I have just returned from meeting friends and family at a bar which is overlooked by a building which was the favoured hostelry of Dr Samuel Johnson, whenever he reluctantly visited Bath in the 18th century.
The tallest building in this photo, taken a couple of hours ago, used to be The Beehive Inn, near Beehive Yard, off Walcot Street, Bath, and you can be sure that the great man looked out of those windows on many occasions, around 250 years ago.He was a great man - over six feet four inches tall and weighing around 25 stone, he would often carry lame beggars back to his house in London on his back, to be fed and watered by his long-suffering household. It takes a great man to do that - in both physical, mental and emotional stature.
He was also great for being the first proper lexicographer to write the first proper English Dictionary. Without the hard work of this 'harmless drudge', we would still be spelling phonetically, and many terms and phrases that we employ on a daily basis would not have come into usage.
Like many Northerners who came before and after him, he hated Bath, and I cannot say I blame him.
Before the Abbey, Bath was destroyed by the Romans, then rebuilt as a resort. It has remained a resort for about 2000 years, but reached heights of fashionable flippancy about 250 years ago, when everyone walked around in their finery with servants in tow, using the spa as an excuse for extravagant balls to marry off their daughters or pick up rich widows. Not the sort of thing that Johnson went in for.
Bath is still a flippant town - not much is allowed to happen here of any consequence. The latest block on a truly great addition to Bath's status as a World Heritage site by the city 'elders' was the rejection of a proposal to create a nationally (and globally) important academy for engineering and industrial design in the heart of the place, by Sir James Dyson. Dyson put about £3 million of his own money into the plans alone, but eventually the fools who run this place found spurious reasons to stop it and allot any money earmarked (pound for pound between private funding and government) to a handful of European fashion chain-shops, just so they could get the rent and rates.
In Bath, fashion rules as it has since Johnson's time.
he looks like the guy from Blake's 7
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the original Blake's 7, but don't remember anyone who looked like Johnson.
ReplyDeleteWhy do so many Northeners hate Bath? Is it because you're all Aga owning, Barbour wearing, Labrador chasing, Pansies (as I heard a flat-capped, Whippet racing, Northener say recently)? Or do they simply miss the smell of tripe-n-onions?
ReplyDeleteHe was born in Lichfield, where I used to live, Tom and his birthplace is now a fascinating museum.
ReplyDeleteRe your comment about calling the police to the kids at the abbey - if only it were that simple. Apart from one community policeman patrolling the streets of Leyburn - our 999 police are in Northallerton, 23 miles away and thus pretty inaccessible.
Oh, and by the way, I love Bath.
I thought I would include my comment about why Johnson hated Bath into the main text, which is why the font has changed in the last couple of paragraphs, Cro.
ReplyDeletePoint taken, Weaver. Maybe next time wait until the kids come down, then take them to the nearest police station, even if it is 23 miles away?
Nah, he's a dead ringer for John Sergeant!
ReplyDeleteI'm a sort of 'Northerner' and I like a good Bath (in the tin one out in the yard).
John's a sort of Northerner too, Chris - you both have similar accents. Maybe that's why you both gang up on me - poncey, namby-pamby, soft Southerner that I am?
ReplyDeleteWhy did you choose Bath to settle in Tom?
ReplyDelete......curious is all
ReplyDeleteStory too long, Raz. I had a child of a few months and some friends here. Had to find a place quick.
ReplyDeleteDyson? Is that the vacuum cleaner guy? We just bought a Dyson recently, and I can only recommend it for its function. As far as the cost of it goes, though, I'm considering pimping myself out on the street to make up for the money that we spent on the Dyson. But then again, I'm slightly past my prime ...
ReplyDeleteSince when was Lichfield in the North?
ReplyDelete