#Mrs Kirkwood

[miyagi-hokarate]

It's Karate, Kid! The Musical | Wax On! Wax Off!

[scotianostra]

On December 25th 1950 four young Scots liberated the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey.

Here is a report from The newspaper The Guardian of the story that was enfolding.

“Scotland Yard had no further news last night of the Coronation Stone, the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny as it is variously called. There is "absolutely no trace” of it, but the police are still busy all over the country - especially on northward routes - looking for it. The stone was stolen in the early hours of Christmas Day from Westminster Abbey.

One theory is that the thieves - or from the point of view of certain Scotsmen, “liberator” - hid in a chapel overnight in readiness for their coup. They had first to prise the stone out of its housing under the Coronation Chair, which is behind the high altar. Then the stone - which weighs four hundredweight and measures roughly 26 inches by 16 inches by 11 inches - had to be carried round to the Poet’s Corner door where, presumably, it was loaded into a car. The police are looking for a man and a woman in a Ford Anglia car which was seen near the abbey in the small hours of the morning.

Descriptions of them have been circulated, and the police say they speak with Scottish accents. It is taken for granted that the stone has been stolen by Scottish Nationalists. The stone, which is rectangular and is of yellowish sandstone, has two rings let into it and normally lies behind a grille under the Coronation Chair. In 1940 it was buried in the abbey and the secret position marked on the chart which was sent to Canada for safety.

It is believed to have left the abbey only once, when it was taken across to Westminster Hall and used for the installation of Cromwell as Lord Protector in 1657. It has been “attacked” before and was once slightly damaged (in 1914), when a bomb was placed under the Coronation Chair during the woman suffrage agitation. Twenty-five years ago, Mr David Kirkwood was given permission to bring a bill for the removal of the stone to Holyrood Palace, but the bill went no farther.

The Coronation Chair is the oldest piece of furniture in the abbey, and has been used for 27 coronations. It was damaged by the removal of the stone; part of it was broken and a strip of wood from the grille was found lying on the floor. Scotland Yard sent a number of CID men, including fingerprint experts, to the abbey and have circulated a description of the stone.

There is no official confirmation of a rumour that a wristwatch was found near the Coronation Chair, but it has been stated that freshly carved initials “JFS” have been found in the gilding on the front of the chair. It seemed evident that the intruders were amateurs, for they made little attempt to hide their tracks. Whether or not they will make straight for Scotland with the stone is doubtful, though one Scottish paper said this morning that the stone might already have crossed the border.

It should not prove a difficult object to hide once it can be taken out of the car which is carrying it, and the police of the two countries are likely to find themselves with a difficult job - not so much in finding the culprits but in finding the stone. If anybody is brought to court either on a charge of stealing or of sacrilege, the case should produce some fine legal and historical points.“

In addition to numerous road blocks, a special watch was kept at docks and airports, while hundreds of CID officers checked hotels and B&Bs in the North of England. Following the delivery of an anonymous petition promising the “return” of the Stone – on condition that it would remain in Scotland – to a Glasgow newspaper, Special Branch officers soon started making enquiries about student political bodies at Glasgow University.

The liberators were indeed Scots, four students from The University of Glasgow, from the University of Glasgow (Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson and Alan Stuart, travelled to London, entered the Abbey in the small hours of Christmas Day and nabbed the Stone from beneath the coronation throne. They dropped it by accident and it broke in two. They loaded the Stone into their car boot and brought it back to Scotland – despite roadblocks and police searches.

The four became notorious for the daring heist and in Scotland they achieved nigh-on hero status, while in contrast the English were somewhat bewildered. All four of the group were interviewed and all later confessed to their involvement with the exception of Ian Hamilton. The authorities decided not to prosecute as the potential for the event to become politicised was far too great.

At the time, the leader of Scottish Covenant Association, Nigel Tranter commented

“This venture may appear foolish and childish on the surface, but it will have the effect down South of focusing attention on Scotland’s complaints. It takes a lot to get any news of Scotland’s national existence into the English Press, and this sort of thing is the only type of Home Rule story that gets a break in the English newspapers.”

Mungo Murray, 7th Earl of Mansfield and Lord of Scone, the spiritual home of the stone waded in with how he would be “extremely reluctant” to hand the Stone “to the English authorities,” assuming it should be returned to his property at Scone Palace. “In view of the fact that the Stone undoubtedly pertains to the line of Scottish kings, it belongs to the King as King of Scotland, not as King of England,” he said. “In the future the Stone should be kept at Scone or Holyrood instead of Westminster.”

Despite their best efforts, the authorities on both sides of the Border were unable to trace the Stone, at least until April 1951 when – draped in the Scottish Saltire – it was ceremonially deposited at the site of the high altar within the ruins of Arbroath Abbey. The Stone was accompanied by two unsigned letters, one addressed to the King, the other to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, described as “successor to the Abbots of Scone” and therefore the Stone’s “natural guardians”.

It would be a further 43 years before a UK Government agreed that the Stone. when not required for use in such ceremonies, I covered this in depth on St Andrews Day.

Church-bells across Scotland didn’t ring out in celebration – as portrayed in the 2008 film, The Stone of Destiny – yet Ian Hamilton and his friends nevertheless showed how what had seemed permanent and immutable could be changed.

The Stone of Destiny will again be on the move and will be the centrepiece of a new £26.5m museum, in Perth. Construction work on the new museum at Perth City Hall is due to start in February, with it scheduled to open in 2024. The third pic shows an artist impression of how it might look.

[leupagus]

Three-Legged Puppy Fics

List five of your least-popular fics, as well as when/why you wrote them.

Home to the Weary: Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, 2010.

I wrote this at the request of a friend who wanted, I think, something Gwen-centric. Because I was not a fan of the show I decided to focus on an AU in which Gwen backflipped out of that whole situation and founded her own sort of kingdom, only meeting the terrible trio years later. It was really fun and was the first time I'd ever tried writing a fic that hinted at a larger world going on around the characters, if that makes sense. This one's a little pretentious but you can definitely see my "style" as it were.

Treads on the Ground: Babylon (not the sci-fi show, the short-lived british cop show), Liz Garvey/Finn Kirkwood, 2022.

This was written during my Bertie Carvel phase where I'd watched "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" and was desperate for something, anything, that didn't have him wearing terrible prosthetics or playing a psycho. He still sort of plays a psycho in this show, but he looks super hot and angry all the time which is really all I needed. (Also bonus hilarity: Liz's boyfriend in this show is played by none other than James Lance, playing "louche asshole" to the absolute hilt.) Anyway I wrote this because I really wanted a fake dating AU for these two AND a "Finn is secretly in line to the throne" fic and this was the perfect way to combine these two. I'm still legitimately really proud of thsi fic.

The Bright Relief: 1776 musical, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (and a little bit of / in there, if I'm honest), 2010.

I wrote this because my friends waldorph and screamlet and I were having the Summer of 1776 Feelings and we all wrote various (wonderful) crimes and misdemeanors in that fandom, mostly revolving all the ways in people who love John Adams make fun of him. That was a truly terrible summer but made a whole lot better by those two, and by William Daniels being the most John Adams to ever John Adams. (I actually rewatched the miniseries a few months ago and Paul Giamatti does a great job but that thing is SO DREARY. Although I will say Stephen Dillane first caught my eye in the role of TJeff, aka once again playing a guy who's down real bad for someone smarter than him (in this case both Abigail AND John). The scene where he first meets Abigail is just nonstop flirting, with John making faces in the background. It's great.)

Happy Tails To You (Until We Meet Again): SGA, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, 2009.

Oh lordy — probably the worst fic I've ever written, but I can't quite bring myself to delete it. I've been on the periphery of fandom for most of my adult life (what up X-Files yahoo groups and Prodigy Star Trek RP rooms), but SGA was what made me start thinking of writing fic after a long period of only reading it. (Yes, there is college-era gus fic out there. No, I'm not posting it on AO3.) I never quite got a handle on Sheppard or McKay but I did enjoy writing this and the other SGA fic I wrote, but yeah this deserves its obscurity.

Honey Now I'm Not One To Complain: Dalgliesh, Adam Dalgliesh/Kate Miskin, 2022.

Another one of my "Bertie Carvel is extremely attractive when he's sad and/or a cop" flash-fandoms, although I wrote a pretty good primer on the first season that I think gives a good case for the show as a whole. I wanted to write that largely because the show is so resolutely grim and I prefer stories that are... not grim, so I gave myself the challenge of putting these guys into one of the classic tropes. I did toy with the fake dating/marriage trope but honestly I think this was funnier, and I would always rather commit to the bit.

Tagging uhhh let's see, @laiqualaurelote, @themardia, @sadcypress, @auntieclimactic, and @eyebrowofdoom, if they (or anyone else) wants to do this.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This is a very interesting 2bd. 2ba. historic home for sale in Albany, New York. It may even be haunted. It is the home of author William Kennedy, 95, who is finally letting it go. Kennedy is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist & owner of this home where gangster “Legs” Diamond was whacked, and he is certain that the deed was done by a couple of policemen. (Listed for $499K)

Mr. Kennedy has been using it as a pied-à-terre and writing studio for almost 40 years.

In 1975, he published “Legs,” the first in a trio of novels. The property, which is in the Center Square historic district, was a boardinghouse when Mr. Diamond moved in not long before his death, registering under a false name because he had been warned by local police to stay out of town.

Albany, and political boss Daniel P. O’Connell, didn’t want any part of his mayhem — booze-smuggling, truck-hijacking, & shoot-’em-ups in bars.

Notice the odd layout- the kitchen is in the basement. But, back to the story-

According to Mr. Kennedy, the police tipped off some reporters who got to the scene before investigators. They checked out Mr. Diamond’s body and already set the headline: “JACK DIAMOND SLAIN IN DOVE ST. HOUSE; KILLERS’ WEAPON FOUND.”

Francis Ford Coppola was supposed to do a film based on Kennedy’s screenplay called “Legs,” but it never came about. In 1984 Mr. Kennedy & producer Gene Kirkwood went to visit the house and noticed a “For Sale” on it, so they split the $80,000 price and bought it.

Eventually, Mr. Kennedy bought out Mr. Kirkwood’s share and is currently working on a wish-fulfilling novel in which “Legs” does find its way to the screen.

“Right there,” said Mr. Kennedy to the real estate agent, pointing to the spot in the bedroom where Mr. Diamond, after celebrating a not-guilty verdict in a criminal trial, was shot 3 times in the head in the early hours of Dec. 18, 1931.

This 2nd fl. bd. where Mr. Diamond was killed, is where Mr. Kennedy did most of his writing. 

The house has been refreshed and it also has the perc of having a garage.

The house still has wavy glass windows, pocket doors, beamed lower-level ceilings and old-fashioned steam radiators.

I think that Mr. Diamond would’ve approved of this sink and bar. 

The secondary bd. is a very good size.

Modern shower room. 

Interior stairs down to the basement. 

Notice that it’s the only residence with a garage. 

In the closet of the notorious bedroom, a circle of the original rose-patterned wallpaper is preserved, in memory of a man that Albany still hasn’t forgotten. This property has a very cool story. 

https://my.flexmls.com/AmandaBriody/search/shared_links/8HdhD/listings/20230223180907009014000000

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/realestate/william-kennedy-house-legs-diamond-albany.html

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton, the star of new must-see period drama Mr Malcolm’s List, is the October cover

Wowee, Zawe! Miss Ashton is ripping up the Regency rule book in Hollywood’s Austen-esque Mr Malcolm’s List. Just don’t ask her about her own A-list Mr Darcy…

By Louis Wise

On a sweltering Friday night in London, The Soho Hotel is a surprising hive of big names. While the Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson is in the doorway, Aquaman – aka Jason Momoa – passes around the back in a jaunty white beret. And, sitting in a corner of the restaurant, there’s Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, whom Zawe Ashton waves to giddily when she walks in. ‘I do actually know Jonathan,’ says the 38-year-old actress once she’s plonked herself on the banquette next to me, ‘in case you think, “Oh! She’s bold!”’ She is wearing a black wrap dress, her hair simple and straight – all very low-key, except for the enormous ring, liberally encrusted with gems, on her wedding finger. This comes, I assume, courtesy of her equally starry fiancé – and father of her soon-to-be-born baby – actor Tom Hiddleston.

I had wondered which Ashton I’d get tonight – panicked that, what with an A-list partner, a superhero franchise job and a Broadway stint under her belt, she had been ironed out by the Tinseltown machine. But the smiley, huggy woman who has just swept across the restaurant, starting to say ‘Hiiiii!’ from a full 10 metres away, hardly seems to be some Garbo-like recluse. To be honest, the Hackney-raised star is always hard to miss. She can be monosyllabic, like Vod, her gloriously deadpan character in the cult sitcom Fresh Meat, or angsty like her ‘gallerina’ Josephina in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw. Or she can be just a normal, serene, very adult adulterer, like her Emma in the recent West End and Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal – yes, the one where she met Hiddleston. But large-eyed, large-laughed, larger-than-life, she certainly can’t be ignored. Even less so when you consider that she is an actor-writer-director-activist – everything but the kitchen sink.

Ashton’s first ever job was on the kids’ TV show Jackanory when she was six. Since then, she has written several plays, including For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad; she has directed short films and developed TV series; she had a phase of doing performance poetry (‘before it was cool’); and she has inevitably published her own book, Character Breakdown, which details her many travails in the showbiz industry. This summer, you’ll have spotted her in Maryland, a harrowing BBC drama by Lucy Kirkwood, exploring violence against women. And next year sees her in her biggest role to date, playing the (as yet unnamed) villain in the ultra-feminist new Marvel instalment, The Marvels. If she doesn’t always take the easy route, if she’s always fought to get her voice heard, you get the impression she generally tends to win.

‘I’ve been saying no to work that I didn’t feel was right for me, or right for the world, since I was about 12,’ she says, halfway through a dinner of fish and chips with mushy peas followed by a summery posset. This seriousness is offset by a very daffy and Tiggerish enthusiasm: ‘Excuse me,’ Ashton later says over the posset, beckoning a waiter. ‘I’m just triple-checking that I can eat the flowers on this.’ ‘Oh yes,’ replies the waiter happily – a relief for all of us, as Ashton has already scoffed them. ‘Do you see how I asked that after eating them?’ she sighs. ‘Other personality types would wait for that guy to come along first. I’m like, “Er, am I gonna die shortly?”’ It would obviously have been awful if Ashton had died, mid-interview, done in by a decorative flower garnish – but I rather think she would have relished the drama.

We’re here first and foremost to discuss Mr Malcolm’s List, which has clearly benefited from the Bridgerton effect. An adaptation of Suzanne Allain’s 2009 novel, it’s an Austen mash-up, where the two main romantic leads – Sope Dirisu’s Jeremy Malcolm and Freida Pinto’s Selina Dalton – have a Darcy-and-Lizzie-style romance, while Ashton’s character, Julia, comes across as a particularly hoity-toity post Emma Woodhouse, whose machinations and manoeuvrings end in a sweet self-reckoning. The familiarity of the tropes is offset by the casting, which, as in Bridgerton, is exhilaratingly diverse. Julia is, Ashton smiles, ‘a little Regency terroriser’. She is also, for long stretches of the movie, the baddie, as she strives to punish Jeremy for cold-shouldering her.

Is Ashton on a villain trip right now? She cocks her head. ‘I think that’s probably a phase I’ve always been in – certainly the outsider phase.’ She then tweaks her answer: ‘I’ve always played outliers, and that’s great. I think it’s where you can move the needle the most.’ Yet when pressed as to why she tends to play an outsider, or outlier, she demurs. Perhaps it’s too on the nose.

Zawedde Emma ‘Zawe’ Ashton was born in Hackney, to teachers Paul and Victoria: Paul from Britain, Victoria originally from Uganda. She is the eldest of three and her first name means ‘princess’ in Swahili. The young Zawe sounds particularly precocious, always encouraged to read and express herself; she recalls devouring Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride aged 11, which, she admits now, was probably far too young. (‘Is there arson? I remember there being arson.’) During her teenage years, Hackney rapidly gentrified. She does not view herself as part of that wave. ‘I remember when it happened,’ she says. ‘When lots of people who looked like they worked on The Big Breakfast descended on your postcode. They’d be knocking on people’s doors, looking through windows, asking when they were thinking of moving. We called them the Shark Fins because they all had that little shark-fin haircut – remember?’ (The capital remains her true home, although she’s light on current specifics, settling on the description: ‘I’m London-ish.’)

Her parents always supported her artistic ambitions. She signed up for acting classes at the illustrious Anna Scher Theatre in Islington and was soon working professionally alongside her school studies. But the standout family tidbit is a nugget on the internet that says her grandfather Paulo Muwanga was the president of Uganda. ‘Oh gurl, don’t go there,’ she mugs, full Drag Race-style. ‘He was actually acting president [for a few weeks]. I’m not like one of the Obama girls.’ Ashton mostly remembers him as ‘a very old, lovely grandpa’, who died when she was young. But, as a child, Ashton spent many summers in Uganda and still feels close to her heritage. ‘There’s a lot of strength in having a duality,’ she muses. ‘We’re finally seeing that more and more now as something to be celebrated. When I was younger, that wasn’t the case.’

Ashton has spoken about being ‘badly bullied’ at school when acting work gave her a profile. ‘I was this tall, skinny misfit who was unapologetic about the things I was passionate about. I had a sense of who I was and what I was into – and you’re not supposed to have that. You’re just supposed to blend in,’ she told The Daily Telegraph in 2019. The feeling of being targeted as an outsider continued when, as a young adult, she signed up for drama school in Manchester. ‘It was rough,’ she says. ‘They break you down.’ Why? ‘I think they saw my keenness, my enthusiasm…’ Her fashion sense, for starters, was ‘experimental’, she grins. ‘Carrie Bradshaw on acid. I remember, for one of the first club nights I went to in Manchester, I found this long, oversized, stripy silk dress with a massive bow on the side, and I had a huge yellow visor with another bow. Basically like I was going to Ascot in the 1980s.’ It went down ‘amazing’, she promises. ‘Sometimes I’d go to college dressed as a cheerleader.’ A pause. ‘Did I go as Snow White one time?’

She sighs. ‘I don’t know why, but sometimes they really want to wash you out.’ This continued even when she started working full-time. Right after Fresh Meat, Ashton had in mind to create a show similar to HBO’s Girls, which Lena Dunham wrote, starred in and directed, but instead she got lost in ‘developmental hell’. ‘There was just this weird resistance. And bullying. Bullying, demeaning, gaslighting… I was yelled at by one producer because I was questioning something about my own work.’ I venture cautiously that, to some, Ashton might just have been too much of a multi-hyphenate. ‘Yep,’ she says immediately. ‘We didn’t do that kind of thing here until the success of things like I May Destroy You or Fleabag.’

All this has made her extra eager to help others. During one episode of Fresh Meat, she struck up a conversation with a young bit-part actor. ‘I could see he was committed, clear-eyed about what he wanted to do,’ she says. ‘And so I gave him my number.’ Not long after, the actor texted Ashton to ask if she would write him a recommendation letter for his American visa, which she did. ‘And then, 10 years later, I turned on Bridgerton and…’ The actor was Regé-Jean Page. Ashton doesn’t take any credit for that (and she has texted him to check he’s OK with her telling the story) but she does think people should give each other a hand. ‘We don’t fuel the fire of genuine enthusiasm in the UK,’ she sighs. ‘It’s like, “Don’t get ideas above; stay calm; it’s not that good.” I appreciate that, because I’m London through and through – I love that acerbic quality and I love that edge. But it can be really damaging.’

Six years ago, Ashton moved to Margate to focus on her book, Character Breakdown, which is a play on words: a ‘character breakdown’ is the short description of a part an actor tends to get with a script – but it also means, obviously, a bit of personal disintegration. Unsurprisingly, during more than 30 years of pretending to be other people, Ashton has experienced both, as she details grimly and hilariously in the book, listing encounters with lecherous directors, callous agents, scary celebrity stylists and more. We laugh several times about how miserable she makes the industry sound. She also calls the book her ‘novel’ a lot, which I raise my eyebrows at a little sceptically. ‘Well, it’s a fictionalised memoir,’ she admits. ‘“Unconventional memoir” is what the publishing house recommended we call it.’

Margate was, she says, a conscious step back from acting, a way ‘to write myself out of the toxicity’, as she puts it. ‘I didn’t want to audition, I didn’t want to have lattes with people that went nowhere. I just thought, “I have to go and live by the sea and see what all the people who don’t act have been doing for a long time, and how they’ve been making themselves happy.” And then of course it didn’t work out, because I got bloody Velvet Buzzsaw.’ Dan Gilroy’s art-world horror satire, where Ashton’s Josephina ends up in a twisted romance with Jake Gyllenhaal’s cold-fish art critic, is exactly the kind of offbeat work Ashton wanted to do. So she went to LA to film it, published the book, and then got offered Betrayal, which came about after ‘Tom and I had done a reading together of the central scene, at a gala for Harold Pinter’s birthday’. Cut to four-or-so years later: here she is, engaged to Hiddleston and pregnant, too. But that’s pretty much the only time she’ll say his name.

Ashton and Hiddleston rarely speak publicly about their relationship, and reports suggest they got together during the play. Their first red carpet as a couple was last September, then in March this year to signal their engagement. But for the Mr Malcolm’s List premiere in June, Ashton appeared alone, visibly pregnant, and glittering in an embellished tulle dress by Sabina Bilenko. Recently, Hiddleston offered a full three words on the subject: ‘I’m very happy.’ Today, Ashton offers a few more, to the same effect. I congratulate her on her big news. ‘Thanks,’ she beams. ‘It’s wonderful.’ I’d read somewhere that she’d always wanted children. ‘I know,’ she acknowledges, grimacing. ‘I used to talk about it all the time in interviews – it was really unsuitable.’ Has she learnt the art of discretion now? ‘I’ve got to learn it,’ she says, with a groan.

Having a baby is another knotty decision in the life of an actress. ‘You’re told, “Don’t get pregnant” but also “Don’t leave it too long” because then you’re going to be an old maid. I’ve been prehistoric in this industry since I was 25,’ she says drily. ‘The mixed messaging is rough and has to be addressed.’ She hadn’t felt stressed by her biological clock ticking: ‘It was just suddenly this self-permission comes over you that goes against all that messaging.’

I ask about her red carpet announcement, but the drawbridge comes up. ‘I don’t want to talk about my personal life,’ she says, politely but firmly. ‘I didn’t feel like I had to do anything,’ she clarifies, but ‘it felt like [the pregnancy news] happened in the right way. [It is a] really, really, vital moment where we’re talking about women and their autonomy when it comes to their bodies.’ The Roe v Wade reversal had been announced just days before, and she had no desire to ‘be cute’ about it. ‘I’m not into “announcements” or “reveals”,’ she adds. ‘I’m into trying to carry the narrative as much as possible myself, rather than anyone else feeling like they have an exclusive on my body.’

At Anna Scher, Ashton says, ‘you were never allowed to use the words “fame” or “star”. They were swear words.’ She plainly approves – so she’s not a star in any way? ‘Gimme a break!’ Is she a bit like Adele, who has famously kept her privacy quite well? ‘I cannot put myself in the same privacy conversation as Adele. But…’ She pauses. ‘I think it’s like any choice. You make it and then do it as much as you can.’ I conclude by complimenting her ring. ‘Thank you,’ she smiles again. ‘And the wedding plans?’ I tease. She cringes. ‘Please don’t.’

On Broadway, Ashton pursued what she jokingly calls her ‘Zawessance – which no one asked for, by the way’, she honks. She signed with new acting reps she felt more aligned with. ‘I said, “Look: just send me the names of fledgling directors who are from under-represented backgrounds.” I felt that’s where I’d be of most use.’ And she has apparently followed that to the letter, with Maryland, The Marvels and, yes, Mr Malcolm’s List.

Growing up, Ashton loved Austen but there was always an assumption that she would never feature in those stories. ‘You just accept the status quo,’ she muses. ‘There’s this very strange acceptance that is definitely tinged with sadness.’ It’s weird, she says. ‘You don’t necessarily realise how long you’ve been locked out until you see the pendulum swing.’ There is certainly a swing now, though – and when I ask if she worries it could be a trend, she is categorical: ‘This is where Bridgerton comes in – because the language this industry understands is money.’

She recently went back to her old drama school in Manchester to address the students. ‘I can see that opportunities for so many under-represented students are suddenly there. I don’t worry about them the way I worried for myself – and that’s really lovely. Systemic racism isn’t going anywhere fast. But they can imagine themselves in huge franchises, in the new Netflix show, in the lead in West End theatres.’

Persuasion, by the way, is Ashton’s favourite Austen to read. She also adores the Emma film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and Clueless, its ’90s Californian cousin. But ‘I’m not really a Pride and Prejudice girl’, she frowns. Not into Darcy? ‘No, too austere. People love that. I know friends who are like, “I love how emotionally unavailable you are.” I’m like, “Oh gawd!”’ Those seeking a tidbit could read in that a hint as to what she likes in Hiddleston. But it could also apply to her relationship with the acting industry, which has long been her Mr Darcy: infuriating her, misunderstanding her, undervaluing her worth. She seems to have a handle on it now, although she has said she’ll quit acting a few times. She chuckles sanguinely at this.

‘It’s the same as with marriage, isn’t it? You divorce multiple times in a long marriage: as long as you never want to do it at the same time, you’ll probably be all right.’ She’s clearly in it for the long haul.

[kwebtv]

From the Golden Age of Television

Series Premiere

Mr. and Mrs. North - Weekend Murder - CBS - October 3, 1952

Mystery

Running Time: 30 minutes

Written by DeWitt Bodeen

Produced by

Directed by Ralph Murphy

Stars:

Barbara Britton as Pam North

Richard Denning as Jerry North

Francis De Sales as Lt. Weigand

Margo Woode as Hannah Wilk

Rita Johnson as Lily Storm

Paul Cavanagh as Ashley Lockwood

James Kirkwood as Chief Horgan

Sarah Padden as Mrs. Sherwood

John Warburton as Blair Martin

[beardedmrbean]

A Missouri inmate convicted of ambushing and killing a St. Louis area police officer he blamed in the death of his younger brother was scheduled to be executed Tuesday, barring a last-minute intervention.

Kevin Johnson’s legal team doesn’t deny that he killed Officer William McEntee in 2005, but contended in an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court that he was sentenced to death in part because he is Black. But in a 5-2 ruling late Monday, the state Supreme Court denied a stay.

The U.S. Supreme Court also declined a stay request last week, and Gov. Mike Parson on Monday announced he would not grant clemency.

“The violent murder of any citizen, let alone a Missouri law enforcement officer, should be met only with the fullest punishment state law allows,” Parson, a Republican and a former county sheriff, said in a statement. “Through Mr. Johnson’s own heinous actions, he stole the life of Sergeant McEntee and left a family grieving, a wife widowed, and children fatherless. Clemency will not be granted.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if other appeals were planned. A message left early Tuesday with Johnson’s lawyer was not immediately returned.

Johnson, 37, faces execution Tuesday evening at the state prison in Bonne Terre. He would be the second Missouri man put to death in 2022 and the 17th nationally.

McEntee, 43, was a 20-year veteran of the police department in Kirkwood, a St. Louis suburb. The father of three was among the officers sent to Johnson’s home on July 5, 2005, to serve a warrant for his arrest. Johnson was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend, and police believed he had violated probation.

Johnson saw officers arrive and awoke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph “Bam Bam” Long, who ran to a house next door. Once there, the boy, who suffered from a congenital heart defect, collapsed and began having a seizure.

Johnson testified at trial that McEntee kept his mother from entering the house to aid his brother, who died a short time later at a hospital.

That same evening, McEntee returned to the neighborhood to check on unrelated reports of fireworks being shot off. A court filing from the Missouri attorney general’s office said McEntee was in his car questioning three children when Johnson shot him through the open passenger-side window, striking the officer’s leg, head and torso. Johnson then got into the car and took McEntee’s gun.

The court filing said Johnson walked down the street and told his mother that McEntee “let my brother die” and “needs to see what it feels like to die.” Though she told him, “That’s not true,” Johnson returned to the shooting scene and found McEntee alive, on his knees near the patrol car. Johnson shot McEntee in the back and in the head, killing him.

Johnson’s lawyers have previously asked the courts to intervene for other reasons, including a history of mental illness and his age — 19 — at the time of the crime. Courts have increasingly moved away from sentencing teen offenders to death since the Supreme Court in 2005 banned the execution of offenders who were younger than 18 at the time of their crime.

But a broader focus of appeals has been on alleged racial bias. In October, St. Louis Circuit Judge Mary Elizabeth Ott appointed a special prosecutor to review the case. The special prosecutor, E.E. Keenan, filed a motion earlier this month to vacate the death sentence, stating that race played a “decisive factor” in the death sentence.

Ott declined to set aside the death penalty.

Keenan told the state Supreme Court that former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s office handled five cases involving the deaths of police officers during his 28 years in office. McCulloch sought the death penalty in the four cases involving Black defendants, but did not seek death in the one case where the defendant was white, the file said.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Crane responded that “a fair jury determined he deserves the death penalty.”

McCulloch does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.

Johnson’s 19-year-old daughter, Khorry Ramey, had sought to witness the execution, but a state law prohibits anyone under 21 from observing the process. Courts have declined to step in on Ramey’s behalf.

The U.S. saw 98 executions in 1999 but the number has dropped dramatically in recent years. Missouri already has two scheduled for early 2023. Convicted killer Scott McLaughlin is scheduled to die on Jan. 3, and convicted killer Leonard Taylor’s execution is set for Feb. 7.

[grandprix-ao3]

a non f1blr friend has convinced me to watch the indy 500 this weekend (my first indycar race!) and he was running through the liveries and got to kyles barbie car and i was like IMMEDIATELY i know him!!! and then had to scramble for a reason WHY i knew him as someone who knows NOTHING about indy that wasn’t i-read-about-him-fucking-logan. humiliating. hope he slays the race or whatever.

yesss i hope you enjoy watching the 500!!! i'm new to indy this season obv but it is soo fun like come on 5 different winners in 5 races?? and one of them is mr. kyle kirkwood himself?? idk this isn't supposed to be me trying to sell indycar but pspsps indy is so fun to watch like i actually get invested in fuel strats and that's stupid. also oval races r cool. my first indy race was texas last month and it was 12/10 good time go ovals

anyways. i love kyle and his barbie pink car. there are three pink autonation cars on the grid (not confusing at all) but the number 27 for andretti autosport is the most important one :) i hope he slays the race also he is my favorite and therefore all of my emotional stability for the weekend rides on his performance because i am Very Normal about sports!!!!

+ valid on the him fucking logan thing. shoutout to the 6 fanfictions in the kyle kirkwood/logan sargeant ship tag but particularly the 2 of them that are mine (self love). stream or stream

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"SCRIPTURES QUOTED AS CHATTELS LOADED BAILIFF IS DEFIED," Toronto Globe. August 15, 1933. Page 9. ---- Nothing to Prevent Removal of Seized Furniture, Is Claim Made --- GUARD VETERAN'S HOME --- "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and all loving favors rather than silver and gold. The rich and the poor meet together: and the Lord is maker of them all."

Opening with these words, Alex. Kirkwood, leader of the Christian Workers' Brotherhood in York Township, read from Proverbs 22, as C. Blake defied a bailiff's orders not to remove furniture from his home at 523 Northcliffe Boulevard, after they had been distrained for arrears of rent claimed by the landlord. The chattels were seized on Saturday, and late on Sunday night Blake had them taken out of the house and conveyed to a city address. As the last piece was loaded on the truck Kirkwood read the Psalm in the presence of Blake, his wife and child and other members of the brotherhood, and before leaving closed with a brief prayer.

Blake was not at home when the bailiff called on Saturday, and when his wife was called upon to sign a bond undertaking not to move the articles she positively refused. She claimed that, faced with this affront, the bailiff threatened her before leaving.

Before moving the chattels Blake, had Mr. Kirkwood communicate with Joseph Sedgewick of the Attorney-General's Department. As a result, according to Kirkwood, that official declared that, inasmuch as no bond had been given, there was nothing to prevent Blake from moving the furniture.

All day yesterday two members of the brotherhood were posted at the Northcliffe Boulevard address, thinking that the bailiff might return to claim the chattels, He did not put in an appearance, however, but the men remained until nightfall, standing at either entrance with a Bible in their hands. Had the bailiff called, they told The Globe they intended to block his entrance with out-stretched arms holding an open Bible and defy him to push it aside.

[tightbrosnetwork]

Immerse yourself in the avant-garde world of electroacoustic music as we welcome Arnaud Rivière to #KirkwoodBallersClub on Thursday, May 18, at eyedrum art & music gallery. Arnaud Rivière is a French experimental electroacoustic musician, free improviser, instrument designer, and sound installation artist. He creates a spellbinding sonic landscape using a rudimentary electroacoustic setup, which includes a repaired turntable, metal rods, jumper cables, batteries, springs and contact microphones. Furthermore, the evening's lineup offers up an intriguing collection of unconventional Atlanta based performing artists, including Klimchak, Aaron Dylan Kearns, .document, Anucon, Vela Oma, Marshall Avett, Not Mrs. Rentz, and Ipek Eginli. Doors open at 8 PM, and performances start at 8:30 PM sharp. The event is open to all ages, and while admission is free, donations are warmly welcomed to help offset Arnaud Rivière's travel expenses. Kirkwood Ballers Club is a monthly experimental open forum occurring at eyedrum art & music gallery every third Thursday. Celebrating its 19th year, the KBC has evolved, traversing various venues such as the old Lenny's Bar, the Highland Inn, 11:11 Teahouse, Star Bar, and more, even extending its reach to Brooklyn's Zebulon Concert Cafe. Nonetheless, KBC remains an Atlanta-based gathering, with its unique ethos deeply rooted in the city's cultural fabric. #kirkwoodBallersClub #avantgarde #electroacousticmusic #noise #noiseshow #eyedrum

[alicianyblade]

Last night's Yule dinner: Homemade brisket, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings! The brisket I made for Yule last year. The recipe is from Binging with Babish and is inspired by the brisket featured on the TV show, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel". It was just as yummy this year! The Yorkshire pudding recipe comes from John Kirkwood, a retired chef from the northeast of England in the U.K. If you haven't seen him, look him up on YouTube. His channel is like if Winne the Pooh had a cooking show and it's adorable. And these Yorkshire puddings were so easy to make, even for someone like me who'd never done so before and was nervous to try working with the hot fat. Traditionally, these are made with beef drippings, but you could use vegetable oil as a substitute, which is what I did and they were absolutely delicious! I hope everyone else who celebrated had a lovely Yule! Blessed winter solstice! The Brisket Recipe: https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/maisel-brisket The Yorkshire Puddings Recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0QE23PB8LE #Yule #Yule2022 #WinterSolstice2022 #WiccanHolidays #PaganHolidays #WheelOfTheYear #KitchenWitch #YuleDinner #BrisketRecipe #TheMarvelousMrsMaisel #BingingWithBabishRecipes #YorkshirePuddingsRecipe #JohnKirkwood #JohnKirkwoodRecipes https://www.instagram.com/p/Cme7QayyCEk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[miyagi-hokarate]

It's Karate, Kid! The Musical | The Way of the Buss

[scotianostra]

Ryrie Bar, Haymarket.

Historic Scotland describe this bar as  s “ 2-storey Baronial public house; main block with panelled Scottish Renaissance entrance and ground floor windows, latter with Art Nouveau stained glass.”

Kirkwood's map of 1817 shows the earlier building on this site as the Haymarket Weigh House. In 1830 David Lawrie occupied this building, otherwise known as ‘The Hay Weights’ as an Innkeeper. A few years later Henry Cochrane is listed as a Spirit Dealer at the same address. In 1842 the Edinburgh Glasgow Railway is completed and terminated behind the building. It is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as 'The Railway Inn' and occupied the whole of the current site.

Alexander Ryrie (Snr) was born in Edinburgh circa 1807, married Henrietta Reid and was father to ten children. He appears in an 1842 Street Directory as a Gardener based in Dalry Lane, alongside possibly his mother, Mrs Ryrie. In various documents he is listed as a Market Gardener, and by the 1861 census he is occupying 11 acres of land.

The next year, 1862, he took on the Railway Inn, and the older western part of the building is rebuilt. Sadly he died in 1865 leaving his wife as the licensee. Henrietta died two years later in 1867 and as her daughter Jane was 21, she obtained the license for the premises. Jane married in 1868 and in the 1871 census her sister Margaret is shown as the head of the family for what has now been renamed The Haymarket Inn.

The main part of the building was rebuilt in 1868 with maps showing it as rectangular with a bay window in the east of the north elevation. It is possible that this remained a private house for the family until it’s remodelling in 1906. Alexander Ryrie (Jnr) was born in 1850 and by the 1881 census he is listed as the Head of the family and as Publican of The Haymarket Inn.

The above undated photograph from what is believe to b ecirca 1880′s, showing two gentlemen, one of which is likely to be Alex Ryrie. The other is possibly his brother Henry. Alexander remains the licensee of The Haymarket Inn until the end of 1905, when he dies. By this time he is has whisky in bond at Leith. Unfortunately he does not appear to have seen the building remodelled to what we now know as Ryrie’s.

In 1906 the two parts of the building were linked as private and public bars of one property and the ground floor and interior rebuilt. The client for the 1906 work was Messrs Ryrie & Company, whisky merchants.

The architect for the 1906 refit, Robert McFarlane Cameron, was responsible for a number of fine pub interiors in Edinburgh, including The Guildford Arms, also part of the D M Stewart Ltd group. His practice was medium sized and very varied and ranged from churches and schools at one end to public houses and premises for the licensed trade at the other. He served as a bailie and magistrate of the city and was considered to be 'a firm friend of the Trade' and as such secured a number of commissions for re-fitting pubs. These became examples of what is now known as People’s Palaces.

George Morrison, a director of the nearby New Edinburgh Brewery at Slateford, owned by Thomas & James Bernard Ltd, became tenant. His widow acquired the heritable interest in the property and then her executry sold the public house to the Brewery. In turn, Scottish Brewers Ltd acquired Thomas & James Bernard Ltd in 1960. In the 1980s the large Ryrie’s and W M Younger’s Ales signs were placed on the gable ends of the property.

Further minor interior alterations in 1992 improved access around the bar, but left the majority of the original bar unchanged. Ownership of the property passed between large national Pubcos before being purchased by the Edinburgh family run pub company D M Stewart Ltd, which owns and operates some of the cities finest Victorian and Edwardian pubs.

In 2022, 160 years after the Ryrie family first began operating from the building, it reopened after a thorough restoration was completed, taking the exterior paintwork, which was black and then blue, back to it’s original state. 

[dogsgreys]

C cute artoon thomas jefferson and william clark

Clark was the only one taken into consideration, and it was decided by a unanimous vote to ask him to accept the position. Clark has been elected pastor of the Kirkwood Avenue Christian Church.Ī meeting of the official board of the church was held last night, called for the purpose of selecting a pastor, and the name of Mr. Selected by a Unanimouos Vote-Short Sketch of His Life CLARK FOR THE PASTOR OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH NOTE: This item was abbreviated as noted by the ellipsis. Clark married Miss Emma Jennings, of class 1873.Ī.) Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) Telephone, April 20, 1894, p. Clark has been a diligent and successful minister has had 732 accessions to his church has preached 2,250 sermons, attended 235 funerals, and united in marriage 224 couples. Minister of Christian Church, Vincennes, for the last seventeen years. Occupation and position, Principal of Vincennes high School, 1873. Educated at Bloomington common schools.ĭegrees, A. Thomas Jefferson Clark, born April 19, 1849, in Bruceville, Knox Co. INDIANA UNIVERSITY, ITS HISTORY, 1828-1890, He was the minister at Vincennes for 21 years, at Bloomington for eighteen years, and at Albion, Ill., he served for seven years. Clark, 1846-1918, served long pastorates during his life and they were successful. Indianapolis, IN: Meigs Publishing Co., 1930, p. THOS J / Date of Death - / Last Residence - (Blank) / Place of Birth - (Blank) / Age - 71 / Gender - M / Cemetery - Rose Hill / Section and Lot - Spencer Addition, 188ĭICIPLES OF CHRIST IN INDIANA: ACHIEVEMENTS OF A CENTURY, Commodore Wesley Cauble. Clark will be held Saturday at 1:30 from the First.īurial Records state: CLARK, REV. Batman of this city were medical students together in Chicago. Charles Clark is on the medical staff of the Mutual Benefit Insurance Company and has already attained a very high rank as a physician. He has issued a book of poems and his contributions of lyric poetry to various magazines are attracting wide attention in American and Europe. It is interesting to state in this connection that the son, Thomas Curtis Clark, has become a journalist and writer of permanent fame. It is inspiring to contemplate the great good of such a life.ĭuring all these years his wife has been an unusual help and support to him a woman of great ability in church and community life and was always most active in all good work. During this time he preached 3,173 sermons, 967 funerals, performed 615 weddings and received 2,798 people into the church. Thus he spent 45 years in three pastorates. Clark was pastor of the First Christian Church of Vincennes from September 1st 1894 to September 1st, 1908, he was pastor of the Kirkwood Avenue Christian Church of Bloomington and until September 1918, he was pastor at Albion, Ill. Clark, pioneer citizens of blessed memory.įrom September fist, 1872, to September 1st, 1894, Rev. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and his parents were Mr. Clark's children are graduates of the University as well as their two sons-in-law. It is an interesting fact that their three daughters-Grace, Carrie and Ruth-were all married on their graduation days. On July 3rd, 1873, he was married to Emma Jennings on her graduation day from the University. He returned to Bloomington and re-entered school, graduating from the University July 2, 1872. I, 10th Cavalry, and remained in the service until mustered out at Vicksburg, August 31st, 1865. showers in the old shop that stood about where Combs Store is now on the east side. Showers, he began to learn the cabinet trade under the late C. As a boy he attended the schools of Bloomington and the academy of the University. His parents moved to Bloomington in June 1846. Born at Bruceville, Knox County, April 19, 1846, next April he would have been 72. Rogers of Cincinnati.įew families have been as intimately related to the development of Bloomington as that of Rev. Ruth Neff, Indianapolis Thomas Curtis Clark, Chicago and Dr. Clark is survived by his wife and five children-Mrs. Funeral probably Saturday awaiting the arrival of all the children. John Foster, a neighbor and old friend, had just come into the home besides Mrs. During the day he had been resting easily and sleeping most of the time, but at 3:40 without any previous sign of sinking, he quietly went to sleep never to awake again in this life. The end came as a result of heart failure to which he was subject at times. He had been ill for about two weeks but was feeling much better, and his recovery in a few days was fully expected. Clark at his home on North Washington Street. The community was shocked Wednesday afternoon to learn of the sudden death of Rev. Christian Minister, Old Soldier and Fine Citizen

[books0977]

Portrait of Mrs Kirkwood (1908). George Henry (Scottish, 1858-1943). Oil on canvas.

Henry's importance consists in his influence in the Glasgow school in the direction of richer and more decorative color. In addition to genre and landscape, he also painted portraits, more distinguished by technical ability than by rendition of character. He was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy (1902) and an associate of the Royal Academy.

[charliechalupa]

Look at her glow in the sun light 🍞☀️