Early Council Housing in Nottingham

I've been doing some research into Council Housing in Nottingham and have written this guest blog for the excellent Municipal Dreams site. Enjoy.

Nottingham's Early Council Housing

Order Ref: FPS/Q3060/7/1

An obscure title I know but all will become clear.  But be prepared, this is a geeky post of maps, rights-of-way and legal processes!

I'm a little late to this but hoping that this will bring the story to a wider group of people.  

What is a Right of Way anyway?

You've probably saw them on an Ordnance Survey map if you went for a walk over Christmas or the New Year break.  Little green line, sometimes dashed, sometimes dotted.  But what actually is a Right of Way?  Courtesy of Gov.uk: "Public rights of way are open to everyone. They can be roads, paths or tracks, and can run through towns, countryside or private property."  Uh-huh.  "You have the right to walk along them. Some rights of way are also open to horse riders, cyclists or motorists".  Ok, I can live with that.  What are the different sorts?

• footpaths - let you go by foot only
• bridleways - let you go by foot, horse or bike
• restricted byways - let you travel by any form of transport that doesn’t have a motor
• byways open to all traffic - let you travel by any form of transport, including cars (though they’re mainly used by walkers and horse riders)"

The point is that no-one can close or divert (with a few specific instances around the ploughing of land) a Right of Way without going through the proper legal process and satisfying some pretty stringent tests.  

Why does that matter? 

It's one of the things that makes me proud to be British - a legal defined right to use paths, criss-crossing our country: no tickets, permissions, opening hours, nothing - just free access to the countryside (and quite a lot of urban areas too) that no-one can take away.  George Orwell summed this up brilliantly in his essay, 'Thoughts on the Common Toad';

"How many a time have I stood watching the toads mating, or a pair of hares having a boxing match in the young corn, and thought of all the important persons who would stop me enjoying this if they could. But luckily they can’t. So long as you are not actually ill, hungry, frightened or immured in a prison or a holiday camp, Spring is still Spring. The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it."

The right to access land and enjoy it peacefully is a hugely political issue of course - the best example of this is the Mass Tresspass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District.  

Kinder Scout (image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:North_Flank_Kinder_Scout.JPG)

Cool. I like a walk. Sorted.

Almost.  Some people don't like the fact that other people can access land that they own.  Every scrap of the United Kingdom is owned by someone and plenty of those people don't want anyone else to enjoy it.  In a recent Tory proposal lapped up by the Telegraph and other media outlets, it looks like this basic right could be under threat.  

Oh. But all the ones currently used are ok aren't they? 

Maybe.  

(This is where it gets really geeky - stay with me).  

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 made it (among other things) a legal duty for Surveying Authorities (usually your local Council) to keep a map (the "Definitive Map") of all Rights of Way in their local area.  This means that everyone can see where the Rights of Way (RoW) are and there's no debate about them.  

One of the brilliant pieces of legislation from the 1997 Labour Government was the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.  Commonly known as the "Right to Roam" Act but actually much more than that, this Act "provides for public access on foot to certain types of land, amends the law relating to public rights of way, increases measures for the management and protection for Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and strengthens wildlife enforcement legislation, and provides for better management of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The Act is compliant with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, requiring consultation where the rights of the individual may be affected by these measures".  

Phew.  

In practical terms for a casual walker, it has two effects: (1) a right to access Mountain (land over 600 metres), Moorland, Heath, Downland alongside Registered common land.  (My sister was involved in the official mapping process following the passing of the Act and still has a set of 'Mountain', 'Moor', 'Heath' and 'Down' mugs from the office where she was working at the time).  And (2) puts in a place a deadline that if a RoW isn't on the Definitive Map by the year 2026 then it's gone forever.  

Ah, that'll shake things up a bit

You'd have thought so, but in reality progress against that 2026 has been horrendously slow and I imagine it'll be pushed further into the future as we get closer to that time.  

But it has meant that where paths were sort in dispute but everyone had been muddling along things were put into focus a bit more.  

And this is where it gets distinctly Nottingham-relevant.  

The City Council has an excellent (if small) Rights of Way team and the contents of the Definitive Map are integrated into 'Nottingham Insight Mapping' - click through the Layers section to 'Transport and Streets' and then scroll down to 'Public Rights of Way'.  

As a small-ish urban authority there aren't that many official RoWs and the number of applications to 'Modify' the Definitive Maps as recorded here has only ever been a dozen or so.  
But there's one controversial one isn't there?

Yup.  

To understand this bit, you need to know about the Park Estate in Nottingham.  It's a pretty special place in many ways - probably the best history I've found is here but the summary is that it's a private estate with some amazing architecture (including quite a few Watson Fothergill specials) and a fab location just a mile or so from the city centre.  Oh, and owls.  Lots of owls that you can hear hooting at night.  

Would you like to live in a house with a turret?
(image Copyright David Lally and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)

There's a footpath that runs along the Southern part of the Estate, as shown on this map that has been used for many years to cut through from Lenton to the City;

Click for link to Google Maps

Except that the Nottingham Park Estate Limited who run the services of the Estate and maintain the communal facilities like the green spaces and the (amazing) gas lamp system decided that it wasn't a Right of Way and that they would put a gate in (this happened in 2003) and then start regularly locking this gate in 2009 - essentially denying access to local residents over a Right of Way that has existed for nearly 1000 years.  

Nottingham City Council decided this wasn't right and so added the route to the Definitive Map (see, there was a point to all of the above background!) to make its status clear and ensure that the gate was removed or left open.  This was challenged by the Estate and there was an official enquiry and everything, eventually culminating in an official Decision by the Planning Inspector which can be found here.  

Bearing in mind the initial status of the Estate as the deer park for the Castle, the route from the West of the City including Lenton (originally an agricultural village separate from the City itself) makes perfect sense, especially with the Castle at the end of it.  I'm pleased as that all of this is clearly laid out in the Decision, complete with lots of geeky detail and references to some excellent maps too.  

To me it's important to stand up for what might seem like little things - once they're gone it's these kind of rights that we'd miss.  

Okay, thanks for that, good to know

You're welcome.  

(more here, here, here and here if you're interested).  

Detroit, Always On My Mind

It is fairly typical to see building like this on most blocks

I think I am a little bit obsessed about Detroit.  I see from my speaking notes to the Nottingham Roosevelt Travelling Scholarship annual dinner last year that I described it as a "tragic, brilliant, beautiful place full of contradictions, challenges and hope".  It is a place that really gets under the skin - see my previous posts on the place here.  I see that the backlash against the 'ruin tourism' is in full force which I've got some sympathy for - it felt quite voyeuristic looking around neighbourhoods that used to be peoples' homes.  I certainly don't like the idea of organised commercial groups charging for tours.  

The green clapboard house to the left was occupied, surrounded by abandoned and demolished homes

I thought I'd share a few articles from the last few months on Detroit and then point people to another broader piece about cities in general.  

This piece on the FT (registration, free) has been sitting in my pile of "things to read properly" for nearly six months but it's definitely worth checking out.  It's a good read and has a striking main picture to boot.  The key moment for me is this quote from a middle-aged firefighter, David McLeod, regarding his move out of the city to the surrounding counties,

"Everyone who can afford to leave has left.  The only people remaining are poor or sick or criminals"

The broad point here is right.  

But the key missing word in Mr McLeod's comment, however, is "Black".  

As this article and map shows, the divide between poor, decaying and Black Detroit and richer, successful, and White Oakland County is incredibly stark.  I talk a bit about this here but the map is a brilliant articulation of the issue.  If you're at all upwardly mobile in Detroit you "got out" years ago and moved to the more prosperous and probably safer suburbs.  Sadly this has the impact of making the city you left behind even more impoverished until it gets into the sorry state it's in today.  And even more tragically, even if you're geographically not living in a particular city you will often make calls on the city's services: roads, schools, museums, parks etc; without necessarily financially contributing to them.  This is relevant to us here in Nottingham (see what I did there?) with our phenomenally tight boundaries - I've covered this previously here.  

Talking of museums, I was incredibly pleased to see that the exhibits in the fantastic Detroit Institute of Arts may have been given a reprive.  The museum is an amazing little oasis of (free) culture and stimulation in the midst of a challenging area of the world and I'd be really sad to see this particular family silver sold off even given the dire straits the city is in.  

Hard to photograph but stunning when up close and a real tribute to Detroit's industrial heritage

I'd never seen any of Claus Oldenburg's work in person before - pretty incredible

All in all, I'd say that Mike Duggan (the new, albeit emasculated) Mayor of Detroit has his work cut out...

... but some of the hope that I think he shows for the city is really well captured in a (longform) article from the middle of last year again in the FT (registration, free).  I'll let you read it yourself but will share a couple of the key points here;

"...Whole Foods, the organic supermarket chain, opened its first-ever store within Detroit’s city limits. The occasion was marked with street parties in its midtown neighbourhood. Others, including Detroit’s impoverished black majority, may feel less excitement about the arrival of an outlet some call “Whole Pay Check” because it is so expensive"

 "Students of the “new urbanism”, such as Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, which argues that cities are the best Petri dishes for new ideas and innovation, say their revival is assisted by a generational shift in US culture as well as deeper economic trends. Florida, who now lives in Toronto, just 250 miles north of Detroit (but still a million miles in terms of its vibrancy), grew up in suburban New Jersey in a second-generation Italian-American family. Like so many other immigrants, his parents fled the claustrophobia of Newark for the freedom of the suburbs. “To them the city was a ghetto – it was stifling and crowded and dangerous,” says Florida. “But to my generation, the suburbs represent a kind of poverty of living and it is the cities, rather than the suburbs, where you can breathe freely" "

"Technology is also an ally. The big out-of-town retail centres once spelt the death knell of Main Street. But the rapid shift to online retailing is now rendering many of them obsolete. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, at least a tenth of America’s remaining 1,000 enclosed malls will shut in the next seven years, mostly because of the internet. That is why people like Gilbert put so much emphasis on “place making” – creating a spectacle out of the street life that only cities can offer. It means good food, open-air events and renovated parks. Out go the discarded needles. In come the open-air chess boards. “American cities are becoming more and more European in their sensibility,” says Florida. “It is all about lifestyle.” As the new urbanists put it (somewhat annoyingly), the US urban revival is driven by the “3Ts” – technology, tolerance and talent."

Do read the whole article - it's a great piece of writing and offers a vision for the future that I find very exciting.  

Reinvigorated

Spurred on by my colleague's excellent commitment to blog every day of 2014, I've decided to commit to my own blogging plan - twice a month at the moment but hoping to improve...

I've got half-formed ideas for posts on housing, the 2014 Euro elections, Detroit (always a favourite) and more.  

Here's to 2014.  

More On That Secret Nuclear Bunker

Further to this post, I realised the other day that I'd missed out a critical part of the story that first got me interested in this sort of Cold War history.  

As you can see from this brief story, a local historian has managed to get hold of a set of maps put together by the Russians during the cold war, showing an extraordinary level of detail of the country and Nottingham in particular.  

The exhibition mentioned in the article was excellent, albeit criminally under-publicised and there was a little card suggesting that the maps could be bought from Mr Grimes along with his email address.  Being a nerd and a maps nerd at that, I of course sent of a criminally small amount of money and get back a CD of the maps in return.  

There is a reference to a couple of articles by John Davies called, "Uncle Joe Knew Where You Lived" and Part II here which give a wealth of fascinating detail of how the maps were compiled.  

The four Nottingham maps on the CD are at 1:10,000 resolution - ie incredibly detailed: the usual map that you might use for a walk in the countryside is 1:25,000.  The bits that I found most strange when browsing through the maps is the phonetic rendering of English places names into their Cyrillic equivalents.  

I'm hoping that I'm not in massive breach of the intellectual property that exists in the maps if I post some little extracts.  If I am then please get in touch and I'll take the images down immediately.  

This is The Park Estate and the eastern side of city centre

To bring us back to the original secret nuclear bunker post, this is the Russians' view of our regional command centre;

Note the special pink colour for military installation

A couple of things worth noting - the orange colour of some roads wasn't by chance - this was to designate which roads were wide enough to accommodate the width of the tanks that the Russians were planning to invade the UK with.  Is it just me for whom this creates a terrifying image of military hardware rolling down the ring road?  

Secondly, bearing in mind these maps, according to the "Uncle Joe..." series as linked above, were based on independent research rather than cribbing from existing maps, compare the maps of the Broxtowe and Aspley estates above and on the modern Google Maps.  

If anyone is interested in getting hold of a copy of the maps then please do let me know either through a comment below or via direct message on my twitter and I'll put you in touch with Mr Grimes.  

Review: Richard III, Nottingham Playhouse

(Setting aside the current political controversy over the proposed removal of the subsidy to The Playhouse by the County Council, of which I am going to diplomatically stay reasonably neutral - see a couple of opposing views: here and here).  

This is a slightly delayed blog (life has intervened) but I hoping that people who read it are able to get along before the run ends and support local live theatre (if that's important to you) in the most direct way possible - by buying a ticket.  

On that note, the house when I was there was perhaps two thirds full - yes it was one of the (incredibly good value) preview nights and a wet-ish Monday night but even so, Nottingham, where's your civic pride in a chance to get one over on Leicester...?

Although I was slightly more prepared than when I was scribbling notes on the back of my ticket for the acclaimed 1984, I still only have a few bits sketched out - so will restrain myself to a trio of observations.  

Modern Dress and Elizabethan Language

Despite discovering that H16 is the best possible seat for anyone my height (6'4") - the seat infront is offset so you're free to stretch out as much as you like and therefore being relaxed and in full anticipation of a good night's entertainment my heart sanked into my (well extended) boots the moment the curtain went up.  The cast were assembled in modern dress.  Modern dress I tell you.  I hate nothing more from a staging of Shakespeare.  Stop trying to convince people that it's all "relevant" and "contemporary" and in touch with our modern lives through dressing people in jeans and modern suits.  It's a 400 year old piece of drama about Elizabethan concerns and Elizabethan opportunities.  Stop trying to pretend it's anything else.  Stop it.  

As if to prove my point, the costume incongruity was forgotten within about two minutes with a brilliant rendering of the opening soliloquy by Ian Bartholomew;

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,To set my brother Clarence and the kingIn deadly hate the one against the other:And if King Edward be as true and justAs I am subtle, false and treacherous,This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,About a prophecy, which says that 'G'Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: hereClarence comes.

(Act I, Scene i.  Text from here) 

The key couplet showing Gloucester's malevolence was perfectly delivered with the pause between "As I am" and "subtle" lulling the audience into a brilliant moment of realisation.  When you've got language and delivery as world-class as that, don't go and spoil it with a cocktail dress, eh.  

My second favourite moment in the early part of the play came about fifteen minutes later when Gloucester shows his true colours with great piece of Shakespearean irony;

I do not know that Englishman aliveWith whom my soul is any jot at oddsMore than the infant that is born to-nightI thank my God for my humility.

(Act II, Scene i.  Text from here) 

The entire auditorium was silent during al the key moments - I suspect a combination of good textual knowledge and the excellent pacing and pointing up of the peaks of the action.  

Live Action

In keeping with a very traditional interpretation of the live theatre of the time, the action in various parts of the production moved to be in the audience and also used the full extent of the Playhouse's auditorium.  

Therefore at one point during the sham pleading for Gloucester to make a claim for the throne his cronies were standing right next to me in the aisle of the auditorium and calling up to Richard who was in the Circle.  This truly broke down the fourth-wall and made for a very engaging performance.  

Presentation

Finally, I just want to commend the artistic direction when the action was back on the main stage.  

The trompe l'oeil effect of the stage with the various settings receding off into the distance was very smart - giving a good sense of place and space whilst maximising the playing area.  When combined with the lighting from in front giving a projection of Richard's hunchback and making him seem very fearsome this was a very powerful look.  

I also really enjoyed Act V, Scene v - the night before the battle where the rival leaders are shown in the stage version of a "split screen" - the same tent but divided into two with a tormented Richard stage right and his rival peacefully slumbering stage right.  A very clever piece of stagework, well executed with some technical challenges in the erection and dismantling of the tent well navigated.  

Overall

The production misses some of the polish that I might expect from a professional production with a couple of prompts needed (albeit very well coped with) and a few stumbles (literally in one case - Charles Daish injured himself on the night I was there and has been performing on crutches ever since!) in the flow of the action.  But overall was a strong performance of a topical play well worth a visit.  It closes on 16th November.  

One Year Ago - Washington, DC

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was reflecting on the end of my trip and enjoying the sights of DC.  

One Year Ago - Election Day

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was hungover and celebrating a good election results for the Democrats.  

One Year Ago - Bentonville

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was falling under the spell of small-town America in Bentonville, Arkansas.  

Secret Nuclear Bunker

Image courtesy of: http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/how-anarchists-exposed-secret-nuclear-bunkers.html

A friend sent me a link to this planning application which is for the Secret Nuclear Bunker in the Chalfont Drive complex off the Ring Road in Nottingham.  Most Nottingham people have driven past the turning for it a hundred times but very few will have been inside.  I certainly haven't but would love to one day!

The bunker is here;


View Larger Map View Larger Map

If you zoom in on that map you start to see the uniform shape of a planned development.  Most people who took their driving test in Nottingham until a few years ago probably started off from this location.  I say until a few years ago because the site is slow being cleared for housing and other use and the various government departments that used to be there are slowly dispersing. The varied and interesting government uses means that there are lots of interesting things to be seen in this area - all of which appeal to my inner geek.  

(One of these things, and not really the focus of this blog is the presence of an Ordnance Survey Trig Point.  The specific point now seems to have been removed but there are some old shots on that second link.)

The main exciting thing at the Chalfont Drive (which is also the home of HMS Sherwood which as the Navy acknowledges, is a bold location for a naval facility...) is the Nuclear Bunker.  The site has received a fair amount of attention over the years and is well documented here.  

Correctly a 'Regional Seat of Government' this is one of a chain of facilities that existed throughout the country up until the early 1990s to be used in event of a nuclear war.  The planning application is pretty prosaic, changing the external doors to make sure that they are still secure, but the main interesting thing is the Heritage Statement.  This is required because the building is Listed - as you can see here.  The Listing statement is excellent, some choice extracts;

In the late 1950s, with the greater threat posed by the Soviet H-bomb, the earlier system of emergency central government was restructured. In place of the smaller War Rooms, the Commissioners in each Region (London was now deleted) were supplied with a Regional Seat of Government for around 200 staff. Their larger size is significant as it was envisaged that the regions would need to remain autonomous for a longer period due to the far greater devastation posed by the H-bomb.  

and

The Cambridge and Nottingham RSGs comprise the only purpose-built examples and, moreover, the most impressive examples of Cold War 'architecture' (by which we mean monumental structures which have applied and conscious external treatment) in England, augmented by the example at Kirknewton in Scotland which is essentially identical to the Cambridge bunker. These features borrow from contemporary Brutalist architecture in order to clearly exhibit their grim function through their architectural treatment.

and

It is probable, indeed, that such buildings needed to be visually impressive and forbidding - which they undoubtedly were - as much to impress visiting government ministers or local leaders and dignitaries, as for truly functional reasons. As the Cold War was essentially an era of bluff and counter-bluff, the illusion of being well prepared for nuclear strike might have been considered as important as the actual preparations themselves. The same could be said for impressing our allies and the local population, fulfilling a need to show that there were preparations in hand should the unthinkable happen

The Heritage Statement as linked above also has some great details including the final photograph of the steel door - imagine if this was your final view before entering into the bunker for an indeterminate time as the nuclear winter raged away above you.  

One Year Ago - Palo Alto

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was enjoying the hospitality and weird atmosphere of Silicon Valley

One Year Ago - Amtrak

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was on my first (but definitely not last) Amtrak train journey.  

One Year Ago - Obama

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was campaigning for President Obama's re-election.  

One Year Ago - Chicago

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was falling in love with Chicago.  

One Year Ago - Detroit

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was in Detroit, hearing about a City teetering on the brink of municipal bankruptcy.  

One Year Ago - Cincinnati

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was enjoying the contrasting stories of Cincinnati (behold my spelling skills still holding up!).  

Review: 1984, Nottingham Playhouse

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to attend the theatre more so I was excited to see that as part of their 50th Anniversary season, Nottingham Playhouse were putting on a production of Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four.  A long time fan (not to say obsessive) of Orwell (one of the many reasons for my visit to Jura earlier this year) and lover of the book I was one of the first to buy my ticket when they went on sale.  

I went on one of the 'preview' nights, mainly because the tickets are much cheaper (eleven quid for an evening of live entertainment in the city centre - what a deal!) and was pleased to see that the place was pretty much a sell-out.  

As you can see from my breathless tweets immediately afterwards, I was some what impressed - this was one of the best pieces of theatre I've seen in a long time.  It is a stylistically triumphant, sensitively adapted and compelling piece of theatre that has made me re-assess one of my favourite books.  I urge you to buy some tickets now before they sell out.  

It's worth noting that the play is run in one complete chunk - no interval so you're in your seat for over an hour and a half without a break.  This was definitely the right artistic decision and it's a tribute to the quality of the performances that at no point did I feel the need to sneak out for a break.  

I'm not going to do a detailed run through of the production as I would like you to discover it for yourself but I've got just a few observations I'd like to share.  This is a little bit limited by the fact that I only started to scribble down some thoughts part way through the production and was hampered by the lack of light and something to write on - so this is based on what I could scrawl on the back of my ticket!  Note also that the below assumes that you are familiar with the original story.  If you're not then go out and read it!

Plotting.  This was always going to be a challenge for the team writing the adaptation as Orwell's original text really wasn't that strong on plot - the awkward interpolation of Goldstein's Book and the appending of the essay on NewSpeak were obviously tack-ons from a writer desperate to get all his ideas out and into what turned out to be his last book before his untimely death.  Bernard Crick's biography of Orwell reveals some interesting details of how Orwell had to resist attempts from his American publisher to remove these sections.  What you have in the original is a fairly limply plotted story - but then fundamentally it's a novel of ideas rather than action.  This theatrical production neatly sidesteps these challenges by throwing you directly into things, in media res, using the conceit of a book group from the future, discussing not the novel but Winston Smith's diary which in this future world has been rescued and published.  This creation of a new world as a bubble around the world that Orwell creates is a very neat addition.  The fact that the actor playing Winston slips in and out of these two worlds only further adds to his (and our) dislocation and sense of disorientation.  

Language.  This is the key way that disorientation is achieved in the book - we have to work hard to understand what's going on with the use of NewSpeak throughout and this difficulty not only generates meaning but also creates a sense of distance that makes it clear that this is a different world - not one that far away from where we are now but definitely different.  In a live performance like a film or play this is a hard technique to replicate - the audience doesn't have time to learn a whole language or to flick back and forth to remind themselves what a particular word means so a lot of the NewSpeak is removed from this production.  However, the effect of confusion and distancing is an important one to have in place and this production amply achieves this by the  switching back and forth between the "present' (1984) and the future (some time around 2050) with the Winston character being something of both a participant and bemused observer in both.  (This issue around managing the use of language was, of course, a similar problem to that faced by Kubrick in his adaptation of A Clockwork Orange for the screen - one that he neatly and cinematically managed by using the speeding up of images and the booming classical music soundtrack to achieve a similar end, especially in the more extreme scenes of sex and violence).  As a final point on language, I was intrigued that one of the key passages in the book, Winston's fervent belief that, "If there is hope it lies in the proles" was not present in this production.  There was a number of times when I was expecting it to be used but then the script shied away - a curious decision.  

Design.  Here the production really triumphed.  The setting for the first half of the play is a claustrophobic multipurpose space that variously represents: Winston's front room, the canteen at the Ministry of Truth, the future book group, O'Brien's apartment and Charrington's shop.  Again, this constant switching between different locations and repetition of some scenes several times helps create the sense of confusion, paranoia and control that Orwell wanted in his original text.  Two moments of transformation however take this a step beyond and elevated the whole production to a frankly astonishing level of quality.  The first is when Winston first goes with Julia to the back room of Charrington's shop.  They disappear off stage left and after a momentary pause the action in the room off-stage is projected through a video link onto a screen on the top of the main performing stage.  You are at this point watching a live production of an adaptation of a novel with the actors off stage being videoed and broadcast live on a screen on-stage.  A tour-de-force in conception and execution.  Of course, this all talks very clearly to the omni-presence of Big Brother and the hidden telescreen in the back room that ultimately leads to the betrayal of Winston and Julia - the audience is encouraged to ask, "are we watching through the telescreen alongside the Thought Police?".  The second moment of design is one that borders on theatrical genius and leads on directly from this train of thought.  At the moment that Winston realises that he has been betrayed or otherwise discovered (incidentally, I love the fact that this is left ambiguous in the book) the stage erupts into a cacophony of noise and light.  The claustrophobic setting we have become used to for the first half of the play is transformed in what feels like only a few moments into a stark white cube - welcome to Room 101.  Sirens blare and the lights go bright white and the walls of the stage move off into the wings.  Bit by bit the stage is dismantled and carted away, leaving Julia in the shell of the back room, vulnerable and alone and with the Thought Police moving closer and closer.  The addition of a V-For-Vendetta style mask to the uniform of the Thought Police is a smart little nod to the current political protest culture.  After what feels like a moment but is certainly much longer you are exited out of one of the most absorbing moments in live theatre I've ever seen into the relative calm of an interrogation room in the Ministry of Love.  You can imagine the rest...

Exhausting, exhilarating and edifying this is a not-to-be-missed treat - the play is only on until 28th September so move fast to get to see it before it's too late.  

One Year Ago - New York

Seeing as it's a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was just leaving New York after a brisk 48 hour visit and ready to start on the rest of my adventure!

Further House Research

Follow on from this post, I've found some time to do more research on the previous owners and occupiers of my house.

I've done a couple of sessions of research at both the Local Studies Library at Nottingham's Central Library and the Nottinghamshire Archives. I should pay tribute at this stage to the staff at both these institutions - they've been very patient with my odd demands and seemed to take a genuine interest in what I was trying to research.  

From the last update you'll see that I was only able to examine the Electoral Register from 1932 onwards at the Central Library - for a variety of reasons including damage during World War Two, the City's records are incomplete. Bizarrely therefore I had to go to the County Council Archives (which is located in the City boundaries) to examine the City's Electoral Register records. (Given the records are all on Microfiche I'm not sure why they can't simply be given a copy but there we go).

The set-up at the Archives is great - useful opening hours including Saturday morning and very helpful staff. Many of the records in wanted were in open access but I believe you have to request some things from the "stacks" which are delivered on a timetable throughout the day.

I previously knew from the earliest records in the Library that from the early 1930s my house was occupied by the Bonnallo family.  From the records at the Archives I was able to track this backwards to when the house was built.  

The house first appears in the register for 1912 - confirming once and for all that the house is Edwardian rather than Victorian.  Of course the architectural styles are naturally somewhat fluid but it's good to have clarity on the date at least.  Interestingly, this is ten years or so before the covenants that appear in my deeds that set me off on this research in the first place.  

The first resident listed in the Register is Raynor Thomas.  (The microfiches from this time period are very poor or I'd show an image of it).  Looks like Mr Thomas lived there until around 1920 when James William Board moved in.  

1920 Electoral Register

He was joined by his wife in 1924;

1924 Register

And then in 1925 we find our old friends the Bonnallos in residence.  

The Bonallos arrive in 1925

Their son, Leonard, comes of age in 1926 meaning that he'd be 105 years old now, potentially his descendants still live in Nottingham.  

How different would being 18 be in 1926?

As we know from my previous work, this family lived in my house until well into the 1970s, followed by a series of shorter term residents.  

Look clear enough, doesn't it....?

But prior to this visit I'd done some work back in Central Library using their collection of Street Directories.  These are a kind of precursor to the Yellow Pages / Thomson Local (as an aside, is anyone else still mildly astonished when one of those books arrives through the letterbox at home? In my house it has an extraordinarily short existence before hitting the recycling box - it's almost as if the companies behind them haven't quite heard of the internet...) but included private residents too if they paid the subscription fee. You can see some digital examples here if you're interested.  

The Central Library has a good collection of these, albeit stored away from open access so you have to request the librarians to get them for you. They are very accommodating however and even procured me a special pillow to rest the volumes on to protect the original bindings.

The story that the Directories told was interesting but also contradictory to the Electoral Register - the plot thickens!

The records from the early 1920s broadly match - in 1922 Kelly's Directory has James William Board listed.  

Apologies for the poor quality - it's an illicit camera phone photo

And thereafter we have some interesting detail with the Bonnallo family appearing in yet another spelling variant of Brownallo in 1928;

Misprint, mistake or variable Anglicising of Italian name?

Thereafter we see Bonnallo in place as expected and the Directories tended to drift into obscurity shortly after.  

But it's what we see in the years before 1922 that's most interesting.  

In 1913/14 when the Register shows Raynor Thomas we have Mrs Clara Hodges in the Directory;

Note the neighbour's job

In 1916 when Raynor Thomas is still registered to vote, there is a Percy Lord (a "Grocers' Assistant" - love the implications of being an assistant to multiple grocers...) listed as trading from this address;

Apologies again for v poor quality image

And the records show that his wife (?) joined the family firm a few years later in 1920.  

So, we have one person registered to vote and a series of other people living and trading from the house.  I need to refresh my memory of the voting rules at this time - I think you could be registered if you owned a property but not actually live there and live there but own insufficient property to qualify to vote.  

The interesting thing of course is that the 1920 deeds show the guy selling on to James Board being a William Richmond so at that time you've got Raynor Thomas living there and registered to vote whilst the house is owned by someone else.  The deeds for the next door house show the same William Richmond selling the house at the same sort of time - looks like he owned a chunk of the whole street for 10 or so years after building them: renting them out until subsequently selling out.  There's also a character called James Bell mentioned in the deeds who is involved in some way too.  

All very confusing and lots of avenues to continue researching.  

Next time out I'm planning to explore;

- Getting to the bottom of the early years of the residents including looking at the voting rights at the time.  I want to know who the Lord family were in particular.  

- The collection of local plans and maps in the Archives - hopefully showing the construction of the houses up my street from the main road - I can imagine it winding slowly upwards and away and the city developed

- The will for the Mortgagee of my property (Mary Jackson) in the 1920s (as per my first post) to see if I can find out any more about her.  

- See if I can trace the Bonnallo descendants who might still be living in Nottingham.  

One Year Ago - Pre-Departure

Seeing as it's nearly a year ago since I went to America and given how jealous I am getting of this year's Nottingham Roosevelt Scholars, I thought I'd wallow in nostalgia for a bit and do a short series of re-posts from exactly a year ago - it's amazing how quickly the time goes isn't it!

About a year ago I was making my final preparations for departure and getting all maudlin about Nottingham.  

Please do follow this year's Scholars on their blogs and tweets - I'm sure they'll have as fascinating and rewarding time as I did

Rebecca Wilson is blogging here and tweeting here

Sacha Wise is blogging here and tweeting here

Ioney Smallhorne is blogging here and tweeting here

Francesca Pearson isn't up and running yet with her social media but I'll update this when she is.  

Sandeep Gill is tweeting here

Daniel Walsh is tweeting here

Best of luck to you all!