#Big day in the padel universe

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Everyone say thank you to Fernando Alonso for being an instagram king!

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Interview with Ruth Padel

Ruth Padel is an award-winning poet who teaches as Professor of Poetry at King’s. She has published over 20 books, 13 of which are poetry collections. The King’s Poet’s Karen Ng talks to Ruth about her new collection, Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life and her experiences as a poet.

How did you first realise you wanted to write poetry?

I enjoyed poetry as a small child and found I knew poems by heart without trying to learn them, so I started writing them. It was natural, like singing.

How much of a relationship is there between music and poetry? Poetry is music! What influence does music have on your poetry? Does it play an important role in your life?

I grew up playing piano, and viola – like Beethoven – and singing. The first money I ever earned was £5 playing viola in Westminster Abbey. There were professional musicians in my father’s family. His grandfather was a piano soloist born in Christiansfeld, south Denmark, who studied at the Leipzig Conservatoire with Beethoven’s pupil Ignaz Moscheles. In 1868 he settled in York, teaching and playing. His son, my grandfather played violin and as headmaster of Carlisle Grammar School established a vigorous school orchestra and a family string quartet, a tradition that my dad continued with all of us. But I’ve also always sung, wherever I’ve lived: whether this was Cretan mantinades with workmen in the archaeological trenches at Knossos, or in more formal settings, in choirs. And – for a couple of evenings, unpaid, in an Istanbul nightclub.

Can you tell us about your new collection Beethoven Variations? What inspired you to write about Beethoven?

Inspired isn’t quite the word – it snuck up on me! I wrote poems for a Beethoven concert, to read between an early and a late string quartet. I focussed on the twenty years of Beethoven’s life between writing the early and the late and it went great in performances. Audiences said the poems deepened their experience of the music, which was wonderful, and a great, unexpected compliment. But I knew the poems weren’t finished, and kept them on the back burner while I wrote two other collections. Writing those – one a poetry narrative called Tidings, the other lyrics on my mother’s death but recalling her life – fuelled me to tackle the story of Beethoven’s life.

I began by visiting his birthplace in Bonn, and wrote the book in 2019, on sabbatical in New York. It helps to put a perspective distance of some kind between the experience and the writing of the poem. I reworked the original poems, responding to his life but also his evolving work, in four sequences like the four movements of a traditional quartet. I whittled these down to twelve poems in each of four sections, thinking of the architecture of a quartet – like Eliot’s Four Quartets – and using my own musical life as an example of someone influenced by Beethoven, by playing him. So I threaded glints of my life through the poems, playing music but also searching for him in the places where he lived. I added an introductory poem, Listen – the thing Beethoven became unable to do, but which is absolutely crucial in playing together – about the way my parents met, through playing music. 

Above all I wanted to get across his personality, the vivid counterpoint between his cut-offness – he was ruthlessly focussed on creating – his suffering, the awful deafness, his impatience, rows with everyone and devastated disappointments, and his warmth, liveliness, love of conviviality and jokes.

Behind it all, though, is Europe, his and mine. He grew up in Bonn, in Germany, on a street which dead-ended at the Rhine. He used to gaze at the river through a telescope from the attic, and was fascinated by the largest hill beyond – the Drachenfels – which he eventually climbed. So I crossed the Rhine and climbed that too, and then I followed him to Vienna when he went just as Austrian armies were mustering to fight Napoleon. The Europe he’d grown up with was changing very violently and so was mine. This was the year before Brexit, with right-wing factions – primed against immigration – growing in Austria, Poland, Hungary. The dark rifted history of Vienna, that white imperial city, ancient heart of Europe, along with the holocaust, and psycho-analysis which was born there – all that gets into the poems.  

So does the contrast between the glamour, the gilt, creamy spaces and carved stone curlicues of the great palaces of Vienna, owned by rich feudal nobles – many of whom commissioned his best pieces - and the poor dark ordinary homes to which the musicians returned after they played in the glittering halls. A whole hidden history of social injustice, exploitation, and the inequality Beethoven railed against all his life – he yearned and burned for humanity to be free of it – is built into the beautiful architecture he walked through every day, the very fabric of those wonderful cities.

So, it’s a book of poems on a man’s life, someone who was the great artist of hope, the epitome of enormous creativity coming out of suffering. It is in four sections. His life from birth to twenty-two, then to thirty-two when he was making his name, thirty two to forty two, when he said farewell to love and the ‘Immortal Beloved’, whoever she was, then on to fifty-six, when he died. Followed by a prose coda of Life Notes which I wrote just to underpin the poems historically, but they mutated into a prose sequence on their own: a narrative which functions as indirect commentary or supplement to the poems but is also a standalone mini-bio.

You have written biographical poetry before, in Darwin: A Life in Poems. How does the writing process with this type of poetry differ from others? Moreover, as A Life in Poems can be considered a family memoir as well, how did the writing process differ from Beethoven Variations?

I wrote the Darwin book in a very few months, my editor wanted to bring it out on his 200th birthday, February 12th 2009. A lot of the poems incorporate his words in letters and writing. Though the introduction mentions me and my granny, his grand-daughter, I don’t put myself into those poems so it is not really a memoir in that sense. Whereas with Beethoven I bring my own musical life in, as an example of the way Beethoven’s music lives on in all of us..

Can you tell us about influences on your writing and how have your influences changed over the years?

Everything is an influence, but the poets were Kipling, very young, from the Jungle Books, then Tennyson, Keats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Heaney, Charles Olsen, and on. But also the Greek poets, from Homer to Seferis.

You studied Classics and Greek poetry at university. Do the ancient poets influence your writing?

Yes. Especially Homer, Sappho and the tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. I spent twenty years studying them for my PhD and two books, In and Out of the Mind and Whom Gods Destroy: their words and thoughts got into me at every level.

What do you think modern writers can learn from the likes of Sappho and Homer?

Intensity of imagery, the crucial, precise relationship of words to each other, linguistic excitement, and always to address the big things through particulars. How poetry inheres in our relationships – to each other, to the natural world, and to the motivating causes of what happens to us, which might be our own emotions, or the gods. And how your job as a poet is to keep finding new words, the truest words, to explore all that.

Do you enjoy translated poetry? When “lost in translation”, can nuances in the original language ever be retrieved – without yourself, as reader, learning the language?

Translations of Anna Akhmatova, or Mandelstam, are among some of the most iconic and influential poems of the twentieth century. Different poets translate differently well. The Greek poet Seferis, for instance, often translates very well, while people are always trying to do Cavafy differently and in a way failing. Yet Cavafy is really the greater poet. It varies. But of course we need to read translations, to expand our sense and knowledge of the possible.

What do you enjoy the most about teaching poetry?

When you see someone suddenly get it, and the poems suddenly burst with real unique life. But also in class, when students work together generously as a team, and start to notice and bring up about each others’ poems points you might have picked up on yourself – but also things you would never have seen and thought of. That’s wonderful – when students say things you would never have got to on your own. When you know they are travelling, they will be ok.

Do you think poetry is sometimes perceived as an inaccessible art?

I addressed the idea of poetry being ‘difficult’ in two books written out of the columns I wrote for several years for a Sunday paper on reading poetry, 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem and The Poem and the Journey. I pointed out that it is not more difficult than we are! We are difficult creatures, our lives are difficult, so is the world we live in. Complex and difficult – shouldn’t our poetry be up to us, in ourselves?

One problem poetry has today, as compared to, say, the 19th century, is that other arts and media have taken over some of the roles it used to fulfil. Film, popular music, TV. But it can still do something nothing else can, offer a memorable, intense new way of seeing the world and your own experience, in distilled, concentrated words that really grip you when you come upon them.

How important do you think writing communities are, in fostering ‘better’ writing? In your experience, is writing helped by discussion?

Yes, yes yes! But also no. Workshops, in which a bunch of you – who trust each others’ judgement and generosity – offer help on each others’ poems, are a wonderful way to grow as a poet and learn how to read and critique as poets, how to see where each poem can work more convincingly. A place to discuss your poems and the principles behind them, and also new work you are reading. That’s the situation we try to replicate in seminars at King’s. But you also have to be on your own with the work, do the thinking, experiencing and writing on your own. The ideal is a dolphin-like progression through the waves. Up with the others in the air, but also down under the water alone.

Does poetry always benefit from constant re-drafting and experimentation?

Yes.

Do you think poets should make a habit out of writing every day?

There’s no ‘should’ about it, if you want to write well, and better, you will.

Do “sentences that sound poetic” or flowery writing always indicate good writing?

No!!! That’s a terrible word, that word poetic. Poets don’t use it. It usually means warm and fuzzy. And facile.

Does a writer need to have natural talent?

Of course. You can acquire craft, but you have to have an ear and an instinct too.

Is practice and growth more important?

Also of course!

What are your thoughts on spoken word poetry?

Its effects depend very much on the presence and voice of the poet-performer, the physical sonic relation with the audience.

Do you a favourite literary journal, or a poetry platform you would like to recommend?

Our King’s poetry journal Wild Court has reviews and essays as well as new poems from international poets, and also supports our event series Poetry And... – which I explained in the Guardian, when we started it, aims to illustrate poetry’s connectivity to all areas of life and learning. We are setting up the next Poetry And... for May 13th: Poetry And Obisidian. It will feature three poets who are among the first alumni of the Obsidian Foundation for emergent Black poets, set up by prize-winning poet Nick Makoha, currently doing a Poetry PhD at King’s. Wild Court is now beginning a slot for King’s work too. Post-graduate from our PhD Creative Writing students, and Undergraduate from students who have completed poetry modules, in consultation with the Editor and Creative Writing tutors. Wild Court aside, Poetry Review with its brilliant series Behind the Poem, Poetry London, Prac Crit and The Scores all have excellent new work.

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Judy Murray To Host Summer Tennis Camps at Quinta Do Lago In Portugal

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If the Championships at Wimbledon this year grabbed your attention then this will certainly be of interest to you as, Judy Murray, former Great Britain Federation Cup Captain and mother of Grand Slam champions Andy and Jamie, has announced that she will be returning to The Campus, Europe’s newest five-star multi-sport and wellness hub at Quinta do Lago in the Algarve in Portugal, for her third in a series of adult and junior coaching camps.

Judy will join a team of coaches for fun and action-packed coaching camps, hosting a five-day junior tennis camp from the 19th - 23rd August and also a three-day adult tennis from 21st - 23rd August 2019

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The camps will focus on grass-roots coaching and development, making tennis fun for juniors of all abilities and learning skills from one of the most respected tennis coaches and ‘mums’ in the game.  Judy will encourage youngsters to get active in the magnificent surrounds of The Campus, Europe's newest multi-sport and wellness hub.

Judy will offer a unique tennis coaching experience for juniors and adults who will benefit enormously from her many years of years of coaching at all levels of the game and which took her sons to No.1 in the world!

Judy says: "The camps are full of the exercises and games that I played with Jamie and Andy when they were growing up. We focus on three things:  skill-building activities, tennis specific movement training and creating fun competition. Tennis is a “hit, move and think sport” so the camps aim to help players of all levels to do those three things at the same time.....while having a whole lot of fun! ”

Sean Moriarty, Chief Executive of Quinta do Lago, says “coaching opportunities like these is what makes The Campus stand out amongst sporting venues across Europe.”

"It’s great to have icon Judy Murray back to The Campus for more fun and engaging junior and adult tennis camps. Judy is one of the most respected figures in tennis and she adds to the list of incredible sports ambassadors we now have at The Campus.”

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Judy Murray is the latest addition of high-profile stellar sports stars adding to a world class level of sports coaching and mentoring who are now partnering with The Campus. 

Former England and Manchester United football legend Rio Ferdinand is also set to return for more coaching camps after his successful series of camps last year, and also Irish rugby player Brian O’Driscoll is set to continue his partnership as well.

Head Tennis Professional at The Campus, Zé Lopes, adds:

“We’re thrilled to be working with Judy Murray once again after the great success of her recent Easter camp in April. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn the coaching techniques she uses and she is such a great motivator to players, parents and coaches.” 

The Campus is one of Europe’s newest state of the art multi-sports venues, created for elite athletes, teams and for families as well. The Campus is already becoming popular with 

Premiership football and rugby teams, Olympic and Para-Olympic squads, performance athletes and coaches who are taking advantage of the perfect training climate and using The Campus as their warm-weather training base.

The recently opened High Performance Campus has added to The Campus' stellar reputation and cemented its reputation as the outstanding location for holiday makers looking for the ultimate sporting break, with dance classes, yoga, swimming and state-of-the-art saunas, steam rooms and wellness areas adding to the appeal.

Top Premier League clubs, the Ireland rugby team and Olympic athletes have trained at The Campus in the last year, with high profile teams and athletes set to use the High Performance Campus and wellness facilities that are of the highest caliber.

"The Campus further elevates Quinta do Lago as one of the finest sports and leisure destinations in the world. The beauty of this complex is you don't have to be a world-class or even professional athlete, as we also cater for guests who simply want to use the facilities at their leisure for fitness or as a hobby." added Sean.

JUDY MURRAY SUMMER TENNIS CAMPS 

Junior tennis camps from the 19th - 23rd August 

Adult tennis camps from the 21st - 23rd August 2019 

BOOKING CAMPS 

Junior camps -  www.quintadolago.com/en/judy-murray-JUNIOR-tennis-camps/ 

Adult  camps -  www.quintadolago.com/en/judy-murray-adult-tennis-camps/ 

Call on +351 289 381 220

ABOUT JUDY MURRAY 

Judy Murray was born on 8 September 1959 in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, the daughter of Eileen Shirley and Roy Erskine, an optician and former footballer who had played for Stirling Albion in the 1950s.

She says that growing up, there were no indoor tennis courts in Scotland, so she played tennis in the summer and badminton in the winter. She won 64 titles in Scotland during her junior and senior career, and decided to have a go at the professional tour in around 1976.

Murray gave up the idea of competing professionally as she was homesick and was robbed in Barcelona. However, she had played against players such as Debbie Jevans and Mariana Simionescu. Murray claims that her playing style did not have any big shots but she was quick around the court and read the game well.

She decided to go to the University of Edinburgh to study French and German, before dropping German in favor of business studies. In 1981, she graduated from the University of Edinburgh, and represented Great Britain at the World Student Games.

She began coaching and was the initial coach for both her sons before handing over the reins as their professional careers bloomed. In the early 1980s, Murray lived in the West End of Glasgow and was a member of Broomhill Lawn Tennis and Squash club, winning the Club Championships three times and playing for its teams (under her maiden name). She remains a visitor to the club.

Aside from her own sons, she has coached many players at regional and national level under the auspices of the British tennis governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

In December 2011 she was elected to lead the British Fed Cup team as their captain. She says she took the job in part to raise the profile of female coaches and alleviate some of the sexism that she says remains in the sport. She resigned as Great Britain's Fed Cup Captain in March 2016. 

Murray was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to tennis, women in sport, and charity. 

Murray was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Edinburgh on 8 October 2013. On 22 November 2013 Murray received an honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling. She received three honorary degrees in 2016, one from the University of Aberdeen another from the University of Glasgow, and a third from Abertay University for her "outstanding contribution to British sport."  

Judy has developed several tennis initiatives including Miss-Hits, a starter programme for girls age 5 to 8, Tennis on the Road, which takes tennis into remote and deprived parts of Scotland, and, most recently, She Rallies, a programme with the LTA, to encourage more women and girls into tennis across the UK.

JUDY MURRAY FOUNDATION 

MF takes tennis into rural and disadvantaged areas of Scotland. She builds workforces within local communities to make tennis fun and ‘dobale’. Tennis for Everyone.

Website - https://judymurrayfoundation.com/ 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/JudyMurrayFdn 

Facebook - www.facebook.com/judymurrayfoundation 

Instagram - www.instagram.com/judymurrayfdn/

All visitors to The Campus will experience world class tennis and padel courts, a wonderful cycling center led by Paralympic gold medalist Mark Rohan, as well as a top class swimming facility and a wellness section of the High Performance Centre that offers all visitors the ideal chance to unwind after an exhausting workout.

Guests can also stay at the magnificent The Magnolia Hotel, situated on the doorstep of The Campus and Quinta do Lago resort. It has a range of accommodation including 74 comfortable rooms, three suites and seven cottages.  The rooms have been recently been fully refurbished and the five-star service will help guests unwind and destress at the end of their day. There is a free shuttle bus service to The Campus for all guests.

ABOUT THE MAGNOLIA HOTEL 

Guests can stay at The Magnolia Hotel, situated on the doorstep of The Campus and Quinta do Lago resort. It has a range of accommodation including 74 luxury rooms, three suites and seven cottages.  

The rooms have been recently been fully refurbished and the five-star service will help guests unwind and destress at the end of their day. 

The Magnolia Hotel offers a beautiful heated outdoor pool and the pool area is at the heart of the hotel. Guests can also visit the spa and holistic rooms and reconnect with mind and body. A team of expert therapists are on-hand to soothe away any tired and achy knots.

For guests that are feeling energetic and in need of a good stretch then there is a fully equipped gym with premium quality equipment. The experienced personal trainers are available to help guests work out. There’s a shuttle bus service to The Campus for all guests too.

ABOUT QUINTA DO LAGO

Synonymous with elegance and privacy, Quinta do Lago is an exclusive golf and residential estate of nearly 2,000 acres bordering the Atlantic Ocean and nestled within the privacy and security of the Ria Formosa nature reserve. 

Quinta do Lago is one of the most desired resorts in Europe and allows you to live an active outdoor lifestyle all year round, offering real estate plots between deserted dunes, sheltered pines, breath-taking beaches surrounded by three award-winning golf courses.

Since its inception, Quinta do Lago has been at the forefront of European golf with three award-winning championship courses matched by outstanding practice facilities including Europe’s only Paul McGinley Golf Academy and the only Taylor Made Performance Center in Southern Europe. 

Among its recent accolades, the resort was voted ‘Europe’s Best Golf Venue’ at the 2015 and 2016 World Golf Awards. Quinta do Lago has enjoyed the honor of hosting eight Portuguese Opens as well as numerous other international golf tournaments and its world-class golf facilities are some of the best anywhere in the world.

Away from the fairways, Quinta do Lago now adds to its portfolio extensive state-of-the art leisure and racquets facilities guaranteed to keep families occupied with regular tennis and padel tennis events,  cycling tours of the West Coast, family bike trips, a wide range of water, beach and lake sports as well as cultural and nature trips.

The resort’s stunning location by the beach offers the perfect place to relax and unwind while its wide array of restaurants, both formal and informal, take advantage of the fresh Mediterranean produce that the resort has become famous for.

More information 

Call The Campus on +351 289 381 220

Visit  - www.thecampusqdl.com/en/

Email - the-campus@quintadolago.com 

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