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  • Gothenburg – Good Morning Gothenburg City Ship Hotel

    Gothenburg – Good Morning Gothenburg City Ship Hotel

    I thought that it would be a marvellous idea to stay on a boat when Richard and I went to Gothenburg. I wasn’t sure if he’d like the idea, but it transpired that he did, which is handy as I had already booked my room. This is the centrally located Good Morning hotel which is moored up on the river Göta, which is what the city is named after.

    The room was sufficiently spacious and I had a view over the water. The window stayed open via some complex mechanism and that allowed the river air to get in which was rather pleasant. There were no noise issues either internally or externally, so that was suitably peaceful. One thing that I had expected was at least a little movement of the boat in the water, but there was none. If I hadn’t actually walked over a little gangway to get on board, I wouldn’t have realised that this was a hotel on a boat.

    I did meander down the corridor to check that Richard’s room wasn’t any better than mine and I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t. Not that I’m petty or anything.

    I think I should mention breakfast. I liked breakfast. Here’s the bread selection and Richard was very excited that they had some caramel bread or something niche.

    I wasn’t really listening to Richard’s bread story as there was bacon. Now, I don’t normally bother with the hot food at breakfast as I like bread, cheeses, deli meats, tomatoes and all that stuff. I don’t usually have bacon as I like it burnt with no fatty bits and that’s not being picky, I just like things done well. Literally.

    On the first morning I had a little bacon with my healthy green beans and tomatoes.

    And then I got the same again, before dispensing with the tomatoes and green beans and just getting bacon. Look at that, cooked perfectly. I thought Richard’s “I think you’ve consumed a pig over the weekend” on the third morning was a little excessive, but the bacon was delicious.

    The view out of the window at breakfast which was all rather pleasant.

    And we popped to the bar for an evening drink and if you look closely you can see Richard and I eagerly awaiting the appearance of a staff member. There were a few beers here, nothing overly exciting, but credible for a bar on a boat.

    Anyway, I very much liked this hotel and it came to around £45 a night including breakfast, which I thought was very reasonable to be in the centre of a city such as Gothenburg. The staff members were friendly and one even moved here car so that Richard could park, which was very kind. The breakfast was delicious, the rooms were clean and I’d stay here again when I get around to visiting Gothenburg again.

  • 200 Years Ago in Norwich : Clark Horn Sentenced to Death

    200 Years Ago in Norwich : Clark Horn Sentenced to Death

    Back to my series of articles from the Norwich Mercury 200 years ago, with this being the report of the sentence of death recorded against Clark Horn. Clark had been born in 1802, the son of John Horn and Mary Horn of Methwold.

    There’s something of a brutality about all of this. However, views were changing in 1826 and the death sentence was clearly not working as a deterrent. It was reported in the Norfolk Chronicle of 6 May 1826 that Clark Horn had been removed from Norwich Castle and sent to the Leviathan prison ship.

    Then on 7 October 1826, Clark was put on a ship, the Midas, to New South Wales and he arrived there on 15 February 1827. There were 148 prisoners on that ship and 61 of them had life sentences, although Clark’s punishment had by then been reduced to 16 years imprisonment.

    He didn’t turn up again in the records until 1843 when it appears that he died in the area of Bathurst, New South Wales. His father, John Horn, missed all of this as he had died in 1808, but his mother, Mary Horn, would have known of the transportation as she died in 1830. It must have been a strange world for Clark Horn and I wonder if he lived an isolated life in one of the work camps. I can’t see that he had any descendants and that makes me wonder about just how many people might have thought about the life of Clark Horn since his crime….

  • Norwich – Missing Parish Boundary Marker

    Norwich – Missing Parish Boundary Marker

    There’s good news about the missing parish boundary marker which was located on Princes House and it seems that the building, and indeed the marker, is now in very good hands. Further information about this parish is at https://www.julianwhite.uk/norwich-history-by-parish-st-george-tombland/.

    Andy from Princes House messaged me to say:

    “The original design for Princes House from the early seventies was not the moribund architecture which you see now. The hard economic times saw the design diluted and we have played our part to add some interest and curiosity to our side of Princes Street.

    You will be pleased to know that we are creating some art which will feature the Hungate St. Peter parish boundary marker which we have had professionally cleaned to remove the paint and cement splatter from it, while retaining its patina. We will describe the relevance of 1834 and the Poor Law Amendment Act and the historical boundaries referenced by the parish boundary marker. Along with this we plan on celebrating pictorially the local churches, those that are still with us and those that are not. It is our intention to have this up and displayed this spring.”

    I think I might lead another walk when the work is completed.

  • London – Courtauld Gallery (Former Council Room of the Society of Antiquaries)

    London – Courtauld Gallery (Former Council Room of the Society of Antiquaries)

    One thing that I really rather liked about the Courtauld is that they’ve got information in each room about how the space was once used. Today, this is Room 6 which is used to display the gallery’s collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens. The plasterwork on the ceiling is by Thomas Collins, who also completed work in other rooms at Somerset House.

    However, it was once the Council Room of the Society of Antiquaries, which was created in 1707 to study ancient monuments. Their first meeting was at the Bear Tavern nearby on the Strand and they moved into Somerset House in 1780 and remained there until 1874. They moved at that point to Burlington House on Piccadilly and they’re still there today.

  • London – Courtauld Gallery (Antibes by Claude Monet)

    London – Courtauld Gallery (Antibes by Claude Monet)

    When Claude Monet (1840-1926) arrived in Antibes, on the Mediterranean coast of France, in January 1888, he was not just looking for fresh subject matter he was in pursuit of something far more elusive, namely, light. I don’t know very much about artwork, but every guide to this painting talks about the importance of light. Lovely as it is, it was the history of the painting’s ownership that particularly interested me, but more of that in a moment.

    Monet himself said “one must repaint a single subject three times, four times, even twenty times”, which I would say is the amount of effort that I put into this blog, although that might not be entirely true. Anyway, there’s one maritime pine in the painting and we’re supposed to look at that and then dwell on the beauty of the light from the water, the sky and from the mountains.

    One thing I like from gallery websites, which I think is all too rare, is seeing the provenance of an artwork. This one is listed by the Courtauld, namely:

    “Bought from the artist by Boussod & Valadon, June 1888; (?) with Georges Petit, 1888; Mme Vve Barbedienne, Paris, 1894; sold Hôtel Druout, Paris, 24 February 1894 (lot 39); bought Paul Durand-Ruel; Decap, Paris, 1894; Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1907; Baron Caccamisi, Paris, 1907; Mrs Blanche Marchesci, London, c.1910; Paul Rosenberg, Paris; M. Knoedler & Co., London; purchased by Samuel Courtauld, August 1923; Courtauld Bequest, 1948”.

    I wondered why a hotel, namely the Hôtel Drouot, had purchased a painting like this, but then I checked and have realised that it’s actually a large auction house in Paris which is still trading. This auction house was implicated in the sale of looted Jewish artworks and Paul Rosenberg, who was a Jewish art collector who owned this artwork for a while, later had some of his collection stolen. It was then purchased by Samuel Courtauld, who ultimately gave it to the gallery which bears his name. Although, if Rosenberg hadn’t of sold it, then it might well have later been part of the collections that were stolen by the Nazis. And on that theme, the son of Blanche Marchesi, namely Leopold Popper-Podhragy, was sentenced to death by the Nazis although he managed to avoid that and lived until 1986, but his artwork collection was also taken.

  • Norwich – Bar Billiards Update

    Norwich – Bar Billiards Update

    In a move that serves as a definitive warning against leaving the room during a committee meeting, I have somehow managed to get myself appointed as the captain of the Artichoke Hearts bar billiards team. I am still not entirely sure how the transition from “vaguely reliable middle-order player” to “fearless leader” occurred, but yet here we are.

    It is quite a step for someone who honestly thought they had successfully navigated their way into a quiet retirement from the competitive green baize of bar billiards, indeed, I’ve written about that before. But it seems that the league has a way of pulling you back in just when you think you have escaped the pressure of a tricky final shot.

    The fixtures have just landed with some promptness and the grace of a lead balloon, and they have not exactly eased me into the role. Our opening gambit is against one of the absolute titans of the division, the Black Stars, and, to add a layer of personal drama to the proceedings, our subsequent match is against the quite wonderful Serengeti led by Roy, who is perhaps the most gentlemanly person I’ve ever met. Having spent a couple of seasons playing for them, I now find myself in the awkward position of trying to outmanoeuvre my old teammates while pretending I don’t know all their tactical weaknesses. Although they know my many weaknesses, so all of this might not be useful.

    Despite my own questionable leadership credentials, the Artichoke Hearts are actually really quite good by all accounts. I won’t go overboard here as we’re likely to come last in the league, so no point being overly optimistic. There is a genuine sense of fun that (generally) permeates this league, which is probably why I couldn’t stay away. The social side is of course inevitably compelling, especially with the news that the Red Lion in Coltishall has joined the league this year and we’re playing there in May. I am genuinely excited about the prospect of heading out there, but I don’t get out much.

    Home games at the Artichoke are fairly straightforward affairs involving decent beer and a steady supply of Tayto crisps, which remain the undisputed king of the bar snack hierarchy I’ve recently decided, although I can be fickle with these things. It is going to be a long, unpredictable season, but at least the crisps and beer are likely to be good. What could possibly go wrong?

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Bunhill Fields (Grave of Joseph Swain)

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Bunhill Fields (Grave of Joseph Swain)

    This is the main section of Bunhill Fields graveyard, but there was another section that was bombed during the Second World War that they cleared. Many graves were destroyed and locations lost, but the gravestone of Joseph Swain (1761-1796) was salvaged and kept.

    Swain was chiefly remembered for his work as a Baptist minister and hymn-writer, becoming one of the notable nonconformist religious voices of the late eighteenth century. After his conversion he was baptised in 1783 and soon devoted himself to preaching, eventually serving as pastor of the Baptist chapel in East Street, Walworth, where his ministry attracted such large congregations that the chapel had to be enlarged on several occasions. Alongside his preaching, Swain wrote a substantial body of devotional hymns and religious verse.

    Looking at an old newspaper report, Swain was a difficult act to follow and that task fell to Dr Joseph Jenkins who the reporter noted:

    “Jenkins was far superior to his predecessor in literary acquirement and elaborate preparation for the pulpit, but he was by no means his equal in energy and admiration.”

    The church at Walworth had some troubled years, 36 of the members went their own way and created a new church, which all proved something of a challenge for all concerned. The result of this part of the graveyard being landscaped is that Swain’s gravestone now stands out in the paving, located near to the graves of William Blake and Daniel Defoe.

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Bunhill Fields (Grave of William Blake)

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Bunhill Fields (Grave of William Blake)

    I’ve walked through the graveyard at Bunhill Fields on numerous occasions, but I don’t think that I’ve ever really explored it. One of the most important burials that they have is William Blake (1757-1827), a poet and painter who was rather unrecognised during his lifetime.

    In the photo above is the older memorial stone which states that Blake and his wife Catherine lie “near by” which was deliberately vague, because by the twentieth century the exact location had been lost and later landscaping moved the memorial away from the burial place.

    But all was not lost as research by Blake enthusiasts and the Blake Society helped identify the original plot, and in 2018 a new stone was unveiled on the exact site of Blake’s grave in Bunhill Fields.

    This grave stone now stands alone as the area had been landscaped as a garden following damage during the Second World War.

  • Gothenburg World of Volvo Museum – Volvo Experimental Safety Car

    Gothenburg World of Volvo Museum – Volvo Experimental Safety Car

    I’ve completed the main bulk of posts from my trip to Gothenburg last week, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have more stuff to endlessly witter on about. And this is a prototype electric car from Volvo that they produced in 1976 which I thought was quite exciting. Well, relatively exciting, I don’t drive and so there’s a limit to my enthusiasm here.

    Inside the car. Volvo produced this car at a time of concern about energy and emissions, although it was too clunky to enter mainstream production. They created two prototypes, one was a four-seat commuter version and the other was a two-seat utility version intended for short-distance work such as deliveries.

    The car was a little limited in many ways, it took ten hours to charge the heavy batteries and then it would only go around fifty kilometres. Some of the money invested into the project was from the Swedish telecommunications company, Televerket, who hoped that they could use the vehicles to deliver city mail without generating emissions. Very forward thinking, although this is less “freedom of the open road” and more “a carefully planned errand”, but there we go, technology has to start somewhere.

    A lot of great things important for the future happened in 1976.

  • London – Courtauld Gallery (The Head of a Man)

    London – Courtauld Gallery (The Head of a Man)

    The gallery gives this artwork the title of “Head of a Man against a Landscape” which is all that they have since this has been cut so tightly that it has lost much of its original meaning. It was once likely part of an altarpiece, but now they don’t know who the image is of, nor who painted it.

    The painting entered the gallery’s collections in 1952 as part of the Sir Robert Witt bequest. There’s something perhaps sub-optimal about such a small piece of the original artwork and in such a large frame, but at least some has remained.

    Given this lack of clarity, and my slight obsession with AI, I asked ChatGPT and Google Gemini to have a go at this. Along with the gallery’s best guess, this is the result of the artist, date of painting and who is in the image.

    GALLERY : No artist known, but likely Dutch influence. Painted between 1495 and 1500. No knowledge of who is in the image.

    CHATGPT : Maybe school of Hans Memling, but likely Dutch influence. painted between 1480 and 1500. Possibly Saint John the Evangeliest.

    GEMINI : No artist known, but likely Dutch influence. Painted between 1510 and 1540. No knowledge of who is in the image.

    I also asked Microsoft Copilot but the answer was complete nonsense, it announced that this was a nineteenth century copy of an earlier piece and was painted by an Italian artist.

    I’m interested if I retry this experiment in a couple of years whether the results will be better, although ChatGPT seems to be nearly there.