NEWS IN BRIEF FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 18 2007
By 24 Hour Museum Staff
12/11/2007
Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending November 18 2007. This page is updated every weekday.
16.11.2007 - Brooklands replaces its Model T with a Cadillac
Henry Ford may have made a name for himself as the pioneer of mass-production with his famous Model T, but Brooklands Museum has replaced its loaned example of that car with an even earlier product of the mass-producer’s art, a 1904 Cadillac.
While Cadillac may have become the epitome of style and glamour amongst the rich and famous of the USA from the 1930s onwards, the model on show in the Motoring Village at Brooklands does not share the luxury fittings of the winged fin-and-chrome monsters of the 1950s and 60s.
Its air conditioning is provided by the absence of a roof, and the in-car entertainment system would to be hard to be heard against the “putter, putter, putter”, of the single-cylinder 8¼ horsepower horizontal engine.
The elegant if slightly rustic Cadillac (which was driven by Museum volunteers in the recent London-to-Brighton veteran car run) has been lent to the Museum by Dave Starks, who also owns the Model T which it has replaced on show.
A collection of theatrical memorabilia given to the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection by Arnold Ridley, one of the stars of the legendary BBC TV comedy series, Dad's Army, has been catalogued online for the first time.
Arnold Ridley OBE (1896-1984) is probably best known for his role as the mild mannered Private Godfrey in Dad's Army who spends much of his time asking if he can "be excused." He was also author of the play The Ghost Train and played the role of Doughy Hood in the radio soap The Archers.
The archive was given to the theatre archive by Ridley's son, Nicholas Ridley, after his father's death and includes over thirty play scripts, as well as programmes, handbills, posters, news cuttings and production autographs.
15.11.2007 - New dinosaur unearthed in Natural History Museum collection
A previously unknown family of dinosaur has been discovered by a University of Portsmouth researcher at the Natural History Museum.
Mike Taylor, a PhD student, spotted an unusual looking bone while carrying out research in the Natural History Museum's Palaeontology Department's dinosaur collection.
'It leapt out at me as being different,' said Taylor. 'I've spent the last five years doing nothing but looking at sauropod vertebrae and I immediately realised it was something strange.'
The find is a new sauropod, a member of a group of dinosaurs recognisable by their large bodies, long necks and small heads. It lived about 140 million years ago and has been named Xenoposeidon, which roughly translates to mean 'alien sauropod'.
The bone has been in the Museum's collections since its discovery in the early 1890s in Ecclesbourne Glen, near Hastings, by fossil collector Philip James Rufford.
15.11.2007 - Dartford town centre gets grant for Heritage re-vamp
A scheme to restore the unique architecture of Dartford’s town centre has been launched.
The £2million Townscape Heritage Initiative, funded by Dartford Borough Council, Heritage Lottery fund and the Department of Communities and Local Government aims to restore lost original features in the town centre’s conservation area.
Officers have identified 47 properties as potentially eligible for grant aid under the THI scheme. The kind of work eligible for aid includes building repairs, reinstatement of features and bringing vacant floor space back into use.
15.11.2007 - Plans afoot to open Rimbaud and Verlaine's Camden home as Museum
The former home in Camden of 19th century French poets and ill-fated gay lovers, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, is set to be opened as a museum and poetry-themed arts centre.
Rimbaud and his lover Verlaine fled Paris for London in 1872 amid controversy about their love affair. One of the houses the couple stayed in during their tempestuous time in London has been bought by a businessman who intends to restore it and open it as a centre promoting the work of the two poets.
Poet in the City, a charity committed to attracting new audiences to poetry and raising money to support poetry education has become involved in the scheme and plans are afoot to raise money for the venture.
14.11.2007 - Kettles Yard celebrates 50 years with literary anthology
To celebrate 50 years as an art gallery and collection of modern art, Kettles Yard in Cambridge is to publish an anthology of new poetry and prose edited by poet Tamar Yoseloff.
A ‘Room to Live In’ is a celebration of one of the most unique places in British art. Formerly the Cambridge home of collector and curator Jim Ede, today Kettles Yard combines a contemporary art space with a domestic interior and is home to works by artists such as Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Alfred Wallis.
Contributors who have written poems or reflections for the anthology include Allen Bennett, Fred D’Aguiar, Elaine Feinstein, Ruth Padel and Ali Smith. A room to Live In is published by Salt Publishing in hardback on November 30 2007 at £12.99.
14.11.2007 - It's a tree love-in at Tatton Park!
Visitors to Tatton Park’s award-winning gardens on November 24 and 25 2007 are being advised to expect open displays of affection amongst Tatton’s trees.
Two Tatton volunteers and professional tree huggers, Ken and Fran Frodsham, will be running fun ‘Hug a Tree’ tours in the gardens in support of the Tree Council’s National Tree Week November 21 to December 2 2007.
"We want people to take a moment in their daily lives to pause and appreciate the natural world around them," said Fran. "There is also a spiritual and therapeutic element to tree-hugging which we hope to draw out on our fun tours."
Tree hugging sessions take place on Saturday and Sunday November 24 and 25 2007 at 11.30am and 1.30pm. Numbers are limited to 20 people per tour on a strictly first come, first served basis. £1.50 per person, plus normal park and garden entry charges apply. Visitors are advised to bring suitable footwear, warm clothes and waterproofs.
14.11.2007 - British Library scoops £2.4m for its Business Development Centre
The London Development Agency (LDA), which provided the initial £1million funding to enhance the British Library's Business Development Centre, has announced £2.4million to fund the further development of the facility and its services.
The LDA sees 'knowledge capital' becoming increasingly important in the 21st century 'knowledge economy' and protection and exploitation of these intangible assets as crucial in the global marketplace.
"Such a wealth of resources all under one roof has made the Centre the first port of call for UK’s budding entrepreneurs," said the British Library’s Chief Executive, Lynne Brindley. "It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of our economy is being shaped right here at the British Library."
13.11.2007 - £600,000 investment secured to enhance Enniskillen Castle
Fermanagh County Museum and The Inniskillings Regimental Museum have secured £600,000 to develop displays in the historic keep at Enniskillen Castle.
The Inniskillings Museum has raised £500,000 to develop its story in the upper two floors of the castle and has attracted £225,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and £194,997 from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB). The money will be spent on a new layout for their exhibitions.
Fermanagh County Museum has been awarded grants of £500,000 from a variety of sources including £25,000 from the HLF and £50,000 from the NITB. They will use the money to develop the Medieval Maguires and Gaelic story of the castle.
The Castle Keep will be closed from December 1 2007 until Summer 2008 to allow the refurbishment work to take place.
13.11.2007 – Public called on to vote on Highland museum site
Highlanders are being called on to voice their opinions on the site for a major Highland gallery and museum almost three times the size of the recently improved Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (IMAG).
Three alternative city centre sites have been proposed, and public views are sought at a meeting on November 14 at Inverness Town Hall, or via a leaflet and survey you can pick up at IMAG.
13.11.2007 - Culture Minister defers export of beautiful devotional painting by Domenico Zampieri
An exquisite 1603 painting of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ has been export deferred by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge to provide a last chance to raise the money to keep Domenico Zampieri’s Pietà in the United Kingdom.
Considered to be one of the greatest Italian Baroque paintings in the country, the quality of the painting is an early demonstration that Domenico would go on to succeed his master as the leader of the classical school of painting in Rome.
The decison on the export licence application will be deferred for a period ending on January 12 2008 inclusive. It follows a decison to defer the export of another important painting, Lake of Lucerne by J M W Turner. The latter will be deferred until January 11 2008.
12.11.2007 - Schoolchildren learn about Cockleshell Heroes at Maritime Museum
School Pupils were at the Maritime Museum in Falmouth last week to remember WWII Cockleshell Heroes almost 65 years after the success of the World War II ‘Operation Frankton’.
The group of primary school children from Camborne visited the museum in Cornwall to discover more about the British heroes behind the mission and get involved in number of practical activities including a canoeing lesson off the Museum’s pontoon.
They were also able to see and touch an original example of a WWII commando canoe and recreate the incredible story using their own digital animation in a creative workshop.
Operation Frankton was launched on December 7 1942, when 10 Royal Marine Commandos were dropped off the coast of Bordeaux. From there they paddled 70 miles upriver in five Cockle Mark II canoes, laying low by day and paddling by night. Tragically, only two of the canoes reached the harbour but the four remaining men successfully accomplished their mission of bombing the merchant ships.
Sir Winston Churchill believed the mission shortened the war by six months and it was also deemed as the “most courageous and imaginative of all the raids ever carried out by the men of Combined Operations Commands” by Admiral the Earl Mountbatten.
12.11.2007 - Oxford College seeks new role for historic church
A theological college in Oxford is struggling to find a future for a late masterpiece by the architect, George Frederick Bodley - the Grade I-listed St John the Evangelist Chapel.
The chapel is the largest of three places of worship entrusted to the care of St Stephen’s House, a theological college of Oxford University, but the demands of caring for three historic chapels in a small college community are becoming increasingly difficult and St Stephen’s House has been forced to consider alternative uses.
“This is an extraordinary situation,” said David Garrard, Historic Churches Adviser of the Victorian Society. “A college with three separate chapels is rare enough. Add to that the fact that one of these is a Grade I-listed masterpiece by the leading church architect of the late 19th century and you can see how unusual the dilemma facing St Stephen’s House is. The college should be congratulated on having managed to keep all three chapels going for over 25 years.”
Among the alternatives being considered for St John the Evangelist are converting the church into a library or into a venue for exhibitions and events. However the outstanding quality of the building means that any changes to its layout must be approached with sensitivity.
12.11.2007 - Lord Mayor’s Golden Coach faces £1 million MOT bill
Following its latest outing taking the new Lord Mayor David Lewis from Guildhall to the Royal Courts of Justice and back, on Saturday the 250 year old golden State Coach is in need of a major overhaul.
Now the City of London Corporation faces an MoT bill of £1/2 million (plus labour) to keep the world’s oldest regularly used vehicle on the road – and appearing as the star attraction in the annual Lord Mayor’s Show.
Under the seven year phased renovation (which will not stop the State Coach being used every year in the Lord Mayor’s Show on the second Saturday of November), the wooden and iron frame will be repaired, the gilded carvings restored and hand-painted exterior panels renovated.
New lights for the inside will cost £10,000 and repairing the brakes £20,000. The estimated cost of the works in 2007 prices are £425,000 plus staff costs. A further £250,000 will be spent on the upkeep of 19th century coaches also used in the Show.
