Britain says "Happy Birthday" to an old playwright called Peter Shaffer

Peter Shaffer is 85 years old today.
Things you possible didn't know about Peter, that he :

* was born to a Jewish family in Liverpool, the son of Reka and Jack Shaffer, who was an estate agent and the twin brother of another playwright, Anthony Shaffer.

* was educated at St Paul's School in London and went on to study History at Trinity College, Cambridge.

* was a 'Bevin Boy coal miner' during The Second World War and then took a number of jobs, including bookstore clerk and assistant at the New York Public Library, before discovering his dramatic talents.

* had his first play, 'The Salt Land' was presented on the BBC in 1954.

* saw his 'Five Finger Exercise' open in London in 1958 under the direction of John Gielgud win the 'Evening Standard Drama Award' and when it opened in New York in 1959 win the 'New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play'.

* had his double bill, 'The Private Ear/The Public Eye', two plays each containing three characters and starring Maggie Smith presented at the Globe Theatre in 1962.

* saw The National Theatre set up in 1963 and did virtually all of his subsequent work in its service including 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' in 1964 dealing with the tragic conquest of Peru by the Spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGcyxFgIbo

* produced 'Equus' in 1973, the journey into the mind of a 17-year-old stable boy who had plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses and ran for over 1000 performances on Broadway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsx5wNyzmRo

* followed up with 'Amadeus' in 1979, the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and court composer Antonio Salieri who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God" coming from an "obscene child," set out to destroy his rival and on Broadway ran for more than 1000 performances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-rD2QL1Pc&feature=related

* has said : "Everything we feel is made of Time. All the beauties of life are shaped by it."
: "I think people nowadays do tend to blame their parents for everything."
: "If London is a watercolor, New York is an oil painting."
: "Rehearsing a play is making the word flesh. Publishing a play is
reversing the process."

Britain is a country with a charity busy on behalf of old men called 'Action on Elder Abuse' with much to be busy about

Britain's Charity 'Action on Elder Abuse' is busy. In just one week in March last year it concerned itself with the following stories :


* 9th : Residents left unwashed in 'Kings Heath Nursing Home'.
The 'Birmingham Post' reported :
'Residents in a nursing home where a war veteran died just ten days after moving in were unshaven with unwashed hair and long finger nails.'

* 9th : Three care workers in court over abuse at residential home Coventry. The 'Telegraph' reported :
They will face town magistrates over allegations of ill-treatment against three residents at the small, privately-run Wembrook Care Home in Attleborough.

* 8th : Little money available to recover from care home thief.
The 'Northern Echo' reported :
Little money may be redeemed from a former nursing home administrator who stole thousands of pounds of residents' money.

* 5th : Woman robs residents of Londonderry care home.
The BBC News reported :
A woman has pleaded guilty to stealing £64000 from the residents of a Londonderry care home.

* 4th : Police probe Cumbrian nursing home after mistreatment complaints.
The 'News & Star' reported :
Details of the concerns about Branthwaite Care Home have not been revealed.

* 4th : Yarmouth care home manager struck off.
The 'Great Yarmouth Mercury' reported :
A care home manager who shut elderly residents in a tiny room to get them “out of her face” has been kicked out of the profession.

* 4th March 2010 : Inspectors did not have clear training in fire safety.
The 'Herald' reported :
Health board inspectors failed to ensure legal requirements were met when examining fire safety standards at a care home where 14 pensioners later died in a fire.

* 3rd : Care worker stuffed trousers into dementia sufferer's mouth.
The 'South Wales Argus' reported :
A care assistant pushed a pair of rolled up trousers into the mouth of an 89-year-old dementia sufferer at a Chepstow care home.

* 3rd : Inspector saw resident at Maypole Nursing Home badly treated, inquest told.
The 'Birmingham Post' reported :
A care home inspector has told an inquest how he saw a resident of a Birmingham nursing home being treated in an undignified way.

* 2nd : Inquest told of fears over level of care at Maypole Nursing Home.
The 'Birmingham Post' reported :
The daughter of a man who dies after just ten days at a Birmingham Nursing Home.

* 2nd : Teesside care home facing new allegations of neglect.
The 'Gazette Live' reported :
A Teeside care home is facing allegations of neglect for the second time in less than two years, after an elderly lady resident was admitted to hospital.

* 2nd : Pensioners are punished by the care lottery.
The 'Daily Mail' reported :
One of the poorest areas - Halton in Cheshire - funds fewer care-home places than well-heeled areas such as Windsor and Oxfordshire, even though the need is greater.

What a sad country Britain has become.

Is Britain a country where old men and women facing a 'dog's breakfast' of social care can look forward to a brighter future ?

Frances Patterson QC, a Public Law Commissioner has led a 3 year project to review existing law governing social care for old men and women has said:
"Our recommendations will bring much-needed clarity and accessibility to this important area of the law and have a major, beneficial impact on the lives of many of our most vulnerable citizens."

The Report highlight's the fact that social care provision at the moment is no place for old men with :

* more than 40 existing laws and thousands of pages of guidance dating back to 1948 and appearing incomprehensible to most non-lawyers.

* 'carers' having no 'entitlement' to an assessment of their support needs irrespective of how intensively they provide care.

* local councils having no 'duty' to investigate abuse and neglect.






Michelle Mitchell, 'Age UK's' Charity Director, said:
"The Law Commission's recommendations provide a one-off opportunity to replace this dog's breakfast with a clear, logical and consistent framework. It is important, as we move forward to actual legislation, that political wrangling does not result in this clarity being lost."







Paul Burstow, the Government 'Care Services' Minister, said :
the Report provided "a strong foundation" for reform and legislation could follow next year.






Gary FitzGerald, Chief Executive of 'Action on Elder Abuse', applauded the proposed duty on councils to investigate abuse and neglect and said:

"Too many older and other vulnerable adults are relying on a postcode lottery for their protection and these recommendations will finally bring this situation to an end."






Lord Justice Munby, Chairman of the Commission, said:

"What we are trying to do is create a legal framework into which governments can, from time to time, slot different policies."

So old men of Britain, take heart, with a Q.C., a Lord Justice, a Government Minister and two Charity Directors on your side, perhaps your future is a little rosier.

Britain is still a country for old men on coach trips to the seaside, distant memories of their 'dandled daies' and the musings of Bill Bryson

Old men in Britain are drawn to the seaside in summer and might well arrive there by motor coach.
Apparently almost half of British people have said they would never go on a coach trip, with many claiming that they are strictly the preserve of the older generation.
A survey carried out by 'HolidayExtras.com' has revealed that 49% of Brits would absolutely never go on a coach trip, with 36% saying they were for older people and just 14% of respondents claimed they love coach trips.





















Maybe, like me, they are drawn to the sea by memories from their youth. Here I am in the photos below, 60 years ago at the coast at Swalecliffe in Kent, making a noise with pots and pans and floated in the sea by my Father and Brother. I was being 'dandled' in the water.

I first came across the verb 'to dandle' in a poem by Sir Walter Ralegh called 'Farewell to the Court'. It means : 'To dance a child in the arms or on the knee.' He wrote :

Like truthless dreames, so are my joies expired,
And past return, are all my dandled daies.'





















P.S.
Bill Bryson's observations of the British at the seaside :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrqzRrMSCk

P.P.S.
My posting where I was drawn to the coast at Sheerness in April :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/2011/04/britain-is-country-with-county-called.html

My posting about Herne Bay in May 2009 :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/2009/05/herne-bay-place-for-very-young-and-old.html

Britain is a country whose old men remember his voice and when they were young men and say "Happy Birthday" to Eric Burden

Eric :
* was born Eric Victor Burdon in Newcastle, where, in 1962 he was founding member and vocalist of 'The Animals' which was formed out of the 'Alan Price Combo'

* with the band, combined electric blues with rock and in the USA were one of the leading bands of the 'British Invasion' along with 'The Beatles', 'The Who', 'The Rolling Stones', 'The Dave Clark Five' and 'The Kinks'.

* did his best work at this time and before Alan Price left the group in late 1966


1964 : 'The House of the Rising Sun'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcY-uo51QTE

1965 : 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3azMQLBN_0A

1965 : 'We Gotta Get out of This Place'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNEiZhpinY

1967 :'When I was young' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur30bn_3G58

P.S.
Eric has been ranked '57th' in 'Rolling Stone's list of 'The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time'.

Britain's old men say "Happy Birthday" to Donovan and remember themselves and a him as fresh faced young men in the 1960's

Donovan is 65 years old today. I was reminded of him in the Autumn of 2009 which was spectacular for its colour and would have matched 'New England in the Fall'.
The 'tears' of water on the acer tree in my garden reminded me of his song :

'Catch The Wind' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS8RZsOZ1Dw


In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

He recorded it when he was a fresh-faced youth of 18 and I bought a copy when I was a fresh-faced youth 17.

Things I didn't know about Donovan, that he :

* was born in Glasgow, Scotland as Donovan Philips Leitch the son of Winifred, a factory worker and Donald a Rolls Royce factory worker and moved with the family to England in 1956.

* contracted polio as a child and the disease and subsequent treatment, left him with a limp.

* became a friend of leading pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones, Bruce Springsteen, and 'The Beatles' and was one of the few artists to collaborate on songs with the group.

* influenced both John Lennon and Paul McCartney when he taught them his finger-picking guitar style in 1968.

* found his commercial fortunes waned after he parted ways with the producer, Mickie Most in 1969 and left the music industry for a time.

* continued to perform and record sporadically in the 1970s and 80s, but gradually fell from favour as his gentle musical style and hippie image were scorned by the critics.

* underwent a revival in the 1990's and late in the decade, recorded an album with producer and long-time fan Rick Rubin.

* released a new album, 'Beat Cafe', in 2004.

* currently lives with his family in County Cork in Ireland.

Hurdy Gurdy Man in 1968 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKCUuyojDI

The Universal Soldier in 1968 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9pc4U40sI&feature=related

P.S.
Last year 2010 when he was 64 :

Mellow Yellow :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NCwdo2_xak&feature=related

Britain is a country where old men remember with nostalgia and say "Goodbye" with sadness to John Walker and their youth in the 1960's

John Walker, always remembered for his role as founder member of 'The Walker Brothers' has died aged 67, was according to his former band mate Gary, 'a compassionate songwriter and a gentleman with lots of style'.

BBC Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13330633

What you possible didn't know about John, that he :

* was born John Maus and with the other two 'unrelated' members of the American group, Scott Engel and Gary Leeds, adopted the 'Walker Brothers' name after their formation in 1964.

* was part of a mirror image of the British pop invasion of the USA in 1960s as the band's fame flourished after travelling to Britain in 1964 and they embarked in earnest on a career that would eventually see them sell more than 23 million records.

* had a string of major hits followed with 'My Ship Is Coming In' reaching 'number 3' in 1966 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHWoR0y-jGI&feature=related

* scored a second UK number one with the song for he and the group is best known : The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eAxCVTMJ-I

* produced my favourite at this time when I was 18 :
Make It Easy on Yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZTS9H-l5qQ

* with the group, released three albums and 10 singles before officially splitting in 1968.

* continued to release solo records, before reforming with 'The Walkers' in 1974, releasing the comeback album 'No Regrets' a year later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7PuSl7AbUo&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=AVGxdCwVVULXddLCyO1_oLEIQqwIv1u0wA

* produced two more albums before the band, according to him, 'just drifted apart'.

* went on to customise guitars and establish his own recording studio in California and resume touring in 2004.

This comment by a reader of a newspaper article detailing his death probably reflects the views of many :

'Sorry to hear of John Walker's passing. For any of us of a certain age, who lived through that phenomenal time in the 1960s when everything was possible, it feels as if a part of yourself is taken away when someone from the same generation leaves us.
The Walker Brothers, along with other mega music stars, were part of my youth and of the historic The Golden Decade'.


P.S.
John on tour in 2009 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvNyb99f9s&feature=related

Would Britain be more a country for old men if, like the USA, it listened to Robert Butler and stopped calling them codgers and fogeys ?

I came across a 'Media Guide' published in 2009 by the American think tank, 'The International Longevity Center,' and ageism campaign group 'Aging Services of California'.

Its substance was, that :

* 'Elderly' is no longer acceptable word for 'older people' along with 'codger' and 'fogey'.

* 'Senior', 'fossil' and 'biddy' have been blacklisted by the lexicon of unacceptable phrases.

* people aged over 50 should be referred to as 'older people' or simply 'man' or 'woman' followed by their age.

* 'Old ladies' of both the 'little' and 'sweet' variety are also to be avoided.

* 80% of older Americans have been subjected to 'ageist stereotypes' and 'while names and characterisations may vary, the message is the same: older men and women are incompetent and lack sufficiency'.

* Journalists are advised: 'If you need to identify individuals over the age of 50, 'older adults' is preferred over 'senior' and 'elderly', which can be discriminatory in nature, after all, we don't refer to people under 50 as 'junior citizens'.

* in a preface to the report, Robert Butler, 'President of the International Longevity Centre', described the guide as 'an important step in overcoming ageist language and beliefs'.

Robert Butler talking much sense about the role of older people in American Society and 'baby boomers' in particular :

http://bigthink.com/robertbutler#!video_idea_id=1898

Britain is a country whose old men are much older than they thought they were

I've watched a programme on BBC TV called 'Inside the Human Body'. It was full of insights, but the biggest revelation to me was that women are born with all their embryo eggs. That being the case, the egg from which I was conceived in the Autumn of 1946 was created in the months before my Mother was born in June 1910. That being the case, I was in a sense, 'present' inside my Mother, the little girl in the photo taken in 1914.



So, I'm much older than I thought, having started my life over 100 years ago.

Woolwich in South London where my Mother was born in 1910 and so I began my journey in life :

P.S.
A clip from the programme showing sperm being attacked :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoAUfnKcA3I

P.P.S.
Here's a link to an earlier post entitled :
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Old Brits- do you know the date of the most important day in your life ?

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/2009/10/old-brits-do-you-know-date-of-most.html

Britain is a country which says "Goodbye" to Claude Choules the last remaining veteran warrior who fought for Britain in The First World War

Claude, who has passed away at the age of 110, was an Australian citizen who was born in and fought for Britain in the Navy in The First World War in 1914-18, was the last of the old war veterans alive. He was declared the last known male survivor out of more than 70 million military personnel during the War and after American veteran Frank Buckles passed away earlier this year, also aged 110.

The 'last post' as a tribute to Claude :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RwkNVqtog&feature=related

The BBC Report on his death :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13289865

Things that you probably didn't know about Claude, that he was :













* born in Pershore in 1901 and in his autobiography, 'The Last of the Last',
remembered the day the first motor car drove his village which brought all the villagers outside to watch.

* was drawn to the water at an early age, fishing and swimming at the local brook and later in life, would regularly swim, up to the age of 100, in the warm waters off the West Australian State coast.

* serving with the Royal Navy after joining HMS Impregnable at the age of 15 in 1916.



* probably the last man alive to witness the surrender and scuttling of the German Imperial Navy in 1918 in Scapa Flow near Firth of Forth in Scotland.

* seconded to the Australian navy in 1926 and remained in the force for 30 years before retiring.



Claude took a creative writing course in his 80's and decided to record his memoirs for his family which fomed the basis fo his autobiography, published in 2009, which he cited as one of his greatest achievements.

Although in recent years, he was both blind and nearly deaf, his children say he retained his cheerful spirit and positive outlook on life.

When told that he had become the last remaining British soldier to serve during the Great War following the death of Harry Patch, Claude shrugged off the achievement saying:
"Everything comes to those who wait and wait."

P.S.
I featured Claude in a posting last November :

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/2010/11/britain-is-still-country-which.html?showComment=1298988034821#c2163867073377476674

I thought the comment on that posting by the 'Anonymous' writer was moving :

'So Claude is now the last surviving combatant of WWI, following the death of Frank Buckles on February 27th, and it's his 110th the day after the day after tomorrow. The way the last living sinews of history melt away brings tears to my eyes.'

Britain is a country with an old County called Kent, an old harbour town called Whitstable and one tea house which positively 'welcomes' old men

A visit to the harbour town of Whitstable on the North Kent coast does not go unrewarded. It is an interesting little place with a long history and I paid a visit and took these photos this week :








Tucked away in a side street near the seafront was this safe and welcoming haven for old men :

Britain is no country for old 'peaceful protesters' with sketch pads like John Catt

The Guardian newspaper had an article today entitled :

Protester to sue police over secret surveillance

It involved the 86 year old John Catt, who had his presence at 'peaceful protests', systematically 'logged' by a secret police unit over four years.

It made the following points, that John :

* has been granted permission to launch a lawsuit against police chiefs who classified him as a 'domestic extremist' and kept a detailed record of his political activities on a clandestine database.

* has no criminal record and is bringing the High Court action against the unit logged his presence at more than 55 'peace' and 'human rights' protests over a 4 year period.

* had his habit of taking out his sketch pad and drawing the scene at demonstrations logged and also notes on his appearance, such as 'clean shaven'.

* has started a lawsuit which will challenge the power of police to 'compile secret files on law-abiding protesters'.

* has said that he is "committed to protesting through entirely peaceful means" and was "shocked and terrified" after he saw the extent of the files held on him.

What a sad and, in some respects, sinister country Britain has become.

Britain says "goodbye" to an old London heavyweight boxer and English gentleman called Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper has died just before his 77th birthday and Britain has lost a 'gentleman' and a boxer from a byegone age. Men like Henry are not made in Britain anymore.

Tributes :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFDsSGwLqsI

Muhammad Ali, famously 'floored' by Henry in 1963 but went onto become a close friend said that :
he was “at a loss for words. I was not aware he was ill. I visited with him two summers ago during a brief visit to Windsor as part of the Equestrian Games being held there. He was in good humour and looked quite fit. Henry always had a smile for me; a warm and embracing smile.It was always a pleasure being in Henry’s company. I will miss my ole friend. He was a great fighter and a gentleman.”

World Heavyweight Champion, David Haye :
he was a “true warrior and great human being”.

Chat show host, Sir Michael Parkinson :

he was a “wonderful guy, generous and funny and kind. I never met anybody who didn’t like Henry Cooper. He was the best kind of athlete, the best kind of boxer, he wasn’t boastful, he was genuinely modest and a gentleman.”






Henry was knighted in 2000, becoming 'Sir Henry', the first boxer to receive the honour.

Henry boxing Cassius Clay in 1963 and the famous 'knock down' half way this clip :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnEDM4EC5kw

Britain, a country which says "Goodbye" to, remembers it once 'closed its doors' to a fearless Gurkha soldier called तुल बहादुर पुन, Tul Bahadur Pun

Lieutenant Tul Bahadur Pun, holder of the Vicoria Cross, the highest award for 'gallantry in the face of the enemy' in the British Army and a key figure in the campaign for 'Veteran Gurkha Soldier Rights' has died in his home village of Myagdi, Nepal. Tul was 'reportedly' born in 1923 in Western Nepal, but his true age may have been up to 92.

Things the probably didn't know about Tul, that he :

* volunteered to join as a soldier in the 'British-Indian Army' and after training was posted to the 3rd battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles.

* fought against the Japanese in Burma in The Second World War and in 1944, when his battalion was ordered to capture a key railway bridge, heavily defended by the Japanese, founnd his Company pinned down and his own section reduced to himself and two other men.

* launched an attack on a well-fortified strong point called the 'Red House', found his two companions badly wounded in the attack, picked up their machine gun and carried on, firing from the hip as he ran across 30 metres of muddy and cratered open ground and was miraculously unscathed.

* fought his way into the 'Red House' and cleared it of at least 8 Japanese soldiers and then enlisted two captured machine guns in support of his comrades following behind and spared many men, including a Major Lumley, from further withering fire.

* saw the ensuing capture of Mogaung become a turning point in General Slim's ultimately successful campaign after the defeat of the Japanese at Kohima and Imphal.

* after the War, transferred out of the Army of newly independent India in 1947 into British service with the 2nd/6th Gurkha rifles, with whom he served in Malaya and Hong Kong, rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major.

* on retirement in 1959, was promoted to 'Honorary Lieutenant' and returned to farm at Banduk.

* with rapidly declining health in 2007, was refused permission to settle in Britain on the grounds that he didn't "have strong enough ties with the UK".

* saw the decision to keep him out of Britain overturned, after protests, by the British Asylum & Immigration Minister, due to the "exceptional" nature of the case.

* became a figurehead in the actor Joanna Lumley's campaign for the right of all Gurkhas who had served four years or more with the British army and retired before 1997 to settle in Britain, Joanna being the daughter of Major Lumley.
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/lumley-marches-with-gurkhas/pPX6kybHjDevtdPCaVRmDQ

* was often seen seated next to Joanna at campaign events with stick, cap, suit, white shirt, regimental tie and a long row of medals, with the Victoria Cross in pride of place.

P.S.
Here is my posting about Joanna in May 2010 :
http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.com/2010/05/britains-old-men-say-happy-birthday-to.html










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