Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
George Calderon c.1901
Captain of the 11
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
George Calderon, 1912
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913Recent Comments
- Jim D G Miles on From the diary of a writer-publisher: 28 Excellent entry, Dad. I like the escape room picture, of course, but the story about the Russian and the hole-in-the-wall is exceptional! (28/03/2024 at 9:58 PM)
- Patrick Miles on Short story: ‘Crox’ Thank you, dear anonymous Theo...it is so refreshing to hear the reaction of a Man of the People! Keep a good grip on those cords! 'Part II'?! The rest is secreted in lines (18/12/2023 at 10:33 PM)
- Theo on Short story: ‘Crox’ Delicious! "Are you being Served?" meets "Keeping up Appearances" via Calderotica. But Patrick, you cannot leave us dangling like that just before Christmas! One thing - c (18/12/2023 at 1:35 PM)
- Patrick Miles on Cambridge Tales 8: ‘Black Tie’ Thank you, Damian, for sharing your problem with us. It's difficult to know what to prescribe. Perhaps try examining the facts of the story (e.g. there are not 6 medics in the (20/11/2023 at 9:44 AM)
- Damian Grant on Cambridge Tales 8: ‘Black Tie’ Patrick: I read your story 'Black Tie' on Monday, and knew immediately that it didn't work for me. There was something forced, factitious; something that didn't let the elemen (17/11/2023 at 2:26 PM)
Tag Archives: Kittie Calderon
An Edwardian Christmas
Happy Christmas to All Our Readers, and thank you for following Calderonia into its fourth year! At Heathland Lodge, George and Kittie’s home from 1901 to 1912 in the Vale of Health, they always staged a large family Christmas, despite … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Arts and Crafts, biography, British Museum, Briton Rivière, Buckingham Mansions, Catherine Lubbock, Christmas, Clara Calderon, Clara Sumner, comments, dogs, Ethel Armstead, Frank Calderon, Frederic Lubbock, George Calderon, Hampstead, Heathland Lodge, Helen Binyon, Joan Calderon, Johnny Jones, Jones, Kittie Calderon, Laurence Binyon, Marguerite Calderon, Mary Hamilton, Philip Calderon, Tahiti, Vale of Health, vets, W.H. Gray
2 Comments
Alan Coren touches root
Giles and Victoria Coren have done a magnificent job in selecting and presenting these 420 pages of their late father’s writings 1960-2007, very many of which are masterpieces. I hope they will not mind me invoking paragraph 8.7, sub-section a(ii), … Continue reading
Russia (concluded)
A hundred years ago today Red Guards began occupying key installations in St Petersburg. By early tomorrow morning the Winter Palace had been infiltrated and the Provisional Government arrested. The Bolsheviks, a party of fanatical, fascistic Utopians, subsequently seized power … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Alexander Navalny, Andrei Amal'rik, biographies, biography, Bolshevik coup, Bolshevik Party, Bolsheviks, Cheka, comments, Communism, Democratic Movement, dissidents, Duma, Edmund Burke, emigration, genocide, George Calderon, German Federal Republic, Irish Potato Famine, John Hamilton, KGB, Kittie Calderon, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Moskovskii Komsomolets, Nadezhda Mandel'shtam, nationalism, paranoia, Progress Party, Red Guards, Russian Revolution, secret police, St Petersburg, United Russia Party, Vladimir Putin, Winter Palace
Leave a comment
Russia (continued)
Chapter four of my biography, ‘Who Had He Been?’, relates amongst other things what George did in Russia between 12 October 1895 and the summer of 1897. I think it will be a revelation to a lot of people. It … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary, Uncategorized
Tagged Alexander III, Anton Chekhov, ARLS, Armistice Festival, biographies, biography, Clara Calderon, comments, Friedrich Nietzsche, G.W.F. Hegel, George Calderon, George Orwell, Joseph Stalin, Khodynka Field, Kittie Calderon, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Lev Tolstoi, Monthly Review, Moscow, Nicholas II, Olga Novikoff, Pall Mall Gazette, Percy Lubbock, Petr Kropotkin, Sergei Stepniak-Kravchinskii, St Petersburg, Standard, The Great War, Vladimir Putin, W.T. Stead, World War I, Ypres
2 Comments
Is a dog literally…forever?
An alternative title to this post would be: ‘Why are there no cats’ cemeteries?’ Three weekends running we have visited local stately homes that were inhabited in the Edwardian period, and each of them had a Pets Cemetery in its … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged 'Kay's Crib', animal souls, Archie Ripley, biographies, biography, Bunty, cats, comments, Dardanelles, dogs, Elizabeth Ellis, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Ginger, John Polkinghorne, Jones, Kittie Calderon, Mary Hamilton, Nina Corbet, Percy Lubbock, Pets Cemeteries, Russian Orthodoxy, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Tommy, White Raven, World War I
12 Comments
Edwardian love, sex and the ‘T’other’
The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2017 is undoubtedly right to intone the mantra ‘edit, review, revise and then edit again’, but when you have read your 420-page typescript as many times as I have in the last six months, and made over … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Acton Reynald, Alice Keppel, Anita Leslie, appearances, Archie Ripley, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, biographies, biography, comments, Dardanelles, Diana Souhami, discretion, Emmetts, Foxwold, George Calderon, homosexuality, John Pym, Kittie Calderon, Lesbia Corbet, Lily Langtry, Marcel Proust, monogamy, Mormons, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Paul Boyer, secrecy, sex, spin, T'other, Tahiti, The Duchess of Duke Street, The Edwardians, The Great War, The Victorians, Third Battle of Krithia, Tom Quinn, visitors books, Walter Corbet, William Rothenstein, World War I
2 Comments
Whoosh and bang!
A correspondent reminds me that on 7 July I wrote: Since the last approach I made to any of the 31 publishers on my A list was 1 June, I am inclined to think I should wait until at least … Continue reading
It makes you think
An anniversary has just passed: three years ago on 30 July I posted my first entry on Calderonia. I have just asked my blogmaster to analyse the rather confusing statistics generated daily by WordPress, in order to compile a list … Continue reading
Posted in Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged 'real time', Andrew Tatham, biographies, biography, blogs, Calderonia, Clare Hopkins, commemoration, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, George Calderon, haikus, James Miles, journalism, Kittie Calderon, Krithia, marketing, reviews, Tahiti, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Trinity College Oxford, Unicorn Publishing Group, Wikipedia, World War I, Ypres
Leave a comment
28 July 1917: A letter to Mrs Calderon
July 28th 1917 Havelock Barracks, Lucknow, India … we are having some terrible weather out hear, its never stop raining for five days, … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, Clement Quinn, comments, East Yorkshire Regiment, engineering, George Calderon, India, Kittie Calderon, Louise Rosales, Lucknow, mining, Sheffield, The Great War, World War I
2 Comments
Decisions decisions
The most gratifying thing about the whole process of finding the right publisher for my biography of George, which has been going on since January, has been the enthusiasm so many publishers have shown for George himself and his story. … Continue reading
Publication: the state of play
Contrary to my original dread, I can’t possibly claim that the process of approaching commercial publishers has been dull and predictable… I explained my strategy in a post on 18 January. I had just sent the advance party out and … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, comments, George Calderon, Kittie Calderon, publishers, self-publishing
2 Comments
Fragment of Kittie
Life once more whisked me away from the Sussex Downs — they had made me learn a lot about England & these Islands all of them each in there [sic] particular way – Ireland – Scotland – England – – and yes … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, comments, George Calderon, Hampshire, Kittie Calderon, London, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, The Great War, The South Downs, World War I
Leave a comment
A slight hitch, aaargh!
I fell in love with this picture the moment I saw it in 2012: I had come across it on the website for the National Trust’s property of Emmetts in Kent. It is no longer available there, but actually it … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged 'Mrs Mortley', Alexander Masters, Annina Lubbock, Auguste Lumière, Autochrome, biographies, biography, Brasted Chart, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, Catherine Lubbock, Celia Newbolt, comments, Edina Duckworth, Emmetts, Foxwold, Frederic Lubbock, George Calderon, John Pym, Jones, Kittie Calderon, Louis Lumière, Mary Hamilton, National Trust, Percy Lubbock, Richard Wheeler, Roy Lubbock, Sir Henry Newbolt, Susan Chitty, Violet Pym
Leave a comment
Empires end like this…
There are two reasons that obtaining Permissions has taken so long, in my case at least (see 17 April and 20 April). First, although I rapidly earmarked the sixteen ‘major’ sources of quoted unpublished material in my biography, e.g. William Rothenstein, … Continue reading
Posted in Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Annette Gough, Archie Ripley, biographies, biography, Charles Villiers Stanford, comments, copyright, Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, Dr Albert Tebb, Dullness, Edwin Lankaster, EU, EU Directive on Term of Copyright, Franz Kafka, George Calderon, Grant Richards, Harold Dowdall, King Alfred, Kittie Calderon, Laurence Binyon, Lord Denning, Mary Cholmondeley, Michael Welch, Nikolai Berdiaev, Nikolai Gogol, Rupert Brooke, superstates, totalitarianism, USSR, William English Harrison, William Rothenstein
2 Comments
So what IS biography?
I began the pre-typesetting read of my book — all 183,000 words of it — a fortnight ago, and immediately relived the never-ending malarkey with the Introduction… Even this late in the day I found myself tweaking the opening paragraph … Continue reading →