1352 More Ancient History and the rest of a day

07.45 of the second day of the writing that is 23.04.2008. I am not up early by choice having needed to rise and then knew I would not sleep again. The morning has a damp grey English weather feel although the promise is of brighter and mildness. Yesterday's quick overview of civilizations before AD which included aspects of art working was only the agenda for further study through the internet and through my books and I must set myself questions in order to intensify and focus the research, the thinking and the writing.

First I will continue with the general history of the last 2000 years and those issues which are interest to me. Because of a Catholic Christian upbringing I grew up with a particular historical viewpoint which excluded everything before AD, including its mythology, and which then romped through everything from the death of Christ according to the Oxford University General Certificate of Education Examination Board read out by a priest from a small note book of key events and dates until he was replaced by the educated and cultured Jesuit with his missionary understanding of history from Victorian England through to the early 1950's. I therefore knew of the New Testament Life of Christ which was followed by the fall of Jerusalem in 70 and the scattering of Jewish people across Europe and Asia. Roman History concentrated on Augustus, Trajan and Constantine leading to Christianity taking hold on the Empire and then the sacking of Rome and its fall with the last Emperor 476. In Britain it was a period with Claudius after Caesar, and the abandonment by the legions around 410, leaving the legacy of heated buildings with baths, of roads, of the Wall and forts, of trade, inter marriage and settlement, of language and law, of arts and some technology. In China the Han dynasty came to and end around 200 and then much of Europe and Asia commenced to fall to the barbarian with invasions into China, with the Hun invading much of Persia and India

It was between 500 and 1000 AD that with the conversion of Ireland to Catholicism, that the Celtic Civilization was the most pronounced in what is now described as the golden age of art and literature, The first King of Scotland was crowned in 843 and first Prince of Wales led to creation of Welsh Law. Meanwhile in China with the Tang Dynasty the Empire spread to Japan, Korea, Tibet and Indo China, and there was the invention of gun powder, the water mill and the wheelbarrow. In terms of legacies to this day the fifth and sixth centuries were those of Mahomet (570-632) followed by the Moslem invasions of Spain Portugal, India, Persia and the Byzantine world. The Lombard's occupied Italy. The Vikings commenced their pillaging raids as did the Magyars, and there was the decline of the Mayas in Mexico, The Nazca culture in Peru was followed by the Paracas and the Tiahuranaco. Roman civilization along with Egyptian and Greek became forgotten history.

There is much talk about what is British and English these days in terms of political and cultural l identity as I am sure in 500 to 1000 years there will also be talk about what is being a North American other than as a simplistic and nonsensical allegiance to a Flag. which developed from battlefield colours, and which remains in reality a commitment to die if called upon to further national interests beyond the homeland or to defend it from invasion. Between 1000 and 1500 the effect of the successful Norman Invasion of England did mark the period when there was an attempt to establish a unity over the whole of British Islands commencing with Henry II taking Ireland 1171 1172, Edward I taking Wales 1282 and the Scots defeating Edward II at Bannockburn 1314. However in terms of 6000 years of civilization this was shortlived.

The main cultural developments were in Western Europe with the Renaissance and the creation of the printing press, and which led to exploration of the unknown planet with Columbus discovering the West Indies and Vasco de Gama finding the sea route to India. This was also the era in which Islam continued to attempt to exert itself as a political as well as religious force and where as a consequence of the Crusades, Constantinople was sacked by the fourth and Byzantium came to an end in the 1450's. There was a brief interruption in the battles between Christian and Islamic force as Genghis Khan created his havoc 1215-1220 and when he also invaded invade Persia. 100 years later Ottoman Turkish power emerged 1330. It was also the period when the Jews were not only scattered throughout Europe but viciously persecuted by Christianity with expulsion from England in 1290 and with the beginnings of the Inquisition and creation of the first ghettos in 1500 leading to some 450 years later the Nazi solution. For the Jewish state of Israel to be defensive about its future today is the most rational and understandable of positions in all history. China also had to cope with Genghis Kahn but the period is more noted for the conquering of China by Kublai Khan who became Emperor in 1260, and for the recorded travels of Marco Polo, the establishment of the Ming dynasty and the creation of the first Encyclopaedia. In central and South America there was the rise of the Aztecs and the Incas around 1300.

Such is the combination of arrogance and justifiable insecurity of the English ruling elite over the wish of the Celtic people to manage their own affairs (and one suspects to become free of the German House of Hanover) that it is sometimes forgotten that out of the 6000 years of civilization Westminster only controlled Eire from the 1801 Act of Union to 1921 with Wales from 1538 to devolution in the latter part of the twentieth century and which is still evolving, and in Scotland with the Act of Union 1707 until the recent ascendancy of a minority Independence party in the devolved Scottish Parliament in the most recent election. It is time that there was acceptance that Britishness and Englishness is only meaningful in terns of a willingness to die in defence of the British Monarchy, the Church of England and the British Parliament.

Elsewhere the Mexican Aztec civilization was crushed first by the Spanish, then by Napoleon III until becoming a Republic under Diaz 1867-1910. One suspects that it is only the insecurity of the American British, American Irish and American Italians which prevents Mexico become a full State although if a black man becomes President, then an Hispanic President, (most likely Cuban, if the Mafia get back into Havana) is also possible this century. With the re-emergence of India and China as economic forces and the attempted re-emergence of Islam, it will be of interest how present and future generations of Europeans react. My forecast is that Communism will be regarded in China as only the temporary means, lasting 100 years in which to re-establish national identity and self confidence was re-established before winning the capitalist stakes for world domination. The only likely counterbalancing forces will a United states or Federation of Americas but which will involve an Hispanic speaking Presidento perhaps every eight years alternating with those of British, Irish, Italian, French and German ancestral origins each with authority of over economic and home defence.

I have less concern about the attempted re-emergence of an colonial Islamic civilization, following Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, as long as the activities of Iran and Pakistan can be contained until an alternative energy to oil can predominate, Although the post 1918 and 1945 artificial re-creations of Arabia and North Africa have led to the many of the present problems they also have prevented the emergence of one dominant country and force although there have been several attempts; the understandable obsession with control of Jerusalem and opposition to the state of Israel has also been an important factor and too many of the oil rich Kingdoms have squandered their wealth on personal aggrandisement and symbols rather than establishing one integrated production and financial system. I once had hopes for a Europe which would stretch from Russia to Greece Spain, Britain and Norway now that we appeared to have come to an of civil wars and bloody revolutions since the British of the 1650's, the French, the Russian, the Spanish, the two continental engulfing wars the creation and enlargement of NATO and the EEC, especially the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the unification of Germany and the ending of Russia as a military and economic empire. The lack of a common language or bilingualism has always been a major obstacle, the history of internal conflict and competitiveness the untreatable unwillingness to create a single political structure. However this situation is not beyond a solution but it will take the further economic development of a China led Asia and North American Americas. There is one nation which has the population, the resources and the cultural heritage to act as the negotiators, the coordinators and peacemakers. No this is not British and those of the Indian Subcontinent and oddly comes because of the mixture of being an ancient civilization and having been part of the British Empire and making English a second language, from absorbing the netter aspects of the British Civil Service and British Higher education system and from the spiritual activism of its main religion and of Ghandi. It is a religion and a way of life which believes in making the most of every day but from a perspective of more than one life and one community and from having a sense of order and self discipline. Of all the emerging economies it is the Indian where I have hopes for the development of new culture and new artistic creativity for the 21st and 22nd centuries. The most unlikely is African and the most unknown is that of Australian Oceanic.

22.45. Cold Feet by Moonlight is likely to become the title of to-days writing, writing which I attempted to begin several times during the day but my heart was not in it. The intention was to complete contemporaneous daily notes and then about this time continue to write on aspects of civilization and art from AD to 2000.

I have finished watching Ill met by Moonlight commenced before the second of the two parts of episode 2 of series seven of Waking the Dead which now stars the middle aged former Shoestring Trevor Eve and the brilliant Sue Johnson whose career I have enjoyed over three probably four decades. Ill met by Moonlight is the first of the Daily Mail War Films which I wanted to immediately watch, although as with all the others distributed so far, it has been experienced several times and has therefore lost the tension and the uncertainty. This Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, J Arthur Rank Pinewood Studios black and white film although about a special operation on Crete was in fact filmed in the Alps Maritime of France and Italy and the Cote d'Azur, and released in the UK in 1957 and the USA the following year. This is a boy's adventure film with Dirk Bogarde as the Greek speaking special forces officer sent to the Island to capture the German Commanding officer, played by Marius Goring. The story is uncomplicated and is based on an actual successful operation devised by the Cairo based Special Operations Executive and involved Major Ivan William Stanley Moss MC 1921-1965, who real life is much more interesting than the film. He was born in Japan with his mother a White Russian émigré who married an English businessman, He was a educated at Charterhouse, commissioned into the Coldstream Guards and was only 22 when posted to Crete. After the war he married Countess Zofia Roza Jadwiga Elizbieta Tarnowska, grand daughter of polish nobleman Stanislaw TarnowskI the historian and literary critic. They had three children one of whom died and separated in 1957. In addition to writing three popular books, he travelled extensively , including with the British Expeditionary Force to Antarctica, settling in Jamaica and dying when only 44.

22.30- .23.30 Listened to Sky radio
More than I can Say - Leo Sayer; Do that to me one more Time- Captain and Tennille (I have their Long Play record; Umbrella- Rihanna; Bleeding Love-Leona Lewis; I Try-Macy Gray; Chains, Tina Arena; Lost- Michael the Bulbe; Thinking of you -Sister Sledge What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong; Killing Me Softly- the Fugees; Right Here-SWV; Smooth Operator- Senor Coconut; In a Beautiful Place out in the Country-Boards of Canada

The other reason for the title is the decision to watch a DVD of the pilot and first three episodes of Cold Feet, the comedy drama first released in 1998. It is understandable that first reaction of critics to the series was mixed as one suspects the well acted portrayal of the lives of the sextet of three couples was too close for comfort for some. The engaging James Nesbit plays a contemporary bachelor used to having a succession of women in his bed and with no intention of changing the situation, especially as he witnesses the marital experience of his best friend from childhood, played by John Thomson, and who takes to parenting more than his wife (Fay Ripley) but then finds it difficult to see her as a sex partner. Nesbitt meets modern girl about town Helen Baxendale who bounces in an out of affairs, determined to maintain her independence and whose best friend (Kimberly Joseph) has become a husband controlled but rebelling stay at home mother, married to Robert Bathurst who is the most one dimensional of the six characters best described as the stereotyped competitive male shit. The reason why critics changed their mind and the series established an average audience of eight million is the authenticity of their predicaments which as someone of a different generation which I can only speculate touched the nerves of a generation ill equipped for marriage and parenthood by the demands of global capitalism and of values set by programmes such as Cold Feet, Sex in the City, Friends, and such like. I found it funny, moving and honest, hence adding the series to my list of things to experience again and write about before I die.

23.30 00.15 Change to AOL Radio and Mozart- Flute Concerto; ( I have on LP with the Clarinet) Miserere from Il Travatore-Verdi (It is over five years since going to the Opera); Sphor - a Concertante, Bizet - Offenbach Lizt- Mephisto Waltz; a Bach Cantata ( I have an LP of several).

00.00 A very different kind of programme was Waking the Dead which has a different level authenticity perhaps more appreciated by those who have studied criminology and psychology. While each double episode is self contained one underlying theme is physician heal thyself. This two parter reminded me of the psychiatrist in charge of large complex where he explained that his problem was that while most of the patients knew they had a problem or two, most of the staff did not, and some were sicker. I wager few predicted who the villain was in this instance and the only clue I give that it is not the member of the prison staff considered the most likely.

00.30 Change channels on Radio AOL. Celine Dion -All by myself; Something in the Way she moves- James Taylor; Sade Kiss of Life ( I have two LP's); Al Green-I am still in love ; Mariah Carey-Love Takes Time; Teddy Pendergrass, Close the Door
09.00-14.00 The day was bright and warm and it was tempting to abandon plans and go out for the day but I wanted to keep to my agenda. Later I did mange to sweep the small space between door and pavement and then wash the front doorway, as well as vacuuming and washing of the day room and kitchen floors.

I walked quickly to Smiths and then back, breaking into a sweat which required a rub down and change of top. Yesterday's/overnight prediction on the likely impact of the miscalculated abolition off the 10% tax band was borne out by some forty Labour Members insisting on remedial action within this financial year and the Chancellor of the Exchequer giving an assurance that he would meet their demands coupled with the report that his colleagues would be asked to drop their amendment until later in the Parliamentary Year when they would be given opportunity had not worked out a solution by then. Tomorrow's PMQ's will be interesting.

09.00-00.30 Toast with butter substitute, three coffees, one tea, one OJ, one glass of wine, A Spanish from near Madrid Palacio de Gavira 2004, Iced Water. Unfrozen Prawn salad two slices of nutty brown bread, sliced banana and light custard, sardines on four dry crackers, small quantity of peanuts with wine, two baked Bream with herbs and fresh lemon, fresh sliced and cubed pineapple, two slices of Edammer with salami. Several games of Hearts without winning won although one was interesting with my score and another at 52 and two other players with 26 thus showing the number of different hands played automatically by the computer that such pattern will emerge, but still a long way from the 3 : 1 ratio which would be fair. Started to play level to chess again but was check mate when I cannot claim being half awake.

1351 Ancient Art History, some politics and the BAFTA's

23.45 20th April 2008. It is only late in the twenty four hours that I decide to put in my head something of the development of art as part of civilization in the earth world. Yesterday I touched on the development of art, thinking, education and culture as well as the division of labour, and previously I mentioned that it was the migration of people first to the Iberian peninsular, originally from the near East and Greece and then Italy and on to Britain who had commenced to herd animals and grow crops, transforming the British Islands from a land of twenty six tribes of hunters and fisherman. It is generally accepted that a people become civilised when they develop sufficiently to create communities of a size that can be called cities, creating homes and public places out of stone, especially those of worship and where functions as citizens are divided. It also accepted while to be civilised marks someone different to the behaviour of a savage, a barbarian, the people of civilizations have held slaves in one form of another, held human sacrifice, and committed collective as well as individual bloodshed. However they also commenced to live day to day with some respect for the person and property of neighbours and take an interest in matters in addition to their subsistence and survival.

There were four civilizations created between 4000 and 2500 BC; the Egyptian with the beginning of hieroglyphic writing, the Sumerian, with the use of irrigation, the invention of bronze, the development of hand script and of the city state; the Minoan on Crete, and the Chinese and their Script

Before 2000 BC they were joined by the Peruvians who went in for the use of stone, crop growing and pictograph writing, and the Indians who built towns on a grid system in the Hindus valley, with drainage and central heating

Between 2000 BC and 1000 BC these societies developed with in Peru the building of their large Temples, in China the first Emperors 2200-1700, and then the creation of regions and towards the end of the period the development of scholarship, It was the Hittites of Asia Minor who invented Iron around 2000 and the Hebrew people commenced their travels around Palestine before settlement in Egypt, and then the persecution and flight, and Saul becoming the first King and David 1010-970. The period saw the creations and destruction of Knossos on Crete and the end of Minoans around 1400, followed by the rise of the Mycenaean's with the battle for Troy 1120 and then their rapid decline. The Indian civilization was overrun around 1500 and the Egyptians following the rule of Ramses II 1290-1225 were overrun by the Assyrians. 1000 saw the last days of the Sumerians and the rise of Babylon and the first Libraries and by 1000 Babylon had also declined with the rise of Assyria. It was not until 1100 that the Phoenicians came to rise on the coast of the Levant

The commencement of the first Millennium before Christ saw the development of Greek City state after the decline of the Mycenae. Byzantium was founded around 700 and the Greek Alphabet introduced followed by what is now regarded as the first Code of Laws 590, The Temple of Solomon was built with the Hebrew state divided into Israel and Judah. The Phoenicians created the port of Tyre and commenced commercial shipping 950. They also introduced the alphabet, spread to north Africa and created Carthage. Rome was founded in 753 and the first Republic. In India the caste system was created and the first history in the form of events, the Upanishads. The Persians take Assyria and Babylon.

Around 500 the Mayan civilization commenced which led to the Calendar, textile weaving, astronomy and mathematics, In India there was the first use of coins. In China there was Confucius, the building of the Great Wall from 218 and the first major written histories of China produced and the empire spread to Manchuria, Korea and Indo China. Egypt was overrun by the Persians with the consequent of Alexandria the Great 330 and the founding of Alexandria, The Victory of Marathon 26 miles from Athens was in 490 with the rule of Pericles 461-429 followed by Socrates and the school of thinkers. Greece was then given the protection of Rome 196 and integrated into the Roman Empire. Hannibal launched his war on Rome 221-202 and his defeat led to the destruction of Carthage. In Rome the 12 Tables of Law created 450 and the conquest of Gaul 58-48 with Caesar the master in 45. The Kings Highway was built in Persia which was also conquered by Alexander 330. The Hebrews became known as the Jews with the reign of Herod 37-5. In India the Buddha was from 530-480 and Alexander reached India in 326. It was not until after 200 and that art and stone building was developed.

This is the perspective for viewing the history and development of the British Islands and North America. It was not until between 600 and 500 BC that the Celtic races moved through France with the Gaelic Celts coming to Britain. When the Brythonic Celts arrived they pushed the Gaelic over to Ireland 400-300 and Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and brought aspects of Roman ways which formed the basis of the civilization of western Europe and which was to spread to the North American continent 1500 years later along with religious, tribal and racial sectarianism, persecution and cleansing.

09.00. A horrible cold and grey morning and I put off going for the Daily Film. When I get there, there are only two left, one for me and for the lady after me, with the rest of the queue disappointed. There was need of a second cup of coffee when I returned. I decided that in addition to Monday chore of dusting ground floor I would clean the car windscreen with some new wipes and some ongoing cleaner for the outside. I will try and do an additional chore to that of each day. The morning was such that I was tempted to return to bed, to sleep and awake to find a different day.

12.00 I tried to brighten myself up with an early lunch, comprising, the rest of the pork joint, the stuffing and two of the roast potato slices, cut up into small pieces to add to the instant curry, and then some grapes. It was not a great success.

14.00 I am now in a position to tell Income Tax that that they have incorrectly given a tax code on the basis that my income will be 27% higher than it will be. I had hoped they knew something I did not. Such was the public interest in tax matters that the HQ was not taking any further calls during the morning. When I got through while waiting for a customer relations adviser someone mentioned that I would find relevant information about tax code on line. I decide to abandon the attempt to phone the information and locate my logging on information for the internet site later. What I did not realise is that there will be a debate in the House of Commons about the former Chancellor's and present Prime Minister's last budget in which the10% income tax band was abolished. At the time it was claimed that no one would be out of pocket but the evidence is of a substantial wedge of households who will lose several pounds a week. These are mainly childless couples and singles who earn above the protection level but below average household incomes. Politically this is bad news for the Labour Political party long believed to be the party which supported the lower income earners, especially as local government elections are a few weeks away. Later I watched the Treasury Minister open up the debate and although she tried hard to put the situation in perspective of the government's approach over the past ten years, compared to that of the main opposition, it was evident that she had few sympathetic listeners. However short of admitting that that the position had been miscalculated there was the promise of coming up with compensatory measures at the budget review in the autumn, However it was also evident that backbenchers on the government side lead by Frank Field will not be appeased unless they are given firm comments before the vote is taken later in the week. Later it is mentioned that the Prime Minister attended the Commons meeting of Party Members and said that he understands the problem and that something will be done but it will take time in terms of compensating those involved without also giving more relief to others. I say now this is impractical and is the reason why something cannot be done quickly and there will need to be a major expenditure priority's review before a way forward can be found to repair the damage. Meanwhile Labour Council's will face a bloodbath at the local election which is to be regretted because they do excellent work for their communities.

The Prime Minister has now committed two great blunders in his first year of office. The first was to listen to those who wanted him to hold an Autumn election because they feared that the changing international economic situation and other developments would make it increasingly more difficult for the Party to win a fourth term. His decision not to proceed with the election may have been political expedient but it also revealed a character flaw which did not augur well. However this mistake did not adversely affect people's lives in their millions. For the Prime Minister not to have understood the nature of the present crisis until forced by some of his backbenchers is very damning, and I predict almost terminal for him as Prime Minister and for our political party, s he looks more like Major with each day.

At the very time when everyone other than the rich are feeling the effects of rising food prices, home energy and petrol prices, it is admitted that over five million people will have their net income reduced by the tax change, and worse still, that the position cannot be remedied until the next financial year. Of course the majority of Members of Parliament will have to vote with the government because to do otherwise would mean a General Election and therefore they will damn themselves to electoral defeat and finding a new job. They will have to put their own survival and that of their families before the welfare of the nation.

There is only one way out that I can see. The Prime Minister needs to say to the nation, for once bypassing the Commons, that he got it wrong, he was told no one would be worse off and it is evident that people feel they because of the price increases and that the tax change that overall they are. He should limit the references to what the Labour Government has done for lower income groups since 1997 and reminding of the position taken by the conservative opposition because this is now accepted as Blair speak, even though as Chancellor he provided the economic structure. He is yet to grasp that he is Prime Minister not Chancellor. It is always a problem for those who become Prime Minister if they have held one office of state rather than several, and it would have been better as with Blair that he was not identified with just one Ministerial function beforehand. The Prime Minister needs to explain that it is not possible to do something immediately because it could only make matters but he will ensure that as quickly as possible, effective action can be worked out, and he will arrange for measures to be brought to Parliament to put things right. Of course the opposition will make the most of the situation and he will have an uncomfortable time, but if he handles everything else we;; over the next couple of years, then he may be forgiven sufficiently to survive. He needs to remember that at national election the public tend to vote for personalities. Margaret Thatcher failed not because of the Poll tax but because she failed to say sorry, I got it wrong. In all other aspects of our lives and relationships the ability to say sorry, and to demonstrate that you will do better or try hard not to make the same mistake again, works. Only top politicians have failed to apply this truth to their actions with disastrously consequences for us as well as for them. When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn? Do you really want a second white feather in a year Prime Minister?

14.30 At last watching the annual round up of TV BAFTA awards after a low start morning. First up after a well scripted Graham Norton was the Drama awards introduced by Bianca and Ricky. I watched only one of the four series mentioned Rome, life in Roman times. The winner was The Street which I will look out for . There is not just one award for Drama but several. Those in Continuing Drama the Bill, Eastenders, Emmerdale, and Holby City which won, and which was one I used to watch the least. Oddly this was not called a soap as there are separate annual soap awards. Nor is it a Drama Serial which included Cranford (watched) but a programme called Britz did, which was about what it was like to be a second generation Muslim in the UK. Another award was for a single Drama: The Trial of Tony Blair (watched) The Mark of Cain (watched) which won. The Best actor male actor was not known to me or any of the nominated programmes but both Dame Judy Dench and Eileen Atkins were nominated for Cranford with Eileen Atkins getting the award, more for her career than the particular performance one suspects and the gorgeous Gina Mckee was also nominated with them.

A special award introduced by John Hurt to a film maker Paul Watson who responsible for the fly on the wall documentary. And the Fellowship went to 80 year old Bruce Forsyth. I do not watch comedy series but I have come across Russell Brand have seen adverts for Fone Jacker and both are awful. There was one for Sport, but what was their to celebrate? It went to a Lewis Hamilton winning grand prix, and awarded because ITV have lost the contract, presumably to Sky. Harry Hill who I sometimes watched because it was on, when visiting my mother in the resident's lounge. ,won an award and then he got another for the series. A programme which I did watch, the Despatches Programme on China's stolen children won the news reporting award. This was different from the single documentary awards, none of which I watched but several I wish I had.

I first came across James Cordon and Mathew Horne as host for one of the Big Brother House follow up programmes and found their attempts at humour crude and not funny. I therefore did not understand the audience enthusiasm for Mathew Horne who won two Bafta's , one as a comedian and the other for co writing the programme Gavin and Stacey which has appeared on BBC 3. What impressed me was the enthusiasm of the audience so I will have to see what they can do when the opportunity arises and accept that I may have to revise my first reactions.

There is always that part in this annual programme, the Bafta Cinema and the Oscars when those who have died are remembered. Over the past decade the worrying personal aspect is that not only are, many of those mentioned familiar whose work is well known to me but some are younger, Among those from television who died last year were Carole Banes, Bernard Manning, Clive Exton, Tony Holland, Anton Rogers, Jeremy Beadle, Ronnie Hazelhurst, Mark Speight, Verity Lambert, George Melly, Ned Sherin, Mike Reid and Anthony Mingella
23.30 I had an early evening nap as the weather improved with an encouraging forecast, but the tiredness lingered and I was only fit for more TV watching a repeat of a detective murder mystery Dalzell and Pascoe and the first of a two part Waking the Dead. I had Tomato Soup with two slices of nutty brown bread and lots of tea. Before going to bed around 2 am I had several slices of salami on their own, some water and an indigestion tablet.

1346 Ancient History 1 a film Laura

11.45 Having overdosed overnight on writing, correcting and communicating I did not anticipate waking early enough to make use of what was forecast as a good weather day to embark on my first free anywhere bus ride in England. Do Americans have such a thing as free bus travel for those over 60 or 65? Are there across state and inter state services which are not classified as coaches? First random thought of the day.

12.00 In fact I was awake and up before 9 and although feeling tired would have gone out if there had not been rain, and peaking outside the door it was also not warm, not cold as such, but not warm. I would take the car for the Daily Mail and British War film DVD and treat myself to a coffee and toast at a nearby café. Oh no you won't the Gods thundered, as I could not find the car keys which was absurd because I had last used the car on Monday after the bin men had taken away the household rubbish and the recycling box so at least they had not been thrown away by accident. It brightened up so I went awalking with umbrella a la Rihana umbrella umbrella just in case the rain returned got the Daily Mail and DVD, enjoyed a sugarless strong coffee and two toasts for £2.05 and walked back. I first watered the house plants and then recommenced the searching and discovered the keys in between the fourteen working work volumes behind my chair.

12.10 I had set about photographing the completed work volumes on Monday or Tuesday when in the viewer the code C 30. 21 appeared and would not go away. I had opened the filing cabinet for the instruction manual which against C.30 40 explained that the problem required professional attention and was not something that I could fix. Oh no just my luck bet the insurance has run out but joy of joys, it does not expire till July. Once before it needed to be sent away and what happens is the special packaging is sent, one has then to phone to arrange collection. Last time it came back in an instant.

12.20 It has been a week of monster Blogs with the Princess Diana and Dodi Inquest summing up so it is back to usual from now on. It looks good outside and there is regret that I did not make the trip especially as I await the post with some trepidation
14.00 There is no post and the falsity of feelings without a definable substance is exposed.

16.00 I watch the 1944 Oscar nominated film Laura with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. Gene plays an ambitious and talented and for her day, forward looking, young woman seeking to make her way in the advertising business and who successfully persuades a nationally recognised radio columnist to endorse a pen product being promoted by her employers. This is an exceptional feat because the older bachelor and loner, with a sharp tongue, was previously considered unapproachable. The price of his endorsement and introduction to others is to become the regular companion of the radio star, played by Clifton Webb.

Clifton was 55 years old at the time with a long career in vaudeville and a wide range of theatrical productions and for a period as a recognised professional dancer. Among 23 Broadway musical and dramatic shows where he became the male lead were Easter Parade (Berlin), Oscar Wilde's The Importance of being Ernest and Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter. His cinema break came when Otto Preminger selected Webb for the role as the surprising baddie in Laura playing alongside Vincent Price who was the viewer's expectation for the who dun it. He was Oscar nominated for the supporting role and three years later gained the award as best supporting male actor in The Razor's Edge. However I came to know and love Clifton for his comic roles in three Mr Belvedere films, and for Its Cheaper by the Dozen, but I also remember films such as the 1953 Titanic, Stars, and Stripes Forever, Three Coins in a Fountain where I can still sing my fashion the tune line, and where I went looking for the Trevi Fountain in 1965 and 2002, Boy on a Dolphin, Dreamboat and the Man who never was, were other films seen.
What made Laura become an important film in American film development was the dream creating black and white photography which also received an Oscar nomination but set aside this creative aspect it is a conventional detective story where the corpse is not the corpse and the motive if I cannot have you then no one can. I am sure I have seen it before, possible more than once, but it had left little memory and there is nothing from the film which I wish to store except that it triggered my memory of Clifton Webb and warns all young women of the dangers of taking up with older men, especially those who live alone, and where interestingly Clifton himself is reported to have been a bachelor recluse.

18.00 The rest of the afternoon and early evening remained something of a stupor although I did some work and reorganisation of completed work and are on target as the month reaches midway.

21.00 There was nothing to engage and this included the British War movies acquired so far through the Daily Mail but then I spotted a re-showing of Roy Schama's history of England which covered the Norman Conquest and the creation of the Domesday book. It is said 25000 men subjugated 2 million Saxons and the residue of Norsemen. I realise that I only possess the vaguest notion of pre Roman Britannica and only fleeting concepts of medieval England, large derived from Shakespeare. Over the past decade my historical interest has been on the five hundred recorded years of my mother's English family history in West Country of England and something of the five hundred years of my father's family in Malta, together with something of the histories of Spain, Italy and Gibraltar. I feel I need to know more if my book about the family is to have depth and perspective, but first there are some pressing Household matters to give attention but my pile of books reading has made way for John Bowles The English Experience and the Falkus and Gillingham Edited Historical Atlas of Britain which has something like 40 contributors I will do a crash course on British, English and Wiltshire history over the rest of April subject to there being no progress in the Ombudsman Inquiry.

22.20 I feel better about my day as a consequence and feel better all round although I will try and avoid staying up for more than a couple of hours.

00.00. Still not tired for bed I could not resist challenging myself about what I knew and did not about England history and made a important discovery. Before 4000BC, that is over 6000 years ago the human being that existed in Britain were hunters and fishermen and the land was covered with much forest. The earliest remains of a human type form in Britain has been dated at 150000 BC and with forms more similar to our present day being around 40000 BC. The remains of Hunters from 20000 BC have been found in the Peak District, It is thought that by 6500 the land links between Eastern England from Yorkshire to Dover and Beachey Head and continental Europe had been eroded by the sea and therefore we have only been an island races of beings for under ten thousand years.

It is believed that around 4000 the cultivation of land commenced and gradually outnumbered those whose livelihoods depended on hunting and fishing. Those who did the farming were not indigenous coming from the Near East and the Balkans, moving through Spain, France and Germany to the Netherland, and the evidence is that the migrants came to outnumber the hunters and fishermen. When communities formed there was the development of the collective tombs as of burial mounds, similar to those also found elsewhere including Malta and Spain. Our knowledge of these people comes from the remains found and life was primitive raising sheep and cattle, some lean hogs and whippet like terriers and hoe and mattock land cultivation for wheat and barley but only for personal and family subsistence and it is known that there were occasions of cannibalism.

There were then two developments which have been identified through Britain, The first are Henge burial monuments of which Stonehenge around 2250 BC is the best known with its cluster of burial mounds within 2k of the ceremonial monument. The largest of the four connecting ceremonial centres at Avebury is that of Silbury Hill the largest artificial mound of prehistory Europe. In addition to their ceremonial and burial functions the mounds also provided defensive areas for the community. Maps showing the distribution of Henge monuments, stone circles and stone alignments cover all parts of the Britain indicating the spread of agriculture communities. I once stayed on a hillside farm cottage in the Tay Valley with a stone circle close by. Approximately 3000 year BC there is the development of mining for flints and quarrying to make stone axes. With the development of bronze making from around 2000 BC the increasingly separate burial places indicated with wealth and power of some beings, within the community.

I had already known that the family county of Wiltshire and neighbouring Somerset were locations for important excavated sites from prehistory. The extraordinary aspect of to night's reading is to find the link between my Iberian ancestors and Calne where the maternal family lived generation upon generation for over at least 400 years. I decided to go to bed and continue the work where I got my act together in the morning.