The REAL 007

The funniest part of any lists of the many achievements of the actor Christopher Lee (1922-2015) is that at one point he played a Bond villain because one may say that he - in real life - was the famous movie agent, James Bond, alias 007. How come when James Bond after all was a fictional character by Ian Fleming? Well, the inspiration for the famous author's still much beloved English super agent was his cousin, i.e. the actor Christopher Lee.

As they were cousins I take it that both of them may have been descendants of Charlemagne. At least Christopher Lee was and, what's more, they even look alike.

The Medieval emperor Charlemagne is a most impressive forefather who is known as the "father of Europe". In 800 Pope Leo III crowned him Holy Roman Emperor, and at his death in 814, his empire encompassed a large part of Western Europe. Neither Christopher Lee nor his cousin, Ian Fleming, inherited this illustrious royal status which is not valid today, but notorious acting brought on a title of "Sir" to the family.

To many/most people Christopher Lee still is best known as Dracula or some other vile creature as he often portrayed villains like him. He was very tall, and his personality as well as his commanding voice gave him an aura of natural authority which is perfect for special kinds of movie villains, but in real life he was a hero who fought monsters, namely Nazis in World War II. Much of what he achieved in his capacity of a genuine agent may be even more impressive than what is known today. As to this part of his career he retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.

 

I remember an interview with his Danish wife, the model Gitte, and she was asked whether he was as frightening at home as in his many film roles. She laughed and called him the kindest and sweetest man she knew. According to her there were no traces of the blood thirsty Count Dracula in his personality. 

 

In my opinion the monster Dracula is not as interesting as one of the other villains he played: The Tolkien-character of Saruman. Christopher Lee was the blood sucking Count Dracula in several horror movies, but as Saruman he had more material to play with - so to speak. Funnily enough he was the only one of the actors from these movies who knew Tolkien in person, which is one more of the many strange or just funny coincidences of his life.  

 

Movies obviously wasn't enough for him as he also delved into a musical career: He both sang and recorded music between 1986 and 1998. Amazingly enough he worked with several heavy metal bands when he was in his eighties. All in all he was a truly impressive man from the very beginning to the end of his life. 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Lee

 

 

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/charlemagne 

 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

The Furtive Glance And The Pretence

 

In itself the glance is of no substance, so to speak, but still it may be very, very offensive, maybe even like a fist to one's face, a slap or a punch. As an action it's a combination of borders crossed by somebody who were not invited and thus had no right to ignore those borders. He - or she - is an intruder who should have staid away, but didn't.

These three people are in the public area, where both the man and the women have a right to be. He is special as he is supposed to be blind or weak-sighted, but obviously isn't. Actually, the cane may be part of a disguise, making it possible for him to mask both himself and his more or less sinister designs upon the young ladies passing by. One might say that his cane is sort of an alibi: "I'm blind, yes, I'm disabled and therefore not dangerous ...." However, the very idea of someone not visually impaired who pretends to be blind makes me think of the serial killer who scored many of his female murder victims by using a similar decoy: Ted Bundy.

When he, dressed in a fake plaster casket, approached a well bred and polite, young woman and she, out of kindness, set out to help the poor, but rather charming, wounded and seemingly disabled man he moved in and killed her. In many instances he also did unspeakable things to her dead body which to me makes everything much worse because it proves the contempt he felt for his victims. What had they done to him to deserve being treated like that? Nothing, except existing .... 

 

It starts with a glance that may - or may not - be intruding, but one thing is for sure: The eye of someone like e.g. Bundy sees something that men or women who don't feel the urges he felt would be able to see. The glance leads to a lethal fantasy that most people don't understand and which may cost the life of many others, including themselves .... 

"Primitive" Cave-Paintings Are Outstanding Works of Art

 

 The Lascaux-caves 17,000 years back in time

Seeing age old Cave-Paintings or just pictures of them is an interesting experience as it disrupts many of one's prejudiced ideas about gender and art. First of all many or maybe even most of these art works are not primitive or "clumsy", like e.g. drawings by children. No, they are of a high standard and might easily compare to modern art works. This fact leads to some special as well as obvious question: HOW was it possible, and WHAT drove Stone Age people to make paintings like e.g. these ones?Normally those questions are being "answered" by references to religions and presumed beliefs in the magic power of drawings of the animals for hunting. Actually, nobody KNOWS for sure why they made these impressive pieces of art and maybe - just maybe - they did so because they loved to look at pretty animals. Also they may have been gods for them.

The eldest cave paintings were made by Neanderthals which to me is a proof that they were not as clumsy and low brained as has been presumed. For quite some time a 42,000 year old picture in Cueva de Neria (Spain) of something that has been seen as a seal was considered the eldest cave art work in the world, but that may be wrong.

 

One of the really interesting things about cave paintings is the "hand signature" of many/some of them. It's awesome and even touching to think of the artists that far back in time marking their art work with handprints. To me it's as if they reach out to modern people, assuring us that they were alive and humans like us. (I know that Neanderthals are special, but i see them as humans too, and one shouldn't forget that DNA and genes in modern people have proved that they left their biological mark on us too). 

 

Cueva de las Manos  

One extremely interesting perspective of these handprints of the prehistoric artists is that all pre-conceived ideas of them always being males have been disproved. On the contrary, many of these artist-handprints were left by women. Prejudices about sex and sex roles often seem to be based on the hyperbole of the 1950s with the male bread winner and the female home maker is closest to "Nature" and tat simply isn't right. The patriarchy as we know it didn't even start until c. 8,000.

When we find it likely that the female artist of the Stone Age met with the same prejudices as those 100-200 years ago it must be because we know how difficult it was for many women to get access to the world of art.

Well, it's a funny cartoon, but, as the handprints show us, it's not accurate. Also, one shouldn't forget that the supreme deity started out as a female god, not only a "goddess", i.e. the consort of the male god. As it is, even the god of "the Bible", Yahweh, was the toyboy of the supreme deity, Astarte who was "Queen of the Heaven".

I hope we shall get to know more about the handprints of the cave artists in the years to come. Also they are beautiful and very impressive in their own rights.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1016/Were-most-cave-painters-women-Their-hand-prints-say-yes

https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/verdens-aeldste-hulemalerier-blev-skabt-af-neandertalere 

 

https://videnskab.dk/Kultur-samfund/kvaeg-mennesker-og-haandaftryk-verdens-aeldste-hulemaleri-fundet-paa-borneo 

 

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/teknologi/overraskende-fund-verdens-aeldste-dyremaleri-dukker-op-i-grotte 

 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/archaeologists-unearth-graves-ancient-warrior-women-russia?fbclid=IwAR0byto0BZaI57FiGbrdQl-XsWN-25n7ExzPIxIGYv-U2hn9Hmh7PEigypg 

https://jyllands-posten.dk/nyviden/ECE9476291/kode-gemt-i-hulemalerier-kan-vaere-oprindelsen-til-skriften/ 

 

https://netspirit.dk/emner/maleri-og-tegning/hulemalerier-verden/ 

https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/pokkers-kvinder-med-oekser-et-fokus-paa-fortidens-koensroller-kan-skabe-ny

 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/oldest-known-cave-art-was-made-by-neanderthals-not-humans/story-1nRzMhYLN5oVUKESP1RUdM.html 

 

Wikipedia 

 

GHOSTs, Up For Thoughts and Considerations

 

Do I believe in ghosts? Not really, but I'm open to the question, and - what's more - many years ago i did take part in some primitive seances with a Ouijaboard. I suppose one might say that I flirted with the idea of dead people living in some kind of parallel world, which they might leave to visit the living. As there are no scientific proofs of an afterlife everything about ghosts hinges on age old beliefs, legends and - let's be honest - wishes: One may wish for the existence of ghosts because that would mean that life doesn't end by one's death. On the contrary, life goes on, i.e. on a different, non-substantial level. As far as I know this kind of ideas are to be found all over the world, in all kinds of societies. However this only proves one thing: Humans as such don't like the idea of non-living, they want to interact and make an impression no matter what: Dead or alive I am ....

I suppose that's why an important trait of all religions is to see humans - and maybe also animals - as some sort of "double creatures": We are not only our bodies, which may rot in the grave and get absorbed in the dirt of it, but also an invisible and much more important part: The soul. Most people think of the soul as some kind of "twin" to the body and those who tell about seeing ghosts very often identify them by their looks.
 

Apparently there has been several sightings of the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, who I must say had every reason to be mad at the treatment she was subjected to. As it is ghosts are supposed to start appearing because of crimes they themselves have committed or someone has committed against them so that figures. However, I'm surprised that people presumably have met her in trains and other places where she never set foot when she was alive.

This very funny movie from 1984 was very popular. People simply adored the ghostbusters who"zapped" ghosts or just made them go away. The reason for this war against ghosts is that spookeries are considered to be very annoying by the living, relatives or not. Also it's frightening as ghosts are not seen as someone without means of hurting the living ....

One thing is a movie-ghostbuster, another one is someone who does what they did for a living. A real, genuine ghostbuster is the son of music legend Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Osbourne. He has been chasing ghosts with various co-busters and I've seen some of the documentaries of their exploits. They seem to have fun, but I looked in vain for a sort of spiritual perspective on what they were doing. Why would those ghosts they believe they've found waste time and energy on doing what they ask them to do??? Is it good to be a ghost or should one try to help them leave such a "life"???? To me it's strange that jack and his friends don't ask that kind of questions, especially to themselves: WHY am I, Jack Osbourne, trying to force these ghosts to do my bidding of turning on or off lights instead of looking for the gateway that presumably allows them to get out of this dead-end spot where they have become sheer entertainment?

 

https://www.snexplores.org/article/science-ghosts 

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ghost-women-why-are-there-so-many-female-ghosts 

 

https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/anne-boleyn/ghost-of-anne-boleyn-the-stories/ 

 

https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2023/10/conversation-are-ghosts-real.php 

 

https://nypost.com/2019/04/25/how-jack-osbourne-went-from-rock-royalty-to-ghost-buster/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

Genes of Mark Twain

 

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was - and still is - a beloved American writer, essayist and humorist. He is one of those people who gained a lasting popularity by works that seem to have caught something important in the self-perception of a nation: His fictive characters like e.g. Tom from in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) and its sequel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) stand out as "true Americans", but - and that's the great part of it - you don't have to be an American to love them. Twain was called "The father of American literature", but as it is he also was a father in the world of realities as he had four children, i.e. one son who died in early infancy and three daughters. Sadly enough, two of these three girls also died young and only one, Clara, married and had one child, her daughter Nina Gabrilowitsch.

Clara Langdon Clemens

It seems that the surviving Twain-daughter had some traits in common with the fictional boy-characters her father had created. She was prone to mishaps as she had an inkling for adventurous exploits like e.g. sledding down steep slopes. When growing up she not only dreamed of being her own woman, away from her family of a, at that time, mortally sick mother and sister, and an absent father, but also of becoming an opera star. However, that career wish was never fulfilled although she on several occasions performed succesfully as a recital singer. She also had some fame as a fine pianist, but she married a genuine musical prodigy, the Russian pianist‚ composer‚ and conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch. They had one child, namely their daughter‚ Nina (1910-1966), who was to become the last one in the Twain-bloodline as she never married, but remained a spinster all through her life. When Ossip Gabrilowitsch died in 1936 Clara married another Russian musician, Jacques Samoussoud, and lived with him in California until she herself died, 88 years old.

 Nina with her parents, Clara and Ossip Gabrilowitsch

The only grand-daughter of Mark Twain wasn't a female "Tom Sawyer", but she exhibited some traits that have been seen as something she had inherited from her famous grandfather, namely alcoholism. Something he himself didn't own up to. When she was found dead in 1966 she was surrounded by empty whisky bottles and something that indicated a grave narcotics problem. She never met her famous grandfather who died four months before she was born, but she felt related to him in many ways which made her chose his family name "Clemens", naming herself Nina Clemens Gabrilowitsch. As it was she lived off her inheritance from him after she had had to drop her dreams of becoming a great photographer. 

Her life was spent in travels and one gets the impression that she somehow never started to grow into the person she might have become had she not chosen drugs and spirits as the most important to her. She did have a somewhat mysterious affair with an artist by the name of Carl Roters for several years. Clara did not approve of him as she thought he was to blame for her daughter's drinking, but he himself said that he didn't want to marry her because of her addiction to alcohol and drugs. In 1941he married someone else. 

The only descendant of "the father of the American literature", Mark Twain seems so very bleak and colorless that she in my opinion resembles a "ghost" of what might have been, but which never became a reality. Well, she wasn't either her grandfather or her mother, and somehow she seems to have lacked most of what constituted their personality. She is in many ways a very mysterious individual and it has been said about her that she is the least known relative of Mark Twain which is quite sad as she was his only true descendant.

Mark Twain on a visit to the laboratory of Nikola Tesla, 1894

https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/sam-clemens-family/twains-children/ 

 

https://marktwainstudies.com/finding-the-lost-diary-of-mark-twains-granddaughter-nina-gabrilowitsch/ 

 

http://www.twainquotes.com/19660119.html 

 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gabrilowitsch-2 

 

https://lordsofthedrinks.org/2015/03/28/mark-twain-the-drunken-father-of-american-literature/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

Miner in Spain: Adventures of an English Noblewoman

 

The only painting of Mary that survives is allegorical, by Lanscroon, on the ceiling of the library in Powis Castle. Mary represents Minerva, the Roman goddess of truth and wisdom, and is seated on a cloud

I was looking for pictures of the highly reputed English poet Mary Herbert when I stumbled upon the name of another Mary Herbert, i.e. the English countess, Lady Mary Herbert de Powis (1684-1775), who went mining in Spain after emigrating in 1729. She must have been a very adventurous woman with a strong belief in herself to do anything that much out of character for an English noblewomen in the 1800th century. (Actually, that's one of the main reasons why I like her).

 

The mother of Mary Herbert de Powis

England may not have had a spiritual hold of someone like Mary Herbert de Powis who was brought up a Catholic in Belgium. After all, Catholics were not popular in England anymore, as the special English/Anglican "Protestantism" was the "order of the day". The father of Mary, the Marquess - later Duke - of Powis, had been imprisoned because of his Catholic/Jacobite sympathies, but was later restored to his title and estates. However, religion was the pivotal point of the day and both of the Catholic king James II's daughters by Anne Hyde, the queens Mary and Anne, were brought up as protestants at the order of their uncle, King Charles II, although he himself was a more or less secret Catholic. 

Mary's family seat: The impressive Powis Castle in Wales

Anyway, somehow Mary Herbert de Powis attained a contract with the Compania Espanola to work the Pozo Rico silver mine. How she got that idea is a mystery, but she may have been duped by a certain well-known schemer by the name of Abbe Paretti. (That in itself is an interesting story that someone, but not me, might find interesting to dive into ....) Mary's contract with Compania Espanola included draining the mine, and she recruited cheap labour for that, but I think "something" went very wrong from the start as her Spanish adventure included an arrest and law suits when she tried to leave Spain. Before that she had had to sack the Irish lead-miner that her father had found for her as she saw him as totally unsuitable for the job. At the same time she kept refusing to marry her life long suitor, Count Joseph Cage, whom she had assigned as the manager of the mine. Strangely enough there are suggestions that they did marry so what's right? I'm not sure, but somehow they were together for a long time.

Portrait from 1743 of the brother of Count Joseph Cage, Lord Thomas Cage, 1st Viscount Cage

Anyway, Mary and her team succeeded in draining the mine down to level 6, but after some time it was obvious that Compania Espaniola had no intentions of paying her. Something which, of course, lead to various lawsuits. Not until 8 years later she won her case and in all that time she had to stay in Spain, watching how the mine filled with water once again. However, it's obvious from documents that although she won there were still several disagreements about who did what, and who had the rights to do anything. The story of the English noblewoman of the 1800th century who tried her hand at mining in Spain is interesting, but I don't see it is fully solved. Also the case has a postlude of Mary taking part in the Spanish medicine and hat-making industry. At that time the Spanish king Ferdinand VI had robbed her legal rights of the mines and bestowed them on someone else who had claimed that her materials for medicine and hats were inferior to his. Something that seems to have made Mary fume with rage as she ravaged the mine, sacked the workers, and disposed of the horses and mules before handing it over. 

Wikipedia

 

https://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?s=noble+family+of+Cage&rw=yes

Mary died in September 1775, aged 89, and was laid to rest at the chapel in the Temple, Paris. The full story of Lady Mary Herbert de Powis is supposedly told in the 120-page biography "The Duchess of Rio Tinto, the story of Mary Herbert and Joseph Gage"

The Jealous Fathers

  

Balanced parenthood

One of my friends sadly died from breast cancer at a young age. Her life was in some ways quite tragic or, at best, not very easy. One of her main problems was the man she had married and who was the father of her son. Before she gave birth he seemed to be OK with this addition to the family, but afterwards he did and said something that revealed his true feelings: He may have loved the IDEA of a son and fatherhood, but he sure didn't like the REALITIES of it. Or, put another way, he - the father of this small family - didn't like his status to drop into a position of "second in the family". Up till then he definitely felt to be "King of the hill" and his wife didn't challenge that delusion by pointing out the fact that she was the main breadwinner of the family. 

I think both of them loved the child, but the father behaved in a strange manner when he saw the small baby boy with his mother. She breast fed him and did a lot to fulfill his baby needs, but that seems to have started a a most unexpected reaction in her husband: At one point when she sat with the happily sucking baby he came over and pinched her arm viciously. As that was the arm that held the baby it was not a very wise thing to do which she pointed out to him. She had no reply, excuses from him or any kind of explanations, but she noticed that he seemed "strange" and very observant of what she was doing whenever she breast fed their child. Could the reason for this be the sex of the baby? Would he have been less jealous of a baby had it been a girl? We shall never know, but I wonder how many women who have experienced something like that ....

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/graphic-novelist-tortured-fianc-e-203110582.html?guccounter=1 

 

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-jealousy-5190471 

 

Wikipedia