British Museum, Chinese Ceramics, Sir Percival David
In Museums on April 29, 2009 at 8:15 am
As a writer, it’s great when the hard work pays off and you can read your work in print, or online. But having worked in museums over the last few years, I’ve also been able to see work to which I have contributed up on the wall in an exhibition. It’s always sad when it gets taken down at the end of the run, but then there’s always the next project coming along to get me excited.
Last week, the British Museum opened a new permanent gallery of Chinese Ceramics, housing the Sir Percival David Foundation collection of Chinese ceramics. I’ve now left the official employ of the BM, but went back to visit the new gallery recently. It looks absolutely fabulous – over 1700 objects are on display in the same room. That’s a lot, but the sensitive display allows visitors to examine every piece in the collection either visually in the display cases, or virtually on a touch-screen which we built in-house. It was a great project to work on and I’m proud of my contribution towards the team effort as an interpreter. The touch screens, which are linked to the museum’s collection database, are pretty forward thinking. Other venues will be watching to see how well they work.
And best of all, it’s a permanent gallery, so the text won’t get ripped down in six months. Do go and see for yourself, or ask for a guided tour.
There’s no link to an article about it. I just wanted to show off.
bed and breakfast, blogging, derbyshire, highfield
In what i'm reading on April 28, 2009 at 10:36 am
One evening last Christmas my parents and I were sat around talking and we got on the subject of the web. They told me they were interested in setting up a website to promote their bed and breakfast – they run it from their home in Derbyshire, in the heart of the Peak District.
I told them about blogging and my experiences of writing for places like Dulwich OnView. We arrived at the conclusion that perhaps they didn’t need a website, just a blog. So I spent a few hours setting them up with one and sent them off into the world of blogging. And now look at them.
Here’s their blog. I follow it, primarily, for updates from the chickens.
Maybe the credit debacle has meant you’re cutting back on a big holiday this year. If you’re looking for a cheap alternative, a relaxing weekend away at Highfield comes highly recommended by me, their sometime, non-paying guest.
Catherine Parr, Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII, Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 21, 2009 at 8:01 am
Had a grand day out last week at Hampton Court Palace, nosing around their new Henry VIII display. 2009 is the 500th anniversary of Hennry’s accession to the throne and as such they are theming the year’s programming around him. The palace is set up as if it were his wedding day (wife no. 6, Catherine Parr). Visitors are invited to the wedding party and costumed actors are parading around the place the whole day. Great fun.
Whilst there, I also interviewed someone from Historic Royal Palaces about the planned redevelopment of the visitor experience and interpretation at Kensington Palace, due to open in 2012. The first tranche of work is focussed on Queen Victoria, who spent her early years at Kensington before she became queen.
There’s a piece on Museum [Insider] with some exclusive details about what they’re planning.
Angela Tilby, Barack Obama, Jesus, Sermon on the Mount
In happiness on April 20, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Something on Radio 4′s Thought For the Day last week struck a chord with me. Rev. Angela Tilby sought to bring President Obama down a peg or two for trying to make biblical links in his oratory when talking about revialisting the world economy. He says that we must ‘build our house upon rock’.
But Angela quite rightly points out that just a few lines later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is telling us not to even bother building up worldly goods – indeed he offers a warning against the belief that material possessions can bring us happiness.
So be careful, Barack the orator, when using biblical quotes.
coffee, digitalspy, stranger
In happiness, what i'm reading on April 20, 2009 at 9:31 am
Apparently, the simple act of picking up someone else’s tab in a coffee shop is enough to engender a feeling of well-being for you and your lucky new friend. It’s a craze sweeping coffee shops in America.
DigitalSpy tells us more …
ed haliwell, mental health, the guardian
In happiness, what i'm reading on April 14, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Happiness is abuzz in the news this week with the revalation that we are all really rather stressed, anxious and fearful. The Mental Health Foundation has called for a national campaign to raise awareness of how emotions affect our health and behaviour, and what we can do about it.
It all sounds like a bit of hot air to me, but Ed Haliwell puts it rather well in The Guardian today.
Apparently we need to develop social and economic cohesion and moving towards values and behaviours that lead to happiness.
Sounds simple, eh?
The MHF have an hilarious campaign, not aimed at making us any happier, just making us realise how awful life is. They say:
As part of Mental Health Action Week, you can order your free information pack, which gives you information on fear and anxiety, as well as a poster to help you raise awareness of the week.
Wow, I feel happier already.
Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length, Pulitzer, Robert Frost
In happiness, what i'm reading on April 13, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I recently came across this poem by American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963).
As with plenty of creative souls, he had a particulary tragic personal life. His father died when Frost was 11, leaving the family penniless. His mother died when he was 26, resulting in the institutionalisation in a mental hospital of his sister some year later. A family rife with depression, he was also forced to commit his daughter to a mental hospital in 1947. Three of his six children died while he was still alive and one committed suicide.
How he then managed to win so four Pulitzer prizes for his work and publish so widely is a wonder. He penned this charming poem in 1942:
Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length
O stormy, stormy world,
The days you were not swirled
Around with mist and cloud,
Or wrapped as in a shroud,
And the sun’s brilliant ball
Was not in part or all
Obscured from mortal view—
Were days so very few
I can but wonder whence
I get the lasting sense
Of so much warmth and light.
If my mistrust is right
It may be altogether
From one day’s perfect weather,
When starting clear at dawn
The day swept clearly on
To finish clear at eve.
I verily believe
My fair impression may
Be all from that one day
No shadow crossed but ours
As through its blazing flowers
We went from house to wood
geovisit();
For change of solitude.
Auschwitz, happiness, Roman Halter
In happiness, new content on April 10, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I received a touching hand-written note this week from Roman Halter, a friend of mine and survivor of Auschwitz who I’ve interviewed already as part of my happiness research project. His interview is available to read on this site, but he decided to write an addendum. He writes:
A life free from being terrorized, free from that fear, is happiness.
Freedom under the law in a true democracy where the citizen is protected from the criminal and the criminal is isolated from society is, for the citizen, happiness.
Happiness on many levels.
One man, before being taken to the gas chamber at Auschwitz [said] Psalm 31, verse 6 [and was] calmly led to a happy end with a spirit that was devoid of fear. [The verse reads: 'You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord'.]
We were told (the group of 500 metal workers from Lodz ghetto selected for slave labour) in Auschwitz-Birkenau that we looked so weak and were so starved that we, all of us, were only fit for the gas chambers and we should know that we came to Auschwitz-Birkenau through [the] gate which is only one way and that is ‘IN’. The out part is through the chimney. So, when eventually we were put into cattle trucks and PASSED OUT of Auschwitz-Birkenau the joy, the happiness of most was something I will not forget.
Roman has also added a simple line drawing of the recognisable gateway to the camp at Auschwitz with an arrow pointing to the entrance.
facebook, facebook groups, dulwich
In Dulwich OnView, new content on April 8, 2009 at 8:27 am
I recently reviewed my facebook profile and decided to cull a few of the groups I’m in. Do I still need to be in the group Every time your misplace an apostrophe, God kills another kitten?
I’m also a member of a few facebook groups linked to the local Dulwich area. It got me thinking about what else might be out there. There’s some strange stuff in the world of the Internet, and some of it is closer to home than you think.
Read my musings, and some of the funnier groups in my local area, on Dulwich OnView.
Bob Dylan, Dalai Lama, Gretchen Rubin, Richard Gere
In happiness on April 7, 2009 at 11:14 am
Further to Bob Dylan’s favourite songs on the theme of happiness, here are a few of my favourite things he said during his most recent show:
Can’t promise I’m gonna make you happy, but I’ll do my darndest
Everyone you know can make you happy. Some do it by arriving and some do it by leaving.
Richard Gere once told me something the Dalai Lama once said: ‘If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion.’
Some people have to get high to make other people happy.
When talking about feng shui and its importance in a happy home: Los Angeles zoo spent $4500 to a feng shui expert to make three monkeys from China feel more at home. I don’t think it was the feng shui that made them feel happy. I think the monkeys just liked the fact that they can make zoo keepers spend $4500 on them.
Some people like to sweat in the hot sun. Some like to lie in the shade in a hammock. Who’s to judge which is better?
According to research, do you know what makes people happy? Money, religion, friends and marriage. How much did they spend on this research? I could’ve told them that. And people who earn over $80,000 are happier than people who earn less than that. Do you know who’s really happy? The guy who got paid to do this research.
Also, Gretchen Rubin – who blogs about happiness – found a really nice quote from Bob Dylan in his memoir Chronicle.
BBC 6 Music, Bob Dylan, Theme time radio hour
In happiness on April 6, 2009 at 10:07 am
The latest edition of Bob Dylan’s radio show (05 April 2009) was on the theme of happiness. He played an hour of tracks, each linked to happiness somehow, interspersed with his grizzly, philosophical musings about why he likes each song. He played:
Feelin’ high and happy Hot Lips Page
Love and Happiness Al Green
Then I’ll Be Happy Jimmy Heap and the Melody Makers
Happy Home Elmore James
Happy Days are Here Again originally from the movie Chasing Rainbows (recorded on Black Tuesday, 1929)
Happy Rolling Stones
Get Happy Al Green
Happy Plastics Family – advertising jingle for du Pont
I Wanna Be Happy Ella Fitzgerald
Happy Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
You Made Me So Very Happy Blood, Sweat and Tears
The Happy Cowboy The Sons of the Pioneers
Everybody’s Happy Nowadays Buzzcocks
Smile Judy Garland (originally written by Charlie Chaplin)
Happy Trails Dale Evans
You can listen to it on the BBC 6 Music website until Sunday evening, when the next episode comes out.
I'm a writer, writer lifestyle
In Uncategorized on April 1, 2009 at 9:58 am
I’ve been investigating what it might be like to live the life of a writer for the last year, shifting to working part-time in my role at the British Museum and experimenting with the lifestyle of a wordsmith. It turns out I absolutely love writing and the life that goes with it.
So, now it’s time to move on from the BM and give this career a proper chance. As of today, I’m officially a writer. It’ll be strange, but I’m very much looking forward to responding to the question ‘What do you do?’ with ‘I’m a writer.’
I’ve left the employ of the BM, but I’m not leaving them completely. One of my next projects will be to write a tranche of new material for the museum’s audio tour, which is going to be great fun. I’m also continuing to write for Museum [Insider] and for Dulwich OnView (where I cut my teeth as a writer) and will be contributing to other blogs and online magazines too. And research into happiness continues as well.
It’s going to be a busy year. Let’s see what happens next …
