Cultured Views

Big Brother 8 UK…don’t bother!

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Version 8 of UK Big Brother is well under way, and so is the discontent of the viewers. Going by public feedback in the British newspaper forums what on earth possessed the producers of this program when they selected this years bunch of losers?. From my perspective this years BB house has the atmosphere of nothing more than a turkey coop. With a predominately female household, the conversations(?) take on a sound something similar to a bunch of turkeys prior to feeding time. GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!. Can anyone really make out what any of them are actually saying?.

This year the producers took a brave step by introducing on opening night: a) a house consisting of all females, b) 2 females over the age of 50 and, c) twin sisters…the less said about them the better.

Of course, after only 1 week one contestant has decided to walk and has done. One of the ‘over 50’s’ women who was bored, intellectually(well, of course) and physically, and because she was obviously out of her depth. Lesley is what society classes as a ‘lady’. She is from a time when parents actually raised their baby girls to be ‘ladies’.  There are no ‘ladies’ in this years house, or any previous years houses. ‘Ladies’ within the 18-35 age bracket these days just do not exist. Nowadays it is all get drunk, swear your head off, smoke like a chimney and bonk the nearest available bloke that takes your fancy. Which pretty much describes the goings on in this years UK BB house.

Lots of four-letter words (too many in fact); the now-expected-romance between one male(who no-one else wants, and this year for good reason…he has no lips!) and one female( desperate to be the next ’Helen’, ‘Jade’ or ‘Posh’). We won’t include Mikey and whats-her-name because no-one really gives a shit about those two except fanatical ‘OK’ magazine buyers.

There is Carole, the so-called ‘fiesty’ activist who was going to liven up the house, but she has proven to be a wet blanket who cries too much and just eats. The twins…inarticulate and incomprehensible. Nicky, an out and out pain in the arse.  Emily…gone thank god. Lesley, too old, too conservative, too boring. Shabnam, vain, vain, vain, and wears a permanently ’surprised’ expression. The fat-one-from-Wales who is always chewing something and desperately envies Chanelle. Chanelle(?)…a Mrs Beckham wannabe(so no originality at all)  desperate for publicity and just as incomprehensible as The Twins when she gets going. Tracey, delightfully ‘offbeat’, not an exhibitionist, sensible, grounded.  Ziggy…what can one say?. A totally ineffectual male, thin lipped, getting to be as bitchy as the girls, and latching onto Chanelle in more ways than one. No wonder he still lives at home with his parents!. Gerry and Seany…what is it with BB and gay men these days? (not that there’s anything wrong with it!’). Last, but not least, CHARLEY. Does this female own a piece of clothing that bypasses her crotch?. Can she not utter one syllable without baring her entire upper and lower set of teeth?. How many words can she string together without coming up for air??. A more nasty, insecure and unattractive piece of work I have never seen. She was a lap-dancer…it suits her.

My opinion is that if the producers of this years UK BB do not bring in some more ‘people-friendly’ contestants this years BB will go down in history as the most irritating episode of all. God knows, we don’t want another Jade Goody (god forbid!) but at least give the viewers someone that is at the very least ‘likeable’!

Apart from Tracey, the current bunch stink.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Happy Birthday Anne Frank

Today marks the 78th birthday of a little girl who is one of my all time heroes. Anne Frank. Of course, those of us who have read her diary know that she never had the chance to grow out of her teens let alone turn 78. Those of you who, by some miracle, have not heard of her please heed my advice and acquire a copy of ‘The Diary Of Anne Frank’.

Today, her diary is officially 65 years old.

This was a child who was, along with her family, hounded out of their own country, Germany, in the 1930’s. Why? because they were of the Jewish faith. They were German, many generations German, but Jewish. And that mean’t trouble for them and so many others like them.

Her family fled to Holland and there they settled; lived, worked, grew, loved, were educated, played, laughed, felt safe, shopped, went to the beach, took holidays…just like any other family. Until 1940. When the Nazi’s brought their war machine of hate to Holland. Anne and her family could flee no more, they were trapped.

In 1942 Anne and her parents, and sister Margot, went into hiding in the annexe of a building where her father had his business. For two years they stayed hidden inside the walls of their refuge, unable to go outside, unable to enjoy the basic freedoms that the rest of the non-Jewish population took for granted. While around them, and sometimes viewed by them through the drawn shades of their windows, their fellow Jewish citizens were rounded up and sent to misery, torture and death.  Few escaped. Many tried. Most failed.

Anne, through her diary, tells us first hand, what it was like to be persecuted. To be of a group of people that were declared ‘bad’, to be of the ‘wrong kind’…and what happens when a population is so easily seduced by the promises of a fanatical politician.

She also shows us how stoic and strong a child of 13/14/15 years of age can be. How strongly felt is injustice by the young, how deeply felt love can be, how hopeful the young can be, how endlessly optimistic the young can be despite whatever horrors and despair are going on around them. And how trapped they are by those horrors.

Time after time, throughout her diary, Anne puts her elders to shame. How petty could their behaviour could be compared to Anne’s mature outlook on the happenings inside her small, cramped world. So often she turns the tables; reducing the adults to argumentative ‘children’, while retaining the perspective of someone way beyond her years.

She was only 15 when she died. In a concentration camp at Bergen Belsen, along with millions of other ‘Anne’s’; male or female, baby, toddler or teenager. So many countless children who saw what life was dealing them through eye’s that would never be ‘young’ again…even if they survived.

Anne Frank left us a legacy that showed us war and persecution, hate and intolerance,  through the eyes of a child. It is a perspective that should never have happened, and must never happen again.

Anne, your diary is safe. It has become a treasure of the 20th century. Happy birthday.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Family History - Stewart’s of Killymoon Co.Tyrone

My 6 x Great-Grandmother was Isabella Stewart, daughter of Col. William Stewart (b.1710) of Killymoon Castle in Cookstown Co.Tyrone, and Eleanor King (b.1722 Rockingham). She married John Hamilton of the Brownhall estate in Co. Donegal.

The Stewarts of Killymoon were a branch of the Athenree Stewarts (Debretts Peerage) and were involved from the 1600’s in the early plantation of Ulster. Killymoon Castle was constructed in 1671, with a newer Killymoon Castle being rebuilt in 1802 by the architect John Nash. William Stewart began a rebuilding of Cookstown, south of the old village, in 1734 and by 1740 much of the town’s design, as seen today, had taken shape.  Beyond this, the following generations of the Stewart family did not extend on the towns development.

Isabella Stewart married into the Hamilton family of Brownhall Co. Donegal, her father William, and her husband John’s father, James, being connected through military service. Their son, James, married Lady Helen Pakenham (daughter of the Earl of Longford) and sister-in-law of the Ist Duke of Wellington.

Unfortunately, James and Helen died relatively young and their children, including the heir to Brownhall, John, were placed under the guardianship of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington until they reached adulthood.

Isabella’s brother, James Stewart (1741-1821), was heir to the Castle at Killymoon. Much is documented about this man as he was famous for his letter-writing and extensive travels. His ‘Grand Tour’ being his best known adventure.

A portrait of James Stewart, www.artfund.org/artwork/7013/portrait-of-james-stewart-of-killymoon, is exhibited in the Ulster Museum in Belfast. It was the focus of an exhibition on James at the museum in 1999 and is well worth a visit.

A portrait of Isabella Stewart and John Hamilton exists and was auctioned by Christie’s in London several years ago.

Today, Killymoon Castle is under private ownership and is not open to the public. A shame really.

Popularity: 9% [?]