The Cathedral Church of Oxford is one of the smallest in the country and it is uniquely also the College chapel of Christ Church College. The site spans 1200 years of Christian history beginning with St Frideswide’s nunnery in the 9th century.
Christ Church was originally founded by Cardinal Wolsey as Cardinal’s College in 1524. The college buildings took over the site of St. Frideswide’s Monastery, which was suppressed by Wolsey to fund his college.
The monastery dated back to the earliest days of Oxford as a settlement in the 9th Century AD. When Wolsey fell from power in 1529 the College became property of King Henry VIII. Henry re-founded the College in 1546 and appointed the old monastery church as cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford. The new institution of cathedral and university college was named Aedes Christi, which is rendered in English as Christ Church.
The Meadow building of Christ Church College seen from across the Meadows with the tower of the cathedral on the right, then the squat square tower of the Hall and finally, Wren’s Tom Tower on the left.
Richard Pares, Alistair Graham and Hugh Lygon – the three alleged lovers Evelyn Waugh had at Oxford.
William Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelites (who did live after Raphael).
Charles is wrong: the picture is called Awakening Conscience, not Awoken.
A short but detailed analysis.
The picture is currently in Tate Gallerey.
I
Comparisons
The war did not have the same negative social impact on Britain as it did in other
countries. For example, ex-service men did not organise themselves into paramilitary groups dedicated to radical programmes of social change; they joined the British Legion, headed by Lord Haig, instead, and this “brought all ranks together on a more or less democratic basis”.
There were some permanent marks brought about by the war, but these seem trivial in comparison to effects of the war in other European countries. Thus, summer time was retained, and the restrictions on the opening hours of public houses during the afternoons were kept on. Passports and immigration control were retained.
There was a return to some kind of normality within Britain in 1922. Working days
lost due to strikes in 1921 was 85 million, but in 1922 this fell to 19 million. Income
tax was reduced from 30% to 25%; there was a fall in prices and wage rates; most of the wartime restrictions were progressively removed during 1921.
II
Demographic trends
Whilst the population of Great Britain continued to increase, there was a slowdown in its rate of growth. The population increase of the C19th was due to the decline in the death rate, owing to the improvement in medical care and knowledge, and better housing and hygiene. As a result, for example, infant mortality rates in the 1920s were half those of 1900. Deaths from infectious diseases declined, and
proportionately more people died from degenerative diseases, such as heart disease
and cancer. Life expectancy had not significantly increased and remained at 65. The slow-down in the rate of population growth was due mainly to the decline in the birth rate – falling to below 20 per thousand in 1923. This was due to the increased use of contraceptives. Declining birth rates first appeared in the 1880s among the middleclasses. Given the lack of knowledge of and restrictions upon the use of contraceptives at the time, it seems that middle-class couples simply abstained from sex during that period. It was the war that made men aware of the contraceptive sheath, and contraceptive methods were publicised thereafter by such works as Dr. Marie Stopes’s book, Married Love.
During the 1920s the temporary excess of women over men was at its greatest – there were 1.75 million more women than men at this time. It probably contributed to the emancipation of women. From 1918 onwards they had the vote, though it was not until 1928 that the qualifications to vote were the same as those of men. As a result of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act many legal impediments to gainful employment imposed on women were removed – and they could join most
professions, except the Church and the stock exchange. They could take degrees at university. However, the dependency of most women on the male breadwinner still continued for the most part, and there were few women at the very top of society – never more than 20 women MPs for example, and no women judges and very few women university professors.
Another social trend of this period was the movement of the population from the
centres of town into the suburbs, with a consequent decline of industrial towns.
III
Class
England remained a society divided by class, and if anything, the distinctions between the classes increased during this period. England was the only European country where accent continued to divide people on the basis of class, and education also divided classes from one another. The education act of 1918 made it compulsory for all children to be educated up to 14, but this also cemented the distinction between the two systems of education: mass education for the lower classes to 14 in free day schools; boarding school education for the children of the upper classes until 13, followed by further boarding at expensive public schools.
The monstrously uneven division of wealth continued; 2/3rd of the wealth of the
country remained in the ownership of 1% of the population! Over 75% of the
population had less than
The Rolls Royce Julia was riding when Charles caught glimps of her on his first visite to Brideshead was, Cliffe claims,
almost certainly a Silver Ghost, which began production in 1906.
More here:
Wiki:
The Morris Cowley was produced from 1915 to 1926 especially for the British and Empire markets, which it dominated by the mid-1920’s. It was distinguished in its appearance by its prominent, rounded radiator, which soon inspired the nickname Bullnose. Unlike the Ford Model T with which it competed, the Bullnose was at first built out of bought-in components, though as the business grew, these were gradually moved in-house or the suppliers were taken over. Its inventor, William Morris, later Lord Nuffield (1877-1963), wrested supremacy in the British market from Ford UK by a policy of cutting prices to the margins so that by 1925 a Cowley cost only
In the TV series, Aloysius by a teddy bear named Delicatessen, who was owned by the actor Peter Bull.
"Lord Sebastian Flyte - The younger son of Lord and Lady Marchmain is haunted by a profound..."
- Wikipedia
Aloysius: A Queer Bear is a picture book for unusual youngsters with exquisite tastes.
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brideshead revisited :: between the stirrup and the ground
Men’s hairstyles back in the 1920s were simple. The hair was slicked back for formal or dressy occasions. The top layers were left longer, but they were combed back and greased with tonic to provide a sophisticated look. (source)
- The 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, was a period in history known for jazz, dance and fashion. People generally associate the 1920s with women’s hair, as many girls started to cut their hair much shorter than before, and the famous bob hairstyle came into prominence. However, men of that era also had distinct hairstyles.
- Many men wore their hair smooth and plastered down, keeping it neatly in place. The hair was often brushed back from the face, and parted on either left or right side. The hair was somewhat longer near the front, shorter in the back, and much shorter or even shaved at the nape.
- Mustaches and beards were also popular, particularly among older men, though not as much as before. Some young people wore mustaches to make them look older. However, by the end of the 1920s, popularity of the mustaches decreased.
- A military haircut was another popular hairstyle. The hair was cut very short, typically less than 1 cm. Men who were doing sports especially liked this type of haircut as it was more comfortable than longer hair. In addition, most young boys had their hair cut in a similar fashion.
Of Sebastian we know only that “Her dark hair was scarcely longer than Sebastian’s, and it blew back from her forehead as his did” (when Charles first meets Julia), and that when Charles sees Sebastian during his last Christmas in Brideshead he notes that Sebastian’s “clothes and hair, which formerly had been happily negligent, [were] now unkempt”.
