Arms and the Man

Arma virumque cano  (of arms and the man I sing) as Virgil puts it so succinctly in the Aeneid. A reader tells me a schoolboy hazarded this translation: “I sing of arms, men and dogs, sir”. I cannot sing but I do want to flaunt my Arms. The late Sir Iain Moncreiffe in Simple Heraldry, Cheerfully Illustrated provides inspiration in this cartoon. (Note that the car has a flat tyre.)

I have my Arms on a bone china dinner service. While it would be at home in the dining room of a Stately Home it does not look out of place in my modest kitchen. It is often admired: “I suppose you inherited that”; “I must get that made for my sons”. Such a project would have been ridiculously extravagant until Xavier China came along. I’m now thinking of getting a racehorse and commissioning another service in my racing colours – that really would be extravagant.

A Headstone in Margravine Cemetery

Crest: a bull’s head caboshed Sable charged on the forehead with the sign of Taurus as in the arms. Escutcheon: Sable three astronomical signs of Taurus Or. Motto: Hitherto.

This is the Arms of the Bull family. Sir William Bull (1863 – 1931) is buried in Margravine Cemetery. He was a Conservative MP from 1900 until 1929, was knighted in 1905, became a member of the Privy Council in 1918 and created a Baronet in 1922. Wikipedia adds: “he sat on the committees that oversaw the repairs to the Palace of Westminster and for the creation of what would eventually become the Channel Tunnel“. That seems a bit far-fetched and Wiki provides no corroboration.

Earlier this year I met John Martin Robinson, a prolific architectural author and inter alia Maltravers Herald Extraordinary, an honour of which I am vert with envy. There was a Maltravers Herald in the 16th century but the post disappeared until the Duke of Norfolk revived it in 1887. The holder is a royal herald, not an officer of the College of Arms but nevertheless gets to wear the kit. Doesn’t John Martin Robinson look splendid?

There have only been six holders of the title in modern times, one of which was Sir William Bull. Strange that such a signal honour should be omitted from his entry in Wikipedia. However, it is recorded on his headstone in Margravine Cemetery.

Sir William saw service in the First World War serving with the Bushmen, a volunteer unit raised in the Shepherds Bush area.

Wexford Festival Opera

Come rain, come shine, often the former, it’s a gas going to Wexford. I am a neophyte, only going since 2005. This year we set off in high spirits from Dublin airport, mistakenly turned off the motorway and proceeded at a stately pace through the centre of Dublin, preceded by a hearse. It was a cunning ploy by the navigator – she claimed to be disorientated after dining with the Loriners the previous evening – as we arrived at The Pigeon House in Clontarf, when they open for lunch at noon. The menu is achingly cool. I had nduja and smoked scamorza. Unless you hang out in hipster joints in LA and NY you may not know what was on my plate.

Conversely, the menu at The Lobster Pot, where we went for lunch the next day, was the same as every other year; good comfort food. The sort of scoff that ensures I go to sleep in Act I. I contend if you say you have never slept in an opera you are a liar. I call my first witness: Charles Villiers Stanford. CVS saw Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth in 1876, its first performance. He thought it was much too long and noted that Franz Liszt, sitting in front of him, spent much time “in the welcoming arms of Morpheus”.

This year we saw Don Quichotte (Massenet) and Dorilla in Tempe (Vivaldi). The Wexford programme observes ” it is an irony that much of the world’s best-loved Spanish music comes with a ‘Made in France’ label attached. From Chabrier’s España onwards, the French orchestral repertoire is saturated in Hispanic sun and shade”. Carmen and L’Heure espagnole come to mind. We enjoyed it hugely and evaded Morpheus’s embrace, almost.

Early opera is an acquired taste. Vivaldi claimed to have composed ninety-four operas. Today the scores of just fifty are extant. I knew what I was in for because Garsington put on a slew of Vivaldi – not a success. They were charmed with the idea of L’Olimpiade in 2012 and it was a band wagon onto which they should not have jumped.

The operas we missed are a double bill: La Cucina (Andrew Synnott, born 1970) and Adina (Gioachino Rossini, born 1792).  I remember Piers Synnott, a prolific snuff sniffer whose coat had an astrakhan solar liberally anointed with same – might they be related? La Cucina is a prelude to Rossini’s opera; I hope it whetted the Wexford audience’s appetite – it is set in a kitchen.

Blake Memorial Cross

I wrote about the Blake memorial in December 2017; if you missed the post or have forgotten it you can read it here. The inscription was indistinct but now it is being restored with the help of a National Lottery grant, as part of the celebrations to mark the cemetery’s 15oth anniversary.

River Crossing

I live in Hammersmith and have a Labour MP, Andy Slaughter, although he is against blood sports. When I walk for ten minutes south to accompany Bertie to The Bones Club (aka Go Doggy) we are in Fulham: Conservative, Greg Hands. As soon as I walk over Hammersmith Bridge I am in Richmond: Conservative, Zak Goldsmith.

Hammersmith Council (Labour) owns Hammersmith Bridge and has committed to spending £120 million to get it open for use by vehicles but it will take three years. Zak Goldsmith is floating the idea of a temporary bridge until the repairs are completed. He has two proposals.

“Proposal 1 – Anthony Carlile have submitted a proposal for a temporary bridge built on barges that could sustain buses and cars, as well as cycles and pedestrians. The barges would allow for river traffic to cross underneath with one of the larger barges available to open to allow larger boats to cross.

Proposal 2 – Beckett Rankine have submitted a proposal for a temporary bridge with a 7.5m wide carriageway for cars and buses, and 1.5m wide pedestrian footway. Their proposal would cost £5m to build and remove, and the structure would last 10 years.”

Proposal 2 might be a wise choice. The flyover at the Hogarth roundabout, built of Meccano in 1971 as a temporary measure, is a permanent fixture. But I reckon Hammersmith will give Zac’s ideas a cold shoulder and the bridge will stay closed for at least three years.