Roman Britain - the modern legacy?

One million people in Britain are descended from Romans according to a study by a commercial DNA testing company. BritainsDNA took Y chromosome markers found in modern British men and compared them with those found in modern Italians.  They found five major types of DNA likely to have come from the Roman Legions – Alpine, Balkan, Ancient Caucasian, Herdsmen-Farmers and Anatolian. 

The first, Alpine, group was present in 13% of Italian men, 6.5% of men in England and Wales, 4.3% in Scotland and 1.8% in Ireland reflecting the relatively low contact between Romans and the Irish.

Applied to the total population these figures suggest an estimated 1.6 million men in Britain carry the Alpine marker of around which half a million may be descended from the Roman armies.If all five markers are included the scientists calculate that at least one million men may be direct descendants of the Romans.

The results of the research which was carried out by historian Alistair Moffat and Managing Director and Chief Scientist of BritainsDNA Dr Jim Wilson will be discussed at the Who do you think you are? Live family history event being held at London’s Olympia.

The survey is interesting on two counts.  One, because it confirms what we know about the spread of Roman influence across the British Isles from documentary evidence and archaeology. 

Secondly, the numbers of men bearing the Roman markers are relatively small, only about 4% of the total population of the British Isles (around 60 million), suggesting the relatively low impact of the Roman invasion on the native British population which goes some way to explain the speed and strength of the Celtic revival after 410 AD. 

Forever Living

As you get older you find you need to spend a bit more to keep looking good.  I have recently discovered a range of health and beauty products by a US Company, Forever Living, which I am happy to recommend.  You may rest assured that I would never endorse any product that I have not already tested myself.

A couple of months ago I noticed my hair was thinning slightly on the crown, down to age I'm afraid, and I started using their Aloe Vera-Jojoba shampoo and conditioning rinse with excellent results.  My hair is thicker and looks healthy and shiny which is really important if, like me, you have silver hair.  I have also tried their Aloe Vera Lotion, a good all-purpose moisturiser which is easily absorbed into the skin and has a pleasant unobtrusive fragrance. 

The company's commitment to quality and purity is commendable.  All of their products are certified cruelty-free as they do not use animal testing and they offer a 60-day guarantee.  Their products are not cheap but compare in price and quality with Origins.

For further information you can check out the website at www.avrich.co.uk

Oscars 2013 - The winners

At t 85th Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles last night the winners were:-

Film-making

Best Picture: Argo

Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Animated Feature Film: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman  (Brave)

Animated Short Film: John Kahrs (Paperman)

Documentary Feature: Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn (Searching For Sugar Man)

Documentary Short Subject: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine  (Inocente)

Foreign Language Film: Amour

Best Live Action Short Film: Shawn Christensen (Curfew)

 

Acting

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway  (Les Miserables)

 

Music

Music (Original Score): Mychael Danna  (Life Of Pi)

Music (Original Song): Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for 'Skyfall' (Skyfall)

 

Screenwriting

Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio (Argo)

Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

 

Costume and Design

Makeup and Hairstyling: Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell  (Les Miserables)

Production Design: Lincoln

Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina)

 

Technical

Cinematography: Claudio Miranda  (Life Of Pi)

Sound Editing: Per Halberg Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall) and Paul N. J. Ottosson (Zero Dark Thirty)

Sound Mixing:  Andy Nelson, Mark Patterson, Simon Hughes (Les Miserables)

Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Donald R Elliott (Life Of Pi)

Film Editing: William Goldenberg (Argo)

 

 

 

Ready for the Big Night - Oscar nominations

Oscar nominations for this year are as follows:-

Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Amour, Django Unchained, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Denzel Washington (Flight), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Amy Adams (The Master)

Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert de Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) Michael Haneke (Amour) Behn Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom), Michael Haneke (Amour), John Gatins (Flight)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner (Lincoln), David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Chris Terno (Argo), David Magee (Life of Pi), Behn Zeitlin, Lucy Albar (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Animated Feature: Frankenweenie, The Pirates!Band of Misfits, Wreck-it Ralph, ParaNorman, Brave

Best Foreign Feature: Amour (France), Footnote (Denmark), Kon-Tiki (Norway), No (Chile) War Witch (Canada)

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (Skyfall), Seamus Mcgarvey (Anna Karenina), Robert Richardson (Django Unchained) Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi), Janusz Kaminski (Lincoln)

Best Costume Design: Jacquline Durran (Anna Karenina), Paco Delgado (Les Miserables), Joanna Johnston (Lincoln), Eiko Ishioka (Mirror Mirror), Colleen Atwood (Snow White and the Huntsmen)

Best Make-up: Howard Berger, Martin Samuel (Hitchcock), Lisa Westcott, Julie Dartnell (Les Miserables) Peter King, Tami Lane, Rich Findlater (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

Best Original Score: Mychael Danna (Life of Pi), Alexandre Desplat (Argo), Dano Marianelli (Anna Karenina), John Williams (Lincoln), Thomas Newman (Skyfall)

Best Original Song:
 'Before my Time' from Chasing Ice. Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
'Everybody needs a best friend' from Ted. Music Walter Murphy, Lyric Seth McFarlane.
'Pi's Lullaby' from Life of Pi. Music Michael Danna, Lyric Bombay Jayashri
'Suddenly' from Les Miserables. Music Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyric Herbert Kretsmer and Alain Boublil
'Skyfall' from Skyfall.  Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth.

Best Documentary Feature:
'Searching for Sugar Man', 'How to Survive a Plague', 'The Gatekeepers', 'The Invisible War', '4 Broken Cameras'

Best Documentary Short: Kief Davidson, Cori Shepherd (Open Heart), Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine (Inocente), Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill (Redemption), Sari Gilman, Jedd Wider (Kings Point), Cynthia Wade, Robin Honan (Mondays at Racine)

Best Film Editing: Michael Kahn (Lincoln), Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers (Silver Linings Playbook), Tim Sqyres (Life of Pi), William Goldenberg (Argo), Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Animated Short Film: Minkyu Lee (Adam and Dog), PES (Fresh Guacamole), David Silverman, Maggie Simpson (The Longest Daycare) John Kahrs (Paperman)

Best Live-Action Short Film: Brian Buckley, Nino Jarjoura (Assad), Ariel Nasr, Sam French (Buzkashi Boys), Shawn Christensen (Curfew), Tom Van Avermael, Ellen de Waele (Death of a Shadow) Yan England, Ellen de Waele (Henry)

Best Sound Editing: Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn (Argo), Wylie Stateman (Django Unchained), Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton (Life of Pi), Per Halberg, Karen Baker Landers (Skyfall), Paul N. J. Ottosson (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Sound Mixing: John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Jose Antonio Garcia (Argo), Andy Nelson, Mark Patterson, Simon Hayes (Les Miserables), Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemhill, Drew Jurun (Life of Pi), Andy Nelson, Gary Rydshorn, Ronald Jenkins (Lincoln), Scott Milan, Greg P Russell, Stuart Wilson, William Goldenberg (Skyfall)

Best Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Donald R Elliott (Life of Pi), Joe Letteri, Eric Saundon, R Christopher White David Clayton (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Janeck Sirrs, Guy Williams, Daniel Sudick, Jeff White (Marvel's The Avengers), Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, Martin Hill (Prometheus), Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson, Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (Snow White and the Huntsmen)

World's largest panorama of London

Last night the world's largest panoramic photo of London was unveiled.  Breaking the previous record set by a 281-gigapixel electron micrograph of a zebrafish embryo taken in 2012, the 320-gigapixel image shot from the roof of the BT Tower by Prague-based panorama specialists 360 Cities is made up of 48,640 images seamlessly edited together showing a full 360-degree view of the capital.  It is so detailed that if it were printed in 2D the panorama would be 98 x 24 metres.

According to the Digital Photography Review 'The photo was taken with four Canon EOS 7D Cameras and EF 400 mm f/2.8L LS II USM lenses plus Extender EF 2 x III teleconverters.  The cameras were mounted on Rodeon VR Head ST robotic panoramic heads.'

The photography team of Jeffrey Martin, Tom Mills and Holgen Schulze took three days to shoot the individual photos spending hours on the 29th floor outdoor platform of the BT Tower in London's Fitzrovia and it took three months to process the final image.  Steve Hecher, director of 360 Cities is quoted as saying: 'So many unknowns and variables had to be addressed in the planning of this unprecedented shoot, really the first of its kind.  Software and hardware were pushed to the limits and rain, wind and other potential stumbling blocks had to be dealt with.'

The images were taken after the end of London 2012, the first digital Olympic Games.  The record-breaking panorama can be viewed on the BT website.

Brit Awards - winners

Last night saw the annual Brit awards hosted by actor James Corden.  The winners were...

British Female Solo Artist
Emeli Sande

British Group
Mumford & Sons alt-J
British Breakthrough Act
Ben Howard
British Male Solo Artist
Ben Howard

British Live Act
Coldplay

International Female Solo Artist
Lana Del Rey
International Group
The Black Keys
International Male Solo Artist
Frank Ocean

British Single
Adele - Skyfall - winner
MasterCard British Album Of The Year
Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events

Brits Global Success
One Direction

Critic's Choice
Tom Odell

Special Recognition Award
War Child

Congratulations to all.

Hilary Mantel - ill-timed remarks

Hilary Mantel, the double Booker Prize winning author of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, has hit the front pages due to some disparaging remarks she made about the Duchess of Cambridge in a recent lecture at the British Museum.  Since the object of her lecture was to question the validity of a monarchy that chooses to make a display of its royal ladies her remarks have probably been quoted out of context but two things arise from their publication on the front page of a national newspaper today.

One is that, while I am sure the Duchess of Cambridge is old enough and intelligent enough to know not to take these things to heart, it is rather ill-bred to direct spiteful personal remarks at someone who cannot hit back in kind. 

Secondly, I have to question the timing of this story.  Hilary Mantel made her comments two weeks ago but they have hit the papers just as the government is about to introduce legislation to place the strongest restrictions on the freedom of the press seen in the UK in decades.  It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the timing of this story, following closely on the row about the Princess being photographed on a public beach in a bikini, is grist to the mill to those who are campaigning for ever greater restrictions on the British press.  

I cannot think that Hilary Mantel as a writer, and one in particular specialising in Tudor History, can be unaware of the consequences of state censorship.  The lesson of history is that state censorship, however well-intentioned, is never a good thing for writers.

London Fashion Week 2013 - the Fashion for Ethical Fashion

While the focus of the catwalk shows may be on young designers this week the limelight has been stolen by two of the grandes dames of British fashion Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes both urging that fashion should be more ethical. 

Vivienne Westwood, always good for an attention-grabbing headline, takes our current fashion belle, the Duchess of Cambridge, to task for wearing 'too many outfits', urging her to put the emphasis on quality rather than quantity.

Her outburst was perhaps prompted by the number of high street stores like Top Shop and River Island running catwalks this year.  They have transformed London Fashion Week by introducing wearable designs perfect for transfer immediately to the ready-to-wear market.

Dame Vivienne is quoted as saying 'I don't have any advice for her, except I think it would be great if she wore the same clothes over and again because that's very good for the environment and it would send out a very nice message.'

It might also be the answer to concerns about intrusive photography by the paparazzi since all the photographs would look the same!

Meanwhile, our other 'Queen of Punk', veteran designer Zandra Rhodes yesterday confirmed her partnership with ethical fashion house People Tree.  Founder of the Fashion and Textiles Museum, she has created a limited edition range with Safia Minney, CEO of People Tree, a collection of six pieces, including separates and dresses, exploiting the jungle trail print inspired by African flowers she used in her Autumn/Winter collection. 

Zandra Rhodes is quoted as saying 'I wanted to work with People Tree because they are ethically aware.  Something's got to be done so that we can improve our practices.'

She added, 'I have always loved the idea of my designs being created in organic and Fair Trade fabrics and working with Fair Trade groups, putting people right at the heart of my creations - but where to begin?

Encouraging high street chains not to source their goods from China or other far eastern sweatshops and encourage a revival of the British textile trade that once ruled the world might be a start.

Zandra Rhodes is not showing at London Fashion Week although Vivienne Westwood last night exibited her signature structured dresses and fine tailoring, but both of our 'Queens of Punk' have had a lasting and contuing influence on young London designers.

London Fashion Week 2013 Day One Highlights

London fashion week kicked off in style with plenty of young celebrities turning out to sit on the front rows. 

Music superstar Rihanna's new clothing collection for River Island was revealed last night at the launch of London Fashion Week 2013.  Her collection included floral prints, crop tops, baseball caps and skirts with thigh-high splits reflecting the fashion style of the young pop singer. 

Day One also saw a show by twins Felder Felder introducing a vintage influence and bringing a bit of rock and roll to the BFC Courtyard space.  Their collection featured a play on texture incorporating velvet, latex and lamb's wool in their designs.  Soft pink coats pinched and belted at the waist were the result of a collaboration between the designers and lurex specialists Vin + Omi.  Easy to wear statement knits were subtly embellished with suede panels while quilted leather skirts teamed with  metallic shirts and plunge-neck velvet tops gave the collection a cool edge.

London Fashion Week - hot tickets for Rihanna and Tom Ford

Music superstar Rihanna is excited that her 2013 spring/summer collection of clothes and accessories will be revealed to the world for the first time later today at London Fashion Week.  Earlier this week she declared that she was looking forward to her fans finally seeing her designs and is hoping to attract 'fashion gods' to see her collection.

This is one of the hottest tickets for London Fashion Week which organisers say is attracting an unprecedented US audience as American designer Tom Ford leads a host of key buyers from across the pond.  His first womenswear catwalk show is on Monday night (18th February).

The event will see 56 catwalk shows and 20 presentations taking place over five days until Tuesday 19th February.  Visitors from all over the world are expected to flock to the capital for the bi-annual fashion week, one of the highest profile events in the fashion world classed as one of the 'big four' along with New York, Paris and Milan.  Over half of the British designers represented are trained at London's Central St Martin's College of Art, which has raised the bar for British fasion over recent years lifting London Fashion Week into the world's top four.

Funding for UK artists

Artangel is launching a £1million fund for UK artsits.

Arts Council national portfolio organisation Artangel and their new partners BBC Radio4 have launched an Open Call for artists.

Creatives working in any medium, from anywhere in the UK, can apply for funding and support for site-specific projects and for the first time this will include artists working in the digital space. 

The closing date for submissions is Monday 29 April 2013. 

Ask.com - illegal 'capture' of computer

I opened my computer this morning to find my search facility suddenly taken over without warning by ask.com.  I did not ask for this and when asked if I wanted to enable the transfer I clicked 'Don't enable'.  Despite this I suddenly found my computer installing the software for ask.com.  I went to 'Programs' and tried to uninstall it only to be told by Windows that I would need an administrator to do this.  I am utterly outraged.  How dare ask.com interfere with the system as I have chosen to set it up!  Who do these people think they are?  And how dare any company install software on my computer which I know nothing about, have clearly stated I don't want and am unable to remove when I want to.  No reputable company would behave like this.  I cannot see any difference between this is and hacking into a mobile phone. 

Grammy Awards 2013: The winners

At last night's Grammy awards the winners were:

Record of the Year: "Somebody That I Used to Know," Gotye & Kimbra
Album of the Year: Babel, Mumford & Sons
Best Alternative Music Album: Making Mirrors, Gotye
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye featuring Kimbra
Best Rock Album: El Camino, The Black Keys
Best Country Song: "Blown Away," Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins and Carrie Underwood
Best Rap Song: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis and Kanye West
Best Rap Performance: "N****s In Paris," Shawn Carter and Kanye West
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Best R&B Album: Black Radio, Robert Glasper
Best Dance/Electronica Album: Bangarang, Skrillex
Best Dance Recording: Bangarang, Skrillex featuring Sirah
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album: Midnight In Paris
Best Short Form Music Video: "We Found Love" Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
Best Pop Solo Performance: "Set Fire to the Rain" Adele
Best Country Solo Performance: "Blown Away," Carrie Underwood
Song of the Year: "We Are Young," fun. and Janelle Monáe
Best Urban Contemporary Album: Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
Best Rock Performance: "Lonely Boy," The Black Keys
Best Pop Vocal Album: Stronger, Kelly Clarkson
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "No Church in the Wild," Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and The Dream
Best New Artist: Fun

BAFTAS 2013: The winners

At last night'sBritish Academy Film and Television Awards the winners were:

BEST FILM
ARGO - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
SKYFALL - Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
DIRECTOR
ARGO - Ben Affleck
LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA - Amour
LEADING ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY - Les Misérables
Watch: Les Miserables trailer
SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Django Unchained
Watch: Django Unchained clip
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell
ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
SKYFALL
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
EE RISING STAR
JUNO TEMPLE
DOCUMENTARY
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

Richard III - it is he!

Some months ago I reported the finding of Richard III's supposed remains in Leicester on the site of the old church of Grey Friars monastery, now a municipal car-park.t

Yesterday, following DNA testing and carbon dating to be sure, the archaeologists announced that the skeleton uncovered is indeed that of Richard III, the last King of England to bear the name Plantagenet.(Not really the last Plantagenet though because Henry VIII had a pretty good share of Plantagenet blood in him).

In my previous blog I pointed out the perils of being a historical novelists when the facts get in the way of a good story and was preparing to eat my hat but looking at the photos of the skeleton this morning I'm am not so sure I should be in a hurry to do so.  My identification of the 1475 portrait of ST Ivo as being possible a painting of the young Richard of Gloucester might still be correct.  Although the skeleton indicates that the King was not a hunchback in the strictly medical sense the marked curvature of the spine, about half-way down his back, does match the position of the 'hump' in the portrait which is not at the top of the shoulder but some way below the shoulder-blade.  I am therefore not going to eat my hat just yet.  

Winter Skies by Carol Richards - Song Lyric

I have noticed over the years that people like to be able to read song lyrics so it seems unfair to publish a song on the internet without the lyric.  Here are the words to Winter Skies should you wish to sing along.

Winter Skies
(copyright (c) 1985 Carol Richards)

Winter Skies
Grey clouds spinning soft rock in the air
Poor disguise
For the gap of nothing hidden there
Winter Skies

Winter's clown
Sad-faced poker registers defeat
Ill-scarred town
Battered by the wind that sweeps the street
And still a clown

Naked trees stand black against the sun
Reaching for the trigger of the gun
All the gold is glitter hanging on the tree
And the future's bitter and it's not for me

Winter skies
Whiter than the stone that marks the grave
Here it lies
All that we thought ever worth to save
And there it dies

Winter's song
Whistles down the branches of the wind
Sails gone
Former glories gradually thinned
The film's too long

Black and white it flickers on the screen
Forgotten past eventually seen
Through a child's eyes
In the winter skies