Thursday, 24 October 2024
A $100,000 History Book !
Cobble Beach and Elegance
Plan Ahead
All you need to know is provided by Cobble Beach, with which I have no connection. These links will supply you with fine photos, videos and additional articles to read, even if you do not think you will be able to travel up to Kemble.
As I mentioned, I have no connection with the folks at Cobble. Also, it is worth noting that the event raises money for charities.
Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Falcons Flying
On Planes
All sorts of birds have recently flown south and I just wrote about some that are flying in a wind tunnel up at Western. There are others, however, that arrive at their destinations by airplanes.
Recently I ran across an article in which passengers travelling from Miami to Doha complained about the squawking of a large flock of birds which were flying as cargo. In the Middle East where falconry is popular and oil money readily available, the birds can also be found flying as passengers in the cabin. A Saudi prince booked a flight and bought tickets for 80 of them. According to Qatar Airways, "You can carry one falcon in the Economy Class cabin of an aircraft, and a maximum of six falcons are permitted within the Economy Class cabin of any one aircraft."
You are skeptical, I'm sure and others are as well, so Snopes investigated the photo above and you can learn more here: 'Pic Shows Saudi Prince's 80 Falcons Riding a Plane?" Anna Rascouet-Paz, Snopes, Mar. 29, 2024.
There is a new book about the old art of falconry, published by the University of Chicago Press. For a review of, The Art of Medieval Falconry see: "Books: A Sovereign in the Sky," by Laura Jacobs, Wall Street Journal, Oct.12, 2024.
"Mr. Hadjinicolaou is an assistant professor of art history at the University of Bonn, and "The Art of Medieval Falconry" is his second book. Its title can be understood two ways. The first concerns falconry as it's been depicted in art of the Middle Ages -- in illustrated manuscripts, frescoes, paintings, sculptures, objects and tapestries, many of which have been handsomely reproduced here -- and what these representations, often iconographic, express. The second looks at the practice of falconry itself, an ingenious way to hunt food that eventually transcended, by way of passionate practitioners who tended to be kings, into an Arthurian art form -- one with the gravity of religion and the privilege of wings."
Sunday, 20 October 2024
AFAR
Advanced Facility For Avian Research
I have been a bit under the weather, but overhead the skies have been clear and the fall weather fine. That combination resulted in a loss in the production of posts for MM, but I can’t say there has been an increase in the number of complaints from readers. The few who appear to stumble upon something in MM, do so whether I am writing or not and the royalties continue to roll into my offshore accounts.
While high in the clear sky the birds have continued their migration south, there are some birds in London flying continuously, but going nowhere. Their wings are flapping at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research up at Western University. I told you about that place four years ago in “For The Birds” and the information there is still useful.
More is provided, and AFAR noticed, in a recent article in the New York Times. It is good that we can read some local news, even if it comes from afar. Online you will find it under, “What Flying in a Wind Tunnel Reveals About Birds,” on Oct 11. It appears in print in the NYT on Oct. 15, with the title, “Some Birds Migrate Thousands of Miles Every Autumn: How Exactly Do They To They Manage It? Scientists Built a Flight Chamber to Find Out.” Emily Anthes is the author. Here is a portion that provides some of the questions for which answers are sought by those up at Western.
For additional information see: AFAR.
Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory
The hypobaric wind tunnel at Western is not the only wind tunnel at Western. Back in the mid-1960s, UWO was "considered the birthplace of the modern practice of wind engineering." For more details see this digital heritage plaque.
Post Script
It used to be the case that no one knew where the birds went when the weather turned cold. A clue was finally provided by a stork.
See: "The University of the Unusual (2) - The Mystery of Avian Migration."
Sunday, 6 October 2024
London Lost A Fortune
The Curious Case of Peter Birtwistle
I have a reference to this gentleman for reasons I don't recall. He was a successful jeweler in London, Ontario in the early part of the last century. When I went searching for information about him, I found some, but nothing from local sources or newspapers. My search was limited to electronic resources that are available from my chair.
Perhaps someone associated with The London & Middlesex Historical Society might try firing up a microform machine and having a look through the local papers. One of the references I provide below (from a Florida newspaper), cites a London Free Press article from 1920(1). A cursory search has not yielded any historical articles about him.
Why should one bother with Mr. Birtwistle?
One reason would be to try and figure out why this wealthy bachelor decided to leave all his money to Colne in Lancashire rather than London in Ontario.
Here is what I have found from the sources provided below.
Birtwistle emigrated (twice) from England. According to the brief history found on the Colne website, he partnered with a Joseph Pickles here in London. He became one of this city's most successful jewelers and was a well known diamond merchant. His business was at 113 Dundas Street, the ground floor of which was occupied by the Winslow Brothers shoe store. He later moved to 116 Dundas and lived above the shop(3d). If the current street numbers are similar, the location would be in the block where Kingsmill's used to be. Like most rich Canadians, he spent the winters in the south.
What did the wealthy bachelor plan to do with his money when he died?
There is one reference which indicates his niece was to be his beneficiary, but they quarrelled and she left for Australia (3d).
The next suggestion is that the inheritor was to be the St. George's Society. It is found in the source mentioned just above, which also states that he was president of the London society from 1901 to 1907. Apparently he had a disagreement with the Society as well. When Birtwistle died in 1927, the Border Cities Star reported that: "According to the Trust and Guarantee Company, it had originally been Mr. Birtwistle's intention to leave this sum in trust for the benefit of the aged poor of London, Ontario, but certain disagreements which occurred later, notably what is known as the St. George's Society incident caused him to alter this determination(2).
Although Birtwistle was a charitable chap, he must have been a bit touchy since there was also an incident with his next intended beneficiary, the city of London. In the 1935 Border Cities Star article it says that "the city of London was reported to be named the sole beneficiary in his will, but following disagreement with the city officials his home town was named to receive the estate."
In 1941, when officials from his hometown of Colne showed up to attempt to get the money, the headline of a related article refers to the dispute with someone representing the city of London: "London Estate Is Sought Now For Colne, Eng.: Late Jeweler's Fortune Lost to Adopted City Because of Old Slight," Globe and Mail, Mar. 11, 1941.It begins with this sentence: "A real or fancied offense of certain citizens of London, Ont. in 1907, cost that city's aged and needy poor a sum of over $600,000 , which may now be turned over to a town in England..." It is further noted that, "The nature of the "offense" is not known. Some claim that it was a disagreement between a wealthy bachelor jeweller and city officials over city audits."
Colne was the heir chosen as you will see by looking at the related websites. Apart from his alleged argument with the city, or the "incident" with the St. George's Society, perhaps he just wanted to leave the money to a place in his homeland, since an affection for it is suggested by his membership in the Society. It appears that the local branch still exists and if their records do as well, maybe more can be learned from them.
Birtwistle had the money placed in trust for 21 years which explains the rationale for some of the articles provided which are listed in chronological order. There are four articles from 1935 because officials from Colne came asking that the money be released because of the depression. In 1941 they came again because the money was needed because of the damages caused by the war.
The Supreme Court judgment from 1938 concerns the tax issues related to the Birtwistle Trust and a link to it is provided.
It may be that an historian (or a historian, if you prefer American usage) has studied this issue and was overlooked by me. If not, and you decide to do a little investigating, make sure you search for "Birtwistle" since it can easily be replaced in searches by "BirDwHistle."
Peter Birtwistle Retirement Housing Site.
Sources:
1. 1920
"Lakeland Visitor Gives Old Folks of His Town a Tea Each Year," The Lakeland Evening Telegram, Feb. 23, 1920. Here is a screen shot and it indicates that the Free Press is the source.
2. 1927
"Million Left to Poor Folk: Former London Man Wills Estate to Native Town," Border Cities' Star, April 27, 1927. [ The Border Cities Star was a Windsor, Ontario newspaper. An apostrophe sometimes appears in the title - Cities' .]
3. 1935
a) “Colne Dignitaries Here Today Seeking Bequest For Town," Toronto Star, May 30, 1935.
b) “$1,000,000 Bequest For English Town: London, Ont. Jeweler Left Money To Accumulate Interest,” The Globe, May 31, 1935.
c) “Mayor of Colne in Canada,” The Manchester Guardian, June 1, 1935.
d) "Seek Estate of Londoner: Thousands Bequeathed to Lancashire Town by P. Birtwistle - Payment Deferred: Delegation Asks Money In Advance Because of Depression," Border Cities' Star, May 31, 1935.
In Mulcahy's Miscellany I have provided a few historical posts about London, none of which would constitute much of a threat to the real historians of this city. Two of them relate to London during the period when Birtwistle resided here (at least during the summer.) This, slightly frivolous one, at least illustrates how one can find out about London by searching papers from places far away - those places where more resources from the past have been digitized - "Lonely in London c.1920." Another is about the KKK - "Verminous Missionaries."
I mentioned Kingsmill's above and was pleased to see that the picture of the inside of that store, buried in one of my posts, still exists. If you click on the image in "Detour", you will see an example of the elegance that once existed on Dundas Street.
Tuesday, 1 October 2024
In Love With Norma Loquendi
Quoth the Maven
I do not write much because I keep discovering things about which I would like to write and then never have time to do so. I start poking around to learn more about the new things, while the older ones gather dust. It is a disease of the dilettante, I suppose, to be so easily diverted.
That attempt at constructing an alliterative phrase is made in deference to a major manufacturer of them, William Safire, the subject of this post. The new thing distracting me this week is that I learned that it was during the last week of September that Safire died 15 years ago. Examples of such diversions which keep me from creating my magnum opus are easily found. I noted, for example, the anniversary of the death of another columnist and even his birthday. (That columnist is Russell Baker: see "Russell Baker (August 14, 1925 - Jan, 21, 2019," and "Russell Baker's Birthday." (Like Safire, Baker was both clever and funny.)
If you spent the majority of your years in the last century you will recognize the name "William Safire" and remember him as a conservative hanging around the Nixon White House, both of which are true. Safire was also responsible for these Spiro Agnew utterances: "pusillanimous pussyfooters" and "vicars of vacillation" (Democrats) and those "nattering nabobs of negativism." Another one, which could be used in Canada these days: "The hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."
Pulitzer Winner
He won a Pulitzer for his "distinguished commentary" about the Bert Lance affair and here are his distinct titles: "Carter's Broken Lance," "Boiling the Lance," "The Lance Cover-up," "Lancegate," "The Skunk at the Garden Party" and "Beyond Lance." We could use him now.
Enough politics. Safire became a prose pundit and his New York Time's columns were under the title, "On Language." They were fun to read and have aged well. Many of them are collected in the books listed below. There is enough reading to get you through winter.
What About Love and Norma and the Maven?
They are found in titles of two of his books and you were probably more curious about them then you would have been about any title I could have come up with. Here they are with some information about each book.
In Love With Norma Loquendi
"Safire charms yet again with his lively interest in our language. ``Norma Loquendi,'' that fickle lass whose name the author translates as ``the everyday voice of the native speaker,'' is the title character of this ninth book to come from Safire's ``On Language'' column in the New York Times Magazine....Those who believe language is a delight as well as a necessity will happily while away the hours meandering through these pages." from Kirkus Book Review.
Quoth the Maven
"There are connoisseurs. There are virtuosos. And then there are mavens. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer William Safire is the maven's maven....Safire - using alliteration, puns, and other tricks of the writer's trade - offers a cornucopia of words, phrases, slang, and grammatical oddities, proving once again why Time calls him "the country's best practitioner of the art of columny."" "Safire probes the surprising origins of such expressions as "kiss and tell," "people of color," "stab in the back," "bonfire of the vanities," and the whole nine yards. He attempts to explain what a White House press secretary meant when he announced, "We can't winkle-picker this anymore.... "Knowledgeable, witty, and impeccably grammatical, William Safire's essays on language are an important and entertaining reference for mavens everywhere." from the Book Jacket.
Books By Safire
Listed here are just his nonfiction works; he also wrote a few novels. The London Public Library has a couple of them and the Western Libraries have lots. They are easily found for purchase and you can read all of In Love with Norma Loquendi on the Internet Archive.
Post Script: