Britain says "Happy Birthday" to an old painter called David Hockney

David Hockney is 74 years old today. Things you possibly didn't know about David, that he :

* was born in Bradford and after leaving school, studied at the Royal College of Art in London.

* was featured in an exhibition called 'Young Contemporaries' which announced the arrival of British Pop Art.

* visited New York in 1963 and made contact with Andy Warhol and a later visit to California, where he lived for many years and was inspired to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in Los Angeles, using the comparatively new acrylic medium and in a highly realistic style using vibrant colours.

* in 1974, the subject of Jack Hazan's film, 'A Bigger Splash' named after one of Hockney's swimming pool paintings from 1967.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gErL4SqVEVw

* in 1998, saw his 'A Bigger Grand Canyon', a series of 60 paintings that combined to produce one enormous picture, bought by the National Gallery of Australia for $4.6million and a few years later 'The Splash' fetch £2.6 million.


* was born with the condition, 'synesthesia' and sees synesthetic colours to musical stimuli and in his construction of stage sets for ballets and operas, bases the background colours and lighting upon his own seen colours while listening to the music of the theatre piece on which he is working.

* spoke about a painting he did of his father in 1955.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnL3AZQuBng

and below are his paintings of :

Mr and Mrs Clark Percy
My Parents
A Bigger Splash

Britain is a country with a grumpy old Prince called Charles and his hobby horses

Apparently, the heir to the throne and father of Prince William, the 63 year old, Prince Charles, has been accused of meddling in Government policy and had at least nine private meetings summoning seven Senior Government Ministers to Clarence House, his London residence, in less than ten months.

His meetings had :

* focused on Ministers responsible for his ‘hobby horse’ issues such as global warming, conservation, architecture and agriculture.

* forced Tony Blair, when he was Prime Minister, to accuse Charles of trying to ‘screw’ the Labour Government and complain to the Queen about his behaviour.

* involved the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, who was was called to his office to discuss the issue of ‘tree health’ on two occasions, accompanied by a highly paid senior official each time.

* involved him in a a one-to-one meeting on 'global warming' with 'Climate Change Minister', Greg Barker at an international conference.

A grumpy Charles making a 'gaff' with his two sons before his second wedding :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMSzIG4a5cw&feature=related

Britain is a country where old men like Fred Bowers take up and enjoy their break dancing

The 73 year old Fred Bowers from Loughborough appeared on the tv show, 'Britain’s Got Talent' two years ago to show off his break dancing skills.

Before the show he explained that he had taken up break dancing five years before and made his moves seven nights a week at the local nightclub where he was a local legend.

He had said : "It's something different and this is why people love it."

"There is a risk but if you stick to your tempo and timing, because that's what it's all about, there's no risk at all.

"But if you loose one beat, especially with a dangerous move, you will damage yourself."

Fred in 2009 :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWt--q_AJU8

Britain is a country with an old blind politician called David Blunkett who asks the question : is state funded care the answer for old men ?

David Blunkett is a remarkable man, a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010 he has been blind since birth, came from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts. In Tony Blair's Government he held several Offices of State including Home Secretary.


He wrote an article in 'The Daily Mail' yesterday contributing to the debate about care for old people initiated by the Government Dilnott Report. It was entitled :
It's not just about money. What the elderly need is the love and care of their own families

David, who is 12 days older than me, made a number of points, which resonated with me. He said that, when he was a child :

* growing up on a council estate in Sheffield, people were considered old at 50, or even 40.

* his Mum and Dad had false teeth by the time they were 40 and it was an era where the recommendation was : ‘Best have them all out to avoid toothache’.

* people seemed to shuffle along the streets, partly because of the crippling jobs they did at the time and perhaps also because of the lack of proper nutrition and good health care in those days.

* people feared growing old and having to leave work because it meant they would have neither the income nor the wherewithal to keep up a decent standard of living.

* the average life span after leaving work was as little as 18 months because not only were men physically worn out from working in heavy industry, but retirement meant the loss of all they had known in life.

* peoples' jobs had been all-consuming, the hours crippling and the outlook for enjoying retirement was very bleak indeed.

He went on to make the point that 'in those days, the elderly had something that is missing for so many today: they had the care of their family' and that :

* families looked after one another, family members lived close to each other and gave support when it was needed.

* neighbours, too, chipped in if necessary and older people were not generally seen as a burden.

* this is no longer the case and today, far too many of our elderly and incapacitated are sent off to homes, where they live out their final days all but forgotten by their family.

This is one of the most crucial reasons why we need a serious debate about growing old; about working longer and how we manage to sustain our income in retirement.

Yesterday’s report from the economist Andrew Dilnot was a contribution to that debate but disappointingly, his recommendations seem heavily weighted towards the funding of residential care.

Can this really be the right approach? Shouldn’t we be endeavouring to keep people out of residential care and nursing homes for as long as possible?

Britain is a country which says "Happy Birthday" to an old playwright and adopted Englishman called Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard is 74 years old today.








Things you possibly didn't know about Tom or, to use his real name, Tomáš Straussler, that he :

* was the son of Jewish parents in Czechoslovakia where his father was a doctor with the Bata shoe company and, as a 2 year old, left with his family fleeing German occupation in 1939 and settled in Singapore.

* in 1941, at the age of five, with the Japanese invasion of Singapore, was evacuated to Darjeeling in India, while his father died in Japanese captivity.

* in 1945, after his mother married a British Army Major who gave him his English surname, became 'Tom Stoppard' and moved to England.

* despite being told by his stepfather : "Don't you realise that I made you British?"
has said that, if "I find I put a foot wrong, it could be pronunciation...and suddenly I'm there naked, as someone with a pass, a press ticket."

* after being educated at schools in Yorkshire, became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright, where his background is reflected in his characters, who are "constantly being addressed by the wrong name, with jokes and false trails to do with the confusion of having two names".

* at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre formed friendships with director John Boorman and actor Peter O'Toole and became known more for his strained attempts at humour and unstylish clothes than for his writing.

* in 1964, spent 5 months writing in a Berlin mansion, what later became his Tony Award winning play, 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LspWt3HlODY


* produced 'Jumpers' in 1972, which placed a 'professor of moral philosophy' in a murder mystery thriller and 'Travesties' in 1974, which explored the 'Wildean' possibilities arising from the fact that Lenin, Joyce, and Tristan Tzara had all been in Zurich during the First World War.




* has also co-written screenplays including 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', and although he was uncredited, Spielberg has said that "he was responsible for almost every line of dialogue in the film".

* has, in his serious work explored themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom along with exploration of linguistics and philosophy, is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation and in 2008, was voted 'number 76' on Time Magazine's list of 'the most influential people in the world.'

* has said this about starting a play :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr92r-PIrXk

P.S. I saw and enjoyed his play 'Jumpers' in New York in 2004.

Britain is a country where old men have less 'carers' than any other country in the developed world

An article in the 'Daily Mail' today was entitled :
One carer for 100 pensioners, UK's record of shame

Based on a report for the O.E.C.D, it made the following points, that :

* Britain has just one carer per 100 pensioners, a smaller proportion than anywhere else in the developed world with Ireland having three times as many, the U.S.A. five times and Sweden has 12 times.

* the number of personal carers, including those working in residential homes and 'home helps', has almost halved since the late 1990s with the 161,000 in 1998 falling to 97,000 in 2009.

Last month, the 'Equalities and Human Rights Commission' revealed that overstretched carers routinely spend less than 15 minutes with pensioners in their homes, forcing them to choose between being washed and being fed a hot meal and older people were regularly left malnourished, while others were abandoned in bed for 17 hours.


Ros Altmann, of the over-50s group, 'Saga', said:

‘It’s a national disgrace that we have devoted so little to care in this country, and it’s quite clear we have not taken the issue of care as seriously as our neighbours. Other societies seem to have more respect for older people.’

Britain is a country where yesterday's young men have, like Neil Young, become his 'Old Man'

Neil Young wote and sang 'Old Man' in 1971 when he and I were both young men, he at 26 and I at 24. Now we are the old men in his song. He at 66 and me at 64.

Neil said of the song :

" About that time when I wrote 'Heart of Gold' and I was touring, I had, being a rich hippie for the first time, purchased a ranch. There was a couple living on it that were the caretakers, an old gentleman named Louis Avala and his wife Clara. And there was this old blue Jeep there, and Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louie, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."


Louis Avala



Old Man :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVC2cszdTao

Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.

Old man look at my life,
Twenty four
and there's so much more,
Live alone in a paradise,
That makes me think of two.

Love lost, such a cost,
Give me things
that don't get lost.
Like a coin that won't get tossed,
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life,
I'm a lot like you.
I need someone to love me,
the whole day through.
Ah, one look in my eyes,
and you can tell that's true.

Lullabies, look in your eyes,
Run around the same old town.
Doesn't mean that much to me,
To mean that much to you.

I've been first and last,
Look at how the time goes past.
But I'm all alone at last,
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life,
I'm a lot like you.
I need someone to love me,
the whole day through.
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that's true.

Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.

Britain is a country where for many old men " loneliness is their only constant companion"

An article in 'The Gaurdian' 3 years ago was entitled :

No country for old men
The number of men over 60 living alone in Britain has topped one million for the first time - and this Father's Day, many will have no contact at all with their families.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/11/longtermcare.socialcare1

It predates my blog by one year and I wonder if I had subliminally absorbed the title ?

It asked these questions :

How did older men come to be so neglected and why do women fare much better in retirement?

It made the following points, that :

* a survey by ICM Research for 'Help the Aged' and the 'Zurich Community Trust' found that the number of older men living alone has just reached one million for the first time in Britain.
http://www.zurich.co.uk/home/mediacentre/company/one-in-four-adults-too-busy-to-see-their-older-fathers.htm

* half a million men over 60 lead lonely lives with no friend and no contact from their families and older men, especially widowers, often don't even have people to do something with.

* women generally are more adept at forging social links later in life while men struggle.

Amy Swan, Policy Officer at 'Help the Aged' said that :

* "For at least 400,000 men, loneliness is their only constant companion. That's a 21% increase since 2004, while the number of older women living alone has only gone up by 1% in that time."

* "This is partly because the number of men living longer is increasing, but also because many elderly men were typically the parents who did not win custody of children when there was divorce, or may have been more distant with children than their wives. So they enter later life with strained family ties."



Psychotherapist Derek Draper, in answer to the question : Why should fathers be contacted by their children less than mothers? said that :

* "In the case of that generation, fathers were not as involved in children's lives -both as little children and as teenagers they took backseat roles. Even if your mother and father didn't get divorced, you're more likely to be closer to your mum. The classic vignette is when you call home, your dad picks up and says, 'Hang on, I'll get your mother.'"

* "Older men from that generation struggle,they find social interaction difficult" and older men defined themselves through their workingrelationships and
"Their friendships all came from work or their wives, in many cases. So when they retire, they often shrink socially, and if they lose their wives, they have no network."

* he knew "one gentleman who still gets the bus to work, even though he's retired, to give a structure to his life. Men find it hard to deal with being retired. They find it offputting that social groups in the community can be dominated by older women. Women do get involved more in evening classes or planning social clubs."



Psychologist Linda Blair argues that :

* older men, who were likely to be the major or only breadwinners for their family, are often diminished by retirement. The phone stops ringing for them. The skills that made them valuable in the workplace are redundant at home and they have few skills to sustain them in the event of bereavement or divorce.

* "Men of that generation weren't taught self-care skills, they don't know how to use the microwave or do the vacuuming. But if they're taught in old age because their wife has died or because of divorce, then it's hard to make those skills stick."

Britain in 2011 - a bleak and lonely country for too many old men
Many don't get this from their kids :


The Fox Hunt singing 'Lonely Old Man' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBdbCQVV8cU

Britain's is a country with a city called Glasgow where old men live shorter lives than those in Albania and southeners outlive northerners

Old men in Britain are living longer to an average age of 77.9 years but those living in the North live shorter lives than those in the South and this north-south divide has worsened over the last decade.

An 'Office for National Statistics Report' has shown that variations in income, socio-economic status and health behaviour continue to take their toll and life expectancy for both sexes in Glasgow is lower than in Albania and nearer to that of the Palestinian Territories than to the wealthier London boroughs.

These are the figures for average life expectancy for old men :

73.1 years : Greater Glasgow & Clyde :
73.4 years : Albania
70.6 years : Palestinian Territories
84.4 years : London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea



The charity 'Age Concern UK' expressed regret at the continuing variations and Director Michelle Mitchell said:
"As the state pension rises to 66 by 2020, it is people living in poorer areas with lower life expectancies who will see their retirements cut short."
She warned that the Government should be "extremely cautious" about any further increases to the state pension age, urging ministers to ensure those with the poorest health and low life expectancy were not disadvantaged.



Talking of the north-south divide in Britain Dr Simon Szreter, Professor of History and Public Policy at Cambridge University, said:

"Life expectancy has a longstanding correlation with social class and income. This north-south divide is explainable in terms of the lack of members of middle-class households in the north and the disproportionate concentration of them in the south. During the last two decades, class has become more closely tied to income. Income inequality has gone up significantly."

North-South divide mapped :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/jun/08/life-expectancy-uk-health-mapped

Britain says " Happy Birthday" to an old musician called Georgie Fame

Things you possibly didn't know about Georgie, that he :

* took piano lessons from the age of 7 and after leaving school at 15, worked in a cotton weaving mill and played piano for a band called 'The Dominoes' in the evenings.

* at 16, went to London, changed his name from, Clive Powell, played for Billy Fury in his backing band 'The Blue Flames', started 'Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames' in 1961 and went on to enjoy success with a repertoire of rhythm and blues numbers.

* was influenced from early on by jazz and such blues musicians as Willie Mabon and Mose Allison, and was one of the first white artists to be influenced by the ska music he heard in Jamaican cafes in and around Ladbroke Grove.

* worked at the Flamingo Club, which he later said : " was a great place to play, a midnight to 6am thing on Fridays and Saturdays, and it was full of American GIs who came in from their bases for the weekend. They brought records with them and one of them gave me 'Green Onions' by Booker T & the MG's. I had been playing piano up to that point but I bought a Hammond organ the next day."

* had success with "Yeh Yeh", in 1965 and "Get Away", in 1966, at which point he disbanded his band and went solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0wade1K0o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuF0WG3wZdo

* had success with his version of the Bobby Hebb song "Sunny" in 1966 and 'The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde' in 1967, which was a number one hit in the United Kingdom, and No.7 in the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvb7Ogpb6hg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7fk-JTQ0kU

* had a hit with 'Rosetta', with his close friend Alan Price, ex-keyboard player of 'The Animals', in 1971, and they worked together extensively for a time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB3fncWyVN4&feature=related

* has been a core member of Van Morrison's band, was a founding member of friend Bill Wyman's early band 'Rhythm Kings' and has worked with Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Joan Armatrading and 'The Verve'.

* is a supporter of the 'Countryside Alliance' and has played concerts to raise funds for the The Otakar Kraus Music Trust.

Britain is no longer a country for an old photo journalist called Don McPhee

Don McPhee the photojournalist has died at the age of 61. His 'Guardian' newspaper images have entered our collective memory, like the one in 1984, of a striking miner in a party version of a policeman's helmet, eyeballing one of a line of real policeman protecting the Orgreave coking plant near Sheffield.

Roger Tooth, Picture Editor of Gaurdian, chose this gallery of Don's photos :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,2043336,00.html

For more than 30 years, Don worked in Manchester, covering everything from politics and weather stories to special reports from around the world. His photos still convey his wit and style.




His exhibition of photos at Manchester Art Gallery in 2005 :

http://www.culture24.org.uk/places+to+go/north+west/manchester/art25731

Britain says "Happy Birthday" to three old musicians called Jeff Beck, Colin Blunstone and Mick Fleetwood who were once 21

Jeff Beck is 67 today.
The key point in Jeff's his career was in 1965, when he was recruited to replace Eric Clapton in 'The Yardbirds' on the recommendation of fellow session man Jimmy Page, their initial choice.

For Your Love - when he was 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkAvAo3PyT4

Heart Full of Soul - also 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9mQkFpkShg&feature=fvwrel

Shapes of Things - when he was 22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpcyWKKY9-s&feature=related

*********************************

Colin Blunstone is is 66 today
The key point in his career was when he helped form 'The Zombies' while still at school in 1961.

She's Not There - when he was 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdrDu9nq7Q

On leaving The Zombies, Colin went on to record :

Caroline Goodbye - when he was 26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc97V1ujHzk

Say You Don't Mind - with its wonderful lrics by Denny Laine - when he was 27
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-wekAq-s34&feature=related



*************************

Mick Fleetwood is 64 today
The key point in his career was in 1968 when he joined Peter Green and John McVie in 'Fleetwood Mac'.

Man of The World - when he was 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWXUCvAPFA

Albatross - when he was 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ombnqWR3eA

Britain is a country where old men in hospital in Cardiff who needed to summon help, once shook a tambourine and now ring a handbell

An article in the 'Daily Mail' was entitled :

Hospital gives elderly patients a TAMBOURINE to call nurses and maracas in case it breaks.












It made the following points, that at Cardiff Royal Infirmary old men and women patients :

* were terrified that they could not summon help from nurses and hoped that an electronic alarm would be installed in their day room.

* found that instead, they were given a tambourine to shake and, in case it broke, a pair of maracas as back-up.

In addition :

* on Tuesday the hospital was forced to apologise after an National Health Service watchdog described the policy as ‘unacceptable’ and criticised it for failing to install a proper alarm system.

* the patients' day room is some way from the 'nurses’ base' at the Victorian hospital, which is notorious for its long corridors.

* one man visiting his mother put the system to the test by shaking the tambourine for 16 minutes – but failed to attract the staff's attention.

One relative said:
"It is ridiculous. These people are pensioners – not members of the Monkees or Mick Jagger. Where is the dignity in asking old and frail people to bash on a tambourine if they are in trouble? It makes the NHS look like a laughing stock."

Steve Allen, Chief Officer of Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council, said:
"This is totally unacceptable and the health board must address this as a matter of concern."











Ruth Walker, Executive Director of Nursing for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, apologised and said:

"A hand-bell had previously been provided but was deemed too heavy and cumbersome for frailer patients and staff looked for an alternative. Sadly the solution, while well-intentioned, was not appropriate.
A lightweight hand-bell will now be sourced as a matter of urgency and patients will be accompanied while using the day room in the meantime.
The care and dignity of all our patients is vitally important to everyone at the Health Board and we sincerely apologise for any distress this has caused."

The BBC Report :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-13857598

P.S. This is a case where you find yourself saying :

" Is this true or is someone pulling my leg ?"

Britain is no country for old men with broken hips and in need of swift hospital operations

Up to 75,000 people, mostly old people who have lost bone density, suffer hip fractures every year in Britain and the figure is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of the decade as the population ages.

The problem is estimated to cost £2billion a year in medical treatment and social care for victims who are left house-bound or struggling on crutches for weeks even after having their hips replaced.

A Government watchdog has said, in further evidence of age discrimination in the National Health Service, that it treats old men and women with broken hips as a 'low priority' by failing to give them prompt and high-quality treatment which could extend their lives.



The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has :

* found that, at the moment, half of those with hip fractures currently have to wait 36 hours in hospital, in pain and in fear, before undergoing surgery and in many cases junior doctors carry out their operations rather than more experienced staff.

* recommended that all hip surgery should take place at most a day after hospital admission and that surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, nurses and physiotherapists should work together in co-ordinated 'Hip Fracture Programmes' to care for patients.

* said that this approach would lead to fewer costly days in hospital and allow patients to regain their mobility and independence more quickly, as well as reducing the chance of them suffering complications in surgery or dying soon afterwards.

* said that this would only cost hospitals in England a total of £1.4million a year extra and warns of a hip fracture 'epidemic' in the coming decades as the population grows older.

Tim Chesser, 'Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon' with North Bristol NHS Trust, when asked why hip fracture patients were such a low priority? replied:

"These patients are old, they don't have a voice in a hospital setting where you have young trauma patients who do complain. Everyone should have an equal voice."

Looking to the future, Cameron Swift, 'Emeritus Professor of Healthcare of the Elderly' at King's College London told a press conference:

"We have got, with hip fracture, a healthcare challenge over the coming decades of potentially epidemic proportions.