Sunday 15 December 2013

More on statues


Weaver reminded me that Alexei Sayle (a British, Russian-Jewish stand-up comedian and actor with a Marxist upbringing) said that all statues of Lenin looked as though he was hailing a taxi. This was part of his routine, and he would stride forward with his hand outstretched to prove the point.

There is that famous story of the British diplomat's little boy who - when in Khartoum - would be taken to the park every day to look at the massive statue of General Gordon riding a camel.

On the day that the family were due to leave because the diplomat had been posted somewhere else, the boy asked to be taken to the park to say goodbye to Gordon for the last time.

His mother took him there, and he said an emotional goodbye. As they were leaving the park, the boy became thoughtful. Eventually he asked his mother, "Mummy, who is that man sitting on Gordon?"

15 comments:

  1. At first glance I thought it was William Gladstone in Blackburn. The've moved him 3 times. I wish they'd make their minds up.

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    1. I just tried to follow your blog (Bard on the run) Gwil, but could find a live button to press.

      I think that I have never tried before, because you are not only a poet, you are a keen sportsman as well, and I normally try to avoid both!

      What swung it for me is that you seem to live in old Salzburg, and I have some good memories from there, not least all the different sizes of Mozart Kugeln, from fun to medieval ballistic.

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    2. Tom, There's a follow button on my 'Poet in Residence' blog. The 'Bard on the Run' blog is not all that active. Only a dozen or so posts a year. It's just my races and one or two bits of training. But now you've mentioned it I'll try and put a follower button on there too. I am quite far from the city of the chocolate Mozart balls, and more on the edge of the Vienna Woods which is a handy place for me as there are unlimited trails in the woods and the city is nearby. So I am lucky to have the best of both worlds.

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    3. I can't fathom this g+ thing so I'm sticking with the google friends button on PiR. The same as you have on here.

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    4. Ok, I will look at the poet in residence blog, then see if I really do want to follow.

      The Google + thing is Google's way of competing with Sit On My Face Book as far as I can tell, and as long as I can avoid it, I will.

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  2. My son-in-law has grown a perfect Lenin beard and mustache solely to annoy a fellow banker, who, I am told, walks the other way on seeing it. I wonder, have they no investments to manage?

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  3. Off the topic slightly - but re. sculptural busts ~ when I was young I always wondered why they never actually seemed to GO down to the bust (my mother's euphemism for her own well-endowedness) yet were called that. It annoyed me when they cut off the shoulders too. It also annoyed me when they dug the pupils out. Creepy.

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    1. Pupils dug out were - when not a shadow trick - a throwback to old Rom and Greek sculpture, when the blue stone for the eyes had fallen out. The whole statues were painted originally.

      Small cocks on men were put there because normal ones look obscenely distracting. Same with tits.

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  4. There are many beliefs regarding horse statue memorials and the meaning of raised legs. It is thought that a rearing horse that has both legs elevated indicates the rider died in battle. If only one leg is raised, the rider supposedly died later as a result of some type of wound. If all feet are on the ground then the soldier survived unscathed !! But, this could all be a misconception !!
    Another useless fact from Jack@ !! XXXX

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    1. Another very interesting set of facts - I am now going to have to check out if you are making it all up, as I don't know why I have never heard of them before. Maybe I was very badly taught?!

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    2. You're just not as clever as me !!!! Did you look up the ' daylight robbery ' one ? XXXX

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    3. But I was supposed to have had an education in sculpture. Haven't looked any of them up yet...

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  5. Back when Russia was still the USSR I went on a trip there. (Did I just date myself?) Anywhoooo, our tour group went to see Lenin's corpse. What remains in my memory is how highly polished his fingernails were.

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