#than you have no business in a 19th century novel sir

[cinemaocd]

Dolly zoom in on Mr. Darcy's suffering

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

This could be a prompt, or just a background thing for the new AU. Phileas gets a fellow Reform Club member, who happens to be a lawyer, to represent William Boldwood and get him out of jail.

Mr. Boldwood is incredibly grateful and wants to show his appreciation to Mr. Fogg.

I was actually considering this last night! :D

I dunno shit about 19th century law (minus a few, dumb things), but I did see that in the original novel that Boldwood was considered insane for having acted on a 'crime of passion', and would be let off easier. Then out-grid commented with the zombie plea, and it's like... yeah, let's go with these things, I'm sure a lawyer can help get him off without too long a sentence.

So, yeah, for the sake of this au... things work out better for Boldwood, but there is still some angst.

On with the fic!

--

It had taken nearly two years, but William found himself a free man once more.

Well, not completely free, but it was better than being stuck in a cell in a world that didn't help with his already crippling issues with keeping himself locked away. Still, he would be forever thankful for his new friend's help.

Phileas Fogg, the man he had spent the 23rd of December speaking to, promised to get him the best lawyer he knew to help him with his case. A man from the Reform Club that Phileas was a member was able to work with a case of mental disturbance, of working off an act of protection towards the young woman he was trying to save from a man who was supposed to be dead. It took many hoops to jump through, but William Boldwood was once more allowed to walk about as a free man.

Except he would be restrained to his estate for the time being, as he was deemed still mildly insane, whatever that meant. Someone was meant to stay with him, to keep an eye on him until he was deemed well enough to return to the life he had before.

That seemed an impossible task, but William would take what he could get, he just wanted to return to his home.

He saw it as the carriage he rode in pulled up, and a great relief came over him. Everything looked in order, his staff had even come out to greet him. He had been shocked to learn that they still cared for his land, but letters from Gabriel, Bathsheba, and Phileas had informed him that things were taken care of in his absence.

William had been right to befriend these three, they were good people. Still, he felt guilt in his chest over what he had done to Bathsheba, but she was so good to him, though she would never love him as he had loved (still loves?) her.

The carriage came to a stop and he slipped out to welcomes and greetings from his staff, oh, how he missed them all so much. He owed them the world. He did not see any new faces, he wondered who his guardian would be during his house arrest, were they inside?

After meeting with everyone once more and paying the driver, he made his way inside.

It was as he left it, well, minus the holiday decorations. He hadn't realized how much he missed this old place until he was stuck in prison. He had thought of his own home as one for so long, too paranoid to leave it as he had done when he was in his youth, outside of attending church and businesses. But now it was a something that filled him with a sense of joy and relief, something familiar that he would never take for granted again.

Then he spotted an elderly man he had never seen before, standing there with shaking hands, bowing towards William. "Good afternoon, Mr. Boldwood." The old man greeted.

"Good afternoon to you as well, uh... what is your name, sir?"

"Grayson."

"Right, yes, Grayson. Are you to be in charge of me during my house arrest?"

Grayson shook his head, gesturing for William to follow him to the drawing room, where a familiar man sat in one of the chairs in there.

"Phileas?" William was surprised, he hadn't expected to see his friend here.

Phileas turned away from the window he had been staring out of, smiling towards William as he rose from the chair. "Welcome home, William. I made sure that it was in the state you liked best for your arrival. Come, sit, make yourself comfortable, Grayson shall fetch some drinks for us. Grayson?"

"Yes, sir." Grayson nodded, turning away and leaving the room.

William swallowed and walked to the chairs, but he didn't sit. "Phileas... what are you doing here?"

"Well, to welcome you home, for one thing. And because I was assigned to you."

"Assigned?" William frowned. "But you are not involved with the law, or the hospitals, how...?"

Phileas coughed, looking a bit bashful. "I... know people, who can pull strings. Your lawyer also reasons that it would be best if you were with someone who understood you well."

And Phileas did know him well, in these two years Phileas had become a close friend. He had visited William when he could, and often wrote letters. And while Phileas had gone off to travel with his friends, William was sent many a letter, and he tried to send them back as quickly as he could, hopefully to the right places.

Was it good fortune that Phileas would be helping him? Staying with him until he would be considered normal once more? William couldn't explain it, but he felt a bit lighter in his chest at the prospect of it, he decided it would be wise to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Shall we have drinks before you show me about? Your estate is beautiful from what little I was shown, and your friends here said it would be best if you gave me the tour." Phileas spoke, sitting down once more.

William felt like words were not his forte, but he nodded, sitting down. "Y-yes, that sounds like a good idea." He said, still feeling light in his chest, trying not to relate it to when he had last felt like this.

When he had gotten a Valentine from a young woman in the mail...

--

*shrugs wildly* This is, like, totally not how these things work, but whatever. This is pretty much a whole 'and there was only one bed' scenario, ya know???

I just want Boldwood to have a happy ending, is that too much to ask?

[sapphirelycoris]

𝑨 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 & 𝑨𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕: 𝑰

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Suggestive lines, pining (like a lot because Enji's a simp), enemies to lovers style writing, weird 19th century type dialogue but I think it's still readable. Please tell me if I missed any.

Ship: Enji Todoroki x female reader (she/her)

Word count:  2,707

Music: Pride & Prejudice Music & Ambiance

Author's note: I know some of the character's relationships with others are kind of weird but I casted them according to personality. For example, Ryuko reminds me of Charlotte Lucas and Nejire reminds me of her little sister, Maria. I just kind of threw names around haha... A NSFW and continuation soon to come. God, it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog.

Written/created for: @pleasantanathema's Through Ink and Quill | A Classics Collab

Summary: A Pride and Prejudice inspired piece, featuring Enji Todoroki as the male love interest. Loosely following the plot of the actual novel with a few twists on the actual story's dialogue, characters, & events. When you meet Mr. Enji Todoroki, he was the last man in the world you'd ever want to be around. However, as your paths cross more and more, you see that your first impression of him was inaccurate.

"The world works in mysterious ways. He doesn’t know what happened and when it began. Suddenly, Enji cannot stop longing to be in the same room with you. To go one more moment without you seemed like a sin or some unbearable divine punishment for his greatest flaw: pride."

𝑉𝑎𝑛���𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦. 𝐴 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠; 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠. -𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛

The world works in mysterious ways. He doesn’t know what happened and when it began. Suddenly, Enji cannot stop longing to be in the same room with you. He dreamed about the sight of your eyes, glancing at him with mild contempt. You occupied his thoughts, both innocent and indecent… He was going to go mad if you didn’t share the same affections that he did. He didn’t want you. Not at all. He needed you by his side. To go one more moment without you seemed like a sin or some unbearable divine punishment for his greatest flaw: pride.

When he blatantly insulted you at the first gathering he attended and saw you laugh about it with Ryuko, for once, he felt uneasy. The same woman he had slighted was now the one who controlled him. He noticed the way you looked embarrassed at your family’s antics. It disgusted him that he was obsessing over someone with that kind of background.

It certainly shocked Enji when you stood him up at Sir Yorio’s gathering. How dare you! For him to stoop down and offer to dance with you, only for you to reject him, was truly offensive. A woman far below his social status, refusing to stand up with him. The nerve. 

Every single snarky quip that left your lips swam around in his mind. Your sharp tongue was attractive. The moment he saw you with mud on your dress, walking from your home to Toshinori’s country estate, he was taken aback. For some reason, he couldn’t get rid of that image. The sun hit your face perfectly, creating an enchanting glow that accompanied your delightful countenance. 

“Ms. (L/N).” Your name rolled off his lips so naturally. 

The regrettable moment you had to leave Toshinori’s estate, he helped you into the carriage which would take you home. Something transpired, far beyond his comprehension. Your hand fit so perfectly in his, he couldn’t help but want it to stay there forever. The missing piece to a puzzling man such as himself finally found its way to its rightful spot. It seemed you wished for the same thing. His grip was secure, he felt safe, and you were trapped, staring into the most beautiful cerulean eyes. At the same time, Enji could drown in your eyes forever. The confused look you gave him was endearing when he refused to let go. 

His actions also startled him. Why was he so stuck on you? He flexed his hand, imagining that yours never left as he watched the carriage shrink, moving further from the manor and into the distance. When was the next time he would be allowed to see you? What was it going to take to cure this infatuation?

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The next time he saw you, was under more unfortunate circumstances. He was riding downtown with Toshinori when he spotted your little party. Unlike his friend, Enji looked unhappy when he saw who you were talking with. You briefly exchanged eye contact with him before he had a clear look of disdain displayed on his face. 

Keigo’s eyes followed yours. He tipped his hat, but Enji made no attempt to return the friendly gesture. He hurried away on his horse without saying a word. The encounter was certainly unusual. Keigo looked discomforted by the interaction. You wondered what could have transpired between the two men that caused such tension. 

That night, at your aunt’s home, you sat down and heard what Keigo had to say about his reunion with Enji. He told his side of the story. He painted Enji as the villain in his narrative. Seeing as how you already found the man so disagreeable, you couldn’t help but believe Keigo’s words. He was much more forthcoming than his old friend; he didn’t seem capable of telling a lie. This new story caused you to see Enji in a new light, only deepening your dislike for the man. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Toshinori was a man of his word and held the ball that he promised your sisters. Enji was less unenthusiastic than he usually was. Knowing that he’d get to see you there was the night’s one redeeming feature. He was excited at the thought of getting to lay his eyes on you once more, and it sickened him.

Many of the officers were attending the ball. While linking arms with Toshinori and walking around the ballroom, you searched for Keigo among the redcoats the officers wore. Instead of finding him, you found a pair of familiar blue eyes that looked at you with well-hidden passion and yearning. Enji wanted to tear you away from Toshinori’s arms and have you all to himself. He had many selfish desires, and he usually got what he wanted, but you were the exception. 

Women fawned over him, trying to get a taste of his money. Even Rei tried being overly friendly with him. He cared little for them; he wasn’t looking to fall in love. He was not in search of a wife. Enji was quite content with the life he had. Everything he wanted was in his grasp. But you? You were so close yet so far. There was an uncomfortable amount of emotional space between you and he wanted to close it. Being in the same room wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to touch you, feel your skin, claim those alluring lips for himself. He wanted to see your whole being without any pesky fabric in the way. If only he could rip that dress off of your body after forcefully pulling you into a vacant bedroom. 

He made his way over to you, but an officer blocked his view. He informed you that Keigo would not be in attendance. Part of it was because of an assignment he had to do, but he also wanted to avoid a certain man… Your younger sisters drug the officer away, leaving you alone in the middle of a crowded room. 

Fortunately, you spotted Ryuko, who was standing alone in the corner. You went to inform her of everything that had happened lately. An unwelcome guest interrupted you. 

“Ryuko, may I introduce you to my cousin, Mr. Tobita?” While remaining civil, you introduced them to each other. He took your hand and led you to dance. As it turns out, the man can’t dance. He went the wrong way, bumping into another lady. It was embarrassing, to say the least. 

Enji watched in amusement as he saw you struggle to keep a smile. You made eye contact with him again, almost sending him a look of desperation. Dancing with him would be better than your current situation. He simply smirked and waltzed around the room, observing everyone. 

While you were busy venting to Ryuko, the very man you were talking about came up to you. The two of you exchanged glances and bowed. “If you are not otherwise engaged, would you do me the honor of dancing the next with me?” Enji’s odd invitation made your eyes widen slightly.

There was no way out of it. You tried coming up with an excuse, but nothing came to mind. He smiled slyly as you fumbled over your words. “I- well I hadn’t... yes. Thank you…” With no escape, you were trapped. He walked off, and you lingered behind for a minute.

“You’d be a fool if you didn’t take him up on his offer. It’s a great compliment that he singled you out.” Ryuko commented. 

“The last time he singled me out was to slander me. Hateful man…” you hissed before going to follow him. 

As the music started to play, you studied Enji’s face. It was the first time you’d ever really taken the time to analyze all of his features. You hated to admit it, but he was handsome. Unusually handsome. 

Finally, your hand had made its way back into his. Even if it was only for a brief moment, that feeling would stick with him until the end of the night. The two of you danced around with your words, conversing back and forth when the time was appropriate. You simply couldn’t bear the silence. 

Couples pranced around the dance floor elegantly, stepping where they needed to. You two moved in sync, never letting your eyes wander. There was a burning passion for the man that you couldn’t get rid of. Whether it was burning hatred, lust, or love, you couldn’t tell. Hostility and tension seemed to be all that came out of your encounters with him. The sexual tension was the one thing that kept you from completely despising Enji and you hated it. 

In an attempt to rile him up, you remarked on Keigo and the last time Enji saw you. “The last time I was in town, I was forming a new acquaintance.” A sly grin spread across your face as the words came out. 

“Mr. Takami’s friendly personality is what allows him to make friends so easily. Though his ability to keep them is debatable.” 

“How unfortunate he must be, to lose your friendship, a loss I am sure he will regret for the rest of his life.” You mocked in an airy and hushed tone. Before Enji could snap back, Mr. Toyomitsu came over to hint at a marriage between your sister and Toshinori. The two of you glanced at the smiling pair before dancing again. “Didn’t you say that you rarely ever forgave? That your hatred, once set in stone, was set indefinitely? Surely a man such as yourself is careful when breeding such hatred.” 

“Of course I am.” Enji scoffed. 

“And I presume you do not let prejudice blind you?” 

“No. What is the purpose of these questions, if I may ask?” He grumbled, disliking your inquiries. 

“Simply a means to figure out your constitution.” You laughed, “Trying to get a good idea of your character.”

“And your findings?” 

“None. I have heard of you on different accounts by different people with different views of you. You shall remain a mystery until I comprehend you.” 

With the dance ending, Enji remained silent. Once the music faded, he supported your hand as you lightly held it over his. “I request that you do not attempt to perceive my character right now. It would do us no favors if you judged wrong.” He claimed as you left the dance floor.

“I may not get another opportunity, so I might as well try while I have the chance.” 

Enji placed himself right next to you and leaned to whisper in your ear. He lowered his voice, making sure only you could hear. “I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours.” His finger brushed against your arm as he walked away. All the heat in your body rushed to that spot. You wanted his warmth against your skin, you didn’t want him to go. 

And yet, you were standing alone in the corner of a crowded room, fixated on the man who you swore to never like. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Much had happened over a short amount of time. You had rejected Mr. Tobita’s marriage proposal and got an earful from your mother. Keigo got engaged to a rich young lady, and Ryuko had gotten engaged to Mr. Tobita. Enji and Toshinori’s party had left his estate, and your sister was disheartened. Everyone had such high expectations for her and Toshinori, only for him to up and leave. 

Now, you were on your own adventure. You, Sir Yorio, and Nejire were going to visit her and Mr. Tobita. They lived in a small house on Lady Chiyo’s property. Greenery grew on the stone, adding to the natural feel of the house. It was a quaint little grey structure with a clear blue sky in the background.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Ryuko and her husband rushed out the door to greet you. They showed you to your rooms while Mr. Tobita kept on about Lady Chiyo’s house and how grand it was. It seemed he was more in love with Chiyo than his own wife.

“Are you happy here?” You asked Ryuko as you watched the other three walk around the garden.

“I am quite content with my situation. I barely see him during the day. He sits in his book room, walks to Lady Chiyo’s every day, and-”

“And you prefer to sit in your own wing of the house.” You finished. Whether it was what she was going to say or not, you stated your mind. Ryuko smiled wistfully, “Yes.” 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

While you and Ryuko were walking through the woods, along with Nejire, Mr. Tobita came running after you. He was clearly out of breath but told you his news, anyway. Enji and his cousin, Kugo, had arrived. He urged you to make your way back to the house, since they wanted to visit with them.

“Pleasure to finally meet you Ms. (L/N).” Kugo smiled.

“Oh? ‘Finally’, sir?” 

“My cousin speaks of you often.” He informed.

“Ah…” You sighed, looking over at Enji who met your gaze, only hungrier. 

Enji’s eyes never left you, though. There was a protective aura emitting from him. Just in case Kugo spoke or acted out of line, he was ready to come to your aid at any moment. He rested his knuckles against his mouth. Instead of addressing anyone else in the room, he was intently watching and listening to your conversation. 

“Pray tell, why is Mr. Todoroki staring at me?” You asked Kugo, having enough of being watched over like you were some kind of prey, “Have I done or said something he finds offensive?” 

The man stood up from the sofa and meandered over to the table you were seated at. He had no control of his own actions. It was quite an impulsive move, and now he didn’t know what to say. “How is your family?” He choked out. 

“Well.” You replied, “My sister has been in town for quite some time. Have you happened to see her?” 

“No.” Enji lied, “Unfortunately not.” 

“As you can tell, Mr. Todoroki and I are not very close.” 

“Really? I find that hard to believe.” Kugo exclaimed.

“Truly? I believe in first impressions, however, Mr. Todoroki’s good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.” Your words caused him to turn around, and he saw your smiling face, making a joke of him. 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The grounds of Lady Chiyo’s property were breathtaking. When the weather allowed, you took advantage of the sprawling greenery and went out for as many walks as you could. Without a cloud in the sky, an endless sea of blue, and shining sun, you wasted no time in getting outside. It was much more productive and enjoyable than sitting in the house.

A beautiful little trail, hidden by the estate’s magnificent trees, was the path you found yourself walking along. You looked up to admire how tall the trees had grown. They stood proud and provided you with shade. The birds sang a lovely little tune, supplying you with a unique sound that rivaled that of the best musicians. 

Enji came trotting through the path from the side. He halted his horse once he saw you. No painting could do you justice, even one made by the best painter in the world could compare to your beauty in person. The sight of you admiring the picture in front of you made his heart pound. Though you said nothing, he believed that you, taking the time to simply look at him, was the greatest compliment he would ever receive. 

And for those few precious minutes, he drank in your appearance. He was hopelessly in love with you. Being in your presence was the best part of his day. He found himself looking forward to seeing you. He always prayed for you to cross paths with him. Even if he simply caught a glimpse of you, suddenly it brightened his entire day. 

Unfortunately, he had other things to do. Enji spurred his horse forward and trotted away. Your presence in his life was much bigger than he expected when he first met you. And somehow… he didn’t mind it. He hated yet loved the feeling of being in love.

[misscrawfords]

So you want to read something like Jane Austen?

I see lots of posts where people answer this question with recommendations for classic historical romance authors like Georgette Heyer or more modern bodice-rippers like Julia Quinn or Tessa Dare. But to me that’s never quite the appropriate answer. Sure, if what you want is romance with country dancing and breeches, that’s fine, but surely if you want to read more things similar to Jane Austen, the best way to do that is to delve into her lesser known contemporaries. People Austen admired and people who admired her. People writing on similar themes and using similar language. 

So this is my list of 10 novels from the 18th and early 19th century that you might like to try if you’ve read Austen and want to branch out more. These are just personal recommendations and based off what I’ve read; I’m very happy to hear other suggestions!

Worth noting as well that all of these are available online or free for kindle download. :)

1. Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney (1778) Summary: Evelina Anville is a shy, innocent country girl who is invited to London by friends. Here, she attempts to navigate the complicated social mores of the season while keeping her integrity. She encounters handsome men, vulgar relations and gets into numerous alarming and hilarious scrapes along the way to discovering her true noble heritage and winning the love and hand of the charming Lord Orville. Why you should read it: A great first novel for Austen fans to get into who aren’t otherwise familiar with literature of the period. Burney’s first novel is sparkling, witty, filled with dialogue and not very long. The humour is more robust than Austen’s - it’s definitely Georgian rather than Regency - but a lot of the scenarios will be familiar to Austen readers. Particularly recommended for fans of Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and readers who like historical romances set during the London season.

2. Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress by Fanny Burney (1782) Summary: Cecilia Beverley is an orphaned heiress who will only inherit her fortune on the very specific condition that her husband takes her name. Until she turns 21 she is left with three very different guardians - the profligate Mr. Harrell, the proud Mr. Delvile, and the vulgar Mr. Briggs. Cecilia must protect herself from the advances of the unscrupulous fortune hunters she meets and deal with her feelings for young Mortimer Delvile, whose family is excessively proud of its ancient name. Why you should read it: IMO Cecilia is a masterpiece. It’s a much longer and complex novel than Evelina but it contains fierce social satire and commentary of a world where women are horribly vulnerable and money rules all interactions pointing forwards to authors like Dickens and Eliot. Burney is a little more moralistic and less witty here but it’s a fascinating portrayal of a highly intelligent and capable, independent woman in a world where she is constrained by the men around her, in the kind of plot that romance novelists can only dream of. It’s also worth noting that Pride and Prejudice was arguably written as a response to Cecilia and it is very interesting to spot and consider the ways in which Austen was explicitly influenced by this novel and what she changed in writing Pride and Prejudice. Particularly recommended for fans of Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Please note that this novel contains a suicide and (period appropriate) mental illness.

3. Belinda by Maria Edgeworth (1801) Summary: Belinda Portman is sent to live with the fashionable Lady Delacour in London with whom she develops a strong friendship. Part of the plot deals with Lady Delacour’s fear that she has breast cancer and part with the customary romantic entanglements of a young girl out in the London season. Why you should read it: Maria Edgeworth was one of the most popular novelists of Austen’s day - and was far more commercially successful. Belinda is her second novel and has been compared to Austen for its natural portrayal of character. Lady Delacour is the most interesting character - a slightly older woman, independent, strong-minded and fearless. Particularly recommended for fans of Persuasion, Lady Susan, Sanditon and of potentially queer subtext, intriguing references to interracial marriages (look it up!) and 18th century surgery.

4. Patronage by Maria Edgeworth (1814) Summary: A magnum opus almost Dickensian in scale charting the rises and falls of two neighbouring families, the hard-working and virtuous Percy family and the ambitious, scheming Falconers. The daughters need marriages, the sons need careers and the paterfamilias of each family must make tough decisions about what he wants his family to stand for. Why you should read it: This novel is admittedly a brick and tough to get through at times but it really is worth it. You are plunged into Regency society in a way no other contemporary novel succeeds in with a large and varied cast of characters. The novel also takes you into the world of men and their professions in a way that Austen never does. Particularly recommended for fans of Mansfield Park (which was published in the same year) and people who want to learn more about Regency society in all its forms.

5. Rob Roy by Walter Scott (1817) Summary: Romantic Frank Osbaldistone leaves his father’s business in London to visit his cousins in north England where he meets and falls in love with the beautiful and charming Diana Vernon, gets caught up in a Jacobite plot and the scheming of his wicked cousin, Rashleigh, and meets the famous Scottish outlaw, Rob Roy. Why you should read it: There were several Scott novels that could be included here but I picked Rob Roy for its attractive portrayal of Diana, since Scott is not always great at writing 3D heroines Austen fans will like. Scott was the most successful novelist at the time, bursting onto the novel scene writing novels with a male protagonist at a time when most novels were by, for and about women. Scott and Austen admired each other a great deal despite writing in very different genres, with Scott writing historical romances rather than contemporary social satires. Particularly recommended for fans of Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice.

6. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (1794) Summary: Set vaguely in the 16th century, this most famous gothic novel follows the adventures of Emily St Aubert from her father’s French estate to Venice with her aunt, Madame Cheron after he dies and then, when her aunt marries the sinister Montoni, to his castle in the Italian Apennines.  Why you should read it: C’mon, it’s Udolpho! Don’t you want to know what’s behind the infamous black veil? Northanger Abbey will be 10 times better once you’ve read Udolpho and despite the excessive amount of fainting, overuse of the word “sublime” and far too many spontaneous reciting of poetry, it’s a genuinely engaging adventure novel with larger-than-life characters, daring adventures, and some really beautiful descriptions of France and Italy. Particularly recommended for fans of Northanger Abbey, obviously.

7. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818) Summary: Utterly ridiculous gothic satire with a tenuous plot about a morose widower who lives with his son, Scythrop, in a crumbling mansion in Lincolnshire, but you’re not reading this for the plot. Why you should read it: I read it for university, having never heard of it before, and found it hilarious. Published in the same year as Northanger Abbey, it is similar in poking fun at gothic conventions. It depends on a reasonable knowledge of gothic novels and contemporary literature and philosophy so not a novel for beginners to undertake unless you have an edition with a commentary, but it’s very short and absolutely absurd. Particularly recommended for fans of Northanger Abbey and the Juvenilia.

8. Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson (1740) Summary: Pamela is a maid in Mr. B’s house and must use all her ingenuity to fend off her employer’s advances and convert his many and increasingly desperate attempts to seduce her into a marriage proposal. Why you should read it: Pamela was a sensation when it was first published. Written in the form of letters, it was arguably the first novel to really get into the brain of a young woman and was quite radical in its treatment of the relationship between the sexes, consequently being highly influential on subsequent novels. Any of Richardson’s novels could deserve a place here - Clarissa is arguably his best but it’s ridiculously long and I haven’t read it, and Sir Charles Grandison was apparently Austen’s favourite novel but I also haven’t read it. Pamela is probably the most approachable but please note, in case the summary didn’t set off enough alarm bells, its depiction of consent is very much of its time. Particularly recommended for fans of the literary culture into which Austen was born.

9. Marriage by Susan Ferrier (1813) Summary: Lady Juliana rather foolishly elopes with an impoverished Scot and must adapt to living in his rundown estate in the Highlands. The first half of the novel deals with Juliana’s comic attempts to deal with this rough kind of living while the second half, set 17 years later, follows Juliana’s daughter, Mary, a virtuous girl, who goes to live in Bath with her cousins, including the “naughty” Adelaide. Why you should read it: Ferrier was another author much more popular than Austen at the time. Marriage is similar to Burney and Edgeworth in its plots and scopes and there are moments when she almost reaches Austen’s wit. It is, however, rather more heavy-handed in its obvious morality and in the way it contrasts its good heroine and bad (but far more appealing) anti-heroine. Very typical of women’s novels of the time. Particularly recommended for fans of Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park.

10. St Ronan’s Well by Walter Scott (1824) Summary: This novel follows Francis Tyrell and his attempts to marry his former love, Clara Mowbray, and fend off his rival, the engaging but sinister Lord Etherington. All of this is set under a backdrop of the gossip and scandal-mongering of a fictional Scottish spa town.  Why you should read it: This is a self-indulgent inclusion - I wrote my dissertation on it, Scott’s least known and least loved novel. It’s Scott’s only attempt to write a contemporary novel and it is obvious that he is influenced by Austen and trying in many ways to emulate her. It’s not entirely successful and the novel is an uneasy mix of sparkling dialogue and social satire with melodrama and romantic tragedy. The characters are really great, however, particularly Scott’s portrayal of Clara’s deep unhappiness, and the plot quite shocking- make sure you get hold of a first edition or at least read up on it, as Scott was later forced to remove his earlier references to pre-marital sex, which is really key for the plot. Particularly recommended for fans of Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion.

[ljones41]

"MANSFIELD PARK" (1999) Review

"MANSFIELD PARK" (1999) Review From the numerous articles and essays I have read on-line, Jane Austen’s 1814 novel, "Mansfield Park" did not seemed to be a big favorite among the author’s modern fans. In fact, opinions of the novel and its heroine, Fanny Price, seemed just as divided today, as they had been by Austen’s own family back in the early 19th century.

When director-writer Patricia Rozema was offered the assignment to direct a film adaptation of "Mansfield Park", she had originally rejected it. She claimed that she found both the novel and the Fanny Price character unappealing. In the end, she changed her mind on the grounds that she wrote her own screen adaptation. The result turned out to be an adaptation filled with a good deal of changes from Austen’s original text. Changes that have proven to be controversial to this day. One obvious change that Rozema had made centered on the heroine’s personality. Rozema’s script allowed actress Frances O’Connor to portray Fanny as a talented writer with a lively wit and quick temper. Mind you, Rozema’s Fanny continued to be the story’s bastion of morality – only with what many would view as sass. Rozema also allowed the Edmund Bertram character to become romantically aware of Fanny a lot sooner than the character did in the novel. Because of this revision, actor Jonny Lee Miller portrayed an Edmund who seemed a bit livelier and slightly less priggish than his literary counterpart. Characters like the Crawfords’ half-sister and brother-in-law, the Grants, failed to make an appearance. Fanny’s older brother, William Price, ceased to exist. And in this adaptation, Fanny eventually accepted Henry Crawford’s marriage proposal during her stay in Portsmouth, before rejecting it the following day. But the biggest change made by Rozema had involved the topic of slavery. The writer-director allowed the topic to permeate the movie. Austen’s novel described Fanny’s uncle by marriage, Sir Thomas Bertram, as the owner of a plantation on the island of Antigua. Due to a financial crisis, Sir Thomas was forced to depart for Antigua for a certain period of time with his oldest son as a companion. Upon his return to England and Mansfield Park, Fanny asked him a question regarding his slaves. Sir Thomas and the rest of the family responded with uncomfortable silence. Rozema utilized the Bertrams’ connection to African slavery to emphasize their questionable morality and possible corruption. She also used this connection to emphasize Fanny’s position as a woman, a poor relation, and her semi-servile position within the Mansfield Park household. Rozema used the slavery connection with a heavier hand in scenes that included Fanny hearing the cries of slaves approaching the English coast during her journey to Mansfield Park; a discussion initiated by Sir Thomas on breeding mulattoes; Edmund’s comments about the family and Fanny’s dependence upon the Antigua plantation; oldest son Tom Bertram’s revulsion toward this dependence and graphic drawings of brutalized slaves. These overt allusions to British slavery ended up leaving many critics and Austen fans up in arms. One aspect of "MANSFIELD PARK" that impressed me turned out to be the movie’s production values. I found the production crew's use of an abandoned manor house called Kirby Hall to be very interesting. Rozema, along with cinematographer Michael Coulter and production designer Christopher Hobbs, used the house's abandoned state and cream-colored walls to convey a corrupt atmosphere as an allusion to the Bertrams’ financial connection to slavery. Hobbes further established that slightly corrupted air by sparsely furnishing the house. I also found Coulter’s use the Cornish town of Charlestown as a stand-in for the early 19th century Portmouth as very picturesque. And I especially enjoyed his photography, along with Martin Walsh’s editing in the lively sequence featuring the Bertrams’ ball held in Fanny’s honor. On the whole, Coulter’s photography struck me as colorful and imaginative. The only bleak spot in the movie’s production values seemed to be Andrea Galer’s costume designs. There was nothing wrong with them, but I must admit that they failed to capture my imagination. I cannot deny that I found "MANSFIELD PARK" to be enjoyable and interesting. Nor can I deny that Rozema had injected a great deal of energy into Austen’s plot, a bit more than the 1983 miniseries.  Rozema removed several scenes from Austen’s novel. This allowed the movie to convey Austen's story with a running time of 112 minutes. These deleted scenes included the Bertrams and Crawfords’ visit to Mr. Rushworth’s estate, Sotherton; and Fanny’s criticism of Mary Crawford’s caustic remarks about her uncle. I did not miss the Sotherton outing, but I wish Rozema had kept the scene regarding Mary’s uncle, since it did serve to expose Fanny and Edmund’s hypocrisy.  Other improvements that Rozema made – at least in my eyes – were changes in some of the characters. Fanny became a livelier personality and at the same time, managed to remain slightly oppressed by her position at Mansfield Park. Both Edmund and Henry were portrayed in a more complex and attractive light. And Tom Bertram’s portrayal as the family’s voice of moral outrage against their connection to black slavery struck me as very effective. In fact, I had no problem with Rozema’s use of slavery in the story. I am not one of those who believed that she should have toned it down to the same level as Austen had – merely using the topic as an allusion to Fanny’s situation with the Bertrams.  Austen had opened Pandora’s Box by briefly touching upon the topic in her novel in the first place. As far as I am concerned, there was no law that Rozema or any other filmmaker had to allude to the topic in the same manner. However, not all of Rozema’s changes had impressed me. Why was it necessary to have Henry Crawford request that he rent the nearby parsonage, when his half-sister and brother-in-law, the Grants, resided there in the novel? If Rozema had kept the Grants in her adaptation, this would not have happened. Nor did I understand Sir Thomas’ invitation to allow the Crawfords to reside at Mansfield Park, when Henry had his own estate in Norfolk. I suspect that Sir Thomas’ invitation was nothing more than a set up for Fanny to witness Henry making love to Maria Bertram Rushworth in her bedroom. Now, I realize that Henry is supposed to be some hot-to-trot Regency rake with an eye for women. But I simply found it implausible that he would be stupid enough to have illicit sex with his host’s married daughter. And why did Maria spend the night at Mansfield Park, when her husband’s own home, Sotherton, was located in the same neighborhood? And why was Fanny in tears over her little"discovery"? She did not love Henry. Did the sight of two people having sex disturb her? If so, why did she fail to react in a similar manner upon discovering Tom’s drawings of female slaves being raped? Many fans had complained about Fanny’s acceptance of Henry’s marriage proposal during the visit to Portmouth. I did not, for it allowed an opportunity for Fanny’s own hypocrisy to be revealed. After all, she claimed that Henry’s moral compass made her distrustful of him. Yet, upon her rejection of him; Henry exposed her as a liar and hypocrite, claiming the real reason behind her rejection had more to do with her love for Edmund. Unfortunately . . . Rozema seemed determined not to examine Fanny’s exposed hypocrisy and dismissed it with an intimate scene between her and Edmund; the revelation of Henry’s affair with Maria; and Edmund’s rejection of Henry’s sister, Mary Crawford. This last scene regarding Edmund's rejection of Mary revealed how truly heavy-handed Rozema could be as a filmmaker. In Austen’s novel, Edmund had rejected Mary, due to her refusal to condemn Henry for his affair with Maria and her plans to save the Bertrams and Crawfords' social positions with a marriage between Henry and the still married Maria. Mary's plans bore a strong resemblance to Fitzwilliam Darcy's successful efforts to save the Bennet family's reputation following Lydia Bennet's elopement with George Wickham in "Pride and Prejudice". In "MANSFIELD PARK", Edmund rejected Mary after she revealed her plans to save the Bertrams from any scandal caused by the Henry/Maria affair – plans that included the potential demise of a seriously ill Tom. The moment those words anticipating Tom's death poured from Mary’s mouth, I stared at the screen in disbelief. No person with any intelligence would discuss the possible demise of a loved one in front of his family, as if it was a topic in a business meeting. I never got the impression that both the literary and cinematic Mary Crawford would be that stupid. In this scene, I believe that Rozema simply went too far. The director’s last scene featured a montage on the characters’ fates. And what fate awaited the Crawfords? Both ended up with spouses that seemed more interested in each other than with the Crawford siblings. I suppose this was an allusion to some fate that the Crawfords deserved for . . . well, for what? Okay, Henry probably deserved such a fate, due to his affair with Maria. But Mary? I would disagree. Ironically, both Rozema and Austen shared one major problem with their respective versions of the story. Neither the Canadian writer-director nor the British author bothered to develop Fanny and Edmund’s characters that much. In fact, I would say . . . hardly at all. "MANSFIELD PARK" revealed Edmund’s penchant for priggish and hypocritical behavior in scenes that featured his initial protest against his brother’s plans to perform the "Lover’s Vow" play and his final capitulation; his argument against Sir Thomas’ comments about breeding mulattoes (which Fanny expressed approval with a slightly smug smile) and his willingness to accept his family’s dependence on slave labor; and his support of Sir Thomas’ attempts to coerce Fanny into marrying Henry Crawford. The above incidents were also featured in the novel (except for the mulatto breeding discussion). Not once did Fanny criticize Edmund for his hypocritical behavior – not in the movie or in the novel. Instead, both Rozema and Austen allowed Fanny to indulge in her own hypocrisy by turning a blind eye to Edmund’s faults. Worse, she used Henry Crawford’s flaws as an excuse to avoid his courtship of her and later reject him. Henry’s angry reaction to her rejection was the only time (at least in Rozema’s movie) in which Fanny’s hypocrisy was revealed. Yet, not only did Fanny fail to acknowledge Edmund’s flaws, but also her own. For me, the best aspect of "MANSFIELD PARK" proved to be its cast. How Rozema managed to gather such a formidable cast amazes me. Unfortunately, she did not use the entire cast. Two members – Justine Waddell (Julia Bertram) and Hugh Doneville (Mr. Rushworth) certainly seemed wasted. Rozema’s script failed to allow the two actors to express their talent. Waddell’s presence barely made any impact upon the movie. And Doneville seemed nothing more than poorly constructed comic relief. I almost found myself expressing the same belief for actress Lindsay Duncan, despite her portrayal of two of the Ward sisters – Lady Bertram and Mrs. Price. Her Lady Bertram seemed to spend most of the movie sitting around in a drug-induced state from the use of too much laudanum. However, Duncan had one memorable moment as Fanny’s mother, Mrs. Price. In that one scene, she gave emphatic advise to Fanny about Henry Crawford by pointing out the consequences of her decision to marry for love. Victoria Hamilton fared better in her nuanced performance as the spoiled, yet frustrated Maria Bertram. She effectively conveyed how her character was torn between her pragmatic marriage to Mr. Rushworth and her desire for Henry Crawford. Frankly, I believe that Austen gave her an unnecessarily harsh ending. James Purefoy gave an interesting performance as the Bertrams’ elder son and heir, Tom. He expertly walked a fine line in his portrayal of Tom’s disgust toward the family’s involvement in slavery and penchant for a wastrel’s lifestyle. The late actress Sheila Gish gave a slightly humorous, yet sharp performance as Fanny’s other aunt – the tyrannical and venomous Mrs. Norris. I believe that the movie’s best performances came not from the leads, but from three supporting actors – Alessandro Nivola, Embeth Davidtz, and the late playwright-actor Sir Harold Pinter. The literary Henry Crawford had been described as a seductive man that quite enjoyed flirting with or manipulating women. Nivola certainly portrayed that aspect of Henry’s character with great aplomb. But he prevented Henry from becoming a one-note rake by projecting his character’s growing attraction to Fanny and the hurt he felt from her unexpected rejection. Embeth Davidtz gave an equally compelling performance as Henry’s vivacious sister, Mary. She skillfully portrayed Mary’s more endearing traits – humor and sparkling personality – along with her cynical views on authority and talent for cold-blooded practicality. However, not even Davidtz could overcome that ludicrous rip-off from 1988’s "DANGEROUS LIAISONS", in which her Mary briefly stumbled out of the Bertrams’ drawing-room, mimicking Glenn Close, following Edmund’s rejection. It seemed like a flawed ending to a brilliant performance. For me, the film’s best performance came from Sir Harold Pinter. His Sir Thomas Bertram struck me as one of the most complex and multi-layered film portrayals I have ever come across. I find it astounding that this intimidating patriarch, who considered himself to be the family’s bastion of morality, was also responsible for the corruption that reeked at Mansfield Park and within the Bertram family. And Pinter made these conflicting aspects of the character’s personality mesh well together. Rozema added an ironic twist to Sir Thomas’ story. After being shamed by Fanny’s discovery of Tom’s drawings of abused slaves, Sir Thomas sold his Antigua estate and invested his money in tobacco. However, since U.S. states like Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky were the world’s top producers of tobacco at the time, chances are that the Bertrams’ benefit from slavery continued. I suspect that if actress Frances O’Connor had portrayed the Fanny Price character as originally written by Jane Austen, she would have still given a superb performance. O’Connor certainly gave one in this movie. Despite Rozema’s refusal to openly acknowledge Fanny’s flaws in the script (except by Henry Crawford), the actress still managed to expose them through her performance. Not only did O’Connor did a great job in portraying Fanny’s wit and vivacity, she also revealed the social and emotional minefield that Fanny found at Mansfield Park with some really superb acting. I first became aware of Jonny Lee Miller in the 1996 miniseries, "DEAD MAN’S WALK". I found myself so impressed by his performance that I wondered if he would ever become a star. Sadly, Miller never did in the fourteen years that followed the prequel to 1988’s "LONESOME DOVE". But he has become well-known, due to his performances in movies like "MANSFIELD PARK", "TRAINSPOTTING" and the recent miniseries, "EMMA". In "MANSFIELD PARK", Miller portrayed the younger Bertram son, who also happened to be the object of Fanny Price’s desire. And he did a top-notch job in balancing Edmund’s virtues, his romantic sensibility and his personality flaws that include hypocrisy. I realize that Edmund was not an easy character to portray, but Miller made it all seem seamless. Considering that Austen’s "Mansfield Park" is not a real favorite of mine, I am surprised that I managed to enjoy certain aspects of this adaptation. I will be frank. It is far from perfect. Patricia Rozema made some changes to Austen’s tale that failed to serve the story. Worse, she failed to change other aspects of the novel – changes that could have improved her movie. But there were changes to the story that served the movie well in my eyes. And the movie "MANSFIELD PARK" possessed a first-rate production and a superb cast. More importantly, I cannot deny that flawed or not, Rozema wrote and directed a very energetic movie. For me, it made Austen’s 1814 tale a lot more interesting.

[bbclesmis]

Just Like Jean Valjean, Dominic West Is Done Being A Bad Guy

After a career of playing notable villains,  actor Dominic West says he’s ready to turn a new leaf. So his role as the tortured thief, Jean Valjean, in the new MASTERPIECE production of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables, is a helpful bridge to be a better man on screen. In an interview, he talks about what it means to play Valjean, how his character seeks personal redemption and what the rest of the series has in store for the repentant former prisoner 24601.

Transcript:

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

The story is well known — an impoverished man steals a loaf of bread to feed his family, and spends 19 years in prison. Upon his release, the convict nearly falls prey to old habits… but instead spends the rest of his life struggling to prove he has truly reformed.

CLIP

Old Woman: What are you doing there, my friend?

Jean Valjean: Trying to sleep, what does it look like?

Old Woman: Why don’t you go to an inn?

Jean Valjean: I did. They wouldn’t take me. No would take me.

Jace: In Andrew Davies’ sweeping new adaptation of Victor Hugo’s legendary epic, Les Misérables, the bleak stakes of the story take on dazzling new heights.

CLIP

Bishop: Consider this: even if the world has done you a great injustice, does it really serve you to have a heart full of bitterness and hatred?

Jean Valjean: How could I not have a heart full of bitterness and hatred? I’d like to see you after 19 years in the hulks! So don’t preach to me about God and love.

Jace: Best known for his turns in The Wire and The Affair, actor Dominic West has made a name for himself playing villainous rogues on American and British television, and his role as Jean Valjean includes its fair share of monstrous rage and sly trickery. Despite all this, he also found room for moral clarity.

Dominic West: This man’s a brute…who for whom compassion and humanity has been withheld for 20 years, and it takes a bit more to for him to be able to control that bestial side.

Jace: West joins us to explore Valjean’s story still to come in Les Miserables, why he might be done with playing scoundrels, and how he and his wife have become their own real-life Monarchs of the Glen in their castle-hotel in Scotland.

And we are joined this week by Les Misérables star and executive producer, Dominic West. Welcome.

Dominic: Thank you very much. Hi.

Jace: Jean Valjean has preternatural strength and a secret identity. Is he the first superhero in literature?

Dominic: He’s not the first because I suppose you’ve got the Greeks, but he’s the best. And he climbs buildings like Spiderman and he beats people up like Iron Man and he rescues children like Superman. But none of those superheroes did 19 years hard labor in a 19th century French jail, so he’s the toughest of the lot. I think.

Jace: We all know Jean Valjean’s prisoner number by heart and his story of redemption. What was the initial appeal of playing Valjean?

Dominic: The initial reservation was that the been played so many times before and that the film of the musical had just come out, and therefore what the hell have we got to add to it and certainly what have I got to add to the part? But the appeal came once I started reading the book and I realized it’s the best book I’ve ever read, and probably ever written. And that he’s I think the greatest hero in literature. And I quickly fell in love with him and  suppose what was most appealing about him, apart from his strength and ability to save children’s lives, etcetera, was his inner heroism, his heroics of battling your own demons and trying to do what’s right rather than what you impulsively and emotionally feel like doing.

Jace: We see Valjean not when he’s released from prison, but at the thick of it at the quarry. He strikes a massive boulder and it plummets down onto a guard, the same man who hit him earlier when he’s led through Toulon in chains. Is this an accident, or an intentional act on his part?

Dominic: Is very much intentional. He’s been brutalized for 19 years and he’s quite happy to want to kill anybody and certainly kill his tormentors. What becomes an accident is that he then rescues the guy that he’s just dropped the rock on and that of course is usually significant later on in Javert’s recognition of Valjean later. So no, he’s a brutalized brute who wants to harm people, wants to get revenge.

Jace: Even in these early scenes there’s an almost magnetic pull between Valjean and Javert that feels almost psychosexual, in a way.

CLIP

Javert: Well now, 24601. What was all that about today? You saving that guard’s life, why? If you  were trying to get yourself an early release, you tried in vain. There’s no hope of that, no hope at all.

Jace: And why is Javert so obsessed with this particular prisoner?

Dominic: Well it’s the big question it was the first question I asked in rehearsal, it’s the obvious question — What the hell is wrong with this guy? You know? What’s his beef? Why is he…? Because it’s not very apparent in the book at all. And I think we discuss this a lot and my preference is always to go for the big motivators which are love and sex. I think that’s what motivate most of us the most. And so I think there’s a huge magnetic attraction that Javert has for Valjean, and David hints that in the scene where I’m stripping off and he has a look, and it’s just one look, and it’s sort of…it just lets it hang there. David didn’t want it to overplay that bit because I think he thought what was more important was the attraction that a very small bitter mind has for the big mind, that a mean person has for a generous person, that the devil has for a saint. You know, I think that that’s probably more interesting.

Jace: These two men come to represent two very different sides in a philosophical debate about good and evil. Why is Valjean’s ultimate optimism, the notion that change and forgiveness are possible, so refreshing particularly right now?

Dominic: Well I suppose it’s fairly standard thinking now, that we’re not born bad, that we are the products of our environment and of of how people treat us. But when this book was written this was very much a philosophical debate that people believed, you know, people like Javert, that people are born bad and there’s nothing you can do about it. I think after, you know, a century of psychology and modern psychology and we realize that that’s not necessarily the case, but it’s worth being reminded of these things because I suppose you know, in modern political life in the UK and the US there’s a lot of currency in vilifying people for what they are, rather than who they are.

Jace: I mean even recently in France protesters called Emmanuel Macron president of the rich. I mean Les Misérables feels incredibly relevant and timely given the class struggles and sort of wealth inequality of today. Does that notion sort of stick with you, having played this part?

Dominic: Yeah I mean the French revolution happened because the gap between rich and poor never been wider. And I think it’s a lot wider now. And I think one thing that Victor Hugo understood was that once that chasm between rich and poor widens enough, there’s going to be trouble. And that it’s unsustainable. And I think I remember making this realizing that, you know, this what we have now, which is an enormous gulf between rich and poor in the world and in America, it’s pretty dangerous territory. And revolution tends to follow that of territory.

Jace: One year later Valjean is released from prison and giving one hundred nine francs after various deductions. But more importantly he gave his name back and becomes more than just a number.

CLIP

Javert: Here is your passport. You are required to show it to the authorities in every town and village you pass through. You have your name again, Monsieur 24601. I wonder if you can remember what it is.

Valjean: Jean Valjean.

Javert: You sure about that?

Valjean: JEAN VALJEAN!

Jace: Why is this such a powerful and profound moment of self identity for the prisoner?

Dominic: Well I suppose from what you says, he you, know he becomes a human being again, rather than a statistic or a number or a commodity. And hence his shouting to the echoing forests and wide open valley that he’s now free to roam. He shouts his name. And it’s very interesting with Valjean, his journey goes from being a number, to being Valjean, to being Monsieur Madeleine, when he’s the mayor, to being one in denial of Jean Valjean and of that being a personality that he is ashamed of, until his final embrace of that. And so it’s it’s very crucial to his arc and his development and his evolution that his names plot very clearly, what he’s called is very, very relevant to his state of mind.

Jace: I love the scenes between you and Sir Derek Jacobins Bishop of Dean.

CLIP

Valjean: You give me a bed here, right next to yours? Are you crazy? How do you know I’m not a murderer?

Bishop: That’s the Good Lord’s business, not mine. Or to put it another way, I’ll take my chance with you, my friend. Good night now, and sleep well.

Jace: What was it like filming these scenes with Derek Jacobi?

Dominic: Well it was bliss. It was. I mean I’ve admired him for years, and it is a tricky one when you got to cast the sort of most virtuous, nicest best man who’s ever lived, which is how he reads in the book. It’s so hard to write about virtue, it’s so hard to make virtue interesting. It’s easy to make the devil funny and interesting but it’s hard to make a saint interesting. And that’s what Victor Hugo does and that’s what Derek Jacobi does. And there’s very few actors who can do that, can make virtue interesting. But acting with him, who is a real hero of mine was in one sense, it’s dead easy because he does it all for a year and he’s so sympathetic and another it’s very salutary, it’s very…he was extraordinarily, he was very detached, you didn’t get involved talking much, you sat very quietly at the side of the set until he’s called. He’s very contained as an actor. And very generous, but it was great watching a master at work.

Jace: There’s a beautiful moment right before the Petit Gervais incident when Valjean collapses under the tree. We hear the church bells ringing out. We see the sunlight streaming through the leaves of the tree. It’s a really beautiful moment and then there’s temptation in this sort of Garden of Eden. The singing boy with his coin. What makes Valjean fall once more?

Dominic: Well it’s interesting, but in the book and I think in the script, too, but we didn’t end up filming it, is when he’s under the tree, after having encountered love and kindness for the first time in 19 years from the Bishop, he remembers his mother and he remembers the last time he felt loved, which was from his mother. And so that was what was going on at that moment of where the transformation is starting to happen. It’s been put in place by the Bishop, he remembers his mother and in the book that sort of precipitates his anguish, when his best side comes out, what makes him fall, what makes the scorpion sting? You know, he’s a scorpion and this man’s a brutalized man who for whom compassion and humanity has been withheld for 20 years and it takes a bit more for him to be able to control that bestial side.

Jace:You’re a dirty thief,’ Petit Gervais screams at him. How much will these words haunt him in these episodes to come?

Dominic: Well totally, and I think what’s interesting, what’s so beautiful about how Victor Hugo makes the agent of Valjean’s change being a little child, a defenseless child who is essentially, Valjean sees him, the bestial Valjean sees him as someone weak and therefore to be exploited. And what he learns is that the weak are what give us humanity and one’s attitude and one’s treatment of the weak is crucial to our humanity.

Jace: You mentioned a damascene conversion. After stealing Petit Gervais’s 40 sous, he changes his mind. He calls out to him. There’s a look of profound agony on your face as he searches his soul. Is this the moment where he where he does decide to be good?

Dominic: Yeah I think it is. I think the whole tragedy of his life and of his brutality comes crashing in on him he realizes that the deep, deep, deep sorrow of what’s happened to him in the last 20 years. And I think as soon as he’s allowed to pity himself in a way is is when he starts to love himself again.

Jace: Valjean collapses on the road curling up into a fetal ball in the dirt. Should we read the scene as a spiritual or moral or rebirth?

Dominic: Yes, very much so. Yeah, and I think that that element of the remembering the mother, which was we didn’t show explicitly, that is very much what Victor Hugo was writing I think that this is, he is reborn back into humanity.

Jace: What was it like filming this particular sequence?

Dominic: It was bloody hard. And really hot. It was really hot and it was the end of a long day that finally I had had to collapse. And I did seem to spend a lot of the shoot in tears. But for some reason at this point I couldn’t, the tears didn’t come. Which is fine, because they have to, but I was very conscious that this was probably the most important single moment of the whole story. And that can be very daunting to try and act. So I found it hard, and I’m still not entirely happy with it.

Jace: This first episode centers on both Valjean and Fantine. There are circumstances in this first episode are very different but they’re forced to make a choice by the end of the installment. Are they mirrors for each other in a way?

Dominic: Yeah, I suppose as she descends, he ascends. I suppose her attitude to Valjean the prisoner would probably be similar to what her daughter’s is later on, of revulsion and horror and what happens of course when they meet is that he becomes her protector.

Jace: Before this next question, a quick word from our sponsors…

Jace: You’ve played a lot of philanderers in your career, whether that’s McNulty or Noah on The Affair. Hector Madden in The Hour. Willie in Collette. Many, many philanderers. Why is that, do you think?

Dominic: I don’t know. I mean I’ve played a lot of villains and this was one of the, I suppose that was the initial attraction of Valjean was not playing a villain, playing the hero and the good guy, but as to why it’s philandering I don’t know. I’m not, I don’t know, I’ve no idea why people think I suited for philanderers. But they think I seem a villain. So hopefully after this I’ll be just plain, monogamous heroes.

Jace: Your big break came with David Simon’s seminal HBO series The Wire, my favorite all time series where you played Jimmy McNulty. Was there a sense at the time that this was a groundbreaking piece of television?

Dominic: I don’t think so. I think I’m sure we were all aware that with The Sopranos and that this was the dawn perhaps of a new golden era. But it’s very hard I find to take an objective view on things, I mean, and I’m only just starting to get an objective view on Les Misérables, in fact. And certainly while we were shooting no one, no one was watching it, really. I mean, a few law enforcement people and lawyers and a few gangsters but no one really was watching and certainly no one from the UK, and so I didn’t really, I wasn’t really aware of how how important it was and how what a groundbreaking series it was until much later, I think. You’re just too close to see these things.

Jace: True or false you joined: in Argentina you joined an Argentinian circus for a spell.

Dominic: I did, De La Guarda. Yeah it was, it was only in New York for a while and I did it in London for five months. Best job I ever had.

Jace: Sarah Treme, who created The Affair said of you quote, ‘He’s not afraid to let a character be complicated. There’s a flawed humanity that he seems to understand inherently.’ How do you react to that?

Dominic: What a lovely thing for Sarah to say. Yeah, I do get a lot of philanderers and a lot of villains but usually they have another side to them, and I think it’s essential no one is purely evil or purely good. Most of us are conflicted. So it’s important to be an actor who can portray that.

Jace: Given how well you nail the accent in The Wire and The Affair, are fans ever surprised to realize you’re not American in real life?

Dominic: They Oh I’m great I’m glad Yeah they still are. People still come up and I’m amazed. But I remember when I did it when The Wire had just come out in the UK and was getting quite a big following and there was a charity night and I was asked to go along. And it was a quiz night, that was as a charity night that was a quiz night, and the way the quiz was entirely about The Wire. And so it was full of Wire nuts, you know, people who really knew the show. And I remember going in and I had to ask the final question or something like that and I started speaking and I just remember sensing the whole room deflate with disappointment that hearing my accent when they realized I was a Brit. And so I you know usually in America people are pleasantly surprised, in the UK, people are unpleasantly surprised that I’m just a Brit.

Jace: Off screen you’re living your own version of Monarch Of The Glen. You recently rescued your wife Catherine’s family seat Glin Castle in County Limerick and converted it into a family run hotel. How is that project going?

Dominic: Well it’s great fun. It’s not true to say we rescued it, it was run as a hotel by her parents and then her father unfortunately died. So it was put on the market. But yeah, we decided to keep it going and to try and make it a going concern. It has been in my wife’s family for 700 years, really not much choice, but it’s going OK, actually. It’s going remarkably well, I think. You know, Ireland is sort of booming at the moment and I think once nobody from Europe is allowed to go to Britain anymore, then they’ll all flock to to Ireland.

Jace: Who is funnier —Dominic West or Olivia Colman?

Dominic: Olivia Colman is spectacularly funny and able to laugh and joke right up until they say action, when she is then able to go into a serious moment, as you can, which is not something Dominic West can do quite as well. And I felt as I found to my cost on the set of Les Mis, it was maybe that scene where we had the big fight at the Thenadier’s, and we were all crying with laughter at what Olivia was saying and then I realized of course that I had to do some proper acting. So I then tried to avoid her after that.

Jace: You directed an episode of The Wire and an episode of Jimmy McGovern’s Moving On. Is directing something you’d like to do more of in the future.

Dominic: Yeah I after doing that I thought that’s what I wanted to do forever and then I realized actually, well two things happened — when I started getting very good acting parts, I didn’t really have time for the writing, and the other one was I realized that a director is first in and last out, whereas an actor is last in and first out.

Jace: You left Guild Hall in 1995 one of your first onscreen roles that year was the Earl of Richmond in Richard III opposite Sir Ian McKellen. Was it a formative professional experience.

Dominic: Oh very much so. Robert Downey, Jr. was in it, Annette Bening was in it, Maggie Smith was in it. It was an amazing cast that I was just out of drama school and was able to sort of go around watching them all at work. And it was headed by Ian McKellen who’s a really great leading man in terms of his compassion and his ability to lead a cast and keep everybody happy. It was yeah, it was a wonderful job and an amazing job to have at an early stage in your career, because it was with a lot of people who were very generous with their knowledge.

Jace: You once reached out to wine critic Robert Parker to try and interview him. What ended up happening?

Dominic: He lives in Baltimore, so I was in Baltimore and I said, ‘Look can I come and interview you?’ and he said, ‘No you can’t but I’ll tell you what, you bring some of The Wire cast, I’ll bring the wine.’ And so we went out for dinner and there were four or five of us from The Wire. Andre, who played Bubbles, was with us and insisted on drinking Jack and Coke the whole time. I was telling him, ‘This is the best wine you’ll ever have in your life, and you insist on Jack and Coke?’ So we drank a lot of extremely great wine and I can’t remember much about it other than Robert Parker very generously gave us an hundred year old bottle of cognac and he said ‘I want you to open that when you finish the last frame of The Wire,’ and we did, which happened to be at six o’clock one morning in Baltimore. And we nailed the whole bottle.

Jace: That’s amazing. Dominic West, thank you so very much.

Dominic: Thank you very much.

Jace: Jean Valjean is the narrative core of Les Misérables. But his lifelong nemesis, the relentless Inspector Javert, keeps things moving in his pursuit of personal justice.

David Oyelowo: He has no problem in in saying that person is a criminal. And so therefore they deserve this punishment.

Jace: Actor David Oyelowo joins us next week on the podcast with a close look at how Javert’s need for truth and justice propels Victor Hugo’s epic forward.

MASTERPIECE Studio is hosted by me, Jace Lacob and produced by Nick Andersen. Elisheba Ittoop is our editor. Susanne Simpson is our executive producer. The executive producer of MASTERPIECE is Rebecca Eaton.

[rickwayneauthor]

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a Dutch-born British artist who became one of the wealthiest painters of the 19th century. A talented marketer as well as painter, he anglicized his name from Laurens to Lawrence so he could be better remembered in the English-speaking world. He also added the forename Alma so that he would appear near the top of alphabetized lists — the equivalent of calling your business AAA Plumbing in the days of the phone book, or SEO today. He also invented an innovative numbering system to make it hard for forgers to pass off fakes as his genuine work — a kind of basic copy protection.

The Vintage Festival (1870)

Although wildly popular in his time — he was knighted in 1899 — today he remains largely unknown outside the art world. Indeed, his works were almost completely ignored until the 1950s, when they found commercial use as inspiration for set design and matte painting for blockbuster movies such as Cleopatra and Ben Hur. While making The Ten Commandments, famed director Cecil B. DeMille would regularly look at prints of Alma-Tadema’s paintings, inspired by Alma-Tadema’s ability to create personal drama within a grand, wide-angle perspective. His paintings can look to us like stock images of the past because stock images were created from them by popular films.

That “wide-angle drama” that so inspired DeMille is part of Alma-Tadema’s genius. Classic depictions of important historical or religious events, such as the finding of baby Moses in the reeds, are typically full of rage and portent, where even the people depicted clearly have a sense of the future importance of their acts, and in that way, they are distant from both us and from themselves. As players of predestination, their destiny is inescapable. Indeed, most of them are doomed.

The people in Alma-Tadema’s work, however, look very much like people today, or any day. In his depiction of the discovery of Moses, for example, several of the porters conveying the queen on her caravan are clearly bored or annoyed or their attention is otherwise drawn elsewhere. Thunder doesn’t break in the background. Angels do not sing on high. There’s just a foundling in a basket — a not altogether uncommon occurrence in the old days — which some rich woman has taken a fancy to, because she can.

If this were a Renaissance painting, you would be able to draw straight lines from the eyes of all the figures which would converge on the baby Moses at the vanishing point. Here, even the women carrying the basket seem to care less about the baby than how they’re going to get him up the approaching bank.

Despite that his paintings were used in movies into the early 60s, Alma-Tadema remained gauche in the art world. His works were not exhibited and dealers, who had once paid large sums to acquire them, let them gather dust in basements. Sir Lawrence was, in a sense, a victim of his own success. Seeking to ride his coattails, marketers in the early 20th century copied his style on everything from perfume advertisements to the cover art on boxes of chocolates. Once so breathtaking, his work became associated with a vulgar commercialism. Seeking to avoid the stigma of association, collectors no longer displayed his works in their homes or galleries, and he became all but forgotten.

Unlike Van Gogh, who enjoyed no commercial success in his life but who challenged and ultimately changed the art world, Sir Lawrence’s art merely depicted culture rather than provoked it. His paintings, while technically advanced and visually stunning (especially when seen in person), did not inaugurate a new style or epoch. They merely epitomized one. And in that way, they didn’t serve the needs of the elites — critics and art historians — who are the retrospective arbiters of “good taste.”

Alma-Tadema was rediscovered and resurrected by one man, fellow millionaire marketer Alan Funt, creator of the TV show Candid Camera and one of the founders of what we now call reality TV. While browsing a private art gallery one day in 1967, Funt was approached by the dealer, who asked if he’d like to see something by “the worst artist who ever lived.” The man then produced Alma-Tadema’s “The Voice of Spring” (below), and Funt bought it on the spot for a steal.

Funt went on to collect a number of Sir Lawrence’s paintings, only to be forced to sell them in the 1970s after discovering that his accountant had embezzled $12 million. Bankrupt and facing large debts, he liquidated his art collection, but by then, interest in Alma-Tadema had revived and Funt cleared something like half a million dollars on his paintings alone — quite a lot of money in those days and orders of magnitude more than he had paid.

The painting below, for example, “The Roses of Heliogabalus,” was purchased from the painter by Sir John Aird, 1st Baronet, for £4,000. It depicts an apocryphal episode from the life of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, also known as Heliogabalus (204–222 AD), as related in the “Augustan History.” The emperor unexpectedly dropped “violets and other flowers” on his guests from a false ceiling in such quantity that some of them were smothered to death.

After the artist died in 1912, the painting was displayed publicly (for the last time until 2014). After Alma-Tadema’s reputation plummeted, the painting was sold by the 3rd Baronet in 1935 for 483 guineas. It failed to sell at auction in 1960 and was “bought in” by Christie’s for 100 guineas.

In 1973, Funt sold the painting at auction for £28,000. American collector Frederick Koch acquired it later and sold it in 1993 for £1.5 million.

Still, even with his reputation revived, Sir Lawrence is largely unknown today outside the art world. I suspect that’s because, first, Hollywood co-opted his style into a visual language that is well-known to us, which makes it no longer novel or interesting. Even though Alma-Tadema based his images on the best archeology of the time, we’ve since learned better, which further adds to their apparent quaintness.

Second, his paintings frequently depict people and scenes from the ancient world, which, while part and parcel of common education at the time — and therefore as recognizable to Sir Lawrence’s audience as, say, a painting of Eowyn and the Witch King would be to us — are nevertheless completely foreign to most people today. We can look at his paintings and recognize that these are Greeks or Romans, but there is no “a-ha” moment of recognition. We have to be given the context.

This, for example, is “Caracalla and Geta: A Bear Fight in the Coliseum” (1909). Odds are, unless you have a classical degree or a hard-on for Roman history, you don’t know who those people are or why it matters they’re about to watch a bear fight.

Caracalla and Geta were brothers. After their father died, they rules as co-Emperors of Rome — for all of one year, that is, until Caracalla (188-217 AD) had his brother killed. The men were, along with Elagabalus, members of the Severan dynasty, which was the last patrician family to rule the empire. Fifty years of political chaos followed their fall in 235, where a variety of rebellious generals, warlords, and rich men made successive claims and counter-claims to the throne. Some lasted no more than a few days.

The next strong emperor, Diocletian, who ruled from 284-305 AD, was born in Dalmatia (present-day Croatia) to what we might call a “middle class” family. The bear fight, then, is not just another spectacle of cruelty common in the empire, although it’s that, too. In fact, given that bears are not literally depicted, the actual bear fight — the spectacle for the audience of the painting, as distinct from the audience in the painting — is the muted conflict between the two brothers, itself symbolic of the inter-family fighting that plagued the Severans and ultimately brought low the entire Roman aristocracy.

Look at the painting again. The woman at the center, possibly the boys’ mother, gazes directly at the viewer with a look of concern, as if troubled by the hints behind her sons’ competitive banter. Of course, if you don’t know that, it just looks like a pretty picture.

Have some more. This is “The Education of the Children of Clovis.”

Clovis I (466-511 AD) was the first king of all the Frankish tribes and therefore the first king of what became France. The name Clovis is the Latinized version of his Frankish name, Hlōdowig, meaning “great fighter,” which was probably a given title, like “magnus.” Hlōdowig is the precursor of the German Ludwig, by the way, and all its derivatives in other languages: Luis, Luigi, Lewis, and Louis, the latter borne by 18 kings of France.

Look again at the painting, at its realism. You can almost feel yourself in the courtyard, where the thud of the ax resounds off the marble. The villa itself is late Roman. Indeed, the typical Roman house was a square organized around a central courtyard, just like this. Symbolically, these people are living in the house of Rome. But Rome is no more. This is France, and education is no longer the works of Ovid and Aristotle but the arts of war. This is a depiction of the myth of the Dark Ages.

Compare that to this painting, “The Pyrrhic Dance,” which depicts a war dance in ancient Greece, somehow more refined an elegant despite the common subject matter:

The next painting is a depiction of an apodyterium, or undressing room just outside the women’s bath. The figures are not sexualized, nor are we, the viewer, greeted as a voyeur. The woman removing her ankle straps takes no notice of us at all, nor do any of the people at the back. Yet, we participate in the scene, are almost invited in, by the gaze of the woman in the foreground, which, along with the fine detail — note the cubicles above the bench for storing possessions — is all that keeps this from being yet another voyeuristic invasion.

Below is Sir Lawrence’s painting of his daughter, Anna, probably my favorite work by him. It exhibits his technical brilliance of course, but also seems to capture the essence of this young girl. He’s neither gloried nor degraded her. Indeed, the painting seems almost like a candid photograph taken just as she entered the room bearing flowers for her father’s desk. In looking at it, it seems we almost know her.

Here are a few more.

Sir Lawrence, the worst artist who ever lived Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a Dutch-born British artist who became one of the wealthiest painters of the 19th century.

[zagglezig]

Poor Mary Watson

Ok, I’ve gone almost 30 years without ever reading any of the Sherlock Holmes stuff. All I’d seen were cartoons (Great Mouse Detective, Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, Sherlock Hound), the occasional episode in other shows where they meet/are Sherlock, the first 2009 movie, and various video game incarnations that I only played one of (and it wasn’t a good game). Never saw the Cumberbatch/Martin Short show. Didn’t even know there were books til the Detective Conan manga/anime started up.

You know what all those things I’d seen save the one movie did not have? Watson’s wife, Mary.

So a family member got a big compilation of the first 37 short stories and the 3rd novel (Hound of the Baskervilles) in the format they were originally published in and I opted to borrow it and see if I liked that incarnation (I did and it was interesting to see what 100+ years of essentially fanfiction has done with the characters, since). I also listened to the first two novels on audio book. The second one introduces Mary and the first short story has her married. Her wooing and marriage is actually a consistently referenced time point for several of the first 24 shorts.

Now, if you didn’t know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never cared that much about the Sherlock Holmes stuff. He was thinking of killing the character off at least as early as the first 2 books and 5 short stories in. He spent two years writing the first 24 shorts (what my collection has as the first two sets of stories), ending with Sherlock’s apparent death. 8 years, and presumably a lot of fan and publisher pestering, later, he wrote Hound of the Baskervilles (which had a lot of Watson and not so much Sherlock) and then retconned Sherlock’s death for another year and a half of shorts. He ended that third set with a story that began by telling us that Sherlock had retired to study stuff, keep bees, and wanted to be left alone, “so please Watson, stop publishing our adventures”.

My problem comes with that 3rd set of stories. Obviously Doyle wanted to be done with things when he killed Holmes off. So, when Holmes came back, as far as I can tell, Doyle essentially trimmed the fat. See, since most of the stories included Watson and Watson had a medical practice and a wife, Doyle had to keep spending a few sentences mentioning how X was taking on Watson’s patients while they were gone or how Watson would meet up with Holmes after letting Mary know he was gonna be gone for a day or two. That was not the case after Sherlock came back. The second story in the set tells us up front that Holmes convinced Watson to sell his practice and join up with Holmes full time.

Now, I got 8 out of 13 stories into the 3rd set and noticed that Mary’s named didn’t come up. I assumed Doyle just wasn’t bothering to mention her, but that in reality Watson was doing day job stuff with Holmes and going home at night. Then I discussed these changes in the 3rd set that were different from the first two with a friend and found out..nope, Mary was dead. Mary was dead and I hadn’t noticed for 8 stories. I was read some of the wiki article about it and we had apparently been told in the very first story of the 3rd set. So I looked, and ....sort of. Here is the passage, in the middle of the story after Sherlock has revealed that he has not been dead for 3 years:

“In some manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was shown in his manner rather than in his words. ‘Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson,’ said he, ‘and I have a piece of work for us both tonight which, if we can bring it to a successful conclusion, will in itself justify a man’s life on this planet.’”

That’s it. I’d thought that passage was about Watson’s grief over Holmes’ “death”. It’s not hard to think so, to my mind. There is no mention of Mary’s name in that entire story or in any of the following stories of the set. The word “wife” is never mentioned. There is never a references to Watson as a widower.

Now, having read the rest of the stories and finished the book’s collection, I can understand why Watson, in universe as a 19th-20th century Englishman personally writing these stories from his perspective, would not want to tell the world his personal business in particular detail. However, outside of that, it seems pretty unfair of Doyle to have killed off Mary, a main character of the second book that was openly complimented for her mind and character by both Holmes and Watson. A minor, unseen, but still mentioned character in the first 24 stories. Killing her at all, much less completely off screen with only two sentences to acknowledge it happened and never any mention of HOW it happened anywhere in any of the stories, is pretty hard hearted. (That’s not including the bit in the second story where Watson moves back in with Sherlock, which I realized was more of a change in living spaces due to the lack of a wife than just a change in daily work.)

So, sorry Mary, that you probably got killed off unceremoniously and in a way that we are never told about because the writer didn’t want to bother hand waving in a reason that it’s okay for Watson to leave his wife for a bit and join the adventure. You deserved better than that.

[aaronsniderus]

Fictional “For Sales”: Rated and Reviewed

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Have you ever wanted to be a character in your favorite book? What about live in their house? Castles, submarines, grass huts – there are tons of options to choose from. So, if you had to pick one, you’d need to pick wisely. Luckily, we’ve rated some of the most famous homes in literature to make things easy for you. Check out our ratings and see which home, if any, you’d actually be willing to buy.

Castle Dracula, Dracula

Castle Dracula is definitely the most spacious home on our list. Built to withstand sieges, it boasts over 87 bedrooms, 26 bathrooms, a full-scale dining room in pristine condition and a series of hidden passageways. If you’re looking to entertain frequently, Castle Dracula definitely has all the room you could ever need.

Located on the edge of a cliff, the view from the castle would be amazing if the weather wasn’t always so gloomy. If you plan on bringing children, you’re going to need to put up a fence since the drop from the cliff is considerable. In fact, we don’t recommend you bring small children at all.

Make sure you have a nice nest egg saved up for repairs, since the home is very old and some of the stonework isn’t in the best shape. Needed repairs will include fixing a crumbling tower, putting in wiring for electricity and dealing with some mysterious claw marks all along the outside walls. We’re sure there’s nothing to worry about!

On a positive note, all of the furniture is included, but you’ll need to bring your own mirrors.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Dracula by Bram Stocker – $5.73

221 B Baker Street, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Alive with the hustle and bustle of the city, this apartment is a real gem of old world London. Although it’s the only apartment on our list, the location more than makes up for its smaller size. The place also comes with a charming housekeeper who is always ready with a cup of tea on a rainy London day.

The major drawback is the current roommate: a night owl prone to long periods of weird silences followed by random bursts of energy – he runs a small business from inside the apartment. People will come and go at all hours, including some very suspicious characters and members of the London police. It’s recommended that any potential roommate avoid involvement with the business unless they have a military and medical background.

Rating: 3 out 5 Stars

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle – $7.99

March House, Little Women

If you’re looking for your own little piece of New England heaven, then the March House could be for you. Sure, it may not be as grand as the one next door, but it more than makes up for it with endless charm. Built with simplicity, comfort and family in mind, this house has all the room you could ever need for knitting socks, putting on plays and writing that novel you told everyone you just didn’t have time for.

This is definitely a home for people who put family first. If you love to spend evenings by the fire while you impart life-wisdom to your children, then you’ll love this place. The school district isn’t the greatest. In fact, there’s only one school in the entire area, so you may want to consider home schooling. Aside from that, this is a great place for kids to grow up.

Also, the next door neighbor’s nephew is loaded, so there’s a good opportunity there if you have any unmarried daughters.

Rating 4 out 5 Stars

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – $9.99

Pemberley House, Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a homebuyer in possession of good fortune is absolutely going to want to live at Pemberley House.

Historic, spacious, well kept and located in the beautiful English countryside, Pemberley is everything a potential lord or lady could want from their future home.

Surrounded by a lush English forest, Pemberley House has all the size of Castle Dracula and none of the potential monsters. With all of those hallways and all those rooms, you’ll have plenty of space for your family portraits, marble busts and other, elegant possessions. No IKEA furniture in this place.

The major downside is the cost of running the place. You’ll need to hire and pay a large staff of servants, including a housekeeper, to give tours to any gently bred ladies who happen to stop by.

Rating: 5 out 5 Stars

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – $8.00

Crusoe’s Hut, Robinson Crusoe

Are you looking to get away from it all? Do you ever wish you just had more time to sit and think about your place in the world? If you answered yes, then this home is everything you could ever want from a beach retreat, without any annoying distractions like internet, neighbors or running water.

What the home doesn’t have in amenities, it more than makes up for in simplistic charm. Wild goats and cats roam the island. Melons, limes and other fruits grow seasonally, so if you’re willing to risk eating food you’ve picked from a random bush, you’ll be well fed. The previous owner loved this little place so much that he couldn’t manage to drag himself back to civilization for about 28 years.

Skills like woodworking, fire starting, fishing, boat making, hunting and gathering, basket weaving, cooking, water purification, advanced engineering and basic first aid are all musts for any potential resident. Don’t expect any care packages from home. Self-reliance is the name of the game with this place.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe – $10

The Nautilus, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

If Crusoe’s hut isn’t remote enough for you, maybe consider life aboard the Nautilus. Designed by the secretive Captain Nemo, it boasts every modern convenience the 19th century could dream up. The submarine is equipped with the wonder that is electric lights and is capable of reaching a top speed of 50 knots, which is a staggering 57.54 mph for us land-lovers.

The Nautilus isn’t just an amazing feat of technology, it’s also filled with a number of exotic luxuries. Beautiful paintings, a large collection of random gems, a spacious library and a glorious salon for doing whatever it is people do in salons are just a few of the things you can look forward to. The Captain is also a genius, so any scholars looking to expand their knowledge would be right at home.

Since the submarine rarely stays in one place, getting mail or cell phone service is almost impossible. Make sure your mom understands before moving in.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne – $7.99

Thornfield Hall, Jane Eyre

If you’re more interested in experiencing gothic architecture and investigating mysterious noises than you are in getting a full night’s rest, seriously consider Thornfield Hall for your future home. It’s the perfect house for any gentleman bachelor (or lady) who only really plans on spending about a quarter of their year in residence.

The long hallways and numerous rooms are best experienced by candlelight, especially when you go searching for the source of that strange laugh you just heard. With all that space, Thornfield Hall is perfect for throwing house parties. Women offering to tell you your fortune may also stop by, so if you aren’t afraid of what you might hear, it’s a fun way to entertain your guests.

There’s a nearby town within walking distance, so if you want to get out of the house for a little bit or mail a letter, just be prepared to walk briskly. Also, drivers in the area aren’t exactly the safest, so keep an eye out for people rounding corners at top speeds. They may also call you names.

Just don’t buy this place without fire insurance.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – $5.95

Have you found your favorite fictional home or did we miss it? Share in the comments!

The post Fictional “For Sales”: Rated and Reviewed appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/fictional-sales-rated-reviewed

[fashiontrendin-blog]

A Man’s Guide To Wearing Rings

http://fashion-trendin.com/a-mans-guide-to-wearing-rings/

A Man’s Guide To Wearing Rings

You don’t have to be into luxury watches to wear a watch. To be the kind of man who knows what ‘escapement’ means, or why Rolexes with faulty dials are more covetable than the pristine ones. That’s because even though watches are jewellery, they’re not really jewellery. They’re functional. You could use one to land a stricken plane. You could navigate through a jungle. You could even summon a rescue plane, if you ever find yourself stranded with Breitling’s Emergency on your wrist.

Whereas decorative jewellery gives a fella funny feelings. A man who’ll lay down his inheritance on a Patek Philippe will still balk at a necklace, or even worse, a ring. Buying something just for the way it looks is pure vanity. It’s something women do.

It’s also something Viking warriors, Egyptian kings and Tudor nobles did. That rappers still do. It wasn’t until the Victorians, and their priggish efforts to separate the sexes, that men eschewed jewellery. Sir Walter Raleigh wore a ruby-studded ring that would put Mr T to shame.

Fortunately, men are finally starting to see sense. “I initially started designing for the guy who just wore a watch,” says Michael Saiger, who founded men’s jewellery brand Miansai a decade ago, and who’s done more than most to normalise the idea that anyone can rock a ring. “I don’t think guys are nervous about rings that aren’t wedding rings; I more feel that some guys are hesitant about wearing jewellery in general because they have a hard time accessorising. Guys should be more open to taking risks and trying new things with their everyday style.”

It helps that designer brands have followed suit and now offer craft rings – often at accessible price points – that won’t make you look like a tangential member of the A$AP Mob. “They’re completely acceptable as a way to accessorise an outfit,” says Henry Graham, creative director at Wolf & Badger, a marketplace for independent retailers. That said, it’s easy to go overboard, so there are a few things to bear in mind before you weigh down your entire hand in precious metals.

But first…

Which Ring For Which Finger?

Where your ring ends up should be steered by taste, practicality and mechanics (just because a ring goes on, that’s no guarantee it’ll come back off as easily). “Tradition may state differently, but I believe you should wear any ring how you wish,” says Alice Walsh, director of accessories label Alice Made This. “Your ring, your hand, your choice.” But if you’re a stickler – or just need a steer – there are some connotations for different ring fingers.

Pinky

The first stop for guys who want to think beyond the wedding ring. Your pinky has a few advantages when you want to dip a (little) toe into men’s jewellery. First, it’s on a finger that’s essentially decorative, so it won’t get in the way of actually doing things with your hands. Second, it doesn’t have an underlying meaning; you wear a ring there because you want to, not because of tradition.

The Godfather popularised the idea that gangsters wear pinky rings, but unless you spend your nights at the docks, you’re probably safe from that misapprehension. More likely they’ll think you’re inspired by Prince Charles, who wears his signet ring on his left pinky – stacked on top of his wedding ring, as is royal tradition.

Ring Finger

The clue’s in the name. This is where the most common men’s ring goes – a wedding band. In the UK and US, you’ll most often find it on the left hand; in Eastern Europe and Orthodox traditions, it can appear on the left. As ever, go with whatever feels comfortable – if you’re a lefty, you might find it sits better on your right hand, where it’s less likely to get in the way of anything.

The ring finger’s been the home to wedding bands for centuries, supposedly based on the idea that it’s the only finger with an unbroken vein – the vena amoris – that leads directly to the heart. As romantic an idea as this is, it’s also cobblers – the veins in your hand are all basically the same.

Middle Finger

For rings, the middle finger tends to be the last port of call when the rest of your hand is full. It’s not left bare for traditional reasons, but rather because it’s so close to your index finger, which tends to be most active. That proximity means anything with any heft can feel awkward, but because your middle finger is the hand’s biggest, too dainty a ring looks odd. Which leaves you in no man’s land.

For those guys who do wear middle finger rings, they tend to appear on the opposite side to the wedding band. Again, that’s a practical thing – stack rings up on consecutive fingers and you’ll sound like a castanet player whenever you move your fingers.

Index Finger

Historically, the most prominent finger was home to the most prominent rings: a signet or family crest, worn by nobility and, in some cultures, banned as a ring location to anyone outside the aristocracy.

These days, you can put a ring on it even if you don’t have a family crest, but you’d still be wise to go big, since it’s a space that makes a statement. If you’ve got the cojones then chunky, three-dimensional rings look good on an index finger.

Thumb Ring

Think of the thumb as the index finger on steroids. For one, your thumb is big and so needs a big ring. There’s also the fact that thumb rings are less common, which means you’ve got a statement ring in a novel location.

But that all also means that, if you’re the kind of guy who leans into statement-making, a thumb ring is an easy way to stand out. To avoid looking like you own an ‘import-export’ business, keep the rest of your hand fairly clear; a pinky plus a thumb ring gives a decent amount of separation.

5 Style Tips For Wearing Rings style guide

1. Be Ambidextrous

Like any accessory, less is often more with rings. Overload your hands and the individual elements become tricky to discern. “You should balance your jewellery,” says Walsh. “If you have a wedding band and watch on one hand, then one or two rings would work nicely on the other hand, for example.”

David Yurman

2. Nail Your Scales

As with your clothes, fit matters. Tiny rings on pianist fingers can feel out of place, much as skinny jeans can look indecent on bodybuuilder thighs. “The scale of jewellery is important to bear in mind,” says Graham. “Don’t wear rings that are the wrong size for your body shape. A big ring can look good on a guy with large hands but uncomfortable if you have small fingers.”

Rachel Boston

3. Match Your Metals (Or Don’t)

Traditionally, clashing metals signified a lack of care – all your jewellery should be either gold, or silver, but never both. But in a world where you can wear joggers with a blazer, pairing a steel watch with a gold ring isn’t the faux pas it once was. Although it’s still best when you make it look deliberate.

“When done right it can add a more stylised aesthetic to the overall look,” says Saiger. It’s particularly effective when you mix your metals in a single piece; wear something like Miansai’s Fusion ring and you’ve got carte blanche to add more rings in either metal. “We were able to take 90 per cent silver and 10 per cent gold and use this process of mechanically bonding it together through a machine to achieve this look.” As well as your style, it’s also good for your pocket.

Holt Renfrew

4. Think About Your Lifestyle

Rappers can rock the dripping-in-bling look because they don’t have to wear suits to work. “If you do, then a giant, statement ring won’t work,” says Graham. “Look for something more subtle.” You can always leave the 3D stuff for the weekend, but if you want to make rings a signature, go for a simpler form of personality.

“Choose something that’s timeless, but nothing overly designed or intricate, unless it’s a piece you see yourself wearing everyday,” says Saiger. “Rings are something that I find people like to put on and never take off, so for this reason I would suggest going with something more understated.”

Smith Grey

5. Commit

Any style statement looks best when you own it. “When a man wears jewellery he doesn’t feel comfortable in, that shows,” says Saiger. Rings can feel odd at first, a physical weight that makes you more self-conscious. So try before you buy and only go for something you feel confident you can pull off. And if that means starting out with something that’s barely there, so be it. “Personally, I like my rings at two millimetres, which is the same as my wedding band,” says Saiger.

David Yurman

Three Go-To Ring Styles

Wedding Band

Though common today, until the Second World War, only wives wore wedding rings. This was less about romance, more the patriarchy; it proved her kids were legitimate and that she had a man to look after her. During the war they were forged for men from non-precious metals, as a reminder of who soldiers overseas were fighting for. But they didn’t catch on as jewellery until the 1960s.

This shift was fuelled half by the rise of European style – Italian men have never been as squeamish about jewellery – but also second-wave feminism, which tried to put both partners in a marriage on an equal footing. “A wedding ring tends to be a clean, simple band,” says Walsh. “It’s an expression of commitment.” Designs tend to be inward- rather than outward-facing: an engraving against the skin tends is always more personal than a giant jewel.

Signet Ring

The OG men’s ring, the signet was first worn by the Ancient Egyptians, who used them to stamp official documents. In Britain, they were engraved with a back-to-front family crest; when sealing a letter with wax, you’d deboss it with your signet to prove it actually came from you. They were traditionally family heirlooms and signified plush roots – you had to have a coat of arms to actually engrave on your signet – but by the 19th century, new money types could buy their own heraldry. The signet lost some of its cache.

These days, they’re still handed down within families, but also come with all manner of designs; Gianni Versace wore one bearing his label’s Medusa head. “They’ve usually got a flat face, to accommodate engraving,” says Walsh, and then to be chunkier and more eye-catching than a wedding band.

Fashion Rings

There are other rings that men wear for tradition, not aesthetics, but they’re rare. Which means most everything else is lumped in as ‘fashion’ – a ring you wear just because you like the look, not because tradition says you should. These can range from designer bling to something with a story that you picked up from a car boot sale. “It’s an expression of your character,” says Walsh. “You can wear them on any finger, alone or in multiples.”

That gives more leeway for esoteric choices. “Ask yourself whether it’s for a lifetime, or for a moment,” says Walsh. The answer, as with anything you wear, will inform how much to invest. “Take advice [on the style] if you like, but also go with your gut. If you instinctively like it, you’ll wear it well.”

[dragnews]

A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal

The British royal family has long been a source of public fascination, captivating mere mortals in Britain and beyond with a passion for all things Windsor.

Toss a wedding into the mix — specifically one so storybook as the coming nuptials of Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle, on May 19 — and the excitement swells: Where will Meghan shop in London? Where will Harry buy her jewelry? Is there a favorite perfume, chocolate or hat-maker (which raises the question: will Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, offer her new sister-in-law, an actress and former model, a crash course in headpiece etiquette?)

Paparazzi can only capture so much. Another way to gain insight into the predilections of the royal family is by examining the brands that hold the royal warrant — the top-of-the-line British purveyors that have earned the royal family’s seal of approval.

Royal warrants, which have been issued by the British royal family since the 15th century, are a mark of distinction for companies who have provided goods and services for at least five years to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip or Prince Charles. Suppliers range from silversmiths, champagne houses, perfumers and shoemakers to agricultural crop sprayers and biscuit brands. There are currently about 800 royal warrant holders throughout Britain.

Vetting is fierce. If approved (most applicants are not), the company snags the ultimate endorsement: the honor of displaying the royal coat of arms, along with the prestigious “by appointment” legend alongside the company logo, a practice that can be traced to the reign of Elizabeth I.

With the help of a royal warrant road map, tourists can effectively shop the royal family’s go-to brands, centuries-old companies that represent top quality, heritage and craftsmanship. A guide to the warrants offers something for everyone. The brands are not only for people who can afford to buy a $5,000 bespoke suit without batting an eye, but includes purveyors of cheese, tea, books and grooming products. The road map is an opportunity to scoop up meaningful souvenirs without spending a fortune.

Companies with the royal warrant are so well respected that at least two fashionable hotels, the Beaumont and Hotel Cafe Royal, are offering royal wedding packages that feature walking tours to some of these esteemed businesses.

While nobody can predict the shopping habits of Meghan and Harry, history suggests where they might shop — at purveyors holding the royal warrant.

Royal Grocers and Provisions Merchants Royal Tea Merchants and Grocers 181 Piccadilly London fortnumandmason.com

Founded in 1707 by Hugh Mason, a grocer, and William Fortnum, a royal footman to Queen Anne, Fortnum & Mason became a purveyor of tea and fine food credited with transforming Britain’s culinary landscape by introducing classics like the Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg encased in sausage meat and dusted with fried breadcrumbs. In the process, they popularized the luxury picnic hamper with ready-to-eat provisions and expanding the consumption of tea beyond the aristocracy.

In the 1920s, sports, cutting edge fashion, interior design and an expedition department (Fortnum’s provisioned the first expedition to Mount Everest) were added to the mix effectively creating a department store. Since its inception, the company has served 12 monarchs with continuous royal warrants. Today, it holds two warrants;Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.

Tea and the accompanying delicacies — biscuits, preserves, specialty honey, chocolate — are still the company’s foundation. Surprisingly, a classic hamper costs less than buying products separately. The Mini Huntsman Basket (a keepsake wicker hamper filled with specialties like Assam Superb tea, rose and violet cream chocolates, marmalade and Florentine biscuits) is an excellent souvenir. Or, you can splurge on a formal afternoon tea at the storied Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The company archivist, Dr. Andrea Tanner, leads a Delicious History tour every second Thursday at 11 a.m.

Royal Cheesemonger 93 Jermyn Street London paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

The pungent aroma of orange-skinned, washed-rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, anyone?) is the calling card of this shop, established in 1797. Its bounty of artisanal cheeses (mostly British) supplies grand hotels, top restaurants, discerning Londoners and, of course, the palace with top drawer dairy products. Queen Victoria granted Paxton & Whitfield its first warrant as cheesemonger to the Royal Household in 1850. The brand has held onto this honor with subsequent warrants issued by King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales. New this year is an Academy of Cheese, a daylong tutorial for cheese enthusiasts. Tip: Go hungry and ask the cheese stewards for samples of esoteric products like the Fleur de Maquis, a Corsican ewe cheese encased in rosemary and juniper berries.

Royal Hospitality Services 15 Beeston Place London thegoring.com

The Goring, which is steps from Buckingham Palace, was where Kate Middleton (and her entire family) chose to spend the night before her wedding to William. It also served as the preferred perch for royalty during the coronations of George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and is an unofficial luxury annex for visiting dignitaries.

In the age of minimalist, feels-like-anywhere design, as classic hotels are swallowed up by corporate behemoths, it’s inspiring to stay at a century-old property still owned and operated by the family that built it. The Goring revels in its Britishness. The Michelin-starred Dining Room (that, naturally, showcases British classics like Eggs Drumkilbo, an egg, prawn and lobster dish favored by the late Queen Mother) was designed by interiors heavyweight David Linley, nephew of Queen Elizabeth II. The grand rooms and lobby were recently refurbished by the country’s top artisans to inject a rich, undeniably feels-like-London charm; bespoke furnishings by the respected manufacturer Manborne, Fromental’s exquisite hand-gilded wallpaper, as well as colorful Gainsborough Silk wall coverings and curtains.

Instead of run-of-the-mill butlers, there are red-liveried footmen, a detail that could read as tacky if not for the splendid surroundings and royal family legacy.

In 2013, The Goring was the first and only hotel to be granted a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. If you can’t afford a stay, stop in for afternoon tea (in the lounge where the Queen has held her Christmas lunch) or a cocktail in the glamorous crimson-hued bar.

Royal Hairdressers 71 St James’s St. London truefittandhill.co.uk

William Francis Truefitt started out as court wig maker to King George III, before setting up shop in 1805 to offer luxury barbery services (first wig-making and styling — a time-consuming affair), and later, haircuts to London’s gentry. The pairing of pampering hot towel wet shave with the air of a gentlemen’s club (services always came with a shoe shine) attracted high society, namely Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, Beau Brummell, Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill and the royal family.

In 1875, hair “preparations” were introduced, leading the way to shaving accessories (the old school silvertip badger hair brush, razor and stand make a stylish souvenir), fragrance and skin products, all crafted in Britain. Today, the traditional shave and other services (still complete with complimentary shoe shine) are performed by barbers nattily attired in white shirt with monogrammed waistcoat and tie. The company has had nine consecutive royal warrants and currently holds one from Prince Philip.

Royal Booksellers 187 Piccadilly London hatchards.co.uk

What began in 1797 as a literary coffee house producing political pamphlets and publications spotlighting social issues of the day is London’s oldest bookseller. The shop’s welcome-to-my townhouse charm — elegant wood paneling, tucked-away fireplaces and a wooden spiral staircase — is underscored by staff-curated tables loaded with selections from well-known and more esoteric British scribes like P.G. Wodehouse, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie and Kingsley Amis. Check the schedule for book signings; high profile artists (recently, Julian Barnes) are often on the docket.

On top of buying a book (the shop is well-known for autographed hardbacks and first editions bound in leather with decorative William Morris endpapers), bibliophiles can sign on for Hatchards’s monthly subscription service which can be delivered anywhere in the world. Hatchards gained its first royal warrant in the 18th century from Queen Charlotte, wife of George II and continues to hold all three warrants from Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

Royal Purveyors of Chocolates 14 Princes Arcade London prestat.co.uk

This century-old chocolatier’s quirky heritage has amassed a cult following. The actor John Gielgud, Cher, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney have nipped in to sample pâte de fruit “fruity babes” and ginger hunks while the 19th- and early-20th-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt commissioned a specialty inverted violet crème in 1910, a Prestat classic known to have been the Queen Mother’s favorite flavor. One famous relationship was with the novelist Roald Dahl whose passion for Prestat truffles landed Prestat a starring role in his novel “My Uncle Oswald” and is said to have inspired the children’s book, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

Truffles (William and Kate served them at their wedding) are best-sellers. The boozy “Popping Pink Prosecco,” a tangy Yuzu sake and London gin (that dramatically fizzes in the mouth) are newer incarnations, while the classic Marc de Champagne (using the founder Antoine Dufour’s original recipe from 1895) is still in demand. The shop is closed for renovation and is scheduled to reopen May 14.

Royal Hatters 6 St. James’s Street London lockhatters.co.uk

Since 1676, Lock & Co. Hatters has created toppers for royals and aristocracy. The business designed the bicorne hat, the de rigueur military accouterment of the time, worn by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, invented the bowler, popularized the fedora and tweed newsboy, and have remained the go-to for top hats (Sir Winston Churchill wore one to his wedding in 1908) through the present day. It’s still a family-run business operating from the same four-story building since 1759.

In 1993, Lock introduced women’s high fashion millinery (statement head pieces are a popular trend in Britain; the Duchess of Cambridge frequently sports Lock’s designs to formal occasions) though classic designs remain best-sellers.

As in the past, customers’ heads are measured with a Victorian-looking contraption called a conformateur; purchases come in a hand-cut, paper-and-card hatbox, a souvenir in and of itself. The firm holds two royal warrants: Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Lock partnered with the jeweler Garrard & Co, also the holder of a royal warrant, to fit George IV’s crown to Queen Elizabeth II’s head for her 1953 coronation, relining the interior with ermine and purple velvet.

Royal Livery Tailors 15 Savile Row London henrypoole.com

A military tailoring outfit begun during the Napoleonic Wars evolved into the court tailor to Queen Victoria in 1869, producing the palace’s livery, or official uniform. After meeting and then outfitting Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie), Poole’s popularity soared.

This relationship produced modern black-tie dress. In 1865, tired of fussy white-tie evening dress with coattails, the fashionable Bertie asked Poole to design a more informal ensemble — “a short silk smoking jacket with silk collar and cuffs, lined silk; a pair of trousers to match” — for entertaining at his country home in Sandringham. This look would later come to be known as the tuxedo.

Poole was also Savile Row’s founding tailor. The firm’s bespoke suiting (the process requires three fittings and between 80 to 120 hours of hand stitching) attracted an international clientele, Czar Alexander II of Russia, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, Frank Lloyd Wright, among others. The merchant has served each monarch since Queen Victoria which has translated into Poole’s livery and other garments being worn at every coronation, jubilee and royal wedding since the merchant was issued the first warrant in 1869. Sartorial buffs can book a visit to the archive room where leather-bound books detailing every client since 1846 are stored.

Royal Perfumers Royal Manufacturers of Toilet Preparations 89 Jermyn Street, St. James’s London florislondon.com

Floris is an independent, family-run business, and operates from the Jermyn Street premises where it was founded in 1730. Originally a barber, but also trained in perfumery, Juan Famenias Floris introduced a zesty lime unisex fragrance in the late 18th century that became an instant hit, offering both an uplifting perfume and an olfactory tool to combat the stench of London’s sewage-strewn streets. Soon, classic floral scents — rose, lily of the valley, violet, stephanotis — were sold alongside grooming products, bespoke fragrances concocted for wealthy clients in the shop’s cellar. While most royal warrant holders are hush-hush about their customers, Floris has a small museum in the back of the shop with letters and archived receipts from various palaces and high-wattage clientele like Sir Winston Churchill (Special No. 127 and Stephanotis, both of which are still available), Ian Fleming (No. 89; Fleming also mentions Floris in the James Bond novels “Moonraker,” “Diamonds are Forever” and “Dr. No,” Marilyn Monroe (Rose Geranium) and Queen Elizabeth II. Floris received its first royal warrant from King George IV in 1820.

Royal Jewellers, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths 24 Albemarle Street London garrard.com

Established in 1735, The House of Garrard, which also functioned as silversmiths, received its first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales (a black ebony teapot handle) that same year. Queen Victoria appointed Garrard as Crown Jewelers in 1843 and the house has served every monarch since then, crafting five crowns (still worn for state occasions) which can be viewed at the Tower of London Jewel House, a dazzling exhibit of royal regalia, including the Crown Jewels, where tourists are transported through displays by way of a moving walkway).

On top of countless royal commissions, Garrard is known for exquisite tiaras, including the Cambridge Lover’s Knot, a headpiece of 19 diamond-encrusted arches framing large drop-shaped pearls that has been passed down from Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth II and lent to Princess Diana, and recently worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, in addition to the “Girls of Britain and Ireland tiara,” the spiky diadem with a band of round and lozenge-shaped diamonds frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth II and featured on British bank notes.

Today’s collections are understated, inspired by regal heritage but designed for contemporary life. You can visit the Queen Mary salon upstairs (by appointment) to view paintings of the royal crowns and try on a few imitation tiaras from the royal collection.

Amy Tara Koch, based in Chicago, writes about travel, style, food and parenting.

The post A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2I1NQFH via Today News

[cleopatrarps]

A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal

The British royal family has long been a source of public fascination, captivating mere mortals in Britain and beyond with a passion for all things Windsor.

Toss a wedding into the mix — specifically one so storybook as the coming nuptials of Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle, on May 19 — and the excitement swells: Where will Meghan shop in London? Where will Harry buy her jewelry? Is there a favorite perfume, chocolate or hat-maker (which raises the question: will Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, offer her new sister-in-law, an actress and former model, a crash course in headpiece etiquette?)

Paparazzi can only capture so much. Another way to gain insight into the predilections of the royal family is by examining the brands that hold the royal warrant — the top-of-the-line British purveyors that have earned the royal family’s seal of approval.

Royal warrants, which have been issued by the British royal family since the 15th century, are a mark of distinction for companies who have provided goods and services for at least five years to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip or Prince Charles. Suppliers range from silversmiths, champagne houses, perfumers and shoemakers to agricultural crop sprayers and biscuit brands. There are currently about 800 royal warrant holders throughout Britain.

Vetting is fierce. If approved (most applicants are not), the company snags the ultimate endorsement: the honor of displaying the royal coat of arms, along with the prestigious “by appointment” legend alongside the company logo, a practice that can be traced to the reign of Elizabeth I.

With the help of a royal warrant road map, tourists can effectively shop the royal family’s go-to brands, centuries-old companies that represent top quality, heritage and craftsmanship. A guide to the warrants offers something for everyone. The brands are not only for people who can afford to buy a $5,000 bespoke suit without batting an eye, but includes purveyors of cheese, tea, books and grooming products. The road map is an opportunity to scoop up meaningful souvenirs without spending a fortune.

Companies with the royal warrant are so well respected that at least two fashionable hotels, the Beaumont and Hotel Cafe Royal, are offering royal wedding packages that feature walking tours to some of these esteemed businesses.

While nobody can predict the shopping habits of Meghan and Harry, history suggests where they might shop — at purveyors holding the royal warrant.

Royal Grocers and Provisions Merchants Royal Tea Merchants and Grocers 181 Piccadilly London fortnumandmason.com

Founded in 1707 by Hugh Mason, a grocer, and William Fortnum, a royal footman to Queen Anne, Fortnum & Mason became a purveyor of tea and fine food credited with transforming Britain’s culinary landscape by introducing classics like the Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg encased in sausage meat and dusted with fried breadcrumbs. In the process, they popularized the luxury picnic hamper with ready-to-eat provisions and expanding the consumption of tea beyond the aristocracy.

In the 1920s, sports, cutting edge fashion, interior design and an expedition department (Fortnum’s provisioned the first expedition to Mount Everest) were added to the mix effectively creating a department store. Since its inception, the company has served 12 monarchs with continuous royal warrants. Today, it holds two warrants;Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.

Tea and the accompanying delicacies — biscuits, preserves, specialty honey, chocolate — are still the company’s foundation. Surprisingly, a classic hamper costs less than buying products separately. The Mini Huntsman Basket (a keepsake wicker hamper filled with specialties like Assam Superb tea, rose and violet cream chocolates, marmalade and Florentine biscuits) is an excellent souvenir. Or, you can splurge on a formal afternoon tea at the storied Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The company archivist, Dr. Andrea Tanner, leads a Delicious History tour every second Thursday at 11 a.m.

Royal Cheesemonger 93 Jermyn Street London paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

The pungent aroma of orange-skinned, washed-rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, anyone?) is the calling card of this shop, established in 1797. Its bounty of artisanal cheeses (mostly British) supplies grand hotels, top restaurants, discerning Londoners and, of course, the palace with top drawer dairy products. Queen Victoria granted Paxton & Whitfield its first warrant as cheesemonger to the Royal Household in 1850. The brand has held onto this honor with subsequent warrants issued by King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales. New this year is an Academy of Cheese, a daylong tutorial for cheese enthusiasts. Tip: Go hungry and ask the cheese stewards for samples of esoteric products like the Fleur de Maquis, a Corsican ewe cheese encased in rosemary and juniper berries.

Royal Hospitality Services 15 Beeston Place London thegoring.com

The Goring, which is steps from Buckingham Palace, was where Kate Middleton (and her entire family) chose to spend the night before her wedding to William. It also served as the preferred perch for royalty during the coronations of George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and is an unofficial luxury annex for visiting dignitaries.

In the age of minimalist, feels-like-anywhere design, as classic hotels are swallowed up by corporate behemoths, it’s inspiring to stay at a century-old property still owned and operated by the family that built it. The Goring revels in its Britishness. The Michelin-starred Dining Room (that, naturally, showcases British classics like Eggs Drumkilbo, an egg, prawn and lobster dish favored by the late Queen Mother) was designed by interiors heavyweight David Linley, nephew of Queen Elizabeth II. The grand rooms and lobby were recently refurbished by the country’s top artisans to inject a rich, undeniably feels-like-London charm; bespoke furnishings by the respected manufacturer Manborne, Fromental’s exquisite hand-gilded wallpaper, as well as colorful Gainsborough Silk wall coverings and curtains.

Instead of run-of-the-mill butlers, there are red-liveried footmen, a detail that could read as tacky if not for the splendid surroundings and royal family legacy.

In 2013, The Goring was the first and only hotel to be granted a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. If you can’t afford a stay, stop in for afternoon tea (in the lounge where the Queen has held her Christmas lunch) or a cocktail in the glamorous crimson-hued bar.

Royal Hairdressers 71 St James’s St. London truefittandhill.co.uk

William Francis Truefitt started out as court wig maker to King George III, before setting up shop in 1805 to offer luxury barbery services (first wig-making and styling — a time-consuming affair), and later, haircuts to London’s gentry. The pairing of pampering hot towel wet shave with the air of a gentlemen’s club (services always came with a shoe shine) attracted high society, namely Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, Beau Brummell, Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill and the royal family.

In 1875, hair “preparations” were introduced, leading the way to shaving accessories (the old school silvertip badger hair brush, razor and stand make a stylish souvenir), fragrance and skin products, all crafted in Britain. Today, the traditional shave and other services (still complete with complimentary shoe shine) are performed by barbers nattily attired in white shirt with monogrammed waistcoat and tie. The company has had nine consecutive royal warrants and currently holds one from Prince Philip.

Royal Booksellers 187 Piccadilly London hatchards.co.uk

What began in 1797 as a literary coffee house producing political pamphlets and publications spotlighting social issues of the day is London’s oldest bookseller. The shop’s welcome-to-my townhouse charm — elegant wood paneling, tucked-away fireplaces and a wooden spiral staircase — is underscored by staff-curated tables loaded with selections from well-known and more esoteric British scribes like P.G. Wodehouse, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie and Kingsley Amis. Check the schedule for book signings; high profile artists (recently, Julian Barnes) are often on the docket.

On top of buying a book (the shop is well-known for autographed hardbacks and first editions bound in leather with decorative William Morris endpapers), bibliophiles can sign on for Hatchards’s monthly subscription service which can be delivered anywhere in the world. Hatchards gained its first royal warrant in the 18th century from Queen Charlotte, wife of George II and continues to hold all three warrants from Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

Royal Purveyors of Chocolates 14 Princes Arcade London prestat.co.uk

This century-old chocolatier’s quirky heritage has amassed a cult following. The actor John Gielgud, Cher, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney have nipped in to sample pâte de fruit “fruity babes” and ginger hunks while the 19th- and early-20th-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt commissioned a specialty inverted violet crème in 1910, a Prestat classic known to have been the Queen Mother’s favorite flavor. One famous relationship was with the novelist Roald Dahl whose passion for Prestat truffles landed Prestat a starring role in his novel “My Uncle Oswald” and is said to have inspired the children’s book, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

Truffles (William and Kate served them at their wedding) are best-sellers. The boozy “Popping Pink Prosecco,” a tangy Yuzu sake and London gin (that dramatically fizzes in the mouth) are newer incarnations, while the classic Marc de Champagne (using the founder Antoine Dufour’s original recipe from 1895) is still in demand. The shop is closed for renovation and is scheduled to reopen May 14.

Royal Hatters 6 St. James’s Street London lockhatters.co.uk

Since 1676, Lock & Co. Hatters has created toppers for royals and aristocracy. The business designed the bicorne hat, the de rigueur military accouterment of the time, worn by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, invented the bowler, popularized the fedora and tweed newsboy, and have remained the go-to for top hats (Sir Winston Churchill wore one to his wedding in 1908) through the present day. It’s still a family-run business operating from the same four-story building since 1759.

In 1993, Lock introduced women’s high fashion millinery (statement head pieces are a popular trend in Britain; the Duchess of Cambridge frequently sports Lock’s designs to formal occasions) though classic designs remain best-sellers.

As in the past, customers’ heads are measured with a Victorian-looking contraption called a conformateur; purchases come in a hand-cut, paper-and-card hatbox, a souvenir in and of itself. The firm holds two royal warrants: Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Lock partnered with the jeweler Garrard & Co, also the holder of a royal warrant, to fit George IV’s crown to Queen Elizabeth II’s head for her 1953 coronation, relining the interior with ermine and purple velvet.

Royal Livery Tailors 15 Savile Row London henrypoole.com

A military tailoring outfit begun during the Napoleonic Wars evolved into the court tailor to Queen Victoria in 1869, producing the palace’s livery, or official uniform. After meeting and then outfitting Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie), Poole’s popularity soared.

This relationship produced modern black-tie dress. In 1865, tired of fussy white-tie evening dress with coattails, the fashionable Bertie asked Poole to design a more informal ensemble — “a short silk smoking jacket with silk collar and cuffs, lined silk; a pair of trousers to match” — for entertaining at his country home in Sandringham. This look would later come to be known as the tuxedo.

Poole was also Savile Row’s founding tailor. The firm’s bespoke suiting (the process requires three fittings and between 80 to 120 hours of hand stitching) attracted an international clientele, Czar Alexander II of Russia, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, Frank Lloyd Wright, among others. The merchant has served each monarch since Queen Victoria which has translated into Poole’s livery and other garments being worn at every coronation, jubilee and royal wedding since the merchant was issued the first warrant in 1869. Sartorial buffs can book a visit to the archive room where leather-bound books detailing every client since 1846 are stored.

Royal Perfumers Royal Manufacturers of Toilet Preparations 89 Jermyn Street, St. James’s London florislondon.com

Floris is an independent, family-run business, and operates from the Jermyn Street premises where it was founded in 1730. Originally a barber, but also trained in perfumery, Juan Famenias Floris introduced a zesty lime unisex fragrance in the late 18th century that became an instant hit, offering both an uplifting perfume and an olfactory tool to combat the stench of London’s sewage-strewn streets. Soon, classic floral scents — rose, lily of the valley, violet, stephanotis — were sold alongside grooming products, bespoke fragrances concocted for wealthy clients in the shop’s cellar. While most royal warrant holders are hush-hush about their customers, Floris has a small museum in the back of the shop with letters and archived receipts from various palaces and high-wattage clientele like Sir Winston Churchill (Special No. 127 and Stephanotis, both of which are still available), Ian Fleming (No. 89; Fleming also mentions Floris in the James Bond novels “Moonraker,” “Diamonds are Forever” and “Dr. No,” Marilyn Monroe (Rose Geranium) and Queen Elizabeth II. Floris received its first royal warrant from King George IV in 1820.

Royal Jewellers, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths 24 Albemarle Street London garrard.com

Established in 1735, The House of Garrard, which also functioned as silversmiths, received its first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales (a black ebony teapot handle) that same year. Queen Victoria appointed Garrard as Crown Jewelers in 1843 and the house has served every monarch since then, crafting five crowns (still worn for state occasions) which can be viewed at the Tower of London Jewel House, a dazzling exhibit of royal regalia, including the Crown Jewels, where tourists are transported through displays by way of a moving walkway).

On top of countless royal commissions, Garrard is known for exquisite tiaras, including the Cambridge Lover’s Knot, a headpiece of 19 diamond-encrusted arches framing large drop-shaped pearls that has been passed down from Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth II and lent to Princess Diana, and recently worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, in addition to the “Girls of Britain and Ireland tiara,” the spiky diadem with a band of round and lozenge-shaped diamonds frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth II and featured on British bank notes.

Today’s collections are understated, inspired by regal heritage but designed for contemporary life. You can visit the Queen Mary salon upstairs (by appointment) to view paintings of the royal crowns and try on a few imitation tiaras from the royal collection.

Amy Tara Koch, based in Chicago, writes about travel, style, food and parenting.

The post A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2I1NQFH via News of World

[dani-qrt]

A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal

The British royal family has long been a source of public fascination, captivating mere mortals in Britain and beyond with a passion for all things Windsor.

Toss a wedding into the mix — specifically one so storybook as the coming nuptials of Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle, on May 19 — and the excitement swells: Where will Meghan shop in London? Where will Harry buy her jewelry? Is there a favorite perfume, chocolate or hat-maker (which raises the question: will Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, offer her new sister-in-law, an actress and former model, a crash course in headpiece etiquette?)

Paparazzi can only capture so much. Another way to gain insight into the predilections of the royal family is by examining the brands that hold the royal warrant — the top-of-the-line British purveyors that have earned the royal family’s seal of approval.

Royal warrants, which have been issued by the British royal family since the 15th century, are a mark of distinction for companies who have provided goods and services for at least five years to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip or Prince Charles. Suppliers range from silversmiths, champagne houses, perfumers and shoemakers to agricultural crop sprayers and biscuit brands. There are currently about 800 royal warrant holders throughout Britain.

Vetting is fierce. If approved (most applicants are not), the company snags the ultimate endorsement: the honor of displaying the royal coat of arms, along with the prestigious “by appointment” legend alongside the company logo, a practice that can be traced to the reign of Elizabeth I.

With the help of a royal warrant road map, tourists can effectively shop the royal family’s go-to brands, centuries-old companies that represent top quality, heritage and craftsmanship. A guide to the warrants offers something for everyone. The brands are not only for people who can afford to buy a $5,000 bespoke suit without batting an eye, but includes purveyors of cheese, tea, books and grooming products. The road map is an opportunity to scoop up meaningful souvenirs without spending a fortune.

Companies with the royal warrant are so well respected that at least two fashionable hotels, the Beaumont and Hotel Cafe Royal, are offering royal wedding packages that feature walking tours to some of these esteemed businesses.

While nobody can predict the shopping habits of Meghan and Harry, history suggests where they might shop — at purveyors holding the royal warrant.

Royal Grocers and Provisions Merchants Royal Tea Merchants and Grocers 181 Piccadilly London fortnumandmason.com

Founded in 1707 by Hugh Mason, a grocer, and William Fortnum, a royal footman to Queen Anne, Fortnum & Mason became a purveyor of tea and fine food credited with transforming Britain’s culinary landscape by introducing classics like the Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg encased in sausage meat and dusted with fried breadcrumbs. In the process, they popularized the luxury picnic hamper with ready-to-eat provisions and expanding the consumption of tea beyond the aristocracy.

In the 1920s, sports, cutting edge fashion, interior design and an expedition department (Fortnum’s provisioned the first expedition to Mount Everest) were added to the mix effectively creating a department store. Since its inception, the company has served 12 monarchs with continuous royal warrants. Today, it holds two warrants;Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.

Tea and the accompanying delicacies — biscuits, preserves, specialty honey, chocolate — are still the company’s foundation. Surprisingly, a classic hamper costs less than buying products separately. The Mini Huntsman Basket (a keepsake wicker hamper filled with specialties like Assam Superb tea, rose and violet cream chocolates, marmalade and Florentine biscuits) is an excellent souvenir. Or, you can splurge on a formal afternoon tea at the storied Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The company archivist, Dr. Andrea Tanner, leads a Delicious History tour every second Thursday at 11 a.m.

Royal Cheesemonger 93 Jermyn Street London paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

The pungent aroma of orange-skinned, washed-rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, anyone?) is the calling card of this shop, established in 1797. Its bounty of artisanal cheeses (mostly British) supplies grand hotels, top restaurants, discerning Londoners and, of course, the palace with top drawer dairy products. Queen Victoria granted Paxton & Whitfield its first warrant as cheesemonger to the Royal Household in 1850. The brand has held onto this honor with subsequent warrants issued by King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales. New this year is an Academy of Cheese, a daylong tutorial for cheese enthusiasts. Tip: Go hungry and ask the cheese stewards for samples of esoteric products like the Fleur de Maquis, a Corsican ewe cheese encased in rosemary and juniper berries.

Royal Hospitality Services 15 Beeston Place London thegoring.com

The Goring, which is steps from Buckingham Palace, was where Kate Middleton (and her entire family) chose to spend the night before her wedding to William. It also served as the preferred perch for royalty during the coronations of George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and is an unofficial luxury annex for visiting dignitaries.

In the age of minimalist, feels-like-anywhere design, as classic hotels are swallowed up by corporate behemoths, it’s inspiring to stay at a century-old property still owned and operated by the family that built it. The Goring revels in its Britishness. The Michelin-starred Dining Room (that, naturally, showcases British classics like Eggs Drumkilbo, an egg, prawn and lobster dish favored by the late Queen Mother) was designed by interiors heavyweight David Linley, nephew of Queen Elizabeth II. The grand rooms and lobby were recently refurbished by the country’s top artisans to inject a rich, undeniably feels-like-London charm; bespoke furnishings by the respected manufacturer Manborne, Fromental’s exquisite hand-gilded wallpaper, as well as colorful Gainsborough Silk wall coverings and curtains.

Instead of run-of-the-mill butlers, there are red-liveried footmen, a detail that could read as tacky if not for the splendid surroundings and royal family legacy.

In 2013, The Goring was the first and only hotel to be granted a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. If you can’t afford a stay, stop in for afternoon tea (in the lounge where the Queen has held her Christmas lunch) or a cocktail in the glamorous crimson-hued bar.

Royal Hairdressers 71 St James’s St. London truefittandhill.co.uk

William Francis Truefitt started out as court wig maker to King George III, before setting up shop in 1805 to offer luxury barbery services (first wig-making and styling — a time-consuming affair), and later, haircuts to London’s gentry. The pairing of pampering hot towel wet shave with the air of a gentlemen’s club (services always came with a shoe shine) attracted high society, namely Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, Beau Brummell, Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill and the royal family.

In 1875, hair “preparations” were introduced, leading the way to shaving accessories (the old school silvertip badger hair brush, razor and stand make a stylish souvenir), fragrance and skin products, all crafted in Britain. Today, the traditional shave and other services (still complete with complimentary shoe shine) are performed by barbers nattily attired in white shirt with monogrammed waistcoat and tie. The company has had nine consecutive royal warrants and currently holds one from Prince Philip.

Royal Booksellers 187 Piccadilly London hatchards.co.uk

What began in 1797 as a literary coffee house producing political pamphlets and publications spotlighting social issues of the day is London’s oldest bookseller. The shop’s welcome-to-my townhouse charm — elegant wood paneling, tucked-away fireplaces and a wooden spiral staircase — is underscored by staff-curated tables loaded with selections from well-known and more esoteric British scribes like P.G. Wodehouse, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie and Kingsley Amis. Check the schedule for book signings; high profile artists (recently, Julian Barnes) are often on the docket.

On top of buying a book (the shop is well-known for autographed hardbacks and first editions bound in leather with decorative William Morris endpapers), bibliophiles can sign on for Hatchards’s monthly subscription service which can be delivered anywhere in the world. Hatchards gained its first royal warrant in the 18th century from Queen Charlotte, wife of George II and continues to hold all three warrants from Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

Royal Purveyors of Chocolates 14 Princes Arcade London prestat.co.uk

This century-old chocolatier’s quirky heritage has amassed a cult following. The actor John Gielgud, Cher, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney have nipped in to sample pâte de fruit “fruity babes” and ginger hunks while the 19th- and early-20th-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt commissioned a specialty inverted violet crème in 1910, a Prestat classic known to have been the Queen Mother’s favorite flavor. One famous relationship was with the novelist Roald Dahl whose passion for Prestat truffles landed Prestat a starring role in his novel “My Uncle Oswald” and is said to have inspired the children’s book, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

Truffles (William and Kate served them at their wedding) are best-sellers. The boozy “Popping Pink Prosecco,” a tangy Yuzu sake and London gin (that dramatically fizzes in the mouth) are newer incarnations, while the classic Marc de Champagne (using the founder Antoine Dufour’s original recipe from 1895) is still in demand. The shop is closed for renovation and is scheduled to reopen May 14.

Royal Hatters 6 St. James’s Street London lockhatters.co.uk

Since 1676, Lock & Co. Hatters has created toppers for royals and aristocracy. The business designed the bicorne hat, the de rigueur military accouterment of the time, worn by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, invented the bowler, popularized the fedora and tweed newsboy, and have remained the go-to for top hats (Sir Winston Churchill wore one to his wedding in 1908) through the present day. It’s still a family-run business operating from the same four-story building since 1759.

In 1993, Lock introduced women’s high fashion millinery (statement head pieces are a popular trend in Britain; the Duchess of Cambridge frequently sports Lock’s designs to formal occasions) though classic designs remain best-sellers.

As in the past, customers’ heads are measured with a Victorian-looking contraption called a conformateur; purchases come in a hand-cut, paper-and-card hatbox, a souvenir in and of itself. The firm holds two royal warrants: Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Lock partnered with the jeweler Garrard & Co, also the holder of a royal warrant, to fit George IV’s crown to Queen Elizabeth II’s head for her 1953 coronation, relining the interior with ermine and purple velvet.

Royal Livery Tailors 15 Savile Row London henrypoole.com

A military tailoring outfit begun during the Napoleonic Wars evolved into the court tailor to Queen Victoria in 1869, producing the palace’s livery, or official uniform. After meeting and then outfitting Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie), Poole’s popularity soared.

This relationship produced modern black-tie dress. In 1865, tired of fussy white-tie evening dress with coattails, the fashionable Bertie asked Poole to design a more informal ensemble — “a short silk smoking jacket with silk collar and cuffs, lined silk; a pair of trousers to match” — for entertaining at his country home in Sandringham. This look would later come to be known as the tuxedo.

Poole was also Savile Row’s founding tailor. The firm’s bespoke suiting (the process requires three fittings and between 80 to 120 hours of hand stitching) attracted an international clientele, Czar Alexander II of Russia, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, Frank Lloyd Wright, among others. The merchant has served each monarch since Queen Victoria which has translated into Poole’s livery and other garments being worn at every coronation, jubilee and royal wedding since the merchant was issued the first warrant in 1869. Sartorial buffs can book a visit to the archive room where leather-bound books detailing every client since 1846 are stored.

Royal Perfumers Royal Manufacturers of Toilet Preparations 89 Jermyn Street, St. James’s London florislondon.com

Floris is an independent, family-run business, and operates from the Jermyn Street premises where it was founded in 1730. Originally a barber, but also trained in perfumery, Juan Famenias Floris introduced a zesty lime unisex fragrance in the late 18th century that became an instant hit, offering both an uplifting perfume and an olfactory tool to combat the stench of London’s sewage-strewn streets. Soon, classic floral scents — rose, lily of the valley, violet, stephanotis — were sold alongside grooming products, bespoke fragrances concocted for wealthy clients in the shop’s cellar. While most royal warrant holders are hush-hush about their customers, Floris has a small museum in the back of the shop with letters and archived receipts from various palaces and high-wattage clientele like Sir Winston Churchill (Special No. 127 and Stephanotis, both of which are still available), Ian Fleming (No. 89; Fleming also mentions Floris in the James Bond novels “Moonraker,” “Diamonds are Forever” and “Dr. No,” Marilyn Monroe (Rose Geranium) and Queen Elizabeth II. Floris received its first royal warrant from King George IV in 1820.

Royal Jewellers, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths 24 Albemarle Street London garrard.com

Established in 1735, The House of Garrard, which also functioned as silversmiths, received its first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales (a black ebony teapot handle) that same year. Queen Victoria appointed Garrard as Crown Jewelers in 1843 and the house has served every monarch since then, crafting five crowns (still worn for state occasions) which can be viewed at the Tower of London Jewel House, a dazzling exhibit of royal regalia, including the Crown Jewels, where tourists are transported through displays by way of a moving walkway).

On top of countless royal commissions, Garrard is known for exquisite tiaras, including the Cambridge Lover’s Knot, a headpiece of 19 diamond-encrusted arches framing large drop-shaped pearls that has been passed down from Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth II and lent to Princess Diana, and recently worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, in addition to the “Girls of Britain and Ireland tiara,” the spiky diadem with a band of round and lozenge-shaped diamonds frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth II and featured on British bank notes.

Today’s collections are understated, inspired by regal heritage but designed for contemporary life. You can visit the Queen Mary salon upstairs (by appointment) to view paintings of the royal crowns and try on a few imitation tiaras from the royal collection.

Amy Tara Koch, based in Chicago, writes about travel, style, food and parenting.

The post A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2I1NQFH via Online News

[newestbalance]

A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal

The British royal family has long been a source of public fascination, captivating mere mortals in Britain and beyond with a passion for all things Windsor.

Toss a wedding into the mix — specifically one so storybook as the coming nuptials of Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle, on May 19 — and the excitement swells: Where will Meghan shop in London? Where will Harry buy her jewelry? Is there a favorite perfume, chocolate or hat-maker (which raises the question: will Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, offer her new sister-in-law, an actress and former model, a crash course in headpiece etiquette?)

Paparazzi can only capture so much. Another way to gain insight into the predilections of the royal family is by examining the brands that hold the royal warrant — the top-of-the-line British purveyors that have earned the royal family’s seal of approval.

Royal warrants, which have been issued by the British royal family since the 15th century, are a mark of distinction for companies who have provided goods and services for at least five years to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip or Prince Charles. Suppliers range from silversmiths, champagne houses, perfumers and shoemakers to agricultural crop sprayers and biscuit brands. There are currently about 800 royal warrant holders throughout Britain.

Vetting is fierce. If approved (most applicants are not), the company snags the ultimate endorsement: the honor of displaying the royal coat of arms, along with the prestigious “by appointment” legend alongside the company logo, a practice that can be traced to the reign of Elizabeth I.

With the help of a royal warrant road map, tourists can effectively shop the royal family’s go-to brands, centuries-old companies that represent top quality, heritage and craftsmanship. A guide to the warrants offers something for everyone. The brands are not only for people who can afford to buy a $5,000 bespoke suit without batting an eye, but includes purveyors of cheese, tea, books and grooming products. The road map is an opportunity to scoop up meaningful souvenirs without spending a fortune.

Companies with the royal warrant are so well respected that at least two fashionable hotels, the Beaumont and Hotel Cafe Royal, are offering royal wedding packages that feature walking tours to some of these esteemed businesses.

While nobody can predict the shopping habits of Meghan and Harry, history suggests where they might shop — at purveyors holding the royal warrant.

Royal Grocers and Provisions Merchants Royal Tea Merchants and Grocers 181 Piccadilly London fortnumandmason.com

Founded in 1707 by Hugh Mason, a grocer, and William Fortnum, a royal footman to Queen Anne, Fortnum & Mason became a purveyor of tea and fine food credited with transforming Britain’s culinary landscape by introducing classics like the Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg encased in sausage meat and dusted with fried breadcrumbs. In the process, they popularized the luxury picnic hamper with ready-to-eat provisions and expanding the consumption of tea beyond the aristocracy.

In the 1920s, sports, cutting edge fashion, interior design and an expedition department (Fortnum’s provisioned the first expedition to Mount Everest) were added to the mix effectively creating a department store. Since its inception, the company has served 12 monarchs with continuous royal warrants. Today, it holds two warrants;Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.

Tea and the accompanying delicacies — biscuits, preserves, specialty honey, chocolate — are still the company’s foundation. Surprisingly, a classic hamper costs less than buying products separately. The Mini Huntsman Basket (a keepsake wicker hamper filled with specialties like Assam Superb tea, rose and violet cream chocolates, marmalade and Florentine biscuits) is an excellent souvenir. Or, you can splurge on a formal afternoon tea at the storied Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The company archivist, Dr. Andrea Tanner, leads a Delicious History tour every second Thursday at 11 a.m.

Royal Cheesemonger 93 Jermyn Street London paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

The pungent aroma of orange-skinned, washed-rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, anyone?) is the calling card of this shop, established in 1797. Its bounty of artisanal cheeses (mostly British) supplies grand hotels, top restaurants, discerning Londoners and, of course, the palace with top drawer dairy products. Queen Victoria granted Paxton & Whitfield its first warrant as cheesemonger to the Royal Household in 1850. The brand has held onto this honor with subsequent warrants issued by King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales. New this year is an Academy of Cheese, a daylong tutorial for cheese enthusiasts. Tip: Go hungry and ask the cheese stewards for samples of esoteric products like the Fleur de Maquis, a Corsican ewe cheese encased in rosemary and juniper berries.

Royal Hospitality Services 15 Beeston Place London thegoring.com

The Goring, which is steps from Buckingham Palace, was where Kate Middleton (and her entire family) chose to spend the night before her wedding to William. It also served as the preferred perch for royalty during the coronations of George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and is an unofficial luxury annex for visiting dignitaries.

In the age of minimalist, feels-like-anywhere design, as classic hotels are swallowed up by corporate behemoths, it’s inspiring to stay at a century-old property still owned and operated by the family that built it. The Goring revels in its Britishness. The Michelin-starred Dining Room (that, naturally, showcases British classics like Eggs Drumkilbo, an egg, prawn and lobster dish favored by the late Queen Mother) was designed by interiors heavyweight David Linley, nephew of Queen Elizabeth II. The grand rooms and lobby were recently refurbished by the country’s top artisans to inject a rich, undeniably feels-like-London charm; bespoke furnishings by the respected manufacturer Manborne, Fromental’s exquisite hand-gilded wallpaper, as well as colorful Gainsborough Silk wall coverings and curtains.

Instead of run-of-the-mill butlers, there are red-liveried footmen, a detail that could read as tacky if not for the splendid surroundings and royal family legacy.

In 2013, The Goring was the first and only hotel to be granted a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. If you can’t afford a stay, stop in for afternoon tea (in the lounge where the Queen has held her Christmas lunch) or a cocktail in the glamorous crimson-hued bar.

Royal Hairdressers 71 St James’s St. London truefittandhill.co.uk

William Francis Truefitt started out as court wig maker to King George III, before setting up shop in 1805 to offer luxury barbery services (first wig-making and styling — a time-consuming affair), and later, haircuts to London’s gentry. The pairing of pampering hot towel wet shave with the air of a gentlemen’s club (services always came with a shoe shine) attracted high society, namely Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, Beau Brummell, Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill and the royal family.

In 1875, hair “preparations” were introduced, leading the way to shaving accessories (the old school silvertip badger hair brush, razor and stand make a stylish souvenir), fragrance and skin products, all crafted in Britain. Today, the traditional shave and other services (still complete with complimentary shoe shine) are performed by barbers nattily attired in white shirt with monogrammed waistcoat and tie. The company has had nine consecutive royal warrants and currently holds one from Prince Philip.

Royal Booksellers 187 Piccadilly London hatchards.co.uk

What began in 1797 as a literary coffee house producing political pamphlets and publications spotlighting social issues of the day is London’s oldest bookseller. The shop’s welcome-to-my townhouse charm — elegant wood paneling, tucked-away fireplaces and a wooden spiral staircase — is underscored by staff-curated tables loaded with selections from well-known and more esoteric British scribes like P.G. Wodehouse, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie and Kingsley Amis. Check the schedule for book signings; high profile artists (recently, Julian Barnes) are often on the docket.

On top of buying a book (the shop is well-known for autographed hardbacks and first editions bound in leather with decorative William Morris endpapers), bibliophiles can sign on for Hatchards’s monthly subscription service which can be delivered anywhere in the world. Hatchards gained its first royal warrant in the 18th century from Queen Charlotte, wife of George II and continues to hold all three warrants from Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

Royal Purveyors of Chocolates 14 Princes Arcade London prestat.co.uk

This century-old chocolatier’s quirky heritage has amassed a cult following. The actor John Gielgud, Cher, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney have nipped in to sample pâte de fruit “fruity babes” and ginger hunks while the 19th- and early-20th-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt commissioned a specialty inverted violet crème in 1910, a Prestat classic known to have been the Queen Mother’s favorite flavor. One famous relationship was with the novelist Roald Dahl whose passion for Prestat truffles landed Prestat a starring role in his novel “My Uncle Oswald” and is said to have inspired the children’s book, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

Truffles (William and Kate served them at their wedding) are best-sellers. The boozy “Popping Pink Prosecco,” a tangy Yuzu sake and London gin (that dramatically fizzes in the mouth) are newer incarnations, while the classic Marc de Champagne (using the founder Antoine Dufour’s original recipe from 1895) is still in demand. The shop is closed for renovation and is scheduled to reopen May 14.

Royal Hatters 6 St. James’s Street London lockhatters.co.uk

Since 1676, Lock & Co. Hatters has created toppers for royals and aristocracy. The business designed the bicorne hat, the de rigueur military accouterment of the time, worn by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, invented the bowler, popularized the fedora and tweed newsboy, and have remained the go-to for top hats (Sir Winston Churchill wore one to his wedding in 1908) through the present day. It’s still a family-run business operating from the same four-story building since 1759.

In 1993, Lock introduced women’s high fashion millinery (statement head pieces are a popular trend in Britain; the Duchess of Cambridge frequently sports Lock’s designs to formal occasions) though classic designs remain best-sellers.

As in the past, customers’ heads are measured with a Victorian-looking contraption called a conformateur; purchases come in a hand-cut, paper-and-card hatbox, a souvenir in and of itself. The firm holds two royal warrants: Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Lock partnered with the jeweler Garrard & Co, also the holder of a royal warrant, to fit George IV’s crown to Queen Elizabeth II’s head for her 1953 coronation, relining the interior with ermine and purple velvet.

Royal Livery Tailors 15 Savile Row London henrypoole.com

A military tailoring outfit begun during the Napoleonic Wars evolved into the court tailor to Queen Victoria in 1869, producing the palace’s livery, or official uniform. After meeting and then outfitting Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie), Poole’s popularity soared.

This relationship produced modern black-tie dress. In 1865, tired of fussy white-tie evening dress with coattails, the fashionable Bertie asked Poole to design a more informal ensemble — “a short silk smoking jacket with silk collar and cuffs, lined silk; a pair of trousers to match” — for entertaining at his country home in Sandringham. This look would later come to be known as the tuxedo.

Poole was also Savile Row’s founding tailor. The firm’s bespoke suiting (the process requires three fittings and between 80 to 120 hours of hand stitching) attracted an international clientele, Czar Alexander II of Russia, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, Frank Lloyd Wright, among others. The merchant has served each monarch since Queen Victoria which has translated into Poole’s livery and other garments being worn at every coronation, jubilee and royal wedding since the merchant was issued the first warrant in 1869. Sartorial buffs can book a visit to the archive room where leather-bound books detailing every client since 1846 are stored.

Royal Perfumers Royal Manufacturers of Toilet Preparations 89 Jermyn Street, St. James’s London florislondon.com

Floris is an independent, family-run business, and operates from the Jermyn Street premises where it was founded in 1730. Originally a barber, but also trained in perfumery, Juan Famenias Floris introduced a zesty lime unisex fragrance in the late 18th century that became an instant hit, offering both an uplifting perfume and an olfactory tool to combat the stench of London’s sewage-strewn streets. Soon, classic floral scents — rose, lily of the valley, violet, stephanotis — were sold alongside grooming products, bespoke fragrances concocted for wealthy clients in the shop’s cellar. While most royal warrant holders are hush-hush about their customers, Floris has a small museum in the back of the shop with letters and archived receipts from various palaces and high-wattage clientele like Sir Winston Churchill (Special No. 127 and Stephanotis, both of which are still available), Ian Fleming (No. 89; Fleming also mentions Floris in the James Bond novels “Moonraker,” “Diamonds are Forever” and “Dr. No,” Marilyn Monroe (Rose Geranium) and Queen Elizabeth II. Floris received its first royal warrant from King George IV in 1820.

Royal Jewellers, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths 24 Albemarle Street London garrard.com

Established in 1735, The House of Garrard, which also functioned as silversmiths, received its first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales (a black ebony teapot handle) that same year. Queen Victoria appointed Garrard as Crown Jewelers in 1843 and the house has served every monarch since then, crafting five crowns (still worn for state occasions) which can be viewed at the Tower of London Jewel House, a dazzling exhibit of royal regalia, including the Crown Jewels, where tourists are transported through displays by way of a moving walkway).

On top of countless royal commissions, Garrard is known for exquisite tiaras, including the Cambridge Lover’s Knot, a headpiece of 19 diamond-encrusted arches framing large drop-shaped pearls that has been passed down from Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth II and lent to Princess Diana, and recently worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, in addition to the “Girls of Britain and Ireland tiara,” the spiky diadem with a band of round and lozenge-shaped diamonds frequently worn by Queen Elizabeth II and featured on British bank notes.

Today’s collections are understated, inspired by regal heritage but designed for contemporary life. You can visit the Queen Mary salon upstairs (by appointment) to view paintings of the royal crowns and try on a few imitation tiaras from the royal collection.

Amy Tara Koch, based in Chicago, writes about travel, style, food and parenting.

The post A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal appeared first on World The News.

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This story is about the very foundation of the country of Canada.  We visited an actual fur trading post with buildings dating from the 19th century.  Did you know that this historic trading post was in use until 1951!!!

You can step back in time and see the largest collection of heritage wooden buildings, restored and restocked to what it used to looked like.  But the most important part was listening to the stories of the interpreters in period costume who gave us a glimpse of what it was to like to live then.  It was not an easy life.  Imagine living here at -30°C (-22°F) or colder with no central heating, no insulation and no running hot water!

Northern BC

Northern BC is the top 1/3 of the province of British Columbia (BC).  Only 256,977 people live in area 3% bigger than France and 34% bigger than California!!  And that’s just 1/3 of the province of BC.

Itinerary Map

The Mt Robson to Furs and Jade Map was created to show the sigh and accommodation that comprise this part of our trip.  The itinerary has been subdivided into segments of one day-drives including sightseeing.

Where to Stay

Mt Robson Provincial Park

Hotels are not convenient to Mt Robson PP  There are several located in Valemount 37 km south but last summer they were over-priced in the $180 to $225 range.  The next closest town is McBride 80 km to the north with more reasonable units available starting at $95.

There are also no supermarkets, cafés, and restaurants in the vicinity of Mt Robson Provincial Park (PP).  We always bring a sturdy crate with non-perishable food for these reasons.

Robson Meadows Campground (tent site $28) is open circa May 18 to Sept 16.  It is right across Hwy 16 from the visitor centre so it a very good location with those glorious views of Mt Robson.  It is not convenient for Jasper NP but we used it as our jumping off point for Northern British Columbia (BC).  Another campground is found at Lucerne 51 km further east, and two more PP campgrounds to the west of Mt Robson.

Fort St James National Historic Site

Since we arrived late at the Fort St James NHS, we wanted to continue the tour the next day.  Fort St James is also an FN town with three hotels.  We do not know how busy it gets as we easily got a room at the last minute at 17:00 hrs.  We stayed at The View hotel ($138) right behind the site.  In addition to local camping and hotels, one can also stay in the town of Vanderhoof, which has lots of hotels and restaurants since it is on the Yellowhead Hwy.  But you would have to commute 61 km (41 mins.) north on Hwy 27.

Where to Go

We just woke up to another glorious sunny day with clear views of Mt Robson shown above.

The scenery heading west was not as dramatic so we stopped at the end of the PP to have a look at the good views behind us.  After that we saw only wide open spaces (farmland).  Did we mention that hardly anyone lives up in Northern BC?

McBride

The Beanery © 2017

The Beanery © 2017

Needless to say, one has to stop in little villages to get one’s morning cup of coffee.  So our first stop was McBride, population 616.  The old train station was converted into a cosy coffee shop, The Beanery, decorated with old-fashioned memorabilia.  It felt like dropping into someone’s house with the owner preparing dishes for lunch right next to the “living room” area.  One local regular client sat on the sofa and talked with us.

Prince George

Prince George is a city of 73,000 people.  Here is where we stocked up on food – you have a wide choice of stores.  But Costco and Real Canadian Superstore are right along the Yellowhead Hwy 16 on the south side of town past the Cariboo Hwy 97 exit.  There are no large towns heading north to Whitehorse (Yukon) so you need to resupply here.

Fort St. James National Historic Site

In the 19th century, this was the “neighbourhood” trading post.  Imagine you had to paddle hundreds of kilometres to get to it.  Fort St James (FSJ) was founded in 1806 by explorer Simon Fraser and remained in use until 1951!!  FSJ was the HQ for New Caledonia,  the Latin name for Scotland and original English name for British Columbia.

From here the furs could be transported down the “fur highway” (my nickname) from Prince George to Vancouver.  It is called the Fraser River in his honour.  Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver is also named after the famous fur trader-explorer.

Run by Parks Canada, FSJ is open year-round but costumed interpreters only appear between 1st June to mid-Sept.  It is the interpreters that make this site come alive.

Hudson’s Bay Company

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is the oldest North American company and it still exists!  Today, HBC is an international retail business consisting of The Bay, Galeria Kaufhof, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The idea behind HBC was to sail ships from UK to the Hudson’s Bay thus bypassing New France (Québec) controlled by France.

But in 1670 HBC was more than a major fur trade company.  It actually controlled and administered the 3.9 million sq km of Rupert’s Land, 40% of the land area of Canada!  That is the size of Western Europe!  UK did not declare it a colony because it could not be bothered ruling it!

The power struggles of the North American fur trade in the late 18th century is the subject of Netflix’s latest program, Frontier.  Apparently they were not as polite as we are today.  But then again this was not yet Canada.

Here is an interesting connection.  William Keswick and his grandson Sir William Johnstone Keswick served at HBC.  The Keswick family are the Scottish business dynasty that controls the Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson now worth USD 42 billion!  Tai-Pan is an excellent novel by James Clavell about European traders who move into Hong Kong in 1842 following the end of the First Opium War.  The Noble House of this novel is based on Jardine Matheson.

Employees

The “Factor” was the chief business agent and manager of the factory (aka trading post).  Both words are derived from Latin factoria.  In lieu of a salary, the Factor had 2 shares of the HBC.  The other staff were paid: clerks made < £100 per year.  Guides, tradesmen and boatmen made < £45/year.  The Canadian Pound (£), worth $4, was used until 1858 when Canada converted to decimal currency, the dollar.  Typical wages in 1870 for the skilled trades in Ontario were $1.30 to $2.30 per day.

There was an interesting relationship between HBC and the First Nation (FN) people.  First of all, Europeans only filled the top levels of HBC at the trading post.  Second, they came as single men so most of them intermarried with local FN women.  The big learning point is…

Did you know that the majority of HBC employees were First Nation or Metis? (mixed marriage).  Because of their roles as liaison and hunters, the FN had more influence during the fur trade era than after it ended.

“Probably the root of the misunderstandings was that, while the Carrier [the local FN people] saw trade as primarily a social act, the fur trade companies saw it, first and foremost, as a business transaction.”

First Nations

Without the aboriginal peoples, the Europeans would not have survived their first winter in Canada.  First Nation (FN) inventions not only enabled Europeans to live in Canada but have since been adopted throughout the world.  The following are just a few examples:

Clothing: Inuit parkas (insulated jackets), Inuit snow goggles, fur coats, moccasins, mukluks, snow shoes, and camouflage (for both hunting and warfare).

Medicines: foxglove (genus Digitalis) to treat heart disease and black willow bark as a painkiller, which after ingestion turns into salicylic acid, the main ingredient of aspirin.

Food:  Native Americans have contributed many staples of our modern diet:  beans, chocolate and cocoa, corn and popcorn, cranberries,  maple syrup and sugar, potato, pumpkin, peanuts, sunflower, tomato, vanilla, and yam.

Transportation: Birch bark canoes and kayaks were FN inventions. Yesterday’s transportation is today’s sports.  Dug out canoes can be found around the world and were used to move supplies and furs.

The fur trade had a great impact upon Indigenous peoples. As a result of their involvement in the fur trade, many abandoned their traditional lifestyles and economy, and became reliant on European manufactured goods and foodstuffs for survival.

The arrival of Europeans also introduced diseases, such as smallpox, that devastated the aboriginal population.  Less than 4% of Canada are FN people.  But 16.6% of the indigenous population live in British Columbia.

Fur Warehouse (1888-89)

Exterior

How do you construct buildings in the wilderness without trained tradesmen and modern materials?  How do you construct buildings quickly and easily?  Well, there are lots of trees.  So they came up with “post and sliding piece” construction.  Two sets of double posts provide a bay where whole logs are piled – it’s easy to replace rotten logs, expand a building, or even relocate it!

Essentially, it’s a log house but the timbers are squared.  All this squaring had to be done by hand.

Caulking

There was no insulation but they had to keep wind and water out.  The horizontal spaces or joints between logs are “chinked” with moss, clay, and/or dried animal dung and “daubed” with  a mixture of clay and lime.  Chinking and daubing completed the exterior walls of the log pen by sealing them against driving wind, rain and snow as well as blocking the entry of vermin.

Did you know that the caulking gun was invented by a Canadian in 1894: it was adapted from a cake decorator!!!

Interior

When we were there,  some German traders were exploring the stacks of supplies including sacks of sugar and oatmeal, crates of coffee and traps, and boxes of soap and yeast.

          Furs were hanging from the rafters waiting for transport to Victoria.  Beaver wasn’t the only fur.  The most important furs in order of exports were beaver, marten, otter, mink, fox, bear, deer…   You get a chance to touch the furs.   Some are amazingly soft.

Beaver Felt Hats (1550-1860)

Did you know that the beaver is North America’s largest rodent?  But why was the beaver the most desirable fur?  Its’ amphibious body is covered with a soft felt-like under fur that is one inch thick.  It made the top hats water repellant.  After all, the beaver is a water rat.

Fashion was the primary cause of fur demand and business.  Who knew that the beaver hat fashion was inspired by Swedish soldiers during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48)?

Tricorne and top hats were used by the military, aristocrats and eventually by other social classes.  The beaver had been hunted to extinction in Europe.  The best quality hats were made from beaver as it has the most luxurious felt.  HBC promoted itself in the beginning by providing free hats (£34) to important men.

So what did FN and traders buy?  On the barrel outside we see two products you can still buy today!  Pear’s transparent soap started in London 1807 and Colman’s Mustard founded in 1814.

Foods shipped into the posts included salt pork, wheat flour, corn, cheese, chocolate, condiments, rum and high wine.

Boardwalks are raised wood platforms to keep feet out of puddles and horse poop. Moving clockwise we pass the Fish House where they dried salmon to keep for future meals.  The Fish House is on stilts to prevent entry by animals. Turning right we get to…

Men’s House (1884)

This log building served as a company employees house,  and a guest house.  As a rule, windows were covered with parchment (rawhide).  Glass at inland settlements was a luxury and must have been added later.

Here we have a trader from Germany trying out the best whisky.  He’s relaxing in an early model of the lazy boy recliner with the best bear fur seat and an elevated foot rest.

Do you think you could live here?  Let’s get rustic!  No plumbing.  No running water.  Feed the stove logs to keep warm.  Notice the newspapers on the wall.  These were used to keep out drafts

The kerosene (aka paraffin) distillation method was invented by Canadian geologist Dr. Abraham Gesner in 1846.  Even if you have never had a kerosene lamp, most of you have used kerosene.  It’s also called jet fuel.

Look for the alphabet along the wall over the bed covered in a HBC blanket!  This log building once served as a school.

Men back then wouldn’t bathe often.  In order to keep warm they wore many layers. Instead of taking their long johns off when they started to wear, they would put another pair on top. By the end of winter they would have three or more pairs that they had yet to take off all season. Summertime would arrive and then came time for the removal process. Their body hair would grown through the fabric which mean taking them off was a painful process.  One interpreter told us that sometimes the underwear fused to their skin!!!

Lead

Canned fruit and vegetables were imported to the Great North.  The tin can was invented in London 1810.  Early cans were sealed with a tin-lead alloy, which could lead to lead poisoning.  HBC used boats to bring trade goods to Canada and return with furs via Hudson’s Bay to Europe.

Here is a connection to the fur trade.  In 1845 there was an expedition to discover the remainder of the Northwest Passage through the Arctic to Asia.  Both of Sir John Franklin’s ships were recently found by Canada.  Autopsies of the Sir John Franklin Expedition showed that crew members suffered from severe lead poisoning, caused by eating from lead-soldered tin cans and drinking water from lead water pipes!

Medicine

Notice the box marked “Perry Davis’ Vegetable Pain Killer”.  When we watch western movies we think of con men selling fake products.  However, this drug actually worked!  Patented in 1845, it was the first drug to be nationally advertised selling for $1 per bottle

It was distributed around the world by Christian missionaries who had no idea of its ingredients.  Since “Perry Davis Pain Killer” was a registered brand name, there was no legal requirement to make its ingredients public on the bottle.   The pian killer was indeed entirely natural and it worked because it was made primarily from alcohol and opiates.

Trade Store (1884)

This was the first The Bay department store!  The fur trade was the primary reason for Europeans to interact with the aboriginal population.  The Trade Store was also the first post office in the region.

This is a reconstructed building, as the original burnt down in 1919.  The Dakelh (Carrier) people quickly discovered they could get most of the things they wanted from the trade store without ever bringing in furs.  This was because the traders were in such desperate need of salmon and traded for them from the Dakelh in huge quantities. To encourage the trapping and trading of furs, the Company eventually adopted a policy to accept only furs in trade for the most valued store items, such as blankets or metal pots.

The Made Beaver

The Hudson’s Bay Company trade with the First Nations was carried out through bartering.  The HBC standardized the unit of account as the Made Beaver (MB), or one high quality male beaver skin, to ensure consistent pricing for pelts throughout Rupert’s Land.  A trapper might make 300 MB per season.

However, the value of products did vary. In 1795, a pistol could be purchased for 4 made beaver pelts (MB); a rifle for 10-12 MB. So what did 1 MB buy? German chocolate, kettle, gallon brandy, shoes, 2 shirts, 2 lbs sugar, 1 trousers,…  Today 1 MB = $31.

By 1700, the famous and colourful striped HBC blankets accounted for more than 60% of the trade.  They cost 1 to 3 MB depending on size and quality. The 100% wool blankets are still sold today for $70.

The Buck

Americans trace the term buck meaning deer skins back to 1748, about 44 years before the first U.S. dollar was minted.  Whoa, not so fast: that was not the original buck.  The HBC struck a coin in the 17th century that was equal to the value of one buck-toothed male beaver pelt – it was known as a “buck”.  The beaver became the national symbol of HBC and later Canada.  It is still found on the tail’s side of the Canadian nickel (five cent coin).

Factor’s House (1884)

The Chief Factor’s house underwent many changes over the years but has been restored to the period when Chief Factor A.C. Murray and his family occupied the house (1886).

By looking at the furniture in the living room and the fancy dinner ware in the dining room, you can see that the factor lived in relative luxury compared to everyone else.  You too can spend the night in the Murray House Bed and Breakfast and enjoy the solitude without any tourists once the fort closes for the day.

Sir James Douglas

Sir James Douglas was born in Demerara, Guyana.  Yes, that is the town where we get the name for one of our sugar varieties.  After schooling in Scotland, he worked for the Northwest Company in the fur trade.  The NWC was based in Montreal, which became the financial capital of Canada thanks to the fur trade.  In fact, many of Canada’s cities started off in the fur trade – such as Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.  Think of the fur trade as the original gold rush in North America. 

Early in his career, Douglas served as a fur trade clerk at Fort St. James.  His wife was Métis (part native).  Douglas became chief factor of HBC when the NWC merged with HBC in 1821.  He would have sat on the chair in this photo of the factor’s office.

He is best remembered for a famous confrontation he had there with the Dakelh Chief Kw’eh in 1828.  After that he was moved south.

In 1843 he founded Fort Victoria, which is still the capital of British Columbia (BC).  In 1851, James Douglas had to resign from HBC as he was appointed governor of the colony of Vancouver Island.

The population of New Caledonia (the BC mainland) was largely American and other foreigners.  When gold was discovered in the Fraser Valley  (1858), Douglas predicted 10,000s of American prospectors could tilt the future BC to become part of the US.  The first wave was 25,000 people!

Douglas asserted British sovereignty over the “mainland” – technically, it wasn’t under his jurisdiction as it wasn’t part of Vancouver Island.  He asserted authority over American miners and undermined American territorial ambitions.

Shortly thereafter, the UK Colonial Office formally ratified Douglas’ proclamation of sovereignty and established a new colony encompassing the mainland.  But there was already a French territory in the South Pacific called New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie actually), so Queen Victoria named the new colony British Columbia.  Douglas was appointed the first governor of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858.

The area of British Columbia (944,735 sq km) is 7% bigger than France and UK combined, 21% larger than Turkey, and 35% bigger than Texas!

Future of Canada

Douglas was governor of BC from 1858 to 1864 and is often called the Father of BC.  All land was assigned to the government.  He relied on his gold commissioners to lay out reserves for the indigenous peoples, record mining and land claims, and arbitrate mining disputes.

Douglas built a wagon road 640 km long following the Fraser to distant Cariboo, where gold nuggets had been found (see Cariboo Road).  It was extended in 1865 to Barkerville, a new gold rush town, which will be the subject of a later post as it is a must-see.

In 1869, HBC rejected an American government offer of CA $10,000,000 to buy Rupert’s Land.  That would have been quite a steal considering the $7 million spent to buy much smaller Alaska.  Instead, the British pressured HBC to sell it to Canada for $1.5 million.  That was quite a deal, except HBC never paid for it in the first place!!  This land became the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the northern parts of Ontario and Quebec.   Manitoba became the fifth province to join  Confederation in 1870.

British Columbia joined Confederation on 20 July 1871, becoming Canada’s sixth province.  This was spurred on by the gold rushes and the promise of a transcontinental railway link.  The railway was not completed until 1883.  You can see where the Canadian Pacific Railway used advanced engineering to build the Spiral Tunnel to descend west out of the Rocky Mountains.  The ends of the tunnels are visible from two viewpoints in Yoho NP (which is in BC).  On our return trip east we will post about magnificent Yoho NP, one of our favourite parks in the Rockies. 

Visit an actual fur trade post with the largest collection of wooden buildings from the 19th century! #travel #amazing #Canada #nature #roadtrip #wildlife #photography #must-see #sights #exploreBC @HelloBC This story is about the very foundation of the country of Canada.  We visited an actual fur trading post with buildings dating from the 19th century. 

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The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Tuesday 8th August 2017

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Glorious morning, the moon has just dropped below the horizon and left the planetary bodies to fight it out among themselves… and Fellow Scot.. it looks amazing! Venus, Jupiter and Saturn dominate the sky clearly visible with the naked eye.. Ah! The joys of living under a cloud free sky.. but no matter the stars, Bella has needs and off we go, Coffee turned on before we left.. must get things in order.. Up the hill again this morning.. silence as we walk, only the sound of our feet disturb the silence of the night, and the occasional sniff from Bella as a scent catches her attention…climb completed, I stand and look over the town, the spire of the church dominating this catholic region,.. I turn and look towards Gibraltar, named after a Moorish General Umayyad general Tariq ibn-Ziyad who led the initial incursion into Iberia in advance of the main Umayyad force in 711 under the command of Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I… All the things we associate with southern Spain actually have their heritage in Arabic design, quite noticeable when one travels to Morocco only 20 Kilometers across the Straights of Gibraltar… Bella pulls, it’s time to go home…  

SCOTLAND IS A ‘SPACE HUB’ FOR EUROPE…. Scotland’s growing reputation as a hub for micro-satellite manufacturing has been boosted as a Glasgow firm prepares to launch what it claims is the “world’s cheapest, lightest and smallest satellite”. Tom Walkinshaw, founder of Alba Orbital, has created Unicorn-1 - a PocketCube class gadget which weighs just half a kilo and is around the size of a can of Cola. The Gorbals-based firm said the device is capable of sending signals across 360,000km of space and will be commercially launched next year. “If you can send it up and monitor it for a year, you have a very convincing pitch that your technology can work in space,” he told The National. “There are no direct competitors for what we are doing. We want to build more satellites than any other company because ours are very small and prime for mass production.” Alba Orbital was founded in 2013 and employs 11 people, initially relying on crowdfunding for investment. It has since won awards from Scottish Enterprise and the European Space Agency. Unicorn-1 will launch from a US spaceport but Wilkinson believes its “feasible” a Scottish launch pad could be built in the future. Alba Orbital is just one of several space firms based in Glasgow.

HIGHLAND HOSPICE CHARITY SCAMMED BY AROUND £500,000…. ONE of the biggest charities in the Highlands has fallen victim to a high-value ‘vishing and spoofing’ fraud in the north of Scotland. A mid-six figure sum of money was fraudulently removed from the charity. In total the thieves defrauded a number of businesses of almost £2.5million between 19-30 July. Some of the money has since been recovered and work is ongoing to try and recover as much of the funds as possible. The total number of Highland cases currently reported is in single figures. Police Scotland is aware of other attempts against hospices of this nature recently but it has not been established if these are linked to the Highland Hospice case. Highland Hospice chairman Forbes Duthie said: “Staff at the Hospice have been shocked and devastated by this despicable and sophisticated cyber crime.

ROGER FENTON'S CRIMEA IMAGES TO GO ON SHOW IN EDINBURGH…. Images which brought the reality of war into public view for the first time are to go on display in Edinburgh. Roger Fenton set sail for the Crimea in 1855 with 36 chests full of cameras, glass plates and a darkroom converted from a wine merchant's van. He was the first to document conflict in such a substantial way. Shadows Of War: Roger Fenton's Photographs Of The Crimea, 1855, will open at the Queen's Gallery in the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Friday. It also includes contributions to the guide by Prince Harry, photojournalist Sir Don McCullin and curator Sophie Gordon. Prince Harry says in the guide: "There has always been a fascination about people returning from war, what they've been through and what they've seen. "The psychological impact of being on the battlefield is something that servicemen and women have had to deal with, but have often found it hard to talk about. "As a result of photographers like Roger Fenton and those who have followed him, the public have gained a better appreciation of these experiences and, consequently, over the years, this fascination has turned to appreciation and respect." One of the leading photographers of the 19th Century, Fenton was commissioned by art dealer and publisher Thomas Agnew & Sons to photograph the officers and other people of interest during the Crimean conflict. Research for the exhibition has revealed that Fenton's mission was mainly intended as source material for artist Thomas J Barker, who had been commissioned to produce an oil painting of senior officers. Read More: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LandCalledScotland/

'EXCITING DISCOVERY' IN COMMON COLD CURE SEARCH…. Scientists believe they may have made a breakthrough in the search for a cure for the common cold. Researchers say treatments could be developed based on antimicrobial peptides that occur naturally in the immune systems of humans and animals. The Edinburgh Napier University team observed how they increase the body's natural response to rhinovirus infection. Rhinovirus is the main virus responsible for the common cold. The team synthesised antimicrobial peptides found in pigs and sheep, and assessed their impact on lung cells infected with rhinovirus. The peptides successfully attacked the virus, and could provide clues for developing novel treatments based on peptides found in nature. Dr Peter Barlow, associate professor of immunology and infection at the university, said: "This is an exciting discovery and our next steps will be to modify the peptide to make it even better at killing this virus. "This research is still in the early stages, but we will ultimately be looking to develop drug treatments that have the potential to cure the common cold." An effective treatment for the cold could help sufferers of more serious lung conditions, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for whom viral infections can pose a serious health risk. Dr Barlow added: "There is no cure and no vaccine so the development of effective therapies for human rhinovirus, the main causal agent of the common cold and one of the most common causes of viral respiratory tract infections, is an urgent requirement. "This study represents a major step towards finding a treatment." Earlier research by Dr Barlow had underlined the potential of antimicrobial peptides in tackling the influenza A virus. The latest study, was funded by the Chief Scientist Office and medical research charity Tenovus Scotland.

LANGHOLM COMMON RIDING…. Langholm was the latest south of Scotland town to stage its annual summer celebrations on Friday. Horses and riders took part in the common riding around the boundaries of the Dumfries and Galloway town. Cornet Stuart Murray was assisted by his right and left-hand men Simon Tweddle and Jamie Fletcher throughout proceedings.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Cornet Stuart Murray leading the proceedings in the town known as the Muckle Toon…

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Tuesday 8th August 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus