Historic Harrow and Harrow School - Churchill and Byron were here

London and Harrow are full of memories.

You can see Shakespeare's bust outside the Guildhall, which has a free art Gallery, near Bank station.

Angela Lansbury

My travel blog reached 3666 readers yesterday. Mrs Beeton was in Hatch End and a plque to her is outside Lattakia restaurant. 513 Uxbridge Road.

W.S. Gilbert (b. 1836, lived and died at Grim’s Dyke, Harrow 1890-1911), now a hotel, with good food.

William Heath Robinson (1872, lived in Pinner 1908-1918), and a museum featuring his work is in Pinner Park opposite Pinner station.

Ballantyne, Scottish author of The Coral Island and many children's books lived in Pinner, but retired to Rome for his health and died and was buried there.

Leefe Robinson (1895, d. Stanmore 1918), is comemorated in the Leefe Robinson pub, opposite the cemetery extension where he is buried.

The Mayor of Harrow lays a wreath on his grave, which is photographed in local newspapers, on remembrance day, November 11th.

Terence “Jet” Harris (b. Kingsbury 1939),

Jane Asher (b. Willesden 1946), and

Jane March (b. Edgware 1973).

Up near Harrow school are heritage plaques to writers.

Anne Frank's father lived in Edgware, after WW2, with his second wife and stepdaughter who wrote a book.

Writers, poets, and philosophers

• George Barlow (1847–1913–4), English poet^[485]
• Edward William Barnard (1791–1828), English poet^[486]
• Bernard Bosanquet (1848–1923), philosopher
• Beriah Botfield (1807–1863), bibliographer and Conservative MP for Ludlow (1840–1847; 1857–1863)^[152]
• Harry Bucknall (1965–), British travel writer
• Francis Crawford Burkitt (1864–1935), theologian and scholar^[487]
• Arthur Hugh Montagu Butler (1873–1943), House of Lords Librarian (1914–1922)^[175]
• George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824), poet, commonly known as Lord Byron^[488]
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• Charles Stuart Calverley (1831–1884), poet
• Francis Chenevix Trench (1805–1886), author and divine
• Wilfred Rowland Childe (1890–1952), poet
• Charles Travis Clay (1885–1978), House of Lords Librarian (1922–1956)^[323]
• Sir Jock Colville (1915–1987), Diarist at 10 Downing Street
• William John Courthope (1842–1917), English writer and historian of poetry^[489]
• Richard Curtis (1956–), scriptwriter & film director
• Alain de Botton (1969–), author
• John Dennis (1658–1734), English dramatist^[490]
• George Brisbane Scott Douglas (1856–1935), Scottish poet and writer^[491]
• Henry Drury (1778–1841), English classical scholar and friend of Lord Byron^[492]
• Julian Fane (1927–2009), author^[493]
• Michael Farr (1953–), British expert on The Adventures of Tintin and its creator Hergé
• Alastair Fothergill (1960–), British producer
• Walter Frith (1856–1941), novelist^[494]
• John Galsworthy (1867–1933), dramatist and Nobel Prize–winning novelist

• William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne (1868–1942), president of the Irish Literary Society who was disinherited due to his Irish nationalist leanings
• Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846), English poet of the Clapham Sect^[495]
• John Strickland Goodall (1908–1996), British author and watercolour painter known for his Boston Globe–Horn Book Award-winning The Adventures of Paddy Pork
• Augustus Hare (1834–1903), author^[496]
• Tony Harman (1912–1999), English farmer and author (Seventy Summers)^[497]
• L. P. Hartley (1895–1972), author

• William Harness (1790–1869), English cleric and man of letters^[498]
• Carey Harrison (1944–), English novelist and dramatist
• Walter Headlam (1866–1908), poet and classical scholar^[499]
• Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943), English polymath and translator of the works of Omar Khayyam^[178]
• Theodore Hook (1788–1841), author
• Adam Jacot de Boinod (1960–), British author known for his works about unusual words and his work in the first series of QI^[500]
• Harold H. Joachim (1868–1938), British philosopher^[501]
• Ion Keith-Falconer (1856–1887), Scottish Arabic language scholar^[502]
• Hugh Kingsmill (1899–1949), British writer of science/crime fiction^[503]
• Rowley Lascelles (1771–1841), archivist^[504]
• Walter Leaf (1852–1927), classical scholar^[505]
• Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh (1791–1850), British landowner and poet^[506]
• Thomas Leveritt (1976–), English author and artist
• Sir Arnold Lunn (1888–1974), skiing pioneer & writer
• Richard Warburton Lytton (1745–1810), English bibliophile and landowner
• Benjamin Heath Malkin (1769–1842), British writer known for his connection to William Blake^[507]
• Francis Albert Marshall (1840–1889), British playwright^[508]
• Ronald Brunlees McKerrow (1872–1940), bibliographer^[509]
• Herman Charles Merivale (1839–1906), dramatist and poet
• E. H. W. Meyerstein (1889–1952), poet and writer
• George Mills (1896–1972), British children's author^[510]
• Charles Henry Monro (1835–1908), English author^[511]
• Sir John Mortimer (1923–2009), dramatist and author
• Thomas Mortimer (1730–1810), English writer on economics
• J. B. Morton (1893–1979), English writer under the Beachcomber pen name
• Nathaniel Newnham-Davis (1854–1917), British author on food and wine^[512]
• Roden Noel (1834–1894), English poet
• Marco Pallis (1895–1989), Greek-British author on Tibetan Buddhism
• William Henley Pearson-Jervis (1813–1883), English cleric and ecclesiastical historian of France^[513]
• Major-General Thomas Pilcher (1858–1928), British Army officer removed from command in disgrace during the Battle of the Somme^[514]
• Henry Francis Pelham (1846–1907), scholar^[515]
• John Thomas Perceval (1803–1876), writer and campaigner
• Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–1936), Islamic and Middle-Eastern scholar
• Bryan Procter alias "Barry Cornwall" (1787–1874), English poet and Commissioner in Lunacy^[516]
• Robert Hebert Quick (1831–1891), English educator and leader in Whig history^[517]
• Hastings Rashdall (1858–1924), English philosopher and pioneer of ideal utilitarianism^[49]
• Sir Terence Rattigan (1911–1977), dramatist

• Ian Scott-Kilvert (1917–1989), British editor and translator
• Hugh Sebag-Montefiore (1955–), British writer
• William Seward (1747–1799), anecdotist
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan MP (1751–1816), Irish playwright (The Rivals, The School for Scandal, The Duenna, and A Trip to Scarborough) and politician^[518]
• Walter Sichel (1855–1933), English biographer and lawyer^[519]
• William Sotheby (1757–1833), English poet and translator^[520]
• William Robert Spencer (1769–1834), English poet from the Spencer family^[521]
• Percy Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford (1825–1869), British Nobleman & man of letters
• John Addington Symonds (1840–1893), poet and literary critic^[522]
• Yorick Smythies (1917–1980), philosopher^[523]
• R. C. Trevelyan (1872–1951), poet^[524]
• Anthony Trollope (1815–1882), English Victorian era novelist

• Thomas Adolphus Trollope (1810–1892), English writer who lived in Italy^[525] (Chronicles of Barsetshire)^[526]
• Horace Annesley Vachell (1861–1955), English writer^[527]
• Sir Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Baronet (1788–1846), Anglo-Irish poet and landowner^[528]
• Peter Williams (1914–1995), author, editor and critic of ballet
• Robert Aris Willmott (1809–1863), English cleric and author^[285]
• Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer, 1885–1960), novelist

Useful Websites include

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-about-mr-blackwell-of-crosse-and.html?fbclid=IwAR0YSA2gSOcC95j94hu__6nFvq9LQwViSh5n56haGlvjaBY_uwzfvCMDrgs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Old_Harrovians

https://harrowonline.org/2017/11/14/our-haven-of-heritage-mapping-harrows-blue-plaques/

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/propose-a-plaque/

https://www.harrowheritagetrust.org.uk/plaques

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.

El Alamein museum and cemetery - more to this story - Churchill's quotation

 

El Alamein in Egypt

Curiosity Satisfied

El Alamein like so many battlefields is a mixture of facts, sadness and happiness. The facts are how the place operated before during and after battles. Facts - The big things such as the tanks. The small things such as the badges.  

Emotional Experience

Sadness - people who died. Especially in tragic circumstances. Or if they were your family members. 

Happiness, satisfaction, the safety precautions, the ingenuity, that a victory brought an end to the conflict, in that place, for the living, and the dead, on both sides. 

Sometimes, reconciliation,  between descendants on both sides, or veterans - especially between those who really did not want to be there! Some did not want to kill, some did not want to be killed, some did not understand what they were fighting for, some were homesick.

Sources Of Stories And Quotations

Wikipedia is a wonderful source, a wonderful resource. It started out using and combining the out of date Encyclopedias such as Brittanica, and the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Jewish Encyclopaedia, for all the historical stuff, and early science and culture, gradually adding updates from experts and individuals.

 Photo sources

Plus the photos. Now Flickr is just one source of photos. More photos are added directly to Wikipedia by authorities and by members of the public. 

El Alamein's Pivotal Part in WW2

My Interest

 

Wikipedia gave me a succinct guide to El Alamein, updated from when I last looked, with links to all sorts of outside sources. My late mother's first husband was killed at El Alamein which is what sparked my interest in a place I have not yet visited. However, I have visited many WWI and WW2 sites in Europe and the USA's civil war sites. Stalin said, one death is a tragedy, many is a statistic. Often one family member's involvement can inspire a lifelong fascination with everything to do with the whole of WWI, WW2 and wars any time and everywhere. As if somehow, some clue as to how those involved lived and died, how others traced ancestors, it all adds up. We cannot turn back the clock. But we can turn on the clock and create memorials and solve puzzles and mysteries. The past is a jigsaw. Sometimes one piece in the jigsaw is a date, death certificate, or photo, which sends you on a quest to find more pieces to create the full picture. 

The two exciting revelations on El Alamein - it was a turning point in the tide of WW2.

Churchill said, 'Before El Alamein, we never had a victory. After El Alamein, we never had a loss.'

Listen to the language. What makes it so memorable. Firstly the positive message. Secondly the actual language. Contrast, 'before, after'. Contrast, 'victory, loss'. Repetition, 'El Alamein, we never had'. 

For lovers of quotations, another famous quotation which I have often heard at meetings of Toastmasters International speakers' training clubs, and seen on the web is.

This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.

We use this quotation to inspire ourselves and others to continue on with any venture. But churchill was referring to one particular incident. The battle of El Alamein.

After  the allied  

Burns, Bolivar, Brunel, Beau Brummel, Chaplin, Rodin and Hands: Hand-y List of Sculptures To See Around The World

Sometimes the whole personality is what grabs me.

'For the sake of Auld lang syne,' is sung the world over.r the world, you can see statues of Robbie Burns: in London, England; New York, USA; Dunedin, New Zealand and Dundee, Scotland. All copies of the same superb statue showing Burns seated, holding a book.

Robbie Burns statue in London. Open book in hand.

Robbie Burns statue in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Another copy is in Dundee, Scotland.

In London we have a statue of Brunel. The man who built The Thames tunnel under the river Thames, the railway west, Bristol's Brunel Bridge, (Clifton suspension bridge, and the ship SS Great Eastern to take travellers from the UK to the USA and back the other way, USA to UK.

Statue of Brunel standing on the Victoria Embankment. Wikipedia.

My favourite statue is the one of him seated at the station.

In London, near Piccadilly, see the statue of dandy, Beau Brummel.

Moving forward in time, we have, in London, a statue of Charlie Chaplin.

Statue of Charlie Chaplin in London.

Another statue of Charlie Chaplin is in Vevey Switzerland.

Oscar Wilde is one of my favourites.

He arrived in the USA saying, I have nothing to declare except my genius. Photo by Maggi Hambling in Wikicommons.

Another political statue, in London, recalling South America, shows Bolivar.

Allies, in London's Mayfair, shows Winston Churchill  and American President Franklin D Roosevelt together sitting on a bench in New Bond Street. Bronze statue. Room for you to be photographed between them.



You can also see F D Roosevelt in his wheelchair is in Washington DC, USA.




I love statues on benches.

I also like benches with books. Just the thoughts and ideas on the bench. (I have other posts on benches and statues.)

Sometimes what is most memorable is not the person depicted but the pose.
Rodin's the Burghers of Calais is in Victoria Tower Gardens, London.

Such as Rodin's The Thinker. He pops up in many places.
Such as Musee Rodin, France. Which has his grave and monument in the grounds.

Another copy of Rodin's Thinker is in the Central Business District, outside a bank, in Singapore.

More Rodin sculptures are in the USA in the Museum of Rodin in Philadelphia.


The Kiss, by Rodin is in Paris, in two locations.

A place for romantics.

At other times just part of the human body symbolises the good, the sad, or the spooky.

HANDS SCULPTURES

Here's the good.

Good and sad.
Helping hands memorial, London, commemorates, three workers who died trying to save their colleague.

Lorenzo Quinn
Lorenzo Quinn is the son of actor Anthony Quinn.

Building bridges, hands forming A shapes over water, Venice, Italy by Lorenzo Quinn



La Dolce Vita by Lorenzo Quinn, Photo by Moltkeplatz, Park Lane, London

Hands by Lorenzo Quinn, in Riverside Walk Gardens, London.

Loranzo Quinn Sculpture in Sitjes, Spain. Photo by Grey Geezer. Wiki.

Give and Take, by Lorenzo Quinn, on the Paseo Maritim, (seaside), Casteldefels, Spain.

But my favourite is the Lorenzo Quinn statue of two hands loving surrounding a tree.

He also has a restaurant where sculptures are displayed in Barcelona. he lives in Spain.

Holocaust Memorial, Miami

Photo by Daniel di Palma

Give and Take

Mano des Desierto, Antofagusta, Chile, from Wikipedia


Not to be confused with Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabal's work La Mano (the hand), de punta del Este in Uruguay.



Golden Bridge, Danang, Vietnam.



But my all time favourite is Lorenzo Quinn's Give, two hands reaching up around a growing olive tree. The video shows traffic in the road alongside so you must be able to see it from a public place. 

Useful Websites
Interesting story of the statues and New Zealand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns_(Steell)
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/can-you-even-handle-thes
e-gigantic-hand-statues-of-the-world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Colossal_statues

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Many more posts on statues in the UK, USA, and around the world. Also lots on lnaguages.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Have You Booked Your Holiday? How To beat Procrastination And Setbacks And Keep Smiling

I have a dream, a dream destination for a holiday. Have you booked your holiday?

As soon as I hear the other person's answer, I can start surmising the whole life of the person who replies.

'Yes, I booked it last week.'
Judger. (Myers Briggs personality typing.) He or she will arrive early.

Another type will reply: 'Not yet.'

I ask: 'Why not?'

The answer: 'Still looking around.'

ADVANCE PLANNING
You can plan your year ahead. My family did this for a wedding and honeymoon. When is the wedding? June. Which countries have good weather in those months?
Read about destination in Wikipedia, Wikivoyage and Wikitravel.

Pay by credit card of a means which allows you to recover if the company goes bust.
Make a list of places to see.

Safety and Insurance
Check safety warnings on Wikivoyage, UK Foreign Office, and US state advisory. Check insurance. If government warnings are in place probably your insurance won't cover you. Also your company will advise you not to go or will not fund the business trip.

Make a list
Check passport (s). Visas.
Check flights.
check weather.
Check hotel prices.
Check activities.
Book first and last night events.
Know alternative exits if you have to leave suddenly lose your flight.
Check insurance exclusions.

Driving License
Take copies of driving licenses even if you do not intend to drive. Why? If another driver is too young or old or does not have an international license you might need documentation.

If your driver is to drunk, tired or ill you might want to share driving. If your driver is held by a hospital or police you might need to drive. If the chauffeur driven car is not available and you are offered self-drive this could be a better option than a bus when you are racing for a flight.

PROCRASTINATION Procrastinator. He or she will book late. And arrive late. Forget to check dates. Lose their passport. Miss the meeting.

JUDGERS & DECISION MAKERS Judgers like to take decisions. Clear the desk. Do tasks in order. Make a list. Work through the list. Don't interrupt me.

That's my husband.!

I wish I could be like him. I am trying.

TRY

Oops. I gave myself away with that sentence.

I've heard trainers say, 'Don't try to do it. Do it!'

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Churchill walking through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 1941.

Never, ever, ever give up.
Winston Churchill WWII 1939-1945

Find an ally to give you physical and mental encouragement.


Churchill and Roosevelt. Statue in Bond Street, London, England.

Find an ally.

Six years of war. Better than the hundred years war!

Finally - the war is over.

My parents lived through two world wars, born during the first word war, lived through the second world war. My mother lost her first husband. She married again, to my father, and had me. I asked my father, 'Did anything good come out of the second world war?'

He replied, 'Yes. Me!'

SETBACKS
What's beyond? You don't know.

Make a list.

Too many choices.


When I tell my husband, 'I have a problem,' he replies: 'It is not a problem. it is a task.'

Let's look at the sayings which can encourage you to change or proceed with your plans, to face setbacks, to share success.

OPEN DOORS
Closed And Open Doors One door closes, another door opens.

I put up a positive statement about a door on Facebook. 'If a door shuts, open it again. It's a door. That's now they work.'

Somebody replied, What if ... what if... what if ...

I replied:
True. But the whole point of an aphorism is to lift people who are easily swayed by a single sentence. Just give them something to hang onto.

Like showing a balloon or a musical mobile to distract a crying child.


ENFP - MYERS BRIGGS PERSONALITY TYPE If you are ENFP on Myers Briggs you are dwelling on the past and future and doubts. The purpose of the aphorism is to add a weight to the positive side of the see-saw to restore balance.

The encouragement gets you going. Gives you a boost.

If you have already started and you stop halfway, the encouraging word or idea or saying sustains you. Like chocolate for mountain climbers.

Yes, chocolate is bad for the teeth in the long run. Also the lift feeling wears off. But it gets you going

Similarly, I eat a chocolate biscuit or cake or a chocolate bar in the break before going speak on stage at a Toastmasters or other meeting. The sugar and caffeine lifts you up - only for 15 minutes, But I find that boost and time is enough to get me bouncing onto stage and beaming. (I also use wearing a red colour, making a noise to get attention wakes the audience and myself, interacting with the audience wakes them and keeps me alert.)

What about sharing the success, affecting their life, making a call to action, or using the written or spoken text to promote your message? End with a message.

The person who wrote to me on Facebook ended with a promotion. I replied and took their cue to end with a promotion: I wrote: This post is promoted by Braddell Heights Advanced Speakers in Singapore. Next meeting in 2020 is Wed Feb 5 evening 7 pm at BH CC and next Speechcraft Saturday afternoon Feb 15 at 2 pm.

What to say to yourself when you are travelling and waiting, or suffer a temporary setback.
Here are some positive sayings in English

TO GET STARTED
Procrastinators are other people. Procrastination is what you used to do. Positive action is what you are starting to take now.
Angela Lansbury

To beat indecision and self-doubt:
You have to be in it to win it

You don't have to see the whole staircase to start climbing.
Martin Luther King Jnr

Do It Now.
Just do it.
Nike.

A journey begins with a single step.
Attributed to Confucius (and others).


AT THE DESTINATION
Always have a plan B. I have arrived in a city for a long weekend and all the restaurants and shops and museums were closed on Monday.

AFTER SEEING A SETBACK, TO PROCEED POSITIVELY
You don't plan to fail. You fail to plan. Start your plan. Plan your next hour, day, week, month, year, 5 years, whole life goals.
One door closes, another door opens.

TO PROCEED WHEN TIRED
Keep right on to the end of the road ... (WWI song)

TO ASK FOR HELP
If you don't want to burden your family and friends and teachers and colleagues, ask a stranger.

If you don't want to risk involvement with a stranger, who might follow you, and ask for money, ask an official who is anchored to the help desk at the airport for a map with a list of restaurants.

Check out a restaurant list before you go, using the internet. Print it and put it in your pocket.

To save paper, keep it in your mobile phone. In case you lose your phone or use a different one, email yourself and pick up the email later on a new phone.

If you don't want to use a phone in a public place, write a blog post and ask a hotel concierge or friendly official to log into the website, read the suggestions, and draw the location on the hotel map. Then you will see how to get to the nearest good restaurant, and equally importantly, how to get back to your hotel.

If you are in a country or destination such as Hong Kong, where taxi drivers do not speak English, ask your hotel concierge to write the name of the restaurant on the back of the hotel card.

What do you want when you meet somebody else on your journey? To find the way? To the airport or restaurant? To get a recommendation for a restaurant? Or Supermarket? You will need that question written down in the local language. Either start learning the local language. Or write down the most needed words in that language with the translation and keep that piece of paper handy in the right hand pocket of your jacket.

CALL TO ACTION
If not now, THEN WHEN?
If not you, THEN WHO?
If not here, THEN WHERE?

TO SHARE SUCCESS
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.
Nothing succeeds like success.

To encourage others
Call to action.

Travel Inspiration
visitbritain.com
visitlondon.com
Churchill and Roosevelt statue, Bond Street, London, England.

Churchill statue, Parliament Square, London, England.

Coventry Cathedral


Churchill bust. Israel.

Useful Websites
https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Myers-Briggs-Type-Indicator-Assessment/dp/0470343907
visitbritain.com
wikivoyage
wikitravel
tripadvisor

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, Author and Speaker. Please share your favourite posts