Tower of London: Poppies to return for WW2 anniversary
A display of ceramic poppies will again go on show at the Tower of London, to "reflect on the lasting legacy of conflict" and mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.More than five million people visited the Norman castle in 2014 to see the art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, which marked the centenary of the start of World War One.It was made up of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each representing a military life lost during the war.From May, a display of nearly 30,000 poppies from the original installation, on loan from the Imperial War Museums' collection, will return to the Tower of London.
The new installation will be positioned to resemble a "wound" at the heart of the Tower, which was itself bombed during the Blitz.Royal Historic Palaces (RHP) said the poppies "will pour across the lawn overlooked by the ancient White Tower, where the blood-red flowers will form a crater, with ripples flowing outwards".The new display has been designed by Tom Piper, who said the scale and impact of the 2014 installation could never be repeated, "but we learned on subsequent national tours that smaller installations could still carry great emotional power".He added: "Everywhere these poppies have been, they have brought people together, with their own stories of sacrifice, commemoration, and hope for the future."They have much to say about the universality of war and the anguish of suffering and loss."
The installation opens on 6 May and can be seen as part of general admission to the Tower of London, although RHP said a small part of the display would be visible from the public footpath.It will close on 11 November, which is Armistice Day.
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Glasgow Times
7 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Lost Alan Turing papers set to fetch £150K at auction
The incredible archive was found gathering dust in an attic in Bermondsey, London, after its owner moved into a care home and her daughters began clearing out her loft. Among the documents which were nearly destroyed was a personal copy of the mathematical genius' PHD dissertation from 1938-39 and his first published paper from 1935. The papers, known as "offprints", had originally been gifted by Turing's mother, Ethel to her son's friend and fellow mathematician Norman Routledge. They were produced in very small numbers and distributed within academia, making them "incredibly scarce" survivors that rarely ever appear on the market. The documents were nearly destroyed. (Image: SWNS) The collection is now expected to sell for between £100,000-£150,000 when it goes under the hammer at Rare Book Auctions in Lichfield, Staffs, on June 17. Turing was one of the famous codebreakers at Bletchley Park who played a vital role in cracking the Enigma code, which led to Allied victory in World War Two. Despite helping to shorten the war by an estimated four years, on March 31 1952, he was prosecuted for homosexual acts and died from cyanide poisoning on June 7, 1954, aged 41. Shortly before pleading guilty, Turing sent a poignant letter to Norman Routledge, the original owner of the papers being sold. The letter, known as 'Yours in distress', was read by Routledge when he appeared in "The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing" on the BBC's Horizon in 1992. It has also since been read by Benedict Cumberbatch after it was presented by Routledge to King's College, Cambridge, where it now resides in The Turing Archive. The collection is expected to make £150k. (Image: SWNS) But he kept the collection of Turing's offprints, which were eventually rescued by his nieces and nephews. One of the nieces explained: 'Following his retirement from Eton College, Norman bought and lived in a house in Bermondsey. "When he died in 2013, two of his sisters had the unenviable task of sorting through and emptying the contents. "There were lots of personal papers which one sister carted away and stored in her loft. The papers lay dormant until she moved into a care home almost a decade later. "Her daughters came across the papers and considered shredding everything. "Fortunately, they checked with Norman's nieces and nephews because he'd always been a presence in our lives. The papers were saved by Turing's friend, Norman. (Image: SWNS) Adding: "One cousin felt the Turing and Forster papers might be of interest to collectors. "After taking them home for a closer look, she decided to attend a local valuation day hosted by Hansons Auctioneers, who consigned them for research with their specialist saleroom, Rare Book Auctions. "We were bowled over by the valuations and level of enthusiasm.' The collection includes his PhD dissertation from 1938-39, Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals, which is signed by Turing, having been his personal copy. This document alone has been valued by the auction house at £40,000 to £60,000 as has his 1936-37 paper entitled On Computable Numbers. The paper introduced the world to the idea of a 'universal computing machine', which, despite the model's simplicity, is capable of implementing any computer algorithm, and has been described as the first programming manual of the computer age. The papers have been checked by experts. (Image: SWNS) Jim Spencer, director of Rare Book Auctions, who is more famed for finding Harry Potter first editions, described the collection as "the most important archive I've ever handled.' He said the exchange of offprints had historically been a method of correspondence between scholars and is prized by collectors as representing the first separate edition of an important work. He added: 'Nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to find in that carrier bag. "These seemingly plain papers-perfectly preserved in the muted colours of their unadorned, academic wrappers - represent the foundations of computer science and modern digital computing. "Literature has always been my forte, not mathematics, so the past few months of intensively researching and cataloguing these papers has left me feeling that Alan Turing was superhuman. The collection includes letters. (Image: SWNS) "For me, it's like studying the language of another planet, something composed by an ultra-intelligent civilisation." The collection also includes The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis, which dates from 1952, and is Turing's lesser-known masterpiece of mathematical biology. It has since become a basic model in theoretical biology, describing what have come to be known as 'Turing patterns'. Mr Spencer said: 'As recently as 2023, a study confirmed Turing's mathematical model hypothesis as outlined in The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis. "In this way the papers are still alive. They're still relevant and groundbreaking. 'We even have Turing's first published paper from 1935 – Equivalence of Left and Right Almost Periodicity – which is simply a single sheet of paper. The collection is set to get interest from around the world. (Image: SWNS) "And the provenance couldn't be better. The archive was gifted to Turing's friend and fellow mathematician Norman Arthur Routledge (1928-2013) by Turing's mother Ethel - and we have her handwritten letter explaining this." In the letter, dated May 16, 1956, Ethel Turing says: 'I have to-day sent by registered post 13 of Alan's off-prints...I don't know what people in Cambridge thought of the manner of Alan's death. "I am convinced it was accidental as the experiment of coke under electrolysis – which smelt of cyanide had been going on for weeks – I feel sure he got some of this on his fingers & so on to the apple he customarily ate in bed...I have had some requests to write a biography of Alan...I have masses of material because from the time he was about 6 I spotted a winner – despite many detractors at school – and kept many papers about him.' Mr Spencer added: "This fascinating letter is a golden thread that neatly ties up and seals the authenticity of everything being offered. "The potential value compels us to offer the papers individually. The price is unknown and could run to any amount. Recommended Reading 'Anything with a direct connection to Turing is highly desirable and almost impossible to find. "These papers were owned by his close friend Norman, having been gifted to him by Turing's mother. That's what makes this collection so significant. 'Hardly anything like this appears on the open market, so predicting hammer prices is fortune-telling." Adding: "I suspect interest will be strong in Silicon Valley – where Turing's influence shines brightly – but it would be lovely to see material acquired by institutions who could share things with the public."
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- The Guardian
The Queen of Spades review – dark and convincing staging of Tchaikovsky's compulsive drama
Garsington's production of The Queen of Spades leaves little room for doubt that this is Tchaikovsky's most substantial and forward-looking operatic achievement. There are a few debatable aspects to Jack Furness's ingeniously busy production and Tom Piper's mirror-dominated stage designs, and on the opening night it took time for the show to fully hit its musical stride. Overall, though, this is an overwhelmingly convincing staging of a genuine music drama, and it will surely come to be seen as one of Garsington's most notable milestones. The opera's 18th-century setting, following Pushkin's short story, is retained. But in every other respect this is an unmistakably dark 21st-century reading. Furness is good at inserting troubling new details into the opera's apparently sunnier moments, literally so when black curtains zip across the late afternoon Garsington windows. The children playing soldiers on the banks of the Neva are here more sinister than cute, while the costume ball scene is riddled with transgressive suggestion. Suffice to say that the grand entrance of Catherine the Great after the ball scene's pastorale will not end as traditionalists will expect either. A successful performance of The Queen of Spades never rests solely on the shoulders of the opera's tortured antihero Hermann. Tchaikovsky's opera contains too many other fine cameos and ensembles for that. But without an outstanding Hermann, the opera's uniquely visceral impact might misfire. Fortunately, Garsington has a true Hermann in its ranks, in the shape of the Germany-based Irish tenor Aaron Cawley, who sings the role with prodigious intensity, almost too agonisingly, and with a brooding Heathcliffian presence which at times threatens to eclipse everything else on stage. Yet this is as it should be. Hermann's obsessive gambling, social awkwardness and sexual frustration are the dramatic focus of the opera in ways that look forward to the 20th century, to Berg's unhappy Wozzeck and to Britten's troubled loner Peter Grimes, a role for which Cawley would be ideal. Under Douglas Boyd's baton, Tchaikovsky's compulsive and innovative score, full of expressive woodwind detail and driven forwards by the march of fate, does the rest. Among the other principals, Laura Wilde is a suitably haunted and haunting Lisa, movingly depicting her character's journey from security to despair. Stephanie Wake-Edwards is bright and characterful as her friend Polina. Diana Montague, as vocally elegant as ever, plays the aged Countess without hamming the role. Robert Hayward uses his many arts to give more depth to Hermann's friend Tomsky than usual, while Roderick Williams does an eloquently sympathetic turn as the disappointed Prince Yeletsky. Until 4 July
Telegraph
30-05-2025
- Telegraph
The Queen of Spades, Garsington: Romantic despair and mad obsession – with a strong whiff of sulphur
After the bright daylight and saucy flirtations of Garsington Opera's season-opener The Elixir of Love, their second night plunged us into romantic despair and mad obsession, with a strong whiff of sulphur. The titular Queen of Spades in Tchaikovsky's great opera is an elderly Russian countess who has the secret for winning cards, but it's a secret that will bring death to anyone who learns it. For the opera's bitter anti-hero Herman the way to that secret lies through the Countess's niece Lisa. But perhaps love for her will rescue him from his mad obsession? That's the intimate heart of the opera, but as this fabulous new production makes clear the story is rooted in the tensions of Russian society. Director Jack Furness and designer Tom Piper summon that world's luxuriant, telling detail as well as its huge epic sweep and barely concealed brutality. In the barracks at the very beginning we see some lads playing soldiers. It's charming, and the excellent Garsington Opera Children's Chorus savour the Russian words. But when one of them falls down the others give his head a good kicking. Later, when we see Herman explaining his infatuation with the socially unattainable Lisa to his good friend Tomsky, he gets contemptuous looks from the strolling St Petersburg high society, who admire themselves in the mottled mirrored detachable walls that make up the set. These spin round to reveal previously hidden worlds. It might be the make-believe of a Rococo theatre-in-a-theatre, or the grim cramped barracks where Herman dreams his dream of infinite wealth. This picturesque but fundamentally grim world is enlivened by the dancers in the ball scenes and above all by Garsington's lavish 32-strong chorus, breathtakingly vigorous whether they're playing eager gamblers round the gambling-table or the Countess's chattering servants. Tchaikovsky's blazing score, which ranges from Mozartian pastiche to Russian charm to the tremor and shriek of the supernatural is brought to vivid life by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Garsington's musical director Douglas Boyd. However the couple at the opera's heart are not quite so strong. Laura Wilde as Lisa has an impressive flaring voice but her performance felt rather dramatically tepid, and though Aaron Cawley's dark-grained baritone seemed right for Herman's obsession one missed a sense of that countervailing tenderness for Lisa that might have saved him. The circle of army friends around Herman were more convincingly portrayed, above all gravel-voiced Robert Hayward as the jovial, ever-optimistic Tomsky. Roderick Williams as the stuffed-shirt Prince Yelestsky who loses out to the romantically fascinating Herman provided the subtlest singing of the performance, in his aria of dignified heartbreak. However the evening's most spell-binding moment came from Diana Montague as the Countess, alone in her bedroom, recalling her young days in Paris when she learned the secret of the 'three cards'. On opening night, when the lights fell and the orchestral sound dropped to a whisper, you could feel everyone lean forward to catch the old witch's secrets. Sometimes the best moments at the opera are the quietest.
