Example of a Biography Teaching Us History and Making it Interesting
TV Review: Henry VIII -
Mind of a Tyrant, Channel 4, Monday 6 April, 9pm
As a rather verbose Dr David Starkey said in
his interview with Mr Hirons, Henry VIII has been a fascination - indeed, an
obsession - for him for decades. It's 500 years now since young Henry's
coronation, and in that time has become infamous for the 'soap opera' of his
six wives and indulgence. As this fine documentary shows, however, there was
much more to Henry VIII than that.
This first episode was entitled 'Prince', and I think it may
turn out to be the most interesting of the series, simply because it covered a
period of Henry's life that few will know much about. Sure we know the
'divorced, beheaded, died' rhyme, a little about the Reformation and his
ever-expanding waistline, but the title of this programme states that the aim
is to get into Henry's mind and for that, we have to know how that mind was
shaped. In short, we need to know about his early years, and that will be new
information for most of us.
In fact, this biography goes back a little further than the
birth of Henry because the world he was brought into would have such an
influence on his life and future decisions. That world was one of distrust -
Henry's father, Henry VII may have married Catherine of York to unite the
houses and end the Wars of the Roses, but in power he had continued to
subjugate supporters of the 'other' house. This meant that a rebellion, even a
coup, was always on the cards.
In his very early years though, this appeared to have little
affect on Henry - being the younger brother of Arthur, he was not intended for
the throne after all. Instead, Starkey paints a picture of a rather sensitive
boy who loved education. Analysis of his handwriting suggests that, unusually,
his mother taught him to write, and with Arthur away learning how to be a king,
he grew up surrounded by women (a fact to squirrel away for later, one
assumes). He also formed a great bond with the scholar Erasmus, with much of
our first hand information about the prince coming from their correspondence.
At the age of 13, of course, everything changed - Arthur
died, making Henry the heir, and within a year his mother died in childbirth.
Five years later, Henry would be king, and his first action, far from the
impetuous, far-reaching decisions he went on to make as ruler, was one of
unification. He had spent a lot of time with Yorkists, and sympathised with
them - indeed, he had those who had been instrumental in their suppression
imprisoned. At 18 years old, it was Henry VIII, not his father, who truly ended
the Wars of the Roses, says Starkey.
What's great about this documentary, along with learning
about a part of Henry's life that is usually not discussed, is the importance
it places on showing us the primary sources which Starkey has used to make his
conclusions about the man. The film starts where probably most great
biographies start - at the British Museum - and throughout we see and hear
lines from the letters and documents that give weight to what we're being told.
Next week, Dr Starkey looks at the new king's quest to become
a true 'warrior', a major player in Europe, and how "Henry would remake
himself, his throne and his kingdom - and all for love."
Reprint: http://www.tvscoop.tv/2009/04/tv_review_henry.html
Posted by Anna Lowman
on April 7, 2009 in Documentary, TV Reviews |Permalink
Pandora: History ain’t what it used to be, according to Sir Roy
From the Independent
Independent.co.uk Web
By Alice-Azania JarvisTuesday, 30 December 2008
At the ripe old age of 73, it appears that Sir Roy Strong has lost none of his fighting spirit. The flamboyant art historian – who famously became the youngest National Portrait Gallery Director at age 32 – has launched an impassioned attack on the nation's teaching of history, claiming the Government holds responsibility for fostering ignorance ng children."This Government in particular has wiped out virtually the teaching of history in schools," he argues. "Children have no idea of whether a reign was before or after Queen Victoria."Strong, whose comments were made during an interview with Cotswold Life, fears that without improvement, youngsters will lose the ability to question those in authority. "People don't know why we've got Parliament, why we've got the monarchy, why we've got the church."If you don't know all those things, how can you, as it were, really understand your own country – or anything at all? If you destroy people's knowledge of the past, you can do anything with them that you like.""A pertinent example is: we've had extremely repressive measures passed in the last few years, proposals that every single telephone call and email should be open to access ... Those are in extreme of the worst repressive measures taken in this country after the outbreak of the French Revolution and then there was an enormous reaction. This time it all sailed through."
Walt Disney: The man behind the mouse
The Walt Disney Co., with 133,000 employees, sales in excess of $35 billion, and assets of $61 billion, started with a pencil, paper, cartoon and a young man’s imagination. Perhaps only that young man, Walter Elias Disney, could have foreseen such a colossal empire built on a mouse.
A complex man, Disney was imbued with an iron-like drive to succeed. He would push, prod and press those around him as he would himself. It wasn’t gentle, and it wasn’t always nice.
And if he appeared on screen as an amiable, soft-spoken avuncular man, his subordinates saw an entirely different person. He was “a tall, somber man who appeared to be under the lash of some private demon,” one said.
His father was a religious fundamentalist who meted out harsh discipline. Walt’s childhood resembled a sweatshop, rising at 3 a.m. to deliver newspapers or to help his father work the farm. Walt slept through school and finally dropped out in the ninth grade.
During World War I, Walt bolted the homestead and enlisted in the Red Cross as an ambulance driver.
After the war, Walt formed a small production company with another animator, Ub Iwerks. They developed animated advertising films. With limited success they moved to Hollywood where Walt’s older brother, Roy joined them. Walt and Roy had a tempestuous relationship. “Roy’s great ambition in life ... was to stay out of debt,” an employee noted. “And it was Walt’s method in life to keep Roy constantly in debt.”
Walt’s first successful cartoon character, Oswald the Rabbit, was a national hit. However, on a trip to New York, Walt learned that his distributor, Charles Mintz, claimed to own the rights to Oswald. Compounding matters, Mintz had hired Walt’s animators, many of them childhood friends of the artist.
There was one upside to the long train journey back to Hollywood: Mickey Mouse was conceived. Mickey came to his own during the Depression, his success due to an irrepressible personality and indomitable spirit. Between 1929 and 1932 a million kids joined the first Mickey Mouse Club.
In 1930, another distributor lured Iwerks from the Disney studio thinking Iwerks was the magic behind the mouse. Iwerks gave up his 20% share of Disney Studios for less than $3,000. He would rejoin Disney in 1940, but just as another paid animator.
By 1935, Disney Studios had 500 employees. But it wasn’t Mickey alone who made Walt so successful. Walt was an innovator, a man willing to take risks, many on untried concepts; he was the first cartoonist to employ music, sound and color. And he was the first to produce a full-length cartoon feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
Roy and Walt’s wife, Lillian, were not only skeptical they were terribly worried about the cost of the film. It ended up $1.5 million because Walt, micromanaged the production, at one point ordering his artists to add blush to Snow White’s face on over 10,000 cels because she was too pale.
“Snow White” was a resounding success. “Pinnochio,” “Fantasia” and Bambi followed in rapid succession.
Walt turned to life-action films, first with nature documentaries, then with “Treasure Island,” “Peter Pan,” “Mary Poppins” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” And Walt’s big dream—Disneyland—opened in 1955.
Other studios were terrified of television; Walt embraced it, using television to sell his cartoons and movies. ABC TV provided the funds for developing Disneyland.
Walt died in 1966.
Photo: Library of Congress
©2008 by Daniel Alef, syndicated columnist and award-winning author of “Pale Truth,” an American historical novel. Mr. Alef can be reached at .
Longer and more comprehensive versions of this article are available at http://www.titansoffortune.com.
P.T. Barnum: Greatest showman on Earth
The population of the United States in 1840 was about 17 million, a small number to Phineas Taylor Barnum, the greatest impresario who ever lived. Between 1840 and 1880, he sold nearly 60 million tickets to his exhibits, museums and traveling circus. No one comes close to what Barnum accomplished. Not even Don King.
Barnum’s father died in 1825. Creditors seized everything, and Barnum, 15, began life not only penniless but “barefooted,” he said.
Working as a store clerk, he began to develop his genius for merchandising. He sold nearly useless tin and glass bottles by creating a lottery and giving some of the merchandise away as prizes, turning the tin and glass into gold.
Barnum married Charity Hallett in 1829 and started his own paper, The Herald of Freedom, with, he said, “all the vigor and vehemence of youth.” His youthful vigor landed him in jail for 60 days, guilty of criminal libel.
He sold the paper, moved to New York City, and purchased an old slave, Joice Heth, who claimed to be 161 and to have been George Washington’s nursemaid. Barnum put her on exhibit from Boston to Albany; Heth was a cash machine until she died, not half as old as she claimed.
Barnum then joined a circus and sold Sears’ pictorial Bibles until he learned that the collection of bizarre curiosities comprising Scudder’s American Museum was for sale. He bought it all on credit—the mark of a great salesman. The museum had many curios, and Barnum sought to fill it with more bizarre displays. The Feejee Mermaid, a hoax made from the upper torso of a monkey sewn onto the bottom half of a large fish, was one example. It was grotesque, and the public loved it.
Barnum’s most famous attraction, Tom Thumb, was a child less than 2 feet tall and weighing less than 16 pounds. He was only 6, but Barnum claimed he was 11. General Tom Thumb drew immense crowds and in 1844 Queen Victoria invited Thumb and Barnum to Buckingham Palace—twice!
Barnum also discovered the “Swedish Nightingale,” Jenny Lind, a great singer who enthralled Europe. Lind came to America in 1850 and performed for Barnum; the best tickets selling for more than $100. Lind earned $176,000 in one year—Barnum made more than half a million.
A bad investment ruined Barnum financially. He sold the museum, creditors foreclosed on his lands, and fire gutted his home “Iranistan,” an improbable oriental palace in the middle of Connecticut. He was down, but not out.
Barnum moved to England and became a popular lecturer at Oxford University. A few years later he returned to America and reacquired the American Museum en route to becoming one of America’s richest men.
In 1871, Barnum formed “The Greatest Show On Earth,” a three-ring traveling circus, and packed it with popular attractions, including Jumbo the elephant. He subsequently partnered with James Bailey to form the world-renowned Barnum & Bailey Circus. His 1883 share of the profits from the circus alone was $1.4 million.
Barnum died in 1891. His obituary ran a month earlier so that he could read it.
© 2008 by Daniel Alef, syndicated columnist and award-winning author of “Pale Truth,” an American historical novel. Mr. Alef can be reached at .
Longer and more comprehensive versions of this article are available at http://www.titansoffortune.com
Photo: Library of Congress
Barnum aphorism: “Every crowd has a silver lining.”
U.K.’s Chief Advisor for Primary Education Suggests Dropping History From Curriculum
Apparently we are not the only ones to suffer from the myopic view some educators have toward the benefits of teaching history. If we have had a dose of adulteration in our basic course work, look at what’s being proposed in the U.K. On December 9, 2008, the Sunday Express reported the following:
“CHILDREN should have lessons in happiness and healthy living instead of geography and history, the Government’s chief adviser on primary schools urged yesterday. Sir Jim Rose said reforms were needed to ease an overloaded curriculum, as his report recommended the biggest shake-up for primary schools in 20 years.”
Apparently Sir Jim proposes eliminating 14 subjects, including history and geography, and replacing them with a “theme-based” approach. This would give children more of an opportunity to play and they would learn more about well-being, health and happiness, Sir Jim argues.
The paper reported that: “Shadow Children’s Secretary Michael Gove said: “in adopting this throwback to the 1960s, the Government is denying the highest quality of education to children in the state sector.
“The experiment with this kind of ideology – moving away from facts, knowledge and rigour – failed 40 years ago and will fail again. This is not a step forward, it is a blast from the past.”
If I understand Sir Jim correctly, we will soon have more and happier ignorant students in our midst. As the British would say, “What rubbish!” And unfortunately it seems to parallel some of the views we see on this side of the Pond. For the full article see: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/74901/Geography-and-history-to-go-in-school-shake-up