Subscribe to Calderonia
Calderonia: Start Here
Search Calderonia
Categories
- Edwardian character (222)
- Edwardian English (100)
- Edwardian literature (154)
- Edwardian marriage (169)
- Heroism and Adventure (138)
- Modern parallels (159)
- Personal commentary (455)
- Uncategorized (91)
Recent Comments
- Patrick Miles on Source? Dear Katy, it's lovely to hear from you again! I hope you are well down there in Kent. Would you believe it, I too typed in that first line, as I thought it was perhaps the... (May 12, 2025 at 11:45 am)
- Roger Pulvers on Source? Ah, it is simply a тайна ремесла. But, I assure you, I did not use AI. Please give the book to someone who has not read it and is in your neighbourhood. (May 12, 2025 at 9:57 am)
- Katy George on Source? Pipped to the post! I typed in the first line line of the 2nd paragraph and it came up straight away to the source on Faded Page. (May 12, 2025 at 9:56 am)
- Patrick Miles on Source? Roger, you're a genius! (As if I didn't know.) Did you simply recognise it from your reading, as it were, or did you use AI? We used the most sophisticated search engines... (May 12, 2025 at 9:46 am)
- Roger Pulvers on Source? Unpopular Opinions by Dorothy L Sayers, that's the source of the quote. (May 12, 2025 at 7:24 am)
Featured Comments
- James Muckle on George Calderon: a tribute:
By golly, I do enjoy contentious essays like this.…
- John Pym on A terrific find:
Patrick Miles alludes to Percy Lubbock’s 'Earlham' (Jonathan Cape,…
- Katy George on Selected Publications of George Calderon:
Hi, I recently purchased some items from a charity…
- Clare Hopkins on Complex, yes:
Oh Patrick! I can see that being George's biographer/blogger…
- James Muckle on George Calderon: a tribute:
Tags
- 'real time'
- Anton Chekhov
- Archie Ripley
- Belgium
- biographies
- biography
- British Expeditionary Force
- Clara Calderon
- Clare Hopkins
- commemoration
- comments
- Dardanelles
- Fort Brockhurst
- Foxwold
- Gallipoli
- George Calderon
- George Calderon: Edwardian Genius
- Harvey Pitcher
- Ian Hamilton
- John Polkinghorne
- John Pym
- King's Own Scottish Borderers
- Kittie Calderon
- Laurence Binyon
- military interpreters
- Nina Astley
- Nina Corbet
- Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
- Percy Lubbock
- publishers
- Royal Horse Guards
- Russia
- Sam&Sam
- Tahiti
- The Blues
- The Great War
- The Times
- Third Battle of Krithia
- Trinity College Oxford
- Ukraine
- Violet Pym
- Vladimir Putin
- William Rothenstein
- World War I
- Ypres
Archives
- May 2025 (1)
- April 2025 (2)
- March 2025 (2)
- February 2025 (1)
- January 2025 (2)
- December 2024 (2)
- November 2024 (2)
- October 2024 (1)
- September 2024 (1)
- August 2024 (2)
- July 2024 (2)
- June 2024 (1)
- May 2024 (1)
- April 2024 (1)
- March 2024 (2)
- February 2024 (2)
- January 2024 (2)
- December 2023 (2)
- November 2023 (1)
- October 2023 (3)
- September 2023 (1)
- August 2023 (2)
- July 2023 (3)
- June 2023 (3)
- May 2023 (2)
- April 2023 (1)
- March 2023 (4)
- February 2023 (1)
- January 2023 (3)
- December 2022 (2)
- November 2022 (2)
- October 2022 (2)
- September 2022 (3)
- August 2022 (3)
- July 2022 (3)
- June 2022 (4)
- May 2022 (5)
- April 2022 (6)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (2)
- January 2022 (4)
- December 2021 (2)
- November 2021 (2)
- October 2021 (2)
- September 2021 (2)
- August 2021 (2)
- July 2021 (2)
- June 2021 (2)
- May 2021 (3)
- April 2021 (2)
- March 2021 (2)
- February 2021 (3)
- January 2021 (2)
- December 2020 (2)
- November 2020 (1)
- October 2020 (3)
- September 2020 (3)
- August 2020 (1)
- July 2020 (3)
- June 2020 (3)
- May 2020 (1)
- April 2020 (2)
- March 2020 (2)
- January 2020 (3)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (4)
- October 2019 (2)
- September 2019 (5)
- August 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (2)
- May 2019 (3)
- April 2019 (4)
- March 2019 (3)
- February 2019 (2)
- January 2019 (4)
- December 2018 (2)
- November 2018 (3)
- October 2018 (2)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (5)
- July 2018 (5)
- June 2018 (5)
- May 2018 (7)
- April 2018 (3)
- March 2018 (6)
- February 2018 (3)
- January 2018 (4)
- December 2017 (2)
- November 2017 (5)
- October 2017 (4)
- September 2017 (2)
- August 2017 (5)
- July 2017 (4)
- June 2017 (4)
- May 2017 (4)
- April 2017 (4)
- March 2017 (4)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (4)
- December 2016 (8)
- November 2016 (7)
- October 2016 (10)
- September 2016 (8)
- August 2016 (7)
- July 2016 (9)
- June 2016 (9)
- May 2016 (2)
- April 2016 (4)
- March 2016 (3)
- February 2016 (4)
- January 2016 (3)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (4)
- October 2015 (2)
- September 2015 (3)
- August 2015 (3)
- July 2015 (28)
- June 2015 (25)
- May 2015 (31)
- April 2015 (23)
- March 2015 (21)
- February 2015 (15)
- January 2015 (19)
- December 2014 (13)
- November 2014 (19)
- October 2014 (31)
- September 2014 (26)
- August 2014 (20)
- July 2014 (2)
Links
Author Archives: Patrick Miles
Archive
In my last post I should have explained that some of my fury at having to check again every quotation and fact in the typescript came from the necessity it entailed of taking scores of manuscripts out of George and … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Archie Ripley, archives, biographies, biography, camphor, cigarettes, comments, George Calderon, haibun, haikus, Kittie Calderon, Lucknow, manuscripts, patina, roses, smells, The Great War, tuberculosis, World War I
5 Comments
‘O, fallacem hominum spem!’
This tag from Cicero, meaning ‘Oh how deceptive is men’s hope!’, may be heard on the lips of Chekhov buffs when disappointed about something, followed sotto voce by Kulygin’s line: ‘Accusative with exclamation…’ (Act 2, Three Sisters). It is certainly appropriate … Continue reading
‘Old P.H.’
Although I was sceptical about this blog when first persuaded to start it nearly two years ago, I cannot chirp loudly enough about the benefits it has brought the project. There is our amazing follower Katy George, who came upon … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biography, Bonhams, Captain of the Eleven, Chantrey Bequest, Chantrey Trust, Charles Dickens, Clara Calderon, comments, Compton, David Wynfield, Emery Walker, G.A. Storey, G.D. Leslie, G.F. Watts, George Calderon, Greville Corbett, H.S. Marks, Juan Calderón, Katy George, Kittie Calderon, Percy Lubbock, Peter Rees, Philip Hermogenes Calderon, Royal Academy, St Elizabeth of Hungary's Great Act of Renunciation, St John's Wood Clique, W.F. Yeames, Watts Gallery, Watts Gallery-Artists' Village
Leave a comment
The Somme: over to you
It won’t, I think, surprise followers to hear that I know next to nothing about the Battle of the Somme compared with Ypres 1 and Gallipoli, which George Calderon fought at and which we covered from day to day in … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged attrition, Battle of the Somme, British Expeditionary Force, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, General Douglas Haig, General Henry Rawlinson, George Calderon, Harvey Pitcher, Hugh Sebag Montefiore, Imperial War Museum, Martin Middlebrook, Peter Hart, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, World War I, Ypres
1 Comment
Mrs Stewart of Torquay recalibrated
I refer new followers to my post of 1 June 2016. The reason it was important to find out more about the life of Mrs Eliza Stewart, even so late in the project, is that after the sudden death in … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, Canada, comments, Eliza Stewart, Fife, George Calderon, golf, James Affleck Stewart, John Tucker, Kittie Calderon, Marge Calderon, Marguerite Calderon, Margy Calderon, Michael Welch, Mrs Stewart of Torquay, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Nina Stewart, St Andrews, The Croft, The Nest, Torquay
Leave a comment
The Somme: a memory
In July 1970, whilst waiting to hear whether I had been awarded a grant to do a Ph.D. on Chekhov, I worked for six weeks in the male wing of a ‘mental hospital’ near my home. I place the words … Continue reading
Three women follow the Somme
After Kittie Calderon had done all she could to establish George’s fate at Gallipoli on 4 June 1915, and accepted that she would live by the faith that he was in a Turkish prisoner of war camp, she suffered a … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Battle of the Somme, biographies, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, comments, Constance Astley, Constance Sutton, Dardanelles, Dick Sutton, Evey Pym, Foxwold, Gallipoli, General Henry Rawlinson, George Calderon, Givenchy, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Sir Richard Sutton, Sir Roland James Corbet, Verdun, Violet Pym, Wimereux
Leave a comment
Zamyatin: Ross: Calderon
Everyone should read Zamyatin’s anti-Utopian novel We, which had such an impact on George Orwell and is so different from his own 1984. But I don’t believe newcomers to Zamyatin should start with the masterpiece… The best way into the delightful, … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged A Fisher of Men, Archibald Campbell Ross, Armstrong Whitworth, George Campbell Ross, George Orwell, Glasgow, Heathland Lodge, Heddon-on-the Wall, Hilliard Booth, J.A.E. Curtis, Jesmond, John Dewey, Lewis Carroll, Manya Ross, Mariia Iakovlevna Guseva, Mary Hamilton, May Hamilton, Nancy Knox, Nancy Lang, Newcastle upon Tyne, Pall Mall Gazette, R.& W. Hawthorn, The Islanders, The Red Lamp, The Seagull, We, White Raven, Yevgeniy Zamyatin
Leave a comment
…and a brain surgeon writes
Much as I am enjoying writing this blog free of the constraints of 1914-15 Time, I think long-term followers may understand when I say that I still think of my 1914-15 ‘blography’ of George as Calderonia proper. Those followers will remember … Continue reading
A posh word for it…
The other day, I came across a word that was new to me: apophenia. It is not in Chambers Dictionary, and at first I wondered whether it was a misprint. But, of course, there is masses about it on the internet. … Continue reading
Posted in Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged apophenia, biographies, biography, Claus Konrad, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, George Calderon, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, Man in the Moon, paranoia, pareidolia, schizophrenia, solipsism, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Wikipedia, World War I
2 Comments
Progress
I’m relieved to say that I’ve completed the sixth draft of my Introduction to George Calderon: Edwardian Genius since June 2013 and cannot at the moment do more. It’s gone off to my biographer colleague for his attention. After he has put … Continue reading
Thank you; and Bunty!
Last Thursday here in Cambridge I went to see a new production of Patrick Marber’s version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, set in Britain 1945. I would be surprised if there is a tougher, less sentimental play touring England at this moment (it … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged August Strindberg, biographies, biography, Bunty, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, cats, Clare Hopkins, comments, Constance Sutton, dogs, Foxwold, George Calderon, Harry Ricketts, Jack Pym, Jenny Hands, John Pym, Kittie Calderon, Miss Julie, Nina Corbet, Patrick Marber, Robert Nichols, The Great War, war poetry, World War I
Leave a comment
‘A sort of mother to us all’
Others’ observations about Kittie Calderon are rare (except for George’s in letters, of course). It was with great pleasure, therefore, that I heard recently from the film critic John Pym that he had come across several mentions of Kittie in … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, Brasted Chart, Bunty, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, comments, Dermot James, Diana Gough, Diana Pym, Elizabeth Pym, Foxwold, George Calderon, Jack Pym, Jeremy Pym, John Hamilton, John Pym, Kittie Calderon, Lady Dorothea Gough, Roland Pym, Violet Pym, White Raven
2 Comments
Is this George Calderon?
Just as music gives people ‘ear-worms’, so biography brings us ‘phantom flies in amber’. As I explained in my posts of 5 January and 1 April 2015, over time the biographer becomes convinced s/he has seen things in print that … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Heroism and Adventure, Personal commentary
Tagged beetles, biographies, biography, comments, Dardanelles, ear-worms, flies in amber, Gallipoli, George Calderon, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, military interpreters, photographs, The Blues, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, World War I
Leave a comment
John Hamilton the Good/Great?
At this time one hundred years ago, after the first anniversary of her husband’s disappearance at Gallipoli, Kittie Calderon decided it would be wise to channel her energies into a number of projects. One of these was to erect a memorial … Continue reading →