimensional view of the Italian Renaissance home, presented as object-filled spaces that bring the period to life … [it] places outstanding art and domestic objects within their original contexts. Together they highlight the rhythms and rituals of Renaissance living.” And what objects! Magnificent paintings, furniture, textiles, pottery. You can just sit and admire them all day and still come away stunned. Brilliant. See it!
After lunch at the V+A (excellent café, by the way) it was on to Tate Britain.
Holbein in England at Tate Britain.
“Hans Holbein … effectively brought the Renaissance in painting from continental Europe to Britain. Through an outstanding collection of paintings [and drawings] brought together from around the world, this exhibition documents the thrill of the court and life in Tudor England, reflecting the unsettled history and politics of the time.” And what stupendous paintings! Many old favourites, known from reference works, but also some new ones. All interleaved with Holbein’s drawings which show how he worked a sketch into the finished portrait – the Tudor court’s equivalent of a portrait photograph. This is a huge exhibition – at 9 rooms it dwarfs the two V+A exhibitions combined. And each is filled with just the most stunning art. Another must see. But be prepared to queue; it is very popular. Tickets are timed; buy them in advance if you can.
Sadly all three exhibitions are on only until 7 January, so you’ll need to move quickly to get to them!
Quote: Roman Worship
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher; as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.
[Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]