What did Benjamin Frankin say?,

Benjamin Franklin on a visit from the USA to the UK, before he went off to visit German and France.

Benjamin Franklin

Americans and visitors to America are familiar with Benjamin Franklin. He has appeared many times on postage stamps, notes.






When I visited Philadelphia, the lovely city in the USA, I went an exhibition about Benjamin Franklin, who is known as a Founding Father and The First American.


He was born in a house which is not longer there but a statue honouring him is on the building standing on the same site.


Signing


Benjamin Franklin National Memorial



Every day I am grateful to Benjamin Franklin. He invented bifocals.

Bifocals made by Benjamin Franklin

And the lightning conductor.

To protect buildings.
And freestanding objects such as statues.


I also like to quote him. Did he really say, "a place for everything and everything it its place"?

Did he really say,"We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately"?

He said this in reply to somebody else who said, 'We must all hang together".

I was given a table topic (impromptu speech topic) at a Toastmasters meeting. J K Rowling said something similar.

I quoted Benjamin Franklin.

My Friend at Toastmasters, Eliya, sent me this in the chat box:

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress agreed upon the content of the Declaration of Independence. Two days later, on July 4, the document was signed the document. We do not know exactly what was said and done the day the Declaration was signed. What we do know, however, is that only John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress, signed the Declaration on July 4th. Most delegates signed the Declaration on August 2, and one didn't sign it until 1781. Nevertheless, we know that the delegates knew they were taking a major step. Mary Katherine Goddard, publisher of the Maryland Journal, made the first printed copy of the Declaration of Independence with the names of all the signers, and distributed the document across the colonies. Having declared their freedom, the American patriots had to win it in battle. By signing the Declaration of Independence, the delegates were putting their lives on the line. If they were to lose the war for independence, then ...

From Eliya Narasinghan
The British government would execute them in a very painful and nasty way. Thus, although we do not know if Benjamin Franklin actually said, "we must all hang together, or ... we shall all hang separately," it is likely that that idea was in the minds of the delegates that day in July.

Visit the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia, USA, if you can get to it when it is open.



Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/benjaminfranklinmuseum.htm

Flag of the USA

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Angela Lansbury is the author of Quick Quotations; and Who Said What When.

If you cannot leave home, travel online by joining a meeting of Toastmasters International. Check out Toastmasters International Find a club

Where Is Charles Dickens' Statue? And other memorials, museums and grave?

Australia has a statue of Dickens.


Also in the USA.

Dickens and Little Nell in Philadelphia.

Dickens and Little Nell, statue in Philadelphia, USA.

Many more places in the UK.

His birthplace in Portsmouth.


The house in Portsmouth where Dickens was born.

I used to muddle up Portsmouth and Plymouth. Portsmouth is south of London, a port. Plymouth is along the south coast, further west, from where the Plymouth Brethren travelled west to the what became the USA.

You can visit Dickens' house in London. (After Covid19)

Pass the Old Curiosity Shop.



See his grave in Westminster Abbey.



Useful Websites
https://www.centennialparklands.com.au/visit/history-and-heritage/statues-and-sculptures/charles-dickens-statue?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens
To be continued tomorrow

About Author Angela
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.

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.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced. This Tuesday evening Singapore time
Harrovians, London.
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-21713991
learncool.sg
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Free, fun Amazing street art, statues and murals, outdoors in the sun or sheltering underground

Where is street art which you can see for free - or join a walking tour for a small fee or donation in good weather? The places which spring to my mind are:

UK London's Amy Winehouse trail and Camden; Brixton; Croydon. Bristol and Banksy.


Brixton mural from Wikipedia.

Big Splash, on Glenelg Road (London, SW2) by Christine Thomas, assisted by Dave Bangs and Diana Leary – 1985.

 Iemanja75 (talk) LeticiaGolubov 10:56, 15 March 2010 (UTC) - self-made.

BRAZIL Rio de Janeiro's slums or favelas transformed in rainbow colours.

Praça Cantão, 2011

André Sampaio - Own work

Foto panorâmica da Praça Cantão, situado na Favela Santa Marta, em Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Esta foto foi tirada para ser incorporada ao site www.wikirio.com.br e disponibilizada ao público sem restrições.

INDIA - the Mumbai makeover, painting slum houses into street art and happy homes. (Mumbai, previously called Bombay.)

POLAND Wroclaw has a trail of tiny not even nearly knee high statues, 20-30 cm. Most are on the ground, a few higher up or even overhead.

e	23 August 2017
Source	Photographed during 2017 IFLA Conference, Wroclaw, Poland.
Author	Photographed by Bobby Bothmann.

Muzeum Poczty i Telekomunikacji, ul. Krasińskiego 1, I piętro 

USA Philadelphia's mural trail

Singapore
In Singapore one of my favourite streets for colourful buildings is Waterloo Street.

Waterloo Street, Singapore, for colourful buildings. Photo by Angela Lansbury. The bright yellow of this building, with the green shutters is immediately obvious. Look up and you can see the pink of an HDB skyscraper behind on the left, and blue and white on the right. Copyright.

Where do you work or live? In the yellow building. In the pink building. In the blue building.

Over in Chinatown the traditional houses have coloured tiles and co-ordinating flowering trees. Notice the green tiles with embossed patterns. the salmon pink wash, with deeper contrasting lines. the white window shutters with the white fretwork above. the double doors are white with wavy edges and orangey salmon pink lines. The tree is green and white.

Chinatown traditional house. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Many of the modern government built housing blocks, called HDB, are in bands of colour.
If you are lucky, the block you are visiting has a different colour or design or murals of flowers so that children and adults and strangers can quickly identify it.

If the weather is bad, you might have to take a tour of the underground stations.
Singapore has art on underground stations such as Newton.


UK and London Underground

Sherlock Holmes on Baker street station underground platform. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Baker Street in London, UK, has a platform featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Who and where is this? It must be Victoria station, London, England.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Fun for tourists, and transform the lives of those who live there.
Fodor's travel picks 12 cities, starting with:
Dublin,
Glasgow,https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/things-to-do/city-centre-mural-trail
and several more destinations, including: Melbourne, Mexico City, New York, New Orleans, Paris and Rome. Enough to keep you busy for a year.

Useful Websites
The Effect on the community - a TED talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/haas_hahn_how_painting_can_transform_communities
Places for tourists to visit.
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/these-12-cities-are-home-to-the-best-street-art-on-earth
Philadelphia mural walking tours
https://www.muralarts.org/tours/
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/mumbai-slums-get-colourful-makeover

Underground stations and railway stations
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-favourite-humorous-artwork-on-newton.html

TRAVEL AND TOURISM
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com
visitsingapore.com
visitbritain.com
visitbritain.org
visitlondon.com
incredibleindia.org
visittheusa.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on murals, at stations in London, Russia, and Singapore, plus more pieces on destinations and the weird and wacky and wonderful. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Philadelphia - American history and murals

Problem
How do you make a list of facts (about Philadelphia) interesting?

Answer
President and Food
Here's an article which does it well. The article starts with a President everybody knows, Obama, plus a local food, cheesesteak, which is foreign to readers elsewhere (eg us in the UK).

Murals and Grafitti
The article ends by describing not just the murals of Philadelphia, but the fact that they were installed to end graffiti (a problem I recently mentioned in a post on Romania. Hurray - here's the answer to Graffiti.

I loved the description of the mural which starts with the past at the bottom of the picture, with segregation, and moves on up.

Tips
https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/the-streets-of-philadelphia-discovering-the-usas-new-king-of-cool-10770?utm_source=newsletter

FLIGHTS
www.virginatlantic.com
I found their lounge at the airport in Philadelphia had wonderful food and service.

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

Songs about countries and cities, from London and Paris to Philadelphia

Problem
There are lots of songs about countries and cities. What are they? Is there one on Romania?

Answers
Mostly I can't remember the titles, just odd lines.

England: London
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner.

Ireland
It's a long way to Tipperary

USA - San Francisco; New Orleans, Philadelphia
I left my heart in San Francisco.
There is a house in New Orleans.
Philadelphia (1993 Streets Of Philadelphia 
Produced by Bruce Springsteen and Chuck Plotkin 
Written and Performed by Bruce Springsteen from the movie about AIDS starring Tom Hanks).

France - Paris
I love Paris in the Springtime.
How you gonna keep em down on a farm, after they've seen Paree?

Spain
Que Viva Espana.

Israel - Jerusalem
Jerusalem shel b a h a v. (Jerusalem, city of gold.)

Travel Tips
http://www.visitphilly.com

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

Poems About Holidays and Advice from Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia and London

Benjamin Franklin

Problem
What to do on holiday? Write poems about problems and solutions.

Answer
Today's poem from me to you is a poem on packing.
http://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/packing-list-poem.html
Read on - I'll give you this link again at the end.

Story
I was in Philadelphia, USA, on a press trip. A fellow travel writer, an American, said he was going on local radio to talk about the destination. I said, "Ask them if they'd like an English writer with an English accent to talk about the destination, museums, shops, restaurants, history and so on. I'll speak after you, refer back to what you said, and cover anything you haven't already covered. He was happy to do that and said they agreed. So I told everybody at home, and the tourist board, that I would be on American radio.

I sat next to him as he talked, waiting for my turn.

At the end he passed me a note:
"She says I've covered everything. You are not needed."

I was disappointed and embarrassed. I quickly wrote back:

"I have a poem on Philadelphia's attractions. Would she like that? She hasn't had that! That's new!"

He told her, and grinned at me, and whispered, "Yes - but have you got a poem?"

I didn't have a poem, but I was prepared to make it up as I went along. I started writing rhyming couplets immediately.

Unfortunately I did not get a recording of what I said. But I can reconstruct the gist of my poem. We had just visited the big exhibition on Benjamin Franklin. I started with something like this:

"I'm a Brit in America, what must I see?
Lots of things which fascinate me
A historic city, where should tourists being?
At the exhibition of Benjamin Franklin!

"He said 'early to bed and early to rise'
Makes shops wealthy, tourists happy and wise
As Philadelphia's buildings grew higher and higher
He invented lighting conductors to prevent fires ..."

By the time she had checked my name again, and announced me, I had two verses.

I added something to appeal to listeners:

"The building I'm in is made safer by him
The building you're in is made safer by him
People worldwide are indebted to him
Don't you want to know more about Benjamin Franklin?"

Whilst I was reading them out, I touched my reading glasses and thought of another verse.

"He invented bifocals, I don't know how
I'm indebted to him, I'm using them now
He did so much for you and me
Come to Philadelphia - so much new to see!"

At the end, she asked me about myself, travel writer, author of ten books, lived in the USA in Rockville Maryland, then what I had seen and liked in Philadelphia, such as the Hop on and Hop off bus and the trip down the river on the Duck tour on the converted amphibian WWII army vehicle and the USA - Elvis museums, homes of famous Americans such as poet Edgar Allan Poe.

We now have a Benjamin Franklin Museum in London, England.

Tips
Write a poem, at least a title and one couplet, each day of your trip and each destination.

Websites
http://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/packing-list-poem (My poem on packing)
http://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/benjamin-franklin-poem-by-angela (view the Benjamin Franklin poem without comments in the middle, plus a verse about the UK museum.)
https://www.visittheusa.com
http://www.visitphilly.com
http://www.visitphilly.com/museums-attractions/philadelphia/benjamin-franklin-museum/ (USA museum in Philadelphia)
http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/ (Benjamin Franklin house in London, England)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to my posts on travel and poetry.

Charing Cross Station Decoration and Information On The National Gallery

 Charing Cross station in central London has the best decoration and information panels I've seen in London, in fact anywhere in the world. Near the station are London's National Gallery of art and the National Portrait Gallery.

If you are visiting either gallery, and, indeed, if you are not, make time to stop and read about both of them from the information on Charing Cross underground station.

I was interested to learn how holes were used to copy pictures. Our first thought was that you copied the picture's main feature such as a face or body or house, same size on see-through paper, moved the tracing paper over the sketch paper or canvas, then pricked holes around the silhouette, then treated the holes like a stencil and used the tip of a pencil to make a mark through the hole. 

This could also be a way to copy photos onto drawing paper to do a sketch or water colour. However in medieval or Renaissance times the medium would have been oil colour or if you were important, grand murals on the interior walls of churches. 

The Romans and others had decorated homes previously with murals. The exteriors off buildings are still painted today in some parts of Europe such as German.

Nowadays we have murals on the outsides of buildings in: London, England; Banksy in Britain, and the USA; murals in Philadephia, USA; plus graffiti worldwide.

But back to the system of copying. Read more on the National Gallery website.

The National Portrait Gallery displays oil paintings, photos, caricatures and sculptures or people such as Shakespeare, the royal family, the Brontes, Churchill, and many more characters from history, science and the arts.

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

Pricking holes to copy a picture

http://www.npg.org.uk/learning/digital/portraiture/perspective-seeing-where-you-stand/drawing.php

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

Benjamin Franklin House in London

In Philadelphia, USA, I visited an exhibition on Benjamin Franklin who invented the lighting conductor and bifocals. He is the man I quote continually.

His face is familiar. Why? probably because you see him on American dollar notes. He was the founding father of the United States of America and lived in London from 1757 to 1775.

In London you can visit the Benjamin Franklin House. If you are planning a visit, or if you are not planning a visit anywhere except the internet, look at the website and watch a brief video about Benjamin's scientific studies on subjects such as The Gulf Stream.

I was reminded about the Benjamin Franklin House by a leaflet Around London, a little map of Inspiration, a free map from the National Trust, which lists 29 attractions in London.
ww.nationaltrust.org.uk
National Trust membership call 0344 800 1895

Benjamin Franklin House
Tel 020 7925 1405
Nearest station Charing Cross and Embankment
www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Remembrance War, Peace, Pacifist Memorials to visit UK, Europe, USA & Worldwide & Pacifist Memorial

Armistice Day has been observed since 1919. Traditionally at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. Nowadays you can hear the haunting sounds of the Last Post play every night at the Menin Gate in Belgium. Visit graves and memorials to the Great War battles. Glance at plaques as you pass through London underground and overground railway stations. Worldwide, join a jolly tour plunging into the water on a boat which was used in the D-day landings, as I did in New York and Philadelphia. Or simply join me touring the world as an armchair traveller through time.

Permanent Memorials
UK
Town Memorials
Most towns and village have war memorials, often in the middle of the town square. I can't list them all because there are more than 100,000.
www.greatwar.co.uk/organizations/war-memorials-trust

School Memorials
Lists of the fallen are on the walls of schools, such as Harrow School.

Transport Memorials
A memorial to members of London Transport is on Baker Street station. Take the Bakerloo south. Another memorial is at the arched entrance-exit of Waterloo station, Britain's biggest station.

London
Cenotaph, Whitehall, London.

London landmarks include the Polish war memorial. Go along the Western Avenue from the Target Roundabout. It's near RAF Northolt, which probably explains the location.

Museums:
RAF museum, Hendon.
Imperial War Museum, London. (This is where the ceramic poppies (originally placed around the Tower of London) will end up after touring.
Churchill War rooms, under London.

England
National Arboretum, Staffordshire, UK. Includes the Shot At Dawn memorial.
www.thenma.org.uk

Scotland
Edinburgh, monument at Edinburgh's Waverley Station. In 2014 a plaque was unveiled at Glasgow's Central Station.

Wales
Welsh National War Memorial, Cardiff.

France
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Belgium
Flanders
Menin Gate. Ypres.
In Flanders Fields museum, Ypres, Blegium.

Temporary - Armchair Travellers View These Online
Red poppies, ceramic, surrounding the Tower of London. One poppy for each person who died, UK and colonial (Commonwealth?) countries. 2014 until November.

Recurrent Annual Events
Remembrance Armistice Day
London. Wreath laying by the British royal family and members of parliament at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Two minutes of silence.
Parade.
Playing of last post.

Scotland
Edinburgh
Parade in Royal Mile on Remembrance Day.

Preserved Planes
Planes - spitfire at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, Middlesex.

Preserved Boats
You can take a tourist trip on WWII duck boats (amphibious vehicles on water and on land in WWIII) in the USA (New York and Philadelphia), London, and Singapore, and elsewhere, depending on weather.

Memorial in France.
Wikipedia.

Worldwide Sites
Australia: ANZAC memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney. Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.
Bangladesh
Brazil
Canada: Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa.
China
Czeck Republic.
Egypt: El Alamein cemetery, along the coast west of Cairo.
Gibraltar. American monument (arch with names). Outdoors. Accessible all year.
India. Bombay (Mumbai). India Gate.
Israel. Yad Vashem.
Italy
Japan (controversial)
Malaysia: War memorial looks like the American flag raising Iwo Jima, created by the same sculptor.
Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines: Manila American War Memorial and Cemetery.
Poland. Warsaw Ghetto. Auschwitz.
Portugal
Russia
Scotland: Spean Bridge Commando memorial.
Singapore: Kranji.
South Africa
Spain: Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid. (Valle de los Caidos.)
Turkey: Gallipoli.
UK Madingley American Cemetery, Cambridge. www.madingleyamericancemteryinfo
Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Coopers Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey. Tel 01784 433329. See Tripadvisor. wiki commonwealth_war_graves_memorials
Ukraine: Babi Yar, near Kiev.
USA: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA. Gettysburg.
American Battle Monuments Commission abmc warmemorialsandcemeteries

Heritage Plaques

Cemeteries with Memorials
El Alamein, Egypt

I am updating this post and will add more during today and later.

More Information From:
www.findagrave
www.wikipedia Somme
www.wikipedia war_memorials

You can do tours of Belgium and France which will help you visit the grave of your ancestor or the wall where their name is inscribed.

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