How do you get on in the music business if you aren't Timbaland's cousin? And what about the hurdles, pitfalls and Faustian pacts that the industry is notorious for?
In this interview I conducted in 2004 for Focus West, a digital media business support project in West London, I spoke to "Little" Wayne Antoine, an indie producer who has worked with some of the top names in the business, including Craig David and Jamelia.
Making it big: Little Wayne talks to Focus West
“Little Wayne” Antoine has worked in many studios including Groove and a Quarter and Jetstars' Cave studio and with some of the music industry's best-known artists including Craig David, Jamelia, and Daniel Debourg. He was also one half of the Silent Voice production team. However, he always aspired to having a studio of his own.
Wayne realised his dream when, along with business partner Pavan (Stixman) Chavda, he founded Poisonous Music, an independent music business based in West London. The company now comprises a record label, recording studios and production teams.
Wayne and Pavan met while at school. They went from running a sound system to producing their own material, and eventually produced tracks for Stixman, who was signed to an independent record label.
Originally a DJ, Wayne acquired many of the skills needed in record production "on the job" and found himself more inclined to the engineering side of the business. He also studied at the School of Audio Engineering and got jobs as a sound engineer in London. Wayne's technical understanding of sound engineering, combined with his musical background, enabled him to appreciate both sides of the business. And by 2000 he was managing the studio and record label he had developed with Pavan.
Poisonous Music expanded when DJ Daniel (Baby Boom) Francis joined the team. The current line-up is completed by JP, producer and studio engineer, and Anita (Neetz) Patel, who is in charge of promotion and marketing.
Wayne has learnt to recognise the importance of getting the business side of things right. When he needed expert advice on developing a business plan he turned to the Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) in West London. He also received support from the Prince's Trust.
The music industry has developed rapidly over the last ten years, especially in the development and ready availability of reliable, affordable technology. Wayne points out that the competition for recording studios now includes people at home with laptops. High-end studios are suffering, and can no longer rely on what was traditionally their technological advantage. But Wayne also sees this as a good thing and says that competition is vigorous and stimulates creativity.
Record companies are merging as the market consolidates. Wayne sees this as an opportunity for the independents, and he believes the future for Poisonous will be in production. With fewer A&R people signing the big acts and investing in talent, the majors are relying more and more on smaller production companies who can provide a ready-made "package" which the large record companies can then take to market.
Smaller, edgier acts are seen as more of a financial risk by the industry, although it is often creative artists from the underground, such as Dizzee Rascal, who reinvigorate the mainstream music scene.
Digital technology has created new problems as well as opportunities. The threat of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, such as KaZaa and Grokster is taken seriously by the industry: kids just don't buy singles anymore. However, Wayne also points out that new markets have opened up, such as ringtones, which now outsell singles. Opportunities still exist for writers, music publishers and performers. In fact, the situation is improving, with a resurgence of interest in watching live music, despite the downward trend in record sales.
For people starting out in the creative industries, Wayne's advice is to concentrate on developing your skills and creativity in your chosen art form, but to not neglect the business of things. Making contacts and networking are essential. Wayne was originally a studio manager and gradually took over the studio's client list. While advertising can be expensive and isn't always effective, word of mouth is often the best way of getting known - and certainly costs a lot less. Publicity and PR is often more direct than advertising, and exposure in the music press carries more weight because it's seen as impartial. Following a write-up by the Business Enterprise Centre, Wayne found himself on the cover of HFM magazine: that's the sort of publicity you just can't buy.
Wayne stresses the importance of getting sound, impartial business advice and support early on. He particularly benefited from the Business Enterprise Centre's "Surviving into the Mainstream" programme. This was set up to support women and black and minority ethnic (BME) creative practitioners. Not having had a break from work for over a year, he found it really useful to share experiences and ideas with other creative people on the residential week-end courses. People in the creative industries often work on their own or in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): getting together with fellow professionals was a great opportunity - and he found everyone he met was facing the same problems in running their creative business: raising finance, dealing with late payers, negotiating contracts, struggling with red tape, etc. Without the chance to share experiences and discuss solutions you'd be on your own, according to Wayne.
He also received invaluable advice and practical support through BEC's Rent Support Scheme, and recognises that finding affordable workspace is crucial for new creative businesses. Wayne has gone from being someone seeking advice to someone who gives it, and he now often addresses Enterprise Seminars for people setting up their own businesses and talks about the key issues they'll face. The experience of standing up in front of people and talking about the business as an industry insider has also boosted his confidence.
Having got a lot out of being in the music industry, Wayne has also taken practical steps to put something back into the wider community. Media 4 Life, a group he set up in 2003 aims to encourage young people interested in the media/music industry to actively participate in a new and dynamic project. Media 4 Life works particularly with young people who are not in any form of employment, education or training. By providing workshops it provides participants with the relevant skills and knowledge that will both inspire and motivate them to plan for their future and commit to some form of education, employment or training. The workshops are delivered by industry professionals with over 10 years experience in the media/music industry. Media 4 Life aims to give a more holistic view of the media/music industry, highlighting the many different and varied career paths and opportunities available.
Wayne, who has worked with some of the big names in the music business but describes himself as a "background person”, points out: 'It's more than just being a star'. Getting on in the creative industries requires a lot of hard work and setbacks are inevitable. However, by getting aspiring creative practitioners to take a realistic view of the media/music industry, they can discover that there any many possible avenues rather than stardom. Wayne hopes that Media 4 Life will realise young people's potential and help them succeed in whatever area of the business they eventually become involved in.
Media 4 Life has already done two pilot sessions (in June & August of this year), and has opened up the age group from 16 up to 24 years. Media 4 Life runs evening courses and free daytime sessions in all aspects of media and music and the career options available. Both the Business Enterprise Centre and the BBC's Media Village have featured Media 4 Life.
© Robert Dennis for Focus West, 2004
Background
The Focus West project was a business support agency for the digital media sector, based in the Business Enterprise Centre in West London and supported by the London Development Agency and London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
This interview appeared in a section of the website entitled “I Could Do That” – a series of inspirational and informative interviews aimed at giving aspiring creative professionals an insight into the practicalities of setting up their own business.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Digital media articles: Audio branding and recruitment
Here are two articles that I wrote in 2006 for New Media Knowledge, a learning and business information hub for companies and individuals working in UK digital media.
Sounds Subliminal: Branding The Future With Audio
Ringtones, radio and TV audio branding, MP3s and podcasting all offer ways for brands to connect with consumers. This article is a write-up of an event held jointly by NMK and Music Tank. The event looked at how marketers and brands can use audio as a way to engage with consumers in the digital space.
Click here to read the original article on audio branding on the NMK website.
Situations Pretty Vacant
This is a report of a speaker event held by NMK at One Aldwych which looked at how agencies large and small are facing up to the skills shortage. It also examined the strategies agencies are employing to find talented people.
To read this article about the skills gap in the digital media sector on the NMK website, click here.
About NMK
NMK is a not-for-profit body in receipt of public funding. NMK operates across economic boundaries, bringing together knowledge and expertise from commercial companies, professional bodies and higher education to provide objective, independent guidance and promote the success of the UK's digital economy. Since NMK began as New Media Knowledge in 1997, it has been supported by the University of Westminster, one of the UK's leading educational institutions for digital media.
Sounds Subliminal: Branding The Future With Audio
Ringtones, radio and TV audio branding, MP3s and podcasting all offer ways for brands to connect with consumers. This article is a write-up of an event held jointly by NMK and Music Tank. The event looked at how marketers and brands can use audio as a way to engage with consumers in the digital space.
Click here to read the original article on audio branding on the NMK website.
Situations Pretty Vacant
This is a report of a speaker event held by NMK at One Aldwych which looked at how agencies large and small are facing up to the skills shortage. It also examined the strategies agencies are employing to find talented people.
To read this article about the skills gap in the digital media sector on the NMK website, click here.
About NMK
NMK is a not-for-profit body in receipt of public funding. NMK operates across economic boundaries, bringing together knowledge and expertise from commercial companies, professional bodies and higher education to provide objective, independent guidance and promote the success of the UK's digital economy. Since NMK began as New Media Knowledge in 1997, it has been supported by the University of Westminster, one of the UK's leading educational institutions for digital media.
London South Central: Bermondsey Street and the South Bank
This is an article I wrote a few years ago for World Language Consultants Ltd, a language school in Bermondsey Street in South London. Some of the facts have changed (e.g. the Eurostar train terminal that connects Britain to the Continent is now at St Pancras), but most of the places referred to are the same. If you plan to visit the capital it might be a good idea to check some of the tourist websites (such as visitlondon.com) that contain current information on visiting times and prices, etc.
Exploring London South Central
Whether you live in London or are just visiting, you'll find there's plenty to see and do in London South Central. Explore the area's rich history and culture, hunt for bargains in its arcades and markets, and chill out at some of the trendiest cafés and bars in the capital.
London South What ?
London South Central is the new name for one of London's oldest districts. It includes Vauxhall, Waterloo, London Bridge, Bankside and Elephant & Castle. Traditionally, the area has always been seen as charming but dodgy. (In Shakespeare's day the South Bank was as famous for its brothels as its theatres). And in more recent times, taxi drivers have refused to go "south of the river" at night.
But all that is about to change. South London has been smartening up its act, and is attracting a new generation of artisans and professionals who have transformed some of its most run-down areas into thriving local economies. While the attractions of the South Bank are a must for visitors to the capital, there's also plenty to discover in some of the smaller streets tucked away behind the waterfront.
How to get there
The Eurostar terminal at Waterloo [now at St Pancras - and featuring the longest champagne bar in Europe] has brought the area within easy reach of the Continent, and there is also a good rail service to London Bridge and Waterloo stations if just you're coming in to town for the day. If you're already in London, hop on the tube (Jubilee and Northern Line trains stop at London Bridge, while Waterloo connects with the Jubilee, Northern and Bakerloo Line as well.) There are also plenty of buses, and there's even a river bus service, if you really want to arrive in style.
What to see
Go for a spin on the London Eye for a breathtaking bird's-eye view of the capital, and marvel at Sir Norman Foster's London Assembly building near Tower Bridge. Check out Tate Modern art gallery (formerly Bankside power station), Shakespeare's Globe and the Millennium Bridge. Relax in the precincts of Southwark Cathedral, then stroll down to Hay's Galleria and Gabriel's Wharf where you can shop and take in the view from one of the many waterside cafés or bars.
Step back in time
The Thames has always been London's gateway to the wider world, and you don't need to look far to discover Britain's maritime history. Visit Sir Francis Drake's reconstructed ship, The Golden Hinde, at St Mary Overie Dock, or explore HMS Belfast, which played a leading part in the Normandy Landings.
Shakespeare's Globe, a faithful reconstruction of the original theatre, stages open-air plays (take an umbrella just in case) and has a fascinating permanent exhibition about the building in Elizabethan times. To see the darker side of London's history, descend into the South Bank's medieval Clink prison (which is where the expression comes from). And if that's not grisly enough, the London Dungeons in Tooley Street will bring you face to face with the Black Death and Jack the Ripper. (Stick close to the guide, and don't wander off on your own, if you want to make it to the gift shop!)
Make a scene
Playing host to both the Royal National Theatre and the Globe, the South Bank is rightly regarded as the home of drama in London, with the West End having long ago given up any claims to that title. Plays are staged throughout the summer in The Scoop, a modern amphitheatre next to the London Assembly. Head for the Old Vic, where you can currently catch Kevin Spacey's production of Cloaca (until 11 December).
Make it new
If you're looking for Old Masters, you won't find them on the South Bank. (Try the National Gallery, or catch the regular boat service that takes gallery-goers from Tate Modern to Tate Britain). Tate Modern hosts installations and exhibits outsize sculpture in the massive Turbine Hall. It also has cafés, a superb restaurant and a well-stocked bookshop. Further down the South Bank, you'll find the Saatchi Gallery, which boasts Damien Hirst's shark and Tracey Emin's infamous unmade bed. The Hayward Gallery, behind the Royal National Theatre, has a fascinating exhibition, Eyes, Lies & Illusions (until 3 January 2005) which features optical illusions, magic lanterns and all sorts of visual trickery. And if that's not enough, why not pop into the Salvador Dali exhibition in County Hall. Or just enjoy the surrealist statues outside, including Space Elephant (an elephant with spider legs carrying an obelisk on its back.)
Handbags and Glad-rags
While most of London South Central's tourist hot-spots are along the river, there are also some great places to discover away from the South Bank. But Bermondsey Street must surely be the hottest spot of all. Once a desolate wasteland of derelict factories and disused warehouses, it's now home to design studios (including Kurt Geiger), loft apartments and some great restaurants.
Dominating Bermondsey Street is Zandra Rhodes's Fashion and Textile Museum. This striking building, a former warehouse painted bright orange, is also the home of the shocking-pink-haired designer, who lives in the penthouse (complete with palm trees).
Bermondsey Street's latest addition is World Language Consultants Ltd, one of London's longest-established business language schools, which specialises in teaching English and foreign languages to professionals. WLC is located directly opposite the Fashion and Textile Museum, adding a complementary splash of colour to the other side of the street with its distinctive blue door.
Food for thought
London South Central has more than its fair share of great restaurants and cafés.Bermondsey street boasts several superior eateries, including the Delfina Studio Café, the Bermondsey Kitchen and The Garrison, a gastropub with its own cinema in the basement. Other places to check out are Terence Conran's Blue Print restaurant and the Oxo Tower, which has stunning panoramic views. Vinopolis, the museum and temple to the god of wine rolled into one, has an excellent restaurant (with, needless to say, an outstanding wine-list). And fans of Bridget Jones will recognise Borough Market, even if they have yet to sample the unbelievably fresh produce from its specialist gourmet stalls, selling everything from game to white truffle oil.
What makes London South Central exciting and distinctive is its mix of the historical with the ultra-modern: you can find them side by side in its architecture its culture, and its diverse communities of long-established residents and those who have discovered more recently the charms of this unique area.
© Robert Dennis 2004
Exploring London South Central
Whether you live in London or are just visiting, you'll find there's plenty to see and do in London South Central. Explore the area's rich history and culture, hunt for bargains in its arcades and markets, and chill out at some of the trendiest cafés and bars in the capital.
London South What ?
London South Central is the new name for one of London's oldest districts. It includes Vauxhall, Waterloo, London Bridge, Bankside and Elephant & Castle. Traditionally, the area has always been seen as charming but dodgy. (In Shakespeare's day the South Bank was as famous for its brothels as its theatres). And in more recent times, taxi drivers have refused to go "south of the river" at night.
But all that is about to change. South London has been smartening up its act, and is attracting a new generation of artisans and professionals who have transformed some of its most run-down areas into thriving local economies. While the attractions of the South Bank are a must for visitors to the capital, there's also plenty to discover in some of the smaller streets tucked away behind the waterfront.
How to get there
The Eurostar terminal at Waterloo [now at St Pancras - and featuring the longest champagne bar in Europe] has brought the area within easy reach of the Continent, and there is also a good rail service to London Bridge and Waterloo stations if just you're coming in to town for the day. If you're already in London, hop on the tube (Jubilee and Northern Line trains stop at London Bridge, while Waterloo connects with the Jubilee, Northern and Bakerloo Line as well.) There are also plenty of buses, and there's even a river bus service, if you really want to arrive in style.
What to see
Go for a spin on the London Eye for a breathtaking bird's-eye view of the capital, and marvel at Sir Norman Foster's London Assembly building near Tower Bridge. Check out Tate Modern art gallery (formerly Bankside power station), Shakespeare's Globe and the Millennium Bridge. Relax in the precincts of Southwark Cathedral, then stroll down to Hay's Galleria and Gabriel's Wharf where you can shop and take in the view from one of the many waterside cafés or bars.
Step back in time
The Thames has always been London's gateway to the wider world, and you don't need to look far to discover Britain's maritime history. Visit Sir Francis Drake's reconstructed ship, The Golden Hinde, at St Mary Overie Dock, or explore HMS Belfast, which played a leading part in the Normandy Landings.
Shakespeare's Globe, a faithful reconstruction of the original theatre, stages open-air plays (take an umbrella just in case) and has a fascinating permanent exhibition about the building in Elizabethan times. To see the darker side of London's history, descend into the South Bank's medieval Clink prison (which is where the expression comes from). And if that's not grisly enough, the London Dungeons in Tooley Street will bring you face to face with the Black Death and Jack the Ripper. (Stick close to the guide, and don't wander off on your own, if you want to make it to the gift shop!)
Make a scene
Playing host to both the Royal National Theatre and the Globe, the South Bank is rightly regarded as the home of drama in London, with the West End having long ago given up any claims to that title. Plays are staged throughout the summer in The Scoop, a modern amphitheatre next to the London Assembly. Head for the Old Vic, where you can currently catch Kevin Spacey's production of Cloaca (until 11 December).
Make it new
If you're looking for Old Masters, you won't find them on the South Bank. (Try the National Gallery, or catch the regular boat service that takes gallery-goers from Tate Modern to Tate Britain). Tate Modern hosts installations and exhibits outsize sculpture in the massive Turbine Hall. It also has cafés, a superb restaurant and a well-stocked bookshop. Further down the South Bank, you'll find the Saatchi Gallery, which boasts Damien Hirst's shark and Tracey Emin's infamous unmade bed. The Hayward Gallery, behind the Royal National Theatre, has a fascinating exhibition, Eyes, Lies & Illusions (until 3 January 2005) which features optical illusions, magic lanterns and all sorts of visual trickery. And if that's not enough, why not pop into the Salvador Dali exhibition in County Hall. Or just enjoy the surrealist statues outside, including Space Elephant (an elephant with spider legs carrying an obelisk on its back.)
Handbags and Glad-rags
While most of London South Central's tourist hot-spots are along the river, there are also some great places to discover away from the South Bank. But Bermondsey Street must surely be the hottest spot of all. Once a desolate wasteland of derelict factories and disused warehouses, it's now home to design studios (including Kurt Geiger), loft apartments and some great restaurants.
Dominating Bermondsey Street is Zandra Rhodes's Fashion and Textile Museum. This striking building, a former warehouse painted bright orange, is also the home of the shocking-pink-haired designer, who lives in the penthouse (complete with palm trees).
Bermondsey Street's latest addition is World Language Consultants Ltd, one of London's longest-established business language schools, which specialises in teaching English and foreign languages to professionals. WLC is located directly opposite the Fashion and Textile Museum, adding a complementary splash of colour to the other side of the street with its distinctive blue door.
Food for thought
London South Central has more than its fair share of great restaurants and cafés.Bermondsey street boasts several superior eateries, including the Delfina Studio Café, the Bermondsey Kitchen and The Garrison, a gastropub with its own cinema in the basement. Other places to check out are Terence Conran's Blue Print restaurant and the Oxo Tower, which has stunning panoramic views. Vinopolis, the museum and temple to the god of wine rolled into one, has an excellent restaurant (with, needless to say, an outstanding wine-list). And fans of Bridget Jones will recognise Borough Market, even if they have yet to sample the unbelievably fresh produce from its specialist gourmet stalls, selling everything from game to white truffle oil.
What makes London South Central exciting and distinctive is its mix of the historical with the ultra-modern: you can find them side by side in its architecture its culture, and its diverse communities of long-established residents and those who have discovered more recently the charms of this unique area.
© Robert Dennis 2004
A day trip to Oxford: iVillage article
Read an article I wrote a while ago about visiting Oxford for the day - without breaking the bank. The article was written for the Travel section of iVillage.co.uk:
Print-and-go: Oxford on a budget
(Note: this link takes a little while to open - but it's well worth the wait.)
Print-and-go: Oxford on a budget
(Note: this link takes a little while to open - but it's well worth the wait.)
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night)
Remember, remember the fifth of November
If you are in Britain during the weeks running up to the 5th November you will notice a lot of loud bangs and flashes going off at night. Don’t worry: they’re only fireworks, bought by teenagers in temporary shops that suddenly spring up all over town. You will also see large bonfires being prepared on open ground such as parks. The bonfires gradually accumulate old furniture and any other combustible material that people want to get rid of. Finally, you may see children outside Tube stations or on street corners with an effigy of a man, usually with a satanic mask and pointed hat (known as a “guy”). You will probably hear them call out “Penny for the guy” and passers-by might feel inclined to give them a few coins.
So, what is this all about?
The 5th of November in Britain, generally known as Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, is an annual celebration marking the failure of a group of Catholic conspirators led by Robert Catesby, a prominent Catholic, to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605 using barrels of gunpowder concealed in the cellar of the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) when King James I and all the members of “the House” were present. The Gunpowder Plot, as it is known, was foiled by a tip-off (although in the popular imagination it was the vigilance of the guards at Parliament who discovered Guy Fawkes, one of the plotters, and his gang just as they were about to ignite the explosives). Those involved in the conspiracy were subsequently tried and sentenced to death by being hung, drawn and quartered. Over time, celebrating the failure of the plot became an annual national event.
Photo of fireworks by Semnoz, available under a GNU Free Documentation License
Come Bonfire Night people usually head out of doors and find a public celebration or hold their own private party in their back garden. To celebrate properly you need a bonfire – and some fireworks. Many local councils organise quite elaborate (and expensive) firework displays for the public involving sequences of brightly-coloured flashes set off using sophisticated electronic technology to produce spectacular effects. Domestic 5th November parties are a much more modest affair involving evocatively-named fireworks such as Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels and squibs. People hold sparklers, eat hotdogs and drink steaming mugs of tea. (There are a large number of injuries caused every year from people failing to protect themselves from stray fireworks and animal welfare groups always ask people to take their pets inside as they can be frightened by all the noise.)
For foreign visitors to the UK who may not be familiar with this custom, the strangest – and most macabre – moment of the evening is when the guy (the effigy of the main plotter Guy Fawkes) is tossed onto the bonfire, usually causing a huge plume of sparks and smoke to flare up into the night sky, accompanied by enthusiastic cheering and clapping from the crowd. While Guy Fawkes was a real person – and, indeed, a conspirator involved in what was essentially a Catholic plot to seize control of Protestant Britain – it is unlikely that most people standing in the freezing November night air munching a hot-dog make the connection between the perceived threat of Catholicism in 17th century England and the symbolic burning in effigy of a man who could arguably be called “Britain’s most infamous Catholic”. For the vast majority of people (and especially children) Guy Fawkes is just a bogey man, a generic villain who tried to blow up Parliament (which, incidentally, was a very different collection of buildings from the Victorian Gothic structure that stands on the north bank of the Thames today).
Photo of a bonfire © Gavin Mills (Stock.XCHNG)
T.S. Eliot, the American poet who subsequently settled in Britain, refers to the practice of collecting money for Bonfire Night in an epigraph to his poem “The Hollow Men”: "A penny for the Old Guy". While the practice is still fairly common, many people are reluctant to give children money which they will probably use to buy fireworks (which, legally, can only be sold to adults).
Bonfires are also lit in Northern Ireland on the 12th July (“The Twelfth”) to mark the eve of the Battle of the Boyne, a decisive military conflict that established Protestant supremacy (or, if you prefer, domination) in Ireland. (Interestingly, while the sectarian aspects of this celebration in “the Province” (Northern Ireland) are explicit, on the largely apathetic or agnostic British mainland, the Catholic-Protestant roots of 5th November are largely obscure to most people.)
Guy Fawkes Night is always something of an anti-climax. Having lit the bonfire, burnt the guy and watched the fabulous display of pyrotechnics, there is nothing left to do but go home – or, if you are at home already, to go inside and watch the telly. Since the origins of the event are purely historical, rather than being tied to a holiday, such as Christmas or Easter, there isn’t really much to celebrate, apart from the fact that Parliament wasn’t blown up. No-one feels inclined to organise a real party afterwards (although it might be a good idea to take refuge from the chilly November night in a cosy pub with some friends); there are no family get-togethers or blockbuster films on TV. The people who really enjoy 5th November the most are children: there’s a big fire, an ugly figure in a pointy hat who gets incinerated, hot dogs, sparklers and fireworks (the appeal of which, I personally find, gradually diminishes in proportion with the number of times you have seen them).
When I lived in London I noticed that the random bangs and shrieks of fireworks being let off got progressively earlier – starting around early to mid-September and then continuing throughout November towards December. With celebrations for the Hindu festival of Diwali taking place at this time of year combined with the fairly recent trend to have huge firework displays on New Year’s Eve, it now seems that the whole of autumn and most of winter is a general “firework season”. It’s also noticeable that the impromptu firework shops – which are generally just empty stores sporting a canvas banner, mobile shop-fittings and a cash register – seem to follow (or lead) this trend. However, this may just be part of a wider tendency to cash in on seasonal events, a phenomenon which results in Christmas puddings being sold in supermarkets in August and Easter eggs appearing on shelves from 2nd January. (For those who assume this must be due to aggressive (and godless) Anglo-Saxon marketing, I have to report that the Christmas Village shop on Milan’s Naviglio Grande (a canal) was decked out with fairy lights and doing a roaring trade when I passed it in October.)
If you are in Britain during the weeks running up to the 5th November you will notice a lot of loud bangs and flashes going off at night. Don’t worry: they’re only fireworks, bought by teenagers in temporary shops that suddenly spring up all over town. You will also see large bonfires being prepared on open ground such as parks. The bonfires gradually accumulate old furniture and any other combustible material that people want to get rid of. Finally, you may see children outside Tube stations or on street corners with an effigy of a man, usually with a satanic mask and pointed hat (known as a “guy”). You will probably hear them call out “Penny for the guy” and passers-by might feel inclined to give them a few coins.
So, what is this all about?
The 5th of November in Britain, generally known as Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, is an annual celebration marking the failure of a group of Catholic conspirators led by Robert Catesby, a prominent Catholic, to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605 using barrels of gunpowder concealed in the cellar of the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) when King James I and all the members of “the House” were present. The Gunpowder Plot, as it is known, was foiled by a tip-off (although in the popular imagination it was the vigilance of the guards at Parliament who discovered Guy Fawkes, one of the plotters, and his gang just as they were about to ignite the explosives). Those involved in the conspiracy were subsequently tried and sentenced to death by being hung, drawn and quartered. Over time, celebrating the failure of the plot became an annual national event.
Photo of fireworks by Semnoz, available under a GNU Free Documentation License
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Come Bonfire Night people usually head out of doors and find a public celebration or hold their own private party in their back garden. To celebrate properly you need a bonfire – and some fireworks. Many local councils organise quite elaborate (and expensive) firework displays for the public involving sequences of brightly-coloured flashes set off using sophisticated electronic technology to produce spectacular effects. Domestic 5th November parties are a much more modest affair involving evocatively-named fireworks such as Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels and squibs. People hold sparklers, eat hotdogs and drink steaming mugs of tea. (There are a large number of injuries caused every year from people failing to protect themselves from stray fireworks and animal welfare groups always ask people to take their pets inside as they can be frightened by all the noise.)
For foreign visitors to the UK who may not be familiar with this custom, the strangest – and most macabre – moment of the evening is when the guy (the effigy of the main plotter Guy Fawkes) is tossed onto the bonfire, usually causing a huge plume of sparks and smoke to flare up into the night sky, accompanied by enthusiastic cheering and clapping from the crowd. While Guy Fawkes was a real person – and, indeed, a conspirator involved in what was essentially a Catholic plot to seize control of Protestant Britain – it is unlikely that most people standing in the freezing November night air munching a hot-dog make the connection between the perceived threat of Catholicism in 17th century England and the symbolic burning in effigy of a man who could arguably be called “Britain’s most infamous Catholic”. For the vast majority of people (and especially children) Guy Fawkes is just a bogey man, a generic villain who tried to blow up Parliament (which, incidentally, was a very different collection of buildings from the Victorian Gothic structure that stands on the north bank of the Thames today).
Photo of a bonfire © Gavin Mills (Stock.XCHNG)
T.S. Eliot, the American poet who subsequently settled in Britain, refers to the practice of collecting money for Bonfire Night in an epigraph to his poem “The Hollow Men”: "A penny for the Old Guy". While the practice is still fairly common, many people are reluctant to give children money which they will probably use to buy fireworks (which, legally, can only be sold to adults).
Bonfires are also lit in Northern Ireland on the 12th July (“The Twelfth”) to mark the eve of the Battle of the Boyne, a decisive military conflict that established Protestant supremacy (or, if you prefer, domination) in Ireland. (Interestingly, while the sectarian aspects of this celebration in “the Province” (Northern Ireland) are explicit, on the largely apathetic or agnostic British mainland, the Catholic-Protestant roots of 5th November are largely obscure to most people.)
Guy Fawkes Night is always something of an anti-climax. Having lit the bonfire, burnt the guy and watched the fabulous display of pyrotechnics, there is nothing left to do but go home – or, if you are at home already, to go inside and watch the telly. Since the origins of the event are purely historical, rather than being tied to a holiday, such as Christmas or Easter, there isn’t really much to celebrate, apart from the fact that Parliament wasn’t blown up. No-one feels inclined to organise a real party afterwards (although it might be a good idea to take refuge from the chilly November night in a cosy pub with some friends); there are no family get-togethers or blockbuster films on TV. The people who really enjoy 5th November the most are children: there’s a big fire, an ugly figure in a pointy hat who gets incinerated, hot dogs, sparklers and fireworks (the appeal of which, I personally find, gradually diminishes in proportion with the number of times you have seen them).
When I lived in London I noticed that the random bangs and shrieks of fireworks being let off got progressively earlier – starting around early to mid-September and then continuing throughout November towards December. With celebrations for the Hindu festival of Diwali taking place at this time of year combined with the fairly recent trend to have huge firework displays on New Year’s Eve, it now seems that the whole of autumn and most of winter is a general “firework season”. It’s also noticeable that the impromptu firework shops – which are generally just empty stores sporting a canvas banner, mobile shop-fittings and a cash register – seem to follow (or lead) this trend. However, this may just be part of a wider tendency to cash in on seasonal events, a phenomenon which results in Christmas puddings being sold in supermarkets in August and Easter eggs appearing on shelves from 2nd January. (For those who assume this must be due to aggressive (and godless) Anglo-Saxon marketing, I have to report that the Christmas Village shop on Milan’s Naviglio Grande (a canal) was decked out with fairy lights and doing a roaring trade when I passed it in October.)
Monday, 2 November 2009
Autumn: Conkers
Autumn is, of course, the time of year when you can find conkers. A conker is the British English name for the fruit of the horse chestnut tree. When schoolchildren find a nice big shiny conker lying on the ground they drill a hole through it and thread it onto a string which they knot at the end. They then look for other people in the playground who have a conker and challenge them to a fight or contest. To play the game one person holds their conker out so that it hangs perpendicularly on its string. The other contestant then swings their conker on its string and tries to hit the conker of their opponent. The winner is the person whose conker survives; while the loser is left holding a rather sad-looking piece of string with half a chestnut still hanging off it.
A conker that has proved successful in a series of matches is referred to by the number of matches it has won: a sixer, for example, is a conker that has won half a dozen contests, while a twenty-three-er would be a truly formidable weapon. Some tricks are used to make a conker extra-hard, such as baking it in an oven or soaking it in vinegar. (These, however, are generally considered unsporting, if not downright cheating).
Photo of a conker by Sharonkcooper, available under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0
Since a conker being smashed to pieces can send small fragments of shell flying out at unpredictable angles there is a tiny chance that one of the contestants might receive an eye injury. Perhaps a more common danger would be a bruised knuckle from your opponent missing your conker and hitting your hand. If you read the British tabloid newspapers (such as The Sun) or rightwing middle-market paper The Daily Mail you will usually find a story about schools banning conkers (or other traditional playground activities, such as skipping or throwing snowballs) on the grounds of health and safety. These stories form part of a wider narrative usually referred to by phrases such as “health and safety gone mad” or “the nanny state”.
A conker that has proved successful in a series of matches is referred to by the number of matches it has won: a sixer, for example, is a conker that has won half a dozen contests, while a twenty-three-er would be a truly formidable weapon. Some tricks are used to make a conker extra-hard, such as baking it in an oven or soaking it in vinegar. (These, however, are generally considered unsporting, if not downright cheating).
Photo of a conker by Sharonkcooper, available under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0
Since a conker being smashed to pieces can send small fragments of shell flying out at unpredictable angles there is a tiny chance that one of the contestants might receive an eye injury. Perhaps a more common danger would be a bruised knuckle from your opponent missing your conker and hitting your hand. If you read the British tabloid newspapers (such as The Sun) or rightwing middle-market paper The Daily Mail you will usually find a story about schools banning conkers (or other traditional playground activities, such as skipping or throwing snowballs) on the grounds of health and safety. These stories form part of a wider narrative usually referred to by phrases such as “health and safety gone mad” or “the nanny state”.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Picture postcard views of London
Here are some of my photographs of London with a few comments...
Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, a red London double-decker bus, a black taxi - all the world-famous symbols of London. Even when I lived in London I always found this an exhilarating sight. If you get close to Big Ben you can see it's covered in extraordinarily fine details - including the Latin inscritpions in gold gothic text and the filigree of the clock face. In fact, the Houses of Parliament (also known as the Palace of Westminster) offer examples of some of the most ornate architecture and lavish interiors to be found anywhere in the capital - well worth a visit if you are going to London!
Oxford Street - London's busiest street, where you can find departments stores and boutiques selling all the latest fashions at highly competitive prices. In this picture commuters dodge the traffic and shoppers spill out of the brightly-lit stores onto the crowded pavements. Overhead, the Oxford Street Christmas lights glow in the rush-hour dusk and the headlights of cars, vans and buses shine on the black road soaked with rain, making it glisten.
Notting Hill Underground station at night. The familiar symbol of London Underground shines out at night in red, white and blue. The Tube is the fastest way to get around town - and its extensive network of lines criss-cross the capital. Ticket prices, however, are much higher than here in Milan and if you plan to visit London I recommend that you buy an electronic Oyster card which you can top up with credit and use on the Underground, buses, Overground trains - and on the futuristic Docklands Light Railway (DLR), a driverless monorail system in the east of the capital.
Fish and chips: English food at its best. Tender, white cod freshly fried in crispy batter, served with a portion of succulent chips and a generous dollop of mushy peas. Seasoned with the finest tomato ketchup (Heinz), salt and malt vinegar and accompanied by a slice of bread and butter and a thirst-quenching Coca Cola, a plate of fish and chips is ideally followed by a refreshing cup of tea.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Autumn: Hallowe'en
Tonight is the night when dead leaves fly...
The main calendar event of autumn, crouching at the end of October like a black cat peering into November and the beginning of winter is Hallowe’en (a term which derives from “All Hallows Eve”).
Originally a Celtic festival, Hallowe’en is now particularly associated with America, and elements of the US version have become globalised, mainly through our familiarity with films and TV shows. The key elements of Hallowe’en are now quite familiar, although some of their significance has been lost (or mangled) in cultural translation:
(S)mashing Pumpkins
Look in the window of any shop at this time of year and the chances are you will see a sinister grinning face cut out of an enormous pumpkin – perhaps with a light inside producing a supernatural glow from the eyes and serrated teeth. (This is known in North America as a Jack-o'-lantern.)
Although pumpkins are fairly common throughout Europe and North America throughout the year they seem to come into their own at Hallowe’en. Part of the botanical family that includes zucchini, courgettes and marrows, pumpkins make excellent autumn/ winter dishes and can be sliced, diced, mashed, boiled and baked. As well as making great comfort food (something hot and filling which is quite simple and unsophisticated), pumpkins feature in the traditional Thanksgiving dinner in North America.
In Italy, pumpkins seem significant merely for their seeds - and as the source material for self-consciously foreign Jack-o'-lanterns, visible mainly in shops and bars. Zucca (Italian for pumpkin) happens to be the name of the iconic café in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele in Milan’s Piazza Duomo, where Gaspare Campari launched his eponymous drink.)
Trick or treat?
Trick or treat (often used in the phrase "to go trick or treating") is the main activity associated with Hallowe'en. Let's have a quick look at the what the words trick and treat mean first:
Conversely, trick or treat is a well-established and accepted part of North American culture (where it originates from in its modern form). People prepare for the arrival of the trick or treaters by baking little cakes and making sweets which they hand out to their ghoulish visitors. In Britain the tradition has never really been integrated into the cultural life of the nation, so people are uncertain how to react to having a gang of vampires and ghouls turn up (arrive) on their doorstep. A lot of children simply take the occasion as an opportunity to demand some loose change, while those in more deprived areas might actually use the situation as a chance to settle scores on unpopular neighbours or to terrorise older residents, many of whom don’t really understand what the whole thing is about.
(On the topic of socially-accepted forms of manic but non-threatening behaviour, I have to say that I found the celebrations in Milan for Carnevale in February something of a revelation. The soft-centred - and largely alcohol-free - daytime festivities in Piazza Duomo (intended mainly for children) are a riot with thousands of people "attacking" each other with confetti (coriandoli) and silly string – but without any of the associated tensions or public order problems that usually marr similar events in the UK (in particular the Notting Hill Carnival). I think this will be a future (seasonal) blog post.)
Monster Munch
Hallowe’en parties seem to be mainly either the preserve of either children or an excuse for clubbers to dress up as ghouls and vampires at a themed event. As with 5th November, there isn’t an associated holiday, widely-observed religious festival like Christmas (but see All Saints Day below) or critical secular moment, such as New Year’s Eve (particularly on the following day) so the prospect of a wild celebration followed by what could be a working day has little appeal to people who have already left school or have only just heard of Facebook.
However, a few traditions survive, notably traditional Hallowe’en games, such as “bobbing for apples”, which involves biting an apple floating around in a bowl of water – try it: it’s harder than it sounds.
Incidentally, All Saints Day on the 1st November and All Souls Day on the 2nd are purely religious occasions for churchgoers in the UK – very much a minority of the population. All Souls Day, which is hugely significant here in Italy, seems to be a particularly Catholic occasion. There is no UK equivalent of the streams of Italian families tidying up relatives' graves and placing bunches of fresh flowers on them in preparation for the main All Souls Day - or the all-night graveside vigils held throughout the (particularly Spanish-speaking) Catholic world.)
Is there anyone there?
Both Hallowe’en and All Souls Day are characterised by radically different ways of thinking about death, the after-life and the “other side” in general. Whereas Hallowe’en is treated as a bit of a laugh – with kids dressing up as characters from the Adams Family – All Souls Day is a serious, sombre occasion in countries where the Church is still highly influential. However, in a largely secular country like Britain – and in the non-religious sections of North American society – the “big questions” still need to be addressed: life, the universe and everything. Perhaps the folk culture of the past, pagan traditions and modern horror films that draw on ancient superstitions and legends seem more palatable to those who have little or no connection with conventional organised religion. Just as Dan Brown tapped into a vast subterranean reservoir of secular interest in things spiritual and religious by means of the best-selling mystery thriller “The Da Vinci Code” – so the appearance of miniature mummies, ghosts and Freddie Krugers at Hallowe’en could represent one aspect of a nagging secular suspicion that there might be something more to life than PSPs, Nikes and Chicken McNuggets®.
The main calendar event of autumn, crouching at the end of October like a black cat peering into November and the beginning of winter is Hallowe’en (a term which derives from “All Hallows Eve”).
Originally a Celtic festival, Hallowe’en is now particularly associated with America, and elements of the US version have become globalised, mainly through our familiarity with films and TV shows. The key elements of Hallowe’en are now quite familiar, although some of their significance has been lost (or mangled) in cultural translation:
(S)mashing Pumpkins
Look in the window of any shop at this time of year and the chances are you will see a sinister grinning face cut out of an enormous pumpkin – perhaps with a light inside producing a supernatural glow from the eyes and serrated teeth. (This is known in North America as a Jack-o'-lantern.)
Although pumpkins are fairly common throughout Europe and North America throughout the year they seem to come into their own at Hallowe’en. Part of the botanical family that includes zucchini, courgettes and marrows, pumpkins make excellent autumn/ winter dishes and can be sliced, diced, mashed, boiled and baked. As well as making great comfort food (something hot and filling which is quite simple and unsophisticated), pumpkins feature in the traditional Thanksgiving dinner in North America.
In Italy, pumpkins seem significant merely for their seeds - and as the source material for self-consciously foreign Jack-o'-lanterns, visible mainly in shops and bars. Zucca (Italian for pumpkin) happens to be the name of the iconic café in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele in Milan’s Piazza Duomo, where Gaspare Campari launched his eponymous drink.)
Trick or treat?
Trick or treat (often used in the phrase "to go trick or treating") is the main activity associated with Hallowe'en. Let's have a quick look at the what the words trick and treat mean first:
- A treat is something very nice (and usually unexpected). For example, if a child at school gets excellent grades in the end of year tests, their parents may take them to a theme park or the cinema as a treat. You can also treat someone to something, such as a free meal in a restaurant – or, indeed, you can treat yourself, or give yourself a treat.
(Note that treat also has the completely different meaning of “give medical attention / care to”, e.g. a doctor can treat a patient for a disease or other condition, such as chronic (long-term) backache.)
- A trick is the complete opposite. If you trick someone (or play a trick on them) it means you do something horrible to upset that person.
Conversely, trick or treat is a well-established and accepted part of North American culture (where it originates from in its modern form). People prepare for the arrival of the trick or treaters by baking little cakes and making sweets which they hand out to their ghoulish visitors. In Britain the tradition has never really been integrated into the cultural life of the nation, so people are uncertain how to react to having a gang of vampires and ghouls turn up (arrive) on their doorstep. A lot of children simply take the occasion as an opportunity to demand some loose change, while those in more deprived areas might actually use the situation as a chance to settle scores on unpopular neighbours or to terrorise older residents, many of whom don’t really understand what the whole thing is about.
(On the topic of socially-accepted forms of manic but non-threatening behaviour, I have to say that I found the celebrations in Milan for Carnevale in February something of a revelation. The soft-centred - and largely alcohol-free - daytime festivities in Piazza Duomo (intended mainly for children) are a riot with thousands of people "attacking" each other with confetti (coriandoli) and silly string – but without any of the associated tensions or public order problems that usually marr similar events in the UK (in particular the Notting Hill Carnival). I think this will be a future (seasonal) blog post.)
Monster Munch
Hallowe’en parties seem to be mainly either the preserve of either children or an excuse for clubbers to dress up as ghouls and vampires at a themed event. As with 5th November, there isn’t an associated holiday, widely-observed religious festival like Christmas (but see All Saints Day below) or critical secular moment, such as New Year’s Eve (particularly on the following day) so the prospect of a wild celebration followed by what could be a working day has little appeal to people who have already left school or have only just heard of Facebook.
However, a few traditions survive, notably traditional Hallowe’en games, such as “bobbing for apples”, which involves biting an apple floating around in a bowl of water – try it: it’s harder than it sounds.
Incidentally, All Saints Day on the 1st November and All Souls Day on the 2nd are purely religious occasions for churchgoers in the UK – very much a minority of the population. All Souls Day, which is hugely significant here in Italy, seems to be a particularly Catholic occasion. There is no UK equivalent of the streams of Italian families tidying up relatives' graves and placing bunches of fresh flowers on them in preparation for the main All Souls Day - or the all-night graveside vigils held throughout the (particularly Spanish-speaking) Catholic world.)
Is there anyone there?
Both Hallowe’en and All Souls Day are characterised by radically different ways of thinking about death, the after-life and the “other side” in general. Whereas Hallowe’en is treated as a bit of a laugh – with kids dressing up as characters from the Adams Family – All Souls Day is a serious, sombre occasion in countries where the Church is still highly influential. However, in a largely secular country like Britain – and in the non-religious sections of North American society – the “big questions” still need to be addressed: life, the universe and everything. Perhaps the folk culture of the past, pagan traditions and modern horror films that draw on ancient superstitions and legends seem more palatable to those who have little or no connection with conventional organised religion. Just as Dan Brown tapped into a vast subterranean reservoir of secular interest in things spiritual and religious by means of the best-selling mystery thriller “The Da Vinci Code” – so the appearance of miniature mummies, ghosts and Freddie Krugers at Hallowe’en could represent one aspect of a nagging secular suspicion that there might be something more to life than PSPs, Nikes and Chicken McNuggets®.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Autumn: Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving
Bringing in the sheaves
Living in a city you have a hugely distorted sense of the traditional significance of the seasons. The end of the summer and the beginning of autumn is when crops are harvested and all sorts of vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, leeks, turnips, marrows and pumpkins reach maturity. Since most types of food are available all year round (such as strawberries flown in at Christmas time) we city-dwellers have little appreciation of how the seasons shape life in the country.
The custom of the harvest festival still survives in churches (and some schools). Produce from the fields and from gardens is brought into the church and the congregation offer thanks for the natural bounty supplied by the Lord (or whoever you think supplies it – perhaps for most people in Britain it is now Tesco’s, the UK’s largest supermarket chain).
While many schools and schoolteachers are reluctant to promote religion when they lack religious convictions themselves, the harvest festival is still a feature of British school life (with or without religious overtones). It seems like a good idea to not take the food we eat for granted and to at least consider that while food may be abundant in the rich countries of the west and the northern hemisphere its scarcity is a fact of life in many other parts of the less developed (or poor) world.
I remember when I was at school that everyone would bring something from home – perhaps a tin of baked beans or a packet of biscuits and it would all be stacked on the stage for a full-school assembly (which, looking back now, must have made the headmaster and the senior teachers look slightly like delegates at a trade fair promoting a range of household brands). After the service the food would be donated to a local old people’s home or children’s home. I actually still think that’s a good thing to do – whether or not there’s an accompanying religious service.
In a similar vein, the American festival of Thanksgiving, held in November, marks the first harvest produced by the Pilgrim Fathers – the Puritan settlers who left Europe and landed in New England. Thanksgiving is only celebrated in the US (and Canada) and is a bit of a mystery to most Brits who only really know about it from films and TV programmes or the fact that Wall Street is closed for a public holiday. Thanksgiving dinner features a turkey (which is what the British have for Christmas dinner) with cranberry sauce (ditto) and pumpkin pie (which doesn’t really exist in the UK).
With a significant North American expatriate population in (west) London (due mainly, but not entirely to the phenomenal success of the romantic comedy “Notting Hill”*), some shops now cater for customers in search of typical Thanksgiving fare. A posh (high-class) butcher near Holland Park tube station (close to the London School of English, where I used to teach) has a sign in the window at this time of year advising its well-heeled stateside clientele that they can now order their Thanksgiving turkeys. I’m sure a similar offer must be made to the Americans and Canadians in Milan by at least one enterprising butcher, but I haven’t seen any firsthand evidence of this. (If you’re an American or Canadian in Milan, or a butcher, I’d love to hear.)
*Click here to see a picture of Notting Hill Underground station and other picture postcard views of London.
Living in a city you have a hugely distorted sense of the traditional significance of the seasons. The end of the summer and the beginning of autumn is when crops are harvested and all sorts of vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, leeks, turnips, marrows and pumpkins reach maturity. Since most types of food are available all year round (such as strawberries flown in at Christmas time) we city-dwellers have little appreciation of how the seasons shape life in the country.
The custom of the harvest festival still survives in churches (and some schools). Produce from the fields and from gardens is brought into the church and the congregation offer thanks for the natural bounty supplied by the Lord (or whoever you think supplies it – perhaps for most people in Britain it is now Tesco’s, the UK’s largest supermarket chain).
While many schools and schoolteachers are reluctant to promote religion when they lack religious convictions themselves, the harvest festival is still a feature of British school life (with or without religious overtones). It seems like a good idea to not take the food we eat for granted and to at least consider that while food may be abundant in the rich countries of the west and the northern hemisphere its scarcity is a fact of life in many other parts of the less developed (or poor) world.
I remember when I was at school that everyone would bring something from home – perhaps a tin of baked beans or a packet of biscuits and it would all be stacked on the stage for a full-school assembly (which, looking back now, must have made the headmaster and the senior teachers look slightly like delegates at a trade fair promoting a range of household brands). After the service the food would be donated to a local old people’s home or children’s home. I actually still think that’s a good thing to do – whether or not there’s an accompanying religious service.
In a similar vein, the American festival of Thanksgiving, held in November, marks the first harvest produced by the Pilgrim Fathers – the Puritan settlers who left Europe and landed in New England. Thanksgiving is only celebrated in the US (and Canada) and is a bit of a mystery to most Brits who only really know about it from films and TV programmes or the fact that Wall Street is closed for a public holiday. Thanksgiving dinner features a turkey (which is what the British have for Christmas dinner) with cranberry sauce (ditto) and pumpkin pie (which doesn’t really exist in the UK).
With a significant North American expatriate population in (west) London (due mainly, but not entirely to the phenomenal success of the romantic comedy “Notting Hill”*), some shops now cater for customers in search of typical Thanksgiving fare. A posh (high-class) butcher near Holland Park tube station (close to the London School of English, where I used to teach) has a sign in the window at this time of year advising its well-heeled stateside clientele that they can now order their Thanksgiving turkeys. I’m sure a similar offer must be made to the Americans and Canadians in Milan by at least one enterprising butcher, but I haven’t seen any firsthand evidence of this. (If you’re an American or Canadian in Milan, or a butcher, I’d love to hear.)
*Click here to see a picture of Notting Hill Underground station and other picture postcard views of London.
Answers to Autumn comprehension questions
How did you do? (How successful were you?) Here are the answers to the comprehension questions:
Click here to read the article on Autumn.
To read the vocabulary notes for this article click here.
ANSWERS
Click here to read the article on Autumn.
To read the vocabulary notes for this article click here.
ANSWERS
- What does it mean if you say the nights are drawing in?
If you say "the nights are drawing in" it means that it's starting to get dark earlier. Draw in is a phrasal verb. It can also mean to lure or entice, e.g. you can draw someone into a trap. You can also avoid being drawn into a long conversation with someone if you are in a hurry. - What are customs?
Customs are the traditional forms of behaviour belonging to a particular society or culture. If something is customary it means its normal for people in that society / culture to do it, e.g. it’s customary to shake hands when you meet someone.
(The word customs can also mean the gate or barrier at an aiport or border where you have to declare whether you are bringing any goods (products) into the country. You may have to pay duty on these.) - What’s the difference between autumn and fall?
Autumn is British English, while fall is American English.
(Read an article on British English vs American English.) - When does autumn officially begin?
Around the time of the autumnal equinox (21st September) - Why (according to the article) does the summer seem to end too quickly?
It always feels like autumn comes too soon because we don’t really want the summer holidays to end, but we have to return to work or school anyway. Autumn invariably marks the end of the long summer days as it starts to get darker sooner and becomes colder.
(invariably means without change, always the same) - Which events traditionally take place (happen) in the autumn? (Some of these are covered in other areas of the Milan English blog.)
The beginning of the school (and university) year; the conference season (the time when the British political parties have week-long get-togthers, usually at the seaside - although the Tory (or Conservative) party broke with tradition this year by holding its annual conference in Manchester); Parliament reassembles.
Religious events include: the Jewish New Year (followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Succoth – the Jewish equivalent of the harvest festival); the Christian Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving in North America; Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light; and the Muslim holy (sacred) month of Ramadan, when people fast (don’t eat).
Hallowe’en is on the 31st October, while the 5th November is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night (in Britain).
The most autumnal event, the article suggests, is when the clocks go back and we gain one hour: the sudden change to much shorter days and longer nights means that the summer really is over.
Vocabulary for Autumn
Here are some useful words and expressions used in the first article on Autumn in this blog:
- To get shorter means to become shorter
- If you say "the nights are drawing in" it means that it's starting to get dark earlier
- Turn yellow means become yellow. (You also say that someone has "turned thirty/forty etc" to mean they are now thirty/forty years old.)
- "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" is the first line of "To Autumn", a poem by John Keats.
- A fashionista is someone who is actively involved in the fashion industry as a designer, stylist, critic or journalist. (A person who carefully follows the newest trends in clothes and always wears the latest styles can be referred to (humorously) as a fashion victim or “a dedicated follower of fashion” from the 1966 hit song by The Kinks.)
- The word cover in the expression "that covers most people" means include here.
- Note that autumn is one of those English words with a silent letter. Don’t say the “n” at the end of autumn. (It’s almost impossible to pronounce autumn with a final /n/ sound, anyway). However, in the adjective autumnal you do say the “n”.
- Another word with a final silent “n” is hymn - a song you sing in church – not to be confused with an anthem, meaning a national song, e.g. God Save the Queen, the National Anthem of the UK. (The national anthem is often played on state occasions, at major sporting events and at some cultural events such as the Last Night of the Proms, a concert of patriotic music held in the Albert Hall in London closing the annual season of Promenade concerts.)
- If you opt for something, you choose it. (Think of the word option - a possible choice.)
- I was going to start explaining what the autumnal equinox is. I then realised that I didn't really know what it was (a common situation for English teachers in class, who despite all appearances don't know everything) although I knew it was something to do with the position of the sun. So I looked it up and read about the autumnal equinox on Wikipedia which I suggest you do yourself - and see if you can fare any better. Note that its springtime equivalent is called the vernal equinox.
- (See previous note) If you look something up it means you (try and) find it in a dictionary, encyclopedia, etc. The word fare in the phrase to fare well / badly / better / worse means do or succeed / fail, e.g. The governing party fared badly in the election, losing to the main opposition party by 23%.
- trust their own senses: Your senses include your sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. If you trust your (own) senses it means you rely on the physical impressions you receive from the world around you (e.g. if you see the leaves turning yellow this a good indication that it is autumn)
- Bureaucratic: always with a negative connotation in English. The nouns bureaucracy and bureaucrats are generally used with the implication that all this "red tape" (a synonym for bureaucracy) isn’t really necessary. Note that civil servants in Brussels are often referred to disparagingly (in a rather offensive way) as eurocrats in British newspapers and by some politicians.
- A calendar is a printed "book" with one page for each month showing all the days of the month in rows representing weeks. You usually hang a calendar on the wall and they can be illustrated with pictures of nature, cityscapes, Jennifer Lopez, etc. A diary is a small book you write your appointments in. (Be careful! This is not an agenda, which is, in fact, a list of topics you have to discuss at a meeting).
- The seasons are spring, summer, autumn / fall and winter. If you buy a ticket to watch your football team during the football season or an annual train ticket this is known as a season ticket. “The season” is an old-fashioned phrase referring to the calendar of high class British sporting and social events, such as Royal Ascot, the Boat Race and various balls and parties (originally for aristocrats but now featuring a large number of celebrities, models and reality TV contestants).
- A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in various combinations of stanzas (verses) and displaying complex rhyming patterns. (Both Shakespeare and Petrarch wrote sonnets). Shakespeare’s sonnets are a cycle of poems dealing mainly with love and mortality (death), which feature his famous “Dark Lady” (most probably not his wife). Sonnet 18 (arguably the most famous love poem in English opens with the line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”. (Thee means you and is the old “familiar” form of the 2nd person, equivalent to Italian “tu”. Note that shall is normally used – as here – in a question form to make a suggestion.) Shakespeare compares his lover to a day in summer, finding that she (or he, as some critics argue) is “more lovely and more temperate”. The image of “summer’s lease” refers to a legal contract for a house which has a fixed date on it. (People in Britain usually buy leasehold houses, which means that when the lease expires (ends) the property returns to the leaseholder. A lease is typically for 99 or 999 years, although leases for commercial properties can be as short as 15 or even 10 years. You can sometimes buy the lease, in which case the property is called freehold.) When Shakespeare says that the lease of summer "hath (has) all too short a date" it means that the summer ends too quickly. The summer also refers to the period in the lover's life when they are young and beautiful. Sonnet 18 concludes (finishes) with the couplet (a pair of rhyming lines – the standard way that Shakespeare ends his sonnets):
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This means that as long as men (people) can use their senses and can read this poem then Shakespeare’s lover will continue to live through the sonnet – because when people read the poem they will think about the lover. (This linguistically complex and psychologically adroit (skilful) style is typical of Shakespeare’s sonnets and of Elizabethan poetry in general.
Autumn
The days are getting shorter and the nights are drawing in; the leaves on the trees are turning yellow, red and brown; and nearly everyone has gone back to work or to school: it’s autumn. In the first of a series of articles English teacher Robert Dennis looks at some of the customs and festivals associated with the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.
Click here to see the vocabulary notes for this article. There are also some comprehension questions on this page at the end of the article (and you can see the answers here).
Autumn or fall?
In British English we call this season autumn; in the United States it’s generally known as fall. If you’re a keen “fashionista” (and here in Milan that covers most people) you will notice that some brands have an autumn/ winter collection, while others opt for a fall/winter one. (The collections, of course, have been presented long before autumn - or fall - arrives). Luckily, spring and summer have the same names on both sides of the Atlantic.
When does autumn actually begin?
There are, in fact, “official” dates for when the seasons start: technically, autumn starts at around the time of the autumnal equinox (21st September). However, most people will probably trust their own senses rather than a bureaucratic calendar to tell them when the seasons change.
The end of summer always seems to come quite quickly. As Shakespeare noted in Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) "summer’s lease hath all too short a date”. Perhaps because it signals the end of the holidays and the return to normality, we all psychologically will the summer to continue; but it never does. For me, seeing shop windows full of new school uniforms, pencil cases and geometry sets is the sign that summer is about to end and the autumn set to begin.
Even though it is closer to the end of the calendar year, autumn marks the beginning of the academic year for schools and universities. It is also the period when politicians return to Westminster after the party conference season for the pageantry of the State Opening of Parliament (when the Queen rides in a gold coach drawn by six white horses and reads a speech written for her by the Prime Minister). This is also when the Jewish New Year begins, the Hindu festival of Diwali is celebrated and the month-long fast of Ramadan occurs.
But maybe the most dramatic change that really marks the end of summer and the start of autumn proper is the end of British Summer Time (BST) when the clocks go back one hour, returning to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): the sudden, premature curtailing of the day earlier in the evening has the psychological effect of a curfew or blackout being imposed; in effect, the long summer nights have been cut in half and there is little attraction in braving the low temperatures and gloom of the night simply for the benefit of being outside. (Although if you’re in the centre of Milan at this time of year you can sit under a canopy outside one of the swanky bars in Corso Vittorio Emmanule II (a pedestrianised shopping street near the Duomo) and roast in the crimson glow of a patio heater while you sip your coffee – and breathe in other people's cigarette smoke, which (thankfully) is unnecessary if you are inside the bar itself.)
Read the vocabulary notes for this article.
Comprehension questions for Autumn:
How much of this article did you understand? See if you can answer these questions and then look at the answers:
Check out the vocabulary for this article or read the next article in the series: Autumn: Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving
Click here to see the vocabulary notes for this article. There are also some comprehension questions on this page at the end of the article (and you can see the answers here).
Autumn or fall?
In British English we call this season autumn; in the United States it’s generally known as fall. If you’re a keen “fashionista” (and here in Milan that covers most people) you will notice that some brands have an autumn/ winter collection, while others opt for a fall/winter one. (The collections, of course, have been presented long before autumn - or fall - arrives). Luckily, spring and summer have the same names on both sides of the Atlantic.
When does autumn actually begin?
There are, in fact, “official” dates for when the seasons start: technically, autumn starts at around the time of the autumnal equinox (21st September). However, most people will probably trust their own senses rather than a bureaucratic calendar to tell them when the seasons change.
The end of summer always seems to come quite quickly. As Shakespeare noted in Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) "summer’s lease hath all too short a date”. Perhaps because it signals the end of the holidays and the return to normality, we all psychologically will the summer to continue; but it never does. For me, seeing shop windows full of new school uniforms, pencil cases and geometry sets is the sign that summer is about to end and the autumn set to begin.
Even though it is closer to the end of the calendar year, autumn marks the beginning of the academic year for schools and universities. It is also the period when politicians return to Westminster after the party conference season for the pageantry of the State Opening of Parliament (when the Queen rides in a gold coach drawn by six white horses and reads a speech written for her by the Prime Minister). This is also when the Jewish New Year begins, the Hindu festival of Diwali is celebrated and the month-long fast of Ramadan occurs.
But maybe the most dramatic change that really marks the end of summer and the start of autumn proper is the end of British Summer Time (BST) when the clocks go back one hour, returning to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): the sudden, premature curtailing of the day earlier in the evening has the psychological effect of a curfew or blackout being imposed; in effect, the long summer nights have been cut in half and there is little attraction in braving the low temperatures and gloom of the night simply for the benefit of being outside. (Although if you’re in the centre of Milan at this time of year you can sit under a canopy outside one of the swanky bars in Corso Vittorio Emmanule II (a pedestrianised shopping street near the Duomo) and roast in the crimson glow of a patio heater while you sip your coffee – and breathe in other people's cigarette smoke, which (thankfully) is unnecessary if you are inside the bar itself.)
Read the vocabulary notes for this article.
Comprehension questions for Autumn:
How much of this article did you understand? See if you can answer these questions and then look at the answers:
- What does it mean if you say the nights are drawing in?
- What are customs?
- What’s the difference between autumn and fall?
- When does autumn officially begin?
- Why (according to the article) does the summer seem to end too quickly?
- Which events traditionally take place (happen) in the autumn? (Some of these are covered in other areas of the Milan English blog).
Check out the vocabulary for this article or read the next article in the series: Autumn: Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Vocabulary for Milan English blog
Here are some of the most useful phrases from Milan English blog with explanations and language notes.
based in
If you are "based in" a country, city or town it means you live and work there.
I am based in Milan.
check out (phrasal verb)
This means to look at / examine / try / sample / evaluate.
Check out this article on British English v American English.
currently
This means "now / at the moment" (attualmente in Italian). Don't confuse this with "actually" which means "really" (veramente / infatti / davvero etc).
Fluent (as in "She speaks fluent English" translates Italian "corrente".
Examples:
Janice is currently based in Singapore.
I thought he was single, but actually he's married.
Keith is a fluent Portuguese speaker.
based in
If you are "based in" a country, city or town it means you live and work there.
I am based in Milan.
check out (phrasal verb)
This means to look at / examine / try / sample / evaluate.
Check out this article on British English v American English.
currently
This means "now / at the moment" (attualmente in Italian). Don't confuse this with "actually" which means "really" (veramente / infatti / davvero etc).
Fluent (as in "She speaks fluent English" translates Italian "corrente".
Examples:
Janice is currently based in Singapore.
I thought he was single, but actually he's married.
Keith is a fluent Portuguese speaker.
British English vs American English
 |
| Nations divided by a common language? |
It is often said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language. Yes, we both speak English: but sometimes there seem to be more differences than similarities between the way the language is used on either side of the Atlantic.
Trousers or pants?
One of the most common areas of confusion is in the words we use for clothes. For example, an Englishman wears trousers, while an American wears pants. In Britain ‘pants’ are what you wear under your trousers, but American men wear shorts. But just to make things really confusing, ‘shorts’ are what the English wear when they play sport, while in the US people wear short pants.
Just as confusing is what you wear to work. In Britain an executive wears a jacket; but in America this would be called a coat. Now, an English person also wears a coat – but this is the long garment you wear over your suit in the winter. Some men wear a waistcoat in Britain (a “jacket” without sleeves) under their jacket; Americans wear a vest. As you can see, lot of the confusion comes from the fact that the same words are used on both sides of the Atlantic with different meanings.
Chips with everything
Food words can cause a lot of problems as well. The English, as everyone knows, enjoy eating fish and chips. But if you ask for chips in America you will get thin slices of potato fried in oil in a bag, which we call crisps. To get (British) chips in the United States you should ask for fries (or French fries).Our biscuits are called cookies in America, and what we call jam (preserved fruit you put on bread) is jelly in the US. (Our ‘jelly’ is American jello – a wobbly dessert often served at children’s parties).
Drive my car (or automobile)
Americans have two words for a car: the word ‘car’ itself (which we use) and the rather grand-sounding automobile which is hardly ever used here. (An old-fashioned word for car in Britain is motor-car, but no American would use this). If you want to look at the engine of the car you need to open the bonnet (at the front); an American opens the hood. At the back there is the boot (English) or the trunk (American) where you put your luggage. And if you want to go anywhere you need to put petrol in your car here in Britain, while “over there” in the States you need gas (or gasoline).
Buildings
The first thing to note about buildings in the US and the UK is that American buildings are one floor shorter than British ones. (Or to be more precise, our ground floor is their first floor, our first floor is their second floor, etc). English people who live in the city usually have a flat; the equivalent in the States is an apartment. To reach your flat / apartment you might climb the stairs – but it’s quicker if you take the lift (GB) or the elevator (US). Oh – and if you need to “answer the call of nature”, ask your host for the toilet (UK) or the bathroom (US). (This can be quite confusing for Brits, as it sometimes sounds like their American guests want to take a bath. It gets even more confusing when Americans ask for the rest room – which is just another way of avoiding saying the word ‘toilet’, which many Americans find very embarrassing).
Just seen or just saw?
Most of the differences between British and American English are differences of vocabulary. There are, however, some small but important grammatical differences as well. The main one is that while an English person would say, “I have just seen him” (present perfect), an American can say, “I just saw him” (past simple). (If you say this in a British English class, your teacher will probably correct you – because we don’t use the past simple with words like just and already – we use the present perfect.
How do you spell that?
There are also some important spelling differences. Some nouns that end in –our in British English (e.g. colour, honour, humour, labour, etc) lose the ‘u’ in American English: color, honor, humor, labor. Travelling in Britain is traveling (with one ‘l’) in America. You will also find that some verbs ending in –ise in British English (e.g. specialise) nearly always end in –ize in American English (specialize). (Although you can spell specialize with a ‘z’ in British English as well).
A game of two halves
Both Britons and Americans have a game called football. Our game (played by nearly every country in the world) uses a round ball and you kick the ball into a net. In America this is called soccer. American football is more like rugby, with an oval-shaped ball that you can touch with your hand. While rugby has yet to make any impact in America (probably because American football is so well-established), soccer is becoming increasingly popular (especially since David Beckham joined LA Galaxy). Soccer in America is seen mainly as a game for children (who are often taken to matches by soccer moms – middle class women with children). A significant cultural difference between our two countries is that the concept of the football hooligan doesn’t yet exist in the US.
Global language
As you can see, there are quite a few differences between British and American English – and with more new words being added to the language almost every day, the list of differences keeps growing. Of course, British English is like every other language in the world since many American English expressions (e.g. coffee-shop rather than café, and movie as an alternative to the more British film) are becoming standardised in the language. (Or should that be ’standardized’?)
© Robert Dennis 2007
Pictures of Milan
Check out (look at / examine) some of my photos of Milan on Flickr, the photo-sharing website, and read the comments / captions. (The Italian words stamped over the images are all verb forms, which I used as watermarks).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371200@N04/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371200@N04/
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Choosing a good dictionary
If you are serious about learning English, it's a really good idea to invest in a modern monolingual (English-English) learner’s dictionary. As you would expect for the “global language” there is a huge market in English dictionaries for learners. It’s not vitally important which one you choose because most of the learner's dictionaries from the major UK publishers are quite similar. Two of the most popular, however, seem to be the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) and the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD) so I’ll make a few observations here about these two bestsellers, but my comments can apply generally to any learner’s dictionary you may be considering buying.
As with most products aimed at a mass market the Longman Contemporary and Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionaries are both much of a muchness (similar). (If you are interested in marketing you will probably recognise a very familiar phenomenon: that the market leader and market challenger (or follower) distinguish themselves in terms of additional features and branding because they are essentially the same product or commodity.)
Go into the bookshop and compare some different dictionaries. Selecting a dictionary is a bit like choosing a mobile phone: most of them have similar functions and design features, but you have to go with the one that feels right for you. You can actually develop a very personal relationship with a dictionary – you will spend a lot of time thumbing and leafing your way through it; you may carry it round with you; and at odd moments you can often find yourself flicking through it at random, spotting unfamiliar words and re-reading definitions of words you already know – but with the added depth and richness of familiarity that comes with studying English over time. (It’s a bit like fiddling with your mobile phone when you’re waiting for a train and by chance you discover the function that turns predictive text on and off or changes the menu language to Finnish – which of course makes it almost impossible to change it back to the original language).
A key consideration when buying a dictionary is the size – and the weight! Are you going to carry it round with you in your bag? Is it going to sit on your desk within easy reach when you are studying? It may perhaps be a good idea to have a larger desk dictionary for home (or at the office) and a smaller one that you can keep on you when you’re out and about. (If you have an iPhone, a smart-phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) you can also download software for accessing a portable, mobile dictionary).
As with all self-study materials, the basic rule of thumb is go and look at the books, pick them up and find something you like. Ask your friends and colleagues if they can recommend useful resources. (And, of course, if you find something really good, don’t keep it to yourself. Post a comment here on the Milan English blog!)
Note: You can access both of the dictionaries discussed here by clicking on the links above. Both have websites that allow you to search for any word in the dictionary and get (complete?) results, including pronunciation.
As with most products aimed at a mass market the Longman Contemporary and Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionaries are both much of a muchness (similar). (If you are interested in marketing you will probably recognise a very familiar phenomenon: that the market leader and market challenger (or follower) distinguish themselves in terms of additional features and branding because they are essentially the same product or commodity.)
Go into the bookshop and compare some different dictionaries. Selecting a dictionary is a bit like choosing a mobile phone: most of them have similar functions and design features, but you have to go with the one that feels right for you. You can actually develop a very personal relationship with a dictionary – you will spend a lot of time thumbing and leafing your way through it; you may carry it round with you; and at odd moments you can often find yourself flicking through it at random, spotting unfamiliar words and re-reading definitions of words you already know – but with the added depth and richness of familiarity that comes with studying English over time. (It’s a bit like fiddling with your mobile phone when you’re waiting for a train and by chance you discover the function that turns predictive text on and off or changes the menu language to Finnish – which of course makes it almost impossible to change it back to the original language).
A key consideration when buying a dictionary is the size – and the weight! Are you going to carry it round with you in your bag? Is it going to sit on your desk within easy reach when you are studying? It may perhaps be a good idea to have a larger desk dictionary for home (or at the office) and a smaller one that you can keep on you when you’re out and about. (If you have an iPhone, a smart-phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) you can also download software for accessing a portable, mobile dictionary).
As with all self-study materials, the basic rule of thumb is go and look at the books, pick them up and find something you like. Ask your friends and colleagues if they can recommend useful resources. (And, of course, if you find something really good, don’t keep it to yourself. Post a comment here on the Milan English blog!)
Note: You can access both of the dictionaries discussed here by clicking on the links above. Both have websites that allow you to search for any word in the dictionary and get (complete?) results, including pronunciation.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Welcome to the Milan English blog
Hi! This is the first post on the Milan English blog, created by Robert Dennis, an English teacher based in Milan. If you are studying English - or if you are an EFL teacher - you may find this blog useful. (The level of the language is quite high, so beginners may want to try something a little easier.)
The Milan English blog will cover lots of English-related topics, such as:
The Milan English blog will cover lots of English-related topics, such as:
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Using English
- Where to find online materials
- Self-study resources
- Links to useful English-language websites and blogs
- Cultural notes and discussions about Britain and the US
- Anything that crops up (Phrasal verb: happens / appears by chance) in class
Please feel free to comment, ask questions about English, make suggestions about how to use the material on this blog and post links to anything you think other learners (or teachers) might find useful.
A few quick points about netiquette (good manners on the web):
- Keep comments relevant and related to English, learning English and related topics.
- This is a publically-viewable blog, so anything you write here can be viewed by anyone.
- In the spirit of Web 2.0 (the "social web") all the ideas and comments will be of benefit to people studying English anywhere in the world - so if you comment here you are contributing to a global conversation about English.
- Talk about yourself and your interests, but remember that once that you publish something to the web anyone can read it - and it will always be out there.
- Obviously, avoid making derrogatory or inflammatory remarks that could cause offence.
- Please respect copyright. Don't cut and paste huge chunks of copyright material from existing websites or blogs. Write a short introduction and use a link to the site or blog you are referring to. (Similarly, if you reading this on the web, please don't copy whole blocks of text. Show some link love by using a hyperlink to the Milan English blog. Thanks.)
Have fun! The most important thing about learning English is to enjoy it. Get involved in the discussions, ask an English-related question and practise expressing your opinions.
I hope you will find this blog useful and I welcome any comments or queries you may have about any of the English topics raised here.
Best wishes,
Robert Dennis
Milan, October 2009
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