China’s President Xi Jinping waves as he disembarks off his aircraft upon arrival at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on March 20, 2023.
A view shows a car of a motorcade transporting members of the Chinese delegation, including President Xi Jinping, upon their arrival in Moscow, Russia, March 20, 2023.
China’s President Xi Jinping, accompanied by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, walks past guards during a welcoming ceremony at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on March 20, 2023.
On cue, former Vice President, Mike Pence, granted the Real President of the United States – A FULL PARDON OF ALL HIS SINS! Pence compared what happened on Jan.6th. to the riots and violence of 2020 that resulted when black men were killed-murdered. Pence called for all those who engaged in violent demonstration – BE ARRESTED AND TRIED – if Donald Trump is to be arrested an tried. None of these protestors held the highest office in this Democracy, and were ‘The Commander in Chief”.
Pence and other Republicans IGNORE the truth, the Commander In Chief ACCUSED the Democrats of stealing the election – and thus mere Republican Voters must march to the Capital – AND FIGHT! Donald Trump told ALL Republicans, and ALL Democrats – VOTING DID NOT WORK ANYMORE! Voting was invented in order to keep people from fighting. According to the Devious Propaganda, it is mere Democrat Voters – WHO OWN THE RIGHT TO DEMONSTRATE – because the former Commander In Chief LIED, and was trying to STEAL THE ELECTION. This is not a not “a two-tier justice system“. This is a ongoing – INSURRECTION!
Today, China’s President Xi will stand next to Putin in Moscow. They know the whole truth about January 6th. They know Pence is full of shit! They revel as Pence drives a permanent wedge between the Democrats and Republicans – as he exonerates Trump – before he is indicted and stands trial. These two leaders DON’T have to tell their people – THE TRUTH. As of today, no Republican has to tell anyone the THE WHOLE TRUTH – even in a Court of Law. One could say the Republican Party is dead, but, once again…..I am running for President – as a Republican!
Last night I watched the truth being told about our Navy. If I become the Commander In Chief, I will do all I can to remove the tarnish – and go aboard the U.S.S. Construction and polish the brass! I will sound a Liberty Bell in concordance with the British Navy. We will be Unified! The rotted planking will be removed and repaired!
This morning I lie in bed – composing! I wondered why Elizabeth and Michael Wilding got divorced. Were they approached by M16 and the CIA, who wanted them to make Cold War Propaganda? I can’t fix everything. I will make Rosemond Wilding a Naval Captain. But, then I saw how much she resembled Good Rosemary. This meant I would have to forgive Evil Rosemary, something I was not able to do in therapy that I quit two months ago, because I could not deal with my Evil Brother. In November I started suffering from severe dry mouth and dehydration that can be brought on by stress. I discussed this with my therapist and doctor. Things did no go well. There was un-professional fiction going on.
I then thought about the cult following Trump has – that do not care how corrupt he is, and how many sins he had committed. He is seen by many as America’s Savior – MAD MAN! Pence also wants to be seen as a Savior of just Half of Americans. He feels the frustration of half the American people feel. The Democrats are having trouble with their feelings every time they see a meme that delicts Trump as Jesus! I’m pretty sure that dude helped Jesus carry his cross – after he stood trial before Pontius Pilate!
Also, some Democrats who served their country, feel Trump is acting like a coward. I did not serve. I think there are short films Navy personnel were shown about shore leave in regards to having sex with women of ill repute – and facing the music if there are consequences! They got these film in China and Russia. I bet Hitler made his men watch them. The Nazis had long lists of men good Germans shouldn’t associate with. I will google their lists of women. .
The next revelations I had, was about James Bond, that half of Americans want a Male Bond, and not a Female Bond. Then it occurred to me….if I become President, I will own credibility and be a powerful force of good – and save all the American People. I will be Bigger than James Bond. This means Rosemary would be elevated – from hell. What do we know about Trump’s mother?
When I was twelve Rosemary told us there was talk in Naval Intelligence about the U.S. and our Allies going to war with the Soviet Union – after we beat Germany and Japan. It appears – that day has come – with China thrown in! Would I have made a great military leader? I did not serve in the Armed Forces. Here is my chance.
Below is a photo with my uncle and brother. I have a cast on my hand. My girlfriend betrayed me. Marilyn slept with a twenty-four year old German Jet-setter. I hit the wall with my right hand and broke some bones when I was seventeen. M was living with Kathy who was Mayor Yortie’s ex-girl Friday. He wanted K to sleep with his political enemies – and get dirt on them. How long have I been involved?
Five days ago I sent M a post from my blog and told her she and her sister INVENTED WOKE that is the alleged No.1 Enemy of half of America. Some elected Republicans claim WOKE caused Jan 6th. How many Spy Think Tanks does China and Russia have going around the clock in order to get a handle on WOKE – that defies being defined. I say – who ever understands and defines WOKE – rules the world! Note the black doll Marilyn is holding like a Gre-Gre Doll. On our second date M took me to see the movie Black Orpheus. Put a navy uniform on me when I am seventeen. Let the Naval story of Captain John Gregory Rosamond – begin!
John Presco
Republican Candidate or President of the United States
“The frustration the American people feel about what they sense is a two-tier justice system in this country, I think — I think is well founded but — I — and — I believe that people understand that if they give voice to this, if this occurs on Tuesday, that they need to do so peacefully and in a lawful manner,” he said. “That the violence that occurred on January 6, the violence that occurred in cities throughout this country in the summer of 2020 was a disgrace. The American people won’t tolerate it and those that engage in that kind of violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Actress Elizabeth Taylor had been married six times — twice to actor Richard Burton — when she wed future senator John Warner in 1976.
“After Richard,” Taylor would say later, “the men in my life were just there to hold the coat, to open the door. All the men after Richard were really just company.”
The future I have been seeing, has arrived. I told Mr. McNoodles two weeks ago, I was putting the chess pieces on the board. Three days ago I told him the game of Battleship was being played in real life. My psychic abilities have been very powerful. In 1987 I got a reading at the Berkeley Psychic Institute and was told my novels are being dictated to me by a powerful entity that roams the universe, and comes to the aid of planets in dire distress. Our military has seen UFOs. I will not be communicating to you from two realities – at the same time. No more straddling the fence. These Starships have taken as side……my side!
Rosemary died not knowing she was a cousin of Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, and thus she was kin to Ian Fleming, whose character is shown his daughter just before he dies. I compared this to ‘The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ’. Bond is tempted to retire and be with child and her mother I am sure he would marry, if not for the toxic DNA, and, the truth James must be a Savior.
Rosemary was in the WAVES and was stationed in Seattle where she monitored Russian radio broadcasts.
The USS Mustin has been labeled “vile” by the heads of the People’s Liberation Army. I suggest our Leaders pass a law, stating WARSHIPS ARE PEOPLE TOO! After all, they are named after people. I just sent this message to Peter DeFazio.
“Dear Congressman: I have been reading articles about the cost of building more Navy ships, that could be seen as being immoral due to other pressing social needs. What I suggest, is for every billion dollars spent on a new ship, a hundred thousand go to solving our nations homeless problem. Both Russia and China have a homeless problem, which can be blamed on socialism. Perhaps these rival competing nations will follow suit? To view a brand new Destroyer over the tops of homeless tents on Venice Beach, is a vile contrast we Americans can rid ourselves of. Victory at Sea, begins with Victory on land. Our bragging rights will be a boon to the needy, and the citizens who despair”.
It is extremely uncanny, and, in The Twilight Zone, that the USS Hull escorted Lee’s battleships, after surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. AND, it is a Divine Permission to learn an hour ago, that the USS Mustin was named after a famous Naval family founded by Captain Arthur Sinclair, who was a Captain of the Argus, as was my alleged great grandfather, Sir Isaac Hull, who also captained the USS Enterprise. The Argus and USS Constitution was built by Edmund Hart. The Sea Fates are on our side! China now knows this is they read this blog!
I just lost the beginning of a new chapter where Miriam Starfish Christling explains why and how she dispatched a middle-aged couple who threatened her family. Her code name is Cottinella, which is a fish that lives in the dark at the bottom of Lake Baikal. I will rewrite it. Shit happens. Starfish is an expert on ‘Personal Honor’ that gives her the infamous right to kill.
“She called me a vile little creature. And he threatened to force my father’s VW bus off a cliff!” Starfish told the Wizard, who could not take notes. His hands were frozen.
“Beware the Abyss of Cottinella!” say those is the spy and assassin game. “If she gives you the fish-eye, that’s it. You’re going to end up at the bottom of Lake Baikal.”
On March 26, 1994, Rosemary Miles, born Rosemary R. Rosamond, lost one of her four children. For the next seventy-two hours, all matters should have been put aside, so all family members can grieve for their loss. Just because Christine Rosamond was famous, there should never be special considerations – especially by outsiders. After her daughter’s funeral, Stacey Pierrot approached my mother and I, knelt down on one knee, took the hand of the woman who gave me birth, and said;
“Don’t let the dream die!”
Seven years later, Stacey Pierrot approved of the ghost writer she hired, writing this.
“Garth had chosen not bring Drew to an open casket funeral and had been taking good share of heat for his decision. In a way, it as if Christine had seen it coming – that being together, for whatever purpose, was simply not something the Presco were able to do.”
Stacey went to high school with Jacci Belford and thus was filled in on the conflicts Christine was having with her mother – that are not unique! Rosemary was not a perfect mother, but, she had a right to be treated with dignity and respect at her daughter’s funeral. To deliberately deceive a GRIEVING MOTHER in order to MAKE MONEY from the death of her daughter – is as evil as it gets! No way can you excuse THIS EVIL by saying a mother deserved it.
My mother stayed the night in Christine’s home after the funeral. She did not take part in any looting – or see any looting. No members of her family, no child of hers, stole from her daughter’s estate – because the looting scene – IS A EVIL LIE – and I can prove it. Did Stacey’s father have concern about the veracity of this false statement? What is truly diabolical Pierrot took posthumously took away a grieving mothers bragging rights that I believe she believed Pierrot, and others assured her she would own. Her is the Cruelest Theft of all that any mother and any daughter would detest, as should all the Mothers of the World.
ln my Recovery book Rosemary will get professional attention because I am going to seek the expert input of psychologists.
If Christine’s parents had embraced her talent, there might be existing works from her childhood, but this was not to be. Fearing that Christine would steal her brother’s spotlight as the family artist, Christine’s mother, Rosemary, forbade Christine to draw at home. The only time she could express herself was at school or in her closet, by flashlight, when everyone else was asleep. Though we don’t have images to prove it, Christine’s kindergarten teacher has said that, by age five, Christine was already drawing with adult skill. She can remember Christine’s pictures of animals having near perfect detail and perspective.”
“Before the service, Vicki had taken the trouble to go through Christine’s bedroom, putting her jewelry and intimate belongings out of sight. As matters turned out, it did little good, for the funeral was not long over before familymembers and others were ravaging Christine’s house, taking whatever could be carted away. The artist’s closet, a veritable mother lode – took the worst beating. World-class spender that Christine had been, much of the clothing had never been worn. So whatever still bore price tags was hauled off to be exchanged for money. Jewelry disappeared, as well as other personal belongings. Galleryemployees and close friends of the family, along with Vicki, were doing their best to staunch the flow – the estate had not yet been inventoried – but to no avail.”
On this day, June Ninteenth 2021, I John Presco, a grandson of German Turnverien and Forty-eighters, suggested to the Vice President, and President, the founding of The Black Liberation Navy, that was seeded by my foundation of The Marin Shipmates.
On our way home from the funeral, Michael broke the long silence by saying this; “Gee, I’ve never been to a theme funeral before “Don’t let the dream die!”
We both began to crack up because I had this theme too, from Stacey Pierrot when she was down on her knees holding my mother’s hand. Michael heard Pierrot say this to several people in the Rosamond gallery as my PI followed her the PR Lady. He too saw her giving members of the inner circle Rosamond prints down in the basement. PR Pierrot held out a vase of Rosamond’s spendy paint brushes, and said;
“Pick one!”
I went for the juiciest, fattest, and costliest one, a sable that cost over a hundred dollars. I was now guilty of stealing from the estate. Only my adult niece and Heir would go to jail, she accused of the same thing.
I then went up to Raphael, my beautiful childhood friend, and Christine’s best friend. Raphael had a crush on me since she was fifteen. Christine forbade her to see me.
“Close your eyes. I’m going to paint you!”
Raphael wore a beautiful smile as I moved the sable brush over her high cheek bones, and then over her lips. This was the only glimpse of sanity that day.
I suspect the Angry Millionaire was at that secret business meeting disguised as a fund raiser for funeral costs. I suspect Rosemary and Raphael were there. How else could she learn who he was. I regret not asking his name. Did Sande Greene help make funeral arrangements? I suspect the caterers put the food on hold, Rosamond’s Sober Birthday, now a ghoulish business freak show that I link to Frank H. Buck who swindled Oregon Homesteaders out of the land the Government wanted them to have.
“Hello funeral goers! My name is Stacey, the future ‘Caretaker’ of your creative family legacy, Because Dead Christine was the Eternal Artist known as Rosamond, things will not happen in a traditional manner. Right off the bat, Garth and Drew Benton are not in attendance, because the outcome of the divorce is being restructured. In theory, Drew get’s everything, but, because she is a minor, everything will be sold to me and Jacci Belford, who were handed a secret document that is the Divine Plan that came to Rosamond in a dream. She passed on a vision on how her Big Art Business can be saved.
Now, I am not to be confused with an Undertaker, for in theory, Rosamond is not dead. She lives on in me and Jacci, who she loved dearly. This is why she taught us everything she knows. This is why the outcome will be different then when she was alive, when she paid us shit wages, if at all. Gone are the days when we took orders from one crazy-ass drunken woman who made it impossible for us to make money FOR HER. The powers on high, have given US a second chance – TO GET IT RIGHT! With Rosamond out of the way – HOW CAN WE FAIL?
If you open up your bag of Free Stuff you will find a scroll. Undo the black ribbon, and read our GUARANTEE!
“Me and Jacci love you all, as much as we loved Rosamond. Here is a list of Rosamond prints you can purchase this very day. You can prove to the World of Art what great business people we are by buying two Rosamond images. We have a book, a movie, and a HBO series in the works. HOW CAN WE FAIL! Love us! Love Rosamond!”
Now, let’s get to that yummY Pre-Death food that the caters put on ice for us! DONT’ LET THE DREAM DIE! I can’t hear you!”
DON’T LET THE DREAM DIE!
Who in the fuck is Faulkner? What happened to her attempt to get it right? Did Alan Pierrot learn from his daughter that my seventeen year old daughter had put me out of her life, and thus the threat of a rival biography, was over? Did he do that little dance Hitler did as he watched his Nazis march into France?
Mark Presco is proving the BIG WINNER because Von Trump likes the cut of Mark’s jib. Let’s have a little theme music as Nazi-Mark takes us – the rest of the way! Trump is restructuring the White House Theme around Mark, who secretly backed Pierrot who may have shoveled money to him under the table. I am going to do some Nazi Posters depicting Mark&Stacey standing on a hill watching the sunset, their hand on a Nazi flag. Pierrot’s hair is in pigtails.
Jon Presco
We liked the same music, went to the same dances and had a good time together. I played on the football team so many of my good friends were black. One of my best friends was black. I was very optimistic about the future, even contemplating us all melding into brown people.
I supported the civil rights movement because I knew there were still pockets of institutionalized racism in the country. I believed we were finally going to make the words of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution ring true for all Americans.
Almost immediately after civil rights were firmly established in this country, I begin to observe black people segregate themselves. The most important thing in the black community began to be perceived of as appropriately black. To this end black people have created their own music, their own dress, even their own language, in short, their own culture. This culture is not only intended to be different from the white culture, it is anti-white. To my mind it has become the most racist culture in this country. The worst insult one member of this culture can pay another is to accuse them of acting white. Within this culture constant charges and counter charges as to whether your skin is too light or too dark. Skin color is everything to this culture.
The worst of all is the concept of affirmative action which sprang from the civil rights movement. This is nothing more than reverse discrimination. Black people threw the concept of a color blind society right out window. They want us to notice their skin color and they demand privileged treatment because of it. This was the first nail in the coffin of race relations for me.
Ever since the civil rights movement black people have systematically demonstrated their total incompatibility with white culture. As stated above, white culture requires individual responsibility, not just in creating your own wealth but in all other aspects. Black people’s concept of affirmative action has given them such a sense of entitlement that they are holding white people responsible for providing them economic parity to white people. They actually believe that the economic inequity between our races is proof of white racism and white oppression. This is a totally false premise.
Black people don’t have their fair share of the pie almost entirely because they don’t create their fair share of the pie. All my life I have listened to black people demand that they be given their fair share and precious little about their responsibility to create their fair share. This is the kind of tribal mentality described previously.
Black people hold white people responsible for giving them jobs, but it’s not their responsibility to stay in school and get an education or otherwise develop a marketable skill. The black dropout rate has been upwards of 50% all my life, and it’s not clear how much of an effort the ones who remain in school make.
Oprah has determined that they are not worth her time and money. She would rather educate Africans.
“… I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn’t there. …”
Just who the hell is she holding responsible for educating black children, white people? What can white people do when these children rationalize their behavior by claiming that educating themselves is “acting white” and they are not going to do it?
And yet white people are being held responsible for providing economic parity to black people; and if we don’t give them jobs then we must give them welfare, subsidized housing, food stamps, health care, and so much more that I have come to believe that black people consume far more in social welfare programs than the pay in taxes. There needs to be an accounting and I would like to be proven wrong.”
Thanks for sharing, Mark. Oh, you are not done? Allow me to retort before you rant on.
A year ago I sent the video ‘Rosemary Rides and Shoots’ to the Ventura Museum. In this home movie that was shot by one of the grandsons of Henry Lewis, we see my late mother riding and shooting with the Lewis boys whose father owned the lima bean fields in Carpenetria and Camarillo.
Rosemary told her children she almost married the young man who is seen diving from a platform. We have forgotten his name. The dream that we could have grown up on a ranch riding horse, stayed with us, and was carried over to the dreams I applied to Rena Easton, my Muse. In her letter, Rena says her husband has a small ranch and farm in Montana.
On his 109 acre farm in Carpenteria, Henry Lewis planted the beans and raised the first crop of the species ever grown in the United States.
The ranch is almost 10,000 acres in size and was one of the last remaining Mexican land grants. Adolfo Camarillo had a love of fiestas, horses, rodeos and barbecues. Adolfo kept a stable of a dozen pure white horses of Arabian and Morgan descent. His horses often participated in parades in California.
I will be sending Royal Rosamond’s letters and books to the Ventura Museum along with the information I gather in my coming trip to Montana, where my grandfather was born. Rosamond wrote several stories that took place in Montana ‘No Bull Fight’ and ‘The Legend of the Rhyming Miner’.
HENRY LEWIS, one of the early pioneers in the Carpenteria Valley, was born near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in 1830. His father was a farmer, and Henry followed a like occupation, although a part of his boyhood was passed in a store in Washington, District of Columbia. Mr. Lewis was married at the age of twenty years to Miss Chat- tin, of Virginia, and he then bought a farm and began what has proven his life work.
He sold out all interests and came to California in 1857. The next year he went into the mines in Tuolumne County, and after six months’ experience he came out “with rheumatism and little else,” which has remained with him through life. In December, 1858, he moved to Half Moon Bay, and there farmed for three years. In the spring of 1862 he come to Carpenteria Valley, purchased eighty-eight acres of land and pitched his tent near where his house now stands. He bought this property from the city of Santa Barbara at $1.25 per acre, the land being wild and uncultivated and covered with brush and live-oak trees. He drove down from Half Moon Bay, looking along for a desirable situation, and the Carpenteria Valley was the first location which seemed practicable. He immediately began cutting and clearing, and now has one of the most complete ranch properties in the place. The only white people then in the valley were Colonel Rus- sell Heath and Mr. Lowrie. As rapidly as land was cleared he began the cultivation of Lima beans, corn and barley. In 1864 they had a very dry year, no crops maturing and horses and cattle dying for want of sustenance. Mr. Lewis has since added twenty acres to his ranch, which now numbers 110 acres, ninety acres of which he plants to Lima beans, with an average crop of 2,000 pounds to the acre. The thirty-five-aere field in front of his residence has produced an annual crop of beans since 1865, and yearly becomes more productive.
Mr. Lewis lost his first wife in February, 1863, and in 1879 he was married to Mrs. Bebecca Mullin, of Carpenteria. He has seven children by his first wife and three by his second, all living. His handsome two-story residence, fine barns and suitable out- buildings all go to show the thrifty and successful fanner, and his well kept ranch is significant of the prosperity which has attended Mr. Lewis.
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California – by C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II. -Lewis Publ. Co., Chicago, 1917.
Rosemary was in the Waves, and left this world in 1997. Her four children are Mark, John, Christine, and Vicki. Rosemary’s movie can not be used for commercial purpouses without my permission. Historians, feel free to use this movie that is a window into a world, and a valley, that is no more. This is………….the last of the West.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2011
Camarillo State Mental Hospital, also known as Camarillo State Hospital, was a psychiatric hospital for both developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients in Camarillo, California. The hospital closed in 1997. The site has been redeveloped as the California State University, Channel Islands. The university has retained the distinctive Mission Revival Style architecture, and the bell tower in the South quad has been adopted as the symbol of the university.
[edit] History In 1932, the State of California purchased 1,760 acres (7.1 km2) of the Lewis ranch, located three miles south of the city of Camarillo, and established the Camarillo State Mental Hospital. Camarillo State Hospital was in use from 1936 to 1997. During the 1950s and 1960s, especially, the hospital was at the forefront of treating illnesses previously thought to be untreatable, for instance, developing drug and therapy procedures for schizophrenia. Programs initiated at Camarillo helped patients formerly relegated to institutions to leave the hospital and move to less restrictive group homes or become (at least nearly) independent. The hospital continued to be a leader in the research of drugs and therapies in subsequent years. They also had one of the first units of any hospital to deal with autism.
HISTORY OF MAR VISTA LIMA BEANS ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST
Here is what I know about the origin and species of lima beans grown along the California coast and formerly in Mar Vista.
The lima bean, phaseolus limensis, is a member of the pulse family, leguminosae. Both the small ‘baby lima’ and the larger thick ‘potatoe’ type are of tropical origin. Although grown in warmer areas throughout the United States, commercial production is generally confined to the coast of California.
Lima beans take peculiar climatic and soil conditions. They con not tolerate frost. The optimum growing temperature range is from 60 to 77 degrees. The plant is nourished by dew, fog and moisture from the sea. Lima beans are planted in May, as they need no rain. Rain only makes weeds and work for the gardener. The plant gathers its sustenance from the atmosphere in the way of nitrates. No fertilizer is ever required.
According to Gidney, Brook and Sheridan in The History of Santa Barbara, San Louis Obispo and Ventura Counties California, (published in 1917), in 1868, Henry Lewis planted the first lima beans ever put in the soil of the United States. At that time a vessel happened to be anchored at Santa Barbara after a recent voyage from Lima, Peru. A friend of Henry Lewis became acquainted with one of the sailors, from whom he procured some beans being used on the table of the boat. The beans are indigenous to the country around Lima, and that geographical source has given this bean its special name.
On his 109 acre farm in Carpenteria, Henry Lewis planted the beans and raised the first crop of the species ever grown in the United States. He preserved and improved his seed from year to year. For many years his crop of limas was regarded as the finest on the market. As of 1917, the highest grade of lima bean was known as the ‘Lewis bean’.
A legacy of the Lewis family is Lewis Road in Camarillo. In the l930’s, lima beans were King of the crops of Southern California. Mar Vista was known for being in the lima bean belt of the nation.
Lima Bean Recipes
Adolfo Camarillo, (October 28, 1864 – December 10, 1958) was a prominent land owner, horse breeder, rancher, and philanthropist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Ventura County area of California, U.S.A. Adolfo, along with his brother Juan, Jr., owned much of what would later become the town known by their family name, Camarillo.[1] Adolfo also donated the land for Adolfo Camarillo High School.[2] The horse breed Camarillo White Horse was named for Camarillo. He began breeding them in 1921 and the line continues today. In addition because of Adolfo’s philanthropy in 1950, Pope Pius XII named Adolfo a Knight of St. Gregory the Great.[3]
[edit] Biography Adolfo was born to Juan Camarillo (1812–1880) and Martina Camarillo (1826–1898) He had four sisters and one brother.[1]When Juan Camarillo died in 1880, One of the last remaining Mexican Land Grants, Rancho Calleguas, was purchased from the Ruiz family in 1875,and was later willed to his wife. Upon Juan’s death, Adolfo took over operations of the family ranch at age 16. His brother Juan was more interested in religion.
The ranch is almost 10,000 acres in size and was one of the last remaining Mexican land grants.[4] In 1865 Adolfo graduated from International Business College at (Woodbury University). After that he took over full-time management of the ranch at age 21. In 1888 Adolfo married Isabella Menchaca (1861–1936). Adolfo and Isabel raised seven children. Frank, Isabel, Minerva, Rosa, Carmen, Ave Marie, and Martina.[4]Upon the death of Martina Camarillo, she bequeathed Rancho Calleguas to her sons, Adolfo and Juan, Jr.[1]This would later go on to become Camarillo Ranch and later the city of Camarillo. Adolfo would go on to run the Camarillo Ranch; until his death in 1958. The Ranch would grow from a mostly cattle operation to both cattle and crops. Adolfo focused mainly in developing crops and became a leading innovator bringing in lima beans, plus barley, corn, alfalfa, walnuts, and citrus.[4]
Adolfo Camarillo had a love of fiestas, horses, rodeos and barbecues. Adolfo kept a stable of a dozen pure white horses of Arabian and Morgan descent. His horses often participated in parades in California. Adolfo died of pneumonia December 10, 1958, and is interred in the family crypt beneath St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, alongside his parents, his wife, sisters and brothers.[5] [edit] Camarillo’s White Horses
The Camarillo White Horseis a relatively modern breed known for its pure white color. This legendary breed dates back to 1921, when Adolfo Camarillo purchased 9-year-old Sultan from Miller and Lux cattle ranch at the California State Fair in Sacramento.[6] Sultan, over the next few years, won many stock championships throughout California. Adolfo would go on to breed Sultan to Morgan maresat the Camarillo Ranch. This would go on for the next 65 years as the family privately owned and bred the Camarillo White Horses. Since the 1930s these horses have become famous by being featured up and down the California coast at various parades and events. Once a year Adolfo would ride one of his white Arabians in the Fiesta of Santa Barbara while dressed up in a colorful Spanish costume.[citation needed]The Camarillo White Horses were privately owned and bred by the Camarillo family until the death of Adolfo Camarillo’s daughter Carmen, in 1987.[3] Many people of note have ridden on Camarillo White Horses including Governor Ronald Reagan, president Harding, 1946 Nobel Peace Prize recipient John Mott, as well as movie stars Leo Carrillo and Steven Ford(son of President Gerald Ford).[3] As of 2010 there are only 20 Camarillo White Horses.Three stallions, five mares, three geldings, two young colts, and 7 white foals.[7]
I have told people who were close to me, that my family did not tell me my mother was dying, and I missed saying goodbye to her by eighteen hours. I also told these people I was not told my father had died. I found out three years later by a kindred doing our genealogy. It took me seven years to find out where Rosemary Rosamond was buried. Here is her grave, located in a military cemetery in San Francisco. My mother served in the Waves up in Seattle, spying on the Russians. She shared some secrets, and gave her older children warnings about the Cold War. This Rose of the World, was brilliant. She did hear me say I might have two children, just before she died. She would be amazed at the history I have uncovered. She would have gone into shock if she had seen the Stuttmeister…
The Great Sea Seer saw into the future. Not since John Dee has the West had a Great Seer on their side.
Dream Jon
Drauma-Jóns saga (the story of Dream-Jón) is one of the medieval Icelandic chivalric sagas, written in Old Norse around the early fourteenth century.[1] It is a comparatively short work compared to others of the genre, and is really more an exemplum than a saga, similar in this respect to the chivalric saga Clarus saga and the ævintýri (‘exempla’) associated with Jón Halldórsson.[2] The work has been attributed to the monk Bergr Sokkason, abbot of Munkaþverá; at any rate it seems characteristic of the work of the North Icelandic Benedictine School.[3] It was a very popular story, to judge by the number of surviving manuscripts discovered: five on parchment and 45 on paper, with one prominent manuscript being AM…
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor is kin to John Fremont and Jessie Benton, who had a salon at Black Point. The three shooting stars over Vallejo and Oakland, signal the gathering of the Great Salon in order to meet the Devil Assault of Ron DeSantis who is a candidate for President. The Three Stars bid me to run for President – in Ernest – as Sheriff Three Stars!
Rosemond Wilding is a Spirit Muse and Time Traveler. She is the Star of the Bohemian Salons. Black Point will be the Bohemian Propaganda Headquarters For Pacfic Operations. ‘The Joan Crawford Hour’ was my first attempt to write detective stories.
In Which We Serve received the full backing of the Ministry of Information,[6] which offered advice on what would make good propaganda and facilitated the release of military personnel. The film is a classic example of wartime British cinema through its patriotic imagery of national unity and social cohesion within the context of the war.[6]
The Republican Party, co-founded by John Fremont – who was the first Presidential candidate for this Abolitionist party – will be making the case THEY ARE NOT RACISTS! This is a ploy to overshadow the inquiry into the evidence the Republican party condones INSURECTIONISTS. This fake noise will allow millions of Evangelical Republicans to declare – THEY ARE NOT RACISTS. Nice try! This newspaper will – kick the slats from under this EVIL PLOY!
I am going to launch a more exciting campaign to become your next Republican President. My enemies, were delighted I announced I was running for President, because they needed proof I am insane to justify their abuse of me – and abuse me some more! Have we forgotten Trump got Covid – and survived? Did this give his followers a message that the Covid was no big deal, and, Democratic Liars are in league with Satan? Two-thirds of Republicans believe Trump won! Half of Americans – are not vaccinated! This is WHOLESALE INSANITY!
John Presco ‘Presidential Candidate’ a.k.a. ‘Sheriff Two Stars’
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research captures widespread unease among Republicans over everything from the direction of the country to the state of American democracy and, in particular, President Joe Biden. Just 15% approve of the way Biden is handling his job, and 66% continue to say the Democrat was illegitimately elected, a lie perpetuated by Trump that underscores his persistent grip on GOP voters.
Republicans have plenty of concern about their own party, too. Fewer than half of Republicans, 41%, say they are optimistic about the GOP’s future. Just 13% say they are “very” optimistic. And one third, 33%, say they are pessimistic.
Those with Free Spirits, who know how to be released, and soar, come to Black Point and Fort Mason. Here we will make a stand for Arts and Culture. Here the Nation of California will be born. The epicenter is here. We will put on a lightshow. They will see our light in the sky, and in the bay, playing with whales and dolphins. They will marvel.
Jessie Benton Fremont held a salon at Black Point. Mark Twain was a frequent guest. Rena gave me permission to install her in ‘The Muse Hall of Fame’. If not for the painting I did of Rena, Christine would never have married Garth Benton. I am the official Benton Historian. There is not other.
I just read Carrie Fisher predicted her own death, as did Mark Twain, and, allegedly my sister. Carrie was hired to do a screenplay about Christine. Debbie died the next day.
Join us!
Jon ‘Master of the Rose’
Blunt said, Fisher also had a scary premonition.
“She put a cardboard cutout of herself as Leia outside my room, with her date of birth and date of death on her forehead,” he told the Times. “I’m trying to remember what the date was, because it was around now — and I remember thinking it was too soon.”
JOELY: I’ve been having an out-of-body experience. The world lost Carrie and Debbie, of course, but– and– and Princess Leia and we lost our hero. We lost– our mirror.”
Famous Fifth Avenue House Will Be Preserved by Present Owner – Property in Same Family for Two Centuries – Irving Stayed There
By Howard A. Lamb
There is one landmark of Little Old New York that may still laugh at the assaults of time – and apartment house builders. It has been finally decided that the residence at 21 Fifth Avenue, corner of Ninth Street, of world-wide interest because it has been the home of both Washington Irving and Mark Twain, is not going to be torn down – not as long as the present owner, Edward Renwick Whittingham, lawyer, of 2 Rector Street, is alive, and he is still a very young man.
Sentiment is regarded as a rare thing these days, and getting rarer, especially along Fifth Avenue, but it is nothing else but sentiment and family pride that have made Mr. Whittingham cold to the entreaties of hotel and apartment house operators and resolved to make the quaint house his home as long as he lives.
Other old houses in the neighborhood are vanishing almost overnight to make room for towering apartment buildings, but there are enough left to give the Washington Square neighborhood an atmosphere of its own, and Mr. Whittingham would like to see it perpetuated.
Diagonally across the street from Mr. Whittingham’s property, for instance, is the house built by Henry Brevoort. On Feb. 24, 1840, the first masked ball ever given in New York was held there. It was marked by the elopement of Matilda Barclay, daughter of the British Consul, with a South Carolina youth – regarded as a great scandal in that day. The house is now owned by Mrs. George F. Baker Jr., herself a descendant of the Breevorts.
Adjacent to 21 Fifth Avenue is the old home of Dr. E. L. Partridge, with the line of the old Randall farm going through it, from which an underground passage used to lead to the Brevoort Hotel, the first hotel on Fifth Avenue. A block away is the former home of Charles A. Dana of The Sun.
Mr. Whittingham’s property, a part of the old Brevoort farm, has been longer in the hands of one family than any other in New York – 250 years. The young lawyer feels that it would be almost a sacrilege to let it go. He is unmarried, however, and is not occupying it at the present time.
The Brevoort farm belonged originally to Bastian Elliss, who received it Dec. 18, 1667, from Richard Nicolls, first English Governor of New York. It passed from Elliss to his son-in-law, John Hendrik Brevoort, in 1701, and has been in the Brevoort family ever since.
The original owner of the present house was James Renwick, great-grandfather of Mr. Whittingham, for thirty years head of the Natural Science Department of King’s College. He died in 1862. To the Renwick family belongs the honor of establishing the first line of regular sailing vessels between this country and England. William Renwick was interested with Alexander Hamilton and others in founding the Bank of New York in 1784.
Spare Room for Irving
Mrs. James Renwick was Margaret Ann Breevort, daughter of Hendrik Brevoort, the stubborn old Knickerbocker who “put the bend in Broadway” because he would not let it go through his cherry orchard. He also prevented the opening of Eleventh Street through his property because it would run too close to his house, which stood on the present site of Grace Church.
Professor Renwick was a close friend of Washington Irving. He traveled with Irving in England when Irving was writing “Bracebridge Hall,” and also accompanied him on trips over the Continent. It was because of this comradeship that Professor Renwick set aside the middle room on the second floor as a spare bedroom for the author of “Rip Van Winkle” to use whenever he came to town from his home at Sunnyside, up the Hudson.
James A. Renwick, Professor Renwick’s grandson, and his cousin, Mrs. Bessie Whittingham, held the property between them until last August, when Mrs. Whittingham’s son, Edward, obtained sole possession.
The apartment in the basement is now occupied by Dr. Robert H. Kahn, who moved into the building when Mark Twain and his family left, and for many years used the entire premises. He had known the Clemens family for years. At his country home he still keeps the orchestrelle with which Twain entertained himself in the Fifth Avenue house, playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and other compositions of which he was fond.
The house itself, now almost a century old, was designed by the original owner’s son, James Renwick Jr., the architect who drew the plans for several churches n the same neighborhood – the Church of the Ascension, the First Presbyterian Church and Grace Church – as well as some of the buildings at Vassar College and the Smithsonian Institution. There is an ecclesiastical suggestion about the windows of the house, which are gracefully rounded at the top, and the rooms are of stately proportions. It was built shortly after the opening of Fifth Avenue, and was the first one on the block.
Mark Twain moved in during the Fall of 1904 and remained until the Summer of 1908, when he occupied Stormfield, just built for him at Redding, Conn. There he died April 21, 1910, aged 74.
Dictated in Bed
Albert Bigelow Paine, Twain’s biographer, lived in the house for a while to help carry on his work. Mark continued to indulge a weakness for doing his literary work in bed, dictating his biographical notes to Paine’s stenographer as he lay voluptuously under the blankets garbed in “a handsome silk dressing gown of rich Persian pattern, propped against the snowy pillows.”
Clemens was passionately fond of billiards, and when Mrs. H. H. Rogers presented him with a handsome billiard table he converted one of the bedrooms into a billiard room. With Paine he played the game at every opportunity. George Harvey and Peter Finley Dunne were occasional opponents, and Mr. and Mrs. Martin W. Littleton, who lived near by, came over for an occasional three-handed game in the evening. Littleton was then engaged in the defense of Harry Thaw, on trial for the murder of Stanford White, and used to entertain Clemens with interesting sidelights of the day’s developments in court.
Occasionally Clemens was the centre of interest at small dinners given at the Brevoort Hotel, a step from his own door, and his home became the meeting place of some of the shining literary lights of the day. To his dinners came, in addition to George Harvey and Peter Finley Dunne, William Dean Howells, Augustus Thomas, whose play, “The Witching Hour” was then at the height of its success, and Brander Matthews.
Mark Twain was a conspicuous figure in the Washington Square neighborhood. He was a man whose personality naturally dominated the crowd about him. The white suit he always wore and his bushy crown of silver hair would have attracted attention even if he were not famous for other things.
At times he went out for a stroll with General Dan Sickles, then in his eighties and handicapped by a wooden leg, who lived in a mansion across the street. He bought his cigars from Joe Isaacs, who died in New York this Summer. Isaacs kept his store in a corner of Alexander McClelland’s roadhouse at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Eleventh Street, torn down in 1912. Here the braw Scot served fine old musty ale and mutton pies that won him a steady reputation for forty-two years.
Liked Cheap Cigars
McClelland’s was the resort of gentlemen, where men like Chester A. Arthur and William Travers Jerome, out for a cutter ride on a frosty night, might drop in for a nip of spiced rum. Even Theodore Roosevelt, then Police Commissioner and at grips with the saloon power, was obliged to tell “Old Aleck” – who is still hale and hearty, by the way – that he conducted a model drinking place.
Clemens’s taste ran to strong, black cigars, rather than to liquid refreshments, so that he seldom stopped at Aleck’s hospitable place. The cheaper the cigars the better he liked them, but he probably bought so many that Isaacs considered him a welcome customer. It must have been Clemens himself who remarked that he “smoked constantly, loathed exercise and had no other regularity of habits.” He often received presents of the most expensive imported cigars, but never smoked them. He handed them out to his friends and callers. Once he passed an English brier root pipe to Paine and said:
“I’d like to have you smoke that a year or two, and when it gets so you can’t stand it, maybe it will suite me.”
On pleasant days Mark Twain liked to stroll up Fifth Avenue, sometimes as far as he Carnegie home, on Ninety-second Street, and come back on the “electric stage,” from which he could enjoy the panorama while he smoked without interference. At time he turned at Fifty-ninth Street, rested at the Plaza Hotel or sat on a bench in Central Park.
On Sunday mornings he would time his return to se the crowds leaving the churches. He liked the throng. The homage of the multitude was dear to him, not because he loved adulation for its own sake, but because his heart was big enough to fully appreciate the tribute of a people’s affection.
Children Loved Him
“It was the most precious reward of his life, the final harvest,” says Paine, “and he had the courage to claim it.”
Children were as fond of Clemens as he was of them. Frequently on his walks he got no further than Madison Square Park, then the centre of a fine residence section, because the youngsters, sometimes accompanied by their nurses, would beg him to sit down on a bench and tell them stories. This he would do for an hour or two, reading from “Tom Sawyer” or “Huckleberry Finn” or making up tales as he went along. On of the little girls who loved to listen was Margaret McClelland, who is now grown up.
“As I remember Mr. Clemens,” she said the other day, ” he was a strange man, always alone, always thoughtful. We children adored him. The stories he told me became the subject of my dreams. One of them was about a bad little girl named Polly, and he would end it by saying, ‘Are you ever a naughty Polly?’ “
But in spite of brilliant dinners, hosts of friends, material prosperity and the love of people all over the world, the four years Mark Twin lived at 21 Fifth Avenue were some of the loneliest and most miserable of his life. The loss of his wife was an unconsolable sorrow. Bernard Shaw had linked him with Edgar Allan Poe as one of the two outstanding literary geniuses of America and had compared his works from a historical standpoint with those of Voltaire, but Clemens felt that he had accomplished little except to amuse people. He was submerged in a pessimistic philosophy and died a disappointed man.
What I have been putting together here is an Art Dynasty of people who share the same DNA, and are ‘Of The Art Blood’. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, artists, Christine Rosamond and Garth Benton, along with the Fleming family, are in the same tree. Did I leave out the Getty family? How about the Rothschilds?
What really irks folks, is – I am dirt poor! Who do I think I am? Jesus had no money – and he founded a world religion! Now – I am mad! Whatever……..I am the Touchstone! The next two Bond movies – BELONG TO ME!
LOS ANGELES – The Getty and the Rothschild Foundation today announced the creation of the Getty Rothschild Fellowship, which will support innovative scholarship in the history of art, collecting, and conservation, using the collection and resources of both institutions. The fellowship offers art historians, museum professionals, or conservators the opportunity to research and study at both the Getty in Los Angeles and Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, England. The inaugural fellow is Dr. David Saunders, a foremost expert in the area of conservation science who will work on museum and gallery lighting during the fellowship.
“The Getty and the Rothschild Foundation hold similar values regarding the understanding and conservation of visual art around the world, and it is only appropriate that we would work together to support individuals who demonstrate these values through their research,” says Jim Cuno, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “We are pleased to award the inaugural Getty Rothschild Fellowship to Dr. Saunders, whose work in museum lighting has been of long-standing interest to the Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Museum.”
The firm of Robert Fleming & Co., known as Flemings, was founded in Dundee, Scotland in 1873 by Robert Fleming, a successful manufacturer of jute fabrics used for sandbags in the American Civil War. The firm was originally formed as a series of investment trusts, pooling money from Scottish investors into overseas ventures, and later moved into merchant banking. In 1909 the firm moved its headquarters to London.
The collection comprises over 600 oils and watercolours from 1770 to the present day.
After the sale of the Fleming’s merchant bank in 2000, the Foundation was established by members of the Fleming family with the aim of “furthering the understanding and fame of Scottish art outside Scotland through exhibitions, education and publishing.”
James Knox, director of the Foundation, said: “From now on our collection will support and initiate exhibitions to expand the audience for Scottish art in the UK and overseas.
“Indeed, this process of cultural diplomacy has already begun with our loan of key paintings and contribution of art-historical advice to the first ever survey of Scottish art to be staged in France [at the Musee du chateau des ducs de Wurtenberg, Montbeliard].
Rory Fleming, chairman of the Foundation, said: “This is a great moment in the history of the Foundation, which will build on our track record of raising the profile and influence of Scottish art and creativity.”
The Fleming Collection dates back to 1968 when Flemings, the former merchant bank, moved into new offices in London.
As a celebration of the Scottish origins of the bank, founded by Robert Fleming in Dundee, the Board began to acquire works by Scottish artists.
The collection includes works dating from the 18th century, including paintings by Allan Ramsay and Henry Raeburn.
It also includes two seminal images of the Highland Clearances: Thomas Faed’s The Last of The Clan and John Watson Nicol’s Lochaber No More.
It also owns works by the Glasgow Boys, Scottish Colourists as well as later twentieth century masters, such as Anne Redpath and John Bellany.
When the bank was sold to J.P Morgan in 2000, the collection was purchased by members of the family and vested in the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation.
The Wyfold name was added to the name to commemorate the life of the last Lord Wyfold, a grandson of Robert Fleming
Richard Burton was Ian Fleming’s first choice to play James Bond. Richard married my kin, Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, whose father ran an art gallery at 35 Bond Street, that was named after Jame’s fictional ancestor. Roger Moor was in a movie with this famous married couple, separately. There is the term ‘Hollywood Royalty’ that is now applicable to Meghan Markle, who was granted a coat of arms. The Bond name is a real name in the Peerage. The sons of Princess Diana ‘England’s Rose’ are assuming real roles in worldly affairs, and thus the time of them being merely figureheads, is coming to an end. What I suggest, is, that James Bond movies and book, can play a big role in making this world a better place to live.
I awoke this morning from a dream. I was James Bond (somewhat) and I was writing myself a check. It was for an emergency, just incase I got hurt and suffered from memory loss. It would pay for my hospital bill, a hotel room, and dinner at a fine restruant. Is $10,000 enough? How about $50,000? Is the sky the limit?
I did not want to get rid of the idea for a Female Bond. Who would be my model? Who would understand? Who would get behind my cause? Who would not give me all this grief? Then, she came to me. My Savior. My kindred………Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor!
I got up and looked at Richard Burton who is in my family tree. Ian Fleming wanted him to be the first James Bond. I then looked at the paintings and drawings of Augustus John, that Francis Taylor and Liz owned. John had a daughter, Amaryllis, who was the mother of Ian Flaming. Elizabeth Taylor’s father had a art gallery at 35 Old Bond Street that was named after Sir Thomas Bond that is the ancestor of James Bond. Liz and Richard are in the Getty family tree, and we are kin to Talkitha Getty.
Caspar John is in my rosy family tree. He was a Sea Lord, and half-brother of Poppet Pol (John) There is no doubt that Rena’s late husband, Commander Sir Ian Easton, and John, knew each other. Tabitha Getty is Caspar’s second-niece. She was a Bohemian fashion model, and step-mother of John Paul, who was abducted. John is the subject of a movie and television series titled ‘Trust’. Why are these knighted men marrying beautiful American women? May I dare wonder?
Rena was the muse of my late, Christine Rosamond, and I. This is the love story of our time. The children born at the end of the World War were given a special mission. Rena and I were destined to meet – and part – so our spirits can rescue Britain from her enemies. Britannia rules the waves! Like Phoenix Birds…………..We will rise from the ashes?
Sotheby’s is located at 35 Bond Street. Is it on the same building that Francis Taylor had his art gallery? Did Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor ever go into this gallery? Today, there is a statue of Sekhmet above the door. She is The Guardian. She is the Daughter of God Ra!
On this day, May 25, 2018 at 9:00 A.M. PST…….Cleopatra Rosemond Bond…..is born! She will be called ‘Cleo Bond’. Cleopatra ‘Rose of the World’.
I bury Victoria Bond, and dismiss Lara Roozemond as the model of my Bond Woman. However, she might be my model for Cleo’s arch rival.
I FOUND a incredible connection that already existed. It lie there, dead, waiting for The Heir to come along – and resurrect the Rose-Bond Lineage. I am a immortal! I am in the cat-bird-seat. I have been given a blank check – from beyond the grave! There is a great battle brewing on the horizon! I am with ‘The Champions’! When I get my first royalty check, I’m moving to Bond Street. I want to open a Art Gallery on Bond Street, called –
‘The John Gallery’
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Copyright 2018
Artist Augustus John auction by Elizabeth Taylor. See Tamara Cohen story.
London’s famous Bond Street is revered throughout the world for its wealth of elegant stores, exclusive brands, designer fashion, luxury goods, fine jewels, art and antiques. Set in the heart of historic Mayfair, in London’s popular West End, Bond Street has become a haven for gracious living.
Since its foundation in 1700, Bond Street has been a playground for society’s wealthiest, most stylish and influential people. Past residents of the street have included Admiral Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton as well as a number of renowned authors and poets. Today over 300 years on, Bond Street remains a much-loved destination for celebrities, socialites and the international jet set.
Home to some of the world’s most prestigious retailers including Asprey, Bulgari, Burberry, Chanel, Cartier, Dolce Gabbana, Hermès, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Ralph Lauren and Tiffany Co. Bond Street offers an unrivalled mix of history, traditional elegance and modern luxury.
Bond Street and its surrounding area boasts a impressive number of Royal Warranties and is home to some of the world’s most individual and unique hotels and restaurants, including Claridge’s and The Ritz, as well fine establishments such as The Royal Academy of Art and the world famous auction house, Sotheby’s.
Elizabeth grew up with an understanding and appreciation for fine art. Her father, Francis Taylor, was an art dealer with a gallery located at 35 Old Bond Street in London. He learned the business under the tutelage of his uncle, Howard Young. After relocating with his family to sunny California during the war, Francis opened an art gallery at the Château Elysée, but quickly relocated it to the more impressive Beverly Hills Hotel. It was at that location that such celebrities as Howard Duff, Vincent Price, James Mason, Alan Ladd, Hedda Hopper, and Greta Garbo could be found selecting art for their own collections. Francis Taylor was also a trendsetter; responsible for the popularity of Augustus John in the United States. Francis, who had a keen eye, asked John if he could buy some of the paintings John had discarded. John felt they weren’t good enough to sell, and gave them to Francis free of charge. They were sold back at the art gallery in the States, where Augustus John paintings would be sold exclusively for many years. Francis would soon find an art connoisseur in his daughter, Elizabeth, who would amass one of the great private collections of Impressionist art in America.
Strange lights were seen in the sky over the city of my birth. For several weeks I have been considering moving back to the Bay Area. I have gone there in my dreams. I was born during a star shower. I hae considered Mark Twain.
Strange lights seen in Vacaville, possible meteor shower
Strange lights seen in Vacaville, possible meteor shower
VALLEJO, Calif. – A most peculiar sight lit up the sky Friday evening. Video shared with KTVU shows a parade of “strange lights” slowly streaking across the sky.
One video, shared with us from above Vallejo, clearly shows the phenomenon. It was posted to Twitter. The caption says it was spotted at around 9:30 p.m. The narrator from the video, posted by @Tnez111, simply says “dude” in astonishment. Not much more could be said.
Strange lights seen in Vallejo, possible meteor shower
Strange lights seen in Vallejo, possible meteor shower
Another video, from about 25 miles northeast in Vacaville, shows four distinct asteroid or comet like figures coursing through the night sky. That video was posted by @KalzYoung at 9:46 p.m.
One person who shared video said they saw the lights heading southeast over San Ramon at 9:30 p.m. and that it lasted about 40 seconds until they weren’t visible anymore.
I was born October 8, 1946 two minutes after the sun set. An amazing star-shower was suddenly visible. The nurses in the maternity ward bid my mother to come to the window and look, but, was too spent having just delivered me.
Rosemary said she had a vision while she was giving birth to me, she telling herself she must not forget it. She forgot.
Rosemary named me after John the Baptist because she believed I was born on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. I was born three days after Yom Kippur.
When my Astrologer began her five hour (recorded) reading of my chart, she began with these words;
“Jon, I have never seen a chart like yours, never knew it was possible. It begins where all charts in theory begin, on the exact cusp of Pisces and Aries.. For this reason I had to move up the time of your birth ten minutes, or in theory, you were not born. As it is now, you barely escaped becoming a veritable prisoner in this lifetime, that is, all the information you came here to share.”
I believe I was born to die, and when I did, my clock was readjusted so my information could be set free. My astrologer said I am of the great Scorpion Scholars of the Biblical Wilderness who sting themselves in order to induce a near-death experience and behold the Creator, if only for a little while.
The large painting I did of Rena had her standing on a grassy hill after the sun had set and the evening sky was a rainbow with stars coming out in the thalo blue. There was a crescent moon cradling a star. Rena was wearing a thalo blue cape the color of Carla Bruni’s sweater. I painted stars along the edge. For two months I have been thinking of posting this photo, for the entity I saw was wearing a thalo blue robe and had jet black hair filled with tiny stars like diamonds.
My freed information needed the imput of female information. When our hands touched in the total darkness an amazing download began. It was and electrical experience.
Rena and I spent six weeks together. We never listened to a radio, watched TV.. or went to a movie. We had no friends. We had no electricity, and lived by candlelight. But what we did every night on our mountain top, was watch the sunset, and the gods paint the sky with stars. And then we went to be bed, and in each other’s arms we dreamt a dream of long ago. And we go wherever the stars took us that night.
Jon Gregory Presco
The October Draconids, in the past also unofficially known as the Giacobinids, are a meteor shower whose parent body is the periodic comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Almost all meteors which fall towards Earth ablate long before reaching its surface. The Draconids are best viewed after sunset in an area with a clear dark sky. The 1933[1][2] and 1946[2] Draconids had Zenithal Hourly Rates of thousands of meteors visible per hour, among the most impressive meteor storms of the 20th century. Rare outbursts in activity can occur when the Earth travels through a denser part of the cometary debris stream; for example, in 1998, rates suddenly spiked[3][4] and spiked again (less spectacularly) in 2005.[5] A Draconid meteor outburst occurred[6] as expected[7][8][9] on 2011 October 8, though a waxing gibbous Moon reduced the number of meteors observed visually. During the 2012 shower radar observations detected up to 1000 meteors per hour. The 2012 outburst may have been caused by the narrow trail of dust and debris left behind by the parent comet in 1959.[10]
The Draconids get their name from the constellation Draco, the Dragon.
In 1933 and 1946, the Draconid outbursts were major – observers reported an astounding rate of 20,000 shooting stars an hour. An Irish astronomer described the 1933 episode like a flurry of snowflakes.
My mother, Rosemary Rosamond, and my sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, died not know they were related to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor. With the discovery of Frank Taylor’s written words to Augustus John, where he mentions the two movies that would make Elizabeth a star, fate and the muses enjoin one of the most profound literary, cinematic, and artistic legacies in the world. John is related to Ian Fleming, and Wilding was a famous British actor who had a son by Rosemond. Christopher Wilding married Aileen Getty, thus all members of the Getty family are kin to Ian Fleming, and, can relate to James Bond, who is being raised from the dead – without success! I suggest, Liz Taylor be raised from the dead in a series of books and films. The Adventures of Rosemond Wilding can be at the Bohemian Vanguard in the culture wars that threaten many creative people.
I know there are a tons of curses with these related families. I have cast them aside to get to the Beautiful Roses. I have so much to do. I am looking for a woman co-author, and a female artist to help complete these visions. I am the Creator of this Rosy Enterprise.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
The Taylor family home in Hampstead, where Elizabeth was born in 1932, had previously been owned by Augustus John, whose paintings remained on the walls when the Taylors moved in. Elizabeth’s father Frank Taylor was an art dealer with a gallery located at 35 Old Bond Street in London. He established a close relationship with the Welsh artist. After relocating with his family to sunny California during the war, Frank opened an art gallery at the Château Elysée, but quickly relocated it to the more impressive Beverly Hills Hotel. It was at that location that such celebrities as Howard Duff, Vincent Price, James Mason, Alan Ladd, Hedda Hopper and Greta Garbo could be found selecting art for their own collections. Frank Taylor acted as John’s American agent for many years and was responsible for the artist’s popularity in the United States. The two men corresponded frequently. In a letter of 25 June 1943 Frank Taylor wrote to Augustus John: ‘We have settled down to living in California and our young daughter is by way of being a movie star, if you see a picture Lassie Come Home which will be released in September, she is in that with Roddy Macdowal, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty and a lot of people, she did a bit in Jane Eyre and will be in The White Cliffs of Dover, also she may get the leading part in National Velvet, even if you are not a movie fan see the Lassie picture it is in colour and is beautiful’. Miss Taylor inherited this collection of works from her father, and they remained in her homes throughout her life. We are grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for these works.
This extremely rare photo of the first west coast Black Mask get-together on January 11, 1936 captures possibly the only meeting of several of these authors.
Pictured in the back row, from left to right, are Raymond J. Moffatt, Raymond Chandler, Herbert Stinson, Dwight Babcock, Eric Taylor and Dashiell Hammett. In the front row, again from left to right, are Arthur Barnes (?), John K. Butler, W. T. Ballard, Horace McCoy and Norbert Davis.
Rosemary told me her father, Royal Rosamond, used to sail to the Channel Islands and camp with his friend, Dashiell Hammett who is seen standing on the right in the photo above.
Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney starred in “National Velvet” in 1944.
An 18-year-old Gene Tierney, who was then appearing on Broadway, was offered the role of Velvet Brown in 1939. Production was delayed, however, so Tierney returned to Broadway.[5] Much of the film was shot in Pebble Beach, California, with the most-scenic views on the Pebble Beach Golf Links[6] (with golf holes visible in the background).
“Christine worked almost exclusively from photographs and figures she cut from magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue and Glamour,” Garth recalls. “That’s why the women in her middle period were so exquisite – the inspiration for them came from elegant magazines that set the standard.”
Rena Easton looked for her sister to be on the cover of a famous magazine in July of 1970. Rena has a lot to do with the marriage of my late sister into the Benton family. American magazines held beauty contests for seventy years. Jessie Benton came close to being the Queen of America.
Rena and I were meant to get married. I should have put Robert and James in the back seat, like tramps, and kept them there. I should have taught Rena how to drive, and if James gave me any lip, I would kick him out of the car like his buddy Brian did to me when he kidnapped Rena.
Rena would have been kin to real artists and writers. She should have been the Muse of Muses, painted by many famous artists. Fate had much in store for this beautiful woman.
The artist, Philip Boileau, was the son Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton, the sister of Jessie Benton, the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, whose grandson was the famous artist of the same name, who was the cousin of Garth Benton, who married Christine Rosamond Presco, who is kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, according to Jimmy Rosamond, the Rosamond Family genealogists.
Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine, and was on the cover of numerous magazines, as were the beautiful women painted by Boileau, that resemble Rosamond Women. No one, but I, knew of these relations after the death of the world famous artist ‘Rosamond’.
Recently two paintings by Andy Warhol of Liz Taylor sold for a hundred million dollars. ‘The Men In Her Life’ sold for $60,000,000 million dollars. Eddie Fisher is in this Warhol work, he the father of the actress , Carrie Fischer, who wrote a screenplay about my later sister, who is the mother of the artists, Drew Benton.
Christine and Drew are kin to John Fremont who was a co-founder of Republican Party, and its firs Presidential Candidate. Three years ago I registered as a Republican in order to stand in the way of the take over my kindred’s party by the Evangelical Cult.
Jon Presco
The artist, Philip Boileau, was the son Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton, the sister of Jessie Benton, the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, whose grandson was the famous artist of the same name, who was the cousin of Garth Benton, who married Christine Rosamond Presco, who is kin to Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, according to Jimmy Rosamond, the Rosamond Family genealogists.
Baron Charles Henri Philip Gauldree De Boilleau was born 1823 in Toulouse, France. He married Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton June 04, 1855 in Washington D.C.. He died in February, 1894. Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton, daughter of Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Elizabeth McDowell , was born 1833 in Cherry Grove, Rockbridge Co., VA. She died March 08, 1874 in Paris, France.
Children of Baron Charles Henri Philip Gauldree De Boilleau and Susan Taylor Virginia McDowell Benton are:
15. SUSAN TAYLOR VIRGINIA MCDOWELL4 BENTON (THOMAS HART3, ANN “NANCY”2 GOOCH, WILLIAM1) was born 1833 in Cherry Grove, Rockbridge Co., VA, and died 08 March 1874 in Paris, France. She married BARON CHARLES HENRI PHILIP GAULDRÉE DE BOILLEAU 04 June 1855 in Washington, DC. He was born 1823 in Toulouse, France, and died February 1894. Children of SUSAN BENTON and CHARLES DE BOILLEAU are: i. PENSÉE5 DE BOILLEAU, b. Abt. 1856; d. Unknown. ii. BENTON GAULDRÉE DE BOILLEAU, b. February 1858, Calcutta, India (British); d. Unknown; m. MARIE BEDIENT DE GUION, 14 June 1898, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City, NY; b. 14 May 1861, New York City, New York Co., NY; d. Unknown. iii. CHARLES GAULDRÉE BOILLEAU, b. Abt. 1862; d. 29 December 1901, Loughborough Junction, England. iv. ARTIST – PEGGY GIRL PHILIP GAULDRÉE BOILLEAU/BOILEAU, b. 17 July 1863, Quebec, Canada; d. 18 January 1917, New York City, New York Co., NY; m. EMILY GILBERT, 09 October 1907, The Church of the Transfiguration, Manhattan, New York City, New York Co., NY; b. 02 August 1886, Quakertown, Bucks Co., PA; d. 13 May 1951. v. DESIRÉE DE BOILLEAU, b. Abt. 1866; d. Unknown. vi. HUBERT LÉON MACDOWELL DE BOILLEAU, b. 19 September 1868, Versailles, France; d. Unknown. vii. MARY DE BOILLEAU, b. Bet. 1870 – 1872, France; d. Unknown. viii. PAULINE DE BOILLEAU, b. Bet. 1870 – 1872, France; d. Unknown. 16. THOMAS HART4 BENTON (NATHANIEL3, ANN “NANCY”2 GOOCH, WILLIAM1) died Unknown. He married MARY ELLEN EASON. She died Unknown. Children of THOMAS BENTON and MARY EASON are: 27. i. COLONEL MAECENAS EASON5 BENTON, b. 29 January 1848, Dyer Co., TN; d. 27 April 1924, Springfield, Greene Co., MO. ii. JESSIE BENTON, b. 1857; d. Unknown. iii. THOMAS BENTON, b. 1859; d. Unknown. iv. DOLLY E. BENTON, b. 1861; d. Unknown. v. SAMUEL A. BENTON, b. 1863; d. Unknown. vi. FANNY M. BENTON, b. September 1869; d. Unknown. Generation No. 5Descendants of William GOOCH, Sr.
Generation No. 1
1. WILLIAM1 GOOCH, SR. was born Bet. 1714 – 1722 in Virginia, and died 22 December 1802 in Caswell Co., NC. He married (1) KEZIAH ANN HART Abt. 1744, daughter of THOMAS HART and SUSANNAH RICE. She was born Abt. 1725 in Virginia, and died Abt. 1760 in Virginia. He married (2) FRANCES RICE Abt. 1762, daughter of JOHN RICE. She died Unknown.
Children of WILLIAM GOOCH and KEZIAH HART are:
i. MARY2 GOOCH, b. 30 May 1745, Hanover Co., VA; d. 14 December 1842, Pike Co., MS; m. JOHN SNEAD, 25 March 1765; b. 27 June 1739, Hanover Co., VA; d. 06 September 1793, Wilkes Co., GA.
2. ii. WILLIAM GOOCH, JR., b. Abt. 1750, Hanover Co., VA; d. 09 January 1832, Caswell Co., NC.
iii. ELIZABETH GOOCH, b. Abt. 1754, Hanover Co., VA; d. 1826, Rutherford Co., TN; m. WILLIAM KIMBROUGH, Abt. 1770; b. Abt. 1750, Virginia; d. 1816.
“Though Howard may have chosen a life out of the spotlight, he still had his sister’s flair for the dramatic. When he heard that police had rounded up 13 vagrants who recently moved to the island from Berkeley, California, he decided to bail out the lot and allow them to live on his land rent free.
‘It’s your land and they’re now your hippies,’ Taylor reportedly told officials, when they complained about the new inhabitants on Ke’e Beach.”
After the Bond movie ‘To Die And Live Again’ was a huge box office hit, a prominent member of the Royal Family made a very snide remark. Clint hired an attorney at the suggestion of his real-estate broker, Chaz Chazen, to seek an attorney. He recommended Ace Buckster, who owned a small airport in Carmel. This lawsuit got in the news and the attention of, Ian Saint James, a local mystic who did a genealogy of the Eastwood family.
“Wow! Clint is bullet proof. He’s American – and Hollywood Royalty! The Windsors have bitten off more than they can chew. They put a harpoon in – Moby Dick!”
When I read that Clint Eastwood’s ancestors served on my great grandfather’s ship, the USS Constitution, I had forgiveness for my daughter who thinks life is a big popularity contest. She is not alone, so do the Royal Windsors who no longer have any real power. It’s all -show!
“To add to that, he also has maternal ancestors (James Morgan and Margery Hill) with a likely royal descent, linked to the late Princess of Wales, and Prince William and Prince Harry, the probable next King of England.”
Some sites on the web say the Eastwoods served on the sister ship, the USS Constellation. McGilligan says it was the USS Constitution. Both ships went to Tripoli to protect American shipping from a Islamic leader and fanatic who was holding Americans for ransom.
The USS Constitution is the oldest commisioned Navy vesel. Our President could have sent Old Irondsides to get Bin Laden, given him a broadside – just for show, like that actor and Texas braggart, George Bush, who dressed in costume and stood on the deck of a Navy vessel with a banner over his head that read;
“Mission Accomplished”
“Cut! that’s a wrap! You can go back to your ranch, ‘Smoke-em Out’ George, and play cowboy!”
President Obama sent the Navy Seals to an Islamic nation to dispatch the world’s No.1 terrorist! I, and Eastwood’s ancestors – are as proud as can be of this American Citizen. Right – Clint? Perhaps our President was born in Oakland, too, and is ashamed to admit it?
Clint’s billionaire golf buddies are trying to buy our democratic process, hide behind their money and mommy, verses fighting out in the open. Greedy Cowards – and Cheats! Clint is a fake blue collar kind of guy.
Clint’s cousin claims the Eastwoods are “America Royalty” after he proudly declares his kindred served in Tripoli where my kindred, Captain Issac Hull, commanded the USS Enterprise. Did the Eastwood’s hear my great grandfather’s voice, giving them orders as We the United and Free went after our real enemies?
It’s time for my family to be united – and all American families!
Are Amerians jealous of all that pomp and ceremony they beheld on the Queen’s Daimond Jubilee? My bad-ass kindred kicked Limy butt – and whooped the Islamic pirates, just like our President did. Behold – Americans at sea!
Clint Eastwood, and Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, are Hollywood Royalty. One could say they are the Emperor and Empress, and should be paired for life in the land of make believe. What is real, Clint and I share the same Oakland roots, and, Liz is in the Rosamond family tree.
Lindsay Lohan is going to play LIz in a movie. It will be a comeback for a woman who struggles with alcoholism, a theme promoted in the biography of Christine Rosamond Benton, who Liz and Christine’s kindred, Carrie Fisher, wrote a screenplay about. Richard Burton was a alcoholic, a bad boy in real life. Could Hollywood have created a Dirty Harry character for Richard? How about ‘Dirty Burty’ a bad-ass Brit with a big mouth and a blunderbuss.
“With any luck, she’ll also stay sober throughout!”
Who’s afraid of Lindsay Wolfe? How about a detective movie based upon Liz and Burt’s roles in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? A married detective team wreck havoc in the underworld as they barhop across America and Europe taking on one tough guy after another – and destroying him! This good cop, bad cop couple, fight fire with fire – on the enemies turf, and on their terms! All the guest stars on the show will be escapees from rehab, or, on their way to rehab. We already got the show’s theme song!
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf. When this couple walks in a bar, the tough guys creep out the back, they on their way to rehab. They’ve had enough. Case closed.
A bungalow belonging to my kindred, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, is being rented out.
A portrait by Warhol – Liz’s dead friend – adds to the bragging rights the guests may enjoy without being called “insane”. Money talks – even after death! Can you talk to her ghost?
Christine Rosamond’s beautiful women were hung by a Realtor as staging when her home in Pebble Beach was put on the market – after she was dead! Here is High Class Fashion Moda. If the Warhol is real, then it was auctioned off with Liz’s fashionable dresses. To hang the original artwork of the diseased artist, is to create a museum, that is not open to the public, and is there for the sole reason of making money. To decorate a room around the painting of a famous movie star – painted by an artist who made movies – is to create a Vain Stage where narcissists may roam in their need to be the center of attention.
Christine posed for her image ‘Cleo’. Here is the Phantom of the Opera creating a new stage for his star. I wonder if I can cash in? Perhaps I can conduct a tour? I could be on call to come give an art lesson to the guests. I could wear a tux and drink non-alcoholic wine. Would they save the glass I drank from?
My cousin, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, owned the portrait of Poppet done by her father, Augustus John. Liz did not know she was kin to Ian Fleming before she died. She was born in John’s home.
On this day March 17, 2023, I launch the Second Children’s Crusade to rescue the Children of Ukraine, from the clutches’ of Putin, and his Killer Priest, Kirill.
I am calling for a world-wide boycott of all Russian art, music, poetry, and chess, until the children are safely home with their parents.
The Children’s Crusade was a failed popular crusade by European Christians to establish a second Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy Land, said to have taken place in 1212. The traditional narrative is likely conflated from a mix of factual and mythical events, which include the preaching of visions by a French boy and a German boy, an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity, bands of children marching to Italy, and children being sold into slavery in Tunis. The crusaders of the real events on which the story is based left areas of Germany, led by Nicholas of Cologne, and Northern France, led by Stephen of Cloyes.
122 Cheyne Walk
James Bond author Ian Fleming was another superstar resident that briefly lived on Cheyne Walk. He was said to reside in a smaller flat on Cheyne Walk before moving to number 122 briefly.
After selling Pitt House in 1923 Fleming’s mother bought three cottages in Cheyne Walk and converted them into one dwelling. She named the three Turner’s House after the painter J M W Turner who had spent his last years at No. 119. He died here in 1851. During her time here, Eve established a Bohemian salon for artists, like her lover, Augustus John, to allow them to mingle with patrons such as Winston Churchill. The young Ian lived here during his school holidays and continued to visit whilst he was at Kitzbuhel and at Geneva University.
Francis Taylor exclusively represented the Welsh painter Augustus John in America, a relationship that had developed when the Taylor family moved into John’s former house in Hampstead, where Elizabeth was born in 1932. The Christie’s sale includes 21 works by John, including Portrait of Poppet in Black Hat, which Elizabeth inherited from her father and, says Bertazzoni, “cherished all her life”.
The Taylor family home in Hampstead, where Elizabeth was born in 1932, had previously been owned by Augustus John, whose paintings remained on the walls when the Taylors moved in. Elizabeth’s father Frank Taylor was an art dealer with a gallery located at 35 Old Bond Street in London. He established a close relationship with the Welsh artist. After relocating with his family to sunny California during the war, Frank opened an art gallery at the Château Elysée, but quickly relocated it to the more impressive Beverly Hills Hotel. It was at that location that such celebrities as Howard Duff, Vincent Price, James Mason, Alan Ladd, Hedda Hopper and Greta Garbo could be found selecting art for their own collections. Frank Taylor acted as John’s American agent for many years and was responsible for the artist’s popularity in the United States. The two men corresponded frequently. In a letter of 25 June 1943 Frank Taylor wrote to Augustus John: ‘We have settled down to living in California and our young daughter is by way of being a movie star, if you see a picture Lassie Come Home which will be released in September, she is in that with Roddy Macdowal, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty and a lot of people, she did a bit in Jane Eyre and will be in The White Cliffs of Dover, also she may get the leading part in National Velvet, even if you are not a movie fan see the Lassie picture it is in colour and is beautiful’. Miss Taylor inherited this collection of works from her father, and they remained in her homes throughout her life. We are grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing the catalogue entries for these works.
THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court said on Friday it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine.
”Under green-cover’d bosoms, heaving quick
Beneath quick thoughts; while they grew red with shame,
And gazed down at their feet: while I felt sick,
And almost shriek’d if one should call my name.
“The thrushes sang in the lone garden there:
But where you were the birds were scared I trow:
Clanging of arms about pavilions fair,
Mixed with the knights’ laughs; there, as I well know,
”Rode Launcelot, the king of all the band,
And scowling Gauwaine, like the night in day,
And handsome Gareth, with his great white hand
Curl’d round the helm-crest, ere he join’d the fray;
Poppet always seemed faintly glamorous to the younger members of the John family; she was the aunt who lived in the South of France, mixed with grand people and loved a cocktail party. She had an exotically named stepdaughter, Talitha, and a charming husband, a Dutch painter who was always known by his surname, Pol. At their best they were a delightful, animated couple, who none the less suffered devastating turns of fate.
By Ian Fleming‘s widowed mother, Evelyn Ste Croix Fleming, née Rose, he had a daughter, Amaryllis Fleming (1925–1999), who became a noted cellist. Another of his sons, by Mavis de Vere Cole, wife of the prankster Horace de Vere Cole, is the television director Tristan de Vere Cole. His son Romilly (1906–1986) was in the RAF, briefly a civil servant, then a poet, author and an amateur physicist. Poppet (1912–1997), John’s daughter by Dorothy, married the Dutch painter Willem Jilts Pol (1905–1988). Willem Pol’s daughter Talitha (1940–1971) by an earlier marriage (i.e. step-granddaughter of both Augustus and Dorothy), a fashion icon of 1960s London, married John Paul Getty Jr. His daughter Gwyneth Johnstone (1915–2010), by musician Nora Brownsword, was an artist.[31] Augustus John’s promiscuity gave rise to rumours that he had fathered as many as 100 children.[32]
In the 23rd James Bond thriller, Skyfall, director Sam Mendes sought to elevate super spy James Bond, from mere Hollywood action star, to a heroic symbol for England.
By employing poetry, imagery and story elements of Arthurian legend, Mendes stretches an umbilical cord through time to connect Britain’s most modern fictitious national hero, Bond, with it’s most ancient and legendary, King Arthur.
The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story explores the legend of King Arthur within the Victorian imagination, presenting national myths and legends through the eyes of Pre-Raphaelite artists.
King Arthur is a central figure in English folklore, a fictional 5th century ruler who led his famous knights in various battles and quests. The Arthurian stories are told through numerous works by various authors from the 9th century onwards. The telling and retelling of the legend culminated in the English author Thomas Malory writing down the stories in a single work in 1485, Le Morte d’Arthur.
The Arthurian legends fell out of interest at the end of the Middle Ages but were rediscovered in the early 19th Century, initially by poets such as Walter Scott and Alfred Tennyson. William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones read these poems obsessively whilst at Oxford University and drew from them – and the myths that inspired them – for artistic projects throughout their careers.
This exhibition tells the Arthurian stories as presented by Malory, through the work of Pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Arthur Hughes, John William Waterhouse and William Morris alongside lesser known female Pre-Raphaelite artists Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale and Elizabeth Siddal. The show will introduce audiences to the Arthurian legend within the context of reawakened interest in medievalism in Victorian England.
Just past midnight on August, 22, 2021, I googled “Ian Fleming” and “Bohemian” and discovered Evelyn Saint Croix Rose bought the house that one of my favorite artists lived in, and held a salon there. Turner lived in on Cheyne Walk, as did Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which I revived in 1969. My ship has come in. The Art Dynasty I saw coming over the horizon – is a magnificent Work of Art. The nine Muses have been my Winged Guides! I have found The Grail! I have persevered!
Eve was the lover of the artist, Augustus John, and had a daughter by him. My kin, Elizabeth Taylor, was raised in John’s house. Her father, Francis Taylor, sold John’s art.
Yesterday, many Australians protested against the lockdown, and marched without masks. This is foreseen in my second Bond novel ‘Bond of Nebraska’ where Cornhuskers go to the big game, knowing they will be exposed. My two spies, Victoria Rosemond Bond, and Miriam Starfish Christling, have been psychic tools that allowed me to see – things to come. Winston Churchill wrote the obituary of Valentine Fleming. Consider the British Defense Staff Washington, and Ian Easton, the late husband of my muse, Rena Easton. The creative Fleming family, has been replicated.
My first book will be about I being the Prophetic Heir to the Ian Fleming. It is like MY KIN – his spirit – came to warn us all, and prevent the greatest intelligence disaster in the history of the United States. The blow to our prestige will be felt for a very long time. My struggle to own some credibility – is epic! It is – THE STORY!
SYDNEY — More than 250 people who were protesting coronavirus lockdowns in Australia were arrested Saturday and many faced fines for defying health orders, authorities said.
At least seven police officers were treated for injuries after skirmishes broke out at some of the protests, which took place in multiple cities nationwide. The largest and most violent protest was in Melbourne. Many were organized by people in encrypted online chat groups.
When Spectre opened in theaters nationwide in November 2015, it enjoyed the second-highest opening weekend figures of any James Bond film released to date. Clearly, audiences still love the suave, unstoppable Agent 007. As University of Texas at Austin media professor Thomas Schatz says in a Christian Science Monitor article, the Bond films are a “transcendent franchise . . . something that seems to operate above the fray.” Of course, there would be no 007 at all if it weren’t for Ian Fleming, the original Bond writer. And, to a certain extent, we have Fleming’s Solo Mom, Evelyn (Eve) St. Croix Fleming, to thank as well.
Fleming, an English author, journalist, and naval intelligence officer, was raised by Eve after his father, Valentine Fleming, was killed by German shelling on the Western Front in 1917. Though his family background might imply that Fleming was brought up in a conservative banking family, he absorbed something of a Bohemian lifestyle from his mother; after her husband’s death, Eve lived in a house that had previously been the studio of the painter J.M.W. Turner. Eve was a free spirit: when Fleming was 17 years old and attending school at Eton, his mother packed up, went on a long cruise, and returned with a baby girl in her arms. She claimed the child, named Amaryllis, was adopted, though eventually Fleming learned Amaryllis was, in fact, a blood relation, the product of Eve’s affair with the artist Augustus John.
119 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, S.W.3 (Photo: Google Maps)
After selling Pitt House in 1923 Fleming’s mother bought three cottages in Cheyne Walk and converted them into one dwelling. She named the three Turner’s House after the painter J M W Turner who had spent his last years at No. 119. He died here in 1851. During her time here, Eve established a Bohemian salon for artists, like her lover, Augustus John, to allow them to mingle with patrons such as Winston Churchill. The young Ian lived here during his school holidays and continued to visit whilst he was at Kitzbuhel and at Geneva University.
This house, number 4 Cheyne Walk was the home of the novelist George Eliot. She moved in there with her husband John Walter Cross. You might argue that Burgess was pushing his luck in this case. George Eliot (alias Marian Evans and Mary Ann Cross) only lived there for three weeks in December 1880. Her husband, who suffered from depression had thrown himself into a Venetian canal on their honeymoon but survived. Although both of them loved the house with its views of the river, Eliot became ill with a recurrence of a kidney condition she had suffered from for years and died before the year was out. I don’t think that Burgess is suggesting that the woman following another dog in the picture is the author herself.
Cheyne Walk provided many subjects for Burgess. At number 59 was the house of W Holman Hunt.
This was a slightly more modest residence further down Cheyne Walk, close to the Old Church. When Hunt became more famous he moved to Melbury Road in Kensington – from the early Chelsea haunts of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to the more affluent neighbourhood of Lord Leighton.
(Apologies for the wavy picture on the scan. The original is a pencil drawing in a thick mount)
By contrast that other famous member of the Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti moved to a big house at the other end of Cheyne Walk.
Number 16, also known as Queen House and Tudor House was the house Rossetti moved into in 1862 after the death of Elizabeth Siddall. Rossetti’s brother lived there for a while as did the poet Algernon Swinburne. I’ve mentioned Rossetti’s menagerie before, which included armadillos and wallabies but Burgess’s collaborator Richard Le Gallienne (who wrote the text of Bits of Old Chelsea) reports an incident I’d never heard before attributed to James McNeill Whistler. Apparently Rossetti acquired a zebu (an African species of cow) which had to be conveyed into the garden through the house tied up. It was tethered to a tree, a condition it disliked (or perhaps it never forgot its undignified entry into the property), and one day it managed to uproot the tree and charge at Rossetti who had to climb the garden wall to escape its vengeance. Rossetti never found a buyer and had to give it away although we don’t know to whom.
I am now going to concentrate on promoting myself in a professional manner. I taught my famous sister how to paint. She married into the famous Benton family of artists. I am kin to Augustus John.
FRANCIS TAYLOR and ELIZABETH ROSEMOND: Marriage: Abt. 1895
Children of ELIZABETH ROSEMOND and FRANCIS TAYLOR are: 3.i.FRANCES LYNN13 TAYLOR, b. 28 Dec 1897, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois; d. 20 Nov 1968, Los Angeles County, California. ii.JOHN TAYLOR.
An appreciation of art ran in Taylor’s family: her father, Francis, and great-uncle Howard Young were dealers. Born in London, Francis moved to Hollywood during the second world war and set set up his own gallery in the Beverley Hills Hotel, where it attracted film star clients including Hedda Hopper and Greta Garbo.
Francis Taylor exclusively represented the Welsh painter Augustus John in America, a relationship that had developed when the Taylor family moved into John’s former house in Hampstead, where Elizabeth was born in 1932. The Christie’s sale includes 21 works by John, including Portrait of Poppet in Black Hat, which Elizabeth inherited from her father and, says Bertazzoni, “cherished all her life”.
Meghan McCain has branded the U.S. a “laughing stock” after the Taliban mocked the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo following President Joe Biden‘s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan.
I went to bed early, then awoke around 1:30 A.M. realizing I had come to the end of this lonely road I have been on. It ends at No. 16 Cheyne Walk where my hero, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, once lived. Here John Paul Getty and his beautiful muse and wife lived. Talitha Getty Pol is kin to Augustus John, and Ian Fleming, via my cousin, Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, whose grandson is a Getty. John and Talitha struggled to stay alive which meant they had to give up alcohol and drugs, as I did….thirty-three years ago. I am a success story. I rose like a Phoenix Bird above the ashes, as did Sir John Getty.
I am now going to seek funding from the numerous Trusts and Grants that the Getty Family left so a person like me can continue their Creative and Sober Legacy that was established to help struggling writers, artists, historians, and even poets. I deserve a grant, and I deserve help applying for a grant. I am asking Robert Brevoort Buck, and members of Alcohol Justice, to help me fill out and file the proper forms. A failure to to do so, will be seen as a statement that I do not deserve to be funded. Is it because of the things I said in my Newspaper, Royal Rosamond Press?
Another of my heroes, Joaquin Miller, had dinner at Rossetti’s home. This Oregon native communicated with Michael Rossetti about publishing his poems about California. I have tried to get the cities of Eugene and Springfield interested in the Pre-Raphaelite history that my late sister, Christine Rosamond Benton, gave me credit for sharing with her, and thus she was inspired to take up art at the age of twenty-four. Rossetti’s wife and muse lived in Cheyne Walk, and like Tabitha, she died of an overdose. I believe the painting Fair Rosamund was rendered here.
I am going back to bed, and I copyright what fate has in store for me, and Christine. We have been seperated by the forces of darkness. The parasites’ and haters of art – have had a field day! Those days are over. These bright creative beings, deserve an integral sanctuary – that will be a beacon of light for all those creative souls who struggle with the disease of alcoholism.
Yesterday, I turned my living room into my studio so I can finish the the two paintings I began of my muse, Rena Easton, and begin my two portraits of Lara Roozemond.
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Copyright 2020
“I was ushered into one of the prettiest and most curiously furnished old-fashioned parlours that I had ever seen. Mirrors and looking-glasses of all shapes, sizes and design lined the walls. Whichever way I looked I saw myself gazing at myself.”–Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his circle (Cheyne walk life), Henry Treffry Dunn.
Henry Treffry Dunn, who was at one time Rossetti’s studio assistant, gives us an intimate glimpse into the artist’s home. Rossetti moved into Tudor House at 16 Cheyne Walk (located in Chelsea) soon after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Siddal, from an overdose of Laudanum. His years at Tudor House are often described as bohemian and his behavior did become quite eccentric. It was in this home that he began collecting a menagerie of exotic animals and developed a passion for hoarding antique furniture, blue-and-white china, and vast amounts of bric-a-brac. His former lover and model Fanny Cornforth became the housekeeper of Tudor House and the household also consisted of poet Algernon Charles Swinburne.
Fair Rosamund (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1861) appears here behind a balustrade in the royal manor of Woodstock. The sitter, Fanny Cornforth, was a frequent model of Rossetti’s. She became his housekeeper after the death of his wife Elizabeth Siddall in 1862. 1861. Oil on canvas.
The decline began after Getty divorced his first wife Gail in 1966, and married Talitha Pol, who, within five years, had turned from an envied beauty of the continental jet set – Saint-Laurent and Nureyev were among her bosom pals – to a hopeless addict, who died of a heroin overdose in Italy in 1971.
Fearing arrest, Getty fled to London, and the self-imposed obscurity of a large house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Overcome with remorse at the death of his wife, he deteriorated physically, and, in an attempt to end his own various addictions, he entered the London Clinic in 1984 for a long period of treatment.
Getty only makes the papers through his philanthropies. To the increasing annoyance of the Getty Museum, those gifts are sometimes designed to keep in Britain works of art that the museum is interested in acquiring.
A public campaign already had raised about $8.8 million to match the Malibu museum’s offer for the Canova and keep it in Britain. The government last week ordered a three-month extension of the time allowed under British law to equal the museum’s offer; with Getty’s gift, only approximately $1.22 million remains to be found.
During the past decade, Getty’s philanthropy has become increasingly visible. He had previously given money to prevent a crucifixion painting by Duccio from leaving Britain for the Getty. His largest gift to date is $64.5 million in 1985, made to help London’s National Gallery finance an extension, and he has given about $25 million to the British Film Institute.
He has also contributed to areas apart from the arts: $150,000 to striking miners’ families in 1984, $4.4 million for a new grandstand at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London in 1986, $3.5 million to London’s Imperial War Museum, $750,000 to Ely Cathedral, and money to a fund for the Special Air Service regiment.
Although some of his better-known donations are publicized, Getty also gives quietly to other causes. For instance, reading in 1986 that a Royal Air Force hero was forced to auction his medals to raise funds for a memorial to his Dambuster squadron, Getty immediately offered to pick up the bill.
John Paul Getty Jr.’s history has been a troubled one. He was actually christened Eugene Paul Getty, the first child by his father’s fourth wife. His mother, Ann, married three more times, and young Getty and his brother Gordon were raised mainly by their maternal grandmother in San Francisco.
He studied at San Francisco State but did not graduate. He was drafted into the Army and served briefly in Korea. At 23, he married Gail Harris; they had four children, the eldest of whom was J. Paul Getty III. The others are Aileen, Mark and Ariadne.
Getty joined the family oil business and received his father’s permission to change his name to J. Paul Getty Jr. The senior Getty’s personal assistant, Claus von Bulow, remembers young Getty as a man of “charm, conversation and sex appeal.”
He was divorced from Gail and married Talitha Pol, of Dutch parents, in 1966 and became part of the international social set.
In May, 1968, Talitha had a son, whom they named Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramaphone Getty. Then, while living in Rome, J. Paul Getty Jr. quit the family business in a chilly exchange with his father, who disapproved of his lack of enthusiasm for the business and involvement with drugs. The couple, discussing divorce, separated. Talitha moved to London from Rome into an exquisite house on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea.
Later that year she flew to Rome in hopes of a reconciliation, but under mysterious circumstances died overnight, apparently of a drug overdose. Getty left Italy–while the case was being investigated–for the house in London. Two years later, his son J. Paul III, then 16, was kidnaped in Italy and held for $3.35-million ransom. Getty Jr. hadn’t enough cash to comply, and Getty Sr. at first refused to pay on the grounds that all his grandchildren would then be vulnerable to kidnaping.
After five months, when the abductors cut off a piece of the boy’s ear and sent it to a Rome newspaper, the oil magnate loaned his son the additional money for the release of the grandson.
In 1981, J. P. Getty III suffered a drink-and-drug-induced stroke that left him paralyzed and almost blind. He now gets around in a wheelchair.
For years, Getty Jr. rarely ventured from his Cheyne Walk home. But one neighbor remembers taking her dog walking late at night and chatting with him on a nearby park bench.
“He was very pleasant, polite and informed,” she recalls. “I never knew who he was until later.”
Another neighbor recalls him at her door early one morning, in a disheveled state, asking to use the phone because his was out of order. She tried to help him with his disintegrating address book, but he finally left without making the call. Two hours later she received six dozen roses.
In the mid-1980s, Getty entered London Clinic, where he stayed for more than a year for treatment of phlebitis. There, he pursued his main hobby of collecting antiquarian books, with particular interested in illuminated manuscripts.
He has purchased several at auction for more than $1 million each, and they form the core of a vast library of precious books that he is establishing at his country home, in a castle-like building made from flint stone.
I am heir to the literary kingdoms of Tolkien, Fleming, and London. When I searched the internet for a replacement muse of Rena Easton, I gasped when I saw the three photographs of Lara Roozemond. If she was born in another time, and she came upon them, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood would have fought bloody battles over her. Would Joaquin Miller join the fray?
There is a debate over the source of the name Rosamond. Some say it means “rose mouth”. Lara’s lips are like rose blossoms.
John Prescohttps://www.youtube.com/embed/cmO3ZO9TGgA?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
Dinner at Rossetti’s by Joaquin Miller ________________________________________ There is no thing that hath not worth; There is no evil anywhere; There is no ill on all this earth, If man seeks not to see it there. September 28. I cannot forget that dinner with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, just before leaving London, nor can I hope to recall its shining and enduring glory. I am a better, larger man, because of it. And how nearly our feet are set on the same way. It was as if we were all crossing the plains, and I for a day’s journey and a night’s encampment fell in with and conversed with the captains of the march. But one may not gave names and dates and details over there as here. The home is entirely a castle. The secrets of the board and fireside are sacred. And then these honest toilers and worshippers of the beautiful are shy, so shy and modest. But I like this decent English way of keeping your name down and out of sight till the coffin-lid hides your blushes–so modest these Pre-Raphaelites are that I should be in disgrace forever if I dared set down any living man’s name. But here are a few of the pearls picked up, as they were tossed about the table at intervals and sandwiched in between tales of love and lighter thoughts and things. All London, or rather all the brain of London, the literary brain, was there. And the brain of all the world, I think, was in London. These giants of thought, champions of the beautiful earth, passed the secrets of all time and all lands before me like a mighty panorama. All night sol We dined so late that we missed breakfast. If I could remember and write down truly and exactly what these men said, I would have the best and the greatest book that ever was written, I have been trying a week in vain, I have written down and scratched out and revised till I have lost the soul of it, it seems to me; no individuality to it; only like my own stuff. If I only had set their words down on the next day instead of attempting to remember their thoughts! Alas! the sheaves have been tossed and beaten about over sea and land for days and days, till the golden grain is gone, and here is but the straw and chaff. The master sat silent for the most part; there was a little man away down at the other end, conspicuously modest. There was a cynical fat man, and a lean philanthropist all sorts and sizes, but all lovers of the beautiful of earth. Here is what one, a painter, a ruddy-faced and a rollicking gentleman, remarked merrily to me as he poured out a glass of red wine at the beginning of the dinner: “When travelling in the mountains of Italy, I observed that the pretty peasant women made the wine by putting grapes m a great tub, and then, getting into this tub, barefooted, on top of the grapes, treading them out with their brown, bare feet. At first I did not like to drink this wine. I did not think it was clean. But I afterward watched these pretty brown women” and here all leaned to listen, at the mention of pretty brown women– I watched these pretty brown women at their work in the primitive winepress, and I noticed that they always washed their feet after they got done treading out the wine.” All laughed at this, and the red-faced painter was so delighted that he poured out and swallowed another full glass. The master sighed as he sat at the head of the table rolling a bit of bread between thumb and finger, and said, sitting close to me: “I am an Italian who has neven seen Italy. Belle Italia!…” By and by he quietly said that silence was the noblest attitude in all things; that the greatest poets refused to write, and that all great artists in all lines were above the folly of expression. A voice from far down the table echoed this sentiment by saying:”Heard melodies are sweet; but unheard melodies are sweeter.” “Written poems are delicious; but unwritten poems are divine,” cried the triumphant cynic. “What is poetry?” cries a neighbor. “All true, pure life is poetry,” answers one. “But the inspiration of poetry?” “The art of poetry is in books. The inspiration of poetry in nature.” To this all agreed. Then the master very quietly spoke: “And yet do not despise the books of man. All religions, said the Chinese philosophers, are good. The only difference is, some religions are better than others, and the apparent merit of each depends largely upon a mans capacity for understanding it. This is true of .poetry. All poetry is good. I never read a poem in my life that did not have some merit, and teach some sweet lesson. The fault in reading the poems of man, as well as reading the poetry of nature, lies largely at the door of the reader. Now, what do you call poetry?” and he turned his great Italian eyes tenderly to where I sat at his side. To me a poem must be a picture,” I answered. Proud I was when a great poet then said: “And it must be a picture–if a good poem so simple that you can understand it at a glance, eh? And see it and remember it as you would see and remember a sunset, eh?” “Aye,” answered the master, “I also demand that it shall be lofty in sentiment and sublime in expression. The only rule I have for measuring the merits of a written poem, is by the height of it. Why not be able to measure its altitude as you measure one of your sublime peaks of America?” He looked at me as he spoke of America, and I was encouraged to answer:”Yes, I do not want to remember the words. But I do want it to remain with me a picture and become a part of my life. Take this one verse from Mr. Longfellow: “And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.’” “Good!” cried the fat cynic, who, I am sure, had never heard the couplet before, it was so sweet to him; “Good! There is a picture that will depart from no impressible clay. The silent night, the far sweet melody falling on the weary mind, the tawny picturesque Arabs stealing away m the darkness, the perfect peace, the stillness and the rest. It appeals to all the Ishmaelite in our natures, and all the time we see the tents gathered up and the silent children of the desert gliding away in the gloaming.” A transplanted American, away down at the other end by a little man among bottles, said: “The poem of Evangeline is a succession of pictures. I never read Evangeline but once.” “It is a waste of time to look twice at a sunset,” said Rossetti, sotto voce, and the end man went on: “But i believe I can see every picture in that poem as distinctly as if I had been the unhappy Arcadian; for here the author has called in ail the elements that go to make up a perfect poem.” “When the great epic of this new, solid Saxon tongue comes to be written,” said one who sat near and was dear to the master’s heart, “it will embrace all that this embraces: new and unnamed lands; ships on the sea; the still deep waters hidden away in a deep and voiceless continent; the fresh and fragrant wilderness; the curling smoke of the camp-fire; action, movement, journeys; the presence–the inspiring presence of woman; the ennobl- ing sentiment of love, devotion, and devotion to the death; faith, hope and charity,- and all in the open air.” “Yes,” said the master thoughtfully, ‘no great poem has ever been or ever will be fitted in a parlor, or even fashioned from a city. There is not room for it there.” “Hear! hear! you might as well try to grow a California pine in the shell of a peanut,” cried I. Some laughed, some applauded, all looked curiously at me. Of course, I did not say it that well, yet I did say it far better, I mean I did not use the words carefully, but I had the advantage of action and sympathy. Then the master said, after a bit of reflection: “Homer’s Ulysses, out of which have grown books enough to cover the earth, owes its immortality to all this, and its out-door exercise. Yet it is a bloody book a bad book, in many respects–full of revenge, treachery, avarice and wrong. And old Ulysses himself seems to have been the most colossal liar on record. But for all this, the constant change of scene, the moving ships and the roar of waters, the rush of battle and the anger of the gods, the divine valor of the hero, and, above all, and over all, like a broad, white-bosomed moon through the broken clouds, the splendid life of that one woman; the shining faith, the constancy, the truth and purity of Penelope–all these make a series of pictures that pass before us like a panorama, and we will not leave off reading till we have seen them all happy together again, and been assured that the faith and constancy of that woman has had it reward. And we love him, even if he does lie!” How all at that board leaned and listened. Yet let me again and again humbly confess to you that I do him such injustice to try thus to quote from memory. After a while he said: “Take the picture of the old, blind, slobber-mouthed dog, that has been driven forth by the wooers to die. For twenty years he has not heard the voice of his master. The master now comes, in the guise of a beggar. The dog knows his voice, struggles to rise from the ground, staggers toward him, licks his hand, falls, and dies at his feet.” Such was the soul, heart, gentleness of this greatest man that I ever saw walking in the fields of art….
Joaquin Miller had dinner with the Pre-Raphaelites and was my grandmother’s friend. This history is being compiled for the grant I am applying for. The history of the Pre-Raphaelites has not been discarded, thus, Kehinde Wiley has no right to claim it and hand it out to NOBODIES who don’t deserve it! I don’t give a rat’s ass what the color of their skin is, and how badly they were oppressed. Let them work for their bragging rights. Just because Wyley thinks he has immortalized these non-artists, does not give them any titles. I will see to that.
I will be going out to Coburg today to plant another flower at the grave of George Miller, the brother of Joaquin Miller, a honorary member of the Bohemian Club that was a place for Bay Area Journalists to gather and compare notes. If Miller lived in the Bay Area, then he too would be a honorary member.http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29810634
Elizabeth Maude “Lischen” or “Lizzie” Cogswell married George Miller. Lizzie was the foremost literary woman in Oregon. On Feb. 6, 1897, Idaho Cogswell, married Feb. 6, 1897, Ira L. Campbell, who was editor, publisher and co-owner (with his brother John) of the Daily Eugene Guard newspaper. The Campbell Center is named after Ira.
The Wedding of John Cogswell to Mary Frances Gay, was the first recorded in Lane County where I registered my newspaper, Royal Rosamond Press. Idaho Campbell was a charter member of the Fortnightly Club that raised funds for the first Eugene Library.
George Melvin Miller was a frequent visitor to ‘The Hights’ his brothers visionary utopia where gathered famous artists and writers in the hills above my great grandfather’s farm. The Miller brothers promoted Arts and Literature, as well as Civic Celebrations. Joaquin’s contact with the Pre-Raphaelites in England, lent credence to the notion that George and Joaquin were Oregon’s Cultural Shamans, verses, he-men with big saw cutting down trees.
A year ago I received in the mail a book I ordered on E-Bay. I quickly scanned it to see if their were any illustrations or photographs. Then, I found it, what amounts to my personal Holy Grail. Joaquin Miller dedicated his book of poems ‘Songs of The Sun-Land’ to the Rossetti family that includes Gabriel, Michael, and, Christine. Gabriel was a artist and poet, Michael, a publisher, and Christine, a poet.
“TO THE ROSSETTIS”
Gabriel, who had Joaquin over to his house for dinner, where he met several members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Miller sends Michael a photograph of himself, and is sent a photo. This photo may be the famous one taken by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known as Lewis Carrol the author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. If Joaquin had glued this portrait to a piece of paper, then we might have seen it on the dedication page.
What is going on here is extremely profound. Miller has exported his vision and lifestyle to the England, where he wrote Song of the Sierras, and now he is importing to America a cultural brand that contains Grail and Arthurian subject matter that was at the epicenter of the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Lewis Carrol posed two children as Fair Rosamond and Queen Eleanore. I associate Fairmount with Rosamond. Johnnny Depp is starring in another Alice in Wonderland movie. Eugene can celebrate our Land of Make Believe, our White Rabbit made famous by the Jefferson Airplane. I stood before the Mayor of Eugene and suggested a Newspaper Museum at Kesey Square wherein is a model of Miller’s Fantastic Flying Machine. We could build a parade around this contraptions, a world contest that would bring creative people to our Fair City. Children would love this! They too would be in costume for the White Rabbit Run!
Here is what amounts to MY FANTASTIC MOVIE shot in Eugene. What an Amazing Journey is has been!
Christine Rosamond Benton and I were drawn into Tolkien’s Trilogy. The artist known as ‘Rosamond’ could not put these books down, nr could I. This caused our mutual friend, Keith Purvis, a British subject, to comment;
“She doesn’t know these books are real.”
We three were original hippies who took the Lord of the Rings to heart as we modified the modern world, made it over more to our liking, we oblivious to what normal folk were about. This is exactly what William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite Brother and Sisterhood did. They – returned!
I discovered the Pre-Raphaelites in 1969 and let my hair grow long for the first time. I gave up drugs in 1967 and was looking for a spiritual format. I came under the spell of the Rossetti family who were friendly with Joaquin Miller. We Presco children knew Miller’s daughter as ‘The White Witch’ and we would call her for advice. Miller’s home ‘The Abbye’ was above our home in the Oakland Hills. Our kindred were friends of Miller, who was also a friend of Swineburn, who wrote ‘The Queen-Mother and Rosamund’ and ‘Rosamund Queen of Lombards. Tolkien was inspired by the Lombards.
Filed away in Rosamond’s probate is my plea to the executor to allow me to be my sister’s historian. I mention Miller and Rossetti. I saw myself in the role of Michael Rossetti who had his own publishing company. He published Miller and other famous poets. When I was twelve, my mother read evidence I might become a famous poet.
All my imput has been ruthlessly ignored, because petty un-creative minds have forced our families creative legacy down the tiny holes of their hidden agendas, into the mouths of worms and parasites, because these ignorant people sensed I and the real Art World, did not let them in the door – would never admit them into our circle, our ring of genius!
William Morris had a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien. As John Garth points out, unlike most authors traumatized by the experience of World War I, Tolkien did not “discard the old ways of writing, the classicism or medievalism championed by Lord Tennyson and William Morris. In his hands these traditions were reinvigorated so that they remain powerfully alive for readers today” (40). His love of Morris, in particular, goes back to his undergraduate days when he turned from studying the Greek and Latin classics to the the northern traditions — the language and literature of the Scandinavian and Germanic past. According Garth, William Morris, from the late 1870s on, decided to “remedy” the defects of the real historical record by producing specific works of “pseudo-history,” fully-fleshed stories that he could present as “re-discovered” manuscripts of ancient tribal lore. So eager were the Germanic speakers of 19th century Europe to know more about their ancestors, that sometimes even academically trained scholars would be fooled by the books Morris wrote, and asked him for his sources, and wanted to read the original saga manuscripts themselves. To which requests Morris replied “Doesn’t the fool realize, that it’s a romance, a work of fiction — that it’s all lies!” (from May Morris, daughter of W. Morris recollections).
JRRT, a generation later than Morris, got in on the tail end of this nationalistic/ romantic period, and became as fully enmeshed in its allures as Morris. Tolkien went on to “sub-create” his own “pseudo-histories,” manufacturing his versions of the source myths that would allow a richer understanding of the Nordic tradition, especially the Anglo-Saxon phenomena of England. Between them, as much by accident as firm intent, Morris and Tolkien established an entire genre of pseudo-history that has, by now in the 21st century, become one of the most popular fields of literature.
“These two men knew either much (Morris) or most (Tolkien) of all that was known about these [northern] people and their lives. They used that wealth of knowledge to create ‘dreamed realities’ (Morris) or an ‘imaginary history’ (Tolkien) about what it might have been like to live in those days. While what they wrote wasn’t necessarily true in a strict sense, both knew enough about the past and were talented enough as writers that what they wrote created a strong sense that they described what might have been.” ( Michael W. Perry, More to William Morris, p. 7, 2003)
So, the question then becomes, for Tolkien readers, how does Morris stand up to JRRT? Is it worth the money to buy Morris’s books? Will I get the same, or at least a very similar thrill from reading them as I get when running through the pages of LotR and The Hobbit? Well, that’s what I am trying to decide in the next few installments of this topic. How do the works of the two authors compare, in what ways are they similar, in what ways do they differ?http://tolkiensring.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=authors&action=display&thread=675
Joaquin Miller looked me up at Somerset House, and left with me the remaining proofs of his forthcoming volume. He showed me the dedication, ‘To the Rossettis.’ I strongly recommended him to write direct to Gabriel as to the matter before anything further is done. I mentioned the dedication to Christina. She feels some hesitation in sanctioning it, not knowing what the book may contain. If she makes up her mind to object, she is to write to Miller. I looked through the proofs and noted down some remarks on them. They include a series of poems about Christ, named Olive Leaves, implying a sort of religious, or at least personal, enthusiasm, mixed up with a good deal that has more relation to a sense of the picturesque than of the devotional. These poems, though far from worthless from their own point of view, are very defective, and would, I think be highly obnoxious to many readers and Reviewers. I have suggested to Miller the expediency of omitting them altogether. – Christina, I find, has already read these particular poems, and to some considerable extent likes them, which is so far in their favour as affecting religious readers”
The wider world of Victorian London is present: Turgenev comes to dinner, Browning sends his new volumes, Swinburne arrives drunk, and the American poet and adventurer Joaquin Miller makes himself known to the Rossetti circle. Nine appendices include five devoted to Poems and one to the Fleshly School controversy.
Joaquin Miller Cabin is located in Washington, DC. The Hights, the Oakland home Miller built at the end of his life, is currently known as the Joaquin Miller House and is part of Joaquin Miller Park. He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre and monuments dedicated to Moses, General John C. Frémont, and the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Japanese poet Yone Noguchi began his literary career while living in the cabin adjoining Millers’ during the latter half of the 1890s. The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919 and can be found in Joaquin Miller Park.[42] It is now a designated California Historical Landmark. Miller went to England, where he was celebrated as a frontier oddity. There, in May 1871, Miller published Songs of the Sierras, the book which finalized his nickname as the “Poet of the Sierras”.[22] It was well-received by the British press and members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti. While in England, he was one of the few Americans invited into the Savage Club along with Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The younger Hawthorne referred to Miller as “a licensed libertine” but admitted him “charming, amiable, and harmless”.[ The Savage Club was formed to supply the want which Dr Samuel Johnson and his friends experienced when they founded the Literary Club. A little band of authors, journalists and artists felt the need of a place of reunion where, in their hours of leisure, they might gather together and enjoy each other’s society, apart from the publicity of that which was known in Johnson’s time as the coffee house, and equally apart from the chilling splendour of the modern club.
At present, there are 315 members. The club maintains a tradition of fortnightly dinners for members and their guests, always followed by entertainment. These dinners often feature a variety of famous performers from music hall to concert hall. Several times a year members invite ladies to share both the dinner and the entertainment — sometimes as performers. On these occasions guests always include widows of former Savages, who are known as Rosemaries (after rosemary, a symbol of remembrance). Born in London, he was a son of immigrant Italian scholar Gabriele Rossetti, and the brother of Maria Francesca Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Georgina Rossetti. He was one of the seven founder members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, and became the movement’s unofficial organizer and bibliographer. He edited the Brotherhood’s literary magazine The Germ which published four issues in 1850 and wrote the poetry reviews for it. It was William Michael Rossetti who recorded the aims of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood at their founding meeting in September 1848: 1. To have genuine ideas to express; 2. To study nature attentively, so as to know how to express them; 3. To sympathize with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote; 4. And most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues. Although Rossetti worked full time as a civil servant, he maintained a prolific output of criticism and biography across a range of interests from Algernon Swinburne to James McNeill Whistler. He edited the diaries of his maternal uncle John William Polidori (author of The Vampyre and physician to Lord Byron), a comprehensive biography of D. G. Rossetti, and edited the collected works of D. G. Rossetti and Christina Rossetti. Rossetti edited the first British edition of the poetry of Walt Whitman, which was published in 1868; however, this edition was bowdlerized.[1] Anne Gilchrist, who became one of the first to write about Whitman, first read his poetry from Rossetti’s edition, and Rossetti helped initiate their correspondence.[2] In 1874 he married Lucy Madox Brown, daughter of the painter Ford Madox Brown. They honeymooned in France and Italy. Their first child, Olivia Frances Madox, was born in September 1875, and her birth was celebrated in an ode of Swinburne. William Michael Rosetti was a major contributor to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica; his contributions on artistic subjects were criticised by many reviewers at the time and since, as showing little evidence of having absorbed the mounting body of work by academic art historians, mostly writing in German.
Five years ago I began my Bond novel ‘The Royal Janitor’. Today, it has come true. Note the bust of Robert Kennedy in back of our lawful President as he watches Irish dancers. Today is Saint Patrick’s Day. The end of ‘The Troubles’ will be celebrated.
Being part Dutch, and able to trace her lineage to William The Silent, got Victoria Bond an invite to march in the Orange Parade. But, when she insisted she play her ‘Contraption’, some of the most diplomatic folks of the Isles slithered up to her, and, as calm as can be, tried to talk her out of it.
“There will be trouble!”
“What kind of trouble? There’s always trouble. I’m not giving up my pipes – mon! That would be like me, asking you, to give up your nuts. Coo’mon! Drop em!”
Jon Presco
Copyright 2018
My vision is of a ‘Britain Reconnected’. Secure at home and strong abroad. A confident country, outside of the EU but a leader in Europe once again. A reliable partner, a dependable ally and a good neighbour. NATO’s leading European power. A development superpower once more. At the vanguard of climate action. Driving forward the industries of the future for Britain. A diplomatic entrepreneur. And a country that keeps its word.
“We will reconnect Britain” – Lammy’s foreign policy speech to Chatham House
David Lammy
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Below is the full text of Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s speech to Chatham House this afternoon.
Thank you, Chatham House, for hosting me here today. This institution is an encapsulation of Britain in the world – at its best. A trusted force for good. Universally respected. Globally networked and influential. But we meet at a time when Britain feels lost and disconnected in a world that is more divided than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Three major trends are shaping the foreign policy landscape the next Labour government plans to inherit. The first is that we are in a new age of geopolitical competition. We see it in the bloody war on our continent. We see it in a world economy splitting into blocs. As global competition between the United States and China shapes our century. And regional powers make the contest multipolar. From the vast collective bloc of the EU to more assertive middle powers in the Middle East throwing their weight around.
The second major trend is weaponised interdependence. The ties that bind us together are now also driving fragmentation – trade, industry, energy, migration, the internet. And new technologies from artificial intelligence, to automation, quantum and biotech risk being used as tools of authoritarian power. Less a new order. More a new polarised disorder.
Third is the trend I will focus on most today. There has been a blurring of the distinction between foreign and domestic policy. As President Biden has said, “there’s no longer a bright line” between the two. In a world this interdependent, foreign policy has become domestic policy. And domestic policy has become foreign policy.
We can see this in every village, town and city across the UK. Most of you know me as the MP for Tottenham in north London. But it is less known that I spent much of my childhood in Peterborough studying at a state boarding school. It is easy to see the impact of global trends in Tottenham.
But the impact of the world on Peterborough has been just as transformative. I went back a couple of years ago to have lunch with Clive and Cathy, the parents of my school best friend. Over tea in their bungalow, they told me how at home they felt in Peterborough when they were young. Now, they feel powerless as their grandchildren struggle to find decent jobs. The industrial workplaces of the past not yet replaced by the green jobs of the future. They feel like their community has been eroded. As neighbouring families moved out. And they tell me they feel too insecure on their street to walk home at night. As the tentacles of international criminal gangs have reached into their neighbourhood.
This is not just down to domestic policy failures in policing, housing and education. But a failure of the Conservative government to grasp the impacts of foreign policy, globalisation and economic change on all our communities. Leaving not only families, but us as a nation feeling lost – and disconnected.
To help communities like Peterborough, Labour’s foreign policy must adapt. And meet these three tectonic shifts fragmenting the world with three unifying principles. The first is that British foreign policy must seek to take back control. The Brexiteers were right about that. But they were fundamentally wrong to think it means going it alone. In the modern world, we maximise our influence by reconnecting Britain with our allies and partners.
The second is that our foreign policy must put pragmatism over ideology. Making decisions based on what will advance the British public’s security and prosperity. Not the ideological purity of the ERG.
And the third is that our foreign policy choices must be made for the many, not the few. Putting the consumer, before the fossil fuel company. The small business owner, before the hedge fund manager. The NHS patient, before the tax exile.
The test that lies behind each of these principles is simple. Will our choices help hard-working families in a more dangerous world where the borders between foreign and domestic policy are breaking down?
The lack of purpose in Britain’s foreign policy stems from both bad choices and institutional dysfunction. We have left the EU but not yet found a new, settled and confident place in Europe. Our country’s reputation for the rule of law has been badly damaged. Our leadership in development has been squandered. The foundations of our defences have been weakened. Our soft power has been corroded and our climate leadership forsaken.
It is, I am afraid to say, a dismal record. I take no pleasure from saying that. We all have a stake in the success of our country. And a future Labour government will inherit the consequences of these choices. It will fall to us to rebuild the foundations of our influence in the world.
My vision is of a ‘Britain Reconnected’. Secure at home and strong abroad. A confident country, outside of the EU but a leader in Europe once again. A reliable partner, a dependable ally and a good neighbour. NATO’s leading European power. A development superpower once more. At the vanguard of climate action. Driving forward the industries of the future for Britain. A diplomatic entrepreneur. And a country that keeps its word.
In government, we will announce a new mission statement for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office designed around five clear goals. One – a Britain Reconnected to defend the UK’s security, with strong armed forces and resilience against 21st century threats. Two – a Britain Reconnected to champion the UK’s prosperity and lead the industries of the future. Three – a Britain Reconnected for climate action, turning our response into an engine of growth. Four – a Britain Reconnected for international development, helping to promote the UK’s security, health and jobs in the process Five – and a Britain Reconnected for diplomacy, to re-establish the UK as a trusted, reliable and influential partner while protecting Britons abroad.
Let me start with security. Whether you get your news from TV or from scrolling through social media, the public understand that we face a more insecure world than at any time since the heights of the Cold War. I visited Kyiv a couple of weeks before the invasion, to show our solidarity in the face of Russia’s imperialist threats.
From the beginning of this crisis through to the recent decision to send Challenger tanks, the government has had Labour’s total support in providing Ukraine with the military, economic, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance it needs to defend itself. Britain is united on this. Whoever is in government, the UK will stand with Ukraine. For the long-haul.
It was a Labour Foreign Secretary who was the driving force behind the creation of NATO 70 years ago. Today, as then, Labour’s commitment to NATO is unshakeable. That is why I visited Stockholm and Helsinki last year to show our support for their NATO ambitions. Our commitment to Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent is unambiguous. And we know the value in deepening our alliances beyond Europe too, be that with Australia through AUKUS or new defence cooperation with Japan.
But it is in Europe – the first priority for our own security – where a Labour government would forge a new security approach. At present, our influence in Europe has waned. I felt this, recently, in Kosovo. Where I met with the Prime Minister, the President and the small group of British troops at the K-FOR base. From the Kremlin’s influence, to migration and organised crime – many of the forces threatening Kosovo are those threatening Britain too. But despite all the goodwill I felt towards Britain, from back when a Labour government led Europe in decisive action to stop ethnic cleansing – the Tories have left Britain on the sidelines. Locked out of a diplomatic process centred on the EU.
There’s no doubt our heft could help. But to do that we must cement our traditional friendships. New initiatives like the European Political Community have real potential, but they illustrate the way we have left others to do the running and take the lead.
Europeans are more than just trading partners. We share security and fate in this changing world. In Kyiv, in Kosovo and with terrorism – right here at home. We need a Britain Reconnected for security. That’s why we will pursue a new UK-EU security pact to complement our unshakeable commitment to NATO. We will seek to institutionalise new cooperation across foreign policy through regular EU/UK summits and structured dialogue, both at the political and official level. And as my excellent colleague and friend the Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey has said, we could negotiate new mechanisms for cooperation on hybrid threats between EU and UK defence industries.
These specific areas of cooperation are a matter for negotiation. But from sanctions to energy security, and space capabilities and new technology, we can see how developing deeper connections with Europeans can make Britons stronger and safer.
We need to think about security in a holistic way. Tanks, planes and ships matter as much as they ever have – but they are just the tip of the security iceberg. Today, conflicts are also waged by controlling energy prices. By using critical technologies or resources as bargaining chips. By cyberattacks and misinformation. By detaining foreign nationals. Threats are often in the grey zone. The Russian state murdering people on UK soil with a chemical weapon. Influencing operations against our democracy targeting parliamentarians. These threats need a coordinated response.
That is why today I am announcing that Labour will create a new joint FCDO-Home Office state threats cell. Working in partnership with the intelligence and security agencies to assess state threats, disrupt hostile actors, improve resilience in both government and the private sector and coordinate with international partners. Labour will rebuild the foundations of our defence, lead in NATO, build new ties with Europe and strengthen Britain’s resilience
Next, I want to talk about prosperity. Because growing up poor in Tottenham in Thatcher’s Britain, I know the pain of living through a cost-of-living crisis. Every week, I meet constituents still suffering from a lack of opportunity. And the indignity of choosing between eating and heating.
Keir Starmer’s green prosperity plan will reindustrialise the UK, supporting the creation of over 200,000 jobs over the next decade. But we are not alone in wanting to accelerate into green industries. China, the US and the European Union taking steps to become green superpowers. China already has the largest market share in every stage of solar panel manufacturing. And the US has passed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act.
I welcome efforts by other countries to accelerate along the path to net zero. But if we do not use our power smartly, we risk falling behind. That is why our £28bn green prosperity plan will help our many strengths such as our position as a world leader in wind power and our renewable research base to build political, scientific and commercial alliances to grow prosperity in the UK.
And we will make Britain’s prosperity more resilient. Successive crises – from the pandemic to war in Ukraine – have demonstrated the vulnerability of international supply chains. As the transition from fossil fuels accelerates, dramatic industrial shifts are creating new demand for technology critical materials like cobalt and lithium. But where is the new diplomatic drive to reflect this shifting resourcing economy? We need to move rapidly to reduce our exposure to volatility and our vulnerability to geo-economic pressure.
But Britain is falling woefully behind. US CHIPS legislation will provide $52bn in subsidies for US chip manufacturers. The EU Chips Act will provide €43bn. But the UK has put aside just £700,000 to commission a research project. And it still has not published its promised semiconductor strategy. Labour will publish one within our first parliamentary session.
Unconstrained globalisation has played a part in the turbulence we have seen in recent years. You can see this in Peterborough today. However, we must not let this deter us from the opportunities that globalisation can bring. That’s what I want for Peterborough tomorrow.
Labour will drive up trade across the UK and harness the power of our green prosperity plan to fuel exports and growth. We will build global alliances and partnerships, strike deals that deliver jobs and opportunity at home, while promoting prosperity and fairness around the world. Good jobs, strong growth and real opportunities. A framework business can trust.
But we will also ensure that global corporations pay their fair share. It is why Labour has led calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas profits. It is why we will bear down on tax havens and press other countries to put the global minimum corporate tax rate into domestic law.
Any serious discussion about increasing prosperity in Britain must include the 15 trillion elephant in the room. The European market just across our shores. It has been a central principle of British strategy for centuries that we should never find ourselves isolated in our own continent.
But that is exactly what this government has done. It is time to put an end to what The Economist has called the ‘magical thinking’ of the Conservative Party. And that means, yes, recognising the damage the government’s bad Brexit deal has done to our economy. Investment down. Growth, sluggish or non-existent. 45% of businesses say they are having difficulties trading with the EU. The number exporting to Europe has fallen by a third.
In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this is a scandal. And the Labour Party is not afraid to say it. Reconnecting Britain to Europe, while remaining outside of the EU, will be a top priority of the next Labour Foreign Office.
Keir Starmer has been clear. With Labour, Britain will not rejoin the EU, the single market or the customs union. But within our red lines, there is real progress we can make to increase trade with our neighbours and deliver prosperity at home. We will aim to fix the Tories bad Brexit deal to increase trade with Europe. Including by: fixing the Northern Ireland protocol; reducing friction on food, agricultural, medical and veterinary goods; strengthening mutual recognition of professional standards and qualifications to unlock trade in services; unblocking participation in the Horizon scheme to unleash research and development; using the 2025 TCA review to reduce barriers to trade; and improving links between our students and universities.
From Paris to Berlin and Dublin to Warsaw, we will rebuild bilateral relationships with key European partners. A modern Britain in a changing world must invest in partnerships beyond our traditional allies in Europe, North America and the Commonwealth. We will develop a new initiative to build dynamic partnerships with African nations, recognising that by 2050 one in four people will be from the continent.
A Labour government will build on the government’s new commitment to the Indo-Pacific. China’s rising economic and political power is the most significant change in global affairs in the last three decades. And by 2050 Asia will comprise more than half of the global economy. So this is not about ‘tilting’ one way or the other. It is an essential response of the shifting centre of gravity in world affairs. Maintaining serious, long-term strategic approaches to this vital region.
And we need a Britain Reconnected for climate action. The UN warned recently that the world is on course for a catastrophic 2.8 degrees of warming. This would deliver an era of cascading risks as extreme heat, sea level rises, drought and famine become more frequent.
It’s easy to dismiss the climate crisis as a problem for other parts of the world. But try to tell that to the courageous mother of Ella Kissi-Debrah. A nine-year-old girl from South East London, who was killed, in part, by the unlawful levels of air pollution near her home. Climate action is deeply intertwined with protecting Britain’s prosperity and security.
Decarbonisation is now a vital national security imperative. The faster we can transition to clean power, the quicker we can undermine Putin’s war effort. Every solar panel is a shield to Putin’s aggression. Every windfarm a defence against dependency. And in developing our homegrown energy systems we can build the green jobs and transformational industries of the future.
Climate action is not just the ethical choice. It’s the economic choice. The pro-business choice. The choice for growth. The choice for jobs. The choice for security. And the choice for communities like Peterborough.
I am proud that the next Labour government’s foreign policy agenda will be centred on the climate emergency. Labour will push for climate action to become a fourth pillar at the UN. We will argue for the creation of a new law of ecocide to prosecute the widespread and intentional destruction of the planet. And, as my friend and great colleague Ed Miliband has outlined, we will build a clean power alliance, an ‘inverse OPEC’ of developed and developing nations committed to 100% clean power by 2030.
Before Christmas, in a speech to Christian Aid, I outlined in detail how a Labour government will modernise development. I told a story about how I became the first UK politician to go to the country since the government’s disastrous withdrawal. I was sitting in a classroom in district 17 on the northwest outskirts of Kabul with a group of women helping children displaced by war. A woman told me she was considering selling a kidney so she could put food on the table for her family. I’ve never felt more conviction in my belief that development is vital in the modern world.
Tackling poverty and climate change, improving health and education around the world is not only the moral choice. It is the strategic choice and in our common interest. A way to make the British public safer and reduce the drivers of conflict and migration.
Our development policy must still aim at reducing global poverty. It should be proudly feminist, prioritising women and girls. With climate action and solidarity at the aid budget’s heart. But it must also have a new focus on partnership, mutual respect and shared interests.
Take the example of the fair distribution of vaccines around the world. While Europeans were vaccinated many times over, much of the world waited for a first dose. This cannot happen again. But our goal must be bigger: for intellectual property and manufacturing capacity to be shared around the world so that countries are producing their own vaccines, not waiting for our leftovers.
As well as being proudly British and European, if I become Foreign Secretary, I will not hide my trans-Atlanticism. The relationships I formed as the first Black Briton to study at Harvard Law school have matured into deep bonds with many who work in Washington DC.
Back in 1997, when I was buried in legal textbooks, New Labour was just coming into office. There was deep excitement in the US about the UK. We were seen as a dynamic and forward-looking country. Most of all, we were trusted as a reliable ally, which would uphold the rule of law and defend the international system.
It pains me to say that, when I visit the US these days, the chaos of the UK government is not seen as a joke, it is seen as a problem. What leaders in Washington think of the UK may seem distant for the public. But it matters to us all. It matters as we work with the US administration to maintain steadfast support for Ukraine and European security and tackle climate change. And it matters if we want a trade deal to benefit Britain’s economy.
The final priority of the new Labour foreign policy must be diplomacy. Healing the rifts with the US that the protocol fiasco has opened. Restoring our bond with Europe to counter shared challenges. Building on partnerships with a rising India and rapidly growing African nations. And the Commonwealth provides a unique framework to partner with the Global South.
Visit the capitals of the developing world and it is glaringly obvious who is the key external driver of investment and construction: China. China’s rise is indisputably the greatest change in the global system in my lifetime. But China’s growth has been matched by greater repression at home and more assertive behaviour abroad – in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Taiwan and the South China Sea. Meanwhile, it has singled out allies – like Australia and Lithuania – for hostile treatment. And undermined the economic level playing field.
The government is divided and inconsistent on China. Flip-flopping between tough talk and muddled actions. Labour will be strong, clear eyed, consistent. Beginning with a complete audit of the UK-China relationship. Based on a strategy of three Cs. Challenge, compete and, where we can, cooperate. Strong on national security. Standing firm on human rights. But engaging where it is in our interests to do so – on climate change, on trade and on global health.
As a lawyer, and with a boss who is a lawyer, the rule of law will be at the heart of our approach to foreign policy. Britain’s record of respect for the rule of law has become tarnished. Through the overseas operations bill, the internal markets bill, the protocol bill. And two prime ministers fined for breaking the law.
This record damages our moral authority and political credibility. It shows us as unreliable, making future agreements harder to reach. It serves the interests of those who want to weaken the rule of law. It is unbefitting of this great country. The rule of law is not a Labour or Conservative value. It is no exaggeration to say it is one of the great contributions our country has made to the world. No party owns it. No government should squander it. Britain should be a country that keeps its word.
And let me tell you, with Keir Starmer KC as Prime Minister, it will be. International rules and multilateral institutions are needed more than ever. But these have come under growing strain. The UN Security Council hamstrung by the veto during perhaps the most blatant violation of the UN charter since its creation. The WTO dispute settlement not functioning just as global trade becomes more contested. The World Bank failing in the face of the climate emergency. The WHO in need of reform before we face future pandemics.
As we neglect multilateral institutions, China is intent on reshaping and in some cases replacing them. But I still believe that multilateralism – incremental and imperfect as it may be – remains vital. A Labour government will declare an open-ended campaign to reform the UN Security Council in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile at the G20, Labour will push to make this crucial body for our multi-polar world more effective.
But while we hope to re-energise these institutions, we need to be prepared to operate beyond them. Labour would invest in AUKUS. Support our deepening security partnership with Japan. We would build new networks and revive those we have allowed to drift, like the E3 with France and Germany.
To deliver this international effort, we need a strong Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Yet this government have overseen the unmanaged decline of this great office of state. And left the FCDO without the economic and industrial expertise to help navigate the challenges Britain faces. Contrast this with France, where the French Foreign Ministry is growing its budget, hiring more diplomats and moving towards the 0.7% aid target, not away from it. We need an FCDO ready for the challenges of the future. And energised by a clear sense of purpose, to focus the efforts of our brilliant diplomats, development professionals and intelligence agencies.
This is where I want to end. I want to show you what Labour’s new approach looks like in a single policy: the fight against kleptocracy. I know this is an issue where Chatham House has led the charge. But the past year has laid bare a decade of chronic inaction against dirty money from Russia and other authoritarian states that has infiltrated this city. Money laundering has seen London homes become the bitcoins of kleptocrats, pricing out our frontline workers from their home.
Corruption, bribery and even financing of terrorist organisations. Here in the UK. This is not just a job for the police. This is foreign policy. I felt this when I visited in Ukraine almost exactly one year ago, just before Putin’s tanks rolled in, as I sat with anti-corruption campaigners angry that Putin’s oligarchs could launder their dirty money in Mayfair. They want Britain to act.
I see this in Brussels, where EU and UK officials have already been working together to coordinate sanctions policy. But are hamstrung by the Tories’ bad deal in how far they can cooperate. They want a Britain to work with.
I hear this in Washington, where today my friends Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Jeanne Shaheen are calling for the United States, Britain and the European Union to join forces to create a new transatlantic anti-corruption council to coordinate the fight. Labour will answer their call – not whistle the other way. We will reconnect Britain. But the work will start at home.
We passionately believe in Britain. But feel the frustration of its disconnection everywhere. We can restore Britain’s influence and realise our potential. We have so much to build on. World-leading universities. Scientists are at the cutting edge of future technologies. Vibrant cultural industries that shape the global conversation. And home to some of the most dynamic service sectors in the world.
But we cannot build on these strengths by going it alone. Under Labour, Britain will be: internationalist, confident, realising our potential. A Britain Reconnected, for security and prosperity at home. Thank you.
“You got to go with what you got. World War Three is starting!” I chortled to myself. All of a sudden I am composing for ‘The Royal Janitor’. John Von John has done Victoria’s genealogy, somenthing she neglected to do. He disovers she is kin to the Schwarzenbergs of the Czech Republic – and Robert E. Lee!
“Your ancestor was a great General. He understood it was not ‘The Flag’ – but ‘The Man’. The Republicans can’t accept the truth The War of Armageddon – has begun! The evangelicals have been writing their political material, nd believe they are prophets. But – what to do – when the future arrives? Merlin The seer understood when it was….Time For a King….to pull the sword from the stone!”
Victoria and Starfish took in the amazing theory John had about the gift of prophecy in the information age, and called BAD headquarters that set up a conference call with The Wizard.
“Repeat what you said!” Victoria said, and put John on her phone.
“A famous women’s liberationist put this question to Hillary Clinton at a world gathering of women; “Imagine what he world would bbe like – if you had won – and not Trump. Here’s the rub, forty million Americans believe Hillary stole the election – and has been running the show. Someone, or some group, has conducted the most successful propaganda campaign since Adolph Hitler. Or, we are in a self-fulfilling prophecy that Orwell got a glimpse of. The News is addicted to RATINGS. Trump understands RATINGS. He has mastered – being No.1. His followers subscribe to this. What this has created is a Instant God-head, where the Messenger Moses is delivering a fresh set of tablets – everyday! The Bible has actual words from God. They quote him. Then, God’s word – are no more! Why?”
“Hold on!” the men at BAD said. Five minutes later.
“You’re on the team. Do you have any solutions?”
“Yes. WE do a T.V. show modeled on he movie Network. We will have seers like Joan of Arc. How about…The Joan Von Joan show. Joan is John.”
“Are you a seer, John?”
“I suspose!”
“You look like Robert E. Lee. Was Lee a Seer? If we give you a show, who do you want on it?”
The declassified video, which is about 40 seconds long, shows Su-27 fighter jet coming very close to the unmanned MQ-9 reconnaissance aircraft, dumping fuel near it and a damaged propeller in the aftermath of the intercept.
The Pentagon said the footage had been edited by the US military for length but showed events in a sequential order.
The US has previously said the drone was damaged after a pair of Su-27s had spent at least half an hour trying to disrupt it by dumping fuel on it and flying in front of it.
Russia has denied US accusations that its jets acted recklessly in the incident.
Russia Should Unleash Nuclear Torpedo on the U.S., State TV Says
Story by Brendan Cole • Tuesday
Adiscussion on Russian state television raised the prospect of Moscow deploying missiles to target countries that are supporting Ukraine.
“However, Poseidon has already been tested,” he said, which prompted anchor Vladimir Solovyov to say that he would like to see it in action. “We would like to of course,” Buzhinsky responded.
Russian state agencies reported in January that the first set of Poseidon nuclear-capable super torpedoes was being developed for deployment on the Belgorod nuclear submarine. First announced by Vladimir Putin in 2018, United States and Russian officials have both described Poseidon as being capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells to render coastal cities uninhabitable.
Guests on the show Evening with Vladimir Solovyovhave made repeated threats about Russia’s nuclear capabilities while framing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war between Moscow and NATO.
Solovyov said that he’d like to “see Sarmat in action too,” referring to the hypersonic nuclear-capable missile code-named “Satan 2” which Putin has also boasted about. “If they are impudent,” he said, describing the actions of western countries, “we’ll see it in action.”
Related video: Can Russia learn from its failures in Ukraine? (MSNBC)
Buzhinsky warned viewers that further involvement of western countries in Ukraine could mean that it will “all end with Poseidon and a tsunami, a 300 or 500-meter wave.” Solovyov interrupted to say, “and then Great Britain will be no more.”
“Yes, Great Britain will definitely be no more, I’m talking about the United States,” said Buzhinsky, to which Solovyov joked: “If [ Rishi] Sunak is washed away, who will [Emmanuel] Macron have left to kiss,” referring to the close ties between the British prime minister and the French president.
Fears about the world banking system spread to Europe on Wednesday as shares in the globally connected Swiss bank Credit Suisse plunged and dragged down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States.
The turmoil prompted an automatic pause in trading of Credit Suisse’s shares on the Swiss market and sent shares of other European banks tumbling, some by double digits. That fanned new fears about the health of financial institutions following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the U.S.
Speaking Wednesday at a financial conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann defended the bank, saying, “We already took the medicine” to reduce risks.
When asked whether he would rule out government assistance in the future, he said: “That’s not a topic. … We are regulated. We have strong capital ratios, very strong balance sheet. We are all hands on deck, so that’s not a topic whatsoever.”
The Sarmat is one of six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018.[10] The RS-28 Sarmat made its first test flight on 20 April 2022,[11] and as of December 2021, the Russian government expected the missile to enter service in 2022.[12] On 16 August 2022, a state contract was signed for the manufacture and supply of the Sarmat strategic missile system.[13][needs update]
Russia’s “Satan 2” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is said by its manufacturer to be unparalleled worldwide, though experts believe the threat of its use might exceed the power of the weapon.
Russian President Vladimir Putinissued a stern warning to the West this week, implying he would use his weapons if persuaded by “nuclear blackmail.” He put the onus of military escalation on NATO‘s high-ranking representatives, who in Putin’s eyes have increased the potential of using “weapons of mass destruction—nuclear weapons—against Russia.”
It has renewed focus on the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, code-named “Satan 2” by NATO. Vladimir Degtyar, CEO of the JSC Makeyev Design Bureau, which made the “Satan 2,” told Russian state-owned news agency Tass it “has no equals in the world.”
Here is Hartwell House. Robert E. Lee, and Sir Christopher Lee, and their roots here.
The Lees, an old Buckinghamshire family, acquired Hartwell c.1650 by marriage into the Hampdens. Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Sir Christopher Lee are amongst their descendants.
You can trace them via Robert Wilson and Jane Lee.
Sir Thomas Lee, 1st Baronet (26 May 1635 – 19 February 1691) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1685 and from 1689 to 1691.
Lee was the son of Thomas Lee of Hartwell and his wife Elizabeth Croke, daughter of Sir George Croke. After the death of his father, Lee’s mother remarried to Sir Richard Ingoldsby.[1]
In 1660, Lee was elected Member of Parliament for Aylesbury in the Convention Parliament together with his step-father.[2] He was created baronet of Hartwell in 1661.[1] He was re-elected MP for Aylesbury in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament and held the seat until 1685. In 1689 he was elected MP for Buckinghamshire.[2] He was re-elected MP for Aylesbury in 1690 and held the seat until his death the following year aged 55.[2] He was “much admired for his elegant speeches in the house of commons, where he was a leader in the debates.”[1]
Lee married Anne Davis, daughter of Sir John Davis of Pangborne, Berkshire. They had three sons (of whom the eldest Thomas succeeded to the baronetcy and was also an MP),[1] and six daughters.[2]
Hartwell House is a country house in the village of Hartwell in Buckinghamshire, southern England. The house is owned by the Ernest Cook Trust, has been a Historic House Hotel since 1989, and in 2008 was leased to The National Trust. The Grade I listed house is Jacobean with a Georgian front and Rococo interiors, set in a picturesque landscaped park, and is most famous as the home of exiled French king Louis XVIII in the early 19th century.[1]
The house is about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the village of Stone along the A418, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the centre of Aylesbury, the nearest large town, which is about 40 miles (64 km) from the centre of London via the A41.
The core of the present house was constructed in the early 17th century for the Hampden family and then the Lee family. The Lees, an old Buckinghamshire family, acquired Hartwell c.1650 by marriage into the Hampdens. Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Sir Christopher Lee are amongst their descendants.
Between 1809 and 1814 the owner of the house, Sir Charles Lee, let the mansion to King Louis XVIII of France. The arrival of the impoverished king and his court at Hartwell was not a happy experience for the mansion, with once grand and imperious courtiers farming chickens and assorted small livestock on the lead roofs. Louis’s wife, Marie Josephine of Savoy died at Hartwell in 1810 and is the only French queen to have died on English soil. After her death, her body was carried first to Westminster Abbey, and one year later to Sardinia, where the Savoy King of Sardinia had withdrawn during Napoleonic occupation of Turin and Piedmont; she is buried in the Cathedral of Cagliari. The King signed the document accepting the French crown in the library of the house, following the defeat of Napoleon.
In 1827, Dr John Lee, an astronomer, inherited the house from the unmarried Revd Sir George Lee. During his ownership, the British Meteorological Society, now the Royal Meteorological Society, was founded in the library in 1850. Revd Nicholas Lee inherited the house when his brother, Dr John, died on 25 February 1866 at Hartwell. William Henry Smyth, who had helped with the design of the telescope and cupola that Lee had installed, described the house and the Hartwell Observatory established there, in Ædes Hartwellianæ: Or, Notices of the Manor and Mansion of Hartwell (Printed for private circulation, by J.B. Nichols and Son, London, 1851).[2] Many of the illustrations in the book are by Smyth’s wife Annarella and by his son-in-law, Rev. Prof. Baden Powell.
The house remained a private residence until 1938, when, at risk of demolition, the estate was acquired by the philanthropist Ernest Cook and the contents sold off by public auction. The estate passed to the Ernest Cook Trust when it was founded in 1952.
In the 1960s the house became a girls’ finishing school, then was let in the 1980s to be run as a hotel. The house was converted and became part of the Historic House Hotels group. Its proximity to Chequers means that it has frequently been the host of international and government summits and meetings.
The Jacobean north front of the house is constructed of ashlar and has a projecting porch with a bow window above. At each end of this facade are two flanking cantedbays, each with a double height oriel window. Immediately on each side of the porch are two large windows of the hall inside. Hiding the roofscape is a parapet with vases erected in 1740.
Between 1759 and 1761, architect Henry Keene substantially enlarged and “Georgianised” the house, and built the east front with its canted bay windows and a central porch in the Tuscan style. Inside, the great hall has stucco panels, and three reception rooms with rococochimneypieces.
The 1980s conversion to a hotel was overseen by the architect Eric Throssell who created a new dining room in the style of Sir John Soane, by enclosing the former 18th-century open arcaded porch. The former semi-circular galleried entrance vestibule became an inner hall. Throssel was also responsible for the design and recreation of the cupola crowning the roof.
The 90 acres (36 ha) of gardens at Hartwell were laid out by Capability Brown c.1750. The North Avenue is a grand vista through trees planted in 1830, sadly today terminated by the ever encroaching town of Aylesbury. The gardens are reminiscent of nearby Stowe, with statues, an obelisk and ornamental bridge.
Egyptian Spring
The Hartwell Estate currently covers 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of farmland surrounding Hartwell House.
Hartwell’s Egyptian Spring is a folly built in 1850 by Joseph Bonomi the Younger, an Egyptologist. It is an alcove seat on the western side of Lower Hartwell opposite a small spring. The stone pylon bears the Greek inscription “ΑΡΙΣΤοΝ ΜΕΝ ΥΔΩΡ”, translated as “Water is Best”,[3] attributed to Thales.
In September 2008 the National Trust acquired a long lease of the house from the Ernest Cook Trust (until 2111).[4] The gift had been under discussion for almost 30 years and in 1997 the National Trust accepted restrictive covenants over all three properties. The house and grounds were gifted the Trust by the directors of Historic House Hotels (HHH).[5] The house continues its present use as a hotel under the existing HHH management. Three National Trust directors joined the HHH board and all profits will go to Trust funds to provide for the long-term care of the three houses.
With the Spencer connection, it is made CLEAR I am Heir to Herbert Armstrong’s Church and Radio. I ma REVERSING THE FLOW of American Women to Europe, back to America! Consuelo Vanderbilt had to know all about the Legend of Fair Rosamond, whose portrait was painted by the Pre-Raphaelites I turned my sister ‘Rosamond’ on to. King Solomon had many foreign wives. How about his great grandson?
Above is the crypt of ROSAMOND Vanderbilt! I will be ignoring the ignorant remnant of my family. Surely, the late and famous artist CHRISTINE ROSAMOND BENTON – is thrilled with all the wondrous connections I am making – FOR BOTH FAMILY ARTISTS! My attorney will make sure to make this point – over and over and over, and over – again!
Consider Solomon’s gold treasure that is part of the Bible. American Treasure saved many Royal Castles. I am the True Posterity Teacher who found the Rose Grail and Sword.
Many evangelical ministers encouraged their sheep to not get vaccinated in order to weaken our Commander in Chief – knowing Russia was a real threat! Armstrong lost his followers when the Iron Curtain fell. His warnings about Russia – went unheeded!
John ‘The Artist-Prophet’
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian navy can detect any enemy and launch an “unpreventable strike” if needed, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, weeks after a UK warship angered Moscow by passing the Crimea peninsula.
The Vanderbilts separated after ten years of marriage but did not formally divorce until 1927 when he wanted to remarry. Divorce proceedings were handled by his New York lawyers while he and Rosamund Lancaster Warburton (1897–1947), a former wife of Barclay Harding Warburton II, an heir to the John Wanamaker department store fortune, waited discreetly away from the media at a home in the Parisian suburb of Passy, France. When the divorce was final, the couple were married at the Hotel de Ville (city hall) in Paris on September 5, 1927. Vanderbilt became a legal stepfather to Barclay Harding Warburton III once they wed.
Determined to secure the highest-ranking mate possible for her only daughter, a union that would emphasize the preeminence of the Vanderbilt family in New York society, Alva Vanderbilt engineered a meeting between Consuelo and the indebted, titled Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, chatelain of Blenheim Palace.
1 Kings 10:14 says, “the weight of gold which Solomon received every year was 666 talents of gold, besides what came from tradesmen, from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the regions.” (Jewish Study Bible).
In memory of my Friend, Ben Toney, and Herbert Armstrong who broadcast WARNINGS about the Russian Menace. I talked with my man, Spooky Noodles, to get Meg Whitman to put a replica of Radio London offshore of her property in Dogpatch – two years ago!
“He argued that Russia should retaliate quickly and not rush to accept Biden’s summit offer.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” Kosachev wrote. “I believe the saying is quite adaptable to a situation when we talk not about revenge but a due answer to aggressive action by an opponent.”
By Neil EarleRadio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s.
(Jingle) “Radio London reminds you: Go to the Church of your choice.”
(Pause)
(Announce, loudly): “THE WORLD TOMORROW! Garner Ted Armstrong brings you the plain truth about today’s world news with the prophecies of the World Tomorrow!
(GTA): “And greetings friends, this is Garner Ted Armstrong with the good news of the World Tomorrow. World leaders admit that they are frightened, that they are engaged in a fantastic nightmare. They’re scared. They don’t know what to do. They’re wondering what is going to happen in the future and none of them really know.”
This was a typical opener for a “World Tomorrow” radio show beaming down on millions of Englishman in the Greater London area between late 1964 and August 15, 1967. This period is now somewhat notable in British broadcasting circles as the heyday of the Pirate Ships. A fascinating tale, this, of how the Armstrongs, Herbert and Garner Ted (successful radio evangelists based in America) ended up in a curious roundelay involving Her Majesty’s government in London, the BBC, some of Britain’s elite publications and a host of over-the-top radio personalities – some of whom ended up as legends of British popular culture.
The genius behind the pirate ship idea was the offshore positioning of creaky vessels and the occupation of abandoned World War Two-era sea forts as staging platforms to beam in the music millions in “swinging England” craved. As covered earlier, Radio Luxembourg had represented the first crack in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) exclusive monopoly over radio broadcasting in Britain. But on March 28, 1964, from a 763-ton vessel propelled by a 1,000 h.p. diesel engine off England’s southeast coast came the jived up sounds of Radio Caroline, broadcasting on 199 metres. Radio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s. 1
This British version of “offshore radio” was the brainchild of Irish entrepreneur Rohan O’Rahilly. O’Rahilly soon had competition from another swashbuckling entrepreneur named Alan Crawford. Both men came to the same conclusion about radio at the same time. An arrangement was made whereby Radio Caroline, now called Radio Caroline North, steamed to a position five miles off the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea while Crawford’s 470-ton Mi Amigo became Radio Caroline South, perched off the Essex coast. A Texas businessman named Don Pierson soon got into the act and set up Wonderful Radio London that Christmas, 1964.2
The assault was on. What tart British journalist Christopher Booker dubbed as “the farce of the pirate radio stations” had begun.3
Farcial only because of the nearly three year battle that soon ensued between the British Government and the “pirate ships,” as they were soon dubbed. Though the official term was “offshore broadcasting” there was just enough “nuts to the Establishment” tone embedded in the talented tonsils of deejays Simon Dee, Robbie Dale, Kenny Everett, and others to bother Harold Wilson’s Labour Government no end. “Some tastes are worse than wild” Lord Sorenson complained in the House of Lords. The House of Lords no less! Pop music and trendy D.J. patter in a pseudo-American style wafted onto an island population seeking relief from some of the BBC’s stuffier productions. “I can’t understand the Government’s attitude over the pirates,” Beatle George Harrison declaimed in an interview. ”Why don’t they make the BBC illegal as well. It doesn’t give the public the service it wants, otherwise the pirates wouldn’t be here to fill the gap.”4
Politics and Religion
Perhaps the “quiet Beatle” had missed the point. Not only had American religious broadcasters rushed in with their programming – from The Lutheran Hour to the Seventh day Adventist’s Voice of Prophecy – but concerns were being raised in parliament about the political nature of the matters being discussed along the blue yonder.5 Though there was never direct evidence in Hansard, the official record of British Parliamentary Debates, the indirect evidence is compelling that Garner Ted Armstrong may have been a particular thorn in the flesh. A December, 1966 Good News article by Charles Hunting, then Business Manager for the RCG’s United Kingdom operation, reported on the tug of war between the pirate ships and Her Majesty’s government, with “The World Tomorrow” often caught in the middle. “The Last Battle for Britain” was the hyperbolic, but not unreasonable in terms of broadcasting, title. Charles Hunting’s centerpiece was a quote from an editorial appearing in The Guardian, one of Britain’s most prestigious dailies. The writer may have got to the nub of the issue:
One reason why the Government got shifting over radio pirates was the threat of new pirate stations pouring out political polemic instead of perpetual pop. That seems to have been forestalled, but MPs are starting to take an interest in the pronouncements of one Garner Ted Armstrong, an American evangelist… who brings “news of the World Tomorrow.” News mostly about fundamentalist religion, but news too of political trends. One recent broadcast said that Britain was about to scuttle out of Gibraltar as a result of American pressure.6
Ouch! Ted was never averse to treading on Whitehall’s toes. In some ways as a red-blooded banjo-playing American he reveled in twisting the lion’s tail. Slightly up-tight Britain was never his favorite place to visit, though he admired the stalwart British character. So it came to pass that he was pleasantly surprised and bemused to hear his own voice coming out of several car radios one evening in the middle of Picadilly Circus. Interestingly, Dr. Scott Lupo, presenting on the Armstrongs at academic conferences in England in the 1990’s, found former British listeners turned academics remembering The Plain Truth’s dire warnings against the Common Market evolving into a future danger for Britain.7 Diverse audiences decode diversely. Broadcast scholar Eric Gilder even suggests on his web site that the Armstrongs received funding from the CIA in order to keep Britain out of Europe and safely pro-American. This is certainly untrue but…in popular culture decodings take place on multiple levels.8 In the event, typical British suspicion of Americans definitely affected the way GTA’s message was being received.
Ted’s days as “Captain Outrageous” in well-targeted Britain would be numbered but not before substantial inroads had been made into British thinking-man’s culture. The faceless bureaucrats across the Channel did make a tempting target for red-blooded Brits fearful of becoming perpetual Little Englanders in Europe’s shadow. The result? Guardian editors in sympathy with an irritating American orator – good heavens!
Thus tweaked, the British lion turned this challenge from the ether into a minor comic opera of sorts. The BBC’s supporters in parliament tried to turn the screws:
April 27, 1967: M.P Mr. Faulds asked the Secretary of State: “Will he amend the ‘Representation of the People Acts’ to give him power to proceed against persons who broadcast political propaganda from illegal radio stations.” Answer: “The Postmaster General has already done so.”
May 11, 1967: Faulds was back: “This is the first time that this country has been subjected to a stream of misleading propaganda from outside our territorial waters. I do not think that this is a matter for jokes.”
June 1, 1967: Sir C. Osborne counters: “Why should pirate radio stations be denied free speech on political matters?”9
Official harassment began. The Government Post Office (GPO) cut off Caroline’s ship-to-shore telephone. The Foreign Office lodged a protest with the government of Panama, where the Caroline was registered. The Times was suitably indignant. M.P.s fulminated. British audiences, however, were distinctly unamused. They rallied to the pirates from the beginning, especially the youth. “Within weeks,” wrote Booker, “a Gallup Poll provided the evidence – the Caroline was already rivaling Radio Luxembourg in popularity with around 7 million radio listeners.” Radio Caroline spawned a host of imitators – Radio 270, Radio Scotland, Radio 370, and five others. Roger Lippross, now a California resident after serving as the church’s publishing representative, was enchanted. He had remembered the distinctive Armstrong voice from Radio Luxemburg in the 1950’s when his father had forced him to burn RCG (Radio Church of God) booklets and other “American propaganda.” Now Radio Caroline North beamed into his home between Blackpool and Liverpool and the young pre-press expert was hooked.
Today he looks back and reminds us: “It was actually illegal to be listening to pirate radio!”
Tuned-in Britain
The struggling Radio Church of God in Britain was quick to eye this strategic opportunity. With the appearance of off-shore radio, Ambassador College executives in England could dream of saturating the British Isles with “The World Tomorrow.” A fascinating spin-off is the fact that for all the Armstrong media dominance in the United States and Canada, some of the most insightful appraisals as to their impact on 1960’s culture would come from irreligious, slightly-jaded Great Britain. Great Britain – where radio broadcasting was state-controlled even down to the 1980’s.
How did it happen?
Charles Hunting’s article traced it to the chance meeting of two old friends on a London street in late 1964. One of them was the advertising representative for “The World Tomorrow” in England. His friend was selling radio time on a new radio station due to soon start broadcasting off shore. The Good News reported:
A hurried conference was arranged with the station manager and Mr. Herbert Armstrong flew in from the United States. It was a difficult and tense situation! Although The World Tomorrow was one of the world’s largest buyers of radio time…a very sensitive situation developed. The station wanted to get away from the staid, rather dreary broadcasting format that was the normal bill of fare for British listeners. They wanted to project a new radio image – alive, fast-moving, totally musical-type programming. Talking programs were “out!” Educational-type programs were “out!” Religious programs were totally unacceptable!10
But HWA with his blood well up was hard to refuse, as Charles Hunting reported. “After two conferences with Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and four-and-a-half hours of conversation, they were ‘in’ and probably the most costly single commercial radio contract in history was signed. Now, all stations have accepted The World Tomorrow program.” This was not an exaggeration. Robert Chapman and other sources mention “The World Tomorrow” and “Herbert W. Armstrong’s Radio Church of God” as the largest advertiser on the pirate ships.11 Edward Smith’s detailed notes of Bricket Wood Bible Studies and Church Services are eloquent on that score. Church leaders of that era were worried about cost overruns, as much of the money was coming from the United States churches.12 The Pirate Ship venture was proving expensive but, just as in America, the radio broadcast was a tremendous boon to the Work in Britain. Charles Hunting measured the sweep of that dramatic surge. “Just twenty short months ago [writing in 1966] there was no broadcasting of the World Tomorrow in England, and no possible hope of any,” he intoned,” Today, with the exception of a very few areas, the entire nation has access to the program.”
Access indeed!
Throughout 1965 and 1966 responses to the pirate ships dramatically pushed the WCG’s work ahead in Britain. The Bricket Wood office received about 135,000 letters in 1965 alone. This meant the addition of some 53,000 people to The Plain Truth mailing list – the church’s life blood. The 1966 Envoy reported that British Mail staggered away with sixty-five tons of PT subscriptions! By the end of 1965 there had emerged a total of nine WCG churches across the British Isles, servicing some 900 people. Festival attendance figures were always a primary index of church growth. It was thus exhilarating to report that Britain’s festival attendance zoomed from 1532 in 1965 to 3350 in 1972. As early as the June, 1965 Plain Truth editor Herman Hoeh was suitably ecstatic if a little hyperbolic about potential audience:
From the estuary of the Thames River “The World Tomorrow” can now be heard on Radio London by millions all over southern England at 8 o’clock in the evening. It booms in over London as a local station. And from the Irish Sea, Radio Caroline North beams the gospel over the British Isles daily at the same time – 8 p.m. Never in all history has there been anything like it. The potential listening audience of these two superpower stations broadcasting from ships at sea, is a condensed, concentrated 55 million people! The British Isles are, in area, only about the size of the southern half of California…yet more than 55,000,000 people are condensed in that little area.13
“Rare Sincerity”
By 1967, the growth of the British churches, fueled by the phenomenon of nationwide broadcasting, was impressive. Even more encouraging was the obvious impact of the radio program on the British Isles as a whole. Even faster than in the United States, Garner Ted Armstrong became virtually a household name almost overnight. Charles Hunting’s December, 1966 Good News report recorded a high-profile evaluation of “The World Tomorrow” from a leading medical journal. A letter to the editor penned in elegant style the listener’s pique at the seemingly indecent haste of the British Postmaster General (PMG) to ban the pirate ships:
The sudden urgency on the part of the PMG to ban “pirate” radio stations interests me. Is it because of the threat of an extra recruit allegedly about to broadcast political propaganda?…A type of propaganda is already being broadcast from private radios. Every day a remarkably attractive and compelling American orator, one Garner Ted Armstrong, puts over some extraordinarily healthy views to millions of listeners. His “plain truth” doctrine, under the generic title The World Tomorrow, always delivered with rare humor and sincerity, contains material which may well vex certain MPs [Members of Parliament] of all parties.
“Rare humor and sincerity” – a telling phrase. Garner Ted’s dramatic flair and yen for rhetorical “cut and thrust” could be quite appealing to the British temperament, American accent and all! “Heavy irony is always appreciated more in England than America,” says Roger Lippross “and Ted was almost fatally addicted to good sarcasm.” Some of his irreverent one-liners – “You could get yourself killed in a peace march,” “We can destroy the world fifty times over when once would be quite enough,” “What’s Lent? Something that sticks in your navel?” – took on legs. More highbrow listeners enjoyed the RCG’s tweaking of the accepted liberal myths of the 1960’s. That was one level. On another, worried Anglican parishioners could enjoy Ted’s witty sallies against evolution. Scoffing at evolution was particularly controversial in England, the home of Charles Darwin. Ted’s verbal Molotov cocktails were embedded even in the booklet titles he advertised over the air – the irresistible “A Theory for the Birds,” “Some Fishy Stories.” Then he would pause dramatically as a staged afterthought: “I think they call it evil-ution in England.” Or he might ask coyly: “Is it significant that the most popular idea for the origin of the universe is described as a huge cloud of gas?”
Rare humor had always been a Ted Armstrong stock in trade. But what were those “extraordinarily healthy views”? This phrase underscores just how much of a “broad text” of the popular culture the Armstrong radio insurgency had become. The upscale British listener continued his analysis:
For example, he advocates proper and reasonable discipline for children; deplores the “new morality;” is saddened by Britain’s decline as a world power; does not care for “weirdoes;” assaults sentimental Christianity as being against Bible teaching; is horrified by Britain’s obsession with gambling; considers that granting independence to unready countries is a mistake – and so on. Is this the real reason for the new drive to stop that voice as well as less attractive sounds?14
There was even subdued comedy “in house.” Herbert Armstrong with his dander up was often entertaining to watch, especially if you were well out of range. He decoded the controversy in an altogether different way. His Midwestern law and order proclivities were outraged at the mention of the phrase “pirate ships.” Pirate ships? “Pirate ships?” HWA was always ready to fulminate on the subject even years later: “They were not pirate ships!” he would protest to no-one in particular. Years later in the USBC booklet he was still settling scores. “They were not illegal! They violated no law of man,” he wrote. “But the British authorities called them ‘pirate’ ships. They were not pirates. They were not marauders…They harmed no one. But most governments of man would like to control what their people hear or do not hear.” As was not unusual, HWA’s hearers would glance down politely at the floor to hide slightly concealed smiles. In some ways this predictable Amstrong pique at Whitehall and its ways would be a rhetorical dress rehearsal for the far greater strife with the state of California in the next decade. In 1967, however, the British government was indeed able to bring pressure to bear to squelch the offshore broadcasting in the form of the Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, to go into effect August 14, 1967. This was not, it turned out, a happy moment for the British churches. But for a while the Armstrong radio onslaught had thrown sedate Britain for a loop.
A Frenetic Summer
The implementation of the Marine Offenses Bill effectively ended the Worldwide Church of God’s radio insurgency in the British Isles. Bricket Wood Bible Studies and Sabbath services were replete with updates on this last-ditch “Battle for Britain” as the intensely mission-driven WCG put it. Elder Ed Smith’s detailed notes from the messages delivered to the headquarters congregation give some of the flavor of that frenetic summer with Pirate Ships, the Six Day War, WCG expansion into the Middle East and “end-time fever” all jumping around in the hopper:
May 5, 1967 – Good comments about HWA’s broadcast about sex. Many letters from teenagers. John Butterfield (head of Ambassador College Press) visited a printing seminar and spoke to groups of young people who had heard “The World Tomorrow” broadcast. An amendment is under way in parliament to suspend the Marine Offences Bill until BBC offers some suitable replacement. Radio Caroline vows to carry on regardless (Charles Hunting).
May 6, 1967 – Our new office being furnished in Jerusalem. The Marine Offences Bill to be raised in the House of Lords on Monday for its third reading before it goes back to the House of Commons to become law (Ronald Dart).
May 12, 1967 – Last night the first “World Tomorrow” television program broadcasted since 1955 – in USA on Channel 22; meanwhile new mail from radio ships up to 892 letters this week – third highest total ever. Radio London has the best reception; Radio Scotland heard in Glasgow… and coming through loud and clear (Charles Hunting).
May 20, 1967 – John Jewell, Mail Receiving Department head, will be going to Nicosia to assist in establishing a new office in Cyprus (Raymond McNair).
May 26, 1967 – Now nearly six weeks since Mrs. Armstrong died. New mail from radio ships now reached 897 letters this week. Only Radio 390 broadcasts once a day – all other ships twice daily (Raymond McNair).
May 27, 1967 – Middle East situation could blow up very soon, foul up God’s Work there. Remember Radio 390 and the ship situation in prayers (Raymond McNair).
June 2, 1967 – This week in U.K. the new mail from radio ships was above 1000 letters – the second highest response. Breakdown was: Radio London, 253 letters; Radio Caroline, 225; Radio 355, 190; Radio 390, 189, etc. There are only a few years left. Time has come for Israelis to take over the Temple site (Raymond McNair).
June 3, 1967 – Exciting news: entire Bricket Wood Chorale (the college choir) to be sent to Pasadena next January. Troubled situation in the Middle East – our advertising man, Milt Scott, has backed out; Stanley Rader also. We have perhaps four and a half years to go (before January, 1972); this world reeling in its corruption won’t be here in ten years; London won’t be here unless saved by God’s mercy (Herbert Armstrong).
June 10, 1967 – HWA has received many letters about Mrs. Loma Armstrong’s good example; Israelis will be building a temple very soon; perhaps only four more Ambassador graduations to go (Hebert Armstrong).
June 16, 1967 – Ship stations being allowed to carry on until BBC introduces a replacement; God had TV, radio and the press invented for the use of his church and no other purpose; God has warned the people through HWA and GTA (Hebert Armstrong).
June 23, 1967 – GTA in Texas; wife Shirley just had a still birth with normal labor but lost this little girl at five and a half months; they had hoped for a little daughter. HWA conferred today with Jordanian government representative Adli Muhktadi – “World Tomorrow” will now begin on Amman radio on July 1 (short wave and medium wave); HWA fells sympathy for King Hussein and the Jordanians; every penny they receive (from WCG) will be allocated to help Palestinian refugees; Jordanians look with favor on the Work of God (Herbert Armstrong).
July 1, 1967 – Pray for situation in Palestine; our broadcast due today on radio Amman; don’t get careless because of the Postmaster General’s latest dictum – a reprieve from banning the ship stations till September (Raymond McNair).
July 7, 1967 – The WCG’s broadcast named in the Sunday Sun newspaper; the article suggested that religion could save the North Sea radio pirates since their people could survive on “Church of God” revenues; “The World Tomorrow” has been the big financial backing behind these ships (John Portune).
July 15, 1967 – The ship stations due to be thrown off the air on August 15; all expect to end their transmissions by midnight, August 14. God can continue to hear our prayers and keep these stations open. Two new offices now established (Cyprus and Jerusalem); pray for safety of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Dick and family; new office opening in Mexico City.
July 22, 1967 – Mr. Robert Boraker (Letter Answering Department, U.K.) back from seven months in Pasadena; speaks on crisis of Mrs. Armstrong’s sickness yet Mr. Armstrong very concerned about Mrs. Boraker’s health battles; Mr. Armstrong very lonesome in the evenings without his wife; a call for a further church day of fasting (re. pirate ship legislation) this week (Robert Boraker).
July 28, 1967 – Radio 390 off the air for good; their last message goes out tonight at 5:10 PM, closing with the national anthem; Radio London is also through; Radio Caroline will be on until August 15; feel a sense of loss as a part of the Work is shut down (Charles Hunting).15
A Bang Not a Whimper
The WCG’s pirate ship venture expired in fighting style. Edward Smith was in Belfast for the Sabbath of August 5, 1967 to hear local pastor James Wells report that Radio Manx on the Isle of Man will keep broadcasting. The next week, in Glasgow church, pastor Colin Adair passed on the news that the previous week was a record week for mail in the WCG’s British operation. People sough frantically to receive a Plain Truth subscription before the doors closed and 1119 of them wrote to the Bricket Wood office. The official tally went as follows:
Radio 355 – 367 letters
Radio London – 282 letters
Radio Caroline – 271 letters
Radio Scotland – 97 letters
Radio 270 – 63 letters
Radio 390 – 32 letters
Radio Manx – 6 letters
“People are hoping for an alternative to the pirate ships,“ Colin Adair commented to his congregation. “They will feel lost without the broadcast. People are very sorry at the loss of the stations. They are pleading for us to stay on.” The next week at the weekly Bricket Wood Bible Study, Raymond McNair cited a London Daily Mail headline, “Ban Silences Radio God,” a direct slap at “The World Tomorrow.” This echoed the previous week’s article in the London Observer referencing the “Pirate Radio Church of God.” As had and would occur in the United States, Herbert Armstrong’s media efforts were often underscored in counterpoint. Nevertheless, the Daily Mail and the Observer were respected British institutions. In their apparent glee at the Armstrong’s demise they were perhaps pointing up the impact the church was having in those tumultuous years. Meanwhile, one Letter to the Editor in the Daily Mail, lamenting the broadcast’s disappearance was headlined: “Final Link With Sanity Has Been Broken.”
Echoes of the pirate ship insurgency did remain, even four decades later. On September 28, 2003, a tongue-in-cheek obituary in the London Sunday Times satirized a BBC Radio 4 report announcing the passing of “one of religion’s best-known and best-loved voices.” Writer Paul Donovan asked: “What? Was Radio 4 going to say something nice about Garner Ted Armstrong, the American evangelist who believed Anglo-Saxons were one of the lost tribes of Israel and whose apocalyptic sermons on ‘The World Tomorrow’ went out for years on the North Sea pirate ships and another 300 stations worldwide?” The answer was, as expected, in the negative but a reflection, nevertheless, of one writer’s cultural memory. The February 5, 2005 Liverpool Echo Flashback, taking a look back at popular radio’s history of abundant variety, opined: “Religion was not forgotten either. At 11:30 P.M. each night the strident voice of American evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong would ring out telling us he was ‘bringing Christ to the nations.’”
Popular culture artifacts sometimes achieve a kind of lasting notoriety, as the fascination over Elvis Presley attests. As broadcasters, the Armstrongs were, in their way, unforgettable. The pirate ship era is remembered in WCG (now GCI) folk memory as one of the seminal periods of church growth in Great Britain. The ghost of the pirate ships themselves still haunt the air waves through the continuing adventures of Radio Caroline and the teasing suggestion on pirate web sites that the Labour Party’s defeat in the 1970 U.K. election could be traced to the loss of precious 18-year-old votes. These new teen voters chose to protest their government’s shut-down of one of the symbols of the Swinging Sixties. “God moves in mysterious ways” the British poet Edward Cowper had written. Thus, even in 1967, Charles Hunting could be philosophical about it all. As the WCG (U.K.) CFO he mentioned in the August 25 Bricket Wood Bible Study that the bill for the radio broadcasts in just one month came in at $65,000 – “a considerable sum: in Edward Smith’s phrase for the Britain of 1967. But one the church was more than willing to pay at the time.
(ED. – Excerpted from an unpublished manuscript “Blow the Dust Off Your Bible: Herbert Armstrong and American Popular Religion” by Neil Earle.)
4 George Harrison quoted in “Disc” magazine, Ray Coleman interview, August 6, 1966.
5 Robert Chapman, Selling the sixties: the pirates and pop music radio (London: Routledge, 1992), page 189.
6 Charles F. Hunting, “The Last Battle for Britain,” The Good News (December, 1966), pages 8, 21.
7 Scott Lupow, personal communication, January, 2006. The teaching of a United Europe as allegedly foreshadowed in Revelation 17 and becoming the instrument of Britain’s demise was an Armstrong standard.
8 Eugene Michel, the WCG’s “Mr. Accounting” for many years, cheerfully dismisses this suggestion as he does the theories of support from Howard Hughes or H.L. Hunt (personal interview, May 8, 2007).
Last night I came upon an article about the love letters written between Ian Fleming and his wife, and was reminded of the fiery relationship I and Rena Easton nee’ Christensen, had. I lamented that we had not continued our LETTER EXCHANGE so that there would be such history available to me, the only living human being authoring a James Bond book – because I am related to Ian Flaming, and his tragic son, who was name after his uncle, who is the son of the artist Augustus John, who allowed Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor’s uncle, Howard Young, to sell his artwork in America. Around 9:00 A.M. on April 16th. 2021, I discovered that Fleming and his family were friendly with the Fermor family, who married into the Hesketh family, who married into the Sharon family of Belmont. This gives me the credentials – I deserve! I am a REAL AGENT FOR FREEDOM!
A week ago I was going to blog on a reunion at the Palace Hotel with fundraiser for ‘The Royal Janitor’. There would be a train trip to Belmont where a Celebrity Labyrinth would be made in Twin Pines Park. I would invite my Star, Lara Roozemond, and, my Muse, Rena Easton, whose grandmother was so grateful I rescued her, a Beautiful Damsel in Distress. I am so grateful to the World Wide Web for making my dream come true. I have not let my women down.
John Presco 007
Copyright 2021
President: Royal Rosamond Press
Ann Fleming, née Charteris, was born into the aristocracy and married wealthy men. Her first husband was Shane O’Neill, the 3rd Baron O’Neill. After his death in military action in 1944, she married the newspaper magnate Esmond Harmsworth, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere.
During both marriages she and Fleming were lovers, an intense relationship that had sado-masochistic elements. “I long for you even if you whip me because I love being hurt by you and kissed afterwards,” Ann once wrote to Fleming.
From: Anne Farmer y@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: SHARON To: “John Ambrose” Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010, 3:34 AM Hi John- I will call Patrick Sharon after Christmas when I return to Seattle. Today I take mother to Portland on Amtrak for Chrustmas to see some friends. Please send me your mailing address as I am sending out my New Year’s cards- thank you. Have a great Holiday and a very Happy New Year. Kindest Regards- Anne —
On Sun, 12/5/10, John Ambrose wrote: From: John Ambrose Subject: SHARON To: @yahoo.com Date: Sunday, December 5, 2010, 5:03 PM Anne; Here is the number John, Thanks for all of your information. I am still trying to find the list of the California Sharon Family Reuniun. This will help me establish family connections for all of us. As I mentioned my Great grandparents were the last of our family who received the invite.Their names are Samuel and Stella Sharon of Kansas City. Lets stay in contact. Patrick Sharon II
From: Anne Farmer y@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Withersppon To: “John Ambrose” Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1:41 PM Hi Jon- These I know- the Heskeths married into my side- the Fermors so they are distant cousins of mine. The Quakers, Methodists were the Fermor side- they never owned slaves like Witherspoon did.I had heard about the Presbyterian strong influence- and how the Calvinists were more fighters. On my side we have the lovers, not fighters. Anne PS- I was just connected via a mutual friend to look up Theresa-Mary Morton while in London, who is Queen’s librarian.
James Cecil Baring, 6th Baron Revelstoke (born 16 August 1938) is a British peer. A son of Rupert Baring, the 4th Baron, and Flora Fermor-Hesketh, daughter of the 1st Baron Hesketh, he was educated at Eton College. He married Aneta Laline Dennis Fisher in 1968. They had two sons, Alexander Rupert Baring, born 9 April 1970, and Thomas James Baring, born 4 December 1971. He married Sarah Stubbs in 1983. They had two daughters, Flora Aksinia Baring, born 17 July 1983, and Miranda Louise Baring, born 1 May 1987. He succeeded his brother, John Baring, 5th Baron Revelstoke, born 2 December 1934, in 2003. His half-sisters, by a later marriage of his mother to Lt.-Cdr. Derek Lawson, are Arabella Ann Spurrier (née Lawson), born 14 August 1946, and Caroline Flora Turner (née Lawson), born 23 September 1953.
“I have put on pause my homework of family relations. I do know some of the California Sharons and I am familiar with the reunion that use to take place in San Francisco, but I have been swamped. I would love to refresh the reunion for our family. I am not familiar with the names on your email yet. I don’t know if you sent email to Philip or had misplaced my name. I will start more family connections with the Sharon clan soon.
Patrick Sharon
Hi Jon- Get ready- much info coming now- please go ASAP to tatler.com- June issue page 102- big article on the new owner of Easton Neston- Leon Max- I’m headed there with James Baring and Bob and Joanne Fermor tomorrow. Anne
Researching details of voodoo rites in Live and Let Die, Bond consults The Traveller’s Tree by Fleming’s friend Patrick Leigh Fermor. Appropriately enough, 007 also likes a good thriller and purchases the latest Raymond Chandler at the close of Goldfinger, and in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service displays a ready familiarity with the Nero Wolfe series, written by the equally well-read Rex Stout. It turns out that M too knows of Wolfe. En route to Istanbul in From Russia with Love, Bond enjoys a literary busman’s holiday by reading Eric Ambler’s The Mask of Dimitrios.
Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has died aged 96, was an intrepid traveller, a heroic soldier and a writer with a unique prose style. His books, most of which were autobiographical, made surprisingly scant mention of his military exploits, drawing instead on remarkable geographical and scholarly explorations. To Paddy, as he was universally known, an acre of land in almost any corner of Europe was fertile ground for the study of language, history, song, dress, heraldry, military custom – anything to stimulate his momentous urge to speculate and extrapolate. If there is ever room for a patron saint of autodidacts, it has to be Paddy Leigh Fermor.
Rather than go to university in 1933, at the age of “18 and three-quarters”, he set out in December that year to walk from the Hook of Holland to what he insisted on calling Constantinople, or even Byzantium [Istanbul]. There was no hurry, he wrote 65 years later in an article for the London Magazine. His journey took him “south-east through the snow into Germany, then up the Rhine and eastwards down the Danube … in Hungary I borrowed a horse, then plunged into Transylvania; from Romania, on into Bulgaria”. At New Year, 1935, he crossed the Turkish border at Adrianople and reached his destination.
Here are the vessels that Sir Caspar John served upon. He was born into a artistic family. I would like see the College of Defence Studies founded by the Artist, Sir Winston Churchill, expanded to include Creative People in Britain and the U.S. As a rule artists, writers, and musicians do not take slaves, gas people, and loot other people’s art. Hitler did all three. He was a bad artist who cost the world many lives, and a trillion dollars to put him down. We took back the art he stole and put it in sacred public places. I support Theresa May’s strike against Assad, who gassed his own people.
Below are the warships that Sir Ian Easton served on.
China’s interpretation of the law of the sea within what it claims to be its own waters has long clashed with that of maritime powers and the majority of members of the international community. The United States regularly asserts maritime rights and freedoms under its “freedom of navigation” program, much to Beijing’s chagrin.
But as other maritime powers join the United States in taking steps to defend maritime rights—a British Royal Navy warship makes its way through the South China Sea this month—it is in China’s interests to learn from the Soviet example. As the Soviet navy transitioned from a “reactive coastal fleet” to a “proactive, expansionist, blue-water navy,” the Soviet attitude towards the law of the sea changed. It moved from one that sought to limit maritime freedoms to one that joined hands with naval powers, including its Cold War foe, the United States, to push for protection of such freedoms. A similar shift would help boost China’s international reputation, as well as protect and advance its interests across the globe.
Maritime powers join hands
British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed last month that a Royal Navy warship would sail through the South China Sea in March on its way back from Australia to the United Kingdom to assert navigation rights in waters Beijing claims. The HMS Sutherland left Sydney for the South China Sea on March 15, undertaking training with the Australian navy in the meantime. It is not clear what rights, exactly, the United Kingdom will assert—Williamson declined to say whether it would exercise rights to innocent passage within 12-nautical miles of disputed land territories or wider freedoms outside of territorial seas.
What is clear, however, is that in taking steps to assert rights vested under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the South China Sea, the United Kingdom joins other maritime powers in guarding against their erosion. In June 2016, the French minister of defense underscored his country’s commitment to the principles of freedom of navigation and overflight and the navy’s intention to continue to pass through the waters of the region several times a year. In the first half of 2016, French navy vessels deployed to the region three times.
U.S. Freedom of Navigation program
The United States, for its part, regularly asserts maritime rights vested under UNCLOS under its “freedom of navigation” program. The program’s name is a bit of a misnomer since it protects more than the right to navigate from point A to point B. It defends a whole basket of rights and freedoms, including the right of warships to exercise innocent passage within territorial seas without prior notification or authorization, and the freedom to conduct military activities, including surveillance and reconnaissance, outside of territorial seas. The U.S. freedom of navigation program also pushes back against excessive maritime claims that limit rights and freedoms of warships and warplanes. In the past year, U.S. forces under the freedom of navigation program challenged China’s claims to a territorial sea from offshore features not entitled to one under UNCLOS.
Given its wide scope, it is more accurate to describe the program as a “freedoms of the seas” or “excessive maritime claims” program. More accurate terminology would make it more difficult for China to sidestep real disagreements over legitimate rights and freedoms under UNCLOS. Beijing suggests that the United States and others invent concerns over “freedom of navigation,” but its argument only has superficial validity if we take “freedom of navigation” in its narrowest sense. Still, the term “freedom of navigation” operations, or “FONOPS,” has stuck. From October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017, the United States conducted freedom of navigation operations to challenge the excessive maritime claims of 22 countries around the world.
President Zelensky walked alone down a main street in Ukraine, while his arch enemy watched his beaten army march down main street in Russia, he congratulating them on fighting the Nazis. A Nazi flag was waved in front of Disneyland. We have come full circle. It is……High Noon!
I will not be completing my candidate biography because Kim Haffner’s gleeful words “”You did it to yourself!” are still fresh in regards to the Christian Posse that gathered at my door. I’m afraid I will be targeted for…..MY OPINIONS! Dan Mayland told me on the phone, Rena did not want to affect my newspaper-blog. She lied. Wiccan Alley Valkyrie brags to her Facebook mob she picked a fight with me – which goes against FB policy. She bid her fellow wiccans – to join in. What we have is an empowerment..
![German propaganda photograph of a kindergarten for German infants promotes the nurturing role of women on the home front. [LCID: 87881]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/1781d3da-2a25-4125-af1e-69208b462e07.jpg)
Radio Caroline was the first of the offshore “pirate ships” beaming into Britain, though the idea had been tried off California and elsewhere in the 1930’s.
Rosamond Press 
