41. When in doubt, go to the library!

Keen Harry Potter fans may recognise the above quote as being spoken by Ron Weasley about Hermione Granger in the Chamber of Secrets. She was a wise girl was Hermione and on this particular wet Wednesday morning I decided to follow in her footsteps and pay a visit to the Newcastle City Library.

I always enjoy a visit to a library, but truth be told if I was just in the mood to spend time amongst books I would usually opt for the Lit and Phil. What drew me instead to the City Library (and what led me to this blog’s introduction) was the recent arrival of a new Harry Potter exhibition.

Inspired by the History of Magic exhibition at the British Library in London, Newcastle City Library is one of twenty libraries across the country to host a magic-inspired exhibition in honour of the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter novel.

The exhibition is smaller than I had hoped it would be. I mean, truthfully it could never have been big enough to satisfy a Harry Potter obsessive like myself, but even those with more realistic expectations might find its size a little disappointing. It occupies only a small space on Level 1 by the entrance to the library and another small area on Level 6.

Despite its small size, however, the exhibition was still able to provide a decent chunk of magic related information. It focuses mainly on the different subjects taught at Hogwarts and looks at the origins and history of each of these. I learned, amongst other things, that Abracadabra was originally used as a magic charm against Malaria in Ancient Rome and that Bezoars really do come from the stomach of goats and really were used as an antidote to poison. Indeed, the exhibition taught me more generally just how much of J.K.Rowling’s work has some origins to real historical creatures, theories and philosophies.

As well as the Hogwarts subjects, the exhibition also contains references to magical tales and events closer to home, including the tale of the Lambeth Worm and stories about witchcraft in Newcastle. Beautiful copies of incredibly old books (from the 16th and 17th centuries) focusing on the use of herbs and plants for medicinal purposes can also be admired as a part of this small but undoubtedly intriguing exhibition. 

30. See Fenwick’s Christmas Window Display

Anyone who read the very first entry of this blog might remember that I began it in order to keep me occupied during a (very happy) 14 weeks of unemployment. I genuinely thought I would have all 50 activities done and dusted by the end of August… OBVIOUSLY, that didn’t quite work out. Here we are in November and I have only just made it to number 30! The thing is though, even though this isn’t what I intended, I am actually kind of glad about it, because now it means I get to write about Christmas related activities!

I am a Christmas fanatic, but I try not to let myself get too excited until at least mid November. Ideally, therefore I would be writing about Fenwick’s window display at a later date, but I was in town and I just could not resist. Fenwick’s Christmas window is, to anyone who has been brought up in the North East, a HUGE deal. We used to come from Hexham every year to see it as kids. Weirdly, whenever I remember coming as a child I always remember it snowing… but that can’t possibly be true. I bet it snowed one single time and I have really held on to that memory.

Fenwick’s began their traditional Christmas window display in 1971 and have had a whole collection of wonderful themes since then. They say it is their way of giving something back to the North East and so the window always tells a story rather than featuring any brands. Highlights from over the years can be seen here and here.

For me personally, it never disappoints and this year was no different. The window has taken on a Beatrix Potter theme in celebration of it being 150 years since the iconic author was born and the window is full of her most famous tales. It really is a fantastic sight and, as always, didn’t fail to take me right back to my childhood (if only it had been snowing..).

 

15. The Lit and Phil

The Lit and Phil is an absolutely wonderful building. The largest independent library outside of London, it’s the sort of place that you think only exists in books and films. Floor to ceiling shelves filled with over 160,000 books, a spiral staircase leading up to a gallery, numerous historical statues and artefacts, comfortable leather sofas.. It really is a book lover’s dream.

The Lit and Phil is home to the Literature & Philosophical Society, which was founded in 1793. The society first met in three other locations in Newcastle but moved to their permanent home – the Lit and Phil we know today – in 1825. Early presidents of the society include Robert Stephenson, Lord Armstrong, Joseph Swan and Charles Parsons. The members of the society have witnessed some truly historical moments – it was to them in 1815 that George Stephenson demonstrated his innovative miners’ safety lamp. The lamp is still on public display in the Lit and Phil today.

It was also at a lecture in the Lit and Phil in 1880 that Joseph Swan first demonstrated the lightbulb, thus making it the first public room in the world to be lit by electrical lighting. 

The current president of the Lit and Phil is my bezzie Alexander Armstrong. Of course when I say bezzie what I really mean is that I have never ever met him but I am a really big fan of Pointless…

The Lit and Phil hosts numerous events throughout the year including lectures, musical concerts and book launches. They also do free tours of the building. These take place every third Wednesday and every first and third Saturday of the month. I did one of these a few months ago and really recommend it. It only took around thirty minutes and was really interesting – you learn a lot about the library that you can’t get from just wandering in on your own.

That said, sometimes all you want to do is to just wander in on your own and that’s exactly what I did today. As part of my PGCE preparation we have been told to read a number of children’s books (basically the best homework ever) and so I spent a very happy morning just browsing through the children’s section of the Lit and Phil. Smashing.

I was under the impression, for some reason, that you could only go up to the gallery if you were either a member of the library or with a member of staff. As I was leaving today however, a lovely man, (perhaps seeing me glance longingly upwards) came to ask me if I had enjoyed my visit and if I wanted to go up. I was therefore able to take a few photos from this higher viewpoint and so can show just how bloody glorious the Lit and Phil really is! 

5. Alice in Wonderland at the Laing Art Gallery

I’ve been meaning to go to the Laing Art Gallery for ages. They held an exhibition called ‘Children’s Illustrated Classics’ last year. I was really keen to see it. It was on for three whole months and I just didn’t get around to it. Ridiculous.

Thankfully, when I finally made my visit to the Laing, there was an exhibition which I found just as appealing – Alice in Wonderland! It seems to be everywhere at the minute; I’ve found myself browsing through beautiful Alice in Wonderland inspired products in a number of different shops recently. In fact, the products are all so pretty that I’d almost lost sense of whether I’m a fan of Alice in Wonderland because of the actual story or because of everything that comes with it.

I say ‘almost lost sense’ because today’s exhibition reminded me of just what a fantastic story it is. The gallery was covered with quotes like this one and I left determined to reread the whole book soon.

The exhibition began with some information about Lewis Carroll and, being the trivia nerd that I am, I was very excited to learn that Charles Dodgson created the pseudonym Lewis Carroll by inverting his first and second name, translating them into Latin and then translating them back into English. Also interesting was learning about the first ever manuscript of Alice in Wonderland. Carroll first told the story in 1862 on a boat trip with his friends; Robinson Duckworth and the three Liddel sisters – Alice Liddel being one of them! It was Alice who asked Carroll to write the story down and he presented the completed manuscript to her around two years later.

The original manuscript was on display at the exhibition and they also had a soft copy of it on a computer screen so that you could flick through the entire story as it had looked when first written by Carroll.

Alice Liddel was forced to sell the manuscript in 1928, when she fell into financial difficulties after the death of her husband. It was bought by an American dealer, but was returned to Britain in 1948 ‘as an expression of thanks to a noble people who kept Hitler at bay for a long period single-handed.’

I think for me personally the information about Lewis Carroll and the first manuscript of Alice in Wonderland was my favourite part of the exhibition, but the whole thing was really enjoyable. It was well set out, informative and included some interactive activities, as well as basically every edition of Alice in Wonderland that has ever existed! It was pretty cool to see how it had been interpreted differently by authors and illustrators from around the world – an Austrian edition, for example, was significantly different to one created in Japan! For me, and I imagine most others, the original illustrations by John Tenniel remained my firm favourite.

After having covered the Alice in Wonderland exhibition I had excellent intentions to explore the rest of the Laing Gallery. Sadly, a combination of time constraints and my own poor attention span meant that after spending time in first the 20th century gallery and then the 18th and 19th century galley I gave up and headed to the gift shop. I should point out here that I actually really enjoyed these two galleries – I’m just a bit crap at concentrating for long periods of time. I’m genuinely planning on heading back to the Laing at some point so that I can do justice to the rest of it.. And also maybe to buy myself something from the gift shop. I resisted today but, wow, that shop was just absolutely full of lovely things!

2. Visiting Heaton’s Shakespeare

Of everything I have planned to do in Newcastle, failing to go and see the Shakespeare brick mural in Heaton is perhaps the most inexcusable. It’s interesting, it costs nothing, it’s a fifteen minute walk from my house and my brother, Adam, told me about it almost as soon as I moved to Heaton. My apologies for the 22 month delay, Ads, but I made it at last!

So here it is.. A portrait of Shakespeare made out of bricks, built onto what is otherwise a pretty ordinary house in a pretty ordinary location. After visiting it (and taking an obligatory selfie) I returned home determined to discover exactly why somebody had decided to create this rather impressive tribute.

Whilst researching I came across a couple of interesting articles in the Newcastle Chronicle:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/brickies-recall-shakespearean-triumph-400-11229634

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/died-400-years-ago-reminders-11101991

From these articles I found out that the mural was built in the 1980s, but that even the two men who built it were unsure of whose idea it was or who paid for it. What is intriguing though is that the North East, and Heaton in particular, is full of references to Shakespeare and his works. I personally would never have really made the association, but it turns out that numerous street names in Newcastle refer to Shakespeare characters, including Malcolm Street, Hotspur Street, Bolingbroke and Mowbray Street in Heaton alone.

Heaton History Group have discovered that during the late 1800s, as well as the above streets, there were also building plans proposing that Heaton Park Road be known as Shakespeare Road. The group couldn’t say for certain why the area was so Shakespeare fixated but thought it was likely to be linked to a man called George William Stanley. Stanley was an actor and was also thought to have opened three theatres in the North East. He also lived in the area and was known to have been a good friend of Alderman Addison Lee Potter; the owner of the areas named after Shakespeare’s creations!

Okay, so I haven’t really solved the mystery of the Shakespeare mural and if Heaton History Group haven’t managed it yet I’m not really backing myself, but I did really enjoy learning a little more about the area in which I live!