Planning A Club Meeting or party in October and want a theme? Biro, Black History and national and international days and other ideas

  October 

October is the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere. In Ocober you can celebrate black history month, space week, 

Black History Month. Black history month is celebrated by the museum of inventions in the USA by the story of the man who invented the breadcrumb machine. As you eat you can write a poem using a Biro, thinking of Virgil or older persons or teachers. Let's go, with our list.

1 International Day of Older Persons.

Birthday of Henry Clay Work who wrote My Grandfather's Clock.

2 International day of non violence. Birthday of Gandhi. World Statistics Day.

3 World Temperance Day.

Death of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind: quotation Tomorrow is another Day.

4 Animal Day. Habitat Day. Space week (4th to 10th).

5 Unesco World Teachers' Day.

6 UK National poetry day. National noodle day.

7 World Cotton Day. (World Space Week from 4th to 10th.)

8 International Podiatry (foot health) day

9 World Post Day.

10 World mental health day.

11 Birthday of Eleanor Roosevelt who said, Nobody can ever make you feel inferior without your permission.

12 Columbus Day. Spanish national holiday.

13 UN Day for Natural Disaster Reduction.

14 World Standards Day.

15 Birthday of Poet Virgil who was epic poet Laureate under Augustus.

Global UN World handwashing day.

16 World Food Day

17 International day for eradication of Poverty.

18 (2021 - depending on the equinox, Bahai feast of knowledge.)

19 Mother Teresa's Day, Albania.

20 World statistics day

21 UK Apple Day.

22 Australia: Unofficial wombat day.

22 National nut day. International Stuttering awareness day.

23 Hungarian republic day.

The name of László Bíró (‘Leslie Judge’) is known worldwise because the Budapest-born newspaper editor invented the eponymous (named after a person) biro. Seeing fountain pen ink ran and smudged paper, Bíró with the help of his brother, György, a chemist, create a pen with a revolving tip - a ballpoint.

Bíró patented his pioneering everyday object in 1938, abut being a Hungarian Jew, he was forced to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. He settled in Argentina, where his biro was produced and his pens helped RAF aircrew during bombing missions over Germany. Bíró died in 1985 – but lives in our memory every 29 September, when Argentines celebrate his birthday on the nation’s annual Día del Inventor.

24 United Nations Day.

25 Start of World Diasarmaent Week

26 Birthday of Napoleon Hill, author of think and grow rich.

27 UNESCO Audiovisual heritage - words and music from the past (national anthems) 

28 UK National Chocolate Day.

29 Disarmament week (Oct 25 to 30th)

30 Death of Emma Wheeler Wilcox. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone. World Thrift Day.

31 Birthday of Keats: A thing of beauty is a joy forever. I never was afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among of the best. World Cities Day.

Useful Websites

https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-days-and-weeks

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/october-international-days/

Who Said What When by Angela Lansbury, a paperback book, printed on demand by www.lulu.com, ID 14952577, has a quotation for the birth, death or other event of famous people every day of the year.

Quick Quotations by Angela Lansbury, also from lulu.com, has a section at the end listing national and international holidays for each month.

Statues and Sayings: Great Authors' Statues And Their Words of Wisdom

Oscar Wilde - London, England
Statue reclining in London

The good end happily and the bad end unhappily. That is fiction. (From Oscar Wilde's play, the importance of being Earnest.


Anne Frank - Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands, Europe
How wonderful it is that we need not wait a moment to start improving the world.
I wish to go on living even after my death.

Gandhi - London
Bust of Gandhi, South Bank.
Be the change you wish to see.
the customer is not an interruption of our work, he is the reason for our work.



Abraham Lincoln - Washington DC, USA
Of the people, by the people, for the people.
Mount Rushmore



Useful Websites
https://www.kaitiaki.co.nz/2018/02/16/kiwi-slang-1-0-1/


Author, Author! About the Author

Hear many quotations in speeches at Torastmasters International speakers' training, duirng Covid-19 most are meeting online and open to visitors around the world.


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.

Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product

See also https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/05/oscar-wilde-statues-and-sayings.html

When travelling physically or speaking online, don't mention the war

Luxembourg flag

I heard a diplomatic speech about Luxembourg. A lady promoting her country to us said:
'Luxembourg is called the Gibraltar of the North. At its heart is a fortress. Unfortunately it was overcome and we were invaded in WW2. However, the European Union has brought 60 years of peace and a voice to this small country. Our people speak lots of French and German as well as a local language.'

After hearing this speech, I realised how diplomatic it was. A few hours later I heard a speech about  Gandhi's speech to the salt workers.

Mahatma Gandhi

Several times the speaker reporting Gandhi's speech said, 'And this is how we got our independence - from the British.'

I was the only British person in the audience, but by the time the speaker had finished I felt most uncomfortable. I felt that the speaker must constantly hear anti-British sentiments, and that British visitors to India would not be welcome. I felt that I should consider deleting any posts recommending trips to India, for fear that British visitors would blame me for misleading them if they met with surly looks, hostility or worse.

Now, there are good reasons for a speaker from India to quote Gandhi. He is widely quoted and revered by many people who are not Indian, in England and worldwide. I often quote Gandhi.

It would be perfectly reasonable and inoffensive to say that his speech moved millions of people, and changed the course of history. The speaker did say the Gandhi advocated non-violence. She could have gone further and said this policy protected both the Indians and the British at that time. She could have pointed out that many ordinary British people then, as now, knew nothing about the salt tax or how it affected the Indians, and when Gandhi visited Brtain he had widespread support amongst the workers in the North of England.

She could have mentioned that now most of the people alive then have passed on, and India is proud to be a member of the Commonwealth.

She could have said that many Indians regard Britain highly or fondly, for leaving some fine historic buildings, the railways, the legal system, the language.

She might have said that mixed in with memories of the struggle for independence, are memories of friendship. She might have admitted that not everybody wanted India partitioned before the partitions, and that after the deaths, Gandhi was killed by an assassin who blamed Gandhi for the loss of life.

And today there is still a strong bond bwetween India and Indians and Britain and British people.

We have a bust honouring Gandhi in London. The British regard India with fondness. The British are high on the list of countries sending tourists to India. Every high street in England has at least one restaurant serving Indian food and curry is often called the national dish, and is voted the favourite dish.

I thought about how, as a travel writer, I went  to the World Travel Market in London. Most of the people whose livelihoods depend on tourism, know their governments have spent enormous amounts of money wooing tourists to see fine buildings and try foreign food and buy ethnic clothes and save for souvenirs.

As diplomats for their country, the tourism representatives are very careful. The organizers may try to keep apart the stands for Israel and the Palestinians, Greece and Turkey, but the sales people on the floor are there to promote their own country, not to risk alienating the organizers or potential customers by mentioning any hint of past conflicts. In fact, some of them try to create two-country trips, with new friends in the same business, across the border, a win-win situation.

But what about the media, the man in the street, and the public speakers.

A poular joke goes, 'Don't mention the war!' This is said frequently in the sixth and last episode of Fawlty Towers, where Basil has a series of mishaps which end with the Germans shaking their heads in disbelief, and themselves bringing up the taboo subject by asking, 'How did the British win the war!'

Fawlty Towers, TV comedy series

On a serious note, if you are running tours of battlefields.you must mention the war. But if it's a WWII field, you can speak of the Nazis and not the Germans. You can talk about the particular squadron on each side which was involved in a battle. You can leave out any mention of nationality and speak of a particular long-dead battle leader on each side, and his troops.

You can tell the story of the Christmas truce on the battlefields in WWI. You can show pictures of soldiers from both sides shaking hands at Celebrations of Peace, decades later.

What about Asia?

I speak French. I am not French. But I was most uncomfortable going around some of the museums in  Hanoi. Admittedly there was a display in one room about French and American protests against the Vietnam war. At the end was a room about reconciliation. If I had been French, and sensitive, I would have left long before reaching the last room. I wanted to leave. I had to stay because i was with a group including one who wanted to stay.

You can promote the museum on the site of the Burma railway and promote the book about the Burma railway and the Japanese translator who sought to be reconciled after the end of WWII.

A traveller is a diplomat, who should speak well of his own country, and that of his host. When in Rome, do what the Romans do.

I cannot imagine many tourists from the UK visiting Rome and telling Italians that Romans were a bloodthirstly lot and thank goodness the Romans left the UK. No.

Tourists to Italy will talk about what brings them to the country, their love of Italian food, ice cream, espresso, pasta, Roman ruins, learning Latin at school, the influence of Latin on romance languages, opera, favourite Italians from Fellini to Sophia Loren.

Equally, I would expect visitors to the UK to seek to speak about only what they loved and admired about the country and the language.

So, what about Churchill's speech, "We will fight them on the beaches ... we will never surrender."

Churchill statue. Parliament Square. London. England.

It would not be approporiate to say that to a German audience, or an audience which might include Germans. You would have to be very careful to end with words to the effect that we are lucky to live in a world where war is over, the visitors are friends, the Germans on our shores are tourists keen to see our country, and our shopkeepers, mostly born after the war, are keen to welcome the Germans.

You only need to add one sentence, sometimes only one word, to be sure that every person in your audience remains your friend.

Useful Websites
INDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

WWII Humour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Germans

Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Tiarel.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product

How To Find Opportunities Overseas

Gandhi said, Be the change you wish to see.

As an English teacher, I might query his grammar. However, language is changing all the time and the leaders such as royalty and presidents and prime ministers set the trend, so I'll let that pass. The important thing is that you understand the message, that you could and should make the changes you would like to see made. Many of them are within your power. I recently asked a friend at Toastmasters, "Could you be the Toastmasters of the Day for a contest? Have you done it before?"

She replied, "I haven't done it before - but I can find out how to do it."

If you go to a new place, a new country, nobody knows you and you know nobody. Make or break. Rise or fall. It doesn't matter. 

1 They will make allowances for the fact that you are new to the country and the job and help you without expecting you to know all the answers. 

2 If you make a mistake you can move on. If you don't have family or friends or property or a business nearby, you can simply start again. 

3 Your first job can be your apprentice job. Apply for jobs even if you cannot do them or don't have a work permit. Sometimes the company can get you a work permit. I found when I applied tor a job in a school, teaching English, all that was needed was for the head of the school to type out a one line letter to the local permit place. 

I had an interview, even though I was on the point of going on holiday. 

I was given the job to start a week later, the day after I returned on a night flight. The permit request letter said, in effect, 'We have a job for this teacher of English. We need a teacher immediately. This teacher is a native speaker and has a university degree. Please grant her a work permit.' 

By that time, I had asked my family in the UK to courier overnight my original of my degree certificate from the UK.

My son could not find it. I said, "Keep looking. It has to be in a frame somewhere in the house. Maybe it is half covered by something else."

He protested, "Mum - you have a hundred frames!"

I replied, "It won't fit in any of the tiny ones. So you have about fifty. I am away seven days. You are sitting at home for at least an hour each day. Just go through them methodically. When you have tried them all,  if you don't find it, you have to write to the university department which is closed in the university holidays and pay for a replacement. I might miss out on my job opportunity."

He started going through all the frames which were large enough to hold a certificate. Fifteen minutes later I got a reply from him:

"Mum - I found your certificate!"

"Wonderful. I will buy you a lovely dinner next time I am home. How many frames did you have to open?"

"Not many. Actually, only three."

When you are job-hunting, don't postpone interviews because you are on the point of going home to the UK, USA or Australia. That could be all to the good. You might need to pick up documents from home such as the original of your certificate showing your qualification for teacher training or music or anything else.

You might also get another job in the company if you get to meet HR. In the UK I left university and had no job. My arts degree was not a qualification for any kind of business. I want for a low-paid job just to do typing in an advertising agency just to say I had a job and to have a little money coming in. Personnel immediately offered me a job as personal assistant to the head of copywriting, Eric Webster, who was the author of a book called How To Win The Business Battle.  

Later, I was offered a low paid job teaching English in a foreign country. I had not taught English. I did not have a work permit. I said I could be a stand-in teacher for a week or two whilst they looked for somebody else or until I got a permit.

I was paid a pittance. However, the alternative was spending my time shopping, money going out instead of coming in.

A chance to get to know other teachers, where you applied for a work permit, the text books, the standard of English of the locals.

I had a conversation starter at parties. 




In the UK as young married we had a home with a back garden (which Americans call a yard) containing apple trees.

We also shared houses in the USA. 

Students And Teachers
I remember when I was a student in London, England, during the holidays another girl asked to move out of her larger room into a smaller one just for the summer holiday of six weeks.

Painting A Room White
 She had asked for white paint and painted the first room white. She asked again and was given white paint to fix up the second room. In the end she had painted three rooms in the building.  

Her skill, her interest in life, was decorating, painting, improving the place, for herself, then for others. She was intent on doing it the day she moved in. 

For some of us it takes longer. We don't do it until we see someone else do it. 

Cleaning A Communal Kitchen
Cooking In the same student building when I moved in the kitchen was filthy. I took one look and decided never to touch it. 

Cleaning Later another girl moved in. She instantly cleaned the entire kitchen and started cooking. She made food for everybody in the building as a housewarming. 

Housewarming And Making Friends
In the Netherlands, you are expected to invite the neighbours in and offer food on arrival in a new neighbourhood. If you do, you instandly have friends. If you don't, nobody will speak to you. Simple. One of my friends in Singapore whose husband worked for an oil company was given instructions by the company on the etiquette of the country they were moving to. 

You could do the same in every country. Make friends of your neighbours.

My son took a series of low paid jobs. One was in a phone exchange in the evening. Just the two of them.

A couple of years later I was on the phone to a company late at night. My son was in the room. I said to my son, "I'm getting nowhere. I have asked to speak to the manager."

My son laughed and told me, "If there are only two people on duty at night, when you ask to speak to the manager, he just hands the phone over to the other phone operator."

So, even the lowest paid job can teach you how the world works. All his lowly paid jobs taught him how the businesses operated. Whether he goes into an electronics shop or a shop selling. 

Gandhi
Sometimes we can copy other. Sometimes we finally are overcome by the urge to do it ourselves. As Gandhi said, 'Be the change you wish to see.'

Jack Ma

Don't be discouraged. Remember the story of Jack Ma. He was turned down more than twenty times even for lowly paid job. Without a job, he started his own business, was co-founder of Alibaba selling on the internet in China and became a multi-millionaire.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on making marmalade

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Indian Heritage Centre Heroes in Singapore

Indian Heritage Centre, Singapore is a modern building near Little India station. I saw the advertisements for the Heritage centre in advertising panels on either side of the doors of the station. The first time I saw the advertisements I made a mental note to go back and see the Heritage centre. The second time I was returning home after having lunch in Little India when I saw the advertisement again. I looked at the address and realised the street was very nearby.

I had just photographed the name. The street is the other side of the Tekka centre which runs from one exit of the station to the other, next to the street where you see the Heritage centre. Annoying as it was to retrace my footsteps, it was a lot quicker than making a special trip.

The advantage of the outside steps (behind glass) is that you look down on the shophouses below.

Walking down the outside steps is not for the nervous. (You can take the lift.)

I had previously stopped at the end of the street, Campbell, to photograph the lanterns.
Strangely, I had not seen the centre from the end of the street, nor registered that it was a museum. On the way I was side tracked by the Indian clothes and souvenir shops selling caftan style see through tops in bright colours.

Most of the nearby buildings are shophouses, where the ground floor is a shop, with living quarters on one level above.  How is this different from the modern high street with flats overhead? In the UK you often have living accommodation above shops.

The difference is that in the UK the staircase is at the back, separate from the shop, either from outside the back wall, from a communal staircase between the shops, or like Singapore HDB flats, with a main staircase at either end of the buildings, with a corridor along the upper storey connecting the outside of all the flats.

The shophouse is like a house with the front room turned into a shop. Any downstairs toilet and kitchen is shared with the upstairs living accommodation (bedrooms). Sometimes the downstairs room at the back is not used for storage of shop goods but as the living room of the owners, or another bedroom.

The heritage centre is modern with a glass front. On the ground level are a shop to your left as you enter and the museum ticketing desk to your right. The shop has books on the history of Singapore and Indian history in Singapore and elsewhere.

The price is affordable. Singaporeans and Permanent Residents pay nothing. Visitors from overseas pay a modest entry fee.

The permanent exhibition galleries are on the third and fourth floors. Stairs to the upstairs are on the outside front of the building, echoing a popular Indian style of architecture, although they are covered in glass. Quite steep.

Ladies Toilet

On the fourth floor everything is sparkling new and clean. Toilets for men and women and water fountains for adults and children.

A film starts the whole proceedings. It is very clever, with photos of old world scenes of Indians in Singapore and the countries they came from, and the characters in the centre of the photos appear to come to life and walk off to the right and left of the screen. I don't know whether it's done with actors dressed just like the people in the photos, or whether a photo of the actor's face is superimposed on the photo.

You begin walking around the gallery seeing previous centuries, the myths, temples and the architecture.

























Coming into the 20th century, you see photos and depictions of world famous people you may know.

Mahatma Gandhi

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Homes of the Famous in the USA, UK, Europe : authors, presidents, singers

AMERICA

ALABAMA - HARPER LEE - SCOTT FITZGERALD - HANK WILLIAMS SNR
(To Kill A Mockingbird)
Literary capital of Alabama is Monroeville, which has a trail based on the books To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. (See more details in my previous post.)
Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald Museum in the last house occupied by Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda.
Hank Williams Snr's home in Georgiana.

CALIFORNIA - JACK LONDON -
(Call of the Wild)
http://jacklondonpark.com/jack-london-directions.html
I also went to Hearts Castle but didn't feel I learned much about Hearst, just about the venue.

COLORADO - MOLLY BROWN
Molly Brown, heroine of the Titanic
Molly Brown House, Pennsylvania Avenue, Denver. I felt I learned about her house, but not about the Titanic.

CONNECTICUT - MARK TWAIN HOUSE - NOAH WEBSTER
NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE, West Hartford  (The Schoolmaster of America, wrote Webster's dictionary, reformed British English and created American spelling.)

FLORIDA - ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Author
Ernest Hemingway home and museum, Key West

GEORGIA - MARTIN LUTER KING JNR home
Atlanta, Georgia.

ILLINOIS - ABRAHAM LINCOLN -
(Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Springfield)

MARYLAND - CLARA BARTON
(America's Florence Nightingale)

MASSACHUSETTS - CLARA BARTON Homestead (founder of American Red Cross)

MISSOURI - Mark Twain birthplace, Florida, Missouri.

PENNSYLVANIA - EDGAR ALLEN POE (Philadelphia)

TENNESSEE - ELVIS PRESLEY - JIM REEVES
(Elvis, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee)
(Jim Reeves, Nashville, Tennessee)

VIRGINIA - THOMAS JEFFERSON (Monticello) - GEORGE WASHINGTON (Mount Vernon)

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

Edgar Allen Poe Museum, Richmond

WEST VIRGINIA - PEARL S BUCK Birthplace, Hillsboro

NORTH, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO - KARL MARX.

MORE IN AMERICA
See real life and online Halls of fame - eg music, baseball; more places connected with Edgar Allen Poe, Elvis. Cemeteries such as the one with the statue of Al Jolson. Graves of Wild West folk heroes. Jewish Museums. Battlefields and wartime heroes and leaders. Songwriters. Car manufactures. Coca Cola, Hershey, Pizza. Painters. Founders of railways. Owners of departments stores and newspapers (Hearst in California). Food factories and drink: Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Vermont.

***

EUROPE
AUSTRIA - MOZART birthplace, Salzburg.
BELARUSSIA - CHAGALL.
DENMARK - HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN Museum, Odense.
FINLAND - SIBELIUS museum.
FRANCE - CHAGALL. ZOLA/DREYFUS (Medan). PROUST trail.
GERMANY - BEETHOVEN (Bonn.)
IRELAND George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
ISRAEL BIALIK museum, Tel Aviv. (Playwright, also established Hebrew as the national language, because it was the classical language of the bible, close to Aramaic and Arabic, although I would prefer Yiddish, more modern and fun, like German with a sense of humour, told by a comedian.)
ITALY - PUCCINI home, opera. Statue of the man with the cigar which no doubt killed him.

NETHERLANDS - ANNE FRANK HOUSE, Amsterdam; REMBRANDT.
NORWAY - IBSEN museum, Oslo.
POLAND - CHOPIN birthplace. (Also huge monument in Warsaw is passed by tours.)
SPAIN - DALI.
SWEDEN - JIM REEVES. STRINDBERG museum.
Jim Reeves Museum
http://www.jimreeves.se/Jim_Reeves_Museum_Sweden/Om_oss.html
UK - BRONTES; BYRON; Capt'n COOK; DAHL; D H LAWRENCE; T E LAWRENCE (of Arabia); FREUD; JIMI HENDRIX; HANDEL; KEATS; Beatrix POTTER; WORDSWORTH; SHAKESPEARE
Jimi Hendrix museum (opened 2016) and Handel museum (adjacent) in London, England. (See my previous post in this blog.)
Freud Museum, London.
Keats Museum, London.
Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon; theatre in London, bust in church in London.
Also see Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London.
Captain Cook birthplace, Marton, N Yorkshire.
Bronte Museum, Yorkshire.
CROMWELL Museum, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks.
Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Buckinghamshire.
Beatles Story, Liverpool.

WALES DYLAN THOMAS Boathouse and two more museums.
SCOTLAND - BURNS; SCOTT; DAVID LIVINGSTON (Dr Livingston, I presume?)
Sir Walter Scotts House, Waverley.
N IRELAND & Ireland:
George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
JAMES JOYCE.
YEATS.

AFRICA - MANDELA
Home of Nelson Mandela, Soweto; also Robben Island. (More about Mandela in the Jewish museum. A Jewish friend bought a farm for Mandela to hide.)

ASIA
CHINA - SUN YAT SEN home, Shanghi. Also Hong Kong.
INDIA MAHATMA GANDHI Museum, Delhi. (Includes his polite letter to Hitler.)
THAILAND - Jim Thompson house, Bangkok. (American born Silk King.)

AUSTRALASIA
NEW ZEALAND KATHERINE MANSFIELD HOUSE.

MORE IN UK
Burns in Scotland; Wilberforce in Hull; JANE AUSTEN in Bath; DICKENS in London; ROTHSCHILD; ISRAELI; SASSOON.

More information from:
http://experience.usatoday.com/america/story/best-of-lists/2015/10/05/50-state-famous-americans-homes-museums/73410480/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton_Homestead
https://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/visiting/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Birthplaces_of_individual_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen_Museum
http://gandhimuseum.org
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/ (Hull's Wilberforce Museum)
http://www.maisonzola-museedreyfus.com/uk/zola_uk.html
(Tourist Boards and citizens, if you have any suggestions please send them to me.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.

International Museum day is May 18.
Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ATG, author, researcher, travel writer and photographer, speaker.

Famous foreigners in England

Welcoming French au pair girls into my home I was always amazed that they found corners of London which were special to them, honouring their national heroes who I had never heard of. Looking at London, you might be interested in these sites, which could be on the itinerary of a tour. Whether you are a foreigner visiting London, or a resident entertaining overseas visitors, look at these and compile a handy list in your own diary. (I used to have a diary with a map of London at the back.

When I got a new diary without a map, I thought it was a pity that my new diary had no map and the old one was not transferable. I carefully cut out the map out of the old diary and sellotaped it into the new one. You can do the same with any map of the right size. Some diaries and travel notebooks have a space or flap on the back cover to hold a map or printed pages of addresses.

I also photocopy pages from my diary if I want to take just the holiday date pages, and not risk losing my diary. Alternatively take the diary, but leave the photocopy of addresses behind.

List of foreigners visiting the UK and/or with memorials, monuments, place names and burials
Australia - state of Victoria, city of Melbourne named after her minister. In UK memorial to Monash, WWI leader.
Corsica - I remember a Corsican au pair girl who went to visit the memorial in Westminster Abbey to  see the memorial to Corsica's national hero Pasquale di Paoli. He died in England, although his remains were sent back to Corsica and buried there. Corsica is now French, and many people speak French although others speak Italian.

French - Charles Peguy Centre.

India - Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square and Tavistock Square.

Malta - Maltese opera star currently in London. Queen Victoria statue in Malta.

New Zealand - Captain Cook and Victoria.

Poland - Polish memorial.

Singapore - Raffles, founder of Singapore, buried in a church in Hendon. In Singapore visit Raffles hotel and see Queen Victoria statue.

South Africa - bust of Mandela on South Bank in London.

Venezuela/ South America : a Venezuelan member of Toastmasters International told that Bolivar visited London. You could trace Bolivar's steps.

You could also do a trace of religious leaders or characters identified with a particular religion from history: eg Anne Frank (UK, Netherlands; Poland; Germany; and Schindler in Poland and Israel; 

Methodists Wesley and the church and cemetery and statue in the East End of London, England - more on Methodists in the USA; Mosques in the UK and overseas; Rothschilds in the UK and Europe; Sassoons in the UK, India and Shanghai, China (plus the HSBC Hong Kong and China Bank); Greek churches in London; Catholic Churches and saints.

Musicians have memorials and statues: George Friderick (spelling is German) Handel (of Germany) came to London - see his statue in Vauxhall Gardens, plaques and the organ he played in a church. His Handel's Messiah is a popular piece.

Another route to follow would be authors or characters from books you have read: eg authors (several books on authors and author trails in the UK); Anne Frank, Robert Louis Stevenson; Dickens; Jane Austen; Mollie Brown (Titanic, USA).

You can do the reverse in another country you are visiting, looking for statues and history relating to your homeland. For example, statues of Queen Victoria in other countries can serve as landmarks and help you remember squares. These are just the obvious ones. You will find many more.

London Statues - New Statue of Gandhi in Parliament Square, London - photographing statues worldwide

A new statue of Gandhi is in Parliament Square, London. It is nine feet tall. To photograph yourself next to it, somebody else needs to take the photo from some distance away.

I like to be photographed next to statues when travelling. If you had no other plans for a themed trip to London, you could travel around photographing statues and yourself next to statues. One of my favourites is Oscar Wilde reclining.

I also photograph statues in countries I am visiting. They tell local and national history.

You could also collect photos of statues just in London or worldwide on a theme, such as political figures, royals, religious, philanthropic, WWII, statues and monuments in cemeteries, theatres, hotels and clubs.

Political Figures
In London: Politics: Gandhi and Churchill.
In London: royals, Kings and Queens (including the memorial to Princess Diana, the gates for the Queen Mother).
Victoria & Albert: Worldwide - start in London if you are in London, including the Albert memorial and the Albert Hall in London, statues of Queen Victoria .
Religious leaders: I made a special trip to the museum in East London for Methodist Wesley and took a picture of his statue.
Theatrical: statues of actors outside theatres, often on provincial theatres, worldwide, also opera houses and concert halls show

For a school project or talk to a history society, you could photograph characters from each century, or each decade.

Museums are a good source of statues and busts. Sometimes you need permission to photograph a statue inside a museum, and you need to be there during opening hours. But those outside buildings in the UK are generally OK to photograph and you can visit them any time of day or night. With photoshop and iPhoto nowadays even a photo taken in poor light can be adjusted later.

Silhouette Statues
In late evening, if you cannot get detail, you can aim for a silhouette of the statue against a lighter sky. I once took a day trip on a ferry from England to France, part sponsored by Polaroid cameras. I won a competition for a photo with a contra-jour picture of a statue at the French port silhouetted against the white sky.

Animals
Cats, dogs, horses and animals. My favourites are; in London - Dick Whittington's Cat in Highgate. In the USA - the horse of the Civil War leader. I seem to remember a statue of a donkey or horse in Australia, at a museum about the Great War (WWI). It was either Canberra or Sydney.

Benefactors
Benefactors and campaigners who benefited human rights (Eros for Lord Shaftesbury - interesting story. George Lansbury in London's East End who worked for the seamstresses).

WWI - with the centenaries, lots of opportunities. A project for schools or local or national newspapers or blogs for Armistice Day, and the other celebrations worldwide, Anzac Day, VE Day.
You could collect pictures from the internet, such as Wikipedia, and then gradually visit them on your holidays or business trips overseas.

Long ago I bought a book on statues of London. With Lulu.com and other printers on line, you could make a book of your travel photos, featuring statues of yourself with statues. I try to take the statue alone, and another showing myself next to it. Some publications like to see the author, others prefer the statue without clutter or anything which dates the photo. Adding a person can give a humorous effect. Tall statue with tiny toddler or dog. This might look silly or disrespectful, or could be a winning humorous picture.

I like to photograph inscriptions on all four (or more) sides of a statue or monument. It helps when writing captions later. You can check the spelling of the name or a person or place, and the dates they lived or the battle they fought in. The inscription also often includes a quotation or eulogy (praise).

My favourite London statues:
Oscar Wilde.
Kissing couple on Paddington station upper level.
Brunel on London station.
Australian mapmaker on Euston station.
Florence Nightingale, outside hospital.
Sigmund Freud, near his home in London.
Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery.
Shakespeare bust (in a church).

Churches and cathedrals are a great source of statues. Starting with Poets Corner in London, you could then do a literary trail around Britain.

My favourite memorable statues Worldwide:
1 Einstein, USA.
2 Sassoon, India.
3 Captain Cook, Australia.
4 Raffles in Raffles Hotel, Singapore.
5 Charlie Chaplin, London. (Another in Switzerland.)
6 Sherlock Holmes outside Baker Street Station, London.
7 Queen Victoria - everywhere, the latest I've seen was in Malta's capital, Valletta. Others are in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand.
8 Al Jolson, cemetery in the USA.
9 Disraeli in his area near Tring.
10 Monash, WWI leader, in Australia, with the university named after him in Melbourne. I saw an equestrian statue in a main road and a bust in the uni.

My favourite London station statues:
1 Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street
2 Brunel, Paddington Station
3 The mapmaker and cat, Euston
4 The artist, Waterloo

Most photographed in London?
Probably Eros in Piccadilly and Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.

Other world famous monuments include:
The Burghers of Calais, France.
Iwo Jima (same flag raising theme copied in a monument in Malaysia).
Chopin in Warsaw, Poland.
Lincoln in Washington DC.
Four Presidents cut into hillside in the USA.

If you want to add guitarists and guitars, and rock stars and singers, think of Elvis in the USA, John Lennon in Liverpool airport, music museums in the USA and Australasia, and halls of fame all over the USA.

I also look for quotations. My favourites are:
For your tomorrow they gave their today. (Kohima monument in Latin, variously translated on monuments worldwide. You find quotations and local characters and Greek and Roman Gods and mythological characters on all sorts of building, including friezes around the exteriors of art galleries and the exteriors and interiors of shopping malls. St George's shopping mall in Harrow, interior. Lakeside shopping Mall.

Angela Lansbury BA Hons is a travel writer, photographer and speaker.