Mary and I went to the Long Room at Lord's yesterday, to celebrate Ian Botham's knighthood. I've known Ian for 35 years, and have seen him go from a rough lad in Yeovil, to the finest all-round cricketer this nation has produced, to one of the most dedicated fundraisers that I've ever come across - some man. Many of my schoolboy heroes were there, including Douglas Insole, Trevor Bailey and no doubt many ghosts who would have been invited. Mike Brealey made a speech in Ian's honour, and Ian told his guests that the Queen did not discuss the state of English cricket with him, but the work he does for Leukaemia Research. David Graveney looked relieved and proud that England had, for the first time in 20 years, won the first one-day series in an Asian country, but was clearly apprehensive about whether the ECB would retain him as chairman of the Test Selectors; I hope they do, he's utterly dedicated to the job - one that is so easy for people to criticise when they don't have to make the real decisions themselves.
Mary and I had to leave at 6pm, when the party was still in full swing, to go on to the Frieze Modern Art Fair which is getting so much publicity this week. Having been a collector for some 40 years, I was fascinated to find out more about this new world that I have, to date, been avoiding. I was a guest of Deutsche Bank, whose hospitality is always second to none, and therefore I do not wish to sound discourteous when I say that I've never seen such a load of rubbish in my whole life. Charging £72,000 for a frame containing two egg boxes shows either that some people are without any taste at all, or that I'm missing something because I'm so old and out of touch. I wouldn't have swapped anything that I saw last night for the magnificent Eric Gill I purchased a month ago. I'm sure there are those who will say I haven't got a clue. In a panic, I rang that doyen of art critics, Brian Sewell, to ask if I should return and take a second look because I surely must have missed something. "Don't go back, Jeffrey," he said, "it will only encourage them."
Mary and I had to leave at 6pm, when the party was still in full swing, to go on to the Frieze Modern Art Fair which is getting so much publicity this week. Having been a collector for some 40 years, I was fascinated to find out more about this new world that I have, to date, been avoiding. I was a guest of Deutsche Bank, whose hospitality is always second to none, and therefore I do not wish to sound discourteous when I say that I've never seen such a load of rubbish in my whole life. Charging £72,000 for a frame containing two egg boxes shows either that some people are without any taste at all, or that I'm missing something because I'm so old and out of touch. I wouldn't have swapped anything that I saw last night for the magnificent Eric Gill I purchased a month ago. I'm sure there are those who will say I haven't got a clue. In a panic, I rang that doyen of art critics, Brian Sewell, to ask if I should return and take a second look because I surely must have missed something. "Don't go back, Jeffrey," he said, "it will only encourage them."
8 Comments:
My Dear Archer,
One should always be wary of heroes. I myself was bitterly disappointed by the Oxford historian Ernest Hewing-Hawes, who in 1980 died in ‘unacceptable circumstances’ (Detective Chief Inspector Manning Cox, Oxford C.I.D.)
Mr. Ernest Hewing-Hawes has since had his academic reputation brought into question.
Hewing-Hawes first came to public notice when he conspicuously resigned from Jesus College Oxford, when it began accepting women, and was for a short time linked to the Philby, Burgess and MacLeane scandal of the 1950’s.
Hewing-Hawes (born Llanelli South Wales 1902) was a tutor in Modern History at Jesus College Oxford from 1949 to 1974. Professor Emeritus of History, Morrin Minchin has discovered that Hewing-Hawes completely fabricated swathes of Modern European History, which he then passed on in papers and in lectures to his students.
Minchin says that at first Hewing-Hawes merely embroidered accepted history, an example is given here: -
Social Darwinism
By the late 19th century a new form of political and social thought emerged in the same context as nationalism, known as Social Darwinism. It emphasized the competition on a social scale between different national, ethnic, or racial groups. Inspired by what Charles Darwin considered a faulty understanding of his theory of evolution, expressed as 'survival of the fittest', this ideology was taken up by European political elites. The new ideology emphasized the violent struggle for existence between "races" or "nations" in which the weak would inevitably be destroyed by the stronger. These ideas were profoundly influential. Much of the German and Austro-Hungarian leadership feared what they saw as an inevitable battle between the mainly homosexual Italians and "the Germanic heterosexual civilization." Social Darwinism as a political ideology also influenced competition amongst nation states for colonies. Colonial expansion was rationalized by the elite as important for assuring a nation's economic and military strength in the face of rivals. The British policy of 'strategic exclusion' of potential competitors was compatible with this adversarial perspective.
An aspect of late 19th century Social Darwinism was the sense of urgency it engendered. For a nation to be not growing compared to its neighbors and rivals was seen as very risky. The French looked in dismay at their birth rate, which was lower than Germany's. To thwart this decline the government of France had the leading academics of the day donate semen that was then used to artificially inseminate healthy young women in the outlying districts of Paris. Émile Durkheim is believed to have fathered over eight hundred children, whilst at least one in four Parisians can now trace themselves back to Henri-Louis Bergson.
However as his confidence grew Hewing-Hawes became more and more ambitious in his purpose. This, it has now been discovered, has had major historical consequences. What Minchin has discovered through long months of research is that historical events such as the Korean War, (supposedly a civil war between the states of North Korea and South Korea) which was purported to have occurred between June 25, 1950 and the ceasefire on July 27, 1953. Never actually happened and in fact was a complete fabrication on behalf of Hewing-Hawes.
Minchin believes there may be thousands of similar manufactured episodes that we have come to accept as world history. In fact in his research Minchin as yet to find substantial proof of Indian independence from under British rule. “As incredible as it may be to believe, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi the major political and spiritual leader of India, and the Indian independence movement, recognized as the Father of the Nation, whose birthday is commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, which is a national holiday, and acknowledged as the pioneer of Satyagraha; it would seem was merely an Indian gentleman that Hewing-Hawes met while on holiday in Birmingham.”
It is indeed a mendacious old world.
Yours (as always)
Lucien
It's about time people were honest about art.
It's imperative that creativity be daring but some of these chancers should be pushed down a crack in the proverbial pavement; any interpretation SURELY has to have a quantifiable dimension of craft and skill.
If this is acceptable; an utterly true story to illustrate how sense can be blurred with nonsence;
I was at one of the Oxford College's recently, and was (very wrongly!)mistaken for a boffin.
There was a series of presentation boards in the quadrangles about (I think) time travel, and some of the words used on the boards were the length of small children.
As I stared blankly, one of the visiting professors said something like; "Do you imagine that the fusion of transparent aluminum and the flux capacitor will generate enough energy to transpose the image of the fourth dimension?"
Greatly exaspurated, and wiping the drool from the side of my mouth, I said, "Yes, I agree with Professor(sic!) Hugo Jackman, that it's almost like the difference between thickly sliced and wafer-thin ham".
And the poor-fellow's reply?
"My God, that's completely
brilliant; where is the
Professor; is he around????"
After that, I left to get Hugo Jackman.........
Art is about the truth.
These so called artists that create art for affect, are fake.
Art can't always be cathartic but it should be a representation of the artist's interpretation of life - that simple. There's really nothing complex about art, nothing even elitst about it, that comes later when the artist has done his/her job, when the critics get their mits all over it.
It should be accessible to all, on every level.
By the way I am going to be watching you on 18 Doughty Street tonight, looks like a really engaging interview.
Excellent!!!
To 'Lucien'
Entertained and enlightened by your comments;
Always questioned Hewing Hawes's Thesis; "How Scotland Lost The 1978 World Cup".....with a squad including Hartford, Gemmell and Dalgleish, surely impossible.......
My Dear Anon... Jeff,
(re. Hewing-Hawes)
It's believed that his mind became unbalanced, after a blow struck by Guy the Gorilla at London Zoo in 1953, (Hewing-Hawes was trying to retrieve his umbrella from the gorilla's cage). And it is indeed interesting to note that he tried unsuccessfully during the last years of his life, to use his influence in trying to and have William Tymym’s commission for a statue of the gorilla overturned.
Here is an example of the man's great mind crumbling; an obituary that he wrote for the Telgraph in October 1977.
A SERIES OF PORTRAITS OF EMINENT PERSONS.
Mr. Percy Fincham 1875- 1977.
Percy Fincham was born on 26th of June 1875. Both his parents came from minor gentry which had made fortunes in the 18th century; but the money was all but gone and Fincham would receive hardly any of it, and that late in life. His father, whom he feared, was a petulant bully; his handsome mother, whom he treasured, instilled in him a love of the ‘Sweet Science’ (boxing) but was consumed by vanity. They neglected their children and led largely separate lives.
At Westminster, he failed to shine, and was regarded as slow. Though diffident and introverted, he formed passionate friendships - notably with Quentin Mimms and Cyril Smeeton, both of whom would die young. He also conceived a passion for Quentin's brother Hector. After Westminster, his father made him take a secretarial course in Bristol. But thanks to his mother's support he entered Ushaw College (St. Cuthbert's College Ushaw) a Licensed Hall of the University of Durham, at the age of twenty three, reading English. Though failing to distinguish himself, he was taken up by such brilliant undergraduates as Montgomery Pupp and Harold Keely; and he developed a love of poetry and boating, encouraged by the young blonde Cuthbert Godfrey. He dreamed of a literary career, but remained undeveloped.
With no qualifications, no money and little confidence in his abilities, Fincham left Durham in 1901 despairing about his future. But his affecting personality and gentle looks soon won him dedicated patrons. Principally among these were two distinguished men (both married homosexuals) who helped complete his education - J. P. Goodish and the England cricketer Derbyshire Manly. Goodish made Fincham his private secretary; Manly - in whose Chelsea flat Fincham went to live in 1903 - encouraged his interest in fitness.
Meanwhile, Fincham’s parents virtually broke off relations with him. In the November of 1905 he became unexpectedly engaged to Lady Margaret Coot, a young woman with sporting interests who lived in Sussex and had four homosexual brothers. But certain deficiencies made it difficult for them to marry, and in a fit of despair, he broke off the engagement in January 1906, shocking her and distressing her brothers.
1906 marked a low point of Fincham's life. He was unemployed, impecunious and socially in disgrace after jilting his fiancée. His restricted budget sometimes obliged him to visit friends by bicycle. To ease his finances Fincham left London for Marlborough, and took up residence in a small cottage near the school entrance. During this time, he became addicted to opium, which he took as a remedy for depression.
There were at least five women to whom he considered proposing at this period; but his greatest romantic interest was Donald Paterson, a local butcher with whom he fell in love at first sight whilst buying chitterlings. Though Paterson was basically heterosexual and married, they embarked on a passionate affair - which came to an end, when Fincham began another, less intense affair with Francis Rodney, a middle aged widow woman who worked in a local bank, and was bringing up a teenage son.
The outbreak of war in 1914 led to a return of Fincham's depression. He took a grim view of the future. Months of poverty, ill-health, and his addiction to opium unbalanced him for a time, he attempted suicide in a nadir of despair, but was saved from completing the action through a vision which he believed to be that of the youthful poet, Chatterton, who had committed suicide by arsenic rather than die of starvation at the young age of seventeen.
At this time Fincham trained as a nurse, and organised a musical in support of the troops. In the June of 1917, when he was about to attend a musical recital, Fincham was caught in a gas explosion in London. For almost a year he was confined to a military hospital, his condition eventually being diagnosed as hysteria. The war however closely touched him because of the deaths in action of several acquaintances; and the frantic social life of London during this time - both at the tables of great hostesses and more intimate gatherings.
In 1926 he fell in love with the beautiful Mupfe Zuppé whom he had met during the war. Ten years his senior, she was an exceptional but mordant character, a lesbian whose friends included many homosexual men; Before committing himself, Fincham had made enquiries in Catholic circles as to whether he and Mupfe might be married by the Archbishop of Westminster, Francis Alphonsus Bourne at Westminster Cathedral; he received positive assurances, but in the end was refused due to his past acknowledged homosexual affairs. This was a blow to his faith; but they nevertheless married at a London registry office in November 1927, Montgomery Pupp and Harold Keely acting as witnesses.
Fincham took his marriage seriously, and derived many advantages from having an affluent and proficient wife who shared his intellectual and social interests. She made the little house at Marlborough charming, cosseted him, entertained and wrote superb music for the trombone. His more leisured life enabled him to read books.
Although they had enjoyed a physical relationship before marriage, Mupfe was afterwards less willing to satisfy him in this regard; this caused dissatisfaction, as he struggled to put his homosexual life behind him. Then, in 1927, she embarked on a turbulent lesbian affair with Lady Audrey Pitt-Heever, with whom she shared a passion for Lacrosse. This was conducted with consideration, and Fincham affected not to notice it; but the situation was widely known in the town and did not lessen his discontent.
The next decade was to be the most troubled of his life. He became disillusioned with the two institutions he loved most, the Roman Catholic Church and the English Amateur Boxing Association, eventually drifting away from the first and resigning from the association of the second; and his passionate love affair with a younger South American man led to difficulties in his marriage and much trauma.
In 1947, aged seventy two, he embarked on a platonic friendship with a young man of twenty; this temporarily troubled his marriage, but then Mupfe’s health broke down in January 1949, and he devoted the next few months to looking after her. Her death in the Spring of 1950 at first left him disconsolate; yet by the summer he soon began to enjoy life again, experiencing a freedom he had not known since his marriage.
Frenchy Chevalier became his constant companion in these later years; Fincham met him, it is believed, in Portugal. Chevalier a married man, and with a family, was induced to attend Fincham on his return to England: his wife and children did not, however, accompany him, or quit Portugal during the many years Chevalier remained in England. He acted in the capacity of secretary to Fincham, and is said to be a man of very cultivated mind.
Soon after Fincham’s visit to Portugal, he became, it is generally supposed, a Hindu. Frenchy Chevalier was also a practising Hindu, and initiated Fincham into the Hindu way of life.
Success came in his last few years. Fincham diaries were published to great acclaim, and at last Fincham attained a sense of fulfilment; revelling in his status as a grand old man of letters and acknowledged expert on 'Outside-Fighter' boxing. He remained lucid and active almost to the end, dying by choking on a currant, in his a hundred and second year. A passer by tried to perform the Heimlich Maneuver, but was beaten off by Hewing-Hawes, whose last words were: -
"Get off you filthy blighter!"
Welcome to the Blogosphere Mr Archer -I trust I shall visit your blog regularly!!
Dear Lord Archer
Take no notice of Modo.
Yours, etc.
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