Very Old Things and Very New Things

Yesterday Jon and I went to the Tower of London, visited the Design Museum, and saw Bend It Like Beckham--out first musical in London. It was quite a full day!

We liked the Tower of London, but it's quite focused on wars and weaponry and whatnot and those are not my most favorite things. But there was also a lot of interesting history. I particularly enjoyed the exhibit on the The Royal Mint, even though I would not call myself a numismatist (I needed an excuse to use that word. Say it out loud, it's fun!). My favorite things that I learned about the history of British currency:

• The Mint was first moved into the Tower of London in the 1270s, after King Edward I's currency became so useless (old, worn, frequently deliberately damaged) that it had to be completely re-made. Then, like any good leader, he blamed anyone and everyone he could for the poor state of his currency--including goldsmiths, Mint officials, and the Jewish community.

• Edward I's new coins were made of silver, and so criminals frequently cut the edges off of coins--this was known as "clipping," a crime that could be punishable by death.

• King Henry VIII was foolish and selfish, reducing the purity of English silver and gold coins during his reign to fund foreign wars and his super fancy lifestyle. As a result, prices skyrocketed and the people became quite cranky. When Elizabeth I took over, she ordered all coins to be brought to the Mint, melted down, and re-made into purer coins; as a result trust between royalty and the people was eventually restored.

• In 1660, Charles II was invited back to the throne after the Commonwealth era, and he was eager to make his people forget about the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell. He used coins as propaganda by issuing new currency with his own portrait stamped on it. He straight-up pretended the Commonwealth never existed; the coins had his reign dated to 1649, the year his father Charles I was executed.

• By 1660, most of Europe's coins were being machine-made rather than hand-made. Charles II was happy to introduce this new technology to the Mint. Coins became thicker and more regular. To prevent clipping, the edges of the coins were decorated and engraved.

1809 image showing men making gold coins in the coining room.
"Four men pull the arms of the screw press, while another sits in front of the press to feed in the metal blanks and extract the finished coins. The windows are barred for added security." Apparently it was pretty easy to lose a finger during this process.

• Isaac Newton was made Warden of the Mint in 1696. Because he had so much love for math, he calculated the most efficient method to produce coins. His work helped the Mint re-coin nearly 2.5 million pounds (currency not weight) of silver in three years. In 1699, he became Master of the Mint, which sounds like a title that should come with a very fancy hat.

• Coins became terrible again in 1797 due to years at war with France. As an emergency measure, the Mint began to stamp, or "countermark," George III's portrait on foreign coins to make them legal British money. I tried this with my dollars when I ran out of pounds; it did not work.

• "Piece of Eight" refers to a countermarked Spanish eight reales.

The Tower has a lovely exterior; the interiors don't photograph nearly as well. Also a lot of the interior consists of recreations, which makes sense, but it wasn't quite the same experience as trudging through the uneven steps and bare walls of Ross Castle in Ireland.

Fusilier Museum

White Tower. It houses the armory.

Home of the Crown Jewels

I'm not really sure what that is, but I hope someone just lives there and pays ridiculous rent.

Here are some photos of things inside:

It is said that King Henry was murdered in 1471 while praying in the chapel.

Stylus, 14th Century
"Royal scribes used this bone stylus to scratch marks onto waxed writing tablets. These notes might then be written up on to animal skins in ink."

Everyone was super into chess in the 11th Century because nobody had Netflix. It was so popular, minstrels sang songs that incorporated chess problems. This piece is carved from rock crystal.

I'm quite partial to the one on the upper left, but I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to choose the one in the center, as this was a recruitment poster from 1915.

The Artists Rifles practicing the YMCA.

The White Tower has an impressive armor exhibition. Kings' armor has been on display for centuries.

This was Henry VIII's armor. It's been on display since 1660.

Armor of Henry, Prince of Wales. For when he was 13.

"Many royal figures have featured in the Line of Kings--but queens have always been absent. There were simply no female armors in the Tower arsenal, because England's queens had never worn armor. Once, however, a woman almost joined the Line of Kings. In 1789, when Britain and Spain were at war, it was proposed that a figure of Queen Elizabeth I should be exhibited at the Tower. The figure was made but displayed not with the Line of Kings but in the Spanish Armoury, to recall England's defeat of the Spanish Armada. Today only Elizabeth's carved and painted wooden head survives."

This is a dragon made of armor.

This is a majestic lion statue, complete with wings and halo. It is a traditional depiction representing St. Mark the Evangelist. 

MAJESTIC

Carving in the Salt Tower made by Hew Draper of Brystow, May 1561. At the time of the carving he had been imprisoned in the tower for about 14 months, accused of sorcery.
"The sphere is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. The grid on the left shows the planetary influence over every hour of every day of the week."

If English history is your jam, below are some Fun Facts:

• The only time the Tower has been breached by attackers was in June 1381. Peasants camped outside the Tower to protest the new Poll Tax. They were super unhappy with Richard II, and Richard II was not so much interested in addressing England's societal problems. The peasants ultimately broke into and looted the Tower, focusing on Richard II's royal wardrobe (he kept lots of his supplies there, not just luxurious robes and impressive hats).

• For over 600 years, exotic animals were kept at the Tower of London. Royal figures kept gifting them to each other because they already owned everything else. The animals became very popular tourist attractions.

In 1255, King Louis IX of France gifted an elephant to Henry III of England. Henry III ordered a building to be made for his new elephant friend to reside in. (Note: this is not the actual elephant.)

• King Henry III had a polar bear he kept tied to a long rope so it could go fishing in the Thames.

• People used to think ostriches ate iron. Because why wouldn't you think that? They decided maybe that wasn't the case after someone fed a large nail to a Tower ostrich and it promptly died.

• Most of the animals died of natural causes. However, during the reign of James I, who was a major asshole, animals were made to fight each other as entertainment.

• The rules around interacting with the Royal Beasts were very lax; as a result, people kept getting attacked. Finally, in 1832, they realized that maybe this system was no good, and the Royal Beasts were sent to the London Zoo.

• King Edward IV's sons, Edward (12) and Richard (9) mysteriously disappeared in 1483 and are thought to have been murdered in the Tower. Some blame Richard III, Edward IV's younger brother, for murdering the boys in order to seize the throne. In 1674, workmen who were demolishing an old staircase in the White Tower discovered a wooden chest containing the broken bones of two children. Okay this is not so much a Fun Fact as it is Sad and Mysterious, but it's still an important historical nugget.

• The Cullinan diamond was the largest one ever found. It was discovered in South Africa in 1905 and named after the owner of the mine. It weighed 3,106 carats (133 lbs). To get the diamond back to London, they sent a heavily guarded decoy by ship and the real one sneaked in via parcel-post. The diamond was split into two pieces; the larger piece lives in the top of the Sovereign's Sceptre, and the smaller-but-still-quite-impressive piece is in the Imperial State Crown.

We also saw the Crown Jewels--including the Cullinan diamonds. The line was daunting, but it moved pretty fast, and the exhibit was definitely worth the (20 minute or so) wait. No photos allowed in the exhibit, but I will paint you a word picture: the jewels were very big and very shiny.

After we looked at lots of shiny things, we crossed Tower Bridge to the Design Museum. One of their exhibits was called "Life on Foot," which turned out to be an exhibit on shoes (Jon felt tricked). It focused on the shoe company Camper, which is apparently a pretty big deal, but we had never heard of them. The company started in the 19th century when the Fluxa family brought English shoe-making technology to Spain (Mallorca) and started designing luxury shoes. The company is big on ergonomics as well as sustainable practices. The exhibit also had some displays on the theme of walking in general.

The average shoe includes over 40 components.

My favorite part of the exhibit was Camper's "Twin" line; shoes that do not match:

Their Wabi shoe is fully bio-degradable and is made only using natural and sustainable materials. Early prototypes were made with hemp or coconut matting.

Maybe not the cutest shoes, but hey, they're good for the Earth.

The non-Camper  displays were a bit more intriguing, like this super-sciency footwear:

Protocell Footwear
"Shamees Aden is a research and multidisciplinary designer. Her work studies protocells, an emerging strand of synthetic biology that could offer radical new approaches to footwear design in the future. Protocells become semi-living substances through the manipulation of their chemical structure. Aden's Amoeba Trainer proposes that these substances could create a layer of artificial 'skin' around the foot. Protocells are highly adaptive and responsive, meaning the shoes could reconfigure instantaneously to offer the wearer extra support in high impact areas."

The exhibit we enjoyed most was "Designs of the Year 2015," which was a showcase of the 76 best designs submitted in the categories of architecture, digital, fashion, graphics, product, and transport. If you have an interest in anything at all, there was something in this exhibit for you. Our favorites:

DIY Gamer Kit, by Technology Will Save Us
"These technology kids aim to inspire young people to feel confident using technology to make things...with the DIY Gamer Kit, you can build your own game console, then code and invent your own game using custom software and Arduino--an open-source platform."

D-Air Bag, by Vittorio Cafaggi
Essentially an airbag for motorcyclists. "Sensors mount on the fork of the bike to anticipate a frontal collision send a wireless signal to activators in the airbag; these inflate the cells in 45 milliseconds. A lean-angle sensor under the seat can detect a fall, or a non-impact accident."

Kano computer kit, by Kano and MAP Project Office
"Aimed to encourage all ages to develop their knowledge of computer programming, the Kano comes with clear instructions and is simple and intuitive to use...From September 2014, all UK secondary schools have had to teach coding...Kano opens up coding knowledge to the mainstream in response to concerns about our individual knowledge of technology and our ability to use it to shape the future."

Loopwheels, by Sam Pearce/Jelly Products
"The spring system replaces conventional spokes with three loops, made from a carbon composite material, that provide the shock absorption and up to 70mm suspension travel...the Loopwheel has, in fact, reinvented the wheel."

Rodarte AW14/1, by Kate and Laura Mulleavy
Couture and Star Wars, what's not to love?

Current Table, by Marjan von Aubel with Solaronix
"This table is able to charge your phone or device by absorbing energy from daylight." Essentially this table photosynthesizes!

Google self-driving car, by YooJung Ahn, Jared Gross, and Philipp Haban
I don't see why everyone's so excited about this thing, it's clearly WAY too small to fit anyone inside.

...Well then it must not have been very well designed.

Another cool design was "Responsive Street Furniture," designed by Ross Atkin and Jonathan Scott. It helps those with visual impairments navigate streets. You make requests on a website for accommodations in specific locations--such as brighter street lighting, longer crossing times, or audio information--and register your smartphone or a special key fob. Then, while you're navigating the street, when you come across the appropriate piece of Responsive Street Furniture, it will respond to your request, adapting your immediate surroundings or providing you with information. This system can also be used for folks who are visiting a city where they do not speak the language.

After grabbing some pizza at Pizza Express (a delicious and efficient chain of sit-down Italian restaurants), we made our way to Leicester Square to see Bend it Like Beckham. I really liked the movie when it came out, as it was mainly a story about women but also had hot men in it. Also it's a sports movie, and while I don't really go for sports games in real life, when they're scripted I get really into them.

The show was a ton of fun and had a lot of heart. It was great to see a show that was mostly women and wasn't a parade of white people with a few token folks of color. There was one woman in the chorus who wore a headscarf; it wasn't a plot point at all, there was just an ensemble member who happened to be a Muslim woman who wore a headscarf. Can you see that happening in an American musical?

My major qualm with the show is one that I have with many musicals, especially new ones: there were too many songs. Songs in musicals should advance the plot, acting as a replacement for dialogue rather than supplementing it. If a song doesn't advance the plot, it should be a showstopper you remember forever or so beautiful that you're moved to tears. There were way too many ballads, and for the most part they all involved characters singing things at us that we already knew in addition to being completely forgettable and making the show too long (almost three hours). I very much enjoyed the dance numbers in Bend It Like Beckham, especially since they sometimes included soccer footwork, which you don't see a lot onstage. It's also always fun to see theater tackling things that are hard to pull off onstage, such as impressive goal-scoring (soccer balls on wire and pin spots as balls were heavily employed).

This audience was so noisy during the first act. Thankfully the ushers were on top of it, asking people to be quite and then during intermission giving the chatty folks extended (and polite) explanations for why they are ruining everything for everyone.

I am becoming increasingly frustrated and disheartened by modern audiences' (lack of) theatre etiquette. I'm not saying that an audience should be completely silent. I frequently take kids to all-student matinees, and I enjoy those performances much more than those that are filled with stuffy subscribers. Kids laugh more, they cheer harder, they dance in their seats, they shout "OOOOOOOOHHH!!!" when a character delivers a clever insult--they are more audibly enthusiastic audience members, and I think it's for the better (multiple talk-backs with actors have indicated that they also enjoy this energy). Their reactions are indications that they're engaged, and they are appropriately timed and are not distracting (of course, they also chat with each other and whip out their iPads and crack open noisy bags of chips, but we do our best to put a stop to all that). There's a difference between voicing your emotional involvement in a performance and chatting with the person next to you or texting--those are behaviors that indicate that you are not engaged with the performance and you do not care about how you are affecting the experience of those around you. I think that all performances should start with someone--preferably a charismatic cast member--taking the stage, engaging with the audience, and explaining which behaviors are acceptable and which are not and why. Because I think it's just a matter of a lack of education at this point.

I did not expect to end this post with a general rant. Surprise!

Today we plan on visiting the Cartoon Museum (they're doing an exhibit called "Alice in Cartoonland"), grabbing lunch at the Google office (the one where Jon did not work, apparently their food is better), and then we are seeing a screening of The Room (otherwise known as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies")!

xo
Hannah