London Beard Week: which is the most hirsute area of the Capital?
Beard Liberation Front
Media Release 6th August
Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266
London Beard Week: which is the most hirsute area of the Capital?
The fourth London Beard Week runs from 4th-8th August and is designed to highlight the place of London as a leading world centre for beard wearers. A poll to find the best ever London beard currently has W G Grace in the lead with Karl Marx challenging.
Another key issue is in which part of the Capital are you likely to see the most (and arguably) the best beards?
The Beard Liberation Front is running a London Beard Week poll to find out
Beard Liberation Front issues rare beard shaving permit as temperatures set to reach 37C
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has issued a rare ‘permission to shave’ note to supporters as temperatures are set to hit 37C in some parts of England by Friday.
The campaigners say that it would be exceptional to shave the beard, but in the absence of appropriate cooling mechanisms it is authorised in extremis.
Generally it is recommended that the beard is cooled by the use of a hand held fan or by visiting the freezer department of a supermarket.
However both may be impractical due to mask wearing in current circumstances
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we expect most beard wearers to indulge in a light trim at worst where appropriate over the next few days. However if it really does become too hot on this occasion shaving is an approved action
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the late actor Ted Kelsey who played Joe Grundy in the Archers amongst others well-known roles has joined the Best Ever Beard of London vote, following social media representations
Kelsey was born in Hampshire and recorded the Archers in Birmingham but in a long life he was often to be found fulfilling important commitments in London:
The vote is part of London Beard Week which began on 4th August and marks the continued growth of beards in the Capital.
The campaigners say that aside from the many more beards seen in parks, shops and pubs, there is also a growth of specialist beard care shops and hairdressers offering beard trims and treatments, although the BLF is advising against beard trims in barbers shops for the moment.
London Beard Week is a celebration of London, now one of the most beard friendly Capital cities in the world, and of London’s great hirsute heritage from Charles Dickens to Karl Marx through to modern day beards such as England football captain Harry Kane and author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen.
As part of the week the BLF is running a poll to find the most impactful and impressive figure with a beard who is associated with London.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Whether its historic beards like Karl Marx and W G Grace or more recent ones like Ted Kelsey and Bernie Grant London has long been a capital of beard wearers.
Notes
The vote closes at midday on 7th August. Names can be added via write-in votes.1% of the total votes cast will be sufficient to add someone to the vote.
Not all great London beard wearers are included. For example Charles Darwin is now on the poll this year. In 2018 however he came bottom with 1.91% of the vote, being shaved by Michael Rosen with 1.92%
London Beard Week 2020. Call for review of all statues with beards in the Capital
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that as part of London Beard Week which began on 4th August it is calling for a thorough review of statues with beards in the Capital.
The campaigners say that some statues such as that of Henry Tate, erected at the Tate Library, Brixton in 1905 have associations with the slave trade and bring the hirsute into disrepute.
Meanwhile other well known London beard wearers such as the black leader of London Chartism in 1848 William Cuffay do not have statues.
London Beard Week is a celebration of London, now one of the most beard friendly Capital cities in the world, and of London’s great hirsute heritage from Charles Dickens to Karl Marx through to modern day beards such as England football captain Harry Kane and author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen.
As part of the week the BLF is running a poll to find the most impactful and impressive figure with a beard who is associated with London.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, its time for a review of statues with beards in London. Some are bringing the hirsute into disrepute, while other well-known London beards do not have statues at all.
London Beard Week poll to find London’s Best Ever Beard.
The Marxist Staycation. Marx & Engels at the Victorian seaside in 1857
Ryde,Isle of Wight 1857 (copies from Welland Antique)
With the Government’s chaotic handling of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, suddenly announcing changes late at night on twitter, the attractiveness of a summer break in Britain, for those still able to afford it, has more attraction than usual.
The August weather is notoriously unreliable but for socialists there is a chance to visit some of the locations that Marx and Engels enjoyed in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Not quite all are by the sea. There are references in the correspondence to Buxton, then a major spa town, and within reach of Manchester for example.
A central part of the reason for Marx and Engels quite frequent trips to various English seaside destinations was however health related- escaping the extremely unhealthy environments of mid-Victorian London and Manchester
In the summer of 1857 Engels was unwell and took time off from the Manchester factory to seek a cure by the seaside. He started at Waterloo near Liverpool. He avoided the Isle of Man at the urging of Marx but also ignored his suggestion of Hastings. By early September he was in Ryde, Isle of Wight where he stayed for several weeks. He then headed to Brighton and from there to Jersey, returning in October. Some Marxist Staycation.
Marx wrote to Engels in Manchester on 14th July 1857
If nothing else, the whole course of your illness should have shown you that what you needed physically was to rest, recuperate and temporarily shake off the dust of the office. You must go to the seaside as soon as possible.
A fortnight later Engels had actually made it to the seaside to Waterloo a location not far from the major holiday resort of Southport. Engels reported to Marx:
Here I am last by the seaside… It’s 3 miles beyond New Brighton but to the north of the Mersey.. I hope that the sea air will soon make me fit again for the usual drudgery.
Two weeks later still on 15th August Marx was urging Engels to move beyond taking in the sea air and actually go for a paddle. On 21st August Engels confirmed to Marx that he had done so.
I am delighted to hear that the sea is doing you good, as was to be expected. As soon as you are fit enough to bathe, It will take effect even more quickly, noted Marx
The delights of Waterloo were apparently limited however as by 25th August 1857 Engels was planning a return to Manchester with the aim of going shortly after that to a ‘more bracing seaside resort’. He had in mind the Isle of Man which he had visited with Marx before
Marx was not impressed with this plan and wrote immediately to suggest a seaside resort in southern England:
Why not go to Hastings which is famed for its efficacy in cases like yours. It’s the only specific watering-place of the kind in England. The Isle of Man.. is remarkable chiefly for its stench
Engels however ignored Marx’s guide to holiday destinations and headed instead to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, which became a favourite destination in the years to come. It was not a good start though as Engels complained that he had, ‘finally arrived today at my new lodgings in the middle of a frightful downpour’.
In the years to come Marx was often to be found in Margate and Ramsgate and in his last years Ventnor. Engels by contrast came to like Eastbourne so much that he bought a house there near the pier.
The message for Marxists this summer is surely clear. Get into the sea, the water’s lovely on the English south coast….
Historical evidence behind campaign to change the name of Rhodes Avenue School in North London
Over the past several days articles have appeared in the Mail, Telegraph and Times arguing that a campaign to change the name of Rhodes Avenue School in North London because of its association with the imperialist Cecil Rhodes is wrong.
The claim is that the area where the school is was owned by Cecil Rhodes great uncle and that is the reason for the name.
The ownership point is correct, the naming claim is not.
The London Socialist Historians Group have issued a press release:
The press release makes headline points but there is solid evidence behind it which is below:
Firstly the secondary school on the site was called Cecil Rhodes.
In 1964, Bounds Green Secondary Modern School amalgamated with Cecil Rhodes Secondary Modern School; this then became Alexandra Park Comp. Sch in 1975 (in Rhodes Ave), & then amalgamated with Creighton School. It is now known as Fortismere School.
National Archives
Secondly while Cecil Rhodes died in 1902 the primary school opened in 1930 when the UK had a cult of naming public buildings and roads after Rhodes
Rhodes Avenue school opened in 1930, with accommodation for 434 juniors and infants. (fn. 176) In 1952 a separate infants’ school was established on the same site. There were 294 pupils enrolled at the junior school and 200 at the infants’ school in 1972. (fn. 177)
Victoria County History
A map of the area (1912) shows that what is now Rhodes Avenue was called Hampton Rd underlining that at this point there was no association with the Rhodes family. The renaming came later possibly in 1930 when the school was built.
I spent a good deal of Tuesday at the opening sessions of the Great British Beer Festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale at Olympia.
Its a vast and very well organised event but that doesnt mean it can just go on in perpetuity. Times change.
I was at the Covent Garden Beer Exhibition in 1975 as a young beard wearer delighted to try beers that you didnt see in London then like Ruddles County (at OG 1050) Courage Directors and so on. I also recall eating Stilton cheese and bread, again, not something much seen in London then.
Ive been at every GBBF (bar one) since and aged 62 I have memories. My late father used to attend and my partner Megan attended first with me in 1995.
But it cant just be about past glories. The pressure for the GBBF to change from presenting lots of perfectly drinkable but rather dull cask beers of a golden or brown type has been there for a bit. The transformation project which aimed to bring CAMRA firmly into 2019 rather than 1975 has done its work.
This year there is an extensive keykeg offering in the smaller hall. There are bars from Tiny Rebel, Siren and Magic Rock and a separate bar adjacent which has a further range of keykeg offerings.
There are also lots of empty keykegs around some forming a barrier around seating areas. CAMRA members some even older than me were to be seen prodding them and I heard one or two muttering ‘its not real ale’. Perhaps just try drinking some and worry less about the doctrinal issues…
Cask too I’m pleased to report has kept up and there are plenty of excellent, what might be described as, modern cask beer styles on offer. I enjoyed a Belgian Pale from Anspach and Hobday and a DDH pale from Beatznik Republic for example.
Myself and a few other grumpy old gits aside it also seemed younger and more gender balanced. Work in progress but it is occurring.
The very best bit of the visit? The marmite pickled egg from the Purely Pickled Egg stand. It was superbly marmitey….
Anyway hats off to the organisers and its best to keep in mind that while things have changed paying a visit to Olympia underlines that its worth keeping on with it.
London Beard Week 2020 marks hairy times for the Capital
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that London Beard Week which begins on 4th August is set to mark the continued growth of beards in the Capital.
The campaigners say that aside from the many more beards seen in parks, shops and pubs, there is also a growth of specialist beard care shops and hairdressers offering beard trims and treatments, although the BLF is advising against beard trims in barbers shops for the moment.
London Beard Week is a celebration of London, now one of the most beard friendly Capital cities in the world, and of London’s great hirsute heritage from Charles Dickens to Karl Marx through to modern day beards such as England football captain Harry Kane and author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen.
As part of the week the BLF is running a poll to find the most impactful and impressive figure with a beard who is associated with London.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, London is striking a decisive blow against pogonophobia, the irrational dislike of facial hair. It’s now respectable to wear a beard in London and lockdown beards are in evidence across the Capital in 2020.
London Beard Week poll to find London’s Best Ever Beard.
Historians say campaign to rename Rhodes Avenue School in London is well founded.
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London University, has said that a campaign to rename Rhodes Avenue School in North London due to a link with the imperialist Cecil Rhodes is well founded historically.
Articles in several papers including the Mail on Sunday and the Times have claimed that the school is named after the great uncle of Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), Thomas Rhodes who owned land in the area around Alexandra Palace.
Thomas Rhodes died in 1856 and in due course the area became what is still known today as Muswell Hill Golf Course.
A map dating from 1912 shows the current Rhodes Avenue named as Hampton Rd.
The area was re-developed from 1930 with the Golf club house being relocated. Only at this point was the road renamed Rhodes Avenue and a primary school, still known as Rhodes Avenue School, opened. Later Cecil Rhodes Secondary Modern School was built on the site. This existed until amalgamation with another school from 1964 when it became the first Alexandra Park School.
The appearance of the name of Rhodes from 1930 is the key to the renaming campaign.
While the area had historic links with the Rhodes family these had previously gone unmarked. By 1930 imperial Britain had developed a cult of Cecil Rhodes with public buildings and roads being named after him. This lasted right the way through until the 1950s.
LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, a check on the history shows the campaigners are correct that the Rhodes link is specifically to Cecil because of the period when it arose. The Black Lives Matters movement has rightly given rise to calls, not that such things should be erased from our history, quite the reverse, they need to be remembered, but at the same time nor they should any longer be memorialised. The imperial era is past. That is not Britain in 2020.
Complaint on inclusion of Harry Kane in Best London Beard 2020 poll dismissed
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that a social media complaint about the potential inclusion of footballer Harry Kane on the Best Beard of London poll which opens on Tuesday has been reviewed and dismissed by the BLF regulatory team.
The vote is part of the London Beard Week which begins on 4th August and is set to mark the continued growth of beards in the Capital.
The complaint, believed to be from a well known Arsenal fan, argued that a Spurs player should not appear on the poll.
The BLF say that the complaint was unfounded because Kane’s appearance on the poll would be because he is the London based England football captain and not because he is a Spurs player.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the complainant would have had a good point if Kane was to be included because of his club affiliation. Why not on that basis include an Arsenal or a Chelsea player for example? However the regulatory team found that this was a misunderstanding of why Kane might appear on the poll.
The Best Beard of London shortlist will be published on Tuesday 4th August and the on-line poll will open at midday
