Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Captain of the 11
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
George Calderon, 1912
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
George Calderon c.1901
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Recent Comments
- Catherine Brown on The diary of a writer-publisher: 38 Thank you so much for this wonderful recollection of Mr Prynne. In case of interest, my own, which concerns Prynne in the 1990s, is here:... (May 21, 2026 at 11:20 am)
- harvey pitcher on The diary of a writer-publisher: 37 well, i had a shock when you said you'd acquired a dog but then i saw it wasn't. i have nothing against dogs though i prefer cats but fiona is very opposed to dogs or rather... (April 15, 2026 at 4:35 pm)
- Laurence Brockliss on A new story by John Melmoth: ‘Snowballs’ What a pitch perfect short story: crisp, graphic, nostalgic, evocative and mischievous. The injustice of schoolboy punishments comes in many forms, is never forgotten and is... (March 10, 2026 at 10:09 am)
- Patrick Miles on The diary of a writer-publisher: 36 Wonderful, Andrew! Thank you very much. I will borrow that title, if you don't object... I hope you will allow Calderonia to feature your own next magnum opus after the Great... (February 28, 2026 at 8:18 am)
- Andrew Tatham on The diary of a writer-publisher: 36 A brilliantly evocative and thought-provoking medley of observations that would not be out of place in 'The collected life of a flat-cap penguin' (your words, only slightly... (February 27, 2026 at 9:48 am)
Author Archives: Patrick Miles
Guest post by Alison Miles: Some geographical aspects of a visit to Japan in 2013
I visited Japan in autumn 2013 and my main reason was to see Jim, who lived there for several years. It was about six months after I retired so a wonderful opportunity to take a long-haul flight (my first ever) … Continue reading
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Tagged Alison Miles, Asakusa, bullet train, Burgess Model, cities, earthquake management, earthquakes, geography, Gion, Hakone, Hoyt Model, Japan, Kaetsu Educational and Cultural Centre, Kyoto, Lake Ashi, Mount Fuji, Nara, Okumura Corporation Commemorative Museum, Owakudani Valley, Pacific Ring of Fire, seismicity, Shinkansen, Tohoku earthquake, Tokyo, tourism, town planning, Toyohashi, trains, urban models, urban structures, volcanicity, volcanoes
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‘Deep North’…and far out?
This was only the second ‘Japanese’ book that I ever read after The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse, and of course there was a connection: I won’t say that Bashō (1644-94) is my favourite Japanese haiku-writer, but he’s surely the … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged Bashō, boundary situations, civilisations, classic, collaboration, comments, dialogue, disciples, ethics, fatalism, George Calderon, haiku, hokka, Japan, Japanese literature, journeys, morality, Narrow Road to the Far North, Nobuyuki Yuasa, Penguin Book of Japanese Verse, Penguin Classics, Records of a Weather-exposed Skeleton, resignation, Roger Pulvers, shrines, sociability, symbols, Tahiti, taigan no kaji, travelogues, world classics, Zen Buddhism
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‘Another culture’ (A series of seven posts)
Sam2, aka our son James Miles, worked in Japan as a teacher from 2011 to 2014 (his first job when he got back to England was to set up Calderonia!). My wife Alison visited Jim in Japan in 2013. Jim … Continue reading
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Tagged Alison Miles, Blithe Spirit, Calderonia, chrysanthemums, comments, culture, foreign cultures, guest posts, haiku, honesty pods, HQ Poetry Magazine, James Miles, Japan, Japanese literature, koi carp, Masaoka Shiki, Pleiades, saké, Sam2, senryu, sushi, tea, wasabi
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A new photograph of George Calderon
Whilst sorting his family papers, Mr John Pym recently found the photograph below, which undoubtedly shows George Calderon on the right. It is a contact print of a photograph, obviously not in sharp focus, which Mr Pym and I believe … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, boaters, Catherine Lubbock, Charles Evelyn Pym, comments, Emmetts, Evey Pym, Foxwold, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Harvard University, Houghton Library, identification, Jane Hannah Backhouse Pym, Jim Corbet, John Pym, Johnnie Pym, Kittie Calderon, Lubbock family, Massachusetts, Nina Corbet, Violet Pym, visitors books, Weigh-in Book
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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’: Fragments of a response
When I read the novel for the first time, I was bemused by the in-your-face tone of the narrator, who is even given to exclamatory comments: ‘But that is how men are!’ — ‘But Emma said No!’ — ‘Yes, she … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Clifford Chatterley, comments, Constance Chatterley, D.H. Lawrence, Damian Grant, display, Doris Lessing, God, kittiwakes, Lady Chatterley, Lady Chatterley's Lover, letters, marriage, narrators, Oliver Mellors, orgasm, PTSD, sex, Sons of God, The Great War, The Rainbow, William Gerhardie, Women in Love, World War 2, World War I
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Guest post by Damian Grant: ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ and ‘The Winter’s Tale’
This nineteenth-century engraving of Florizel and Perdita does indeed make them look — to use Lady Chatterley/Connie’s dismissive phrase about the Elizabethans — somewhat ‘upholstered’. In all the excitement — which has never quite subsided — about the sexual explicitness … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Personal commentary
Tagged 'Snake', Algernon Swinburne, Byzantium, Charles Baudelaire, comments, Constance Reid, D.H. Lawrence, Florizel, Forest of Arden, George Eliot, High Park Wood, John James Audubon, John Keats, John Milton, Juno, Lady Chatterley, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Mary Russell Mitford, Michaelis, Mrs Bolton, Mrs Gaskell, Oliver Mellors, Perdita, Proserpina, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, sex, sexuality, Sir Clifford Chatterley, T.S. Eliot, The Elizabethans, The Great War, The Winter's Tale, W.B. Yeats, wild flowers, William Shakespeare, World War I, Wragby
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Lady with little dog/Gamekeeper with spaniel
Our guest posts on Women in Love opened an admirable exchange of Comments about all sorts of aspects of Lawrence’s work. I think there was a feeling, however, that we were left with an elephant in the room: Lady … Continue reading
Posted in Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged A Propos of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', Anna Sergeevna, Anton Chekhov, Clifford Chatterley, comments, compassion, Connie, Constance Chatterley, D.H. Lawrence, Damian Grant, Dmitrii Gurov, dogs, ends, Flossie, Lady Chatterley, Lady Chatterley Trial, Lady Chatterley's Lover, love, Mark Schorer, narrative endings, new marriage, Oliver Mellors, Paul Cézanne, Penguin Books, Pomeranian dogs, roman adultère, sex, tenderness, The Lady with the Little Dog, The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 15
2 June I have never known the cow parsley so high in front of my shed… 11 June We have completed our ‘hardcopy marketing’ for Edna’s Diary. 130 free copies have gone out to stroke clubs, NHS speech and language therapy … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged ADC Theatre, Anton Chekhov, aphasia, As You Like It, biographies, comments, copyright, cow parsley, Cymbeline, Edna's Diary, Hesperus Press, Lady Chatterley's Lover, marketing, Melanie Derbyshire, musicals, NHS, Sasha Regan, Shaftesbury Theatre, sheds, social media, Stroke Association UK, Sylvia Krystel
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BEING AWARE OF APHASIA
In the last week of National Aphasia Awareness Month, I am very pleased to post these two images sent to me by the Aphasia Alliance: P.S. Stroke Association UK’s income has dropped by half during the pandemic. The organisation has … Continue reading
National Aphasia Awareness Month: A message of hope
This is National Aphasia Awareness Month (NAAM), but the campaign is global. Aphasia is a disorder that impairs the expression and understanding of language, as well as reading and writing. It may be caused by head injury, a brain tumor, … Continue reading
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Tagged aphasia, Aphasia Awareness Month, AphasiaAwareness, body language, brain, carers, comments, communication, CommunicationAccess, Dutch, Edna's Diary, French, hope, intonation, NAAM, National Aphasia Association, National Aphasia Awareness Month, physiotherapy, Sam&Sam, speech and language therapy, Stroke, Stroke Association UK, stroke care, stroke clubs, strokes, the human brain, Wales, Welsh, wheelchairs
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Edna’s Diary: the background
Sometime in 2012 Harvey Pitcher asked me if I would give a talk the following March to Sheringham Stroke Group, of which he was Secretary. It was an attractive invitation, especially as there is a history of Stroke on my … Continue reading
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Tagged Amazon, aphasia, Aphasia Awareness Month, Clare Ungerson, Edna Miles, Edna's Diary, Erich Reisfeld, Fleur Taylor, frontispiece, Harvey Pitcher, hip operations, Sandwich, Sheringham Stroke Support Group, Stroke Association UK, stroke clubs, The Holocaust, The Kitchener Camp, The Third Reich, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yours
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There!
To our astonishment, Amazon suddenly announced to the world that Edna’s Diary had been published on 6 May — which was before they had told us it had been accepted! So here it is, folks, fully available now in ‘real time’: … Continue reading
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Tagged Amazon, aphasia, Aphasia Awareness Month, book covers, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, Edna Miles, Edna's Diary, independent publishing, publishers, Sam&Sam, self-publishing, speech and language therapy, Stroke, Stroke Association UK, strokes, Tippex
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Nearly there…
We have now signed off our fourth proof of Edna’s Diary from Amazon. Really, the last two proofs were necessary only to tweak the back cover. I think this is often the case: you can rapidly get the contents right, … Continue reading
Some Calderonian footnotes to ‘Women in Love’
George Calderon was public-school, Oxford, backed by his wife’s unearned income, rather patriotic, perceived as conservative; D.H. Lawrence was a miner’s son, self-supporting and often penurious, rather oikophobic, perceived as revolutionary. What could they possibly have had in common? They … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian literature, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Battle of the Somme, Breadalby, Catherine Brown, Centre Party, comments, Constance Garnett, D.H. Lawrence, Dwala, elopement, English Review, Ernest Weekley, Fanny Stepniak, Far End, Fathers and Sons, Ford Hueffer, Ford Madox Ford, Frieda Lawrence, Frieda Weekley, Garsington, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Hampstead, Ivan Turgenev, John Worthen, Kittie Calderon, polymathery, revolution, The Edwardians, The Great War, Thomas Sturge Moore, translation, Trinity College Oxford, Well Walk, William Rothenstein, Women in Love, World War I
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Hayashi Fumiko’s nuclear winter
Japan’s genocidal war crimes do not go away. They constantly feature in our media and I for one will never forget them, as my uncle died in Japanese captivity in 1945. A recent article in The Spectator was headed ‘Not … Continue reading →