http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/ Mainly about Lewis Carroll en-us Nucleus CMS v3.33 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/ http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=238 Jurors - This Is Me

I'm in the middle of jury duty. I think I see myself as the frog in this scene of the jury from "Alice in Wonderland." Our court is a bit more modern than Lewis Carroll's and Tenniel's. The juror's room is a bit like an airport lounge, actually - except (as one of the other jurors said) you're not going anywhere nice at the end of it. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=238 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:47:03 +0100 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=236 Book Party
More here!]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=236 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:50:21 +0100 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=232
Some people have had a go at solving the clues, several of which are easier than others.
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I can't reproduce the whole poem because of copyright, but I'm putting one verse here. The word can be of any length and it begins with A and ends with G. It describes the family getting ready to be photographed - this would have been done outside, in the 1860s.

"But is it really here you mean
To group the family together?
You really must devise a screen -
The sun will bake us brown as leather!" [A----G]]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=232 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:12:59 +0100 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=230
Mythstories is a museum of stories, kept by storytellers Dez and Ali Quarrell. If you want to know how they make a museum out of stories, you'll have to go up to Wem, in Shropshire and see. If you can't do that, take a look at their new website. (If you are lucky enough to actually live in Shropshire, the site gives details of live events at the museum.)

Not only is Mythstories keeping alive many fine local stories, and wonderful traditional British tales, but they also have Asian stories - Gilgamesh, The Ramayana, etc. - and splendid French and Canadian tales, among others.

One of the people there - I think it's Dez - does nice illustrations to the stories. There are midi files attached to some of them which I am less keen on - I'm hoping they may one day find a local guitarist to donate some time to playing the tunes.

Their latest acquisition is a story jukebox, telling the local tale of Wild Edric. No, I don't know what a story jukebox is, though it looks pretty amazing from its picture. It'll be an excuse to go up to Shropshire and find out. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=230 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:25:17 +0100 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=228 Alice in Wonderland boots

I spotted these boots in one of the upmarket chains. They're called "Alice in Wonderland" boots, although I can't imagine why.

I've just come back from a short research trip, and have been looking at photos that Carroll took, as well as ones he bought and acquired from other photographers. I was struck by the peculiar shoes that children did wear then- very flat, almost like slippers, held on with a strap. Their little feet must have slipped out of them all the time. Of course nobody cared if their clothes were comfortable or convenient. Both boys and girls wore these shoes in early life, and, as is well known, both sexes were dressed the same until they were four or five.

The pictures that Carroll purchased and kept in an album did not include many of children, but there was one taken by O.G. Rejlander showing Hallam Tennyson, the poet's son. Hallam looked at least seven but he had long ringlets like a girl and was apparently wearing a pirate-style greatcoat. He was moodily lit, glaring centre left, and looked very splendid, brooding and distinctly odd, as though he was practising for a future role as lead romantic hero in "Wuthering Heights."

The picture did not show his boots, but it would have been interesting to see the rest of his outfit. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=228 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:52:14 +0100 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=225 At Crossness Pumping Station

Sometimes I forget how long ago Carroll really lived, and then something happens to remind me. Went to Crossness Pumping Station which had an open day yesterday. This monumental bit of Victorian engineering was the brainchild of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, maestro of Victorian sewerage. Because Crossness was built to deal with South London's sewage, thousands if not millions of people were saved from hideous death from cholera and typhoid.

I have seen unpublished Dodgson family letters which indicate how terrifying a spectre cholera was, and it is a threat which Carroll lived with until he was well into his thirties, or beyond - since Crossness was only opened in 1865.

Now, the biggest worry about Crossness is whether it will ever get restored - this massively impressive and important bit of industrial archaeology is still largely derelict, with sections of it restored by countless man hours of volunteers' work. I'm supporting them now at www.crossness.org.uk and I hope things will improve.

My biggest anxiety yesterday was actually Arthur, shown here as he scampered around in his special child-sized hard hat. The picture was taken about 30 feet off the ground, and the railings around the beam engines and up and down the stairs were not exactly childproof. But although he's very nimble, he's also always been very careful, and didn't tend to fall off things even as a toddler. So he was fine.]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=225 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:35:10 +0200 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=223 website. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=223 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:23:00 +0200 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=219
Carroll was well known to be (to put it rudely) a nitpicking fusspot, and yet the account showed him positively throwing his money around at times and running into the red as a result. It looks as if, when his bank statements arrived, he just binned them without bothering to read them.

The account is the only totally uncensored major document about him, and I hadn't realised before how important it was to find something which hadn't gone through the filter of his loving family. He comes over as a man who could be very careless and headstrong. It also shows that the controlled, fussy image he presented to the world, although partly true, was also a self-caricature.

Wonder what sort of child he was. A pest, I suspect, though probably a lovable and interesting one. He said almost nothing about his childhood, except to mention once that he had been a "detestable" little boy.

]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=219 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:20:23 +0200 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=217 becoming Lewis Carroll. His movie seems to have stalled, but I hope it gets made. I don't suppose Carroll was anything like Manson imagines him - the movie will be all about Manson, obviously, and Manson is a pretty interesting creative person.

Carroll's far more fascinating because even in his own lifetime he could reflect back what people wanted to see. And that applies even more now he's dead. So many people see themselves in him: he really is a figure in a looking glass. Because of this elusive quality he has, I have tried to relate everything I say about him to the facts.

Once I let go of the facts, it won't even be like staring into a looking glass - it will be like getting hopelessly lost in a hall of mirrors. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=217 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:27:05 +0200 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=214 The White Rabbit in Venice.

I've just spend a few days in Italy. In Venice, I decided to see how soon I could spot an "Alice" reference. There were innumerable carnival masks and amazing glass objets d'art in the shops but it didn't take long to spot a small White Rabbit coyly hiding amidst glass thimbles and masks. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=214 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:47:11 +0200