Tonight, London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night (therefore Funzing) had an interesting-sounding talk about Black Tudors: Three Untold Stories. Seeing as how I missed a Funzing talk a while back, because I couldn't find the venue, and they offered to book me on another for free.. albeit it was weeks ago.. I emailed to see whether the offer still stood. And they got back to me - after the weekend - to say that of course it did! Nice one. A hop, skip and jump from the office, too.
During the day, Helen emailed to inform me that it was London History Day! Well, another thing I never heard of. London is crammed full of them. Nonetheless, as I said to her, I felt that what I was doing qualified. Anyway, being in the less-than-salubrious surrounds of the Lighthouse, it was - according to Google - an 11-minute walk from the office, which meant I could leave nice and late. And, you know, get some stuff done - very short on time, these days.
So, an easy walk down there - it might be my dissatisfaction with my current accommodation, but it seems that these days all I notice around here is grime - and this part of town is rife with it. Well, I guess it's historically accurate, all the same..
So, I eventually came to the dingy Lighthouse, where I decided I was in time to order a drink. It was my misfortune that the person in front of me ordered cocktails, and the barman was one of those who absolutely can't do more than one thing at a time. It was five minutes - I counted - before he got around to my very quick order. Well, I was still upstairs in time - and it was a good job that I knew where I was going, because once inside, there were no directions.
Upstairs, with its typically non-open bar, a convivial mc checked my name off the list, and advised me that there were seats at the front - it was nearly full. Our speaker for the evening was equally jolly, obviously passionate about her subject: and flogging copies of her book, tidily arranged on the non-functional bar.
As she explained, in the course of her research, she discovered records of around 200 black people, living in Great Britain in Tudor times - baptism, marriage, and burial records primarily. But there were more famous examples, such as a trumpeter for Henry VIII, and various servants to famous people of the time. She's apparently covered 10 in the book, and tonight's talk focused on three..
The first was a diver, brought to England to dive for the treasures of the Mary Rose. It seems that few English people of the time could swim, but an English trader in Mauretania noticed that the locals were most proficient at diving for pearls, and thought that their skills could be useful, so brought them to England for this very purpose.
The second was a Moroccan woman, brought to London as a child and placed into service. Her story had her being baptised - as the speaker pointed out, being baptised into the Church of England was, in those days, the only way to become a full member of society. She started off working for an Englishman that traded heavily with North Africa, then for his widow, and finally for another English lady.. the speaker explained that a common route for black people to come to England was in the household of someone who had business in Africa.
Finally, there was a most interesting chap called Edward Swarthye, who likely came back with Drake from the raids on Panama, attacking the Spanish silver trains. She showed us a close-up of the Drake jewel, depicting a prominent black figure, with a white man in the background, which she speculated was indicative of the cooperation between the English and the local blackamoors, united against the conquistadores. Anyway, this chap ended up in the service of an English nobleman, and in a most unusual scene, it was recorded that his master ordered him to whip another, white, servant for neglecting his duties!
With all of this, she made an important point - there was no slavery in England at this time, these people were all free. Someone asked, in the Q+A afterwards, what it was that brought forth the overt racism of the 18th century, where, for example, she told the disturbing story of a nine-year-old black girl who ran away from her employer. Others in the community took her in and arranged for her baptism - however, her former employer got wind of the plan, showed up on the day, and dragged her out kicking and screaming, declaring that this was her servant and would do as she was ordered! Of course, as the speaker said, the rot set in with the expanse of empire, when plantations were formed that required slave labour, and the British started to think of their conquered subjects as chattels. Pragmatically. In Tudor times, that hadn't yet happened - foreigners were still considered as equals, to be traded with rather than exploited.
Someone asked whether she'd considered going even further back - goodness, she said, finding evidence from the Tudor period was hard enough! She'd met a PhD student who'd taken on the subject of black people in England in medieval times, and suffered a mental breakdown.. whether it was because of the subject matter, she really couldn't say.. But what a fascinating evening! She begged us to take the rest of the books off her hands so she wouldn't have to carry them home. I didn't have cash - and anyway, it's cheaper on Kindle!
Paid a quick trip to the loo before I left, where I was lucky to grab the one and only cubicle, apparently, that had paper! Not toilet paper, mind - someone had thoughtfully left a pile of napkins in there. And I only took that one because I couldn't get the door closed of another.. oh, why does everything around here have to be so damned scruffy?! Oh, and we got lucky for the first half of the talk - but by the end, the band had started up just downstairs, to the obvious discomfort of the speaker. I've said it before, this is a terrible venue for a talk.
Anyway, tomorrow, back with the London European Club (LEC) for yet more music! The London Jazz Meetup also has an event on that night, but the LEC's sounds better on YouTube - part of the Songlines Encounters Festival at King's Place, and they're doing the double bill for the evening, which scores a 20% discount. (30% off if you book for three events in the festival, but I'm unlikely to do that.)
On Saturday, it's a film - would you believe it, with none of the films at the very top of the list showing over the weekend, A Quiet Place - which has held a high rating for ages now - finally came to the top! Awesome - I've been dying to see it. Stars Emily Blunt and her real-life husband, John Krasinski, who also directs - they're trying to keep their family safe in a dystopian future where something is stalking them that hunts by sound. Supposed to be terrifically suspenseful - the best kind. And it's showing near me, in the Vue Islington! which means it'll be the fourth day in a row that I can walk. Need the exercise. My leg felt tight this evening, but I think I need to get it moving. The only showing that day is very late - but what the hey, it's Saturday! I booked it, as it's cheaper on the website - and it certainly is the least I've paid in years for a cinema ticket.
On Sunday, a film called Raazi has slipped into the top spot - it does actually look good, but the closest it's on is in Vue Westfield Stratford City, at 10pm. A bit far out, for one so late. Instead, I've decided to accompany Anthony's Cultural Events and Walking Activities Group to the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival.
We've got a colleague visiting from abroad on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm leaving those days free. Then I'm back with London Literary Walks at last on Wednesday, for another Sculpture in the City walk.
Next Thursday is the company's monthly social - this month, it's in Junkyard Golf Club. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
On the 11th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for the first time in weeks! Another performance of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical - different every night. At the Lyric again.
On the 12th, another Funzing talk - Inside North Korea. I see the code crazy_fun is still getting a 10% discount. Oh, and by the way, the mc made the same mistake tonight that they always do - the loyalty scheme does NOT give you your sixth event for free, you get a discount equal to the smallest amount of money you paid for one of the previous five..
On the 13th, London Literary Walks is taking us to A Circus School and Shakespeare's Dark Lady.
On the 14th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - at the Bridge Theatre this time, for My Name is Lucy Barton, starring Laura Linney. I got the very last £15 seat!
And on the 15th, would you credit it, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts! to see Monogamy, at the Park Theatre. Well, it sounds interesting - and they've sold their allocation for this showing, so we're free to buy our own (gee). My good God, it's August since I was last with them..
Tonight, back with London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night, for a Funzing talk. This time, the talk was entitled "Can You Trust the Media?", and was given by Annie Machon, who gave an interesting talk last month on Russian Hacking. Another 30% discount. I just wish she'd use some visual aids.. At the Lighthouse again, terrific. :-/
Well, at least this time I wasn't rushing. Last time, I had to take the Tube, then trek from Old Street - hit up for money on the way. This time, praise be, I had time to take the bus; get on a short walk from the office, get off just a short walk from the bar. Great! The area might be colourful, but it's not pleasant for a casual stroll.
Into the bar, then - and as I was having a look around, was hailed from the side I wasn't looking at. There was a Funzing gal, with a table and loyalty cards - which reminded me! So now I have another, fully stamped card, whoopee. They did have a thing where you didn't have to have a physical card, just email them, 'coz they'd have the details. I notice that died a death. Anyway, she went through the whole thing about how to claim my free talk. Then gave me another voucher - Funzing30 seems to be in vogue again.
She also kindly informed me that there were bars on both levels, so I decided to avoid the travails of carrying a drink upstairs. At the upstairs bar, a fellow beside me was kindly asking all the questions - as I pointed out to him - that I also needed answers to. Basically, there's a £10 minimum on cards (must've known that before, but forgotten. Or maybe I had cash.) Now, a large glass of wine only costs £8.50, and they don't do snacks. However.. a bottle only costs £10. (!) Guess what we both did..
And so I took my seat, and in due course the talk began (no visual aids, gee). She is, as before, a great speaker. Someone in charge did decide that she was too softly spoken, and at some point increased the volume on the mic quite dramatically. But aside from that, we were well occupied in listening to her.
Everybody knows - or should - that you can't trust the media. "Believe none of what you read, and half of what you see", as the saying goes. This idea seemed to come as a shock to some in the audience - I guess there are always ingénues. Mind you, I knew the maxim by the age of 12 - haven't always abided by it, but I am well familiar with the concept. A lot of her talk dealt with her personal experience, which made it interesting; she had plenty to say about how she and her partner, David Shayler, quit M15 and sold their whistleblowing story to the press. They chose the Mail on Sunday, figuring that the Guardian would be too obvious a choice - people would be too dismissive of the story if it were printed there. They then went on the run around Europe. Unfortunately, their big breaking story coincided with.. the death of Diana! God, she's everywhere.. even on the bloody news when I got home! I don't know whether she was as annoying as a person as the news coverage of her has been.. Anyway, that was the end of their breaking news.
She gave us a potted history of fake news, starting all the way back in 1924, with something called the Zinoviev letter. Published by the Daily Mail, it purported to be evidence of a Russian plot to put Labour in power in Britain. (Gosh, does that sound at all familiar?) All concocted by the Tories, of course. Fast-forward to the Iraq war - Tony Blair, and his desperate attempt to convince everyone that the "enemy" had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Just so that everyone could attack Iraq, in retaliation for 9/11.. which they had nothing to do with. (But they did have oil!)
And so to the present day - with the founder of Amazon buying the Washington Post, and fake news proliferating over the 'net.. the most interesting tidbit of information for me tonight was that a company called Cambridge Analytica was behind the election campaigns of both Farage and Trump! Ah, now that explains a lot. Seems they use online social media behaviour to micro-profile certain individuals, then use targeted advertising to get them to do whatever they want.. like voters in swing states, for example. And you know something, I believe every word, for the following reason; were I in charge, that is. Exactly. What. I. Would. Do. It's logical, it's efficient, and with modern hi-tech, it's perfectly possible.
Mind you, beware of Trump-bashing.. as she said, it's an interesting theory that all the anti-Trump rhetoric coming out (and some has been extreme) is because he's friendly with Russia, and someone doesn't want him to be.. and you know why I think that's plausible? Look at the Reds Under the Beds attitude that the US government adopted, within living memory, and tell me that this is different.
So, a thought-provoking talk. Only problem was the blasted noise from the full-volume band, clearly audible downstairs - why do Funzing constantly run talks in unsuitable venues like this?? A fascinated crowd engaged her in lively discussion afterwards, and hung around even after the Q+A to discuss things. Me, after two glasses I'd had my money's worth - I was entitled to another free drink, but said enough! Two for £10 is good value. And I wended my way home, by bus again, entertained by an Asian-looking guy who complained to the driver that he bumped his head when the driver stopped abruptly, and by a gay guy down the back, who by the sound of it was trying to come on to another guy who was not only straight, but actually accompanied by his significant other! See now, you just don't get this level of entertainment on the Tube..
Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. On Monday, I'm finally going to see Dreamgirls, at the Savoy, courtesy of Amazon Tickets.
On Tuesday, I was back with the Scarlet Ladies for a talk on Generation Sex. Until Let's Do This advertised a concert that sounds really good.. at the Apples & Pears Bar. Hey, I do allow myself to change if something sounds better.. and as I say, the Scarlet Ladies are not my kind of ladies.
On Wednesday, I'm with another new group - North London Friends - for an interview with Michael Palin, at the Knowledge Centre Theatre at the British Library. I was really torn, though - the London European Club is off to an early music concert the same night, and I do love that - but had already booked this, and it is Michael Palin. Hey-ho..
Next Thursday, I was back with North London Friends, and another talk on Fake News - different speaker, mind! This is the Fulbright Commission annual lecture, at the British Library. However, much more attractively, Let's Do This are reviving what used to be a regular Man with the Hat event - we're off to St. Martin-in-the-Fields, for some Vivaldi concertos. With a discount, yet! London Concertante, as usual.
On the 8th September, until the other day I was still technically booked for free comedy in Hammersmith with DiscoverLDN.UK. But, as I say - good atmosphere, but the comedy is usually pretty bad. I was saved - again - by Up in the Cheap Seats, who are off to see Doubt, a Parable, in Southwark Playhouse. Aww.. it's so long since I was there, and I have so many good memories of it from my time with the Man with the Hat!
On the 9th September, Helen and I have our 25km sponsored walk, in aid of Haslemere's Cat Protection Society. We're going as Dick Whittington and his cat, respectively, and the route is the Thames Bridges Trek. You can donate here.. Got a pair of Skechers Go Walk 4s today, woo! Dying to try them out now.
Which will tire me out nicely, just in time for my flight to Prague the next morning! I'm at a conference there, Sunday to Tuesday. (What a nice company I work for!) Gee, but I love Prague - most beautiful city I've ever seen, and I've seen a few. They're putting me up at a nice hotel too, just down the road.
So, I fly back on the 12th September, and on the 13th I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at Sadler's Wells, for the Hofesh Schechter Company grand finale.
On the 14th September, I was at another talk with Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts - this one, at Southwark Cathedral, is about the River Effra, South London's Secret Spine. Another free Eventbrite event, this is to publicise a book about the subject, and the talk is again given by the author. Another thing that had no tickets, then it did (no notification)! Now I've changed though, and will be off with Up in the Cheap Seats to Loot, at the Park Theatre. Got the last £20 ticket, yay! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
On the 18th September, I was off to Showstopper! at the Lyric. Ticket courtesy of From the Box Office again. I have actually seen this before - but, being an improvised musical, it literally is different every time! But you'll never guess - the Crick Crack Club finally announced their autumn schedule last Friday, and now, that night, I'm off to Eaten Father, Eaten Mother by Ben Haggerty. In Soho Theatre, first time in ages.
On the 19th September, back with the Scarlet Ladies, for a talk entitled 100 Women - Their Breasts, Their Stories. Although actually, if I didn't like the other night's, I think I'll hate this - will be looking for alternatives.
On the 20th September, Funzing (same two groups) and Jennifer Rees again - this time, a fun talk about the Psychology of Batman Villains! The first of hers for which I managed to get a 30% discount.. and it's on nice and close to me again. Seems to be a feature of her talks!
On the 21st September, it was free comedy in Hammersmith - with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich, Random London, and DiscoverLDN.UK. But yay, I have my alternative at last! Going to some comedy I have to pay for, which will probably be better. Mae Martin is at Soho Theatre. Advertised by a group called Moxie Ladies.. good luck to them, but as they charge extra, I'm going solo.
And on the 22nd September, the same free comedy - with DiscoverLDN.UK. I rather doubt it though - don't you?
On the 23rd September, I was to do the same, but am now headed to the launch of Rob Luft's new album, Riser, at King's Place. As advertised by The London Jazz Meetup. I finally ended up paying their membership fee after booking an event with them the other day, for November, which someone is attending that I know. So I figured it was wiser!
I had booked the same free comedy, with the same group, on the 24th September, but was again saved - this time, by the World Music Meetup! They're off to see Kefaya, in Nell's Jazz and Blues bar, back in my old stomping ground of North End Road! Happy days, when I was working there..
On the 25th September, a group called Theatre and Stuff is off to see Prism, at Hampstead Theatre. They're charging extra to go with them, though - so I happily bought my own ticket. What the hey, odds are I won't know any of them anyway.
On the 26th September, I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats - to see Wings, at The Young Vic. Accidentally booked standing, I think.. :-/
On the 27th September, with Up in the Cheap Seats again - for Jekyll & Hyde, presented by the National Youth Theatre, at the Ambassadors Theatre.
On the 28th September, with another new group: London, Surrey and Beyond.. for an event called "A Unique Experience. Olde Pub, Gerry's Private Club, 2 'i's Famous Fish 'n' Chips". Which says it all, really! Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend again.
On the 2nd October, I had booked at Hampstead Theatre, for No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution. North London Friends are attending - and charging extra, so I was going it alone! But now it turns out I'm spending the week in the Stockholm office - back on the 8th.
On the 3rd October, it was free comedy in Hammersmith - nominally. With Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich. So, that was easy to cancel, for Stockholm!
On the 4th October was Up in the Cheap Seats and Labour of Love, with Martin Freeman, at the Noel Coward Theatre. Cheapest tickets from the venue, for once!
On the 5th October, same group - headed to see the Company Wayne McGregor, at Sadler's Wells.
And finally! on the 6th October, headed to see Chekhov's The Seagull, at the Lyric. Third night in a row for that group - almost as busy a group as I am a person! So, four things in all I had to cancel, without refund.. what the hey, I'll doubtless be saving money in Stockholm! Expenses paid, after all.
On the 9th October, I'm finally going to see the show so many people have asked me whether I'm seeing. Ink is showing at the Duke of York's Theatre.
And on the 10th October, I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Ballet Boyz at Sadler's Wells.
So, further to my earlier post: well, I did make my later flight - the cheapest option that would get me back in time for this evening's Funzing talk: Are We Living In the Matrix? Courtesy of London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @Night. The nice lady at the BA desk suggested that, for a new flight, I'd do better online, and sure enough, Skyscanner came to my rescue with a FlyBe flight at 4.40pm. I booked that on my phone, but was unable to print out the boarding pass, of course - the "helpful" site said I could print it at the self-service kiosks: but none of them gave that airline as an option! So, as previously described, I hunkered down in Starbucks for half the day, writing my blog for last night and charging my phone, while I waited for check-in to open for my flight, so I could get a human to print it for me.
Finished the blog, went to the loo, got the boarding pass, went through security. I'm not surprised the BA lady wouldn't let me check in late, it's so far to the gates.. No wonder people hate airports. Found the gate - nothing happening. Trekked back to the last place I saw food - I was hungry. This turned out to be a vending machine, from which I got a packet of Maltesers. Came back to the gate, found a seat that was too hot - from the sun pouring in the windows. Ate Maltesers - yum. Plane was too small for the airbridge:
I'd been worried about getting an exit row on my BA flight - no such worries here, none were exits! (bar first and last rows of the plane). The twin props made for a very noisy flight - but we also flew quite low (thank goodness the weather was good!), and it was interesting, flying so low that we could see ships on the sea below. With that and the propellers, it was quite reminiscent of Dunkirk! Less bombing today, thankfully. Lovely staff - this was my first time flying with them. I ordered a wine and some more Maltesers - with plenty of Euro cash, I would've used that, until I saw what they were using as the exchange rate! Bloody hell, there's no way £4.70 is currently worth €7! I paid in Sterling - be warned.
I had to be impressed with the exit from London City Airport.. as I entered security, I'd seen a board advertising a DLR leaving in six minutes, thought "I'll never make that". By the time I exited security and headed up to the platform, it was due in two minutes! Now, that's definitely the fastest I've ever exited an airport. Pity I'd forgotten to touch in, and had to head down again to do that.. still made it, though!
A breezy trip on the DLR gave way to a stifling trip on the Tube - and that was just on the platform, even the crowded carriage was airier. I have to say, though, heading through Bank in this direction is a lot faster. Made it home just as my mother decided I'd left it too long before ringing her, and she rang me instead.. Just had time to change (phew!) before heading out again. I decided that the Northern Line was wisest, since it was apparently the fastest. Got out at Old Street for the revised venue of the Lighthouse Bar.
Amazingly, the exit map hadn't been vandalised, and I could easily tell which exit I needed. I have to say though, it was a culture shock, coming straight from Amsterdam to this. Scruffier buildings, rubbish all over the place - and in the brief walk from station to bar, I was hit on (unsuccessfully) for money. And had abuse shouted at me when I walked away. I did notice that about Amsterdam - despite me walking back late at night on multiple occasions, there were no homeless, no beggars. Hmm.
The Lighthouse bar is easy to spot, with its garish blue, adorned with coloured lights. The lady at the door had loyalty cards - gosh, I thought they'd been done away with! I got one of mine signed, for all the good it'll do.. got a drink at the bar, and made my way upstairs, where I was the first to arrive. Apart from the speaker.
The place filled up reasonably, and - typically, half an hour after the advertised time - he began. Oh dear. So, it seems he's a lecturer. In computer science. This wasn't so much of a talk as a philosophy class. Not five minutes in, I was wanting to leave - some did, but I wasn't close enough to the door! You know, back in the day, when I was studying a form of maths, there were two things that were fashionable for maths students to do; one was to play chess (which I did, and still happily do), the other was to join the philosophy society, which I never did. Tonight was a perfect illustration of why.
Philosophy as a concept is just fantastic. The examination of the human condition, why we think the way we do, examining our prejudices and preconceptions - wonderful. However, I've never found it to work that way. Tonight, what we got was a rather smug academic, encouraging a rambling, unfocused discussion rather than giving any direction, and eventually chiming in, when he felt things were going a bit pear-shaped. His "arguments" were illogical and inconsistent (perhaps, to some extent, because he didn't want to use technical terminology), and I knew I'd better leave when I found myself disagreeing with literally every pronouncement that came out of his mouth. These weren't suggestions, you understand, but dictats. Reminded me of religion, with the Principles of Philosophy as the Creed, and him as the high priest. Thou mayst disagree, but thou shalt be wrong!! Yeah. I left at the break, and was grateful. I practically ran.
At least leaving early gave me time to shop, eat, blog, and it's still not quite bedtime! Tomorrow, another Funzing talk (same groups) - I finally get to see Jennifer Rees again, when she's giving a talk on The Psychology of Criminals. With dim sum, great! (Had to stick with a 10% discount for this one - Fun_Day10 or Fun_Week10 are the ones you want for that.) And it's walking distance from me for once, in Covent Garden. She's a fantastic and engaging speaker. Excellent.. and Helen has sensibly decided to come too. On which occasion she'll deliver all the stuff I couldn't fit in my bag, coming back from Twickenham!
I was just looking up what to do on Wednesday - and wouldn't you know it, at that moment the Pop-Up Opera sent me a mail with upcoming events. Une Éducation Manquée is a short, French comic opera, whose run finishes that day. All right then!
On Thursday, my first Meetup with Up in the Cheap Seats, one of several new groups I've joined to fill the great void left by the sad departure of the Man with the Hat. We're off to see The Tempest, with Simon Russell Beale, at the Barbican - who, unusually, posted my ticket to me. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
And next Monday, back with Let's Do This for a vintage swing jazz evening at Wilton's.
