The Fortnightly Flag #05

The Fortnightly Flag

29 August 2017

WRITING AND ART

I went to visit the Bank of England Museum's 'The City in Literature' exhibition which celebrates the Bank's literary connections. A number of prominent writers have worked in banking but apart from Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows), who worked for the Bank all his working life, none of them seem to have liked banking very much although it brought several of them some financial stability.

P.G. Wodehouse, who joined HSBC in Lombard Street in 1900 "was often late and once disgraced himself by defacing a new ledger". The Bank charitably adds that he was keen on the staff sports club and his 1910 novel 'Psmith in the City" was based on his experiences.

Many writers and artists have been inspired by tales of fraud and financial crisis since this tends to affect everyone. There are cartoons on display by James Gillray who in 1797 first depicted the Bank as 'The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street'.  There are also cartoons by John Tenniel published in Punch in 1890 referring to reckless speculation by the merchant bank Baring Brothers. The collapse of the banking system was only averted by a rescue of £17 million orchestrated by William Liddendale, Governor in 1889-1892, which sounds vaguely familiar. Also the fact that misdemeanours committed by the Chief Cashier, Frank May, were deemed 'unactionable' although they led to the establishment of the Audit Department in 1894.

I found the exhibition fascinating and admission is free.

My own contribution to the City in Literature is a stage play 'The Liquidator' (cast of 6, 1 set) about a couple of nefarious bankers on the run from the eponymous heroine who is trying to track down their assets.

From there I went along Lothbury to the Guildhall Art Gallery, also free of charge, where the City of London displays around 250 of its collection of around 3000 paintings. My thanks to the City of London guide who was excellent. The Guildhall gallery has many fine paintings but is best known for its good collection of Pre-Raphaelites.




In the basement the Guildhall Art Gallery has the remains of London's Roman Amphitheatre which was discovered when the old building was being redeveloped.  Rebuilding was held up nine years while the site was excavated.  There is not a lot to see apart from some walls and ancient drains but the display is imaginative.  There is a black line around the square in front of the Guildhall showing the extent of the amphitheatre.  It is huge.