Statues

Okay this one might be very controversial but I think what happened in Bristol was a good thing. I think that if I was a member of the BAME community I would be pretty, no very, annoyed that a statue of a slave trader was planted in the middle of my town. Yeah I would be outraged.

I think that if we are in a time of hopeful change (which I don't think we are) then something hopeful for the future could be that we review ‘public art’ and if necessary remove this ‘art’ and consign it somewhere else.

We cannot change history but we can change the present. I am an OG my time is slowly (I hope) coming to an end. Following on from an earlier article we need to give the young a greater say as to what they want their future to be. And if they want to remove statues then go ahead. There is one proviso I would like two statues in London left alone because I quite like them. One is a statue of King Charles. Why? Because I like the poem about the statue called ‘by the statue of King Charles by Charing Cross’. I used to know all the words by heart and I used to recite them on the number 9 bus on the way to work. The poem is by Lionel Johnson mainly remembered as a religious poet as far as I am aware (I will be writing an article about him and also a article about Coffee so stay tuned). I think it is a beautiful poem. So leave the statue alone please. Link below:

Charles I statue

Made in 1633 during Charles I’s reign, London’s oldest bronze statue was intended for the garden of Weston’s house at Roehampton. In 1649 Parliament ordered that it be destroyed but it was hidden and reappeared triumphantly at the Restoration of the monarchy. In 1675 it was erected here. In WW1 it w…

London Remembers

The other is the statue of Robert Falcon Scott according to the website London remembers it was erected on the 5/11/1915 and the inscription below reads:

Robert Falcon Scott, Captain Royal Navy, who with four companions, E.A. Wilson, H.R. Bowers, L.E.G. Oates, E. Evans, died March 1912 returning from the South Pole.
Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.
From Scott's diary.

Along the base of the plinth it reads erected by officers of the fleet. It is located in Waterloo Place in London not far from the Mall. It was sculpted by Kathleen Scott his widow. A replica is in Christchurch New Zealand. Please leave it alone he and his crew are, to me, heroes...

Captain Scott statue

Sculpted by Kathleen Scott, his widow. There is a replica, in Christchurch, New Zealand, carved in marble, white as the Antarctic.

London Remembers

But here is the truth. There are heroes and villains, people have different perspectives. This article is written from my personal perspective. But personal perspectives have to be put aside when dealing with the likes of Edward Colston who made a fair chunk of his fortune slave trading. Looking at it objectively his time had come. Good riddance..