Tubby Clayton

Philip 'Tubby' Clayton WW1 Army Chaplin opened a behind the lines club for British soldiers in 1915. Based in Poperinge it was named Talbert House after Lt Talbert of the Rifle Brigade and son of the Bishop of Winchester who was killed at Ypres in 1915. Soldiers could meet and relax regardless of rank - 'All rank abandon ye who enter here.' In those days the signal code for T was Toc not Tango so Talbert House became known as Toc H - the Army loves abbreviations. Toc H wagons began to deliver food extras and tea to troops near the front line, continuing this activity in WW2. Its symbol the Lamp became instantly recognisable to troops. If you wanted to accuse a fellow soldier of being a bit slow you would say he was ' as dim as aToc H lamp'

In 1922 Clayton became vicar of All Hallows by the Tower. He also relaunched Toc H as an international Christian friendship organisation and and became heavily involved with the Tower Hill Improvement Trust. In this capacity he was responsible for the Statue of the Roman Emperor Trajan that stands in Wakefield Gardens in front of one of the best remaining sections of London's Roman Wall. He found it in a scrap yard in Southampton and brought it back to stand in this Roman setting. (Trajan unlike his successor Hadrian never visited Britain - the current Hadrian exhibition at the BM is a must see)

All Hallows today contains the cremated remains of many Toc H members and the 'Lamp of Maintenance' from which all other Toc H lamps are lit.

Of Mayors and Monuments

When the position of Mayor of London was created the elected representative was given responsibility for Trafalgar Square. Arguments over its statuary have dominated all reportage. Firstly Ken talked of generals in the Square he had never heard of. He meant Henry Havelock -the first statue to have been created from a photograph- an officer who fought in the Sikh Wars and the Indian Mutiny and the companion piece James Napier most famous for the conquest of the province of Sind in India. They have been there since the mid-nineteenth century and Havelock even features in Zadie Smith's book White Teeth.(See below) Ken of course was preparing the way for his proposal to have a statue of Nelson Mandela in the Square. Westminster Council preferred that it be outside South Africa House. A savage war of words ensured and Prescott was called in to referee! Eventually Mandela's second representation in London went up in Parliament Square close to that other S.A. statesman Jan Smuts. He is also close that other black icon Martin Luther King. Look at the statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey. They may look like they have been there for centuries but they are the Christian Martyrs of the twentieth century and the one in the middle is King. He visited London in 1964 on route to Oslo to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize and spoke at St Paul's Cathedral.

Onto the debate about the empty fourth plinth. Should there be a permanent figure on it or should it continue a revolving site for Modern Art. Before the last Mayoral election a campaign was building for a statue to go up of WW2 RAF hero Sir Keith Park on the plinth and Boris backed the idea only to change his mind once elected. The Art will continue and Park will be honoured elsewhere. Hyde Park could even be renamed after him( yes he said that) But what Art? A competition came up with two winners. Anthony Gormley will get people to stand on it for an hour for a hundred day period and Yinka Shonibare will exhibit his replica of HMS Victory in a bottle(a worthy winner). So Nelson will look down on his old ship, tool of his great victory and the site of his death. His demise is depicted on the carving at the base of his column, the one facing down Whitehall. A close look at this reveals a black seaman returning the fire of the French snipers. Black sailors were quite common in the British Navy of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The famous anti-slavery campaigner Olaudah Equiano sailed with Nelson.

The obvious candidate for the fourth plinth is a woman. In 1897 a statue of actress Sarah Siddons was put up in Paddington Green. The first woman outside Royalty to be immortalised in London. The subsequent years have not brought many more - Boudicca, Cavell, Nightingale, Pankhurst, Mrs Booth, the Women of WW2 and surgeon Louisa Aldrich-Blake. Struggling to think of anymore stand alone exterior statues of women. Lets put up a statue of this underrepresented half of the human race in the centre of the capital. Who should it be? Time for public debate.

Used the term Indian Mutiny earlier. The British have always viewed the events that started on the 10th May 1857 in military terms. It was a mutiny of one of the East Indian Company's armies in India supported by some Indian Princes with grievances. The other armies remained loyal and the principle warrior races of the sub-continent fought on the British side. Today many Indians see it as a War of Independence which united Muslim and Hindu against a common enemy. The truth is probably somewhere in between - perhaps its time to come up with another name for the uprising. There is a Havelock Road in Southall, with a pub of the same name, that leads to the the new Gurdwara and Asian councillors on the governing Ealing Council sometimes lobby to have the road's name changed. Well councillors I'd look at upgrading your rubbish and council tax collection first or restarting the funding of the animal rescue centre in Walpole Park. Saw a poster in Southall about a year ago on the subject of the Havelock Road renaming campaign claiming that the Sikhs had fought the British during the Mutiny - not the case.

Warrior of Rome - Fire in the East

For all you fans of Roman and military history let me recommend this 2008 novel by Dr Harry Sidebottom. It is unusual in the fact that it deals with Rome's eastern frontier (where for centuries Rome fought the Parthian and later the Persian Empires) and that it is set in the third century AD.

Most Roman military fictions are set in the last days of the Republic or the early days of the Empire either in Rome or Britain. In the third century things were going badly for Rome. Usurpers were murdering Emperors at a rapid rate. Britain and Gaul broke away for a decade. An Emperor was killed fighting the Goths and another captured by the Persians. Yet the Empire survived.

The hero of the story is Roman General Marcus Clodius Ballista. There was a real life Ballista on the eastern front at this time who defeated the Persians and captured the Persian King's harem. Indeed in the book his harem is penetrated(sic) during a night raid by Ballista's troops. Fictional Ballista speaks Latin, Greek, his native Anglo-Saxon and a form of Celtic to his bodyguard. And also Persian well enough to fool his enemies in a life or death situation. That was stretching the storyline a bit far for me and also why did the ultimate betrayers follow their mad leader to disaster? But don't be put off. This is a real page turner, excellent reading which can't be put down.

Saw a fellow on the tube the other day reading Ancient Warfare - a very short introduction by Harry Sidebottom published by Oxford. It could be worth a read.

Woolwich Arsenal

The Royal Artillery is leaving Woolwich and London. As a legacy of this very long association London has been left with the Firepower Museum and Arsenal Football Club. Just before the Second World War Woolwich Arsenal was the victim of spies. The story centres on one Olga Gray a respectable middle class lady from Ealing with left- wing views. She worked on a Pacifist newspaper and was a member of the 'Friends of the Soviet Union'. Moscow spymasters recruited her as an agent and she worked at assisting Indian Communists.

In 1937 she was asked to rent a house in Holland Park This was to be used as a Soviet safe house. Plans for a new navy gun were stolen from Woolwich Arsenal and taken to Holland Park to be photographed

Unfortunately for the Communists Olga was a British double agent and her information smashed the Woolwich Arsenal spy ring.

Nawab

A Nawab was an extremely wealthy , high status governor or nobleman of the Mogul Empire in India and the term was used in the form Nabob to describe the eighteenth century British who returned home from the sub-continent having made a fortune. They liked to display their wealth and would promenade along Jermyn Street( now famous for shirts) parallel with Piccadilly dressed in Indian style dress and covered in jewelery.

While there is no statue of a Nabob in Jermyn Street today it is fitting that there is one of that dandy and leader of 18th/19th century fashion George Bryan 'Beau' Brumell.

William Hogarth

The recent resignation of David Davis over increased detention for terrorist suspects has let to a debate as to how he can be so strongly against this and be in favour of the death penalty. Yet history often shows that people have complex belief systems. William Hogarth, the father of English Painting, was an interesting character. Arch xenophobe with a particular hatred of the French and Roman Catholic Church. Yet he had no problem depicting some of eighteenth century London's black population in his pictures of capital life. He was extremely concerned with children's welfare and was an early campaigner for animal rights.

You can see his 'Roast Beef of Olde England' in Tate Britain and his bust in Leicester Square. There is a lot on him in the Foundling Museum. But probably the best place to soak up Hogarth is in Chiswick. See his statue in the main road, his grave in St Nicholas' churchyard and visit his house near the roundabout named after him

Hadrian's Wall

Reading English Heritage's book on Hadrian's Wall I was surprised by its scope, considering it is really a guide with lots of of pictures. (You'll probably be able to pick it up on Amazon quite cheaply). It quickly demolishes the two great myths of the Wall - that it was like a medieval castle constantly under attack from tribes to the north. These would have been met by a Roman field army long before they got near the Wall, if they had massed to attack in huge numbers and there is no evidence they ever did. Myth 2 - that it was staffed by Romans from Italy who must have shivered to death in the cold of northern Britain. In reality soldiers were recruited locally.

It touches on the Wall's affect on the locals, its later history and covers over sites in the area like South Shields, Wallsend, Corbridge and Vindolanda. The Wall beyond Housesteads is explained and there is a section on the Turf Wall. It could have mentioned the Roman Army Museum in passing and used the Latin term Vicus to describe the civilian settlements that sprung up next to the forts but these are minor points.

One thing that is highlighted very well is the need to think in colour when looking at Roman remains. The reconstructed Bath House at Walls End and the representation of the Temple of Mithras in the Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle show the bright colours of Roman interiors.

Its the same for other ancient civilisations. The next time you are in the British Museum looking at Assyrian carvings or the Marbles themselves look beyond the grey and think colour.

Museum ( Brands, Packaging and Advertising )

If you are in the Westbourne Grove area of London you might like to take in this collection tucked into a mews towards Notting Hill. Its about three years old and its the Robert Opie Collection that used to be in Gloucester. My first thought looking at the goods and games, the bottles and boxes, the posters and postcards was that I hope it survives this time. Museums and collections like everything in London come and go but there are some major food and drink sponsors and Opie's collection is too important to disappear completely. Its not just a mass of household items from kitchens and shops of the past there is social history lurking here. Its well stocked( no pun intended) with some valuable stuff on show from original Star Trek toys to WW1 Crested China. Its come along way since that first munchie wrapper. Long may it inform and entertain and confront middle aged visitors with their childhood.

Colville Mews Lonsdale Road W11 Tuesday-Sunday Admission charge

Emanuel Swedenborg

The old dispute between the established Church and William Blake's 'Jerusalem' recently resurfaced in the press. This is often written up as the trendy liberal C of E attempting to to ban the patriotic hymn. But really the ill feeling runs much deeper. Blake in his time was a thorn in the Church's side rejecting the doctrine of God as Lord and objecting to the Church suppressing natural desire and discouraging earthly joy.

To make matters worse Blake was for a long time influenced by the 17th/18th century Swedish scientist and Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg believed in life on other planets and his book Heaven and Hell recounted the six steps of man's birth from a materialistic to a spiritual being. To him the Trinity was not a Trinity of persons, there was one God the Lord Jesus. Salvation had to come through faith and charity not faith alone. He spoke of a New Jerusalem symbolising a new era in God's relationship with humans. It was enough to earn him a heresy trial in Sweden.

Was Blake's Jerusalem influenced by Swedenborg? - there is considerable debate but the possibility hardly endears Blake with the church establishment. If you want to know more about Emanuel then it is possible to do a Swedenborg trip across London. He has a street and open space named after him in the shadow of The Tower- just off the famous Cable Street you will find Swedenborg Gardens. It contains a memorial to the first Swedish Church in London where Emanuel was buried before repatriation to Sweden. Onto Holborn where you will find the Swedenborg Society at 20/21 Bloomsbury Way WC1. Pick up a book by him or on him. Further west in Pembridge Villas at the end of Westbourne Grove you will find a bricks and mortar example of the New Church a movement based on Swedenborg's idea's.