A quote from Horace: “A home without books is like a room without windows.”
By Nick Bowring October 2011
“What is the difference between someone who cannot read and someone who does not read? Not much.” - I don't know who first said this, but it is very true.
Let us open the curtains and look at the wide world outside.
Join The World magazine is dedicated to luxury and style in all things. The history of luxurious travel is fascinating, and well worth studying. I have recently found a new friend in Graham Coster. He is a great fan of travel, as am I.
The first book of his that I found was 'Corsairville: The lost domain of the flying boat'. In the 1930's, if you were wealthy or important to the empire, travelling by flying boat was the only way to go. And what travelling it was. Silver service for your meals; prepared by first-class chefs. No queues or security checks. No cattle-class seating, but comfortable armchairs. No problems with bad air, as you seldom flew above a few thousand feet. All your baggage handled by uniformed staff. You trundled south in a spacious aircraft, which did not fly at night. You did not have to suffer appalling foreign hotels. You put down each night and stayed at a small, luxury hotel, on a river or lake or by the sea. You changed for dinner, and slept in a proper bed. After breakfast you took off again for another pleasant day's aerial sightseeing. The route to South Africa took you to Cairo. The view of the Pyramids and the Sphinx was spectacular, the pilot would take two loops around them so that passengers on each side of the aircraft could get a good view. Try that one next time you fly to Egypt!
As well as covering the history of luxury travel, this book is also the story of a remarkable piece of salvage. One of the boats, named Corsair, repaired its navigation system wrongly in Juba, and instead of flying northeast to Malakal, flew southwest into the Belgian Congo. It had to force land on a small creek miles from anywhere. All passengers were safe, and were transported home, after an unexpected adventure. But what about the aircraft? The creek was not as wide as its wings; and not nearly long enough for take-off. It was essential to Imperial Airways. So a team of determined young Englishmen went out to repair the hull, dam the river to make a long lake, overhaul the engines, and fly it out. All in the tropical Congo. And they did it. The African workers who built the dam, constructed their own village called Corsairville, hence the title of the book. This is a great read and well worth your attention.
We all like luxury. Do you ever think about how your luxuries actually get to you? Boats deliver goods to the seaports; aircraft deliver to the airports. After that it is down to a special breed. The Truckers. In “A thousand miles from nowhere: Trucking two continents” Graham Coster describes their lives and stories, both in Europe and America.
In Europe, all the problems are with borders. I can recall seeing the eight-mile queue of trucks trying to get out of Turkey into Iraq. It took eight days to clear. Similar problems are rife. A trip to Moscow to deliver British delicacies to the British-themed pub is described in hilarious and harrowing detail. Complete with the modern, just-in-time, delivery system; much beloved by our modern supermarkets. Of course, in order to make the trip worthwhile for the owner-driver, a return load has to be found. Anywhere in Europe. Non-stop.
In America, just-in-time delivery rules. Huge trucks deliver over huge distances. The best trucks are Kenworths. Wonderful Leviathans, with amazing paint jobs, double beds (full size) and huge engines. They are built in Seattle. The chassis frames are made in Milwaukee. The difference is 2100 miles. And they go by road. A 4200-mile round trip. Every week. Winter and summer. Right over the deserts and mountains. Ice and snow and heat and drought. Suicidal car drivers, with no understanding of the big rigs that are trying to keep to time. Country music playing all the way. If you've seen Ice Truckers you know the idea. Unlike the flying boat passengers, the truckers never see a luxury hotel. Truck stops are always away from the towns, because of the noise and fumes. No interesting sightseeing for them. Just fast food, sleep in the truck, and go again..
Yet there is a kind of romance in this type of travel. The drivers are philosophical about their lives. They are not crude men. They are amazingly house proud of their trucks, after all, they live in them. And they deliver your luxury. If they are half an hour late you complain bitterly about them. You say they block up the roads, and make you a few moments late for your next appointment. You have little idea of the problems they face. Without them you would starve. Read this book and perhaps you will forgive them.
Building The Revolution - Soviet Art and Architecture 1915 - 1935
Liubov Popova - Spatial Force Construction, 1920-21
Oil and marble dust on plywood, 1123 x 1125 mm
State Museum of Contemporary Art - G. Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki, Greece
This fascinating book charts the dazzling trajectory of Russian avant-garde architecture during the brief but intense period of design and construction that took place from c. 1922 to 1935. Fired by the radical new language of Constructivist artists, such architects as Konstantin Melnikov, Moisei Ginsburg and the Vesnin brothers produced designs whose innovative style embodied the energy and optimism of the new Soviet Socialist state.
Liubov Popova - Painterly Architectonics, 1918-19, Oil on canvas, 731 x 481 mm State Museum of Contemporary Art - G. Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki, Greece
The architectural photographer Richard Pare has spent the last fifteen years documenting the remains and ruins of these iconic structures. His spectacular large-scale photographs are juxtaposed with vintage photographs, contemporary periodicals and numerous drawings and paintings by such Constructivist artists as Malevich, Tatlin, Popova and Lissitsky, making this book essential reading for all who are interested in the history of twentieth-century architecture, Constructivist art and Soviet-era Russia.
This book can be purchased from the Royal Academy or through our Amazon Shop by clicking the image below.
Books are your Friends
by Nick Bowring - July 2011
It is becoming fashionable to claim that “books are dead”, and that since all information is available on the net then one need not bother with them. You can always have an electronic book, or read any information you need on your laptop. However, have you noticed that if you are reading an item on your computer it is terribly easy to be overcome by the need to check you e-mail, or the latest news? How are your friends on facebook? Do you find that others feel free to interrupt? You are only on the computer, nothing serious. So you are distracted, and need to reset your brain to continue.
Not so with a book. It gives you the excuse to develop a concentrated, linear train of thought, so necessary to maintain a piece of logical reasoning or a good plot. People can see that you are deep in a book, and don't expect a response unless the house is on fire. Books feel good, and in the case of old ones, smell good. They can make you happy, console you in sadness, and give you knowledge and companionship. Sounds like a friend to me.
Let me introduce you to two of my friends. Their titles are “A Time Of Gifts ” published in 1977, and “Between The Woods And The Water”published in 1986. They are by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who died on the 10th of June. He has been described as the greatest travel writer of recent times, and proved his bravery in the second world war serving with the SOE. He was the leader of a group in Crete which kidnapped General Kriepe, and by superb bluff and skill evacuated him from the island. This exploit was subsequently made into the film”Ill Met By Moonlight”. He didn't like the film much ; he thought they overdid the heroism a bit. It's a very enjoyable film.
The second volume takes the reader as far as the Iron Gates region of the Danube in Hungary. The books were intended to be a trilogy, with the third taking us to Constantinople. Some years ago I contacted the publishers to ask if there would be another volume. They said that they would love it but Patrick was getting on a bit., and might not complete it. I was sad that the story might not continue.
I hope you like my friends. They have given me adventure, history, geography, romance, comedy and tragedy. Really, whatever your taste, who does this leave out?
My two friends, although published in the 70's and 80's, date from an earlier period of his life. He did not like school much, and had difficulties with authority and school restrictions. He decided to teach himself by reading early Latin and Greek histories, and to go to a Crammer's school for Sandhurst. At eighteen he found this was not working for him, and decided to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. Armed with a few clothes, some letters of introduction, Horace's Odes, and the Oxford Book of English Verse he set off in December 1933. He slept in barns and shepherds' huts, Monasteries and peasant houses. However, by using his letters of introduction from Châteaux, Castles and Country Estates. Handed on from House to Castle to Estate he traversed Germany, Austria and Hungary. He must have been an accomplished house guest, as he charmed almost everyone from lowly workers to much of the echelons of the Almanac de Gotha. He describes his travels in fine prose, and his observations on the people and the country; the politics and the history are a delight. And you have to warm to an author who as a young man in Hungary leaped into a Bugatti with his Host's young wife and stormed off to Vienna. Of course they were pursued and brought back, but all seemed to be forgiven, and away he went with everybody's good wishes! Someone suggested to me that some of the stories might not be true. So what? If they are not then they should be, and at this remove it really does not matter.