Thursday, March 21 – Harrow on the Hill

I’m attending a lecture at Gresham College early this evening, so I traveled into the city midday to do some roaming around.

Two Temple Place is located on Victoria Embankment. It was built for William Waldorf Astor in the 1890s. Astor emigrated to England from the United States in 1891 as the richest man in the world, and he spared no expense when work began on Two Temple Place in 1892.

This is the second Gresham lecture that I have attended. You may recall that back in January I was at St. Luke’s Church for a talk entitled The Art and Science of Tuning. That was very interesting. So I’m back for more; this time to be held in Barnard’s Inn Hall of Gresham College.

Tonight’s lecture is Twentieth-Century Divas: Shirley Bassey. Born in 1937, she is originally from Wales, and is probably best known for the songs Goldfinger (from the James Bond film), and Big Spender. It was an interesting talk. The lecturer was very knowledgeable about Miss Bassey and his presentation was compelling. The talk lasted an hour. A ticket was required, but at no cost. I sat next to a nice couple who thought it was interesting (surprising?) that someone visiting from the United States would be attending this lecture. Or this lecture series in general. Funny!

Here’s a link to a video of the lecture, if you’re interested.

Friday, March 22 – Harrow on the Hill

I’m making my way back to Dulwich today. I was last there in January to attend the Rubens exhibit at the Picture Gallery. This time I’ll be taking a tour of Dulwich College, specifically to see the lifeboat, James Caird, from Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole.

About Dulwich College

Dulwich College is a private, day and boarding school for boys, covering the U.S. equivalent of grade school, middle school, and high school. It was founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, and has been in its current location since 1870. I was curious as to how prestigious this school was; a Google search looking for a ranking of the top U.K. private schools for boys produced this particular list:

1. St. Paul’s School, London

3. Eton College

11. Dulwich College

30. Harrow School

Wow! That Harrow ranking surprised me. It could be just an aberration related to the criteria of the list however. Here’s a link to the rankings I used.

About Sir Ernest Shackleton and the James Caird

Shackleton was an Irish explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic in the early 20th century. His Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 was struck by disaster when its ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and finally sank off Antarctica in 1915. The crew escaped by camping on the sea ice until it disintegrated, then by launching the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and ultimately the South Atlantic island of South Georgia. The latter segment involved enduring a stormy ocean voyage of 830 miles in what became Shackleton’s most famous exploit.

Shackleton and five companions made the journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia aboard a 20 foot lifeboat, the James Caird (named after the expedition’s chief sponsor). It was modified for the trip by raising the sides, strengthening the keel, building a makeshift deck of wood and canvas, and sealing the work with oil paint and seal blood.

The James Caird was returned to England in 1919. In 1922 it was donated to Dulwich College, where Shackleton had been a student. Excluding a period of time when it was restored and displayed by the National Maritime Museum, it has remained with the college ever since.

If you’re not familiar with the story of Shackleton and the Endurance expedition, I encourage you to investigate it further; it’s amazing! Here’s a link to an impressive book on the subject. And Kenneth Branagh portrayed Shackleton in an award-winning TV mini-series.

Here are some photos from today’s outing…

If you’d like more information on the James Caird, here’s a link to the Dulwich College website that also includes a 12 minute video about the boat and Shackleton.

Sidenote:

Saturday, March 23 – Harrow on the Hill

It’s been a busy week! I’m a little worn out. No big plans for the day.

Auction Update: The Pattie Boyd Collection

The online auction has concluded, and the results are in…

Overall the collection sold for £2.8 million ($3.6 million), or more than seven times the pre-sale high estimate of £380,000! Well done Pattie!

Sunday, March 24 – Harrow on the Hill

Today I’m off to Brooklands, an aviation and automotive museum north of London. A cool place to visit under normal circumstances, but today is special because they are holding a MINI DAY. Perfect!

Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout the 20th century. Constructed in 1907, its racing circuit was the first of its kind in the world. It was also a leading aircraft design and manufacturing center, producing a total of 18,000 aircraft between 1908 and 1987. The museum opened in 1991.

Getting to Brooklands required a 30 minute train ride from the Wimbledon tube station followed by a 20 minute walk from the Weybridge station to the museum. The museum entry fee was £23 and I paid an additional £7 to tour a Concorde aircraft that is on display there.

The Concorde could maintain a speed of up to 1,350 mph at an altitude of 60,000 ft. (by comparison a Boeing 787 Dreamliner cruises at a speed of 650 mph and an altitude of 40,000 ft) Its average flight time on the transatlantic New York – Paris route was just under 3 1/2 hours.

Located adjacent to Brooklands is Mercedes Benz World. Of course I had to make a stop there as well!

Mercedes Benz World is part showroom, activity center, museum, and driving facility (having taken over part of the original Brooklands racetrack).

Whew! What a day. Fun, but long. I left the flat around 8am and returned at 6pm.