What Every Eight Month Old Needs...

In a blatant attempt to increase my Vatican City visitor stats, I bring you news from the Big Man who was visited by the Queen yesterday.

You know how difficult it is when you're visited by elderly monarchs with new great-grandchildren?  Well this was the Pope's solution...

The Queen, who has a dry sense of humour, reportedly replied (and you have to do this in the voice...) “That’s very nice, he will be thrilled.... when he’s a little older.”

Faced with an addition to the Crown Jewels, HM reciprocated with some Sandringham chutney and a bottle of whisky (hey, what priest doesn't like whisky?).  History doesn't relate if she also brought some of those nice biscuits that Prince Charles sells.  Mind you, she's done better than President Obama, who brought a packet of seeds when he popped in.

"Oh, a box of straw.  Just what I wanted!"

Books and Stuff - Dec 2013

A monthly round-up of my book news.

What I've been reading...

I finally finished How to Seize A Dragon's Jewell, one of Cressida Cowell's 'How to Train Your Dragon' Series.  I'm not one of those adults who customarily reads children's books, but my wife bought me this as a lighthearted birthday present, knowing that dragons and I have a history.

There are two things to note: first, this is the tenth in the series; and secondly, the story background is different from that of the DreamWorks film.  Neither of these spoiled my enjoyment of the book (I also enjoyed the film).  I would think that it would be ideal for bedtime stories.  The chapters are a good length, and generally build up to exciting climaxes; add to this some great characters and dialogue and you've all the excuse you need to put on some silly voices.  The authors illustrations are nicely idiosyncratic too.

I'm going to look out for other books in this series and I also read the little book How to Train Your Viking.

Completely different is Paul Vallely's Pope Francis: Untying the Knots, which I've also finished.  As I studied the modern church at university, I've read many papal biographies.  It's a good rule of thumb that any biography written in the first year of a papacy is going to be hagiographical pap or a complete hatchet-job (sadly, some popes never progress any further - decent biography of Pius XI anyone?).

This is neither.  It's a well-written piece of investigative journalism that explores the paradox of Francis: how the authoritarian Jesuit Provincial in 1970s Argentina became everyone's favorite liberal uncle and advocate of the 'option for the poor'.  For Vallely the crux is the case of the two Jesuits imprisoned by the junta after they were disowned by Bergoglio.  His critics have used this case to level charges of collaboration against him: Vallely convincingly dismisses these charges, but argues that his naivete in saying that he no longer considered the men Jesuits gave the green light for the government to arrest them.  Vallely considers that Francis has been trying to atone ever since.

An important book on Francis' pre-papal career.

I also read the Journal of the Life Saving Awards Research Society (which had a couple of my own contributions in it) and started Giles Foden, Ladysmith.

What I've bought...

Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Viking - 30p

Rose George, Deep Sea and Foreign Going - £1.00
Mike Hally, Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age - £1.50
Mike Palmer, Eddystone: The Finger of Light - £2.00

Books for free!

From the One Man and His Brushes giveaway and Christmas gifts.

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

Chris Martin, A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
Rebecca Rushforth, St Margaret's Gospel-Book: The Favorite Book of an Eleventh Century Queen of Scots
Andrew Salmon, To The Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea 1951
Nigel Slater, Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food

Books and Stuff

A regular round-up of my book news.

What I've read this month...

Cressida Cowell, How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel
Paul Vallely, Pope Francis: Untying the Knots

What I've bought this month....

John Carnell (ed), SF-2: New Writings in SF-2 - 50p
Arthur C Clarke, The Deep Range - 50p
H L Gold (ed), The Fourth Galaxy Reader - 50p

Journal of the Life Saving Awards Society, No 78
Alan Gallop, The Martians are Coming!  The true story of Orson Welles' 1938 Panic Broadcast - £3.99
Arthur Ponsonby, Henry Ponsonby: Queen Victoria's Private Secretary - £1.50
Graham Sleight, The Doctor's Monsters: Meanings of the Monstrous in Doctor Who - £3.99
Tom Steel, The Life and Death of St Kilda - 50p

Books and Stuff

My weekly round-up of book news.

What I've read this week...

I carried on with Untying the Knots, A Pound of Paper and Minutes of the Suffolk Humane Society.  Which sounds like I've done a lot of reading, but I haven't.  I have had each of those open at some stage though.

What I've bought this week...

Nothing.  My austerity drive continues.

Donald Featherstone

Donald Featherstone and Stan Aspinal

A lot has been written on the wargaming blogs about Donald Featherstone since his death last weekend.  I haven't anything to add as I can't claim to have been influenced by him.  I have a couple of his books (military history rather than wargaming), but I haven't yet read them.

I am interested in the history of the hobby though, and the best thing I've read this week about Featherstone's contribution is a typically thoughtful piece on Rear Guard Action which puts him in a larger context.

Books and Stuff

What I've Read this Week

I carried on with Pope Francis: Untying the Knots.

What I've Bought this Week...

A B Demaus (ed), Letters from HMS Britannia: William Lambert and the Late Victorian Navy - £2.99
Rudyard Kipling, A Fleet in Being: Notes of Two Trips with the Channel Squadron - £3.00
Rudyard Kipling, The Fringes of the Fleet - £3.00
Mark Mower, Zeppelin Over Suffolk: The Final Raid of L48 - £4.99

I'm particularly pleased with the Kiplings - the Fleet in Being is a 1898 [first?] edition with a nice cover picture by Norman Wilkinson (one of his earliest published works), and the Fringes of the Fleet is a 1916 edition (the third printing).

Books and Stuff

What I've been reading this week...

I finished Patrick Moore, 80 Not Out: The Autobiography.

Not so much an autobiography as as series of reminiscences about his career: he famously covers the first 25 years of his life in three pages, and though he keeps mentioning the his RAF service and the fact his finacee was killed in the war, he doesn't tell us anything about it.  This perhaps is not such a bad thing - after all it's his career is of interest, and he is able to tell us something about all the major events in astronomy and space exploration in the second half of the C20th.

Where he does move away from the stars, I'm sorry to say that he comes across as a deeply odd, and quite immature, man.  Perhaps the hints he gives about his upbringing explain this: it would be nice to know more.  All in all, this made me feel like reading a proper biography of him!

A warning:  although he claims not to be right wing, his views on sexual and racial equality should not be read by the faint of heart!

Moore features on the Interesting Obits section of the blog.

I carried on reading Untying the Knots and started John Baxter, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict.

What I bought this week...

Nothing!  Austerity hits the bookshelves.

Books and Stuff

What I've been reading this week...

I carried on with Patrick Moore, 80 No Out, and started Paul Vallely, Pope Francis: Untying the Knots.

 

What I've bought this week...

John Baxter, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict - 50p
Stan Beckensall, Empire Halts Here: Viewing the Heart of Hadrian's Wall - 50p
Fiona Beckett, The Frugal Cook - 50p
George M Brunsden, Thorfinn The Mighty: The Ultimate Viking - 50p
Ialo Calvino, The Complete Cosmicomics - £1.00

And for free...

In advance of my birthday and after reading a good review, I told The Wife this was a suitable present (she always complains that people ask her and she doesn't know what to say).  For some reason she decided I'd earned a present before then!

More Popery

Over at the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog there's an interesting post on the royal attendees of the Pope Francis' inaugural mass. If anyone is interested in dress code, and in particular the privilège du blanc, then I'd certainly recommend popping over there. Follow the links she posts, there are some nice pics of popes from John XXIII onwards with various royals.

I'm just going to nick a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.  Since it was announced the they were to represent the Queen at the mass, my 'Royals in Medals' profile of them has been held the top spot in the visitor stats, so see this as my cheap attempt to grab more hits!  It's not shown in this photo, but the poor duchess had to sit next to Ken Clarke (which might explain why she's looking a little deafened).

On the 'Royals in Medals' front there's nothing new to add here - the orders and medals are explained in my previous post.  It's interesting to see the duchess choosing the Royal Family Order, GCVO, Diamond Jubilee Medal (on bow) combo - why the last as opposed to anything else?  It looks a little cluttered; but there's no real significance in any of this.

I've just noticed that in my profile post I'd said the duke has the Nepal Coronation medal, but haven't mentioned in the duchess' medals though she is clearly wearing it in the photo.

One other small point of no interest.  When did you last see a UK diplomat (other than the late lamented Rex Hunt) in Levee Dress?  Well, here's one http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinholysee/8579000797/.  Perhaps when the Ambassador's blog is updated he'll explain why he hasn't mounted up his jubilee medal (or perhaps he's been a naughty boy and didn't get one).

By the way, in her blog post OSS says one of the wisest things I've ever read about ceremonial

I have a personal theory on all issues of protocol, by the way: just when you think you've got the "rules" down, you will find an example to contradict you. Therefore, by the transitive property of meh, you shouldn't worry about it too much.

I shall cite the 'transitive power of meh' in future.

I should have blogged about... (#1)

I should have blogged about the Archbishop of Canterbury's enthronement on Thursday.  For one thing there's an interesting point to make about the archbishop being 'enthroned', but the Pope apparently not. 

© Rupert Fawcett (all rights reserved) http://www.facebook.com/DailyFredCartoon

The short answer is that 'enthronement' is quite appropriate for a bishop in his Cathedral - the seat (cathedra) of his diocese - and that the pope will have an enthronement ceremony in the Lateran Basilica, Rome's cathedral, in due course. 

For some reason, despite the emphasis put on the fact that the pope is after all a bishop, this is given much less prominence than the inaugural mass.  There are those, of course, who think that Vatican Council II's declaration that popes are bishops and not a separate order of ministry is a threat to the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff: that is a grave error.

Pius IX and hat

Popes used to have coronations.  Papal coronation were thrown out for being too triumphalistic after Paul VI stopped wearing the tiara and sold it in aid of charity.  Let's face it, what's this if not Triumphalism: "Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art father of princes and kings, the ruler of the world on earth, the vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory through all ages"?  Much better is the idea of 'Servant of the servants of God" - we know which Pope Francis would go for!

Interestingly enough, that most triumphalist of popes, Pius IX, suspended enthronements (but not coronations) when he and his successors declared themselves 'prisoners of the Vatican' between the seizure of Rome by Italian troops (1870) and the much-misunderstood Lateran Treaty (1929).  During this self-imposed separation from their See, they only operated as Bishop of Rome through proxies.

In short:-

Coronation: Bad
Inaugural Mass: Good way to start anything
Enthronement: A real affirmation of the pastoral nature of the Papacy.

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam!

And let's talk about the one thing I haven't heard the pundits on yet.  No, not papal socks (Red or White anybody?): heraldry!

Here are Francis' pre-papal arms:

A pretty uninspiring effort, I think you'd agree. Hopefully the Vatican heralds will pull something better out of the hat.  Efforts for past popes don't bode well though, and most Catholic heraldry is pretty poor to English eyes.

There is an Argentinian blog entry here discussing the significance of the design.  You'll have to excuse the failings of the automatic translation.

The motto is interesting though - 'Lowly, but chosen'.