Judas Iscariot: Was the man who betrayed Christ a revolutionary?

"Up until that moment of betrayal, Judas seems no better or worse than any of the other disciples.
But he has been defined by the worst thing he did.  What Judas did is not OK, but I think he holds up a very important mirror to our own human condition."

- Rev. Kate Bottley, Church of England cleric

Judas Iscariot is notorious for his betrayal of Jesus Christ, but what else do we really know about the man and his motivations. Was he a greedy, mercenary human being who sold his soul for financial gain, or is there much more to the story?  This Easter season, I decided to delve into whatever is known about Judas and try to find some answers.    

According to the Christian Bible, Judas was one of the twelve original apostles of Christ and he was the son of Simon of Queroth.  His surname, "Iscariot," may mean "Man from  Queroth, " a town many scholars believe to have been in the territory of Judea, based on a reference in the Book of Joshua.  That would mean make Judas an outsider, the only one of the Twelve from Judea. All the others were from Galilee, as was Jesus.

Encyclopaedia Britannica states that Judas' surname may be a variation of the Latin sicariou ("murderer"), rather than an indication of his family origin, the implication being that Judas may have belonged to a highly radical group of Jewish assassins - the Sicarii.  The Sicarri were a splinter group of Jewish Zealots who strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea.  Their aim was to expel the Romans and their supporters from the area and they were known for concealing scae (small daggers) in their cloaks.  They drew out their daggers to attack Romans and Hebrew Roman sympathizers in public places, then blended into the crowd to evade detection.

Some contemporary historians, however, have rejected the theory that Judas was a Siccarri.  They point out that Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar and historian, in The War of the Hebrews, mentions the appearance of Sicarri as a new occurrence during the tenure of Felix (the chief financial officer of the province of Judea from 52 to 60 A.D.).  This was well after Judas' death (circa 30 A.D.).

According to Dr. Sean Martin, a biblical scholar at the Aquinas Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, "Iscariot sounds like sicarius, but it's not the same word,"  He points out that the Sicarii didn't reach their peak until the years after Jesus was crucified, making it improbable that Judas was one of them.

In the canonical Gospels, information about Judas is sketchy.  He is always presented last on the list of Apostles.  He was their treasurer, and according to the Gospel of John, a dishonest one.  In John 12:6, Judas is introduced as a thief,  He uses his trusted position to embezzle the resources of the disciples.

". . . as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it."

According to the Gospel of John, at the Last Supper, Jesus predicted that Judas would be his betrayer. (John 13:26).

 "Jesus answered, 'It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.  Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon."

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke, Judas betrayed Jesus by identifying him with a public kiss.  In Mathew and Mark, the kiss occurs in a place identified as the Garden of Gethsemane. In Mark:14, Gethsemane is described as an olive grove.  Although Luke does not name the Garden of Gethsemane, he writes that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, where the betrayal occurred.

John's Gospel, however, records that Jesus entered a garden near the Kidron Valley with his disciples. John does not name the garden, but says that Jesus and his disciples frequented the garden and that Judas knew it well.  In John's account, no kiss is mentioned, only that "Judas came, accompanied by the guard, and officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, with lanterns and torches and weapons."

Below is a photo of The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas) (1304-06), a fresco by Giotto.  It is currently located in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas bitterly regretted his betrayal of Christ for which he received thirty pieces of silver from the chief priests. Filled with remorse, he threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the temple and hanged himself.  Matthew relates that the chief priest retrieved the silver and purchased a Potter's Field.

And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.  The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”  And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. (Matthew 25: 5-7).

Here is the account of Judas' death according to the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke,

(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)  (Acts: 1: 18-19).

Below is a photo of what is believed to be the "Field of Blood."  It is located in Jerusalem and its soil is composted of rich, red clay.  Until the 19th century, it was used as a burial place for non-Jews.

Some Biblical scholars argue that there is not contradiction between the two accounts of Judas' death. They contend that just because Luke writes that Judas fell headlong and burst open, doesn't mean that he died then.  He could have collapsed and split open after hanging himself.

Was Judas the traitor he has been made out to be?  Was he really a villain or was he misguided and misunderstood?  Some Church of England clerics have argued that he was misunderstood.  Reverend Kate Bentley, who has researched his life for a BBC documentary called In the Footsteps of Judas, was quoted in a March 16, 2016 article by Matt Payton in The Independent,  Rev. Bentley stated: "This is not to say ‘Oh Judas, he’s all right really’, what we are saying is perhaps there is something else to this character than that kiss and that betrayal.  I don’t think any of the other disciples were whiter than white - we just probably didn’t hear about it because they were all human and we are all a bit messed up."

The Right Reverend Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, views Judas as a staunch revolutionary whose goal was to help Jesus incite a popular uprising that would oppose Roman rule in Palestine.  In an interview with Radio Times, Bishop Baines admitted that "I feel a bit sorry for Judas."  "Judas had invested himself in the revolutionary leadership of Jesus of Nazareth … only to find himself let down, the bishop declared.  "Trying to force the hand of the Messiah didn’t work and, instead of provoking the ultimate uprising against Roman rule, the glorious leader simply let himself get nailed without resistance.  No wonder Judas got upset."

So, was Judas a radical who thought Jesus would assist him in liberating the Jewish people by ousting the Romans from Palestine?  Did he not realize until after Jesus' arrest and crucifixion that Jesus was not concerned with establishing a kingdom of this world?  Was he angry because Christ was not the Messiah he had counted on?  Was that the reason for his betrayal?

Some academics, such as Dr. Dennis Smith, who teaches New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, dismiss this theory of Judas as a revolutionary.  Dr. Smith considers it a legitimate theory, but he still can't accept it.  However, other scholars, such as Dr. N.T. Wright, a leading British New Testament authority, don't discount it entirely.   According to Dr. Wright, "There's an outside chance it's true - 25 percent at the most."

There is a lack of proof to to support the claim that Judas Iscariot was a radical or that he belonged to a terrorist group.  He very likely resented the Roman presence in Judea and he may have been disappointed that Jesus was not interested in earthly politics.

Biblical evidence suggests that even before his betrayal of Jesus, Judas was no paragon of virtue. Still, it is almost impossible to know the complete mindset of a person who lived over two thousand years ago.  Judas may not have been a saint, but he was certainly human.  He was guilty of the same faults that many of us have, such as greed and dishonesty.

- Joanne

Keeping children safe: Childproofing your home

Here is an inforgraphic with tips about childproofing your home.  It's a guide to arrange your home so that your child is kept out of danger.  It may remind you of something you hadn't thought about or missed.  This guide takes you room by room as it shows you ways to better protect your child from the moment he or she begins crawling.  I hope you'll find it useful and informative.

- Joanne


Childproofing Your Home by Radiator Valves 4u.

The Danging Plague of 1518: Why did people in Strasbourg dance themselves to death?

The story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 is both mysterious and macabre.  It happened in the city of Strasbourg, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire (now northeastern France). The Dutch scholar,and social critic, Erasmus, visited the city in 1514 and described it as "a monarchy without tyranny, an aristocracy without factions, a democracy without disorder, prosperity without luxury, happiness without insolence."  However, despite Erasmus' favourable portrayal, of early 16th century Strasbourg, there was a much darker side to life in the city and its surrounding area.  Prior the dancing plague of 1518, the region was hit by a number of terrible afflictions that turned it into a place of misery.

According to John Waller, author of two books on the subject - A Time to Dance, A Time To Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 and Dancing Plague: The Strange True Story of an Extraordinary Illness - hunger and disease were rampant.

In the decade before the dancing plague of 1518, famine, sickness and terrible cold caused widespread despair in Strasbourg and its environs.  Bread prices reached their highest levels for a generation, thousands of starving farmers and vine growers arrived at the city gates, and old killers like leprosy and the plague were joined by a terrifying new affliction named syphilis. (John Waller, The Psychologist, July 2009, "Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria")

In mid-July of 1518, Frau Troffea, a resident of Strasbourg, suddenly began dancing in the street for no apparent reason.  There was no music associated with her dancing.  Before long, however, she was joined by others and they were all dancing wildly in the searing summer heat. They danced for days without rest.  Within a week, 100 people were consumed with an uncontrollable compulsion to dance. Within a month, the number of dancers in the city had swollen to 400.  They were loaded onto wagons and brought to a healing shrine. Many died from exhaustion and heart attacks. the madness did not subside until early September.

Waller, a professor of the History of Medicine at Michigan State University, points out that this was not the first outbreak of a dancing frenzy in Europe.  There had been about ten dance epidemics prior to 1518.  One in 1374 swept over many towns located in present-day Belgium, northeastern France and Luxembourg. However, the 1518 outbreak is the best documented and probably the final one to occur in Europe.

The dancing plagues may seem quite bizarre and difficult to believe, but there is plenty of evidence that they happened.  Waller contends that there is documentation from "scores of physicians, chroniclers, monks and priests."  He says that during the time of the 1518 epidemic, municipal orders were written by nervous Strasbourg authorities.

How can the Dancing Plague of 1518 be explained. What was the the cause of such mass hysteria? Was a it a genuine illness?  Was it some kind of social phenomenon?  According to John Waller, one popular theory has been that the dancers had accidentally ingested ergot fungus, a psychotropic mould that grows on stalks of rye.  However, Walker dismisses this theory, pointing out that although Ergotism can cause delusions and spasms, it cuts off blood supply to the hands and feet, making coordinated movement very difficult.

Professor Waller thinks it is plausible that the dancing outbreak of 1518 was caused by mass psychogenic illness (MPI), a symptom of mass hysteria that is brought on by the horrific conditions that were experienced in Strasbourg at that time.  In a September 2008 BBC article entitled "Dancing Death," he asserts that "the poor of Strasbourg were experiencing famine and disease and spiritual despair on a scale unknown for generations."  According to Waller, the dancer were in a trance state. Otherwise, he argues, they would not have been able to dance for such lengths of time.

Trances more often occur in people who are in extreme psychological stress, as were the people of Strasbourg, and in people who believe in spiritual possession. Waller believes that those conditions were met in the city of Strasbourg in 1518.  He tells us that many people in the city were devotees of a saint called St. Vitas.  Christian legend holds that Vitas, a Sicilian, died as a martyr in 303 A.D during the persecution of Christians by co-ruling Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.  People in Strasbourg believed that if anyone aroused the anger of St. Vitas, he would take over their minds and bring down plagues of uncontrollable dancing.  Once they anticipated the St. Vitas curse, says Waller, it increased the chances that they would enter into a trance-like state.  One they entered a trance-like state, they played the role of the accursed and possessed, dancing crazily for days at a time.

John Waller sums up his conclusions about the Dancing Plague of 1518 with these words: " So the epidemic, I argue, was a result of both desperation and pious fear."


END NOTE

St. Vitus is regarded as the patron saint of actors, comedians and epileptics.  He is believed to have been only 12 or 13 at the time of his death.  During the Middle Ages, people in places such as Germany and Latvia danced before his statue.


- Joanne

Vera Lynn on her 100th Birthday

We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again
Some sunny day

- Refrain from the song We'll Meet Again, written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles

Dame Vera Lynn celebrates her 100th birthday today.  The English singer, songwriter and actress is a living treasure to those of the World War II generation.  Her recordings and performances were extremely popular during that era.  Her wistful tunes brought hope and comfort to the British people and their allies in their darkest days.  Vera was nicknamed "the Forces sweetheart" and her most well known songs include "We'll Meet Again," "The White Cliffs of Dover," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England."  Their sentimental lyrics and unabashed patriotism resonated strongly with soldiers abroad who were homesick for their familiar surroundings.

Vera Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch on March 20, 1917 in East Ham, Essex (now Greater London), England.  She was born to a working class family and, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica, began singing at men's clubs by the age of seven.  At 11, she assumed her grandmother's maiden name (Lynn) and joined a singing troupe.

After dropping out of school at 14, Vera caught the eye of a talent agent who found work for her at parties and events.  By 1935, she was singing the refrain on big band recordings and performing on the radio. In 1936, she released her first solo recording, "Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire."

In 1937, Vera Lynn collaborated with bandleader Benjamin "Bert" Ambrose, entertaining on his radio program, Life from Mayfair, until 1940.  In late 1939, she performed her signature song, "We'll Meet Again," which was written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles, two composers on Life from Mayfair. In 1941, Vera became the star of her own BBC radio show, Sincerely Yours, Vera Lynn.  The next year, she recorded "The White Cliffs of Dover."

Vera was affiliated with the Entertainments National Service Association which was established in 1939 to entertain soldiers.  During the war, she toured the world in order to perform for troops, often placing her own life in jeopardy.

When the war end, Vera travelled extensively throughout Europe and continued to broadcast her radio show for years.  She has continually engaged in charitable activities, including establishing a fund for those suffering from cerebral palsy.  She has also been a tireless advocate for veterans and their causes. In 2008, she became a patron of the Forces Literary Organisation Worldwide for ALL.  In 2010 she became patron of the British charity Projects to Support Refugees from Burma/Help 4 Forgotten Allies  In 2013, she lent her support to a People for Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) campaign against pigeon racing, which she described as "utterly cruel."

To mark the centenary of Dame Vera's birth, her image will be projected over the White Cliffs of Dover today.


END NOTES

* Vera Lynn was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1969 and was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1975.

* In 1941, Vera married Harry Lewis, a clarinetist and saxophonist in Bert Ambrose's orchestra.  The couple had one child, a daughter named Virginia Penelope Anne Lewis.  Harry Lewis, who worked as Vera's manager after the war, died in 1998,

* In September of 2009, Vera, who was then 92 years of age, became the oldest living artist to have a Number 1 record in Britain. when her album, We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn, reached top spot.

* In August of 2014, Vera was one of the 200 public figures who signed a letter to The Guardian opposing the independence of Scotland during the referendum campaign on the issue that year.

* On March 17, 2017, in commemoration of her 100th birthday, Vera Lynn released a new album on the Decca Records label.  It's titled Vera Lynn 100.

Vera Lynn in 2009

PHOTO ATTRIBUTION: Nicki (Growl Roar) from United Kingdom

- Joanne

EDITOR'S UPDATE: Vera Lynn died on June 18, 2020.  Her family issued the following statement: "The family are deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain's best-loved entertainers at the age of 103.  Dame Vera Lynn, who lived in Ditchling, East Sussex, passed away earlier today, 18 June 2020, surrounded by her close family."

How To Make Your Home a Happier Place Using Hygge

Do you want to improve the atmosphere of the place where you live. This infographic guides you in the task of improving the mood of your home.  It provides you with tips on how to make your dwelling place happier by using the concept of Hygge or "well-being."  I hope that you find it informative and useful.  Note: Prices are listed in British pounds.

- Joanne


How to Make a Hygge Home by The Rug Seller by The Rug Seller

Eleven Missed Days: The Disappearance of Agatha Cristie

According to The Guinness Book of Records, Agatha Christie is the best selling novelist of all time. Her books have sold millions of copies and have been translated into over 100 languages.  She is renowned as the author of  numerous mystery novels and is credited with writing the world's longest running play, The Mousetrap.

In 1926, this famous crime writer was the subject of a real life detective story. Christie, the queen of the "whodunnit" found herself involved in a perplexing mystery of her own..  At a very difficult time in her life, she went missing for 11 days.  The disappearance of the popular author caused quite a stir and there was an extensive manhunt for her.  The public, not knowing whether she was dead or alive, feared greatly for her safety.  The Daily Mail offered a reward of 100 pounds for her location. Without a doubt, Christie's 1926 disappearance remains the most intriguing episode of the great author's life.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England on September 15, 1890, the youngest of three siblings.  She came from an affluent upper-middle class family.  Her mother, Clarissa "Clara" Boehmer, was a Belfast-born Englishwoman. Her father, Frederick Alvah Miller, was a well-to-do American stockbroker, born in New York in 1846.  The couple married in April of 1878 and their first child, Margaret Fray "Madge" Miller (1879-1950), was born in Torquay.

Madge was followed by a son, Louis Montant "Monty" Miller (1880-1929), who was born in the United States.  The Millers lived in America for a time, but eventually returned to England. While Frederick, who had financial interests in both Britain and the U.S., was away on business in New York, Clara purchased a Victorian mansion in Torquay, on the southwest coast of England. Upon his return, the family settled in the grand villa,called "Ashfield," where their youngest child, Agatha, was born.

Ashfield

For the most part, Agatha enjoyed a happy childhood in her little seaside town.  Her life at Ashfield was secure, although fairly insulated.  She had a nanny called "Nursie" and was home schooled, at her mother's insistence.  At the same time, however, she experienced loneliness.  According to her autobiography, Agatha Christie: An Autobigraphy. this childhood loneliness fuelled her active imaginations and her creativity.  She made up stores and imaginary characters.

Agatha as a child

Agatha's idyllic childhood was shattered when her father, Frederick Christie, died on November 26, 1901.  After his death, the 11-year-old Agatha and her mother experienced serious financial decline. Nevertheless, they continued to maintain their home by renting out Ashfield and travelling.

Frederick Miller

In 1906, at the age of 16, Agatha was sent to a finishing school in Paris to study vocals and piano, but was never able to establish a career as a musician due to shyness and stage fright. She did, however, retain a lifelong love of music and became a skilled pianist.

In October of 1912, Agatha met Colonel Archibald "Archie" Christie at a dance given by Lady Clifford at her home in Chudleigh, England,  Archie, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, was born in India on September 30, 1889 and his father was in the Indian civil service.  Agatha and Archie wed on Christmas Eve, 1914 and the nuptials took place at a church in Clifton, Bristol, England, the home of Archie's parents.

Archibald Christie in 1915

During World War I, Agatha served as a nurse and tended to wounded solders at a Red Cross Hospital in Torquay.  She then underwent training to work in the pharmacy as an apothecary's assistant.  As part of her training. Agatha studied chemistry and became knowledgeable about poisons, including their lethal dosages.  This knowledge became invaluable when she was devising plots for her detective stories.  It added to their authenticity.  That is why poison became the method of murder in her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and in many other of her works.

During the war, Archie was stationed in France, so he and Agatha were unable to see much of each other.  It was at this time that Agatha first began writing detective fiction.  After the war, she and Archie settled into a flat in northwest London and Archie took a position in a bank.  On August 5, 1919, Agatha gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter named Rosalind Margaret Clarissa.

Agatha with daughter Rosalind 

* Editor's Note (September 1, 2022): I recently received an email from a reader who claims that the child in the above photo is not Agatha Christie's daughter, but Rosalind Franklin, a scientist who was involved in the discovery of of the structure of DNA.  

Agatha Christie published her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920.  Its plot centred on the murder of a wealthy heiress, but more importantly, the book introduced one of Christie's most enduring characters, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Christie's other major creation is Miss Jane Marple, an elderly village lady and amateur sleuth.  Miss Marple's first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage (1930).

By 1924, cracks had begun to appear in the Christie marriage, one of the irritants being Archie's passion for the game of golf. In 1926, Agatha released The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which was very successful and warmly received.  Her career had begun to flourish, but her personal life was in turmoil. She suffered two devastating blows that year.  It was "a period of sorrow, misery, heartbreak," she wrote in her autobiography.

In the early part of 1926, Agatha went on a vacation to Corsica without Archie.  When she returned from her trip, she found her mother severely ill with bronchitis. Clara Miller died in April, just days after Agatha's return.  In June, soon after Clara's passing, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published and Agatha earned much acclaim.  She was still grieving her mother's death, however, when she received a second devastating blow, this time delivered by her husband.  Archie requested a divorce because he had fallen in love with another woman. The woman was Nancy Neale, a friend of the family who was a decade younger than Agatha.  Unlike Agatha, Nancy shared Archie's interest in golf.

On the evening of Friday, December 3, 1926, around 9:45 p.m., Christie disappeared from her English estate in Sunningdale, Berkshire. She and Archie had argued and he had gone to spend the weekend with Nancy at Godalming, Surrey, England.  A distraught Agatha left her sleeping seven-year-old daughter Rosalind and just drove away.

Police soon located her car, a green Morris Cowley, on a sharp slope at Newlands Corner, near Guildford. The abandoned vehicle contained a bag of clothing and an expired driver's licence.  However, there was no sign of the famous author and there was no evidence that an accident had occurred.  Many feared she was dead and volunteers failed to find her.  There were even rumours that she had been murdered by her unfaithful husband, Archie.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, joined the search for Agatha.  Conan Doyle, an occultist, attempted to use paranormal powers to find the missing writer.  He brought one of Agatha's gloves to a medium in the hopes that it wold provide a clue to Agatha's whereabouts. British author and crime writer, Dorothy Sayer also tried to help.  She searched for possible clues at the scene of Christie's vacated car.  There was concern that she may have committed suicide, but no body was found.

Christie's disappearance made headlines around the world.  The story was so was featured on the front page of The New York Times.  There was so much speculation that the British Home Secretary at the time, William Joynson-Hicks pressured the police to expedite the search for her.  Here is the police description of Agatha at the time: “Aged 35 (Editor's note; she was actually 36), height 5ft 7in, hair reddish and shingled, eyes grey, complexion fair. Well-built, dressed in grey and dark grey cardigan, small green velour hat, wearing a platinum ring with one pearl, but no wedding ring.”

On December 14, 1926, Agatha finally surfaced in a spa at Harrogate, Yorkshire.  She was registered at the elegant Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now the Old Swan Hotel) as "Mrs. Teresa Neele"(the same surname as her husband's lover) from Capetown, South Africa.  A hotel musician, Bob Tappin, recognized her and alerted police.  They informed Archie who rushed to the hotel, identified his wife and brought her home. Tappin claimed the reward money for informing police of Agatha's whereabouts.

Much of Agatha's disappearance remains unexplained.  There is no reference to it in her memoir Agatha Christie: An Autobigraphy.  Archibald Christie claimed that she'd suffered from amnesia as a result of the car crash.  He publicly stated that his wife "has suffered the most complete loss of memory and does not know who she is."  However, his comments failed to put a stop to the conjecture and numerous other theories regarding Agatha's disappearance.  Some postulated that Christie's disappearance had been a publicity stunt for her novel.

Jared Cade put forth another theory in his book Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days (1998). Cade contended that Christie staged her own disappearance to embarrass and humiliate Archie.  This theory was roundly rejected by Agatha's grandson, Matthew Prichard, a staunch defender of his grandmother's memory.

In Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait (2006), biographer Andrew Norman, who worked as a family doctor in the U.K. until 1983, argued that the crime writer may have been in a "fugue" state or psychogenic trance as a result of trauma or depression.  Norman concluded that she was suicidal.  "Her state of mind was very low," he declared, "and she writes about it through the character of Celia in her autobiographical novel Unfinished Portrait."

By the end of 1927, Agatha Christie had recovered from her traumatic experience and had begun writing again.  In 1928, she divorced her philandering husband and he wed Nancy Neale.  Archie became a successful businessman and he Nancy had a son, Archibald, who was born in 1930.

On September 11, 1930, Agatha married Sir Max Mallowan, a renowned British archaeologist who specialized in ancient Middle Eastern history.  She met Mallowan while visiting her friends Sir Leonard and Katherine Wooley on an archaeological expedition at Ur, an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia.(now part of south Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate).  At the time of their wedding in Scotland, Agatha was 39 and Max was 26.

Agatha with Max Mallowan

Agatha accompanied her husband on his archaeological digs, taking photographs and keeping records. She often used the subect of archeology in her mystery novels,  Below is a photo of her with Mallowan at Tell Halaf, an archeological site in northeastern Syria.

Max Mallowan was knighted in 1968.  In 1971, Agatha Christie was made a Dame of the British Empire by Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. That same year, she suffered a leg injury and her health went into decline.  In 1974, Agatha made her final public appearance at the opening night gala of the theatrical version of Murder on the Orient Express.  She died on January 12, 1976 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England at the age of 85.  She and Max Mallowan remained married for 46 years - until her death.  In 1977, Mallowan married Barbara Hastings Parker, a fellow archaeologist with whom he was reported to have been having an affair.  Sir Max passed away on August 19, 1978 at the age of 85.

END NOTES

* Agatha Christie's daughter, Rosalind, died on October 28, 2004 at the age of 85 (coincidentally the same age at which her mother died).  According to Rosalind's obituary in The Guardian, she "fiercely guarded her mother's estate, works and reputation.

* Nancy Neale died in 1958 at the age of 58.  Archibald Christie died four years later, on December 20, 1962.  He was 73 at the time of his death.

*  Barbara Hastings Parker, the second Lady Mallowan, died on November 21, 1993 in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England at the age of 85.

* Ashfield, Agatha Christie's childhood home, was demolished in the 1960s to make way for an apartment block.  A blue plaque on Barton Road in Torquay marks the spot where the villa once stood.

* Agatha Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott and they were not detective novels.  One of them, Unfinished Portrait (1934), was the fictionalized account of her first marriage, which is why she hid her real identity.  In Agatha Christie: An English Mystery, a 2007 biography, Laura Thompson writes  : "She felt an absolute freedom writing those books. She could go wherever she wanted, into every idea that had ever fascinated her, even into the recesses of her own past - there was a sense that the revelation of her identity had closed a door: the one that opened into her most private and precious imaginative garden."

In 1949, however,  a London Sunday Times journalist blew Christie's cover.  The last two of the Westmacott novels, A Daughter's Daughter (1952) and The Burden (1956), appeared after 1949 her secret was revealed.

SOURCES: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Agatha Christie: An English Mystery (2007), by Laura Thompson; The Guardian; Wikipedia; Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait (2006). by Andrew Norman; The Complete Christie: An Agatha Christie Encyclopedia (2000), by Matthew Bunson; Agatha Christie; An Autobiography (1977).

- Joanne

Oscar Predictions Based on Winners in the Past 20 Years

Oscar night will soon be upon us.  The following infographic predicts this years's Academy Award winners based on profiles of 20 years of previous winners.  I hope you find these predictions fun and entertaining.  You may even want to take them into consideration when you make your choices for your Oscar pool.  Enjoy the big night!

- Joanne

View Interactive Version (via Mr. Gamez).

2017 Oscars Quiz

The 89th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017 and will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.  As you prepare for the big night, why not challenge yourself and try Number 16's seventh annual Oscars quiz.  There are 10 questions.  Good luck!

NUMBER 16 OSCARS QUIZ 2017

1.  The film La La Land received 14 Oscar nominations this year, tying a record set by two other films.  What two other films were nominated for 14 Academy Awards?

A.  Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music

B.  The Wizard of Oz and Avatar

C.  Ben-Hur and My Fair Lady

D.  All About Eve and Titanic 

E.  The Best Years of Our Lives and Coming Home



2.  Ryan Gosling, a nominee for Best Actor in a Leading Role for La La Land, was born in London, Ontario.  How many Canadian-born actors have won in this category?

Ryan Gosling

A.  Only one Canadian-born actor has won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role - Christopher Plummer

B.  Two have won - Harold Russell and Christopher Plummer.

C.  Three have won - Harold Russell, Christopher Plummer and Raymond Massey

D.  Four have won - Harold Russell, Christopher Plummer, Raymond Massey and Glenn Ford.

E.  None.  If Gosling wins, he will be the first.



3.  Four-time Oscar winner Woody Allen is notorious for not attending the ceremonies.  Has he ever attended?

A.  Yes, he attended in 2012 when he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Midnight in Paris.

B.  Yes, he attended in 2002 following 9/11 when he thanked Hollywood for its support of his hometown of New York.

C.  Yes, he attended in 1988 when he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Hannah and Her Sisters.

D.  Yes, he attended in 1978 when he won for Best Director for Annie Hall.

E.  No, Woody Allen has never attended the Oscars.



4.  How many Oscars did the  1997 film Titanic win?

A.  14

B.  12

C.  11

D.  9

E.  8




5.  In what year did Bob Hope first host the Oscars?

A.  1940

B.  1935

C.  1950

D.  1943

E. 1946



6.  Has Tom Cruise ever won an Academy Award?

A.  Yes, Tom Cruise won the Best Actor award for Born on the Fourth of July.

B.  Yes, he won the Best Actor award for Jerry Maguire.

C.  Yes, he won Best Supporting Actor award for Magnolia.

D.   Yes, he won the Best Supporting Actor award for The Color of Money.

E.  No, Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar.



7.  A tune from the musical Mary Poppins won the Oscar for Best Original Song.  What is the name of the song.

A.  "A Spoon Full of Sugar"

B.  "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

C.  "Chim Chim Cher-Ee"

D.  "Feed the Birds"

E.  "Jolly Holiday"



8.  When Meryl Streep was nominated for an Academy Award this year for her performance in Florence Foster Jenkins, she broke the record for most Oscar nominations.  How many Academy Award nominations does the great actress have now?

A.  20

B.  25

C.  15

D.  19

E.  24



9.  What was the first colour film to win the Oscar for Best Picture?

A.  The Adventures of Robin Hood

B.  Gone with the Wind

C.  The Wizard of Oz

D.  Rebecca

E.  How Green Was My Valley



10.  Who was the oldest actor ever to be nominated for an Academy Award?

A.  Jessica Tandy

B.  Lillian Gish

C.  Christopher Plummer

D.  Gloria Stewart

E.  Henry Fonda




ANSWERS

1. D

All About Eve, a 1950 drama starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Geroge Sanders, was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, as was Titanic, a 1997 film staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.




2,  E

No Canadian-born actor has won an Oscar in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role. If he wins, Ryan Gosling will become the first.  However, Christopher Plummer, who was born in Toronto, Ontario, received the 2011 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the 2010 film Beginners.  Harold Russell, born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the 1946 film The Best Years our Our Lives.


3.  B

Woody Allen has only attended the Academy Awards once, in 2002. following the September 11th terriorist attack on New York City.  He thanked Hollywood for its support of his hometown.

Woody Allen at the 2002 Academy Awards

4.  C

Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, won a whopping 11 Academy Awards.  It received 14 Oscar nominations.  By the way, All About Eve won six Oscars after receiving 14 nomination.


5.  A

Bob Hope hosting the Oscars for the first time in 1940

Bob Hope first hosted the Academy Awards in 1940.  He went on to host the Oscars 18 more times, for a grand total of 19 times, more than anyone else.  The last time Hope hosted Hollywood's Big Show was 1978.



6.  E

No, Tom Cruise has never received an Oscar, although he's been nominated three times.  In 1990, he was nominated for Best Actor, for Born on the Fourth of July.  He lost to Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot.  In 1997, he was nominated for Best Actor for Jerry Maguire.  He lost to Geoffrey Rush, Shine.  In 2000, Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia.  He lost to Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules.


7.  C

"Chim Chim Cher-Ee" from Mary Poppins, music and lyrics by brothers Robert and Richard Sherman, won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1964.


8.  A

Meryl Streep has received 20 Academy Award nominations, more nominations than any other actor. Despite all her nominations, she has only won three Oscars - Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Best Actress for Sophie's Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).  If she should win for Florence Foster Jenkins, she will win her fourth Oscar.


9,  B

Gone with the Wind (1939) was the first colour film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.  The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), starring Errol Flynn, was the first Warner Brothers.film shot in the three-strip Technicolor process.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but lost out to Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You.  In the Wizard of Oz 1939), the Emerald City sequences were filmed in colour.  However, The Wizard of Oz lost to Gone with the Wind. Rebecca (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) both won the Oscar for Best Picture, but they were released after Gone with the Wind.


10.  D

Gloria Stuart

Gloria Stuart was 87 years old when she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as the older Rose in the 1997 film, Titantic.  Jesssica Tandy was 80 years old when she won the Best Actress Award for her role in the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy.  She became the oldest actress to win the Oscar in that category.  Gloria died on September 26, 2010 at the age of 100.

Christopher Plummer became the oldest person to win an Academy Award.  Plummer was 82 in 2012 when he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Beginners.

The oldest actor to receive an Oscar for Best Actor was Henry Fonda.  He was 76 when he won for On Golden Pond in 1982.



- Joanne

Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings

Here is an infographic on energy efficient office buildings.  The earth's population will have increased by am estimated three billion people by the year 2050.  The vast majority will be living in cities.  That is why we must address the issue of designing building that are energy efficient and sustainable.  This will save money and create jobs in the future.and will be necessary for both homes and businesses.  This infographic shows how buildings can be energy efficient and creative.  I hope you find it interesting and informative.

- Joanne



Energy Effective and Sustainable Buildings by Cast Iron Radiators 4u.

Valentine's Day Idea

Are you thinking of giving your significant other something different this Valentine's Day?  Do you want your gift to be something more original and less predictable than chocolates and flowers?  How about a handwritten love letter.  Handwritten?  Who writes anything by hand these days, you may say. If yor're a millennial, the whole concept may seem foreign to you, something from the Age of the Dinosaur.  Hear me out, though.

Your letter doesn't have to be Shakespearean.  It doesn't have to be lengthy.  All you have to do is write down a few words expressing your appreciation for your special Valentine.  Tell him or her how much she or he means to you.  That's all that's necessary.  I can guarantee it won't get lost in cyberspace and it will be a great keepsake.  It will be treasured for years to come.

You may be accused of being cheap if you don't present your love with something of monetary value. If that's a problem, you can also take your Valentine to a restaurant or spend some money on him or her.  However, the words in the letter will be much more valuable in the years to come.


Here are some quotes about love and romance that you may want to include in your love letter.

love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star.

- e.e. cummings (1894-1962), American poet
From an untitled sonnet



Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses.

            

- Attributed to Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher and writer



The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895- 1986), Indian-born philosopher
Source: Think on these Things



You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

- Attributed to Theodor Seuss Geisel "Dr. Seuss" (1904-1991), American writer



We're all a little weird.  And life is a little weird.  And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness - and call it love - true love.

- Robert Fulghum (1937- ), American author
From True Love



But love is like a precious plant.  You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's gonna get on by itself.  You've gotta to keep watering it.  You've  got to really look after it, and keep the flies off and see that it's all right, and nurture it.

John Lennon (1940-1980), British singer and songwriter
ATV Man of the Decade interview, December 2, 1979

- Joanne

The Future is Green, The Future is Prefabricated

Here is an infographic on prefabricated homes.  It's purpose is to point out that today's prefabricated housing has changed a great deal since early post-World Wa II days.  Today's prefabricated homes are attractive, innovative and environmentally friendly.  I hope you enjoy this graphic and that you find it useful and interesting.

- Joanne

The Future Is Green, The Future Is Prefabricated by Rubber Bond.

Five Movies Abut the Oil Industry

Here's an inforgraphic about five of the biggest films that deal with the effects of the multi-billion-dollar oil industry  It provides a look at each movie and break down the film's plot as well as the actors in it, if it won any awards and how it was received by critics.  There are also its most iconic quotes, some bloopers and some fun trivia from each movie. One example of this is the movie Deep Water Horizon, which broke the record for the biggest set ever built, when an actual oil rig was constructed.   I hope you find it informative and interesting.

- Joanne 


Movies That Struck Oil by Fuel Fighter.

Utopia, Dystopia and John Lennon's "Imagine"

UTOPIA

For centuries, philosophers and scribes have explored the concept of an ideal society, Deep thinkers from Plato, Aristotle and Cicero to Saint Augustine and Karl Marx have put forth their perceptions of a perfect community or "utopia."  Descriptions of ideal societies go as far back to the biblical Garden of Eden, depicted in the Book of Genesis, chapters 2 and 3. Adam and Eve lived the perfect life until they ate of the forbidden fruit.  Corruption entered the world and they lost their paradise.

Below is a painting of The Garden of Eden as shown in the first or left panel of Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Around 380 B.C., the Greek philosopher Plato published his Republic, which contained a proposal for a utopian society.  In Plato's Republic, citizens were divided into "golden," "silver." and "bronze" socioeconomic classes.  The golden citizens were placed in stringent 50-year educational program and trained to be benign oligarchs or "philosopher kings."  "The "philosopher kings" rulers would be intelligent, erudite, wise and willing to live a simple life.

The Roman politician, lawyer and philosopher, Cicero (106 B.C.-43 B,C.), envisioned an ideal society as having a mixed constitution and involved citizenship.  In the The City of God, which was written n the 5th century A.D., Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote of an eternal Jerusalem, which is the city of heaven.  For Karl Marx (1818-1883), co-author of The Communist Manifesto, the ideal society is one in which individuals are freed from what he regards as the chains of capitalism.

The word "utopia" is derived from a Greek term that literally means  "nowhere." It is an imaginary place where government, laws and other conditions are perfect.  It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his book Utopia, published in 1516 in Latin.  More (1478 - 1535) was an English lawyer, author, philosopher, statesman and Renaissance humanist.  He was a councillor to King Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532.  The Roman Catholic Church has venerated him as a saint.

On July 6, 1535, Thomas More was executed for treason because he refused to recognize Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England.  In More's classic work, "Utopia" is the name of an island paradise with a perfect social and political system.

Below is the title woodcut for Utopia.

Thomas More

The English novelist James Hilton (1900-1954) was the author of Lost Horizon, a story about a utopia called "Shangri-La."  In his best-selling novel, Hilton describes Shangi;La as a mystical, earthly paradise in the Kunlun Mountains of Asia.  Hilton's 1933 novel was turned into a momentous 1937 film, directed by Frank Capra and starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt.

James Hilton

All of this brings us to former Beatle John Lennon's 1971 hit song Imagine.  Here are the provocative and thought-provoking lyrics to Lennon's composition:

Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too



Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

In "Imagine," John Lennon (1940-1980) envisions a perfect world.  He imagines a society where everyone lives in peace and "brotherhood of man."  It is a society without borders, possessions and religion, all of which Lennon considers divisive.  His vision of "utopia" is strictly secular, with "all the people living for today."  Lennon sings of an impossibly idealistic society with "no need for greed or hunger" because everything is shared.  He knows he will be called a "dreamer," but it doesn't matter to him.

It is clear that the aforementioned concepts of a perfect earthly societies are purely fictional. They are theoretical, but not practical.  Perfect societies cannot exist as long as human beings are imperfect and fallible.  Even the term "utopia' means "no place." This does not mean that humanity should not strive for social justice and peace.  These are goals of the highest order. However, absolute perfection will never be achieved in an imperfect world and it will never be achieved in a material world. There is no earthly paradise because a perfect world has to have a spiritual dimension.  For Christians, it is "the kingdom of heaven."  For Buddhists, it is "nirvana."

Belief in a spiritual dimension or afterlife, certainly does not absolve humans from trying to alleviate poverty and social injustice in this world.  To use the promise of the next world 'to "keep the poor in their place" is unconscionable and immoral.  To use religion as a cover for violence, intolerance and terrorism is utterly reprehensible.  John Lennon may not have realized it, but his dreams can be compatible with those of religion.


DYSTOPIA

Writers and philosophers have also conjured up nightmare scenarios, known as "dystopias," where everything is unpleasant or bad.  The word "dystopia" was apparently coined by John Stuart Mill in 1868.  It comes from the Greek "dys" meaning "bad,"abnormal, difficult" plus "utopia," - an imaginary bad place.  Dystopian states are usually post-nuclear, totalitarian or environmentally degraded.  In his 1949 novel 1984, British author George Orwell offers a bone-chilling portrait of a totalitarian society controlled by "Big Brother."  In 1953, the great American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) published his acclaimed dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451.  Bradbury's novel presents a future American society in which books are banned and "firemen" burn any that they find. Canadian Margaret Atwood is the author of well-known 1985 dystopian novel, The Hand Maid's Tale, about a future totalitarian theocracy.

George Orwell

More recently, Suzanne's Collins' popular The Hunger Games was released in 2008.  The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian country called Panem. Panem is comprised of the prosperous Capitol and 12 districts in various levels of poverty.  Each year, children from the districts are chosen to take part in a televised death match known as "The Hunger Games."


- Joanne

Dale Chihuly glass sculptures at the Royal Ontario Museum

On January 2, 2017, I viewed an exhibition of the work of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly at the Royal Ontario Museum (The ROM) here in Toronto.  The exhibit did not receive good reviews from critics such as James Adams in The Globe and Mail who wrote: "It's a sensational show - albeit in the pejorative sense of sensational  Meaning: Full of Teletubby colours and flash and bigness and strange shapes drawn from some Baudelairean fever dream or the remnants of Pee-Wee's Playhouse."  That's a pretty scathing critique!

I am certainly no art critic.  However, I did enjoy the exhibition.  Here are some photos I have taken and I will let you judge for yourself.


LAGUNA TORCELLO 

Laguna Torcello is part of Dale Chihuly's Mille Fiori series (Italian for "thousand flowers").  It is named after a lagoon island in Venice, Italy, Chihuly's favourite city.

ICICLE CHANDELIERS AND TOWERS

This work was specifically designed for the Royal Ontario Museum.

PERSIAN TRELLIS (1999 WORK BY DALE CHIHULY)

Chihuly originally created these floral-like forms in 1986.  He installed them in the ceiling of the Seattle Art Museum in 1992,

DALE CHIHULY

Dale Chululy is born in Tacoma, Washington, USA on September 20, 1941 and is based in Seattle. He studied interior design at the University of Washington.  In 1968, he worked at a glass factory in Venice, Italy and observed the team approach to glass blowing.  In 1971, he co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington.  In 1976, he was involved in a head-on car crash in England.  His face was severely cut by windshield glass and he lost the sight in his left eye.  He also injured his right shoulder in a 1979 bodysurfing accident and was no longer able to blow glass, so he employed others to do it for him.  In 1995, he began Chiluly Over Venice, for which he installed glass sculptures over Venice's canals and piazzas.

 Chiluly's art is included in museums and collections around the world. The ROM has two Chiluly's in its permanent collection.

Chiluly's  well- known series of works include: Cylinders and Baskets in the 1970s; Seaforms, Macchia, Venetians, and Persians in the 1980s; Niijima Floats and Chandeliers in the 1990s; and Fiori in the 2000s. 


- Joanne