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The Great Exhibition Road Festival 2019
Jul. 2nd, 2019 09:28 pmThe day after we'd seen Joseph, TD went home early (she caught an 8.15 train) as she was fence judging at a local horse event with friends. This left me with the day to enjoy the Festival. I'd been looking for something to do which would make the day worthwhile, and when I'd received an email with details, I decided that would be ideal.
The Festival was held in Exhibition Road (which was closed to traffic for the day) and organised by Imperial College, the museums which are on the road, as well as a number of other organisations, and was held to celebrate 200 years since the birth of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and to remember the Great Exhibition of 1851, which may well have been Albert's greatest achievement, since it led to the founding of the museums.
One of the delights I have with the Victorians is their breadth of interest, rather than their specialisation, and this day certainly allowed me to experience all sorts of things. And those were only a small part of what was available.
I began by finding Imperial College's Performance Tent, watching first 10 minutes of dance - both ballet and modern - performed by some of their students. Imperial is a Science and Technology College, one of the colleges of the University of London, and very highly thought of. This was followed by the Imperial College Sinfonietta who accompanied a chemist and physics student, Jonathan Hedley, a bass, who sang Brahms' Vier Ernste Gesange (Four Serious Songs). He was really good, and I was delighted to have had the chance to hear him.
From there I went to the maths bar/tent. It was too hot to drink alcohol (otherwise I'd have had a Pimms), and there was no way I'd join in the chess challenge, which featured two chess grandmasters playing multiple games. But I found a maths professor who invited me to join him in a game of dots and boxes. Naturally he beat me, but I improved in the second game, and he showed me some of the tricks.
From there I went to the Goethe Institute. I had a quick look at the section on Queen Victoria's love letters, apparently she always wrote to Albert in German, and then went to a pre-booked beginner's taster session. I was rather pleased to discover my German is now better than a total beginner. After that I returned to the library, and did some calligraphy before collecting a tote bag featuring Victoria.
After that I paused at a stand promoting German cities in the summer, and tried to make a card Berlin bear, but the glue was so hot it was melting, so I've brought home another template. They were also handing out fans.
It was a very hot day, so I went to sit in the Prince's Garden whilst I drank a smoothy and enjoyed the shade from the trees. Then I had a chat with a group who promote areas with vegetation set up in car parking spaces, to bring more greenery into the city.
After which I walked up to the Royal Geographical Society, where I had a pre-booked talk. This was given by a retired director of the Royal College of Art, and was about some of the articles which were chosen by Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the V&A) as being examples of poor design. This was very much a question of taste, and highlighted how some items which were very popular at the time, and of which the manufacturers sold many copies, were in fact poor taste. It would seem that whilst taste change, there will always be those who set themselves up as arbiters of good taste, which may or may not be the case.
After which, it was time to go home. Since it was so hot, and I had no wish to bake in the underground, I walked across Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and onto Paddington Station.
The Festival was held in Exhibition Road (which was closed to traffic for the day) and organised by Imperial College, the museums which are on the road, as well as a number of other organisations, and was held to celebrate 200 years since the birth of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and to remember the Great Exhibition of 1851, which may well have been Albert's greatest achievement, since it led to the founding of the museums.
One of the delights I have with the Victorians is their breadth of interest, rather than their specialisation, and this day certainly allowed me to experience all sorts of things. And those were only a small part of what was available.
I began by finding Imperial College's Performance Tent, watching first 10 minutes of dance - both ballet and modern - performed by some of their students. Imperial is a Science and Technology College, one of the colleges of the University of London, and very highly thought of. This was followed by the Imperial College Sinfonietta who accompanied a chemist and physics student, Jonathan Hedley, a bass, who sang Brahms' Vier Ernste Gesange (Four Serious Songs). He was really good, and I was delighted to have had the chance to hear him.
From there I went to the maths bar/tent. It was too hot to drink alcohol (otherwise I'd have had a Pimms), and there was no way I'd join in the chess challenge, which featured two chess grandmasters playing multiple games. But I found a maths professor who invited me to join him in a game of dots and boxes. Naturally he beat me, but I improved in the second game, and he showed me some of the tricks.
From there I went to the Goethe Institute. I had a quick look at the section on Queen Victoria's love letters, apparently she always wrote to Albert in German, and then went to a pre-booked beginner's taster session. I was rather pleased to discover my German is now better than a total beginner. After that I returned to the library, and did some calligraphy before collecting a tote bag featuring Victoria.
After that I paused at a stand promoting German cities in the summer, and tried to make a card Berlin bear, but the glue was so hot it was melting, so I've brought home another template. They were also handing out fans.
It was a very hot day, so I went to sit in the Prince's Garden whilst I drank a smoothy and enjoyed the shade from the trees. Then I had a chat with a group who promote areas with vegetation set up in car parking spaces, to bring more greenery into the city.
After which I walked up to the Royal Geographical Society, where I had a pre-booked talk. This was given by a retired director of the Royal College of Art, and was about some of the articles which were chosen by Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the V&A) as being examples of poor design. This was very much a question of taste, and highlighted how some items which were very popular at the time, and of which the manufacturers sold many copies, were in fact poor taste. It would seem that whilst taste change, there will always be those who set themselves up as arbiters of good taste, which may or may not be the case.
After which, it was time to go home. Since it was so hot, and I had no wish to bake in the underground, I walked across Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and onto Paddington Station.
