London

I began my jaunt through Europe with a short and solitary visit to Dublin. I passed an enjoyable, if tired, day in Ireland but was ready to get on with the main trip. After a late morning flight and long tube ride into central London I met up with my colleagues and we got underway. Our purpose in London was to enjoy the city sights but also expand our understanding of the British history and mythology of World War II.

We saw the British perspective of the war from four main visits. The first was to the Churchill War Rooms. Here, the history of the war centers around the Battle of Britain and subsequent war planning from the underground bunker.

A large part of the museum is also devoted to Churchill himself and his part in the war effort. The British narrative of the People’s War comes across in Churchill’s efforts to reassure the British people in the trying times of the Blitz. Churchill developed a charismatic public image to rally the British people of all walks around. The same evening, we enjoyed a dinner with Michael Handscomb who lived through the Blitz. The stories he told reflected a similar narrative. He recalled how Churchill’s encouragement helped assure the British people of both the necessity and inevitable results of their hardships. Our day trip to Bletchley Park continued the narrative of the people’s war. The site brought together some of England’s top minds to break and make use of information from the German Enigma code. The site recounts the many workers who left their lives behind to do their part in the British war effort. The commentary expands to the successful maintenance of secrecy surrounding the site in the postwar era.

Our final visit was to the Imperial War Museum. The museum was founded following World War I and the detail of its exhibits reflects this. The section covering WWI was impressively detailed and immersive. This area also reflected the People’s War narrative and showed the contributions of British citizens during WWI. Meanwhile, the sections covering World War II, the postwar era, and modern wars were comparatively sparse. The museum houses several impressive artifacts from these eras but the details and explanations for them left something to be desired. This is with the exception of the Holocaust exhibit. This portion of the museum is a somber account of the Holocaust from its earliest forms to the hasty cover-up attempts made as the Soviets advanced on Germany.

Beyond sites related to the war, I experienced several of London’s cultural and tourist highlights. I visited the homes of royalty at both Buckingham and Kensington Palace. I wasn’t particularly impressed by either mansion but their adornments inside and out were an impressive spectacle.

We also toured the Tower of London where we saw the famous Crown Jewels and an impressive display of historical arms and armor. The last stop I made relating to the royalty was at Westminster Abby. The Abby was a gorgeous display of architecture both in sheer size and minute detail.

We took a trip to the British Museum where I was overwhelmed by the number of ancient artifacts on display and my own relative naivety of the many societies on display there, I am a modern historian after all. Despite knowing little about the civilizaitons themselves, I was awestruck by the magnitude of the collection of treasures from the ancient world.

One modern piece at the museum struck me a bit more than others. It was titled Cradle to Grave; the display contained two woven quilt that had small individual pockets containing prescription drug capsules. One quilt represented the estimated drug intake by a woman in her lifetime and the other a man in his. Each tells a story in the drugs that are contained in different parts. The man takes asthma medication in his early life but enjoys relatively good health until his later life, where he takes as many pills in his final ten years of life as in his first sixty-six. Similarly, the woman takes contraceptive pills when young and later is successfully treated for breast cancer. Surrounding the two quilts are pictures and medical instruments from the everyday lives of a variety of individuals. These pictures show times of joy and hardship in relation to the medical experiences of several people.

I also took time to indulge in a few of London’s artistic offerings. One evening I went to see a performance on the West End titled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

The show was a well-made representation of the life and perspective of an autistic teenager as he navigates a particularly turbulent series of events. The set and lighting work was where the show really shined. A mostly blank space defined by a grid transformed time and again throughout the show with the help of different lighting setups.

While it’s West End run is ending, the show is running in New York and will hopefully be around for years to come. I highly recommend it. My other major artistic venture was to the Tate Modern. Here I found a variety of displays of new and innovative art that pushed boundaries of all kinds. I was particularly fond of the exhibit focused on interaction and blurring the line between artist and observer. Another interesting display was hard to photograph but poignant in it’s message. It featured two television sets which were running famous broadcasts of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Each screen was surrounded by a magnet coil which alternated between on and off, distorting the image. It’s commentary on Nixon himself, broadcast media, and mixed messages was particularly striking in today’s political climate with widespread mistrust and questionable federal actions. The Tate’s installations were an amazing way to spend my last night in London.