Radio Ga Ga and Ignatius Sancho

Slept very well last night.

Listened to BBC radio 4 last night from the Sony DAB radio my brother gave me. Listened to Desert island Disks in the morning and a fascinating documentary on blacks in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It was called "The Invisible Presence" in which "Professor Gretchen Gerzina explores a largely unknown past - the lives of black people who settled in Britain in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

She reveals a startling paradox - although Britain was at the heart of a thriving slave trade, it was still possible for many black people to live here in freedom and prosperity. A few even made it to the very top of fashionable society.

But there were others who were brought over by slave-owners from the West Indies and who were never free, despite living for the rest of their lives in Glasgow or Bristol or London. Some took the law into their own hands, and managed to free themselves, others went further and advocated violent revolution. Free or unfree, they all saw Britain as a place of opportunity that could become a home.

Over two weeks, Professor Gerzina travels across Britain and talks to historians, unearthing new evidence about Britain's black past. From a country estate in Chepstow, via the docks of Liverpool, to grand houses in London and Bristol, she evokes the daily texture of black people's lives.


The music in this series is by the 18th century composer Ignatius Sancho, and performed by the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra.

Ignatius Sancho - Minuets
Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra

Book 80 - J. W. N. Sullivan "Beethoven: His Spiritual Development"

J. W. N. Sullivan "Beethoven: His Spiritual Development" (Unwin Books)




reat men, especially creative artists whose work lives after them, engage people's imagination for centuries. Beethoven, as man and composer, has inspired innumerable books both by his contemporaries and later writers, and it is proof of his endlessly fascinating, controversial nature that they all throw a different light on some aspect of his life and work. Since J.W.N. Sullivan wrote his book in 1927, much new information about Beethoven, his character, his illnesses, and his relationships has come to light, but it is still a valid contribution to the literature on the composer. Sullivan's basic theory is that Beethoven's greatness lies in his extraordinary perceptions, his heightened experiences and "states of consciousness," and his ability to organise and synthesise these into a musical expression of a "view of life." He asserts that Beethoven's initial despairing, then defiant struggle against his suffering--especially his deafness and resulting isolation--gives his middle-period works their heroism, and that his ultimate acceptance of it as necessary to his creativity marks the peak of his "spirituality" and gives his latest works their unparalleled sublimity.

Like many biographies, the book reveals more about the author than the subject. Sullivan, who is not a musician, offers some interesting, if sometimes extravagantly extramusical, analyses of Beethoven's works (though elsewhere he decries injecting "meaning" into music). He sees Beethoven's late fugues as outbursts of "blind and desperate energy," another battle with hostile fate; many musicians see them as another battle with counterpoint. He also makes subjective, high-handed value judgements: he detests Wagner and dismisses Bach as too religious, while Haydn and Mozart are too shallow to equal Beethoven's struggle-generated "spirituality." The book also brings up questions about beauty and greatness in art, the relationship between moral character and genius, and the impact of a man's personal experiences upon his creativity--all age-old but forever timely.

Guten Morgen

She can give me a good morning kiss any day!

Birthday Greetings

Happy birthday to wendelah1. May you have  a great day.

31 Days of Halloween #8

Another grreat gif from the web.

18 Years

Yes,it is now 18 years since Charmed first aired.

Who Xmas Special

First Look at the Doctor Who Christmas Special

"First Look at the Doctor Who Christmas Special" (Watch on YouTube)

Just Wondering

How did your parents meet?

Are you more like your father or mother?


What's one thing you could really use in your kitchen these days?

What's one thing you could get rid of and what's stopping you?

Good Night

Thanks to kabuldur for pointing this link to me.

Snoring Dormouse with sound - listen

Good night folks.