In the 41 years that made her life, Kathleen Ferrier became one of the most admired and popular singers in the world.  Her voice was a true contralto – quite a rarity – and her style of singing was uniquely British. The daughter of a school-teacher, Kathleen left school at the age of 14 and became a telephone operator on the Blackburn exchange. Not the most promising of beginnings for a future interpreter of Handel, Mahler and Gluck. Yet her background had been musical, her mother had insisted she had piano lessons from an early age, and her father was a music teacher who instilled rigid principles into his daughter. If a piece was to be played it was to be played properly, and according to the composer’s intentions.

At the age of 25, Kathleen became a professional singer, learning her trade by appearing pretty much wherever she was asked. The great conductor Bruno Walter himself was so impressed by her singing that he paid her the ultimate compliment of personally accompanying her at the piano during various recitals.

Kathleen gave many British, European and American concerts where she sang previously neglected British songs to her audiences, songs such as Blow the wind southerly, which some of her critics considered artistically inferior, but which now, thanks to her courage in recording them, form a much-loved part of her musical heritage.

In 1953, Kathleen was engaged to sing Orpheus at Covent Garden in a new production of Gluck’s Orfeo et Euridice. To be sung in English, critics were unanimous in their praise of her singing and interpretation. Tragically, she lived only long enough to complete two performances before succumbing to the cancer against which she had valiantly struggled for the last years of her life. An extraordinary and unaffected talent, and unlike in today’s world of divas and celebrities – she really was “just an ordinary lass from Lancashire”.

“She had such a lovely voice and seemed so natural, when I was a girl she was on the radio all the time”

“I remember my Father playing “Blow the wind Southerly” on the Dansette [record player] over and over, I was sure that record would wear out”

[Ruth]

We discussed the works of Alison Weir who has done a lot of research into the Tudors, among other dynasties. In her novel, Innocent Traitor, she gives an account of the short, eventful life of Lady Jane Grey who was on the throne for just nine days and who was a pawn in the power struggle of the Tudor dynasty.

The group also looked at a factual historical book by Weir -  Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore. Mary was the sister of Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII’s wives. Members of the Boleyn family were central to the intrigue and power struggles of the Tudor period. The author is very aware of the issue of historical accuracy and how fiction can almost innocently be regarded as fact with the passage of time.

On a slightly different note, the group also looked at a book (contributed to by Weir, amongst others) entitled The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings 1066-2011. Royal Unions right up to the 20th century were intended to complement and cement alliances between nations. Brides and grooms often did not meet for the first time until the day before their wedding! Weir gives interesting accounts of tearful Royal brides who were shocked and intimidated on meeting their future husbands…

The next meeting, on 17 February, will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. If you’re reading a Dickens book this year – indeed, if you’re taking part in City Read London - do come along!

[Laurence]

Shoppers hit the Regent Street Liberty store in the 1920s. Image property of Westminster City Archives.

In these opening weeks of 2012, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the West End’s shopping districts to ease the post-festive season blues by hitting the shops.

The January sales are not a new attraction: catalogues at the City of Westminster Archives Centre show how bargain-hunting was a big draw for Londoners and visitors as far back as the 1890s, and photographs show shoppers eyeing up stock on sale at Liberty’s in the 1920s.

What would you wear? Fashions from William Whiteley’s Westbourne Grove store, 1885. Image property of Westminster City Archives.

People have been lifting their mood by investing in wardrobe updates for centuries, and the psychological and cultural relationships between individuals and the clothes they wear has long been analysed and documented.

A recent contributor to this field of study, acquired for the reference collection at the City of Westminster Archives Centre, is NJ Stevenson’s The Chronology of Fashion.

Stevenson’s book, which traces the development of modern fashion (from 1800 onwards), contains sumptuous full-colour illustrations depicting trends ranging from the Empire-line silhouette of the Regency era, through to Victorian whale-bone corsets, outlandish 1980s post-punk creations and ending with an intriguing forecast of what we’ll be wearing in 2020.

[Michelle]

And it seems like a great time to tell you more about Westminster’s Chinese Library, right in the heart of the West End. With London’s Chinatown being located just off Leicester Square and attracting the Chinese community from across London and the South-East, it is no surprise that the Chinese Library service is based at Charing Cross Library and holds one of the largest collections of Chinese materials in any UK public library.

What can we offer?

• Over 50.000 Chinese adult and children’s books for loan and reference, including the most popular fiction books and top sellers. There are books by Chinese authors and popular Western writers in translation. Romance stories are very popular, as are Kung Fu thrillers and Manga series in translation.
• The non-fiction collection covers all areas, including art, business, history, social life and travel.
• There are also more than 80 different kinds of  magazines and periodical publications plus Chinese pop and classical music CDs.
• Community information and general enquiry answering, with a team of  Chinese speaking staff (Cantonese and Mandarin)
• CLSS – a national subscription service of Chinese books. We lend selected bulk collections to other library authorities for a fee to build up their Chinese library services.

All that, and more, behind a somewhat unassuming exterior on Charing Cross Road
- come along and see us.

And Happy New Year!

[Chichy]

One hundred years ago, in 1912, there was no television, but people would have been gripped by the Antarctic as reports came in of the two rival expeditions to reach the South Pole, which sadly had tragic consequences.

During his second venture to the Antarctic, Captain Robert Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole in January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian expedition. On their return journey, Scott and his comrades all perished from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.

If you too have been gripped by the story, take a look at this list of books exploring the events from a range of angles:

Scott of the Antarctic, by David Crane
This biography of Captain Scott, the pivotal figure in pre-First World War Antarctic exploration re-examines the courage and tragedy of Scott’s expedition and reasserts his position in the pantheon of British heroes.

Shackleton’s dream: Fuchs, Hillary and the crossing of Antarctica, by Stephen Haddelsey
This title presents a full account of the last ‘Heroic Age’ expedition to Antarctica. Based upon previously unpublished material, including interviews with the survivors, and contemporary diaries and letters, the book explores the often antagonistic relationship of two giants of 20th-century exploration.

An Empire of ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the heroic age of Antarctic science, by Edward J Larson
This title offers a different perspective on the Antarctic expeditions of the early 20th century by looking at the British efforts for what they actually were – massive scientific enterprises in which reaching the South Pole was but a spectacular sideshow.

The Mammoth book of Antarctic journeys: 35 eye-witness accounts of adventure in the Antarctic, by Jon E Lewis
The very best writing on the Antarctic, from James Cook’s 18th-century assertion that ‘no man will ever venture further than I have done’ to Lynne Cox’s description of her epic, icy swim in the 21st century – 32 first-hand accounts of men and women challenging one of the Earth’s last true wildernesses.

Dead men, by Richard Pierce
A novel of exploration, obsession, life, death and the power of love, which centres on Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition of 1912.

Death on the ice, by Rob Ryan
The story of one of the last great epic journeys of exploration made before World War I – Robert Falcon Scott’s fateful journey to the South Pole.

A first rate tragedy, by Diana Preston
The great tragedy that befell the Scott team could have been averted if they could have trudged just 11 more miles. The Norwegian Trygge Gran found their frozen bodies close to the food depot. Diana Preston’s story recounts the dramatic events.

Racing with death: Douglas Mawson, Antarctic explorer, by Beau Riffenburgh 
In ‘Racing with Death’, Beau Riffenburgh rediscovers the almost forgotten story of Mawson – with Shackleton and Scott, one of the three ‘greats’ of Antarctic exploration. It is an unforgettable story of raw courage and escape from the icy jaws of death.

The last expedition, by Robert Falcon Scott (with an introduction by Ranulph Fiennes)
Captain Scott’s gripping account of his expedition to the South Pole. This book details the incidents, the drama, the courage, the hopes and the bitter disappointment of the ultimately tragic attempt to beat Amundsen to the South Pole.

In Shackleton’s footsteps: a return to the heart of the Antarctic, by Henry Worsley
In this book, Ernest Shackleton’s descendants take on the expedition that defeated him in the most extreme Antarctic challenge known to man.

Children’s book:

No return, by Peter Gouldthorpe
In the age of discovery, Antarctica remained an unknown quantity amongst the world’s explorers. Robert Falcon Scott was amongst the pioneers who penetrated the ice and cruel weather. This is the story of his journey from England, culminating in the ill-fated final march to his goal, only to be beaten by the Norwegians.

[Malcolm]

The book, entitled ‘The Persuasion Industry; British Advertising and Public Relations in Action’, by John Pearson and Graham Turner, was found amongst the possessions of Johnathan’s late father – who had never travelled to the UK in his lifetime, so the mystery remains as to how the book ever got there!

The fine for late books in 1965 was 1 penny per day so this book had racked up a fine of £70 and counting. One of the librarians at Marylebone Information Service calculated its current value as a not insubstantial £1060 in today’s money (using the website measuringworth.com, from the Statistics & figures section of the Gateway).

Research on the Times Digital Archive also tells us what was happening on the day the book was borrowed: the Vietnam war was causing thousands in America to burn their draft cards, Afghanistan’s first democratic government was formed and in Britain, the rates were going up, most notably in Westminster,  topping the nation with a ‘rateable value of £104,051,000’.

[Amy]

• Until 21 January at Westminster Reference Library
  Exhibition: Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder
• Until 28 January at Westminster City Archives / SW1 Gallery
  Exhibition: A Westminster Tale – Cholera and the Thames
• Thursday 12 January  
  Health advice for seniors (at St John’s Wood Library)
  Music@Library (at Pimlico Library)
  Family History Group (at Marylebone Library)
• Friday 13 January at Church Street Library
  Bengali Women’s Reading and Writing Group
• Saturday 14 January at Queen’s Park Library
  Saturday storytime
• Monday 16 January at Maida Vale Library
  Energy awareness workshop
• Wednesday 18 January
  Reading Aloud taster session (at St John’s Wood Library)
  The Nuts and Bolts of Networking (at Westminster Reference Library)
  Career Change from the Inside Out: Making a life changing career change (at Church Street Library)
• Thursday 19 January at St John’s Wood Library
  History on your doorstep: A Family History 6 week course
• Monday 23 January at Victoria Library
  Open University Evening
• Wednesday 25 January  
  Well Wednesdays: The New Year Stress Buster (at Church Street Library)
  Britain’s best loved singer: Kathleen Ferrier, her life and legacy (at Westminster Music Library)
• Thursday 26 January 
  ESOL4Health classes (at Pimlico Library)
  Nintendo Wii (at Paddington Library)
• Saturday 28 January  
  WAES Family Workshop (at Paddington Library)
• Monday 30 January at Charing Cross Library
  Songs and Rhymes for Under 5s
• Tuesday 31 January at Marylebone Information Service
  Get online in the new year: Word processing – make your documents look great

This is just a taster – for full listings visit the News & events pages on our website, and follow us on Twitter.

Next week is, as you all know, the 100^th anniversary of Captain (Robert Falcon) Scott reaching the South Pole. ‘This is an awful place’ wrote Scott in his diary, and who can blame him? But his story has fascinated people ever since, and the Westminster Libraries Gateway to Websites can help in our quest to find out more.

As is so often the case, the first place to start is the Biography section and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Handily, one of their current Featured Themes is the British Antarctic Expedition and here you can read a short article about the historical significance of the expedition – the memorial fund was used to form the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, whose website is well-worth exploring – and look up the biographies of the various members of the expedition. Of notable interest are Edward (‘Teddy’) Evans, second-in-command of the Terra Nova, who went to school in Maida Vale, and who survived to become a Labour peer, and Lawrence ‘Titus’ Oates who preferred  the company of the Siberian ponies to his human companions. The articles try to analyse the reasons for the failure of the expedition (tragically, they died knowing that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had reached the Pole a month before them) and it’s interesting to compare the biographies with those in the DNB Archive (check the link on the left) for a less critical view.

For some contemporary accounts of the events, check out the News and Magazines section of the Gateway. The Illustrated London News of 14 January 1911 has some pictures of the crew training ‘sled-dogs’ in New Zealand (ironically it was Scott’s decision not to take dogs on his final trek that fatally slowed down the expedition) . There are various articles about Amundsen (the ‘Titanic Special Number’ of 20 April 1912 has a splendid picture of his party and their dogs), and 18 May 1912 is a ‘South Pole Special Number’. News of Scott’s death took many months to reach London and it is not until 13 February 1913 that the Illustrated London News published an account of it, together with a photo of Scott’s young son, later to become famous as the naturalist Peter Scott.

There are many books about Scott’s expedition, so have a look in the library catalogue to see what you can find. And he has been portrayed several times on film and television. Over to the Stage and Screen section and the Internet Movie Database. A search for Robert Falcon Scott reveals that the man himself appears in a couple of documentaries, notably The Great White Silence about Shackleton’s expedition (recently issued on DVD by the British Film Institute). Of course, the most famous portrayal of him on film is in ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ (1948) with John Mills, Kenneth More and James Robertson Justice but there are various others, most recently the BBC play ‘The Worst Journey in the World’.

All this reading and watching polar stuff may have inspired you to find out more about travel to the Antarctic. The Transport and Tourism section of the Gateway is your friend here. The World Travel Guide offers some helpful advice (‘There are no hotels in Antarctica’) including details of tour operators while Lonely Planet, as you might expect, come into their own here and they’ve even got advice about how to get a job there (it does help if you are prepared to work 60 hour weeks and really, really like penguins!).

The other cold event in January ties in neatly with the favourite hobby at Treasure Hunt Towers. I’m sure you’re all aware that the World Cold Water Swimming Championships are being Latvia next weekend. No? Where’ve you *been*?!? While it’s too late to register, you can follow events on the website and maybe make a New Year’s Resolution to see what the Serpentine is like. It’s a hobby for life, not just for Christmas (when the press are there)!

[Nicky]

World Book Night is happening again this year, this time on 23 April 2012. And there’s still time to apply to be a book giver - the deadline for applications is 31 January!

This year’s World Book Night promises to be an even bigger and better event than last year’s, which saw a million books given away by book lovers all over the country, events in bookshops and libraries and a big, brilliant WBN reading by several famous authors in our own Trafalgar Square. This year the Americans are joining us with World Book Night USA taking place on the same date.

It’s too soon to give full details of what we in Westminster have got planned for this year, but it will be our first big event after the official joining of the three library services of Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham, known as TriBorough.

All Westminster libraries are registered as book pick up points, so if you apply to be a book giver we’d be happy for you to collect your books from us. All you have to do is apply online, choosing which top three of the 25 specially-printed titles you would like to give away, and think of an original, unusual or quirky place or way to distribute them (ie: not in the library – we already do free books ).

If you get chosen, do let us know by posting a comment on this blog post – we’d love to hear what you’re planning!

… eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five gold rings!
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.