Jean Collen's Blog, page 27
August 15, 2012
At the Olympics: how to uninspire a generation… | gramophone.co.uk
I agree with Rebecca Hutter. There are many brilliant British classical artistes and composers so it is a shame that more of them were not featured in the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. The same criticism could be made about the concert outside Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Jubilee, where there was only a token number of classical performers. Although the Olympians are young, I do not think we should assume that all young people prefer pop music to classical music. All these occasions would have been ideal opportunities for showcasing young classical musicians.
via At the Olympics: how to uninspire a generation… | gramophone.co.uk.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
15 August 2012
I agree with Rebecca Hutter. There are many brilliant British classical artistes and composers so it is a shame that more of them were not featured in the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies. The same criticism could be made about the concert outside Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Jubilee, where there was only a token number of classical performers. Although the Olympians are young, I do not think we should assume that all young people prefer pop music to classical music. All these occasions would have been ideal opportunities for showcasing young classical musicians.
via At the Olympics: how to uninspire a generation… | gramophone.co.uk.
7 July 2012
If You’re Booked by the Johannesburg Philharmonic, watch out: They Don’t Pay!
I am very disappointed to hear this sad news. The SABC orchestra employed many foreign musicians and most left for pastures new when the SABC orchestra was disbanded, presumably because it was too “Eurocentric” for the new dispensation in South Africa. The orchestra has been struggling to make ends meet over the years and I thought that things would be put right when it received fresh funding from the National Lottery a year or two ago. Like many other things in South Africa today, ranging from non-delivery of text books to government schools in Limpopo province, and non-payment of fees by government hospitals so that patients cannot receive essential treatment for life-threatening diseases, it looks as though the orchestra is being mismanaged in the same way.
June 2012
Let’s ban music from the London Olympics.
I think it is a dreadful idea to play music as a background to events at the Olympics. I have noticed recently that loud pop music is played every time there is a short pause in a cricket or rugby match, not to mention the constant cacophony of so-called “music” I am subjected to in shopping centres and supermarkets. Have we reached the stage that we can do nothing without the accompaniment of egregious pop music? I will be following Dave’s advice and will watch the Olympic events on TV with the sound turned down. As for not paying fees to head-line acts and volunteers who appear at the Olympics – that is yet another disgrace.
11 February 2012
It is over three months since I have posted anything here. I made the following comment about Samuel Coleridge Taylor‘s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast today:
While I was never lucky enough to see any performance of “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast”, my late singing teacher and life-long friend, tenor Webster Booth, took part in many performances of the work under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent. His first performance was in July 1937 when he and the rest of the cast were clad in American Indian costumes and I have an imposing photo of Webster in his full regalia. He later sang in the fiftieth anniversary performance of the work. Malcolm Sargent chose him as soloist in the work to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Webster’s recording of “Onaway, awake, beloved” (1947) is one of his finest recordings.
2012
Georgina Guedes wrote an article about working from home on News 24 today called Working From Home Truths. She pointed out the unseen disadvantages of working from home, although at the end of the article said that she still prefers the independence of being her own boos as a freelancer rather than going out to work for a company and be answerable to a boss. I made the following comment:
This is an excellent article and certainly highlights many of the pitfalls of working from home. I would add the uncertainty of a steady salary and the fact that no matter how long you do regular work for a company, you are still a freelancer so you are not entitled to any benefits. The company is not even obliged to let you know if there is no further need of your services. They just don’t bother contacting you again. Heaven help you if you go on holiday for a few weeks. You could find that your replacement freelancer has taken over all your work while you were away!
26 October 2011
Knysna-Plett Herald | Criminals target safe haven.
It is very sad to think that criminals have repeatedly targeted the soft target of a safe haven for abused women and children in Knysna.
We are experiencing a heatwave in Johannesburg, with temperatures up to 33 and 34 degrees for the first time on record. Tonight the animals are quivering with fear because of the fireworks exploding around us to celebrate Diwali, and tomorrow and Friday we have the ANCYL march to the Chamber of Mines to call for nationalisation of mines in South Africa, and to push for their “expropriation of land without compensation” policy.
I wish it would rain very heavily to douse the fireworks and quell the ANCYL’s enthusiasm for the march. It seems strange to arrange such a march at a time when many members are in the middle of Matric and University examinations.
4 October 2011
Today the Dalai Lama cancelled his planned trip to South Africa to attend the eightieth birthday party of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu because he had not yet received a visa to enter the country. The Archbishop himself was furious and accused the present ANC government of being worse than the Nationalist government of the apartheid era in South Africa. This news generated a great deal of polarised comment on news sites and on Facebook. I made the following comments:
Perhaps people have forgotten or were not taught at school that at one time the Archbishop was the lone voice speaking out against apartheid to the world while the ANC was involved in its arms struggle. The refusal to give a visa to the Dalai Lama is one of the present government’s lowest points. Dance to the tune of the Chinese government who have no idea about “human rights”. Disgraceful!!
Another commentator asked why people should make a fuss about the views of “an old angry man”, referring to the Archbishop. I said:
Without that old angry man you might not be enjoying your freedom right now. Maybe China will take complete control in SA and then we’ll see what it is to be oppressed like those they shot dead for their protests in Telemann Square.
3 October 2011
Family of three shot dead on their Walkerville small-holding. News 24 reported this chilling incident earlier today. It was suspected that the mother had been raped, and both father and his thirteen-year old son were shot dead – execution style. There were many furious comments in response to the article. I made the following comment:
Another sad and shocking story of a family being annihilated in the most horrific way. How can any normal human being live with the knowledge that they have killed a child in cold blood, as well as violating his mother and killing her and his father? Will they ever find these killers? I doubt it. The death penalty is too good for them. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in other parts of the world. If it did, there would be a massive outcry about it. Here it’s just another story which might – or might not – appear as a small item in the middle of the newspaper.
23 September 2011
Radio 702 was commemorating Heritage Day at Freedom Park near Pretoria this morning. No soldier who died in the South African Defence Force fighting in Angola has his name on the Freedom Wall. Apparently they were all fighting to support Apartheid. The Voortrekker Monument, situated not far away, commemorates Afrikaners who died in that war. John Robbie was asking for some kind of reconciliation so that the names of all South Africans who died in past wars could be included on the Freedom Wall.
I made the following comment on this matter:
Apart from anything else, most of these young men were CONSCRIPTED into the Defence Force whether they believed in the cause they were fighting for or not. They were not all Afrikaans – they were all white South African matriculants regardless of their language. I will never forget seeing a bunch of these raw recruits, straight out of school, at the old Show Grounds when I was writing a UNISA exam. These 17 and 18 year old boys were being shouted at by a very fierce Afrikaans corporal. This morning they were talking about Afrikaners who were commemorated at the Voortrekker monument. What about all the others who died in that war and who never believed in Apartheid? Those who became conscientious objectors were put in jail for indefinite periods and were subjected to very rough treatment. I do not wish to visit the Voortrekker Monument or the Freedom Wall. Both are equally divisive.
22 September 2011
Today I heard the sad news that my old friend, Ron Ince (aged 86) had died in Auckland, New Zealand. Although I never met him, he was very kind to me and sent me some wonderful tapes of rare recordings by Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, as well as many other recordings of singers he knew I’d be interested in. Apparently he had a large collection of records and tapes which he had collected over the years. He and his late wife Julia had attended one of Anne and Webster’s concerts in Auckland in 1948 when they had been on a tour to New Zealand and Australia. He also sent me some tapes of Julia’s singing and told me something about her and her father, who had been a professional violinist.
Ron had been a broadcaster in New Zealand in years gone by, and always did tapes to me in the form of a broadcast. I loved hearing his gentle voice when he introduced the records – hisdelightful personality shone through. I sent him various tapes in return and we corresponded regularly until the last year or two when our correspondence was reduced to notes and cards at Christmas. I last heard from him at Christmas time when he told me about the heart attacks he had suffered earlier last year. He had introduced me to his friend Alasdair Fenton in Scotland and I wrote to him and exchanged tapes with him until his sudden death a few years ago – he was quite a few years younger than Ron and was an expert on Jack Hylton. I will never forget either of them as they both enriched my life. Ron is sadly missed and I will always remember him fondly.
19 September 2011
Apparently SA President, Jacob Zuma took two of his wives on a visit to the States! I made the following comment in The Times Live:
What a shame! After the 1994 elections South Africa and the ruling party had a chance to redress the ills of the past. In 2011 there are more people unemployed than ever. We have a weak President, which leaves the way open for the likes of an extremist like Malema to take charge of the country. We are faced with a draconian “Freedom of Information” bill. Now Zuma takes two of his wives to the US. Next time, he’ll probably take the lot and make the taxpayer cough up for them. The fragmented opposition parties need to unite and present a viable alternative to the ANC, and those who vote for the ANC should realise that the fat-cat, arrogant politicians do not put South Africa first, only their own interests. Heaven help us all!!
13 September 2011
I wonder what your opinion on this change to the copyright law on records is. I understand that the law will not be retrospective, which is a good thing for smaller companies who have issued CD compilations when the original recordings went out of copyright. Many of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth’s recordings were issued on CD in this way in the 1990s.
I posted the following comment on Facebook regarding this change:
“I don’t “like” this change in the copyright law. It will give people like Cliff Richard and the surviving Beatles, who are already “in the money” even more money to add to their coffers. Those artistes who are now dead and gone and were struggling financially saw their recordings go out of copyright after 50 years and feature in CD compilations without benefiting from the sales of these CDs in any way at all.”
There’s not much anyone can do about this change in the law now, but it would be interesting to know your views on the matter.
7 September
There was an article in the New York Times this morning regarding when US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq.
I posted the following comment:
When the US and European powers enter foreign conflicts hoping to bring about Western-style democracy to places where democracy has never existed before, they must either leave these countries in a state of flux, or maintain a military presence, with soldiers being needlessly killed by dissidents on a regular basis. This is a sad situation with no winners, regardless of whether troops remain or withdraw.
5 September 2011
It was reported that Thabo Mbeki wept when he resigned from parliament after being recalled by the ANC.
My comment:
Thabo Mbeki might have made mistakes but he was dignified and articulate. I was sad when he was recalled and South Africa’s poor have not benefited by the present leadership. Corruption is the order of the day and Zuma is an “all things to all people” leader. This vacuum in good leadership has allowed Julius Malema to come to the fore.
29 August 2011
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2011/08/29/rhino-hunting-ban-considered
Rhino hunting ban considered – Times LIVE.
In the light of the shocking slaughter and poaching of South African rhinos for their horns, I think a hunting ban and dehorning of all rhinos should be implemented as soon as possible. “Trophy hunters” are legally allowed to come to South Africa and shoot our wild life. In this day and age, such people are a disgrace to humanity.
26 August 2011
Rightwinger Clive Derby-Lewis, convicted of the murder of SA Communist Party general secretary Chris Hani, has been denied parole.
via Derby-Lewis parole denied.
My Comment
I hold no brief for Derby-Lewis, but the man is old and sick and has spent many years in jail. The Hani family will never agree to him getting parole, unlike the parents of the American girl who forgave the killers of their innocent daughter and even befriended them. Thousands of innocent people have been killed in South Africa since the murder of Chris Hani, whether for political or criminal motives. I think it is time to release this man and move on.
24 August 2011
South African National anthem – the talking point on the media today
http://youtu.be/ArRzytMd-yA
The singer who sang the SA national anthem at the ceremony to announce the rugby squad going to the forthcoming Rugby World Cup in New Zealand forgot the words, although he managed to carry on after the initial error. South Africans criticised and berated this poor gentleman on Radio 702 and other radio stations this morning. He even came on to the John Robbie show to apologise for his memory lapse. Apparently he knew the words perfectly at the rehearsal, but froze during the performance. In a discussion about this on Facebook, someone suggested that it would be better to have four singers, each singing the part in the national anthem which is written in their native tongue.
I made the following comments:
I had the same idea as Humphrey when I was listening to the heated discussion on Talk Radio 702 this morning with everyone deriding this poor chap because he had forgotten the words. If four people sang the part of the anthem written in their own language nobody could be offended by bad pronunciation. It might even create a feeling of South Africans being united instead of divided.
I am a retired singer and singing teacher and learnt to sing in German, Italian, French, Afrikaans and Zulu (where vowel sounds are similar to pure Italian vowel sounds). I have a working knowledge of some of these languages and always understood what I was singing even if I could not conduct an intricate conversation in them, but Humphrey is correct in saying that one spends a long time learning and memorising roles and songs, and it takes a lot longer to memorise words in foreign languages than in one’s home language. He had three weeks in which to prepare the anthem and performed it perfectly at the rehearsal. Apart from Ard’s memory lapse, he has a very pleasing voice. People seem to think that professional singers should never make mistakes and should churn out everything flawlessly like robots. He was overcome by the occasion, which was different from engagements he was used to.
I have since heard his updated recording of the national anthem. Strangely enough, his pronunciation and singing of the Zulu and Sotho words of the anthem sound very much better than the Afrikaans and English sections. This is because he uses Americanised vowels to sing in Afrikaans and English, so neither of these parts of the anthem sound right. He also ends the anthem on an uncertain note. I think that it would be better to employ a straight singer accompanied by an orchestra to sing the anthem. Somehow a crooner with guitar accompaniment is not appropriate. After this debacle, I sincerely hope that the version sung before the games at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will be appropriately performed or even pre-recorded. South Africa has many good straight singers who could do justice to the dignity of the anthem. How about tenor, Sipho Fubise who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, won many prestigious awards and scholarships during his time there and took the lead in several operatic productions?
23 August 2011
I read on the British Monarchy page of Facebook that the Duchess of Cornwall has adopted a Jack Russell puppy named Beth from the Battersea Dogs’ Home. She already owns two Jack Russells named Tosca and Rosie.
I made the following comment on Facebook:
Good for the Duchess of Cornwall for adopting this sweet puppy and giving her a loving home. Obviously she could have afforded to buy the fanciest breed of dog in the world from a breeder. I take my hat off to the Duchess for following the adoption route. I am sure Beth will have a long and happy life with Tosca and Rosie!
22 August 2011
On the 1 January 2011, I posted this comment on Facebook concerning the terrible noise of fireworks which had frightened our dog:
I wish there could be a COMPLETE BAN on fireworks in South Africa. Those loud bangs are no less than cruelty to animals and birds, and now they’re letting them off again tonight. Someone sms-ed 702 this morning, saying, “Pet owners should just get over it.” Tell that to those who have lost dogs because they fled in panic at the shocking racket last night!
Stefan Collini reviews ‘English Journey’ by J.B. Priestley · LRB 19 November 2009.
20 August 2011
The ANC is planning to discipline leader of its Youth League, Julius Malema
ANC charges Malema with misconduct: News24: South Africa: News.
My comment on this issue on Facebook reads as follows:
The ANC should have disciplined Malema sooner. He has managed to push his own agenda because there is no decisive leadership in the ANC. I see two possibilities – either he will be given a slap on the wrist because he says things in public which the party leaders are saying in private, or else they will discipline him severely and he’ll form his own party which will have a lot of support from disaffected youth.
16 August 2011
Gautrain Johannesburg service resumes – Times LIVE.
My comment:
I feel very sorry for Errol Braithwaite as the Gautrain is a world class project which is being undermined by wild cat strikers and cable thieves. Perhaps the SA Government should take a note of what steps the British Government intends taking against those convicted after the English riots of last week.
14 August 2011
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been paid R1.2m, through a Johannesburg architect building his home, by businessman Steve Bosch, a report says.
via Tender boss paid Malema R1.2m – report.
My comment:
Another very depressing report of dubious practices, so complicated I can hardly get to grips with them. JM is in the pound seats while the poor he claims to represent, and the many who support him, regardless, will see South Africa sink even further into the quicksand because of fat cat corruption. I agree with debrakayestylist: “Moeletsi Mbeki FOR President”.
12 August 2011
Desmond Tutu says white people must accept that they benefitted from apartheid, and has also called on Cabinet ministers to get rid of their expensive cars in the spirit of ubuntu.
via Desmond Tutu criticises SA whites.
My comment:
All the Archbishop’s comments might be true, but they are not going any way to unite South Africans, judging by the reaction of commentators on this page. Everyone – except those political fat cats – is far more divided and pessimistic about the future of South Africa today than when South Africans voted together in 1994 and looked forward to a new beginning as part of the “rainbow” nation.
This is a sample of the paper I compile each day from my tweets on Twitter.
July 27, 2012
Book Reviews
The Other Family by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am always amazed at how well Joanna Trollope creates her varied settings in her novels – in this case, the North East of England,from where the recently dead musician Richie originated. Richie lived and worked in the North East with his first wife and son, then left them abruptly to go off to London with a younger woman, with whom he had three daughters. The northern and southern families are devastated by his sudden death and each one finds it difficult to move on with life without the presence (or absence) of likeable, but thoughtless Richie.
The book deals with the different ways in which members of both families handle the forced and unforced changes to their lives as a result of Richie’s death. As usual, the book is extremely well written and held my interest from beginning to end.
Choral Society by Prue Leith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The book is entitled “Choral Society”. This book is formulaic. Three women meet in a choral group. At the beginning of the book each woman has a short-coming. By the end of the book they have resolved their problems in one way or another.
As a musician who has conducted several choirs in my career I thought this book would be of interest to me. Admittedly the three main characters meet because they join a choral group, but the book deals with their separate lives and we hardly hear much about the choral society at all, except that the scratch group starts off singing Gospel songs and later is rehearsing for a performance of “Messiah”.
I have the impression that the three women are extensions of Prue Leith herself. One is a food-writer and, as in previous novels, there is far too much about cooking methods and ingredients, and descriptions of the meals the various characters eat. There are also too many details about the clothes they wear and the names of contemporary dress designers. There is even a very detailed description about a medical procedure to remove excess fluid from one of the character’s knees!
Prue Leith might have had a different editor for this book than for her earlier novels. How could the editor have overlooked so much slang, clichés, and a whopper about “the laird in the manse” which upset my Scottish sensibilities. Doesn’t everybody know that a minister inhabits a manse? What was a laird doing there?
Admittedly there was a performance of “Messiah” towards the end of the book, but it appeared to be done by chorus only without any mention of soloists. Her nebulous description of this performance reminded me of a description of a performance by a string quartet in one of Mary Wesley’s books. When she mentioned a conductor of the said quartet, I refused to go on reading it.
After the disappointment of this book I doubt whether I’ll be buying any more of Prue Leith fiction, although my cooking might benefit from reading one of her cookery books!
The Soldier’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another excellent novel by Joanna Trollope. In this novel she examines the difficulties faced by soldiers returning from a dangerous tour of duty in Afghanistan. One would imagine that reunions with wives and families at home would be joyous for everyone concerned, but in this novel, this is not the case.
Joanna Trollope explores the difficulties faced by soldiers and the families who have waited to welcome them at home. In this day and age it is not enough for many soldiers’ wives to be home-makers, living for the day their husbands return safely. Some are highly educated and feel frustrated that the successful careers they enjoyed before marrying into the military cannot be fulfilled.
As in most of her other novels, Joanna Trollope manages to examine these problems with sympathy for all concerned. I need not add that she writes beautifully and creates well-rounded and distinctive characters in a few paragraphs. This is a very satisfying novel and I recommend it.
Daughters-in-Law by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have enjoyed most of Joanna Trollope’s novels and this one is no exception. She has an excellent writing style and is always entertaining. She is at her best describing the dynamics of family relationships and excels in defining each character clearly and laying bear the niggling tensions between family members.
In this novel the parents of three sons, each married to a very different woman, try to play too large a role in their sons’ lives, as well as in the lives of their families. The plot shows how the sons eventually manage to cut their parents’ apron strings and take their place in the adult world. After reading this book I am not struck by the dramatic significance of each twist and turn of the plot, but by the subtle nuances of it.
Relish – My Life on a Plate by Prue Leith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have just finished reading Prue Leith’s lively autobiography and I enjoyed it very much. I am not particularly interested in cookery, but I have fond memories of seeing Prue Leith’s mother, the brilliant South African actress, Margaret Inglis in “Separate Tables” when my family and I were on holiday in Durban in 1957.
Prue Leith is four years older than me and grew up in South Africa so we shared similar childhood experiences. I found the account of her early years in South Africa, and later years in France and the UK fascinating. With most autobiographies and biographies, the years of struggle are usually far more interesting than the years of success, as the successful years often amount to no more than a brag-list of achievements and awards.
Although Prue Leith discussed her many achievements, her story held my interest to the end of the book, as her personality and humanity shine through in her writing. Despite success, fame and riches, Prue suffered her fair share of setbacks and she does not skim over the setbacks as others embarking on writing the story of their lives might have done.
Not only did Prue succeed as a cook and caterer, but she has published a number of novels in the later part of her life. I have only read one of them but intend to read the others in due course.
Girl from the South by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I did not enjoy this book quite as much as I enjoyed many other Joanna Trollope novels I have read. Perhaps it was because it was partly set in Charleston in South Carolina, and all the other novels have typically English settings with restrained English characters. I thought the author handled the American characters very well and created the atmosphere of the South very well, but, perhaps because I am set in my ways and thought I knew what to expect from Joanna Trollope, I would have preferred another Aga-Saga!
View all my reviews
Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought that P.D. James captured the style and mood of Jane Austen’s writing in this book. She assumes that one has a thorough knowledge and understanding of “Pride and Prejudice” as she makes many references to Jane Austen’s book and even introduces characters from “Emma” towards the end of the book. The plot of “Death Comes to Pemberley” was slow-moving as one might have expected in a Jane Austen novel which concerned the minutae of the every-day life of the gentry; nearly three quarter’s of this book is taken up with the happenings of several days, seen from the points of view of the characters concerned in the murder. This necessitated a great deal of repetition of the events.
Jane Austen would probably never have concerned herself with something as distasteful as a murder, while P.D. James had to limit herself to a rather unremarkable murder mystery, quite different from the complicated modern mysteries she has written previously. After the mystery was solved I found the epilogue redundant to the plot. Why did Darcy and Elizabeth have to spend considerable time explaining to each other exactly why they acted as they did in “Pride and Prejudice”?
I enjoyed the book and admired P.D James ability to write in the style of Jane Austen, but I hope she continues to write classic murder mysteries and doesn’t repeat the Jane Austen experiment.
Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book by Agatha Christie was different from the murder mysteries. It was written in 1970 and reminded me of Buchan’s “Thirty-nine Steps”, in that it was an adventure story where the aims of the people involved were unclear to me, and therefore fairly meaningless. The best part of the book was the quotation by Jan Smuts preceding the story: “Leadership, besides being a great creative force, can be diabolical…” I thought that this quotation could be applied to quite a few diabolical leaders, past and present.
I waded through this book, hoping that I would eventually be gripped by this tortuous tale, but I’m afraid I gave it up when I was half way through. I am too old to waste time reading books which are uncongenial and meaningless to me. I am glad that Agatha Christie did not continue writing novels like this but returned to writing tales of the detective exploits of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple in the few remaining years of her life.
Love and War in London: A Woman’s Diary 1939-42 by Olivia Cockett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book focuses on the wartime diary of Olivia Cockett, which she wrote for Mass Observation. It is edited by Robert Malcolmson. Olivia was 26 when war broke out and is a singular young woman in that she had been working in a clerical position since she was 17 and having an affair since that age with a married man in his thirties, whom she met at work.
Olivia is a very intelligent young woman who read widely. She was not afraid to tackle authors such as James Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Bertrand Russell and preferred serious music to the light music she heard on the radio. Her liberal outlook on life is the opposite to the conventional outlook of her Man. Because they were unable to marry – even their attempt for him to obtain a divorce goes wrong – she has had two illegal abortions before the war.
She describes routine and unusual events of her life during the war concisely and without emotion or self-pity. Once I became used to her style of writing I found the book a fascinating insight into the life of an ordinary, yet, in many ways extraordinary, young Londoner during the war. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in civilian life at that time.
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have read nearly all Deborah Moggach’s novels and enjoyed them very much, but I put off reading “Tulip Fever” as it seemed very different from her modern novels. Apparently the book was inspired by various Dutch paintings which are shown in the book and is set in 17th century Amsterdam.
The plot is rather far-fetched, bordering on fantasy, quite unlike her other well-crafted modern novels. One has to suspend belief at the twists and turns of the plot and none of the characters are well-rounded. Perhaps she meant them to be as one-dimensional as the subjects featured in the paintings. Although there were references to streets in Amsterdam, Dutch phrases, Dutch names and characters whose main diet was herring, I did not get a rich sense of time or place in this novel.
I’m glad I read the book, but I do not think it is Deborah Moggach’s best novel and it might disappoint her admirers.
Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier by Christopher Fifield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
From 1949 to 1951 Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth lived at Frognal Cottage, Hampstead, opposite 2 Frognal Mansions, where Kathleen Ferrier lived. The Booths became friends with Kathleen when they met her walking on Hampstead Heath as they were out walking their Cairn terrier, Smoky. Webster had been booked to sing a Messiah with her in 1951, but they were both very disappointed when she had to cancel this performance because of her illness. I was singing much the same repertoire as Kathleen when I began studying with the Booths in 1961 and they often lent me her recordings from their own record collection. Thus, although Kathleen had died tragically young when I was a child, I always felt a close affinity with this wonderful woman with the unique contralto voice of the twentieth century.
I was rather disappointed to find that Kathleen Ferrier’s diaries were little more than concert dates, occasionally with brief remarks about how a particular engagement went. On reflection, she was working hard so would have had little time to write substantial diary entries at the end of a busy day.
The letters more than compensated for the brevity of the diaries. She wrote many business letters to keep her very busy career in order. While many singers might have longed for more engagements, Kathleen Ferrier was overwhelmed with offers, to the extent that she often had to turn engagements down and beg for a few days respite from her agent, Emmie Tillet. She could certainly never have undertaken such a demanding career had she been married with children. Her letters show that her extensive American tours in the late 1940s involved exhausting travel arrangements. She had to pay for her own advertising, travel, accompanist and accommodation on these tours, so she hardly made a fortune at £50 a concert.
Her affectionate, informal letters to her sister, Winifred, her father and other friends were always bright, self-deprecating and humorous. Her letters of thanks to acquaintances were always appreciative and polite. Even when she turned down songs which had been sent to her, or engagements she could not undertake, she did so in a kindly way.
Once again, it was sad to see her grave illness taking hold so that she eventually lacked health and strength to write her own letters and relied on her help-meet, Bernie to write on her behalf.
There is a good bibliography,an extensive index of works in Kathleen’s repertoire, another of places, venues and festivals, as well as a general index.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting and unusual novel covering several strands: the narrator’s research into Daphne du Maurier’s work; Daphne du Maurier researching the Brontes in order to write a biography of Branwell Bronte; and Symington, the disgraced Bronte expert. I found it interesting how the author interwove fictional fact with the narrator’s own story, showing similarities between all the characters of her novel. It has encouraged me to reread my collection of du Maurier novels, and to look at Branwell Bronte in a new light. I would recommend this book as a well-written, gripping and unusual novel.
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of my favourite books, which I read a few years after it was first published in 1960. It will be difficult for young readers to credit that fifty years ago it was considered a disgrace for a woman to have a baby out of wedlock and that her parents might disown her for doing so. The heroine of “The L-Shaped Room” even intends to keep her baby, which would have been unthinkable for most girls in 1960, when they were sent to homes for unmarried mothers and had their babies taken away from them at birth to be put up for adoption.
Sisters by Prue Leith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I bought this book a year or two ago and had initially given up reading it after a few pages. I decided to try it again recently and was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed it very much. Perhaps some of my enjoyment stemmed from growing up in South Africa at much the same time as Prue Leith did herself and remembering her illustrious mother, the late Margaret Inglis, who was one of South Africa’s greatest actresses of her generation.
Prue Leith had many cookery books published in the earlier part of her life. In the comparatively new genre of novel-writing she is very competent and the book held my interest. Perhaps she might have considered giving the sisters in questions more distinctive names – Carrie and Poppy can easily be mixed up. Carrie is not entirely likeable for most of the book, but (as in the advice given in most writing courses)she changes for the better as the book progresses.
My only criticism is that Prue Leith spent too much time discussing the food the characters were eating – or cooking! I suppose this is understandable as she made a great name for herself as a cook and restaurant owner.
“Sisters” is not great literature but it is a very enjoyable novel. Now that I have read it I look forward to reading more novels by Prue Leith.
The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I am finding the book quite absorbing, although, since it was written in 1980, the feminist and political views expressed by the characters seem rather dated, in the light of hindsight. I expect they were considered quite unusual at the time. Later: I am afraid that as the book progressed I began to lose interest in the main character’s increasingly peculiar life, friends and acquaintances. I finished the book with difficulty and was very disappointed in it as Margaret Drabble has written some excellent novels and is usually one of my favourite authors. I fear this book is not in the same class as others she has written – or perhaps I lacked the intellect to enjoy it.
I have just read the fascinating story of three lively young South African girls who went to Europe in the 1960s to spend a year travelling from place to place without spending too much money on their travels. They made use of youth hostels and managed to go from one place to another by hitching rides. Admittedly they had strict rules about hitching so they never came to any harm. Somehow I don’t think it would be possible to do the same trip today as everything is so much more expensive and the South African Rand has diminished in value. The book is well-written and extensively illustrated. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about the girls’ fascinating European adventure all those years ago. The book is available in print and Kindle editions.
July 19, 2012
WEBSTER BOOTH AND ANNE ZIEGLER’S ASSOCIATION WITH EDWARD GERMAN’S WORK
Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler were associated with Edward German’s comic opera, Merrie England for most of their lives, and they sang other Edward German songs into the bargain. Anne had taken the role of the May Queen in an amateur production of Merrie England when still in her teens, and she sang Bessie Throckmorton’s Waltz Song as a test recording when she auditioned for HMV in the nineteen-thirties.
Anne is seated
Waltz Song from Merrie England
One of her few solo recordings was the Waltz Song from German’s Tom Jones.
Webster had anonymously recorded
The English Rose, Robin Hood’s Wedding and With a Hey, Robin with the HMV Light Opera Company in the nineteen thirties’ recording of Merrie England Vocal Gems (C2106):
He made his own solo recording of The English Rose in 1939. The latter recording was one of his most popular recordings.
Later he made a recording of Where Haven Lies from German’s A Princess of Kensington and said that he considered this song “the greatest love song ever written”.
The first time they appeared together in Merrie England was in a concert version in a Circus Big Top in Blackpool in the summer of 1941. In 1945 they starred in a concert performance of Merrie England with the Oldham Choral Society at the Odeon Cinema, Oldham. The performance took place on a Sunday afternoon, conducted by the resident conductor, Ernest Craig. The show was so popular that it had to be repeated again that evening by public demand.
But it was in the early nineteen-fifties when Anne and Webster came into their own in Merrie England, taking the starring roles of Bessie Throckmorton and Sir Walter Raleigh with various amateur operatic societies. The first such performance was from 15 – 18 August 1951 at Westbourne Gardens, Liskeard, Cornwall. The show was presented by Liskeard Musical Theatre, directed by Thomas J. Bell and conducted by Percival Hill.
Anne and Marjorie Eyre signing autograph books
The next performance was in 1952 at Priory Park, Chichester. The show was an open air production presented by the Chichester Amateur Operatic Society and starred Anne and Webster in their usual roles, with Leslie Rands and Marjorie Eyre, another husband and wife singing team, once distinguished members of D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, playing the Earl of Essex and Jill-All-Alone.
1953 was Coronation Year so Merrie England, set in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, seemed like an ideal work to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Anne and Webster were booked to appear in a number of these productions.
There was even to be a concert performance of the work in Canada. An advance notice about this notified the public that it would take place in the Stampede Corral, Calgary in May conducted by Harold Ramsay, an old friend of the Booths. He had been born Harold Ramsbottom in England, but raised in Canada. He changed his name to Harold Ramsay and became a gifted cinema organist, first in Canada and the USA. He went to England in 1933 and became Granada’s Chief Organist. He returned to Canada after World War 2.
The Calgary Herald, 3 March 1953 read as follows:
28 April 1953 The Ottawa Citizen reported:
British Stars Flying 8,800 Miles to Sing London –
Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler, Britain’s top man-and-wife operatic team, will ditch a well-earned holiday to fly 8,800 miles to a one-night stand in Calgary. Calgarians can than a long-standing friendship between the British couple and Harold Ramsay, former British Broadcasting Corporation organist who founded the Calgary Choral Society under the sponsorship of the Calgary Kiwanis Club. Ramsay said wistfully in a letter describing a musical play he is producing: “I only wish you and Anne were free.”
The couple immediately gave up plans for a three-week holiday in France and will appear in the opening performance May 9 of Merrie England, a Tudor production well suited to the coronation of the second Elizabeth. They will be the only professionals in an otherwise all-Canadian cast.
Calgarians will be the more appreciative of Ramsay’s success because the Booths have leading roles in this country’s coronation summer entertainment plans. The Calgary appearance will be one in a series of Merrie England performances. The first in the United Kingdom is scheduled to begin June 1 at Newport, Wales. One of the biggest will be at the country home of Sir Harold Wernher at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire.
Bulldozers have processed three acres for a vast open-air stage that will hold a cast of 1,000, of which 300 will be on horseback. Forty-one microphones have been installed to acoommodate audiences of about 21,000 expected every day in a week-long festival starting June 8.
It will be Miss Ziegler’s first trip to Canada. Booth last visited the country in the ‘20s when the Doyly Carte Opera Company toured North America. They will have three days’ holidays here before leaving for Calgary and will make a few radio, and possibly television appearances before returning by sea.
17 May 1953 MERRIE ENGLAND, Calgary, Canada; Kiwani’s Club sponsored Anne and Webster in one performance of Merrie England in the incongruous setting of the Rodeo Stadium, Calgary. As part of their fee they were treated to a memorable luxurious train journey through the Canadian Rockies to Montreal.
They arrived in Liverpool from Montreal on Friday 29 May 1953 on the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of France, where a Coronation Dinner was held on Wednesday, May 27 1953.
Although the show in Canada was a great success, the trip was spoilt when Webster suffered a severe bout of sciatica in his hip. He could barely move his right leg.
Here is the criticism of the show: Calgary Herald 11 May 1953
Merrie England show pleases 6000 persons by Shirley McNeill
From the opening chorus of Merrie England at the Stampede Corral Saturday night, the audience of 6,000 people who went to hear the premier performances of the Calgary Choral Society showed by their applause that hey approved heartily of what they heard.
Much of the success of the concert must be credited to singing stars Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler, who came all the way from England to appear with the society. This accomplished vocal team turned in performances that were polished and professional throughout.
The two other soloists of Merrie England, Calgarians Janet Warren and Ian Smith, are deserving of high praise for their roles in the delightful little opera. Mrs Warren’s vibrant contralto voice gave her roles of Jill-all-Alone and Elizabeth both contrast and warmth.
Mr Smith as the Earl of Essex was a convincing, confident performer. His deep well-rounded tones and the good control he displayed were a pleasure to hear.
But the man who deserves perhaps the greatest share of laurels for the success of Merrie England is Harold Ramsay, who in a few short months conducted the Calgary Choral Society to the high standard of musical accomplishment which they gave the audience on Saturday evening. It was Mr Ramsay’s job to conduct the choir as well as the 50 members of the Calgary Symphony Orchestra who gave instrumental support to the singers. This double duty was commendably performed.
One of the most rousing songs from Merrie England, the finale to the first part, It is a Tale of Robin Hood, was unfortunately distorted by loudspeakers, particularly for those members of the audience seated directly beneath them. The chorus and the four soloists combining voices in this finale were all too powerful a singing combination for the public address system set up to carry to all corners of the vast Corral. The microphones, however, were a necessary evil. Without them, it is doubtful if the concert would have been clearly audible to the entire audience.
The story of Elizabethan court days was incidental to the vocal beauty which Merrie England provoked in the ears of the audience. The rigid training program undergone by the Choral Society in recent months came to the fore in such selections as Sing a Down, a Down and the grand finale, Robin Hood’s Wedding.
The Singing courtship of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth as Bessie Throckmorton and Sir Walter Raleigh was romance of a high calibre, particularly so in such songs as Bessie’s Who shall say sic (The Waltz Song) and Raleigh’s The English Rose, one of the loveliest songs in the entire light opera.
With the concert version of Merrie England over, Miss Ziegler and Mr Booth delighted the audience with an aria from Faust, a medley of Viennese waltz songs and a comic performance of the popular Wunderbar.
Before singing this song from Broadway, the team had been presented with big white cowboy hats by Art Baines, president of the Calgary Kiwanis club which sponsored the concert. Miss Ziegler, wearing a black and gold hoop-skirted gown, tossed aside a feather hair adornment, and, assuming a genuine western air, donned the ten-gallon hat to the delight of the audience.
Stampede Corral, Calgary – opened in 1950
June 1 1953 Merrie England in Newport, Wales
June 1953 MERRIE ENGLAND, Crescent Cinema, Leatherhead. Leatherhead Dramatic and Operatic Society’s 1953 Coronation production starring Webster Booth as Raleigh and Anne Ziegler as Bessie Throckmorton.
8 June 1953 MERRIE ENGLAND, Luton Hoo Anne and Webster, the Luton Girls Choir. There were over 600 people in the chorus. Pamela Davies remarked in her book, Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth? :
“After And so to Bed finished in April 1953, I was so busy preparing to go to work in the United States that I learned too late that Anne and Webster had taken part in a spectacular show in June, when Merrie England was staged as a pageant at the historic Luton Hoo. They had only just returned from a lightning trip to Canada, to take part in the same operetta. On a tour of Canada the following year I had a brief glimpse of the huge rodeo stadium in Calgary at the entrance to the Rockies where it was staged – a more unlikely setting for Merrie England is hard to imagine
As it was, the performance of Haydn’s Creation at the Royal Albert Hall, mentioned earlier, was the last occasion I saw them in the flesh for over a quarter of a century. “
Luton Hoo production. Douglas Fairbanks (Jnr) is in the middle of the group. Anne and Webster are to his right. Below: Chorus scene from the Luton Hoo production of Merrie England.
Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler advertised this cream in 1957.
In late 1957 they were featured in an advert for Lloyd’s Adrenaline cream in South Africa. According to the advertisement, this cream had given Webster relief to excruciating sciatic pain he had suffered on their fleeting visit to Calgary to appear in Merrie England. Apparently Anne used the cream whenever she had an attack of fibrositis.
16 – 21 June 1958 MERRIE ENGLAND, City Hall, East London Anne and Webster, with Jimmy Nicholas, Mabel Fenney, Pam Emslie and others.
Mabel Fenney (extreme left), Pam Emslie (extreme right) next to Jimmy Nicholas
12 to 29 November 1958 MERRIE ENGLAND, Reps Theatre, Johannesburg JODS. Anne and Webster starred and produced the show, with Marian Saunders, June Bass, Nohline Mitchell, Kenneth Anderson, Len Rosen, and Dudley Cock, conducted by Drummond Bell.
The last time Anne and Webster sang in Merrie England was in Knysna, shortly after they moved there from Johannesburg.
11 to 13 July 1968: MERRIE ENGLAND (Concert Version) at 8.15 pm Knysna and District Choral Society D R Church Hall, Fichat Street, Knysna Webster, Anne, Dorothy Davies, James Squier and Ena Van der Vyver, directed by Anne Ziegler, conducted by Webster Booth, Accompanist: Wanda Willis.
Jeannie C
July 2012
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July 7, 2012
Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler: Current news items
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“Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth?” by Pamela Davies and Jean Collen
Jean Collen (author)
‘Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth” by Jean Collen
This page includes my biography of Webster Booth from Soundunwound.
Webster Booth in his Knysna garden. Late sixties. Photo: Dudley Holmes.
CD featuring Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler
How Ivor Novello’s songs may become old friends to new listeners – Telegraph.
Ivor Novello
A concert featuring the music of Ivor Novello will be held at this year’s series of Promenade Concerts. Perhaps the concert will revive interest in his music and the recordings of his music by Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth.
Collage featuring Anne and Webster.
Ivor Novello Memorial, Cardiff. Photographs and collage by Charles S. P. Jenkins. I am grateful to him for allowing me to use these photographs in this post.
Ivor Novello memorial, Cardiff.
Ivor Novello Memorial, Cardiff
Ivor Novello Memorial, Cardiff
All things connected with Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler on Pinterest.
This item was on auction on EBay. The note certainly demonstrates that at the height of their fame they were polite enough to respond to fans with a personally written note. I wonder how many of today’s stars do the same?
This very charming signed photograph of Anne Ziegler was on auction on EBay.
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Luton Hoo reverts to Merrie England with Douglas Fairbanks Jnr – Nostalgia – Bedford Today.
Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler starred in this sumptuous production of Merrie England at Luton Hoo to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth the Second in 1953. They are pictured in this small photograph.
Luton Hoo, now a luxury hotel.
BBC – Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Webster Booth.
Webster Booth appeared on “Desert Island Discs” in April 1953. You can see the records he chose on this link. Sadly there is no recording of the programme in the BBC archives.
D-Day remembered during airfield event | This is Cornwall.
This article mentions that Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth entertained there during the war. A photo of Anne and Webster in a still from the wartime movie, ‘Demobbed”.
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Anne and Webster in a still from the film “Demobbed” (1944)
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
7 July 2012
If You’re Booked by the Johannesburg Philharmonic, watch out: They Don’t Pay!
I am very disappointed to hear this sad news. The SABC orchestra employed many foreign musicians and most left for pastures new when the SABC orchestra was disbanded, presumably because it was too “Eurocentric” for the new dispensation in South Africa. The orchestra has been struggling to make ends meet over the years and I thought that things would be put right when it received fresh funding from the National Lottery a year or two ago. Like many other things in South Africa today, ranging from non-delivery of text books to government schools in Limpopo province, and non-payment of fees by government hospitals so that patients cannot receive essential treatment for life-threatening diseases, it looks as though the orchestra is being mismanaged in the same way.
June 2012
Let’s ban music from the London Olympics.
I think it is a dreadful idea to play music as a background to events at the Olympics. I have noticed recently that loud pop music is played every time there is a short pause in a cricket or rugby match, not to mention the constant cacophony of so-called “music” I am subjected to in shopping centres and supermarkets. Have we reached the stage that we can do nothing without the accompaniment of egregious pop music? I will be following Dave’s advice and will watch the Olympic events on TV with the sound turned down. As for not paying fees to head-line acts and volunteers who appear at the Olympics – that is yet another disgrace.
11 February 2012
It is over three months since I have posted anything here. I made the following comment about Samuel Coleridge Taylor‘s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast today:
While I was never lucky enough to see any performance of “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast”, my late singing teacher and life-long friend, tenor Webster Booth, took part in many performances of the work under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent. His first performance was in July 1937 when he and the rest of the cast were clad in American Indian costumes and I have an imposing photo of Webster in his full regalia. He later sang in the fiftieth anniversary performance of the work. Malcolm Sargent chose him as soloist in the work to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Webster’s recording of “Onaway, awake, beloved” (1947) is one of his finest recordings.
2012
Georgina Guedes wrote an article about working from home on News 24 today called Working From Home Truths. She pointed out the unseen disadvantages of working from home, although at the end of the article said that she still prefers the independence of being her own boos as a freelancer rather than going out to work for a company and be answerable to a boss. I made the following comment:
This is an excellent article and certainly highlights many of the pitfalls of working from home. I would add the uncertainty of a steady salary and the fact that no matter how long you do regular work for a company, you are still a freelancer so you are not entitled to any benefits. The company is not even obliged to let you know if there is no further need of your services. They just don’t bother contacting you again. Heaven help you if you go on holiday for a few weeks. You could find that your replacement freelancer has taken over all your work while you were away!
26 October 2011
Knysna-Plett Herald | Criminals target safe haven.
It is very sad to think that criminals have repeatedly targeted the soft target of a safe haven for abused women and children in Knysna.
We are experiencing a heatwave in Johannesburg, with temperatures up to 33 and 34 degrees for the first time on record. Tonight the animals are quivering with fear because of the fireworks exploding around us to celebrate Diwali, and tomorrow and Friday we have the ANCYL march to the Chamber of Mines to call for nationalisation of mines in South Africa, and to push for their “expropriation of land without compensation” policy.
I wish it would rain very heavily to douse the fireworks and quell the ANCYL’s enthusiasm for the march. It seems strange to arrange such a march at a time when many members are in the middle of Matric and University examinations.
4 October 2011
Today the Dalai Lama cancelled his planned trip to South Africa to attend the eightieth birthday party of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu because he had not yet received a visa to enter the country. The Archbishop himself was furious and accused the present ANC government of being worse than the Nationalist government of the apartheid era in South Africa. This news generated a great deal of polarised comment on news sites and on Facebook. I made the following comments:
Perhaps people have forgotten or were not taught at school that at one time the Archbishop was the lone voice speaking out against apartheid to the world while the ANC was involved in its arms struggle. The refusal to give a visa to the Dalai Lama is one of the present government’s lowest points. Dance to the tune of the Chinese government who have no idea about “human rights”. Disgraceful!!
Another commentator asked why people should make a fuss about the views of “an old angry man”, referring to the Archbishop. I said:
Without that old angry man you might not be enjoying your freedom right now. Maybe China will take complete control in SA and then we’ll see what it is to be oppressed like those they shot dead for their protests in Telemann Square.
3 October 2011
Family of three shot dead on their Walkerville small-holding. News 24 reported this chilling incident earlier today. It was suspected that the mother had been raped, and both father and his thirteen-year old son were shot dead – execution style. There were many furious comments in response to the article. I made the following comment:
Another sad and shocking story of a family being annihilated in the most horrific way. How can any normal human being live with the knowledge that they have killed a child in cold blood, as well as violating his mother and killing her and his father? Will they ever find these killers? I doubt it. The death penalty is too good for them. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in other parts of the world. If it did, there would be a massive outcry about it. Here it’s just another story which might – or might not – appear as a small item in the middle of the newspaper.
23 September 2011
Radio 702 was commemorating Heritage Day at Freedom Park near Pretoria this morning. No soldier who died in the South African Defence Force fighting in Angola has his name on the Freedom Wall. Apparently they were all fighting to support Apartheid. The Voortrekker Monument, situated not far away, commemorates Afrikaners who died in that war. John Robbie was asking for some kind of reconciliation so that the names of all South Africans who died in past wars could be included on the Freedom Wall.
I made the following comment on this matter:
Apart from anything else, most of these young men were CONSCRIPTED into the Defence Force whether they believed in the cause they were fighting for or not. They were not all Afrikaans – they were all white South African matriculants regardless of their language. I will never forget seeing a bunch of these raw recruits, straight out of school, at the old Show Grounds when I was writing a UNISA exam. These 17 and 18 year old boys were being shouted at by a very fierce Afrikaans corporal. This morning they were talking about Afrikaners who were commemorated at the Voortrekker monument. What about all the others who died in that war and who never believed in Apartheid? Those who became conscientious objectors were put in jail for indefinite periods and were subjected to very rough treatment. I do not wish to visit the Voortrekker Monument or the Freedom Wall. Both are equally divisive.
22 September 2011
Today I heard the sad news that my old friend, Ron Ince (aged 86) had died in Auckland, New Zealand. Although I never met him, he was very kind to me and sent me some wonderful tapes of rare recordings by Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, as well as many other recordings of singers he knew I’d be interested in. Apparently he had a large collection of records and tapes which he had collected over the years. He and his late wife Julia had attended one of Anne and Webster’s concerts in Auckland in 1948 when they had been on a tour to New Zealand and Australia. He also sent me some tapes of Julia’s singing and told me something about her and her father, who had been a professional violinist.
Ron had been a broadcaster in New Zealand in years gone by, and always did tapes to me in the form of a broadcast. I loved hearing his gentle voice when he introduced the records – hisdelightful personality shone through. I sent him various tapes in return and we corresponded regularly until the last year or two when our correspondence was reduced to notes and cards at Christmas. I last heard from him at Christmas time when he told me about the heart attacks he had suffered earlier last year. He had introduced me to his friend Alasdair Fenton in Scotland and I wrote to him and exchanged tapes with him until his sudden death a few years ago – he was quite a few years younger than Ron and was an expert on Jack Hylton. I will never forget either of them as they both enriched my life. Ron is sadly missed and I will always remember him fondly.
19 September 2011
Apparently SA President, Jacob Zuma took two of his wives on a visit to the States! I made the following comment in The Times Live:
What a shame! After the 1994 elections South Africa and the ruling party had a chance to redress the ills of the past. In 2011 there are more people unemployed than ever. We have a weak President, which leaves the way open for the likes of an extremist like Malema to take charge of the country. We are faced with a draconian “Freedom of Information” bill. Now Zuma takes two of his wives to the US. Next time, he’ll probably take the lot and make the taxpayer cough up for them. The fragmented opposition parties need to unite and present a viable alternative to the ANC, and those who vote for the ANC should realise that the fat-cat, arrogant politicians do not put South Africa first, only their own interests. Heaven help us all!!
13 September 2011
I wonder what your opinion on this change to the copyright law on records is. I understand that the law will not be retrospective, which is a good thing for smaller companies who have issued CD compilations when the original recordings went out of copyright. Many of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth’s recordings were issued on CD in this way in the 1990s.
I posted the following comment on Facebook regarding this change:
“I don’t “like” this change in the copyright law. It will give people like Cliff Richard and the surviving Beatles, who are already “in the money” even more money to add to their coffers. Those artistes who are now dead and gone and were struggling financially saw their recordings go out of copyright after 50 years and feature in CD compilations without benefiting from the sales of these CDs in any way at all.”
There’s not much anyone can do about this change in the law now, but it would be interesting to know your views on the matter.
7 September
There was an article in the New York Times this morning regarding when US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq.
I posted the following comment:
When the US and European powers enter foreign conflicts hoping to bring about Western-style democracy to places where democracy has never existed before, they must either leave these countries in a state of flux, or maintain a military presence, with soldiers being needlessly killed by dissidents on a regular basis. This is a sad situation with no winners, regardless of whether troops remain or withdraw.
5 September 2011
It was reported that Thabo Mbeki wept when he resigned from parliament after being recalled by the ANC.
My comment:
Thabo Mbeki might have made mistakes but he was dignified and articulate. I was sad when he was recalled and South Africa’s poor have not benefited by the present leadership. Corruption is the order of the day and Zuma is an “all things to all people” leader. This vacuum in good leadership has allowed Julius Malema to come to the fore.
29 August 2011
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2011/08/29/rhino-hunting-ban-considered
Rhino hunting ban considered – Times LIVE.
In the light of the shocking slaughter and poaching of South African rhinos for their horns, I think a hunting ban and dehorning of all rhinos should be implemented as soon as possible. “Trophy hunters” are legally allowed to come to South Africa and shoot our wild life. In this day and age, such people are a disgrace to humanity.
26 August 2011
Rightwinger Clive Derby-Lewis, convicted of the murder of SA Communist Party general secretary Chris Hani, has been denied parole.
via Derby-Lewis parole denied.
My Comment
I hold no brief for Derby-Lewis, but the man is old and sick and has spent many years in jail. The Hani family will never agree to him getting parole, unlike the parents of the American girl who forgave the killers of their innocent daughter and even befriended them. Thousands of innocent people have been killed in South Africa since the murder of Chris Hani, whether for political or criminal motives. I think it is time to release this man and move on.
24 August 2011
South African National anthem – the talking point on the media today
http://youtu.be/ArRzytMd-yA
The singer who sang the SA national anthem at the ceremony to announce the rugby squad going to the forthcoming Rugby World Cup in New Zealand forgot the words, although he managed to carry on after the initial error. South Africans criticised and berated this poor gentleman on Radio 702 and other radio stations this morning. He even came on to the John Robbie show to apologise for his memory lapse. Apparently he knew the words perfectly at the rehearsal, but froze during the performance. In a discussion about this on Facebook, someone suggested that it would be better to have four singers, each singing the part in the national anthem which is written in their native tongue.
I made the following comments:
I had the same idea as Humphrey when I was listening to the heated discussion on Talk Radio 702 this morning with everyone deriding this poor chap because he had forgotten the words. If four people sang the part of the anthem written in their own language nobody could be offended by bad pronunciation. It might even create a feeling of South Africans being united instead of divided.
I am a retired singer and singing teacher and learnt to sing in German, Italian, French, Afrikaans and Zulu (where vowel sounds are similar to pure Italian vowel sounds). I have a working knowledge of some of these languages and always understood what I was singing even if I could not conduct an intricate conversation in them, but Humphrey is correct in saying that one spends a long time learning and memorising roles and songs, and it takes a lot longer to memorise words in foreign languages than in one’s home language. He had three weeks in which to prepare the anthem and performed it perfectly at the rehearsal. Apart from Ard’s memory lapse, he has a very pleasing voice. People seem to think that professional singers should never make mistakes and should churn out everything flawlessly like robots. He was overcome by the occasion, which was different from engagements he was used to.
I have since heard his updated recording of the national anthem. Strangely enough, his pronunciation and singing of the Zulu and Sotho words of the anthem sound very much better than the Afrikaans and English sections. This is because he uses Americanised vowels to sing in Afrikaans and English, so neither of these parts of the anthem sound right. He also ends the anthem on an uncertain note. I think that it would be better to employ a straight singer accompanied by an orchestra to sing the anthem. Somehow a crooner with guitar accompaniment is not appropriate. After this debacle, I sincerely hope that the version sung before the games at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will be appropriately performed or even pre-recorded. South Africa has many good straight singers who could do justice to the dignity of the anthem. How about tenor, Sipho Fubise who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, won many prestigious awards and scholarships during his time there and took the lead in several operatic productions?
23 August 2011
I read on the British Monarchy page of Facebook that the Duchess of Cornwall has adopted a Jack Russell puppy named Beth from the Battersea Dogs’ Home. She already owns two Jack Russells named Tosca and Rosie.
I made the following comment on Facebook:
Good for the Duchess of Cornwall for adopting this sweet puppy and giving her a loving home. Obviously she could have afforded to buy the fanciest breed of dog in the world from a breeder. I take my hat off to the Duchess for following the adoption route. I am sure Beth will have a long and happy life with Tosca and Rosie!
22 August 2011
On the 1 January 2011, I posted this comment on Facebook concerning the terrible noise of fireworks which had frightened our dog:
I wish there could be a COMPLETE BAN on fireworks in South Africa. Those loud bangs are no less than cruelty to animals and birds, and now they’re letting them off again tonight. Someone sms-ed 702 this morning, saying, “Pet owners should just get over it.” Tell that to those who have lost dogs because they fled in panic at the shocking racket last night!
Stefan Collini reviews ‘English Journey’ by J.B. Priestley · LRB 19 November 2009.
20 August 2011
The ANC is planning to discipline leader of its Youth League, Julius Malema
ANC charges Malema with misconduct: News24: South Africa: News.
My comment on this issue on Facebook reads as follows:
The ANC should have disciplined Malema sooner. He has managed to push his own agenda because there is no decisive leadership in the ANC. I see two possibilities – either he will be given a slap on the wrist because he says things in public which the party leaders are saying in private, or else they will discipline him severely and he’ll form his own party which will have a lot of support from disaffected youth.
16 August 2011
Gautrain Johannesburg service resumes – Times LIVE.
My comment:
I feel very sorry for Errol Braithwaite as the Gautrain is a world class project which is being undermined by wild cat strikers and cable thieves. Perhaps the SA Government should take a note of what steps the British Government intends taking against those convicted after the English riots of last week.
14 August 2011
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been paid R1.2m, through a Johannesburg architect building his home, by businessman Steve Bosch, a report says.
via Tender boss paid Malema R1.2m – report.
My comment:
Another very depressing report of dubious practices, so complicated I can hardly get to grips with them. JM is in the pound seats while the poor he claims to represent, and the many who support him, regardless, will see South Africa sink even further into the quicksand because of fat cat corruption. I agree with debrakayestylist: “Moeletsi Mbeki FOR President”.
12 August 2011
Desmond Tutu says white people must accept that they benefitted from apartheid, and has also called on Cabinet ministers to get rid of their expensive cars in the spirit of ubuntu.
via Desmond Tutu criticises SA whites.
My comment:
All the Archbishop’s comments might be true, but they are not going any way to unite South Africans, judging by the reaction of commentators on this page. Everyone – except those political fat cats – is far more divided and pessimistic about the future of South Africa today than when South Africans voted together in 1994 and looked forward to a new beginning as part of the “rainbow” nation.
This is a sample of the paper I compile each day from my tweets on Twitter.
July 2, 2012
THE OLD HOUSE – A Jo’burg Story
“It’s the big move on Saturday,” said my friend, Helen. “I can’t wait for it to be over.”
“Can I help at all?”
I knew I had to ask, although I prayed her answer would be no. Helen is a good friend just surfacing from the morass of her divorce from Charlie. Hence, the move from her elegant home, now occupied by his mistress, the soon-to-be Mrs Bryant, Mark 2.
“A red face brick bungalow with a tin roof,” Helen had told her without enthusiasm when she first bought the bungalow. It was all she could afford with the money she had been granted in the divorce settlement.
“Would you really help me?” asked Helen hopefully. “It would be a godsend if you could be at the house to receive the furniture until I get from one place to the other. I’d be quick. You’d only need to be there for an hour – or two at the most.”
“Give me the address and I’ll be there. No problem,” I said, dispensing with my slothful Saturday plans.
Helen was already fishing around in her copious handbag.
“Twenty-one,” she said, handing a set of keys to me. “Twenty-one Juniper Street.”
It was a hot day, but a shiver passed through my body.
“Are you sure?” I asked faintly.
“Yes. Look, the address is on this label attached to the keys in case you forget it. Are you all right, Meg? You’ve gone quite pale. You should forget all that dieting nonsense. It doesn’t do you any good at all.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, taking the keys from her with a trembling hand. “I’ll see you on Saturday at Juniper Street.”
I drove off abruptly, wondering why I hadn’t blurted out the reason for my discomfiture. Forty years ago, I had been nineteen, still living at home with my elderly parents. 21 Juniper Street was our address.
-0-
I arrived at the bungalow an hour before the removal van was due. I had passed the house now and again on trips to the shopping centre on the other side of the hill. The thick bougainvillea creeper with heliotrope blossoms still enclosed the stoep where we had sat on hot evenings. As I climbed the familiar steps to the stoep, I felt as though I was a young teenager again, arriving home from school to receive a rapturous welcome from Shandy, our little brown and white dog of indeterminate breed.
I was surprised to see that the wallpaper my parents had plastered on the walls was still in the hallway. I could almost smell the goo that had pervaded the house while we were having the place redecorated. I remembered my mother discussing the wallpaper with my singing teacher and the difficulty they were having in finding something suitable.
“If you manage to do that job yourself you’ll be a better man than I am Gungadin!” he had laughed.
I had been curious enough to check the origin of the dated expression and traced it back to Rudyard Kipling.
The telephone, where I had sat for hours, chatting to my best friend, Sally, in the days when it cost a tickey to make a call to talk for as long as you liked, was in the same place in the passage, although it had been replaced by a more up to date model than our sombre black set of all those years ago.
Sally and I studied singing with Marina Baxter and Derek Bailey, the famous English singers who had moved to South Africa from the UK in the mid-fifties. We had both been successful in our auditions to join the SABC choir and had sought each other out at rehearsals at Marina and Derek’s suggestion. Sally, like me, was originally from Glasgow. We both loved singing, hoped to make careers in music, and we both thought the world of Marina and Derek. Sally, a soprano, was short and plump with piercing blue eyes and honey-coloured hair. She was the youngest of three sisters and was more outgoing than me. I, a contralto, was tall and dark, the only child of elderly parents, reserved and reticent until I got to know people.
The house was completely empty but suddenly the phone rang: not the computerised sound of today’s telephones, which, in my advancing years, I sometimes cannot hear clearly. This ring was loud and jangling. No difficulty in hearing it, but did I have the right to answer? Perhaps it was Helen calling about the movers. I picked up the receiver.
“Hello,” I said tentatively.
“Is that you, Meg? You sound strange this morning. Did you have a late night?”
It wasn’t Helen after all, but the voice was certainly very familiar. It was the voice of a young girl. Usually girls of that age call me Mrs Johnson and ask to speak to one or other of my teenage children.
“Yes, this is Meg. Who’s speaking?” I asked rather suspiciously.
“You’re joking with me,” the girl laughed. “I wanted to know how your accompanying in the studio went this week. Is he going to come to dinner?”
I suddenly felt cold and shivery. I recognised the voice of my best friend, Sally, who had died at the age of nineteen, forty years ago. I was rooted to the spot, unable to speak, but my younger self took over the conversation, while I looked on helplessly.
“What did you sing at your lesson today?” I heard myself asking Sally, looking forward to a long chat about our heroes.
“I cancelled my lesson. I was far too excited to go. Can you keep a secret, Meg? Mum told me not to breathe a word, but I have to tell someone. You won’t believe what has happened to us!”
I waited expectantly. We never cancelled our singing lessons if we could possibly avoid doing so. We’d have to be on the point of going to hospital before we would think of staying away.
“We had a telegram this morning,” Sally said solemnly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Has someone died?” I asked.
All the telegrams we had ever received in our family had born bad news of one kind or another.
“Not that kind of telegram, silly. One from the bank to say we’ve – or rather – Mum has won a prize in the Rhodesian Sweep. Not first prize, you understand, but a fortune all the same.”
She paused tantalisingly.
“How much?” I asked.
“Forty thousand pounds!”
That was a lot of money in 1962. You could retire on the interest of money like that. Sally’s father didn’t retire, but he and her mother bought a bigger car, went on a first class trip back to Scotland, and had a kidney-shaped swimming pool built in the back garden.
After we had got over the excitement of her parents having riches beyond our imagination, our conversation reverted to how I had got on as a very keen, but inexperienced studio accompanist to Derek Bailey.
“Sally, it was wonderful, the best time I’ve had in my life. He was so kind and understanding. My sight reading has improved so much, and guess what? He was thrilled when I asked him to dinner and he’s going to take me to Dawson’s Hotel for lunch sometime next week as well.”
I was waiting eagerly waiting to hear what she thought of my news, but the line was dead. She was gone and I had no idea how to get her back again.
I looked into the empty lounge, still with its Adam ceiling and bay leadlight window. Even the fireplace remained, although it was fitted with an anthracite heater now. In our day, we had an open coal fire, which filled the house with comforting warmth we never enjoy in winter today. Periodically the McPhail’s coal truck would arrive to replenish our coal cellar. ‘Mac won’t Phail you,’ read the slogan on the truck.
Our big radio with its green cat’s eye to fine-tune the stations stood on a table next to the fireplace and was the sole source of our entertainment as the Nationalist government banned TV from South Africa until 1976, fearing that the population might be influenced by radical ideas from the outside world. The piano was in the opposite corner, where I must have distracted the neighbours practising singing and piano scales early each morning.
As I stared round the room, remembering the way it had been, bemused at the vivid conversation with Sally, who had died so many years ago, I suddenly saw my parents and Derek, chatting together over an after-dinner whisky. Although I was there, rooted to the spot, watching, I could see my younger self, clad in that bottle green velvet dress I had thought so attractive. It was the first time I had accompanied for Derek in their singing studio on the eighth floor of a building in the centre of the city, while Marina was away on a trip. He was on his own at home, so my mother had suggested he should come to dinner one evening.
He loved our little dog, Shandy and encouraged her to sit on his lap, shedding her hair on his Saville Row suit.
“My girl friend,” he said contentedly, sipping the whisky, stroking Shandy, and regaling us with tales of their days in variety when they had appeared on the same bill with the likes of Max Miller. Rawicz and Landauer and Albert Sandler.
The scene faded as quickly as it had begun and, once again, I saw myself standing on the bougainvillea-covered stoep with my parents bidding him goodbye after a wonderful evening.
‘Thank you for looking after Meg,’ said my mother.
He smiled at me in a kindly fashion. ‘I think it’s Meg who’s looking after me,’ he replied.
My heart warmed to his words, just as it had done forty years ago when I had first heard the same words spoken in that very spot. He was a kind and gentle man, with none of the conceit one might expect from a great and famous tenor.
We watched him drive his jaunty blue convertible up the hill of Juniper Street. He gave a gentle hoot on his horn to bid us goodbye.
The scene vanished and reverted to being one of my indelible memories once again. I was alone in a cold and empty house, longing to return to those happy innocent days, sad that my parents, Derek and dear Shandy were gone forever, knowing that the moving van and Helen would soon be here, and knowing too that I couldn’t possibly share what had happened – or what I had imagined – with Helen or anyone else for as long as I lived.
Jeannie C©
1 August 2011
June 29, 2012
Let’s ban music from the London Olympics
Let’s ban music from the London Olympics.
I think it is a dreadful idea to play music as a background to events at the Olympics. I have noticed recently that loud pop music is played every time there is a short pause in a cricket or rugby match, not to mention the constant cacophony of so-called “music” I am subjected to in shopping centres and supermarkets. Have we reached the stage that we can do nothing without the accompaniment of egregious pop music? I will be following Dave’s advice and will watch the Olympic events on TV with the sound turned down. As for not paying fees to head-line acts and volunteers who appear at the Olympics – that is yet another disgrace.
Book Reviews
Choral Society by Prue Leith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The book is entitled “Choral Society”. This book is formulaic. Three women meet in a choral group. At the beginning of the book each woman has a short-coming. By the end of the book they have resolved their problems in one way or another.
As a musician who has conducted several choirs in my career I thought this book would be of interest to me. Admittedly the three main characters meet because they join a choral group, but the book deals with their separate lives and we hardly hear much about the choral society at all, except that the scratch group starts off singing Gospel songs and later is rehearsing for a performance of “Messiah”.
I have the impression that the three women are extensions of Prue Leith herself. One is a food-writer and, as in previous novels, there is far too much about cooking methods and ingredients, and descriptions of the meals the various characters eat. There are also too many details about the clothes they wear and the names of contemporary dress designers. There is even a very detailed description about a medical procedure to remove excess fluid from one of the character’s knees!
Prue Leith might have had a different editor for this book than for her earlier novels. How could the editor have overlooked so much slang, clichés, and a whopper about “the laird in the manse” which upset my Scottish sensibilities. Doesn’t everybody know that a minister inhabits a manse? What was a laird doing there?
Admittedly there was a performance of “Messiah” towards the end of the book, but it appeared to be done by chorus only without any mention of soloists. Her nebulous description of this performance reminded me of a description of a performance by a string quartet in one of Mary Wesley’s books. When she mentioned a conductor of the said quartet, I refused to go on reading it.
After the disappointment of this book I doubt whether I’ll be buying any more of Prue Leith fiction, although my cooking might benefit from reading one of her cookery books!
The Soldier’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another excellent novel by Joanna Trollope. In this novel she examines the difficulties faced by soldiers returning from a dangerous tour of duty in Afghanistan. One would imagine that reunions with wives and families at home would be joyous for everyone concerned, but in this novel, this is not the case.
Joanna Trollope explores the difficulties faced by soldiers and the families who have waited to welcome them at home. In this day and age it is not enough for many soldiers’ wives to be home-makers, living for the day their husbands return safely. Some are highly educated and feel frustrated that the successful careers they enjoyed before marrying into the military cannot be fulfilled.
As in most of her other novels, Joanna Trollope manages to examine these problems with sympathy for all concerned. I need not add that she writes beautifully and creates well-rounded and distinctive characters in a few paragraphs. This is a very satisfying novel and I recommend it.
Daughters-in-Law by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have enjoyed most of Joanna Trollope’s novels and this one is no exception. She has an excellent writing style and is always entertaining. She is at her best describing the dynamics of family relationships and excels in defining each character clearly and laying bear the niggling tensions between family members.
In this novel the parents of three sons, each married to a very different woman, try to play too large a role in their sons’ lives, as well as in the lives of their families. The plot shows how the sons eventually manage to cut their parents’ apron strings and take their place in the adult world. After reading this book I am not struck by the dramatic significance of each twist and turn of the plot, but by the subtle nuances of it.
Relish – My Life on a Plate by Prue Leith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have just finished reading Prue Leith’s lively autobiography and I enjoyed it very much. I am not particularly interested in cookery, but I have fond memories of seeing Prue Leith’s mother, the brilliant South African actress, Margaret Inglis in “Separate Tables” when my family and I were on holiday in Durban in 1957.
Prue Leith is four years older than me and grew up in South Africa so we shared similar childhood experiences. I found the account of her early years in South Africa, and later years in France and the UK fascinating. With most autobiographies and biographies, the years of struggle are usually far more interesting than the years of success, as the successful years often amount to no more than a brag-list of achievements and awards.
Although Prue Leith discussed her many achievements, her story held my interest to the end of the book, as her personality and humanity shine through in her writing. Despite success, fame and riches, Prue suffered her fair share of setbacks and she does not skim over the setbacks as others embarking on writing the story of their lives might have done.
Not only did Prue succeed as a cook and caterer, but she has published a number of novels in the later part of her life. I have only read one of them but intend to read the others in due course.
Girl from the South by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I did not enjoy this book quite as much as I enjoyed many other Joanna Trollope novels I have read. Perhaps it was because it was partly set in Charleston in South Carolina, and all the other novels have typically English settings with restrained English characters. I thought the author handled the American characters very well and created the atmosphere of the South very well, but, perhaps because I am set in my ways and thought I knew what to expect from Joanna Trollope, I would have preferred another Aga-Saga!
View all my reviewsDeath Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought that P.D. James captured the style and mood of Jane Austen’s writing in this book. She assumes that one has a thorough knowledge and understanding of “Pride and Prejudice” as she makes many references to Jane Austen’s book and even introduces characters from “Emma” towards the end of the book. The plot of “Death Comes to Pemberley” was slow-moving as one might have expected in a Jane Austen novel which concerned the minutae of the every-day life of the gentry; nearly three quarter’s of this book is taken up with the happenings of several days, seen from the points of view of the characters concerned in the murder. This necessitated a great deal of repetition of the events.
Jane Austen would probably never have concerned herself with something as distasteful as a murder, while P.D. James had to limit herself to a rather unremarkable murder mystery, quite different from the complicated modern mysteries she has written previously. After the mystery was solved I found the epilogue redundant to the plot. Why did Darcy and Elizabeth have to spend considerable time explaining to each other exactly why they acted as they did in “Pride and Prejudice”?
I enjoyed the book and admired P.D James ability to write in the style of Jane Austen, but I hope she continues to write classic murder mysteries and doesn’t repeat the Jane Austen experiment.
Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book by Agatha Christie was different from the murder mysteries. It was written in 1970 and reminded me of Buchan’s “Thirty-nine Steps”, in that it was an adventure story where the aims of the people involved were unclear to me, and therefore fairly meaningless. The best part of the book was the quotation by Jan Smuts preceding the story: “Leadership, besides being a great creative force, can be diabolical…” I thought that this quotation could be applied to quite a few diabolical leaders, past and present.
I waded through this book, hoping that I would eventually be gripped by this tortuous tale, but I’m afraid I gave it up when I was half way through. I am too old to waste time reading books which are uncongenial and meaningless to me. I am glad that Agatha Christie did not continue writing novels like this but returned to writing tales of the detective exploits of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple in the few remaining years of her life.
Love and War in London: A Woman’s Diary 1939-42 by Olivia Cockett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book focuses on the wartime diary of Olivia Cockett, which she wrote for Mass Observation. It is edited by Robert Malcolmson. Olivia was 26 when war broke out and is a singular young woman in that she had been working in a clerical position since she was 17 and having an affair since that age with a married man in his thirties, whom she met at work.
Olivia is a very intelligent young woman who read widely. She was not afraid to tackle authors such as James Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Bertrand Russell and preferred serious music to the light music she heard on the radio. Her liberal outlook on life is the opposite to the conventional outlook of her Man. Because they were unable to marry – even their attempt for him to obtain a divorce goes wrong – she has had two illegal abortions before the war.
She describes routine and unusual events of her life during the war concisely and without emotion or self-pity. Once I became used to her style of writing I found the book a fascinating insight into the life of an ordinary, yet, in many ways extraordinary, young Londoner during the war. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in civilian life at that time.
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have read nearly all Deborah Moggach’s novels and enjoyed them very much, but I put off reading “Tulip Fever” as it seemed very different from her modern novels. Apparently the book was inspired by various Dutch paintings which are shown in the book and is set in 17th century Amsterdam.
The plot is rather far-fetched, bordering on fantasy, quite unlike her other well-crafted modern novels. One has to suspend belief at the twists and turns of the plot and none of the characters are well-rounded. Perhaps she meant them to be as one-dimensional as the subjects featured in the paintings. Although there were references to streets in Amsterdam, Dutch phrases, Dutch names and characters whose main diet was herring, I did not get a rich sense of time or place in this novel.
I’m glad I read the book, but I do not think it is Deborah Moggach’s best novel and it might disappoint her admirers.
Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier by Christopher Fifield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
From 1949 to 1951 Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth lived at Frognal Cottage, Hampstead, opposite 2 Frognal Mansions, where Kathleen Ferrier lived. The Booths became friends with Kathleen when they met her walking on Hampstead Heath as they were out walking their Cairn terrier, Smoky. Webster had been booked to sing a Messiah with her in 1951, but they were both very disappointed when she had to cancel this performance because of her illness. I was singing much the same repertoire as Kathleen when I began studying with the Booths in 1961 and they often lent me her recordings from their own record collection. Thus, although Kathleen had died tragically young when I was a child, I always felt a close affinity with this wonderful woman with the unique contralto voice of the twentieth century.
I was rather disappointed to find that Kathleen Ferrier’s diaries were little more than concert dates, occasionally with brief remarks about how a particular engagement went. On reflection, she was working hard so would have had little time to write substantial diary entries at the end of a busy day.
The letters more than compensated for the brevity of the diaries. She wrote many business letters to keep her very busy career in order. While many singers might have longed for more engagements, Kathleen Ferrier was overwhelmed with offers, to the extent that she often had to turn engagements down and beg for a few days respite from her agent, Emmie Tillet. She could certainly never have undertaken such a demanding career had she been married with children. Her letters show that her extensive American tours in the late 1940s involved exhausting travel arrangements. She had to pay for her own advertising, travel, accompanist and accommodation on these tours, so she hardly made a fortune at £50 a concert.
Her affectionate, informal letters to her sister, Winifred, her father and other friends were always bright, self-deprecating and humorous. Her letters of thanks to acquaintances were always appreciative and polite. Even when she turned down songs which had been sent to her, or engagements she could not undertake, she did so in a kindly way.
Once again, it was sad to see her grave illness taking hold so that she eventually lacked health and strength to write her own letters and relied on her help-meet, Bernie to write on her behalf.
There is a good bibliography,an extensive index of works in Kathleen’s repertoire, another of places, venues and festivals, as well as a general index.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting and unusual novel covering several strands: the narrator’s research into Daphne du Maurier’s work; Daphne du Maurier researching the Brontes in order to write a biography of Branwell Bronte; and Symington, the disgraced Bronte expert. I found it interesting how the author interwove fictional fact with the narrator’s own story, showing similarities between all the characters of her novel. It has encouraged me to reread my collection of du Maurier novels, and to look at Branwell Bronte in a new light. I would recommend this book as a well-written, gripping and unusual novel.
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of my favourite books, which I read a few years after it was first published in 1960. It will be difficult for young readers to credit that fifty years ago it was considered a disgrace for a woman to have a baby out of wedlock and that her parents might disown her for doing so. The heroine of “The L-Shaped Room” even intends to keep her baby, which would have been unthinkable for most girls in 1960, when they were sent to homes for unmarried mothers and had their babies taken away from them at birth to be put up for adoption.
Sisters by Prue Leith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I bought this book a year or two ago and had initially given up reading it after a few pages. I decided to try it again recently and was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed it very much. Perhaps some of my enjoyment stemmed from growing up in South Africa at much the same time as Prue Leith did herself and remembering her illustrious mother, the late Margaret Inglis, who was one of South Africa’s greatest actresses of her generation.
Prue Leith had many cookery books published in the earlier part of her life. In the comparatively new genre of novel-writing she is very competent and the book held my interest. Perhaps she might have considered giving the sisters in questions more distinctive names – Carrie and Poppy can easily be mixed up. Carrie is not entirely likeable for most of the book, but (as in the advice given in most writing courses)she changes for the better as the book progresses.
My only criticism is that Prue Leith spent too much time discussing the food the characters were eating – or cooking! I suppose this is understandable as she made a great name for herself as a cook and restaurant owner.
“Sisters” is not great literature but it is a very enjoyable novel. Now that I have read it I look forward to reading more novels by Prue Leith.
The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I am finding the book quite absorbing, although, since it was written in 1980, the feminist and political views expressed by the characters seem rather dated, in the light of hindsight. I expect they were considered quite unusual at the time. Later: I am afraid that as the book progressed I began to lose interest in the main character’s increasingly peculiar life, friends and acquaintances. I finished the book with difficulty and was very disappointed in it as Margaret Drabble has written some excellent novels and is usually one of my favourite authors. I fear this book is not in the same class as others she has written – or perhaps I lacked the intellect to enjoy it.
I have just read the fascinating story of three lively young South African girls who went to Europe in the 1960s to spend a year travelling from place to place without spending too much money on their travels. They made use of youth hostels and managed to go from one place to another by hitching rides. Admittedly they had strict rules about hitching so they never came to any harm. Somehow I don’t think it would be possible to do the same trip today as everything is so much more expensive and the South African Rand has diminished in value. The book is well-written and extensively illustrated. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about the girls’ fascinating European adventure all those years ago. The book is available in print and Kindle editions.
June 27, 2012
How Ivor Novello’s songs may become old friends to new listeners – Telegraph
How Ivor Novello’s songs may become old friends to new listeners – Telegraph.
Ivor Novello
A concert featuring the music of Ivor Novello will be held at this year’s series of Promenade Concerts. Perhaps the concert will revive interest in his music and the recordings of his music by Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth.
Collage featuring Anne and Webster.
Ivor Novello Vocal Gems.
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