I awoke hearing what sounded like a bang within the house on Sunday November 9th at 7.30 only an hour and half after going to bed to sleep. I found myself nodding off at the computer around 1 am, retired but quickly realised the body was not ready to rest. I regret that I do not have a more normal sleep pattern but such is life, I came down and thought and wrote till I felt done, although I could have gone on, and quickly passed into slumber. I also felt surprisingly bright on waking but determined that one and half hours was not enough and concentrated on relaxing and resisting thoughts however appealing. It was good to win this fight and slept through until well after ten. I awoke with the memory of a dream that had seemed to go on for sometime. As is often the case the dream involved me and lots of others but no one I knew. I cannot remember when I last had a dream involving someone known directly or at a distance. It was a familiar subject getting from A to B but seemingly moving further and further away into unfamiliar territory. By the time I came down stairs it was too late to attend one of the Remembrance Sunday marches and services in the Borough.
The consequence was able to watch the service at the Cenotaph in London live. The London service as those held at every Cenotaph in every community across Britain serves three purposes. It is foremost a service of remembrance for those who lost their live as volunteers or conscripts when requested to go into harm's way by their Monarch and their government. The majority were between a third and a quarter through what for the majority is an average life. Those who lived and fought alongside the dead together with their loved ones and families do not a national or local service to dream. They remember with every dawn and the setting sun.
The first part of the ritual service is organised by the Government on behalf of the Monarchy and reminds of all those who gave their lives in the tens of thousands from over 40 former British territories who remain within the Commonwealth and provides the opportunity for the Monarchy, Parliament and Churches of all denominations to lead the remembrance. The subsequent march and laying of wreathes is organised by the British Legion although one presumes that there is some consultation with the government. The format remains the same although it is understood that the individual groups and the individuals within those groups is by invitation. There representative of the armed services, sometimes a shop, sometimes a regiment in no longer in existence or a force with troops somewhere on the front line. There are the support services such as the grounds crews, intelligence and discipline, the territorial's and the reservists, the medical and nursing services, the police and fire, the voluntary groups sometimes denominational based such as the Salvation Army providing cups of tea to those on duty and over recent decades those who were conscripted to work the coal mines or work on the land. Usually having pride of place are representatives of the Merchant Navy who suffered tremendous losses and where in South Shields on the Tyne river front by the former Customs house there is a memorial to them unveiled by Countess Mountbatten. At the end of the procession comes the young such as the Boy's Brigade and air training corps. I am not sure that they should be a the rear, other than it more appropriate for them to waiting in the longest time enabling those of the older generations some frail to complete their participation quicker.
It is perhaps only when these youngsters pass by, many in school, that it is brought home that before hostilities end in Afghanistan they will not only be fighting and being mourned. Hopefully the resolve of everyone will be a little more hardened to reach a settlement so their lives will not be cut short. I doubt if this had any effect on the way human beings tend to interact with each other in such conflicts.
I mentioned the services and marches had three functions. The second is that it does enable the nation, even if there are fleeting pictures on news programmes, of the scale of involvement in war times and other deployments and of the scale of involvement by the older generation in the last world war. Only three men are left who served during 1914-1918. No one was excluded and the majority at home went without unable to buy only the essentials, often substitutes, even if there were the ration book coupon, clothing and petrol coupons. Thee were no families who did not experience hardship and deprivation in some ways, and most extended families mourned or had to help someone who had lost a limb or had become incapacitated. During the march there was reference to an association representing those who experience post traumatic stress syndrome, a damaging psychological and emotional diseased which affects many who encounter horrors of war, on the front and at home. Once upon a time they would have been Court Marshalled and shot.
The third function is for the nation to continue to salute those who survived and came back and had to adjust to civilian life. My first work on leaving school was to be attached to a section of section of men, the head had served as an officer in the Royal Navy and the second senior man had only part of one leg from service in World War one. Two had been in the air force and one had been shot down and survived and the other had served with the military. They came back to comparatively boring jobs assessing applications for new vehicle Registrations and Licence renewals. There was no prospect of promotion unless someone died and there was no prospect getting a better paid job elsewhere because their only skill was that acquired through specific work. I thought of them as I objected to the possession and deployment of weapons of mass destruction and I though of them when I retied to make the best of whatever abilities I was given the opportunity to develop. Because one opposed indiscriminate death and destruction does not mean one oppose the use of force in self defence, especially in defence of all those unable to protect themselves anywhere. Now back to unreality.
I spent the greater part of the Day on the telephone, writing letters, reading and sometimes replying to emails, and researching on the internet. I also decided to follow up the notes on Robert Altman with those on John Huston
A very different kind of Director who also lived to 81 years was John Huston and like Robert Altman was born and raised in the State of Missouri. John Huston drank, smoked, gambled and surrounded himself with beautiful women and loved the publicity, but also had a depth of insight into human behaviour and he also experienced a period of challenging hardship, on his instance as a child suffering a debilitating illness which lasted several years. .I have seen almost all of his films, experienced several times, own several DVD's and Video Tapes and cannot think of anyone else who I would place second to Ingmar Bergman, and in terms of films seen over a lifetime and repeatedly viewed he has to top the list.
I do not have the time now to describe the how each of his films affected me in any depth There were two films where I went out of my way to view again and acquired the DVD. The Night of the Iguana, the Tennessee Williams play is about a defrocked priest (Richard Burton) because of an inappropriate relationship with a parishioner and his encounter with a unsuccessful painter Deborah Kerr and the poetry of her grandfather as they shelter in a hotel now run by a woman with a lust for flesh and alcohol, Ava Gardner after tour guide Burton is again accused of an inappropriate relationship with a 17 year old by the group leader and latent lesbian when in reality the young woman had "come on to him" (Sue Lyon) The play and the film oozes the pus of life. The second DVD is of the first film in which John acted, Directed by Otto Preminger, The Cardinal the film show the rise to power and influence of an Irish American Catholic priest to his appointment as Cardinal at the Vatican and touches on questions of interfaith marriage, sex outside marriage, abortion, racial bigotry, the rise of Fascism and the war, John Huston did not play the priest but Cardinal Glennon and was nominated for an Oscar in a support role and was awarded a Golden Globe.
Most people will now Euston from his other films, The Maltese Falcon 1941, Key Largo 1948 and one of my other favourites The African Queen where I also have the DVD, all with Humphrey Bogart all seen at the Odeon Wallington with my birth and foster mothers. Other seen although not always in the year of heir release. In the 1940 and 1950;s films were first shown in the West end, sometimes for weeks before thy went on General release and only after this did the films cone to Wallington for the twice weekly change of continuous A and B film showings and with the organ played at weekends. I also saw the Huston Bogart Films Across the Pacific, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Beat the Devil.
Other films in this era included The Asphalt Jungle, The Red Badge of Courage, Moulin Rouge, Moby Dick, Beat the Devil, Heaven Knows, Mr Allison, The Barbarian and the Geisha. Then I became an activist and then went to college and university and not have seen The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe, The List of Adrian Messenger, in theatre but did so on TV later similarly with Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Bible in the Beginning and the Kremlin Letter all seen on TV. I did go to see the James Bond Casino Royale.
I also believe I only saw his later films on the TV: The Mackintosh man, The Man who would be King, Escape to Victory, Annie and Prizzi's Honour. In addition to scripting with others most of his top films he did Sergeant Yorke, The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse and Murders at the Rue Morgue., He also acted in films such as China Town, Battle for the Planet of the Apes and Myra Breckinridge.
Many people said that with his lifestyle he would not make 60 and this was the view of Clarke Gable. It was Clarke who was suddenly cut down and John went on and on. I have been reflecting on my years as CND activist 1980 1961 and other political and social intervention and the extent if any had a lasting positive value against the interest, entertainment and influence which John Huston had over several decades before the World War, during and after and the thought a Giant and a Pygmy came to mind. Alas
The consequence was able to watch the service at the Cenotaph in London live. The London service as those held at every Cenotaph in every community across Britain serves three purposes. It is foremost a service of remembrance for those who lost their live as volunteers or conscripts when requested to go into harm's way by their Monarch and their government. The majority were between a third and a quarter through what for the majority is an average life. Those who lived and fought alongside the dead together with their loved ones and families do not a national or local service to dream. They remember with every dawn and the setting sun.
The first part of the ritual service is organised by the Government on behalf of the Monarchy and reminds of all those who gave their lives in the tens of thousands from over 40 former British territories who remain within the Commonwealth and provides the opportunity for the Monarchy, Parliament and Churches of all denominations to lead the remembrance. The subsequent march and laying of wreathes is organised by the British Legion although one presumes that there is some consultation with the government. The format remains the same although it is understood that the individual groups and the individuals within those groups is by invitation. There representative of the armed services, sometimes a shop, sometimes a regiment in no longer in existence or a force with troops somewhere on the front line. There are the support services such as the grounds crews, intelligence and discipline, the territorial's and the reservists, the medical and nursing services, the police and fire, the voluntary groups sometimes denominational based such as the Salvation Army providing cups of tea to those on duty and over recent decades those who were conscripted to work the coal mines or work on the land. Usually having pride of place are representatives of the Merchant Navy who suffered tremendous losses and where in South Shields on the Tyne river front by the former Customs house there is a memorial to them unveiled by Countess Mountbatten. At the end of the procession comes the young such as the Boy's Brigade and air training corps. I am not sure that they should be a the rear, other than it more appropriate for them to waiting in the longest time enabling those of the older generations some frail to complete their participation quicker.
It is perhaps only when these youngsters pass by, many in school, that it is brought home that before hostilities end in Afghanistan they will not only be fighting and being mourned. Hopefully the resolve of everyone will be a little more hardened to reach a settlement so their lives will not be cut short. I doubt if this had any effect on the way human beings tend to interact with each other in such conflicts.
I mentioned the services and marches had three functions. The second is that it does enable the nation, even if there are fleeting pictures on news programmes, of the scale of involvement in war times and other deployments and of the scale of involvement by the older generation in the last world war. Only three men are left who served during 1914-1918. No one was excluded and the majority at home went without unable to buy only the essentials, often substitutes, even if there were the ration book coupon, clothing and petrol coupons. Thee were no families who did not experience hardship and deprivation in some ways, and most extended families mourned or had to help someone who had lost a limb or had become incapacitated. During the march there was reference to an association representing those who experience post traumatic stress syndrome, a damaging psychological and emotional diseased which affects many who encounter horrors of war, on the front and at home. Once upon a time they would have been Court Marshalled and shot.
The third function is for the nation to continue to salute those who survived and came back and had to adjust to civilian life. My first work on leaving school was to be attached to a section of section of men, the head had served as an officer in the Royal Navy and the second senior man had only part of one leg from service in World War one. Two had been in the air force and one had been shot down and survived and the other had served with the military. They came back to comparatively boring jobs assessing applications for new vehicle Registrations and Licence renewals. There was no prospect of promotion unless someone died and there was no prospect getting a better paid job elsewhere because their only skill was that acquired through specific work. I thought of them as I objected to the possession and deployment of weapons of mass destruction and I though of them when I retied to make the best of whatever abilities I was given the opportunity to develop. Because one opposed indiscriminate death and destruction does not mean one oppose the use of force in self defence, especially in defence of all those unable to protect themselves anywhere. Now back to unreality.
I spent the greater part of the Day on the telephone, writing letters, reading and sometimes replying to emails, and researching on the internet. I also decided to follow up the notes on Robert Altman with those on John Huston
A very different kind of Director who also lived to 81 years was John Huston and like Robert Altman was born and raised in the State of Missouri. John Huston drank, smoked, gambled and surrounded himself with beautiful women and loved the publicity, but also had a depth of insight into human behaviour and he also experienced a period of challenging hardship, on his instance as a child suffering a debilitating illness which lasted several years. .I have seen almost all of his films, experienced several times, own several DVD's and Video Tapes and cannot think of anyone else who I would place second to Ingmar Bergman, and in terms of films seen over a lifetime and repeatedly viewed he has to top the list.
I do not have the time now to describe the how each of his films affected me in any depth There were two films where I went out of my way to view again and acquired the DVD. The Night of the Iguana, the Tennessee Williams play is about a defrocked priest (Richard Burton) because of an inappropriate relationship with a parishioner and his encounter with a unsuccessful painter Deborah Kerr and the poetry of her grandfather as they shelter in a hotel now run by a woman with a lust for flesh and alcohol, Ava Gardner after tour guide Burton is again accused of an inappropriate relationship with a 17 year old by the group leader and latent lesbian when in reality the young woman had "come on to him" (Sue Lyon) The play and the film oozes the pus of life. The second DVD is of the first film in which John acted, Directed by Otto Preminger, The Cardinal the film show the rise to power and influence of an Irish American Catholic priest to his appointment as Cardinal at the Vatican and touches on questions of interfaith marriage, sex outside marriage, abortion, racial bigotry, the rise of Fascism and the war, John Huston did not play the priest but Cardinal Glennon and was nominated for an Oscar in a support role and was awarded a Golden Globe.
Most people will now Euston from his other films, The Maltese Falcon 1941, Key Largo 1948 and one of my other favourites The African Queen where I also have the DVD, all with Humphrey Bogart all seen at the Odeon Wallington with my birth and foster mothers. Other seen although not always in the year of heir release. In the 1940 and 1950;s films were first shown in the West end, sometimes for weeks before thy went on General release and only after this did the films cone to Wallington for the twice weekly change of continuous A and B film showings and with the organ played at weekends. I also saw the Huston Bogart Films Across the Pacific, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Beat the Devil.
Other films in this era included The Asphalt Jungle, The Red Badge of Courage, Moulin Rouge, Moby Dick, Beat the Devil, Heaven Knows, Mr Allison, The Barbarian and the Geisha. Then I became an activist and then went to college and university and not have seen The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe, The List of Adrian Messenger, in theatre but did so on TV later similarly with Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Bible in the Beginning and the Kremlin Letter all seen on TV. I did go to see the James Bond Casino Royale.
I also believe I only saw his later films on the TV: The Mackintosh man, The Man who would be King, Escape to Victory, Annie and Prizzi's Honour. In addition to scripting with others most of his top films he did Sergeant Yorke, The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse and Murders at the Rue Morgue., He also acted in films such as China Town, Battle for the Planet of the Apes and Myra Breckinridge.
Many people said that with his lifestyle he would not make 60 and this was the view of Clarke Gable. It was Clarke who was suddenly cut down and John went on and on. I have been reflecting on my years as CND activist 1980 1961 and other political and social intervention and the extent if any had a lasting positive value against the interest, entertainment and influence which John Huston had over several decades before the World War, during and after and the thought a Giant and a Pygmy came to mind. Alas
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