Fighting Irishmen: Celebrating Celtic Prizefighters 1820 to Present

by Kathryn Hadley

'Fighting Irishmen' opens today at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh.

Showcasing boxing related items including gloves, boxing bags, robes, prints, photographs and films, the exhibition charts the history of Irish emigration through the sport of boxing. The display includes personal belongings of famous boxers, such as John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett and Jack Dempsey, and reveals the important role of prizefighting in the history of Irish America, where boxing was often a ticket to a better life for those who had a talent for it.

For further information on the history of boxing, read our article Poets & Pugilists

Fighting Irishmen: Celebrating Celtic Prizefighters 1820 to Present
Until November 29th
Ulster American Folk Park
Castletown
Omagh
County Tyrone BT78 5QY
Telephone: 028 8224 3292
http://www.folkpark.com/

Rediscovery of flint axe that shattered the theory of Creationism

by Kathryn Hadley

Over the past months, news headlines have been dominated by events marking the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his Origins of Species. Six months prior to Darwin’s publication, however, another hugely significant discovery was made, when a flint axe was found in northern France. The discovery challenged traditional Biblical explanations of evolution before Darwin’s theory was made public. The axe had been presumed lost for the past 150 years, but at the beginning of the week, it was rediscovered by Professor Clive Gamble, an archaeologist in the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, and Dr Robert Kruszynski of the Natural History Museum.

The implement is considered the most important stone tool in the establishment of the geological antiquity of human kind. In April 1859, two English businessmen, Joseph Prestwich and John Evans, respectively interested in geology and archaeology, travelled to Amiens to search for evidence to prove the great antiquity of humans. They were searching for a specific type of stone tool which they wanted to extract themselves from undisturbed ground and which had to come from the same geological levels as the bones of extinct animals such as wooly mammoth and rhino. Accompanied by scientific witnesses and a photographer, they eventually discovered a flint axe, on April 27th 1859, in a gravel pit in St Acheul near Amiens.

Although it was impossible to date the implement precisely, the discovery dispelled the biblical view of Creation and provided evidence for a far more remote human antiquity than had hitherto been imagined. Our ancestors did not date back just 6,000 years; but to the era of ice age mammoths. The implement was exhibited at the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries in London, in May 1859, alongside the photograph of its discovery. On June 2nd, six months before Darwin’s publication of his Origin of Species, Sir John Evans (1823—1908) presented the stone in a lecture to the Society of Antiquaries. The axe thereafter disappeared, however, for 150 years.

In 2008, Professor Gamble began to research the axe for the 150th anniversary of Prestwich and Evans’ discovery. He explained why it had been forgotten for so long:

‘The answer is simple […]. As stone handaxes go it is an unfinished piece,
roughly made by a human ancestor 400,000 years ago. Prestwich and Evans would
have been amazed at such an age, but they had the task of convincing the
doubters in London and Paris that it was indeed a human artefact. Subsequently,
they found many better-made pieces, some entirely symmetrical that left no doubt
that these were produced by design and not accident’.

The Natural History Museum had received Prestwich’s collection in 1896. Dr Robert Kruszynski eventually discovered a triangular shaped tool with a small label with the words ‘St. Acheul Amiens April 27 – 59’ in the museum's collection.

For the first time since Evans presented his finds to the Society of Antiquaries in June 1859, the original flint stone will be displayed during a conference at the Society of Antiquaries on June 2nd. To mark the 150th anniversary of Evans’ lecture, speakers will discuss the circumstances of the famous discovery, the place of the find in Victorian science and the establishment of human antiquity. An article on the discovery is published in the June issue of the journal Antiquity. An entire section of the journal is notably devoted to the work of Charles Darwin and to the discovery of the axe.

For further information on the conference, visit http://www.sal.org.uk/

The website of the journal Antiquity is http://antiquity.ac.uk/

In our article published in May 2008, Clive Gamble revisits the time of the discovery of the flint axe and links this to contemporary debates about the antiquity of the human mind

Breaking the Time Barrier

For further information on Darwin and on the conflict between supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution and Creationists, read our articles The Descent of Genius: Charles Darwin's Brilliant Career and America's Difficulty with Darwin

Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War

by Kathryn Hadley

‘Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War’ opened on Saturday at the Imperial War Museum North. The exhibition explores the experiences of British and Commonwealth prisoners and civilian internees in Europe and the Far East during the Second World War, as well as those of German and Italian prisoners held in Britain. The display features art, objects, photographs, films and recordings, providing an insight into the daily lives of prisoners. It also includes rare footage of life in a POW camp in Britain. The video is also available on the website of the BBC.

People’s Stories of War

by Kathryn Hadley

Next week, at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, veterans representing the Royal and Merchant Navies, RAF, the Army and people living and working on the Home Front, will chat informally to visitors about their personal experiences of the war years. A day of activities will be also organised on Sunday 31st May, during which artefacts from the museum’s collection will be on display to gain an understanding of how war and conflict affected people’s lives, from the First World War through to post-Second World War and National Service.

People’s Stories of War
May 26th – 29th, 11am – 1pm, and May 31st
Imperial War Museum Duxford
Cambridgeshire CB22 4QR
Telephone: 01223 835 000
www.iwm.org.uk/duxford

Victory for Gurkha Veterans

by Kathryn Hadley

Yesterday, Thursday May 21st, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced in parliament that all Gurkha veterans who had served in the British Army for at least four years would be eligible for settlement in the UK.

‘Generations of Gurkhas have served the United Kingdom with great courage, sacrifice and distinction and they continue to make a vital and valued contribution to our operations around the world. Following the clear view expressed by the House of Commons - we have now amended our guidance to ensure that all Gurkhas who served for four years or more can have settlement rights. We will now welcome all those former Gurkhas who wish to live in the UK and we will begin to work through the outstanding cases that have not yet been granted settlement.’

The final victory came after an extremely lengthy campaign, which has been hugely publicised over the past months. The campaign showed initial signs of success in 2004, when the government granted the first Gurkhas the right to settle in the UK if they had served on, or after, July 1st, 1997. On July 1st, the Brigade of Gurkhas base was moved from Hong Kong to the UK. UK residence remained prohibited, however, to Gurkhas who had retired before July 1st, 1997. Whereas the majority of foreign soldiers in the British Army are granted the right to settle in the UK following four years service anywhere in the world, Gurkhas who retired before 1997 were forced to apply for individual visas.

A second victory came at the end of last September, when the London High Court ruled in favour of five Gurkha veterans and a Gurkha widow who had condemned the immigration law. However, it was estimated at the time that 2,000 Gurkhas were still refused UK residence and the judge, Mr Blake, set the Home Office a three-month deadline to review the specific immigration restrictions applicable to Gurkhas. The ensuing battle lasted a further six months. At the end of last year, the government demanded a three-month extension to draft proposals for new legislation and to review the remaining appeals and the deadline was pushed back.

All Gurkhas who have served in the British Army for at least four years will now be allowed to settle in the UK with their spouses and dependent children under the age of 18. The Home Office is expected to receive between 10,000 and 15,000 applications over the next two years. Jacqui Smith also announced yesterday that approximately 1,400 outstanding applications for settlement would be dealt with before June 11th.

An article reporting on the decision was published yesterday on the website of the Ministry of Defence. http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/GurkhasGrantedSettlementInTheUk.htm

Britain’s Maritime Heritage Is Vanishing!

by Kathryn Hadley

A recent deep-sea survey in the English Channel has revealed that Britain’s maritime cultural heritage has been considerably damaged as a result of the activities of the fishing industry and is in danger of being lost, forever.

The Royal Navy warship HMS Victory was lost in 1744 with Admiral Sir John Balchin, 1,100 sailors and 110 cannon. HMS Victory boasted the biggest cannon used in naval warfare and the largest collection of bronze guns. The 22-gun Marquise de Tournay was launched from Bordeaux as a French privateer and was captured and sunk by the British in 1757, allegedly on its way back from North America and the Caribbean. The wreck of the Marquise de Tournay is the only wreck of an 18th-century merchant vessel trading with the Americas to have been found in European waters. A 30-metre long merchant vessel, with a cargo of elephant tusks, iron cannon and manilla bracelet currency, was also lost in the mid 17th century.

These wrecks are just three of the 267 shipwrecks discovered in the English Channel during the recent survey carried out by Odyssey Marine Exploration. Covering an area of 4,725 square nautical miles, the survey is the most extensive archaeological survey of the western English Channel and the Western approaches ever undertaken. 115 (43%) of the 267 shipwrecks displayed permanent damage caused by trawlers and scallop dredges used by the international fishing industry.

HMS Victory and the wreck of the Marquise de Tournay lie within the most heavily fished section of the survey region and the 17th-century merchant vessel has been severely damaged by scallop dredges. Its hull has been almost completely destroyed and only a very small amount of its original cargo remains. Damage is caused to shipwrecks when trawlers plough the upper 6-20cm of the seabed to extract scallops and catch flatfish in nets weighing up to eight tons. Fishing vessels also cut furrows into shipwrecks, loosening archaeological deposits and dragging artefacts away from the sites. As the wrecks are exposed to oxygen, their wooden structures are broken up and the artefacts are washed away by currents.

In an article published on the website of The Times, Greg Stemm, chief executive of Odyssey Marine Exploration, described the damage caused to the wrecks:

‘When we got into this business, like everyone else we thought that beyond 50 or
60 metres, below the reach of divers, we’d find pristine shipwrecks. We thought
we’d be finding rainforest, but instead found an industrial site criss-crossed
by bulldozers and trucks.’

Dr Sean Kingsley, the Director of Wreck Watch International, a London based consultancy specialising in global maritime heritage, analysed the results of the survey. Ten key sites have been identified, which require further study, mapping, excavation and artefact recovery. The results of the project were published, yesterday, in a report which is available online http://www.shipwreck.net/publications.php

Odyssey’s study has been criticised, however, for overstating the damage caused to the shipwrecks. The Ministry of Defence has jurisdiction over warships’ remains and has asked English Heritage to carry out an assessment of threats to the site.

Throughout history the Channel has been of key strategic importance. It is estimated that the territorial waters of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and the Isles of Scilly alone contain 7,000 shipwrecks.

For a history of the Channel Tunnel, read our article The Channel Tunnel

Pictures (from top to bottom):

- Cannon with plastic rubbish and sacking in the foreground (Photo courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration, © 2009)

- Dense fishing net caught on the side of a post mid-20th century wooden shipwreck
- 12-pounder bronze cannon recovered from the shipwreck site of HMS Victory, on the deck of the Odyssey Explorer. (Photo courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. © 2008)

Earliest Films Stole Storylines from the Theatre

by Kathryn Hadley

David Mayer, Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Manchester, has recently published the results of a 32-year project charting the contribution of theatre to the early film industry. His book, entitled Stagestruck filmmakers: DW Griffiths and the American Theatre, was published in February. Very little was previously known about how the film industry, in its early days, drew extensively on the theatre repertoire for the subject matter of their films. Mayer began his project in the 1970s whilst researching film archives at the Washington Library of Congress and has since recovered numerous early films inspired from the theatre.

Academy Award-winning American film director, David Llewelyn Wark Griffith (1875-1948), was one of the most influential early filmmakers. He used theatre to inspire the first ever feature film and his most famous work, The Birth of a Nation (1915). The Birth of a Nation was a silent film and was one of the first films to be over an hour long. The film is set during and after the American Civil War and is based on the novel and play The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, published in 1905.

Other examples include the first ever special effects film Rescued from an Eagles Nest produced by J. Searle Dawley (1877-1949) in 1908, the subject matter of which is identical to a play by Con T Murphy entitled The Ivy Leaf.

Professor Mayer described the origins if the film industry:

‘Early filmmakers often came from immigrant communities looking for work or were
inventors who used the genre of film to showcase their new technology. ‘They
weren’t particularly interested in original content so it’s not that surprising
they would pilfer ideas from the theatre – a much more respectable genre.
Indeed, when film making began, theatre looked down on the industry as inferior
and there was a lot of snobbery. People who went into film sometimes used a
false name - or were often not credited at all. But I feel it’s high time that
the roots of film was duly acknowledged: there is no such thing as
pre-cinema.’

The year after The Birth of a Nation, Griffith produced Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Through the Ages (1916), which is considered one of the great masterpieces of the silent era. From 1908 to the 1930s, D. W. Griffith appeared in, directed or wrote the screen plays for 570 silent films and talkies. He was allegedly later described by Charlie Chaplin as ‘The Teacher of us All’.

Professor Mayer also stressed Griffith’s contribution to the birth of the film industry:

‘Griffith’s contribution to film is remarkable: he invented the close up and
different types of camera technology and filming techniques. What is remarkable
about Griffith was that he too was inspired by the theatre. His film for example
The birth of a nation was based on Thomas Dickson’s The Clansman. Though
undeniably racist, the film is one of the most influential ever made. It’s roots
though, were in the theatre.’

To find out more about the mixture of social realism and political commentary that inspired filmmakers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century, read our article The Unknown Hollywood
For further information about the birth of the British film industry in the East London suburb of Walthamstow, read our article 'Picture Shows': The Early British Film Industry in Walthamstow

Algerian Veterans Rewarded?

by Kathryn Hadley

On May 13th and 14th, last week, the French Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans, Jean-Marie Bockel, visited Algiers, to discuss the pensions of the Algerian veterans who fought for France during the Second World War. On Thursday, he awarded seven Algerian veterans a military medal in recognition of their contribution to the war effort and inaugurated a ‘Maison des Combattants’ (the French equivalent of a Royal British Legion Club) at the French embassy in Algiers. The centre is designed to provide medical and administrative assistance to almost 40,000 surviving Algerian veterans, who fought on the French side and participated in the Italian campaign from 1943 onwards, and the invasion of Provence, in August 1944.

The youngest veteran to be awarded a medal is 87 years old; the eldest is 93. One of the veterans, Tighzirt Mohand, allegedly speaks perfect French and was quoted in an article on the website of Le Monde:

‘J'ai combattu quatre ans dans l'armée française. Je ne regrette rien. J'ai
appris ce qu'étaient la peur et le courage. Et j'ai voyagé !’ (I fought for four
years in the French army. I have no regrets. I learnt the meaning of fear and
courage. I also travelled!)

The other six veterans did not all share Mohand’s enthusiasm and gratitude, however. Another 89 year-old veteran, Belkacem, argued that the medal was useless and explained that what he wanted, above all, was to be granted a visa in order to return to France. The ceremony was criticised for coming far too late, over 65 years after the events. It was also tainted by the painful memory of the Sétif massacre on May 8th, 1945, almost exactly 64 years before, which was a catalyst for the Algerian War.

Moreover, Bockel’s visit took place amidst current relatively tense diplomatic relations between France and Algeria. In the days leading up to the visit, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was re-elected on April 9th for a third term, had reiterated his demand for an official French apology for the detrimental effects and crimes of French colonialism in Algeria. Following his re-election, Bouteflika was invited on an official visit to France due in June. It remains uncertain, however, as to whether or not he will accept the invitation.

The ceremony brought lingering issues surrounding France’s colonial history and its official memory to the surface, once again. Over the course of the past year, steps have been taken towards granting increased recognition to the ‘victims’ of French colonialism and to the North Africans who supported France during the colonial era. In two interviews for Algerian newspapers published on the website of the French embassy in Algiers, Bockel addressed some of these issues. In 2007, moves began to increase the pensions of Algerian veterans to the same level as those of French war veterans. 47,000 war pensions are currently paid to Algerian veterans of the French army and to their families in Algeria. During the Second World War, 150,000 Algerian soldiers fought alongside French troops; 200,000 Algerians fought on the French side during the First World War.

As well as the veterans of both World Wars, the harkis fought alongside French troops during the Algerian War of Independence. By 1962, almost 200,000 Muslim auxiliaries were incorporated into the French army. The memory of the harkis is particularly difficult for various reasons. France and the French army were ashamed of their defeat and of their loss of a territory that had been a French departement for 132 years. Acknowledging the harkis, Algerians who had fought to maintain French rule, only exacerbated the shameful French defeat. After the ceasefire in March 1962, the French government forbade the repatriation of harkis and their families to France. It is estimated that approximately 150,000 harkis were murdered by the FLN, the Algerian independence forces. Those who were able to escape to France were placed in camps.

The Algerian War was only recognized as a war, as opposed to mere ‘operations de maintien de l’ordre’, in 1999. Ten years ago, France did not recognise that a war had been fought, let alone officially recognise the harkis. The recognition that the battles fought in Algeria between 1954 and 1962 constituted a war immediately raised questions and financial issues about compensation, pensions and rights for war veterans, both in France and Algeria.

In 2003, a decree was passed instituting a national day of remembrance for the harki soldiers. The government has also introduced measures to aid the integration in France of those harki veterans, their families and descendants who fled to France after the ceasefire. The majority of the archives relating to the Algerian War are now open and available to French and Algerian historians. France has also recently signed an agreement with the national Algerian archives to increase cooperation and facilitate the access to archives in both countries.

Many still follow Bouteflika's line, however, and demand an official apology for the crimes committed by the French authorities during the colonial era and the Algerian War. The war of memory, indeed of different and conflicting memories, is still being fought. The debate continues.

For further information on the difficult memory of the harkis, read Orphans of History
Numerous articles on the Algerian War from our archives are also listed on our History of France focus page.

Painting A Wall

by Kathryn Hadley

Painting A Wall opened on Thursday last week at the Finborough Theatre, to coincide with South Africa’s recent general elections. The play is set in Cape Town, in 1970, and explores the life of four Cape Coloured South African painters living under apartheid. Cape Coloureds refers to the modern-day descendants of slave labourers imported into South Africa by Dutch settlers, as well as to other groups of mixed ancestry. Under apartheid, the term Cape Coloureds referred to a specific category of Coloured South Africans amongst a variety of Coloured subgroups, which were defined by the apartheid bureaucracy. The policy of apartheid was adopted in South Africa when the National Party, founded by Afrikaner nationalists in 1914, came to power in 1948.

The title largely sums up the play. When the play begins the wall is bare; an hour later it is painted green. Throughout the duration of the play, the audience witnesses Peter, Henry, Willy and Samson painting the wall. The only element of staging is the wall; their life is painting the wall; and their only prospects are painting other walls (or, as Samson points out, lots of walls at once if they paint a house!).

The play is absurd and to a degree seems pointless. But the lives of the painters are also absurd and pointless. Beyond the monotony of painting the wall, lies an extensive use of symbolism, which indirectly raises important political issues about apartheid, the condition of Coloured workers and colonialism.

The wall, which must be painted white to comply with government regulations, is owned by the South African ‘white’ government and is a symbol of the oppressive rule of the National Party. The wall is a trap and a barrier. It is hard and unflinching and the four painters are unable to see what is beyond the wall. According to Willy, employing them to paint the wall is merely a way of keeping the Coloureds busy so that they are unable to do ‘anything else’. It is a means of preventing unrest, but also a means of narrowing their life prospects and keeping them under the tutelage of the ‘white’ government. The four men paint the wall and have no formal education. They speak pidgin English and Afrikaans and are prisoners of their limited vocabulary and inability to communicate. As Willy says, he only really knows five words, two of which are ‘wall’ and ‘paint’! He is unable to express himself, to fight for his rights, to get over the wall and to escape his life as a painter.

The four men are trapped in the world of being Coloured painters employed by the ‘white’ government and their lives have turned to absurdity. Their jobs are pointless, if they are merely employed in order to be kept under the government’s control. Their day’s work is absurd because they have been delivered the wrong colour of paint. They have to paint the wall to earn their daily wage, but will have to repaint it white the following day.

The absurdity of their lives is all the more tragic because all four characters are aware of their condition. They deal with it in different ways. They laugh and joke, they cry and even attempt suicide, they get on with their jobs or they run away. They shout and they fight. Samson’s constant repetition of the phrase ‘tell me if anything at all was done’ appears a sign of insanity.

However, even the realisation of their condition is futile because they remain trapped. Henry and Samson are in desperate need of their jobs in order to support their families. Their individuality is suppressed. Henry is a talented painter, but his talent is wasted because painting a wall requires no creativity. He paints a picture on the wall, but he eventually has to paint over it. Their lives are wasted. At the end of the play, when they have finished painting the wall, Willy asks where they are now going. They do not know. They will go where they are told. They will paint the next wall with the paint they are given and, if the paint is the wrong colour, they will paint the wall again. They will not escape and, despite moments of frustration and threats to leave and to never paint walls again, they will remain painters.

The play is somewhat frustrating because it lacks dynamism. But this lack of dynamism is a wider reflection of the lives of the painters, which lead nowhere. The play is most frustrating because of the message of hopelessness which it conveys. It requires patience in order to decipher and reflect on the various issues about South Africa, apartheid, racism, white rule and colonialism which it raises, albeit subtly and discreetly.

For further information on the origins of the British movement to oppose apartheid, read our article When the Boycott Began to Bite For further information on the ‘Border War’ fought to maintain apartheid, read our article South Africa’s Forgotten War

Painting A Wall
May 12th – June 6th
Finborough Theatre
118 Finborough Road
London SW10 9ED
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Unpacking the Mexican Suitcase

by Kathryn Hadley

The Mexican Suitcase, three small damaged cardboard boxes, arrived at the International Center of Photography in New York from Mexico City in late December 2007. It contained the Spanish Civil War negatives of Robert Capa, which were presumed lost following their disappearance from his Paris studio at the beginning of the Second World War. Two weeks ago, the International Center of Photography announced the completion of the digitization of the lost negatives, which are now available online.

The suitcase contained a total of 4,300 frames in 126 rolls of film, taken between May 1936 and March 1939. Approximately one third of the rolls were attributed to Capa, but 46 rolls were also attributed to David Seymour and 32 are believed to have been taken by Gerda Taro. They reveal Taro and Capa’s full coverage of important stories such as the Battle of Teruel, from late December 1937 to early January 1938, and Capa’s photographs of the internment camps for Spanish refugees in the south of France, taken in March 1939. The Taro film includes rolls of her final days shooting in Spain before she was killed during the Battle of Brunete in July 1937. Many of Seymour’s photos were also previously unknown. They include images of daily life and republican parades, as well as portraits of important figures of the republican cause, such as President Manuel Azana and Federico Garcia Lorca. They also reveal his coverage of the Basque area, which he visited in January 1937.

Capa, Seymour and Taro were Jewish immigrants from Hungary, Poland and Germany, who were all working in Paris in the 1930s. In October 1939, however, as German forces were advancing towards Paris, Capa fled to New York. It is believed that he left all his negatives in his Paris studio with his dark room manager Imre "Csiki" Weiss (1911–2006). The story of the rolls and their journey from France, to Mexico, to New York is extraordinary.

Weiss was also a Jewish Hungarian émigré. He did not manage to flee from Paris, however, and was interned in Morocco. He was released by Robert Capa and his brother Cornell Capa (the founder of ICP), in 1941, and thereafter travelled to Mexico. In July 1975, Weiss wrote a letter to Cornell Capa in which he described what he had done with the negatives at the time of the German invasion in 1939:

‘In 1939, when the Germans approached Paris, I put all Bob's negatives in a
rucksack and bicycled it to Bordeaux to try to get it on a ship to Mexico. I met
a Chilean in the street and asked him to take my film packages to his consulate
for safekeeping. He agreed.’

It is now also known that the suitcase was given to the Mexican ambassador to the Vichy government, General Francisco Aguilar González, in 1941-42. How this happened remains a mystery, however. Where were the negatives between 1939 and 1941 and who gave them to the Mexican ambassador? Did González ever know that he was the receiver of the negatives? If he did, was he aware of their significance? González died in 1971.

The negatives only eventually resurfaced in 1995, when they were discovered by the Mexican film producer Benjamin Traver. Traver’s aunt was a close friend of General Francisco Aguilar González and, following the death of his aunt, Traver inherited the negatives. In 1995, he contacted Professor Jerald R. Green from Queens College in New York asking for advice on how to catalogue the negatives and make them available to the public. Green was a friend of Cornell Capa and informed him of the letter. In 2003, in preparation for two exhibitions on Capa and Taro scheduled for 2007, chief curator Brian Wallis contacted Traver to ask him to return the negatives. He was, however, unsuccessful and in early 2007 he employed an independent curator and filmmaker, Trisha Ziff, based in Mexico City to help him to persuade Traver. Ziff first met Traver in May 2007. On December 19th 2007, Ziff arrived at the ICP with the suitcase.

Following the successful scanning and digitization of the rolls, the ICP is currently pursuing research on the negatives in preparation for an exhibition and publication planned for the autumn of 2010.

The ICP launched a website devoted to the mysterious story of the Mexican suitcase and to its conservation work to preserve the suitcase and scan its contents. For further information, visit http://museum.icp.org/mexican_suitcase/

For further information on the Spanish Civil War, visit our Spanish History focus page.

Eiffel Tower marks 120th anniversary

by Kathryn Hadley

Studies and plans for the design of the Eiffel Tower began in 1884. Work on digging the first foundations began on January 26th, 1887. The construction of the tower lasted two years, two months and five days. It was inaugurated on March 31st, 1889, and was officially opened on May 6th for the first day of the 1889 Universal Exhibition. Between its official opening in May 1889 and December 31st, 2008, 243 376 000 people visited the Eiffel Tower and over the past 120 years it has inspired countless films, songs, books, poems and works of art, as well as sporting feats and challenges. It has received numerous visits from celebrities and political figures, including Thomas Edison, Dwight Eisenhower, Youri Gagarine, Rajiv Gandhi, Michel Platini, Hu Jintao and Michael Jackson, and has been the subject of numerous exhibitions both in France and across the world, from Venezuela, Mexico, Panama and the United States, to Europe, Japan and Shanghai.

This year, to mark the 120th anniversary of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, two exhibitions in particular are being held in Paris. ‘Gustave Eiffel, le magicien du fer’ is on show at the town hall until the end of August and tells the story of the construction of the tower and its creator through a display of photos, paintings, sketches and models. ‘Tales of the Eiffel Tower’ opens, tomorrow, on the first floor and the stairs of the Eiffel Tower. It includes a display of posters, photos, illustrations and interactive presentations, which chart the construction of the tower, how it has inspired artists throughout its history and has been replicated and represented throughout the world.

The official website of the Eiffel Tower includes a ‘Documentation’ section with statistics and information about the history of the tower, its maintenance and its legacy and influence over the past 120 years. For further information, visit http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/
For further information about the controversy and protest sparked by the construction of the Eiffel Tower, read our article Eiffel's Tower

Gustave Eiffel, le magicien du fer
Until August 28th
Hotel de Ville
5, rue de Lobau
75004 Paris
http://www.paris.fr/

Tales of the Eiffel Tower
May 15th – December 31st
5 avenue Anatole FranceChamps de Mars75007 Paris
http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/

News of the Spanish Civil War: British volunteers remembered and republican propaganda posters online

by Kathryn Hadley

The Spanish Ministry of Culture has recently made live a collection of 2280 republican political posters printed between 1936 and 1939, which provide an insight into republican propaganda during the Spanish Civil War. The collection was put up on the website of PARES (Portal de Archivos Espanoles). The website is part of a project launched by the Ministry of Culture to create an online database of Spanish national archives.

One of the Ministry of Culture’s most recent projects is to put online and provide public access to the Archivo Rojo. The Archivo Rojo is a collection of 3051 black and white photographs, taken before and during the Spanish Civil War, and commissioned by the council responsible for the defense of Madrid. They document various aspects of the war, including weapons and military equipment, the destruction of buildings, casualties, military hospitals and prisoners of war, and were used as propaganda by the republican government to reveal the horrors and destruction of the Civil War.

With the view that propaganda could be used as an effective weapon against fascism, the republican government created the Ministry of Propaganda in 1936. In an article published in the national newspaper, the Gaceta de la Republica, the following year, Manuel Azana described its role: to reveal to the Spanish people the dramatic reality and consequences of the war; to inform international opinion of the efforts of the Spanish people and their legitimate government to fight to their freedom; and to prepare public opinion for the necessary rebuilding of Spain in the aftermath of the war. The Ministry of Propaganda was, however, relatively short-lived as it became gradually taken over by the fascist forces. In 1938, the Servicio Nacional de Prensa was created under the authority of Franco’s Ministry of the Interior.

The archives are available on http://pares.mcu.es/

A plaque was also unveiled, last Thursday, in the small Fuencarral Cemetery, in the northern outskirts of Madrid, to honour the 2,000 British members of the International Brigades who fought on the side of the republican government during the Spanish Civil War. There were already plaques on the wall of the cemetery dedicated to the memory of the Polish, French, Jewish, Yugoslavian and Italian volunteers, but, until last week, there was no national memorial to the British soldiers. This move to remember the British volunteers was, however, criticised for coming too late.

To the present day, 525 British victims of the conflict lie in unmarked graves across Spain. There remain only seven British survivors of the 2,000 volunteers who fought against Franco’s troops. They are all in their 90s and were too frail to be able to travel to attend the brief ceremony organised in their memory, last week.

It is necessary, however, to put the remembrance of the British volunteers into perspective. The Spanish government only officially recognised the victims of the Spanish Civil War and of the Franco dictatorship, including its own Spanish victims, just over a year ago with the promulgation of the Ley de Memoria, the Law of Historical Memory, on October 31st 2007. In October last year, the cabinet of Zapatero announced plans for new legislation designed to offer official recognition and compensation to the victims of the Spanish Civil War, including measures to recognise the role of foreign volunteers and to make it easier for surviving members of the International Brigades to obtain Spanish nationality. Foreign volunteers were first offered Spanish citizenship thirteen years ago. Despite Zapatero’s announcement last year, a date has yet to be fixed for them to be awarded joint citizenship.

For further information on the memory of the Spanish Civil War, read our articles Reading History: The Spanish Civil War and Revenge and Reconciliation

For general information on the Spanish Civil War, visit our Spanish History focus page.

Image: one of the political posters on the Portal de Archivos Espanoles, quoting the Prime Minister of the time, Juan Negrin: 'to resist was, and remains today, to open up the route to victory'

Death of the last wartime MP

by Kathryn Hadley

Ernest Millington, the last surviving member of the wartime House of Commons died in France last Saturday May 9th, aged 93. Following the death of John Profumo on March 10th 2006, Millington was the only living MP elected prior to the 1945 general election. He was also the last surviving person to have served as a Common Wealth Party MP.

In December 1944, the Tory MP for Chelmsford, John MacNamara, was killed when his aircraft was shot down in Italy. A by-election was then called and Millington was asked if he would stand for the Common Wealth Party. In accordance with the truce for by-elections signed by the wartime coalition government, the Liberal, Labour and Conservative parties agreed that all casual vacancies should be filled unopposed. However, the truce did not prevent minor parties from participating. In April 1945, Millington won the Chelmsford by-election with a majority of 6,431. He entered the Houses of Parliament on April 26th and was in the House of Commons for Churchill’s VE Day speech. He was re-elected in the general election on July 5th, three months later.

Millington was an RAF pilot during the war. He was successively promoted and eventually became Wing Commander and commanded a heavy bomber squadron. He was later awarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross. He joined the Common Wealth Party in 1944. Elected at the age of 29, Millington was the Commons’ youngest MP. He was also one of the first public figures to question the aerial bombardment of Germany, when he told the House of Commons, in March 1946:

‘We want - that is, the people who served in Bomber Command of the Royal Air
Force and their next of kin - a categorical assurance that the work we did was
militarily and strategically justified.’

Although he was initially elected as a member of the Common Wealth Party, in April 1946, Millington joined the Labour party instead. He lost his seat in parliament to the conservative Hubert Ashton in 1950. He briefly rejoined the RAF in 1954, but thereafter went on to pursue a career as a teacher. Millington retired to the Dordogne in the early 1980s. His autobiography entitled Was That Really Me? was published in 2006.

The Common Wealth Party was founded in 1942 by Sir Richard Acland, putting forward candidates who rejected the wartime electoral truce. It constituted the only opposition to government during the wartime parliament. The Common Wealth Party archives, which record the party’s activities and ideology through contemporaneous publications and later recollections by its leading figures, are held by Sussex University.

Millington was interviewed by the BBC just a month ago. He recalled the day of his electoral victory:

‘I had almost completed a tour of operational flying and thought that it would
make a pleasant change from 'flying a desk' or going back to instructing, to
being a candidate for Parliament, especially as CommonWealth had a splendid
record of not being elected. I had no desire to become an MP’.

In the same interview he also described the atmosphere in the Houses of Parliament towards the end of the war:

‘There was a deep desire, particularly among Labour MPs and voters, for change.’

For further information on the political mood in Britain during the Second World War, read our article The Mood of Britain

For general information on the Second World War, visit our Second World War focus page.

Mont Athos treasures on display for the first time outside Greece

by Kathryn Hadley

Almost 200 works of art, including paintings, illustrated manuscripts, icons and religious relics, from the male-only orthodox enclave in northern Greece, Mount Athos, are currently on public display for the first time outside Greece in an exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris. The artefacts are from the collections of the 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos, which are believed to house one of the largest collections of Christian art in the world. Many of the treasures have not even been on display outside Mount Athos before.

Mont Athos, situated on the easternmost of the three Chalkidike peninsulas in northeastern Greece, is also known as the Holy Mountain. It was the centre of Greek Orthodox monastic spirituality and theological study in the Byzantine period. It first flourished under Emperor Nikephoros Phokas (963-69) and, by about 1100, was a self-governing monastic republic. Politically, it is now known in Greece as the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. Only males who are over the age of 18 and are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church are allowed to live on Athos. The peninsula is only accessible by boat and the number of visitors is restricted.

Le Mont Athos et l’Empire byzantin, Trésors de la Sainte montagne au Petit Palais
Until July 5th
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
Telephone: 00 33 11 53 43 40 00
www.petitpalais.paris.fr

Pavlopetri: the preservation of the oldest submerged town in the world

by Kathryn Hadley

Pavlopetri lies three to four metres beneath the sea off the coast of southern Laconia in Greece. With parts of its ruins dating back to at least 2800BC, it is considered the oldest submerged town in the world. Some of the town’s buildings, courtyards, streets, chamber tombs and some 37 cist graves, from the later Mycenaean period (c.1680-1180 BC), have been preserved almost intact. The site is, nevertheless, in need of active efforts to preserve and document what remains of this period of Greek history. The coast of southern Laconia is a popular tourist destination and boats dragging anchors, snorkelers and the growth of marine life are a constant threat to the 3,500 year old walls.

The University of Nottingham announced, today, May 11th, the beginning of a project led by Dr Jon Henderson, from the Underwater Archaeology Research Centre (UARC) in its Department of Archaeology, to undertake a full underwater survey of the site. No work has been carried out on the site since it was first mapped using hand tapes, in 1968, by a team from the University of Cambridge. Dr Henderson is the first archaeologist to have official access to the site in 40 years.

Dr Henderson described one of the aims of the project:

‘This site is of rare international archaeological importance. It is imperative
that the fragile remains of this town are accurately recorded and preserved
before they are lost forever. A fundamental aim of the project is to raise
awareness of the importance of the site and ensure that it is ethically managed
and presented to the public in a way which is sustainable and of benefit to both
the development of tourism and the local community.’

The power of the Mycenaean civilisation was largely based on their control of the sea. However, archaeological studies have, to this date, mostly focused on better known inland palaces and citadels and their remains a lack of knowledge about the workings of harbour towns during the period. It is believed that Pavlopetri, in particular, with its sandy and well-protected bay, was an important harbour where local and long-distance trade was conducted throughout the Mediterranean.

The current project will research the history and development of the harbour, when it was occupied and what it was used for. A study of the geomorphology of the area will also seek to provide an insight into why the town disappeared under the sea. The first detailed digital underwater survey of the site will be carried out this month and in June, using an acoustic scanner which can produce three-dimensional digital surveys. There will be three further sessions of underwater excavations between 2010 and 2012. A study session is planned for 2013 and the results of the research are due to be published in 2014. Dr Nicholas Flemming, who first discovered the town in 1967, is also involved in the current project.

The Mycenaean civilisation was the first Greek-speaking civilisation, named after Mycenae, its most important site, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. The population was ruled by a number of independent rulers, who each had their own stronghold. They notably conquered Crete in approximately 1450 BC, where they adapted the Linear A script to write their own language (Linear B). The Mycenaean period is also referred to as the Bronze Age period in Greek history and notably provided the historical setting for a considerable part of Ancient Greek literature and myth, including Homer’s Age of Heroes.

Pictures: above: outline of a building;

middle picture: one of the 37 cist graves

(University of Nottingham)

Discovering and Documenting Rome’s Catacombs

by Kathryn Hadley

The catacombs of Rome are a series of underground Christian, Jewish and pagan burial sites, which date back to the 2nd century AD, when the Christians of Rome began to bury their dead underground. There are over 40 catacombs in total, which extend over 170km (105 miles). In the 16th century, Antonio Bosio (1575-1629) explored the catacombs for the first time and research continued to the present day. Nevertheless, the catacombs have not yet been fully documented and, although the general lines of their development and origins have been studied, the individual history of each catacomb remains unknown. Due to safety concerns, only approximately 500 metres of the galleries are currently accessible to the public.

At the beginning of this year, however, a team of ten Austrian and Italian computer scientists, archaeologists and architects completed the first part of a three-year project to construct a virtual model of the catacomb of Saint Domitilla. The model enables you to travel through walls, down corridors and into chambers and to view some of the vivid paintings on the walls of the burials.

In an article published on the website of the BBC, Dr Norbert Zimmerman, the leader of the project, from the Vienna Academy of Sciences, described the model:

‘It is not a virtual image, it is not animation - what you are seeing is real
data […] Its moving, 3D flexibility, gives you the chance to compare areas, to
assess the ways the Catacombs were developed over time, to analyse how and why
those who built them did what they did. That's never been possible before.’

Saint Domitilla is the largest catacomb of Rome with tunnels, caves, galleries and burial chambers stretching over approximately 15km (9 miles) on a number of levels. It comprises a series of isolated pagan tombs and early anonymous community burials, which date back to the 3rd century. Burial activities ceased in Saint Domitilla in the 5th century, but, the catacomb was thereafter used as a pilgrimage sanctuary with the graves of the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus, until the Middle Ages. The catacomb includes 80 painted tombs, representing one of the largest inventories of catacomb paintings.

The project began in January 2006 in an attempt to create a three dimensional model of the catacomb using laser scanners. Between January 2006 and the beginning of 2009, nine separate scanning campaigns were carried out documenting the entire accessible area of the catacomb. Following the completion of the first part of the project, the images have now been returned to Vienna to be studied in more detail and scientists are currently working on the repertory of the paintings. In October 2008, it was decided that the project would be extended for a further three years.

Dr Zimmerman explained that there were no current plans to scan the whole of the complex:

‘That is a big job, but it may well be needed if we are to really understand
this incredible historical phenomenon and if we are to make a proper detailed
study whilst these caves are still intact.’

He also confirmed plans to make most the results of the project available to the public:

‘We will publish our findings to reveal, for the first time, just how impressive
these tombs were and how the people of that time went to so much effort to bury
their dead.’

For further information, visit the website of the project http://www.oeaw.ac.at/antike/institut/arbeitsgruppen/christen/domitilla_engl1.html

Toy Tales

by Kathryn Hadley





'Toy Tales' opens, tomorrow May 9th, at the Bowes Museum. The exhibition celebrates 60 years of BBC children’s television programmes, original animation, puppets and stage sets with a display which includes artwork from Bagpuss, 1950s Muffin the Mule toys, as well as Paddington Bear, Teletubbies and Postman Pat memorabilia.




Toy Tales
Bowes Museum
Barnard Castle
County Durham DL12 8NP
Telephone: 01833 690 606
http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/




Pictures: Paddington Bear (©P&Co Ltd/FF Ltd 2009) and Major from The Clangers (© 2009 Oliver Postgate & Peter Firmin)

Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money

by Kathryn Hadley

Amongst the various anniversaries being celebrated this year is the bicentenary of the death of the British industrialist, Matthew Boulton (1728-1809).
Boulton was the first to introduce the steam-powered mint in his Soho Manufactory, built in 1762, and is often considered the founder of modern coinage. From 1775 onwards, he worked in partnership with the Scottish engineer James Watt. In 1797, he was granted a Royal Mint contract to strike copper coinage at Soho and Boulton & Watt steam engines and minting machinery were exported worldwide for the first time.
To mark the anniversary, 'Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money' opens today at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts. The exhibition features over 140 coins, tokens and medals produced by Boulton’s team during his lifetime and explores the art of making money from a variety of perspectives, including mechanical art, fine art and the art of making a profit.

For a programme of the various events organised throughout the year, a biography of Matthew Boulton, picture gallery, bibliography and links to websites containing information on Boulton and archive collections featuring Boulton-related material, visit www.matthewboulton2009.org

For further information on Matthew Boulton and his efforts to reform the coinage system and to fight against counterfeiters in the Midlands, read our article The Birmingham Coiners, 1770-1816

Matthew Boulton and the Art of Making Money
Until May 16th, 2010
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TS
Telephone: 0121 414 7333
www.barber.org.uk

Action Men Fight Again

by Kathryn Hadley

‘Action Man’ toys were born in 1966, when Palitoy launched its mass-production of these lifelike figures with moving joints and eyes. Production stopped, however, in the late 1990s. Over the past 18 months, the UK’s Character Group toy firm has been working with the Ministry of Defence to produce a modern version of the toy. The new figures will go on sale tomorrow, on the anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day in Europe.

The models will be sold under the ‘HM Armed Forces’ brand name and include three different types of 25-centimetre (10-inch) action figures representing each branch of the armed forces: the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. According to Character Group, the models are precise scaled-down versions of real soldiers. Their clothes and equipment are identical to the authentic uniforms. The army Infantryman is dressed, for example, in the same desert combat uniform as troops currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the navy range includes a diver wearing a wetsuit, flippers, mask and oxygen tank.

The company also announced that it would launch its first female soldier before the end of the year, as well as a villain modelled on an al-Qaida terrorist. The initial range already includes a black figure, but the Ministry of Defence said that other ethnic minorities would also be included. Jon Diver, the head of Character Group, explained, however, that the villains would not be dressed as Arabs wearing head-dresses. He was quoted in an article published on the website of The Guardian:

‘We don't want to get into that all […] We are asked by retailers to have a bad
figure, so we came up with a generic character.’

The range also includes military equipment and vehicles. The figures will sell for between £15 and £40 and the equipment will cost up to £100 for a pair of Deluxe Night Vision Goggles!

Palitoy was founded, in 1919, as the Cascelloid Company by Alfred Pallet. The first toy to be produced was a windmill in 1920. Five years later, the first doll was produced. Although toy production slowed down as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War, it recovered in the late 1940s. Palitoy was sold to General Mills in 1968. It became Palitoy Company in 1980, when Palitoy, Denys Fischer and Chad Valley broke away from General Mills. Alfred Pallet died in 1982 and, in 1986, the company ceased trading. Factories, toy moulds and copyrights were all subsequently bought by Hasbro.

As to the future of the HM Armed Forces Action Man, Jon Diver believes that:

‘What makes this unique is bringing the MoD in to authenticate the figures.
Could it be as big as Doctor Who? I certainly think it has a chance.’

A slideshow on the website of The Guardian depicts the development of the Action Man figures from 1966 to the present models.

Toys are not just a means of entertainment, however. This article by John Brewer charts the history of the educational toy and reveals the importance of toys to understand changing conceptions of childhood and social attitudes towards play, from the 16th century to the present day. Childhood Revisited: The Genesis of the Modern Toy

In the 4th century BC Plato and Aristotle were already advocating the benefits of children’s games as a stimulus to learning and good citizenship. For further information, read our article Child's Play in Classical Athens

To find out about toys, games and childhood in medieval England, read our article Child's Play in Medieval England

The Fallen of Fromelles: First World War Soldiers Unearthed

by Kathryn Hadley

Work began yesterday, May 5th, in the small village of Fromelles in northern France to recover the remains of over 400 British and Australian soldiers believed to be buried in a mass grave just outside the village. The soldiers were massacred during the battle of Fromelles, which was fought on July 19th, 1916, six miles west of Lille near the Belgian border.

The Fromelles offensive was a modest attack launched by Haig in an attempt to divert German resources away from the Somme, 50 miles to the south of Fromelles, following the outbreak of violent fighting 18 days earlier. The Australian 5th Division and the British 61st Division fought together in an effort to capture the village and the ridge overlooking the battlefield. The offensive was a disaster: during the 24-hour battle, the Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties and the British suffered 1,547 casualties. At the time of the attack, the Australian troops had only been in France a couple of weeks and it was the first major action involving Australians on the Western Front. They suffered more casualties in a 24-hour period than at any other time in their history. In the aftermath of the battle, the commander of the Bavarian troops allegedly offered a truce so that the bodies could be recovered, however, the Allied commanders refused and the Germans consequently dug a mass grave and buried the bodies.

At the request of the Australian government, active research began on the site in May 2008, by a team from Glasgow University led by Dr Tony Pollard. Following preliminary excavation work, it is now believed that 170 Australian and 300 British troops are buried in a series of eight pits. British and Australian authorities have published the names of the soldiers they hope to identify and have asked families for DNA samples in order to identify the bodies. Once the remains have been removed from the grave, they will be taken to a temporary mortuary where they will be cleaned, photographed and preserved. The project is expected to last six months.

On July 31st 2008, the British and Australian governments officially announced their plans to rebury the bodies in individual graves in a new military cemetery. The building of the cemetery, due to open in the spring of 2010, will be overseen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The new cemetery will be the first complete First World War cemetery to be built for almost 50 years.

In the aftermath of the battle, the bodies were buried by German troops and, somewhat ironically, the leading forensic anthropologist of the current project, Roland Wessling, is also German. In an article published on the website of the BBC, he described the importance of the project:

‘We are very aware of just how important the recovery of the bodies are to very
many people, both in the UK and in Australia. It's equally important to the
people in this part of France. They live daily with this and are very passionate
about this.’

Caroline Barker, the project’s leading anthropologist, also explained the aim of the research:

‘It is to ensure that we can take these soldiers out of the ground and give them
a decent burial, which is something they are entitled to as fallen soldiers. And
they will be the same as their mates. That is what we are trying to achieve and
I think that is unique.’

For more information on the project, visit the website of the Australian Ministry of Defence, which will be updated throughout the duration of the project: www.defence.gov.au/fromelles

For more information on the Battle of the Somme, read our articles Summing Up The Somme and The Somme Battlefield

Visit our French History Page!

by Kathryn Hadley

I have just updated our French History Resources page with three new exhibitions currently on show in Paris...

France is also celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth! For a French perspective on Darwin's contribution to the history of evolution and the debates surrounding the origin of the human species, visit the new interactive exhibition 'De Toumai a Sapiens: la ruee vers l'Homme' at the Cite des Sciences in Paris. I have not had the opportunity to visit the exhibition myself yet, so any comments and reviews would be very welcome!

To find out about the man who designed some of France's most famous buildings, including the dome of Les Invalides and the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, an exhibition devoted to the career of Jules Hardouin-Mansart is being held at the Musee Carnavalet in the Marais area in Paris until the end of June.

And if you are visiting the Marais area and wish to see Marie-Antoinette's last letter or Napoleon I's will, pay a visit to the French National Archives, which is currently hosting an exhibition to mark the 200th anniversary since the national archives were moved to their current location in the heart of Paris!

For more information on each of the exhibitions, visit our French History Resources page.

For some background reading on Darwin, read our articles The Descent of Genius: Charles Darwin's Brilliant Career and America's Difficulty with Darwin
For more information about the Hotel National des Invalides, read our article Les Invalides, Paris

Hero of The Great Escape dies

by Kathryn Hadley

The Second World War veteran, Alex Lees, who helped to organise the escape attempt from the Nazi camp Stalag Luft III, which inspired the film The Great Escape (1963) died on April 22nd, aged 97. His funeral took place at the end of last week. Lees was a prisoner at the Stalag Luft III camp, now situated in Poland, when a group of approximately 100 Allied servicemen sought to organise one of the greatest escape attempts of the Second World War, in March 1944.

The prisoners prepared the escape for almost an entire year. In April 1943, using old tin cans, they began to dig three tunnels almost 10 metres underground, which they named Tom, Dick and Harry. The tunnels were supported with pieces of wood from camp beds and old pieces of furniture. Lees was a gardener at the camp and slept in Hut 104 at the entrance to one of the tunnels. He helped to remove the soil from the tunnels by storing it in his trousers and then spreading it on the camp’s vegetable patches. The escape attempt eventually began during the night on March 24th, 1944. 76 prisoners managed to escape. However, only three successfully returned to Britain: 23 prisoners were recaptured and returned to the camp and 50 were executed by the Gestapo in an effort to deter any more attempts to escape.

Lees was not given the chance to join the escape because he was not an officer. He had joined the Royal Army Service Corps in 1940 as a driver and was captured in June the following year, aged 29, on the Greek island of Crete. He was eventually freed by Allied troops in 1945. He returned to Scotland where he pursued his career as an insurance broker. He spent the last years of his life in a home for ex-service personnel in Erskine, Renfrewshire, to the West of Glasgow. Two years ago he wrote down his wartime recollections in an autobiography entitled Before It’s Too Late.

He described the escape in an interview with the Paisley Daily Express:

‘It was just like the way it was portrayed in The Great Escape movie. I had been
given the job of looking after the garden and I would take the dirt out to the
vegetable patch, rake away the top soil, dump the earth and then cover it back
up. The German guards never suspected a thing. I would carry the sand in Red
Cross boxes and then dispose of it by raking it through the top soil where I was
growing tomatoes […] I wasn’t eligible to go through because it was for officers
only. I had mixed feelings about it. I wanted to go but I also knew I wouldn’t
have got very far because I didn’t speak German.’

For further information on British efforts to forge a Balkan front to save Greece from Nazi Germany, read our article Eden’s Balkan Odyssey.

For general information on the Second World War, visit our Second World War focus page.

Re-opening of Willis Museum in Basingstoke

by Kathryn Hadley

The Willis Museum in Basingstoke re-opened to the public on Saturday May 2nd, following restoration work on the Georgian Town Hall, originally designed by Lewis Wyatt in the 1830s.
To mark the re-opening of the museum a new exhibition celebrating the work of the locally renowned artist Diana Stanley also opened to the public on May 2nd in the Sainsbury Gallery, one of the two newly refurbished galleries. It will be followed by the British Museum’s ‘China: Journey to the East’ exhibition, currently on tour in the UK, which opens on August 1st.

Willis Museum
Market Place
Basingstoke
Hampshire, RG21 7QD
Telephone: 0845 603 5635
www.hants.gov.uk/willis-museum

Elizabethan Garden Flowers Again

by Kathryn Hadley

A reconstruction of the pleasure garden created by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, to impress Queen Elizabeth I will open to the public at Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire, tomorrow, on Saturday May 2nd. The garden includes an aviary with pheasants and canaries, carved arbours and obelisks, wild strawberries, perfumed plants and pear trees. The centrepiece of the garden is a carved marble fountain which stands over 18ft (5m) high.

The reconstructed garden was inspired from a detailed 16th-century description of the garden by Robert Langham, an official in Leicester’s household. Although the garden was designed as a ‘privy’, a private garden, closed to all but the queen’s closest companions, one day the gardener allegedly allowed Langham to enter the garden. He subsequently described what he saw in a letter chronicling the 1575 Kenilworth festivities, providing one of the longest and most detailed eyewitness accounts of an Elizabethan garden.

In Langham’s words, the garden was an ‘entire delight unto all senses’ and he went on to describe these sensations:

‘the pleasant whisking wind above, or delectable coolness of the fountain-spring beneath, to taste of delicious strawberries, cherries, and other fruits… to smell such fragrancy of sweet odours, breathing from the plants, herbs, and flowers, to hear such natural melodious music and tunes of birds…’.

In 2004 and 2006, archaeological excavations also uncovered the foundation and white marble fragments of the original fountain, confirming Langham’s description and enabling the garden’s lay-out to be accurately mapped.

Kenilworth Castle
Warwickshire
CV8 1NE
Telephone: 01926 852078
www.english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworth

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