I find this phrase an interesting one. It still makes quite a few people cross today, over 20 years after it first achieved public notoriety when used by Margaret Thatcher. I do not want to enter into an esoteric debate about the value and meaning of the context of that comment, but it does strike me that the word Society may be misused more often that we realise. It is easy to blame The Guardian -- partly of course because it may be that they bear some responsibility -- but I must admit to feeling some frustration when hearing the word society used to refer to any number of things just because they involve more than one person. Community, population, populous, culture, zeitgeist, populace, general public... the list goes on and on. The word is also used to describe the upper classes, with the possibly humourously corollarific 'high society' referring to its more glamourous excesses. I must confess I held the latter meaning to be the true one for a long time and so was doubly confused when I heard others that turned out to be so different and perhaps wrong. Perhaps I am alone in this thought, I do not know. Whom should I ask though? Society? The populace?
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Saturday, 15 December 2007
"You can't choose your family"
Recently, my surviving grandfather (N. R. D. Furse) died of lung cancer. He was 82. My maternal grandfather (Dr Herbert James Campbell) died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in 1983.
I had always been aware I think that these were quite different men, though have only compared them more than passively since last week. I should say compared with a note of caution, I never really knew my maternal grandfather as I did my paternal one, the former died when I was only a year or so old. My mother has spoken of him, as has my uncle Greg and in brief my late grandmother.
My father's family -- as opposed to my mother's that is; I regard all of them as my family you understand -- has been concerned over the last couple of hundred years with the Church of England, public service in the armed forces except the R.A.F. or R.F.C., oil painting amongst others and the Estate in Devon as it was. This, I suppose, gave my paternal grandfather an education in art, and a love of the countryside he managed so well. I think he will also be remembered as a deeply unaffected and effortlessly courteous man.
My mother's family, quite apart from being a distinct contrast to my father's in outlook and background, are noticeably different in size. In fact with the death of both of my mother's parents, and her eldest brother some time ago, she is left only with her brother, my uncle Greg, as far as we know.
My maternal grandfather grew up in London. We know not of his lineage beyond that, however a portion of Mediterranean blood is suspected. I am told he left school at 15 unable to read, but 10 years later was researching into the then very new and hot topic of the pituitary gland. (His boss, one Professor Harris, was careless enough to die 7 years before the Nobel prize was awarded for this work). This was after having got a job, working full time, getting O-levels and A-levels at evening classes, doing a degree in logic at -- I believe -- a polytechnic in south London before taking on a PhD at U.C. (University of London). It is easy to see from this what a tenacious man he must have been, as well as insightful and hugely strong.
Perhaps inevitably, death of one of my elder relations has lead me to think about myself, not so much of my own mortality -- apparently I have that experience to look forward to if my parents die before I do -- but of how their personalities reflect in me. Clearly this is through my own parents and as I was lucky enough to have both parents around throughout my childhood, I suspect my grandfathers' influence is more nature than nurture. However, I like to feel that my inheritance from them is a strong one. At the risk of sounding immodest, from my paternal grandfather, I have inherited a love of the countryside, my height and physical stature, and how I speak. And again to be perilously close to shamelessness, I like to think I have inherited a love of science from my maternal grandfather, as well as his tenacity, and on my good days his insight as well. I would also like to think that some of his strength of character has reached me as well.
Of course these men both had many other characteristics -- my paternal grandfather had the most self-control and self-discipline of anyone I have ever met, my maternal grandfather had a huge desire to please those he cared about -- and doubtless they shared some characteristics, though I do not know enough to go that far. However, I do not feel I need to in many ways. On top of that, the thought furthest from my mind is that I should want to change any of it, despite there being faults.
We have all heard the phrase 'you can't choose your family', generally said with a tone of voice that would suggest an apparent raw deal. It is probably true that if a child were to be 'bred' the two cogent grandsires would not have been bracketed together; if you want a racehorse, you breed from racehorse bloodstock, and the same for other disciplines and it is of course accurate to say that I have not inherited all of what I would regard as the best qualities of my grandfathers. My paternal grandfather's effortless courtesy, my maternal grandfather's good insight and logic are really missing from me in any measure -- but you cannot have everything and I would be bored without any challenges. But I digress: yes, you cannot choose your family, but with an inheritance like mine from those two men, why should I want to?
I had always been aware I think that these were quite different men, though have only compared them more than passively since last week. I should say compared with a note of caution, I never really knew my maternal grandfather as I did my paternal one, the former died when I was only a year or so old. My mother has spoken of him, as has my uncle Greg and in brief my late grandmother.
My father's family -- as opposed to my mother's that is; I regard all of them as my family you understand -- has been concerned over the last couple of hundred years with the Church of England, public service in the armed forces except the R.A.F. or R.F.C., oil painting amongst others and the Estate in Devon as it was. This, I suppose, gave my paternal grandfather an education in art, and a love of the countryside he managed so well. I think he will also be remembered as a deeply unaffected and effortlessly courteous man.
My mother's family, quite apart from being a distinct contrast to my father's in outlook and background, are noticeably different in size. In fact with the death of both of my mother's parents, and her eldest brother some time ago, she is left only with her brother, my uncle Greg, as far as we know.
My maternal grandfather grew up in London. We know not of his lineage beyond that, however a portion of Mediterranean blood is suspected. I am told he left school at 15 unable to read, but 10 years later was researching into the then very new and hot topic of the pituitary gland. (His boss, one Professor Harris, was careless enough to die 7 years before the Nobel prize was awarded for this work). This was after having got a job, working full time, getting O-levels and A-levels at evening classes, doing a degree in logic at -- I believe -- a polytechnic in south London before taking on a PhD at U.C. (University of London). It is easy to see from this what a tenacious man he must have been, as well as insightful and hugely strong.
Perhaps inevitably, death of one of my elder relations has lead me to think about myself, not so much of my own mortality -- apparently I have that experience to look forward to if my parents die before I do -- but of how their personalities reflect in me. Clearly this is through my own parents and as I was lucky enough to have both parents around throughout my childhood, I suspect my grandfathers' influence is more nature than nurture. However, I like to feel that my inheritance from them is a strong one. At the risk of sounding immodest, from my paternal grandfather, I have inherited a love of the countryside, my height and physical stature, and how I speak. And again to be perilously close to shamelessness, I like to think I have inherited a love of science from my maternal grandfather, as well as his tenacity, and on my good days his insight as well. I would also like to think that some of his strength of character has reached me as well.
Of course these men both had many other characteristics -- my paternal grandfather had the most self-control and self-discipline of anyone I have ever met, my maternal grandfather had a huge desire to please those he cared about -- and doubtless they shared some characteristics, though I do not know enough to go that far. However, I do not feel I need to in many ways. On top of that, the thought furthest from my mind is that I should want to change any of it, despite there being faults.
We have all heard the phrase 'you can't choose your family', generally said with a tone of voice that would suggest an apparent raw deal. It is probably true that if a child were to be 'bred' the two cogent grandsires would not have been bracketed together; if you want a racehorse, you breed from racehorse bloodstock, and the same for other disciplines and it is of course accurate to say that I have not inherited all of what I would regard as the best qualities of my grandfathers. My paternal grandfather's effortless courtesy, my maternal grandfather's good insight and logic are really missing from me in any measure -- but you cannot have everything and I would be bored without any challenges. But I digress: yes, you cannot choose your family, but with an inheritance like mine from those two men, why should I want to?
Saturday, 1 December 2007
UC vs. IC
A few people have asked me how Imperial College compares to University College. I'm never quite sure how to answer this, partly because I only saw UC as an undergraduate, and have only seen IC as a research postgraduate -- two different worlds in themselves, and so this is usually how I start my answer. As for the next bit, well UC is appreciably bigger than IC, which I didn't realise until I came to IC and saw how compact it is. My memory of UC was a greater diversity of nationalities present, I don't know whether that has changed. One thing I am sure I dislike about IC is it's apprent desire to move away from the University of London. Doubtless, the latter is not without it's faults, however I can't think of a realistic reason unconnected with snobbery that has induced the College's departure. I shan't go on about that, as I have the choice whether or not to have a University of London degree, and the College has left already so my opinion doesn't matter now anyway, save for the observation that UC presumably cannot leave the University as the latter would cease to exist without it's University College. Certainly there was no hint of any such move while I was there, though I daresay that could have changed. Another observation I make about UC as compared to it's smaller, now rival, College, is that it has well-formed arts subjects -- and perhaps unsurprisingly most of IC has not heard of the Slade School.
Despite this feeling towards UC -- and it's either nostalgia, or something more objective -- but the killer is that UC didn't offer me PhD, despite my asking (twice!) though IC did -- and first time too. However, on whom does that reflect better? I think the jury's still out on that one.
Despite this feeling towards UC -- and it's either nostalgia, or something more objective -- but the killer is that UC didn't offer me PhD, despite my asking (twice!) though IC did -- and first time too. However, on whom does that reflect better? I think the jury's still out on that one.
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