Cottage Capers

On this day in history….15th August 1971

On this day in history : 15th August 1971 – English equestrian Harvey Smith is stripped of his £2,000 winnings at the British Show Jumping Derby, after allegedly making a rude gesture at the judges….

It is said Harvey had been involved in a heated exchange with one of the judges on the morning of the competition, which was being held at Hickstead in West Sussex…. Harvey, who had won the derby the previous year had forgotten to bring the trophy with him for this year’s presentation…. Some believed he had done this deliberately, assuming it was a foregone conclusion he would win it again…. The trophy eventually arrived from Harvey’s Yorkshire home just in time for it to be presented back to him….

Photo credit : The Dutch National Archives – Public domain

It was after winning the competition that Harvey was seen to make a two-fingered V-sign in the direction of the judges…. He protested innocence, saying “It was a straightforward V for Victory. Churchill used it throughout the war”….

He had a point…. Harvey had used the gesture with his palm facing towards him; Churchill, on first adopting his V for Victory salute had also done so with his palm inwards…. His advisors eventually took him aside and explained the actual meaning of this….and from then on Churchill used the palm outward-facing sign….

Harvey bucked the trend of the then usual upper class snobbery of the show jumping set…. He was a blunt Yorkshire lad, with a broad accent; he was known as ‘Heathcliff on Horseback’…. Frequently clashing with the sport’s governing body, his rebellious nature made him popular with the public…. Through much publicity and the backing of the public the disqualification was reversed two days later….

Harvey Smith (1974) – Photo credit: Rob Mieremet / Anefo CCO

Harvey won the British Show Jumping Derby a total of seven times and represented Britain in the Olympics three times…. He did later admit in interviews that he had indeed V-signed the judges!

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….14th August 1941

On this day in history : 14th August 1941 – Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter, laying out their plans for a post-war world….

Winston Churchill’s edited copy of the final draft of the Charter – Churchill blue, public domain

The announcement ended speculation as to the whereabouts of the Prime Minister, who had noticeably been absent from the House of Commons for a number of days…. Similarly Roosevelt had done a disappearing act too, along with several other top officials…. The pair had been involved in secret talks onboard American Cruiser USS Augusta and British Battleship HMS Prince of Wales, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland…. A joint declaration had been made setting out the basic principles for after the war had ended….sealing an alliance between Britain and America….in anticipation of Hitler’s downfall….

Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales in 1941 – US Navy, public domain

The Charter had eight main objectives:- that Britain and America seek no territorial gains from war and any change to a country’s territory had to be with the agreement of its people…. Nationals would also have the right to choose their own government….with self-government being restored to those countries that had already lost it…. There was to be free trade for all nations – with improvement to economies and to living standards…. The aim was for peace at the end of the Nazi tyranny and for freedom of movement around the world….the belief being that aggressive nations must be disarmed to ensure world peace….

Printed version – Winston Churchill, public domain

As it stood the Charter was to lay foundations for granting independence to Britain’s own Empire….starting with Indian Independence Day in 1947….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….13th August 1991

On this day in history : 13th August 1991 – The Prince of Wales resigns as the patron of Scotland’s National Museum after a row over a competition to design its new building….

It was not the first time Prince Charles had vented his opinions on modern architecture…. He had previously called the redesign of the National Gallery in London “a monstrous carbuncle”….

The Prince claimed the competition for the new building in Edinburgh did not allow for public consultation….

The winning entry, a five storey building made up of geometric forms, clad in golden Moray sandstone, was designed by London-based architects Gordon Benson and Alan Forsyth…. It was one of 400 entrants from all over the country….

Image credit : Maccoinnich via Wikimedia CC-SA

The withdrawal of the Prince created problems for the museum’s trustees to secure funding for the new building – which cost £37m to construct and a further £18m for the interior…. It was opened by the Queen in November 1998 and on visiting early the following month Prince Charles refused to comment on the new building…. One of the winning architects stressed that the Prince’s objection was not aimed at the design itself but at the competition and the way the winner had been chosen….

In 1999 the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust awarded the building the Stirling Prize for the Best Building of the Year….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….12th August 1949

On this day in history : 12th August 1949 – A flock of starlings take roost on the minute hand on one of the clock faces of Big Ben, slowing it down by four and a half minutes….

Photo credit : Pierre Selim CC BY-SA 3.0

Listeners to the BBC’s 9 O’Clock News were surprised to hear the bullet-in start without the customary chimes of Big Ben…. Later in the broadcast the BBC announced that “swarms of starlings are sitting on the hands holding them back”….

That evening the flock had decided the clock hand would make a good perch for the night and their combined weight had slowed the clock down so it was unable to chime at the correct time…. However, by midnight everything was ‘back to normal’….

There was a time when the Capital was home to many flocks of starlings – who gave an impressive show with their murmurations…. To see starlings take to the sky in this way is one of nature’s most spectacular wonders…. The numbers were at their largest in the winter months when the birds joined forces to keep warm at night….

Sadly the starlings left London and in fact numbers across the whole of the UK are down by 70%…. Once such a common bird they are now on the critical red list…. Loss of permanent pasture, an increase in the use of chemicals, a shortage of food and nesting sites are all contributing factors…. The expansion of London itself pushes the birds further and further afield….

Incidentally, Big Ben was to run slow once again on New Year’s Eve 1962…. Snow jammed the north face clock and ice coated the minute hand….causing New Year to be rung in 10 minutes late…. To think Big Ben survived the Blitz – yet can be hampered by a bit of snow or a flock of birds….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….11th August 1897

On this day in history : 11th August 1897 – The birth in East Dulwich, South London of much-loved, best-selling children’s writer Enid Blyton….

Enid Mary Blyton was the eldest of three children, having two younger brothers…. It was shortly after the family moved to Beckenham, which was then still a village in Kent, that Enid caught whooping cough and nearly died…. She was nursed back to health by her father, Thomas Carey Blyton….

Enid adored her father, the pair were very close…. It was he who got her interested in nature, being passionate about wildlife himself…. He would take her on long nature walks and also shared with her his love of gardening, art, literature and theatre…. This was all much to her mother’s disapproval, with whom she did not share the same loving relationship…. Enid was devastated when her father left the family to live with another woman; she was only 13 at the time…. When her parents eventually died Enid did not go to either funeral….

Between 1907 and 1915 Enid attended St. Christopher’s School in Beckenham…. She was particularly good at sport, was a tennis champion and captain of the lacrosse team…. She was not a keen academic scholar but had a natural gift for writing…. She finished school as head girl….and upon finishing her education she moved out of the family home and went to live with a friend…. Not long after she moved to Suffolk, to Seckford Hall near to Woodbridge…. She trained as a teacher and in January 1919 secured a teaching position at Bickley Park, a school for boys in Kent…. In 1920 she moved to Surbiton in Surrey as a governess to the four sons of architect Horace Thompson…. Soon other children joined them; there was a lack of local schools in the area and before long the house, Southernhay, in Hook Road, housed a little school in its own right…. These were very happy days for Enid….

Enid began writing in her free time; after winning a writing competition it didn’t take long for poplar publications to begin taking an interest in her poems and short stories…. Her first book, ‘Child Whispers’, was published in 1922 and in 1923 she had poems published alongside Rudyard Kipling, Walter de la Mare and G.K. Chesterton….which increased her popularity….

‘Child Whispers’ (1922) – credit Phyllis Chane – Public domain

The 1930s saw her develop an interest in writing about myths and legends…. The first of her 28 book ‘Old Thatch‘ series was published in 1934 and ‘The Enchanted Wood’, the first in ‘The Faraway Tree’ series came in 1939…. By the 1940s she was a prolific author and went on to bring us ‘The Famous Five’, ‘The Secret Seven’ and of course ‘Noddy’….who first appeared in the Sunday Graphic on the 5th of June 1949….

Enid married Major Hugh Alexander Pollack on the 28th of August 1924 and the couple had two daughters, Gillian and Imogen…. However, the marriage became troubled and ended in divorce…. She then married London surgeon Darrell Walters, with whom she had been having a long-term affair, on the 20th of October 1943…. She suffered a miscarriage after a fall – but for Enid and Darrell there were to be no children….

In 1957 Enid’s health began to decline and by 1960 she was showing the first signs of dementia…. Her husband died in 1967 and Enid herself passed away the following year, on the 28th of November, in Hampstead, London….